I remember as I teenage girl how important my bedroom was. It was my sanctuary, my retreat, and my safe space. My daughter Gwyn is 15, in High School, and is needing that same space. Teenagers and kids are bombarded with so many different things these days so we felt it was important for her to have a separate space from the outside world. Somewhere she could relax, reflect, and re-set. Gwyn has dealt with some pretty hard things over the past few years including depression and self harm, so it’s vital for her to have a positive space that will make her feel comfortable and safe.

I normally have all the say when it comes to decorating and projects around out house. I have a vision and run with it, but not this time! Teenagers can be pretty opinionated and Gwyn had a few opinions and her own vision for her room. She really wanted a loft bed with space underneath for either a desk or a hang out area. She also wanted it to have a Boho/ 80’s Funk kind of vibe with the colors and design. I created a Pinterest board and began pinning lots of ideas for the loft bed, room colors, lighting, flooring, decor, etc.

Anytime we start a new project, we like to really plan out every detail as much as possible. We have found that this is the best way to save time and money. We will create sketches and take measurements, price out all the materials including tools, and we also decide what things are really important and will be must haves and what is negotiable. There are always unforeseen costs and things don’t always go as planned, but trying to work out as many of those details beforehand really helps to keep things running as smoothly as possible, especially for a big project like this one.

One of the big must haves for this room was the Murphy door. Because her room is the smallest in the house, and because of the design for the room and the way we fit the loft bed in, we had to remove the closet and rebuild it on the other side of the room. This left us with an open closet area with no doors. We could have left it open but I came across this awesome website that makes Murphy doors. I love Murphy doors not only for their functionality but for the design and aesthetic that they bring to a space. I will go into more detail and share the door we chose once it is installed and we do the room reveal.

 

 

Remodeling a bedroom is definitely more than a weekend project and we are about 80% done with the room right now. We are planning on having it finished within the next few weeks and I’m excited to share not only the final reveal, but more details on how we built the loft bed, the closet, install the Murphy door, put in the flooring, and my favorite part, decorating! I’m really excited about the end result and Gwyn is excited to not only have her new teenage retreat, but to have her room back after sleeping on the couch during the remodel! 🙂

JaxnBlvd Pinterest Boards

Murphy Doors

See you next week!

-Kim

Caulking is one of those things when working on a house project that might seem unnecessary or even a little daunting to do. It can get messy really quickly and when you are at the end of a project, you kind of just want to be done and don’t really want one more thing to do. Caulking can totally change up a space though and give it a finished look whether it’s baseboards, trim, moulding, staircase, shiplap, board and batten, etc. It’s also great on bathroom projects and outdoor projects. I’m going to show you how to caulk baseboards and this is the easiest way I have found to do it. With just a little practice, you’ll be a pro in no time! 

Supplies Needed:

Caulk – This is the kind I use the most. I prefer white over clear because it’s easier to see what you are doing. You need to make sure that it is paintable. 

Caulking Gun 

Spray Bottle 

Old Rags – You’ll need to get them wet

Scissors To Cut The Tip Off Tube Of Caulk

Start by prepping your area, make sure to wipe everything down so there is no dirt or dust. Then you are going to load your tube of caulk into the caulking gun and tighten it until it’s locked in.

Once the tube is loaded, you can cut the tip off the tube – you will want to cut as small of a hole as possible and make sure to cut it at an angle. The bigger the hole, the more caulk will come out which can result in a big mess! You can always cut the hole a little bigger if you need more, but it’s best to start out small. 

When your tube is ready to go, you simply push down the handle and run the tip along the edge of the baseboard where the baseboard meets the wall. You can do as little or as much at one time that you’d like. I usually do about 10-15 inches before I stop and do the next step. 

Grab your spray bottle and squirt the line of caulk that you just laid down and then run your finger over the line to remove any excess. Take your wet rag and run the rag over the line to smooth it out and to dry up any water. Wipe your finger on a different wet rag and move onto caulking the next line. I like to keep one rag to wipe my finger and one rag to smooth and wipe the area I’m working on. 

You can start the next line right where you left off and once you follow the steps above it will all blend in seamlessly. 

These baseboards that I’m working on will need a coat of paint after I finish caulking, but depending on your project this could be your very last step and you could be done. Check out the before and after below – such big difference! 

I’ve had quite a few people reach out and ask me about caulking so hopefully this tutorial helps! Shoot me an email or DM if you have any questions. For more links of our favorite products that we love, check out our Amazon page.

 – Kim

 

Sometimes it feels like I have a never ending list of house projects going on. And while I’m not afraid of a serious DIY project, sometimes it’s nice to do something simple and fast but gives big results. Spray painting window casings does just that! I recently added board and batten in my son’s room and painted everything white. The walls and windows all seemed to blend together so in order to make something pop, I spray painted his window casings black. Super simple and really the only part that took the longest was taping everything off. 

Supplies Needed:

Krylon Color Maxx Primer (Gray)

Rust-oleum Satin Paint and Primer In One (I used Black) 

Painters Tape

Plastic Drop Cloths – (I used 5)

Mask

Goggles 

Fan

Hair Net – (You do not want spray paint in your hair!)

I started by taping off around each window, leaving the casing exposed. Then I went back in and taped the glass. I used blue painters tape and it took about a roll and a half for the entire wall. After the windows are taped, I put one plastic dropcloth down on the floor and then taped another one to the wall, one between each window, and another above the window to create a tent. I covered the larger areas with the plastic but used the tape for the detail work. It was a bit tedious but I took my time with the detail work to make sure the lines were straight so I didn’t end up with paint in places I didn’t want. 

The grilles are the pieces that run up and across the middle of the window (to create a grid effect) The grilles on these windows are in between the glass – so there was not an actual piece of the grille that was on top to paint like the surrounding outside pieces. I still wanted these to be black and have the same look, so I taped the glass and followed the outline of the grille. I then just spray painted the actual window so it looks like the grille is painted too. It’s really just the glass that is painted but you can’t even tell unless you looked really really close. You can see in the picture below how I taped it off. 

Once everything was covered, I first used Krylon Color Maxx Primer in Gray, adding 2 coats and waiting about 15 minutes between coats. Then I used Rust-oleum Paint and Primer In One, in the color Black. I sprayed two coats of the black waiting 15 minutes between coats. I let the paint dry for another 15 minutes before removing the tape. I want the paint to still be a bit tacky when I pull it which prevents the paint from peeling. 

There you have it! Super simple DIY that makes a big impact! 

-Kim 

Part One of our Half Wall Project. After the wall was finished we were left with a hollowed out space on one side that opened up into our family room. We could have closed off the entire wall but I wanted to add 2 long shelves that ran the whole length of the space. The shelves were built out out pine and plywood – using pine for the main part of the shelf and the plywood as supporting pieces. There was room for a third shelf but I didn’t think I would be left with much height on the shelves to add decor so we went with two. I used Minwax Stain in Jacobean and American Chestnut mixing the two shades together to stain the shelves. I love the rich contrast and the way the wood shelves look against the white wall. I’m really happy with how the shelves turned out – just like I envisioned in my head!

The actual build of the wall, shiplap, and shelves came out relatively easy, and it was the styling that was harder than planned. Because the shelves are so long it was a challenge to find enough pieces and then to make everything flow together and look cohesive. I did have to take quite a few trips to Home Goods, TJMaxx, and a few thrift stores, but that is the fun part! Books are one of my favorite things to use in home decor – they are fairly inexpensive and add height, texture, and color. Second hand stores like Goodwill or Deseret Industries are my go to places for books, and I usually pay $2-$3 per book. I typically only use hardcover books because they stack better and will stand up easier. When I look for books to decorate with I am looking to see what color the hard cloth is underneath the book jacket. I always remove the book jacket anyway because they usually have pictures and large lettering. While I am picking out books at thrift stores, I will pull back the book jacket to see what color the book is. Some colors are easier to find than others, with white being really hard to find so I will always grab all the white ones I can find! For my shelves I wanted to use a rainbow of colors grouping them in different shades. I ended up with blues, greens, reds, yellows, a few neutral colors. 

 

After a few shopping trips (or seven), I finally had enough books and decor and of course a few JaxnBlvd signs to fill up the shelves. I really enjoy this part of the process and love playing around with the different pieces. I have a pretty Eclectic style so mixing colors, patterns, and textures makes my heart happy. I also have a thing for globes, I really love globes but my husband thinks we have more than enough!

 

One of my favorite parts of the build was adding in the three sconce lights. I found the lights on Amazon and had an Electrician come out and install them. He was in and out in less than an hour and it’s so great to have the extra lighting in this room!

From start to finish this was a little more than a quick weekend project, but all in all it was not a super hard one, just a little more time consuming because there were quite a few steps. Now onto the next project!

-Kim

 

 

We moved into our house 7 years ago and there were quite a few things that we would have done differently had we built the house and not bought it as is. Thankfully my husband and I love working on DIY projects together so we’ve been able to change quite a bit and put our own touches into the home. We had a half wall or pony wall that was visible from the front door and separated the front room and family room. The wall not only collected a lot of dust and became a catch all area for clutter, but our kids also loved to use it as a jungle gym. It was on our top ten list of projects and we finally got around to doing it!

We decided to shiplap the wall that faces the front room, completely covering the cutout that opened up into the family room. On the opposite wall we added shiplap and long shelving so it would almost be like a built in bookshelf. We have shiplapped several other areas in our home and used several different approaches so we have a pretty good feel for what works best.

Curtis used 2×4’s to frame out the opening of the wall and he cut the 45 degree decorative angles, leaving the edges square. It was amazing how much better it looked right away! The 2×4’s were installed flush with the wall so the MDF shiplap boards could go right over the opening on the wall to cover it.

Materials needed:

-1/2 inch MDF Wood – Lowes is our favorite hardware store and they will rip your wood down for free. They supply all of the lumber for JaxnBlvd and we have always had a great experience working with them!

-Nail Gun and Nails

-Router and Router Bit

-Chop Saw or Miter Saw

-Stud Finder

-Level

-Caulk

-Sandpaper

-2×4’s if covering a half wall

We like using 1/2 inch MDF, it’s not too heavy and not too expensive. We routed all of the edges and sides which allowed us to butt the boards against right up against each other and still give a shiplap look – almost like tongue and groove but much more affordable. Using MDF can be messy, especially when using a router. Sawdust gets everywhere! We usually cut our boards for shiplap to be 7 inches wide but decided to cut the boards for this wall at 11 inches wide to save a little time on this project. We always like to remove the baseboards before starting and we work from the bottom up.

I wanted a clean, seamless look but ultimately decided I didn’t want to put in the work to create that look. It would involve a lot of caulking and sanding and that was not something I was interested in. In order to create a pattern that would not look busy but would still look clean , Curtis used he same 3 cuts and rotated placement on the walls. We also cut the ends at a 45 degree angle and this helped the boards fit together really well and look seamless on the edges.

I’m often asked how I’m able to complete so much so quickly. We plan out our projects 100% from start to finish and we gather all the materials we need so we can work, work, work as much as possible without stopping. My husband works really fast and is great about at not stopping until it’s done. If I am not tending to the kids then I am working right along side him. For this project, I spent several hours routing the boards for the shiplap so he could work on the rest of the project. We work really well together and pretty quickly with only minimal fighting 🙂

I can’t wait to share the finished product with you, so check back next week for the reveal!

-Kim