Questions & Answers

I get asked questions on my comments and I figure the best way for me to answer them is to do a post of all of the questions that I get for the week. So if you have asked me a question, check back here on FRIDAYS to see what my answer is.

Also, if you do have a question for me, can you please EMAIL it to me instead of leaving it under the comments section of that post? Sometimes I may not see the comment and won't get your question answered. Send me an email to budgetdesigngirl@gmail.com and if your question is about a certain project, leave me the title of the post.

Now, onto this weeks questions!

*What kind of stain did I use to stain (glaze) my walls? What prep work did I do?

I did absolutely NO prep work people!!! I can't explain to you how incredible simple this is. My walls were painted a very simple light tan already when it was built and I just went straight over it as it was. I didn't even wipe it down, I didn't want to take the time to do that. In my living room, I did paint one wall before I glazed over it because I wanted an accent color. I painted this wall 2 days before I stained over it to give it a curing period. (This wall did take a little longer to dry after I stained it, just so you know) Don't be surprised if your wall is still a bit tacky for a few days.

The stain that I used was an OIL STAIN by Minwax. Here is the thing with the stain..... I am sure you can use water base stain and it would turn out fine. If you are afraid of doing this and it is a big step for you, I actually would probably use water base and here's why... If you use an oil base and want to paint over it, you will more than likely have to use an oil base primer over it before you can repaint your walls! I don't think that a water base paint will adhere to an oil base stain. But, I don't know if you will get the sheen with a water base as you will with the oil base. The oil base I used was also a sealant so I have a beautiful sheen to mine and I believe it is more durable on your walls than a water base.

An IMPORTANT note on Oil Base vs. Water Base..... Oil base is VERY smelly!!!!! When I stain my house, I open up all of the windows surrounding the area and then we avoid that room like the plague. When I did my master bedroom, we went and stayed at my parent's house one night and then slept in the spare bedroom another night just to be safe. Make sure that you wear a mask when doing this and that you wear gloves to protect your skin so that it doesn't get into your pores.

So..... now that you know the pros and cons of each, you decide what works best with you.

*What is KSL?

I have mentioned this before, but for those who have just recently started following this blog, KSL is a local classifieds website that you can buy/sell pretty much anything you want. I have an addiction to it, I buy and sell stuff on here all the time. You can find some amazing deals, you just have to be patient waiting to find that perfect deal. F.Y.I....I live in Utah, so this is a local website for Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

This could actually be compared to Craigslist, but I don't like Craigslist as much as KSL. If you live in another state, check around to see if you have something similar to this in your area.

*How do I work (mainly paint) on my home with a baby?

For those who don't know, I have a 13 month old daughter and I am 6 1/2 months pregnant with my second daughter. (If you find me talking about Kenidi in any of my posts, that is my daughter on the way). This is definitely not an easy task but I get A LOT of support and help from my husband (and mom).

Everything that I do is in sections. I pick a small area that I can work on either in an evening or on a Saturday morning. My daughter goes down around 7:30 for bed, so I usually will try and paint a small area while she is sleeping. (lighting isn't always the greatest but I haven't had a problem so far, also, it goes much faster if you can get your husband to help you :)

If I need to STAIN a little bit larger area, my husband will take my daughter out and run errands or go for a hike on a Saturday morning or my mom will take her on a day that she doesn't have anything going on. On days that I stain, I keep my daughter out of the house ALL DAY just to be safe that she isn't breathing anything toxic. When I paint, I keep her away from it but I'm not as worried about the paint as I am the stain.

I definitely couldn't do what I do around the house without the support of my husband and my mom, but I am bound and determined to get every room painted and stained the way that I want it before I have my second little one. I can do the decorating with a little one, but it would almost be impossible to get the walls done the way that I want with a newborn.

Organizing-using what you have

Something that I love to do is organize things. I know, I know, that is probably weird to some of you, but I can't stand it when things aren't organized. I am sure that all of us would like all of our cupboards and drawers to look like something from Martha Stewart but that doesn't always happen. I would LOVE all of my cupboards to have matching little storage boxes that color coordinated, but that just isn't practical and cost effect in my life right now. However, I can have organized closets and cupboards just by using things that I have around the house. Let me show you some things that I have done.

Here we have a very basic Potterybarn box. I was given a gift in this box and I held onto it because I loved that it had a top that closed.

I needed to store some fabric samples that I have, so I took some ordinary gallon ziploc bags and organized all of my fabrics by color and stored them in the box. This is something that is so simple to do and doesn't really cost anything, but I LOVE having everything organized in the bags and not just thrown into the box.

Here are my larger fabrics that are folded up and stored in this box and bin that I had lying around. They are separated by neutrals and color fabrics.

Now this is my PET!!! I love this little thing to death! My trusty label maker. People who know me really well have to joke about this because they know how much I love this thing. Every household should have a label maker. I use this all the time.

Here is a closet that is my general closet in my upstairs. My office is in the open upstairs so I need to use this closet for normal linen closet things as well as office things. Everything in here is organized in it's box or designated area and labeled. It doesn't look like a Martha Stewart closet, but it is very organized and is storing the things that I need it to.

Here are some bins that I have had for years and they are storing all sorts of things (mainly my paints) but each one is labeled and I don't have any problems finding what I am looking for.

Now this is something that some may look at as weird, but I think it is very functional for me. I had this spice jar rack thing that I got for my wedding years ago. I did not like the look of it so I bought cute spice jars to display. I didn't want this thing to go to waste, so I turned it into an office supply caddy and I store it in one of my office closets. Each jar is of course labeled, but it stores, paper clips, staples, push pins, velcro etc. Sometimes you need to look at things in a totally different light.

Now this is one of my FAVORITE organizing tools ever! Simple energy drink boxes that have dividers in the middle. I used to buy a lot of these drinks and had a lot of boxes lying around and I decided to put them to good use.

I use these things to store socks, nylons, belts, scarves, tank tops rolled up, hair products, pretty much anything that will fit in the small little holes. I even use one to organize my blasted $500 markers that I have, each section has a different color organized inside of it.

I dare you to go through your house and see what random things you have lying around that can be used as storage bins. I have a lot of different things and I am sure that I will end up posting again on different ideas that can be used.

If it is out in the open, definitely find more decorative ways to store and organize, but if it is in a closet behind closed doors, by all means use things you have and save the money for something that is seen all the time.

Giveaway

I am going to start doing Online Consultations. All you need basically is a digital camera to be able to take pictures of your home and send them to me. I have decided to give away my first Online Consultation!

How do you win????

SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Who ever spreads the word the most, wins the giveway!

Here's How: Become a Follower of my blog to enter your name for the first time. Click on the follower link on the bottom of the right side column. (You must do this for your other entries to qualify)

-For your other entries, post a message on facebook, your blog, or send an email to those who would be interested in this blog and ask them to leave a comment with your name mentioned in it under this post. Whoever I get the most entries from (with your name on it) will win the giveaway. Please help me spread the word and make this blog a fun place for many to visit.

Sample Post for Facebook, Blog, or Email:

Enter Online Interior Design Consultation Giveaway!

Please leave a comment under the Giveaway post with my name (Your Name Here) mentioned in it & spread the word yourself.

http://www.lindsigabler.blogspot.com/

Giveaway will end on October 15, 2009

* Each consultation will be based on individual rooms. Separate rooms will be separate consultations.

I will give more detail on how to purchase an online consultation and what is needed from you as the client in a future post.

Brooklyn's Nursery

I have been wanting to post these pictures forever but I have been waiting for a few things to get hung. Brooklyn's nursery is not a nursery for everyone! Some people may have a difficult time with the dark color that I used, but I love the way that it turned out and I wanted something different and I got it.

INSPIRATION PIECE

Every room should have an inspiration piece (I will go into more detail another time) and this was mine for her nursery. This is a quilt that my step-sister Maria made with her mom. I thought they hit the nail on the head with the colors and fabric that I had to see what I could do to turn it into a room. One thing that I absolutely love that they did was make it a bigger size than a crib. This will be a great little comforter when I turn the crib into a toddler bed.

This wall color probably scares some people out there, but I have so much white and light colors in the room that it doesn't feel closed in at all. This room also gets A LOT of sunlight in it! You know that if my husband was ok with doing it that it isn't a dark feel at all.

This crib was a crib that we found on my trusted KSL classifieds. I bet you can't guess how much I spent on this crib!.......lower........I spent $30 for this crib! It was such a steal. The mattress I bought at Walmart for $40 and the bumper and sheet I bought at Burlington Coat Factory...Bumper-$30 & Sheet-$10.

As many of you know, not only am I an Interior Designer, but I am also a Mural Artist. I don't want to do full on murals in my kids bedrooms, but I want some type of painting in each one. One night I was holding Brooklyn and rocking her when we first moved in and I looked above her crib and it just came to me that I always wanted her to remember that she is a Daughter of God! I decided that I needed to paint it up there so that she can grow up seeing that right there.

These picture frames I LOVE!!! These are ones that I bought unfinished and then painted them myself. I will show you another time how I put this together.

These are window treatments that I made and they are very functional for naps and I love the way they turned out.

This shelf is such a darling shelf. When we moved into this house, my neighbor across the street was moving out of her house. Shortly after we moved in, she had a moving sale going on and we decided to run over. Her house was a model home and had a girl's bedroom all set up... well, she had all boys and didn't have use for the girl's room. She stored all of the girl's stuff and sold it at her moving sale. I got this shelf, brand spanking new, for $5. All of the stuff on both the shelf and the changing table were gifts from people and I haven't quite figured out the best way to display them.

This changing table was another KSL steal! It was purchased separate from the crib but they look like they are a set. I found this for $50 and it is in EXCELLENT condition. I had the changing pad already and I purchased the pad cover for $11 at Burlington Coat Factory. My recliner chair I love and that was a bit more money, but we paid for part of it and then her Grandpa Mark gifted the rest of it to her. It will end up going into Kenidi's nursery when I get that put together and I will find a small chair to put in it's place.

Now these darling little hooks I also got at the moving sale for $1.50 for all 3! I went to go hang them up and my screw heads were to big for the holes on the back so I have to go get new screws.... but they will be hanging on the wall here.

They will eventually hang play clothes I am sure.

The Nesting Table Snatch....

So I mentioned in my very first post that I had a serious addiction to KSL classifieds. I was on there earlier this week and found some nesting tables for $10! They were a light color but I was going to get them and refinish them to look more like this picture.

I text the lady and had it all arranged that I would come and pick them up after my Dr. appointment on Wednesday. While I was in the Dr. appointment, I got a text from her saying that a family member had come over to her house while she was gone and took them, not knowing that she had already pre-sold them to me! I think that nesting tables would be the perfect table to go in between my 2 living room chairs. Now I am really bummed that they are gone and that I lost these great little tables at that price. So now I am on the look out once again for some nesting tables to go in my living room. BUMMER!

Nursery Shopping Dilema

Today I went out shopping to find some inspiration fabric for my daughter-on-the-way Kenidi. I want to make her a one of a kind quilt for her crib that she can grow into and use when she is a toddler. I have in my mind what I would like and I can't find it!!!! Here are some samples of what I am looking for that I found online.

I want a Teal, Chocolate Brown, and an Antique White combination and I found absolutely NADA!!! If you by chance are out and notice some fabrics on this line, will you please let me know?!!! I hate when you have something all thought out in your head and you can't seem to find what it is you are looking for. Thanks

Living Room Update

I have been busy working on my living room and I wanted to update you with what I have done so far. I knew in this room that I wanted an accent wall so I needed to start there. I didn't really have anything to go off of for colors so I decided to find the drapes that I liked and go from there. I don't recommend doing this, but I went straight to Target and found the drapes that I wanted (I just bought one for color matching at this point) and drove straight over to Home Depot and picked out my accent color in the store. I got lucky and it worked, but it is definitely better to pick your colors in the room to make sure that the lighting doesn't change the color on you.

Here is the drapery panel and the accent color that I chose to paint. Of course I wasn't just going to stop there! I painted this wall on a Thursday night, let it dry for 2 days, then I glazed (stained) the entire room!

Here is the wall before I glazed......

Here it is after I glazed!

You can see that it isn't a huge difference in color, but the drapes are what tie everything together.

This picture shows how great the wall color looks with the drapes and my Christ picture.

Here is the glaze just over my walls like I have done in the rest of my main level.

So I have to talk about this chair.... I call this my "funny" chair. I found this chair on KSL for $10... yes that is right, $10! I sent my husband to go pick it up and he was a little unsure about it. Anyone who knows me, knows that my style tends to lean more on the clean line side... I consider my style to be Clean Line Traditional, some may consider it Transitional. Anyway, this chair is not what people are used to seeing me pick out. I saw this and thought that I just had to get my hands on it. The fabric is in REALLY great condition considering how old this chair has to be. I think I will keep the fabric on it because it surprisingly goes quite well with the drapes, but the wood color is bothering me. I have decided that I am going to sand the wood down and stain it a dark color. I will put a throw pillow on it and I will have the best, cheapest chair I could have asked for in this spot.

Here is the real color of the fabric, the other pictures had a flash and it made it really shiny looking when it isn't like that in person. Some people may have a hard time having 2 different chairs like I have in this room, that is ok, but it is also ok to mix chairs in a room. I wanted something a little bit different than my usual in this room and I wanted it to be a bit more formal. As you can see, I still have a lot to do in this room, but I am really excited about the direction it is going and I am even more excited about how inexpensive it has been.