The piece I am creating today will be significantly smaller and displayed in my husband’s new home office. I’m participating in the One Room Challenge with other bloggers to redo a room in six weeks. If you missed the last couple weeks, so far I’ve painted walls & made a plan, made a $6 drum chandelier with crystals, and built modern industrial shelving for storage. The One Room Challenge wraps up soon so I am putting some final touches on the room.

Click on the image to see other blogger’s spaces and get some serious inspiration!

Abstract Artwork Tutorial

To get started, you will need to source canvas. I like to find used canvas that has already been painted on in thrift stores and at garage sales. I cover over it with gesso to prepare the canvas for a whole new painting to go on top! Just be sure the used canvas was painted in acrylic because water based is important. If it is an oil painting, reusing it will not work.

The first part of this abstract artwork tutorial I am going to link to my Facebook Live post. I created this piece of art within about the first 15 minutes (disregard the end when I add in teal and copper).

After you have watched how to create that, you should have a painting that looks like this.

With this piece, I wanted to add in some metallic copper and blend the two styles of abstract and expressionism. I used FrogTape delicate surface to tape lines on the painting when the layer underneath was completely dry.

Then I used these beautiful metallic paints diluted with water to paint between the tape lines.

After removing the tape and doing touch-ups, it looked beautiful!

I am really happy with how it turned out! Hopefully, I inspired you to use this abstract artwork tutorial to try a painting yourself!

Do not forget to PIN this for inspiration later!

Now that my abstract artwork is finished, my to-do list for the ORC’s office makeover is looking really good!

• Paint walls gray & trim white
• Build industrial shelving with IKEA hyllis hack
• Paint abstract piece of artwork
• Paint frame of hexagon mirror white
• Make DIY lamp shade chandelier
• Hang cream curtains
• Decorate space using copper accents and multiple textures

Join me next Monday for the FINAL REVEAL! I can not wait to photograph this beautiful space and show off my husband’s new home office to you all!
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Finding a Tutorial for Building

The tutorial I am using for this IKEA HYLLIS hack is from Shine Your Light Blog. I absolutely fell in love with this tutorial. Her helpful tips outlined everything I needed to know to make my shelves.

I am also proud to say I scored the HYLLIS metal shelves when they went on sale at IKEA for only $10 a piece! Then, of course, shopping for wood, I went with pine, rough-sawn on one side to make it cheaper.

Adding To the Shelves

I got the perfect mirror to add to this space, but I do not like the color. I am going to spray paint the wood white to make it go better with the rest of the decorations in the room. While spray painting this, I am protecting the mirror itself with newspaper and FrogTape. I love the way that this mirror turned out!

Cost Breakdown

I want to show that DIY home renovations truly are cost-effective, so I am going to give you a cost breakdown.

• 4 pine boards 1″ x 12″ in 8′ length = $40
• 2 IKEA HYLLIS steel shelving units = $20
• 2 cans Rust-Oleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint = $0 (would usually cost $8, but Rust-Oleum sent me free product for this blog post – yay!)
• Jacobean stain = $0 (picked up free at the local household hazardous waste facility)

So, this project would normally cost $68! That is SO much cheaper than buying a brand new shelving unit would be.

Final Product

I could not be more pleased with how the modern industrial shelving turned out. They are just my style and give the office SO much functional storage!

This room is really starting to take shape. Here’s how the to-do list is looking:

• Paint walls gray & trim white
• Build industrial shelving with IKEA hyllis hack
• Paint abstract piece of artwork
• Paint frame of hexagon mirror white
• Make DIY lamp shade chandelier
• Hang cream curtains
• Decorate space using copper accents and multiple textures

I hope you enjoyed this project and it inspired you to try to build something yourself!

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Click on the ORC image to see other blogger’s six-week makeover progress.

The infamous boob light is ubiquitous in our house and I hate it! Although practical, this light fixture has no style.

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It is surprisingly easy to deconstruct this light fixture. I am going to work with the existing bolt and base, so I just removed the frosted glass bowl and light bulbs.

I found this lamp shade at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $2. Originally, I bought it for my living room lamps, but it was too skinny. I ended up making my own drum lamp shade for the lamps, and this went into storage. The crystal strands I bought off Amazon for only $4! ! Talk about an amazing deal! They are not very high quality, but I don’t think anyone will be up on my ceiling inspecting them.

I measured and adjusted the strands to be in descending length when they hang. Then I attached them to the lamp shade hardware by clipping on the metal hoop.
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I thread a nut to hold the lamp shade on the bolt protruding from the existing light fixture. After I replaced the light bulbs, this is what it looked like inside.

And better yet, this is what it looks like from other parts of the room.

If you don’t have an old lamp shade, you can buy kits to convert the infamous boob light into a beautiful drum chandelier on Lamps USA. They come in all different colors, even teal!

Don’t forget to pin on Pinterest if you like this project!

It is crazy to think this project only cost me $6 and was so easy to put together! It looks fancy and expensive in the office space.

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The DIY drum chandelier was just the beginning of a multitude of inexpensive, DIY projects I have coming up during the home office makeover. My to-do list is looking good!

• Paint walls gray & trim white
• Build industrial shelving with IKEA hyllis hack
• Paint abstract piece of artwork
• Paint frame of hexagon mirror white
• Make DIY lamp shade chandelier
• Hang cream curtains
• Decorate space using copper accents and multiple textures

Be sure to visit the other bloggers who are showcasing room makeovers for the One Room Challenge by clicking here!

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Since my littlest, Theo, is not really a baby anymore, we moved him into the old office downstairs and put him in a toddler bed. After liquidating all the nursery furniture (crib, changing table, etc) it’s safe to say we are done having babies. This left the nursery ready to become my husband’s new office. The room is perfect because it is right next to our master bedroom and will ensure that all the rooms upstairs are now “grown-up” spaces. I love that. This is what the nursery looked like up until this point:

The only thing we kept is the IKEA blonde shelving which I put downstairs in the playroom. The first thing I did (admittedly a while ago) is paint all the trim white. I pushed all the furniture to the middle of the room to get that job done.

What I’ve gotten done more recently is the wall color. I mixed a medium gray from leftover paint I got for free at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility. Learn how to mix your own custom paint color here.

First I prepped the room by removing outlet covers and vents. I also removed curtains and took everything I could out of the space.

The little birds I drew with Sharpie on the wall above the changing table had to go, so I put a coat of stain-blocking primer on them before painting.

Office Makeover Paint Color

After painting, the room looks a LOT different.

I think wall color makes such a big difference.

I’m already excited for the direction this room is going. For design, I wanted to show you a mood board. If you’ve never heard of a mood board, it’s a compilation of ideas, items, colors, and textures a designer wants to put together in a room. It helps give you a sense of the design and make sure things are cohesive before starting.

My mood board shows some elements I already own (like the marble/copper lamps you can see here) and some things I want to make myself (the industrial shelving and artwork).

Here’s my to-do list for this room makeover:

• Paint walls gray & trim white
• Build industrial shelving with IKEA hyllis hack
• Paint abstract piece of artwork
• Paint frame of hexagon mirror white
• Make DIY lamp shade chandelier
• Hang cream curtains
• Decorate space using copper accents and multiple textures

That’s all for today. The office makeover paint color is done and I am on to the next step. On Monday I will be back to make a DIY chandelier from a lamp shade for the office makeover. You will love how easy it is and I will post step-by-step photos!

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This is what it used to look like with the red.

If you’ve followed along the last six weeks, you’ve seen how I tackled each piece of this transformation for Calling it Home’s One Room Challenge. Here’s my to-do list with links to the posts for more info.

• Paint walls
• Paint baseboard trim white
• Place interesting decor in dining room corner
• Paint light switch & outlet covers white
• Purchase curtains for dining room window
• Paint fabric curtains with a modern design

As you can see, I unfortunately didn’t get the curtains done like I wanted. This is because I wanted to buy ceiling to floor length curtains and they are cheapest at IKEA. Unfortunately, the nearest IKEA to me is a 1.5 hour drive and I haven’t found time to accomplish that since my son Theo was born the end of April.

Here’s the picture of the kitchen with all the new WHITE. Sure, there’s a lot less color in my house, but I actually find that soothing. Although I love red in the kitchen, the white makes everything so bright.

After painting the faux marble tile back splash last spring, the red walls started to bother me. I felt like they clashed with the white back splash I had worked very hard on.

It’s kind of that old trap of home DIY: when you improve something, it highlights the other things around it that also need improving. It’s a never ending cycle, like the whole saga with my lamps.

I also feel the white shows off my back splash more and makes it look more real because it’s a subtle transition from the walls instead of stark. Painting those outlets and light switch covers white sure helped the back splash to look better, too!

If you follow my blog, you know I painted my kitchen walls when I was hugely pregnant. Let me tell you, it was not easy climbing on those counters with a big belly. BUT I’m happy to say I didn’t get hurt. I proved my husband wrong this time (he always says it’s just not a project unless I injure myself).

My favorite thing about the white is how it bounces light off the walls. It is very bright in my kitchen compared to before and our one little window looks much happier. Totally worth the four coats of paint it took to cover glossy red.

My dining room sure looks different with white walls and trim from when we initially moved in four years ago!

The corner decor for the dining room turned out so great.

My tablescape boasts a fresh lilac centerpiece from my garden.

Besides the dining room, I also gave my kitchen some touches of green for summer.

I am really enjoying cooking in here after my bright white kitchen makeover.

Thank you for visiting to check out this white kitchen makeover! Be sure to read about my recent living room makeover, too!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Do you think I made the right choice to ditch the red? Would you have picked the back splash or the red walls as the design choice to keep? Do you think the dining room looks too cold without curtains?

Visit my other posts about my white kitchen makeover and be sure to go to the hashtag #oneroomchallenge to see other blogger’s rooms!

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This bamboo vase I bought from my neighbor for $5 when she was changing her decor. I used it for a couple years because, as you remember, my house used to feature red accents. But now that I’m removing the red, I figured I would take some time to spray paint and transform this vase instead of going out to buy a new one. The can of spray paint cost me $3.87 and a large vase would’ve cost more than $20.

First I spray painted the vase glossy white and let it dry a full day. While I was out with my white spray paint, I also came at the baseboard heat registers for the newly painted white trim. If you can’t tell, my favorite spray paint (by far!) is Rust Oleum 2x Ultra Cover paint and primer.

Then I taped off lines with green FrogTape and newspaper.

I really did this wrong because I should’ve painted the silver first, then just taped off lines and painted the white. Nonetheless, I sprayed on silver to add an interesting design to the vase. To learn how to spray paint well (even in below freezing temps!) read this article.

The finished product turned out really nice. Unfortunately, at one point wind knocked the vase over and the top cracked. Hopefully that’s not too noticeable because I love this vase refresh and I still want to work with it.

The Finished Vase Refresh

I like this little bit of greenery in my dining room. It livens up the corner nicely.

My paint lines didn’t turn out completely straight on such a curved surface, but you can’t really tell. I think the vase refresh was a success!

At this point, let’s review the kitchen makeover checklist.

• Paint walls
• Paint baseboard trim white
• Place interesting decor in dining room corner
• Paint light switch & outlet covers white
• Purchase curtains for dining room window
• Paint fabric curtains with a modern design
• Perhaps buy a dining room rug
• Plan a task that doesn’t start with “P”

I also crossed off buy a dining room rug because I decided against it. Thank you for your advice on my initial ORC post! Check out the previous two posts about my kitchen makeover:

Kitchen makeover BEFORE–ORC WEEK 1
Paint wood trim white VIDEO tutorial–ORC WEEK 2

Thank you for reading! Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to keep up with more from me.

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I’m sharing a detailed tutorial today for exactly how to paint wood trim. You might be familiar with my painting process because I’ve shown you how I transform furniture. Well, it’s important to follow all the steps and paint trim the old fashioned way so that it really lasts. Methods that skip steps will chip and look bad after only a couple years. It seems all I’ve been doing this week is painting trim! If you’re joining me from the One Room Challenge, you can say hooray with me as I check that off my to-do list for my kitchen makeover.

• Paint walls
• Paint baseboard trim white
• Place interesting decor in dining room corner
• Paint light switch & outlet covers white
• Purchase curtains for dining room window
• Paint fabric curtains with a modern design
• Perhaps buy a dining room rug
• Plan a task that doesn’t start with “P”

Paint Wood Trim Tutorial

I wanted to make an easy to follow tutorial so I created a video! It’s not filmed in my kitchen where the makeover is happening, it was hard for me to set up in there with the kids and cooking and everything. So I filmed in our nursery, which is expecting its newest occupant any day now. I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing my big pregnant belly in the video, as well as my two year old son wearing a princess dress.

Video Tutorial

So to recap, there’s basically 7 steps to paint wood trim successfully.

1. Use an electric sander or coarse sandpaper to sand wood finish and remove grime.
2. Wash off the wood trim and let dry. Be sure to get sawdust out of every crevice and all the dust off.This was my water when I finished washing my trim. Yuck!
3. Prime with a stain blocking primer. I recommend Zinsser Bullseye 1-2-3 Indoor/Outdoor Primer in either quart size or gallon size. Use a precision paintbrush and drywall taping knife to eliminate the need for painters tape. I recommend the Wooster Brush and this 20″ Drywall Taping Knife. I got my drywall taping knife from my local home improvement store on sale for only $8!
4. Use high quality paint made for trim. Increased durability if you choose a paint with one or more of these qualities:
   -high gloss
   -oil based
   -enamel
5. Let paint dry for the time detailed on your paint can, usually 4 hours.
   -Oil-based paint dries inside out (dry to the touch means the wait is done)
   -Latex-based paint dries outside in (even if it feels dry, it might not be)
6. Use latex caulking to caulk seams and nail holes showing in your trim. I recommend this Acrylic Latex Caulk. You’ll want to caulk between coats of paint because dust sticks to caulk more. If you do it last, you will regret it. Painting your last coat of paint over the caulking will give you a professional finish.
   -TIP: use hot water to smooth over the latex caulking using your finger. If you happen to use silicon caulking, use rubbing alcohol.
7. Paint your second coat, being sure to smooth out brush strokes and use enough paint on the brush.

Thank you for stopping by to read! Tell me if you have tried to paint wood trim in your home or want to in the future. It is a tedious task, but worth it for sure!

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So if you are new to my blog, here’s the skinny. I live in a bi-level where you enter my home to a tiny foyer and then walk up a short number of steps to the main living space (kitchen, living room, and dining room). Our house was flipped, so a lot of it was “builder grade” because the flipper put in laminate counters, stock cabinetry, etc. They also painted every single wall the same color beige. Desperate for color, the first week we painted the nursery green and the kitchen red. Here’s what our kitchen looked like shortly after we moved in:

And here’s the dining room:

Like that picture quality? Anyway, I’ve done a few things to update these spaces since moving in, we replaced the windows and painted the window trim white the first summer. This made a huge impact! I have also purchased new bar stools and a table and chairs set over the years.

So this is with the white window and new bar stools.

The only other thing I’ve done is my tedious faux painted back splash project last spring. If you have never heard of a painted back splash, you should check out how I did it! I was seriously inspired by the blog Reality Day Dream.

So this is where my kitchen is at today. I have to be honest, since I did my faux tile, I have not loved the red. I feel like it clashes with the back splash I worked so hard on. I also have been meaning to paint the baseboard trim white to match the window trim in our upper level FOREVER and I’m finally going to do it. And of course, there’s more. My whole to-do list for the kitchen redo is as follows:

• Paint walls
• Paint baseboard trim white
• Place interesting decor in dining room corner
• Paint light switch & outlet covers white
• Purchase curtains for dining room window
• Paint fabric curtains with a modern design
• Perhaps buy a dining room rug
• Plan a task that doesn’t start with “P”

Here’s where I need your help. I’m struggling with the decision to purchase a rug. I have two little children who make an obscene mess on the dining room floor every time they eat. This is why I don’t usually place a rug under my table. However, I know a rug would really warm up the space and give it more character, not to mention comfort. Do you think I should buy a rug for my dining room? Do you have a dining room rug that you despise because you’re always cleaning it?

Thanks for visiting my blog and joining me for this kitchen redo! I hope you enjoy following along the next six weeks as I introduce projects I’m DIY-ing for the space and progress I’m making towards the final result.

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