Valerie’s Reclaimed Life

“Cottage” Closet Makeover

April 28, 2021 valeriesreclaimedlife

Making over my daughters closet was really just a trial run for my own master bedroom closet. Not that she didn’t need it. I just needed to build up my confidence a bit.

Unfortunately when we moved in she only had two clothing racks in her closet, one on each side.

This was a poor use of the space. She is a 30 yr old woman with all of the clothes that a woman of her age has and seems to accumulate more all of the time. So I wanted to try to use the space better.

The first thing that I did was sketch out a plan. I measured the height, back wall and side wall to door. Then sketched out my plan for the built part.

On the opposite wall my plan was to have two clothing racks. I googled how high my lower and upper would be.

So once I figured out where my double racks went I got to work. I removed the racks from both sides and inserted them exactly as they were installed in their new locations. The first was places 40″ from the floor and the upper was at 80″ from the floor. I located where the studs were and secured my support boards to those locations and reinstalled my shelfs. Easy peasy!

For the build wall. I used 3/4 ” Sande Plywood. I purchased (2) 4×8 boards and asked Home Depot if they would cut them into 3rds lengthwise. Doing this made it easier for me to handle (3/4″ plywood is heaaavy in 4×8 sheets). This gave me a total of 4 boards 16″ each and 2 at 15 1/2 “. Apparently the saw shaves off some of the wood. LOL Maybe this is obvious and actually made sense as I looked at the saw dust on my garage floor but at the time I couldn’t figure it out. DUH. This was ok though because I need some shelves for her hall shoe closet ( more on that later) and those measure 15 1/2 ” x 19.

The depth of my build was 16″ so getting my boards cut this way worked perfectly!

Next I made my cuts .

(1) 16″ x 35.5″ – top shelf
(2) 16″ x 66.25″ – shelf sides
(3) 16″ x 17″- shelves

I left 30″ at the bottom of the shelves to store her laundry basket.

I used liquid nails to help secure the board to the side wall and used my brad nailer to also secure it to the studs. I used one of my cut shelves as a spacer to make sure that the next board was the correct distance so that i could secure the upper shelves to the walls. I forgot to mention that I used a Kreg pocket hole jig to create pocket holes for the shelves to be secured to the sides.

Can you sense how excited I was!

Now I primed and painted it in the paint that I have been using for all of my projects. Behr “Alpaca Blanket”

To add those cottage touches to this closet

hung a mirror

We had a full length mirror that was wobbly and in the corner of her room. I removed it from the base and hung it on the wall.

2. I added the accordion holder to hold belts, necklaces, etc.

3. I used baskets to hold her handbags and other items on the top shelves.

4. I applied rub and buff in antique gold to her light fixture.

Check out my YouTube Channel for more on how I made this closet happen !

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The Kids Thanksgiving Table and Fun Activities

November 17, 2020November 19, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

When I was able to host Thanksgiving at my home a few years ago, I thought it would be fun for the kids to decorate the kids table. This was on my original blog valeries homemade home. That was a lot of fun and the kids were mesmerized by the effort that was put in.

This year the kids are quite a bit older and I wanted to do something a bit different that didn’t cost a ton of money.

The tablecloth was found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $18! What a deal! The chargers I had originally purchased at Walmart and had stored away. I found the teal plates at the Dollar Tree and everything else I already had. The turkey plates you might have noticed from my original Thanksgiving Table many years back. These were purchased at Pottery Barn kids and I pull them out every year for everyday meals in the month of November.

What I am most excited about is the little QR code on the Turkey place card holder.

When you point your phone camera at the code you will be instructed to open the document, just like you do in restaurants these days.

The first few times that I tried it but i think that the document has been getting a lot of hits so it may take a while to get into. I hope you are able to get in, its a lot of fun.

The second activity I made is a scavenger hunt.

thanksgiving-day-scavenger-hunt Download

The kids and adults have fun with this activity. For the entire hunt, be sure to download the document above. My plan is to cut the paper down the middle and use the right side of the paper as the clues and left side is the instructions. Have Fun!

I can’t wait until Thanksgiving! I hope that you will be able to enjoy this Holiday with your family! Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of Love,

XO Valerie

Christmas, diy

DIY Christmas Fireplace

November 3, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

“When you’re 20 you care about what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks and when you turn 60 you realize that no one was thinking about you in the first place” Winston Churchill

When my local Fusion paint retailer mentioned that ROYCYCLED Papers was having a decoupage contest and suggested that I enter.

Every excuse that I have used in the past came roaring through my head. You’ll never win….Its too expensive to enter….you’ll probably forget, (I mean honestly who needs to worry about anyone else when I can do an awesome job at self sabotage myself) however, right after those excuses came I can build, I can DIY, I am creative, and the biggest one of all GOD is on my side…”WHY NOT!” I blurted out ” I’ll do it!” before I could talk myself out of it I was excited and ideas came flooding through my head. I grabbed a few of the papers that she sold and got to work.

I have been making a few of these faux fireplaces lately and they have turned out pretty well. So I decided that I would use one as my canvas for the papers.

I also knew that I wanted to use some of the new Christmas Moulds that IOD had just introduced so after some searching around I found the “Boughs of Holly” moulds in Tomball, TX.

I started with a sheet of 3/4″ plywood cut to 4′ x 4′ and attached everything to that using a bradnails and liquid nails.

I used a 1x 12 for the top cut to 4′ and (2) 1x 10 cut to 3′ for each side.

I had scrap shiplap from my shiplap wall project. I had purchased these bundles at the Habitat for Humanity Restore.

I also picked up the mantle and the decorative hearth? Is that what its called? I don’t know all I know is that it is a piece of very wide base board that I turned upside down. Check out my build from my YouTube channel and you can see how I put it together.

I don’t mean to give away the ending but I didn’t win :-(. LOL…I don’t even mind, really. It was so much fun and I can’t wait for the next one. I learned how to decoupage….well kinda. I am still learning, but I stepped outside of my comfort zone and now I am hooked! Isn’t it great!

If you have any questions ask away. I am sure that I missed a few things. Until the next project…Have a great week!

Lots of Love,

XO Valerie

Uncategorized

DIY Board and Batten Stairwell

October 28, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

After I saw how easy it was to do this to my entry, I couldn’t wait any longer to get started on my stairwell. I wanted to make sure that I figured it out correctly so I downloaded an app on my IPad Pro called Morpholio Trace.

This app allowed me to take a picture of my wall or a room and would give me grid lines so that I could try to correctly sketch out how my battens would look. I have seen on Pinterest so many different ideas for board and batten. I have seen it go to the ceiling….with large grid patterns.. and so many other patterns that I knew that I needed to keep it simple. My whole reason for doing this to my walls was to add detail and add paint without having to paint up to the 20′ ceiling. After taking the pictures of my stairwell and seeing how it would look I made my plan.

I used the 1/8″ hard board as the background, just as I did for the entry wall. This allowed me to have a smooth surface to paint on.

The bottom landing board was roughly 3′ x 3′ and the other boards going up the stairs and on the middle landing are 2′ w. As you can see from the picture the bottom baseboard was lower than the stair boards so the extra height allowed them to match up.

Ehem…now going up the stairs. If I were to recommend that you do anything differently it would be that you mark out were your batten spacing would be so that when you attach the last hard board going up the stairs you could then cut that at the place and in the angle of the batten that would cover it. I didn’t do that on mine and while you don’t really see it anymore it would have saved me a lot of time in floating joint compound so that it would be covered up.

I attached the hardboard with liquid nails and added 1 x 6 as my top horizontal board. I then attached 1×4 boards as my end vertical boards (Just as I did on my entry wall). I then cut 1×3 boards for my battens and spaced at 16″ OC. Which is the center of one board to the center of the next board.

Once all of the boards where attached with a nail gun I used painters caulk and primed the walls. I once again painted with Behr “Alpaka Blanket”!

It adds so much character to that big white wall.

If you get a chance check out my YouTube channel and please subscribe while you’re there. I have posted a quick video on this and many other things I’ve been working on.

Thanks so much reading and have a great day!

Lots of Love,

XO Valerie

DIY Board and Batten Stairwell

Recipes

Our Halloween Meal Tradition with a Keto Twist

October 24, 2020October 24, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

So for the longest time I have been making a special Halloween meal for my kids and family. It has normally consisted of spaghetti and eyeballs (aka meatballs) with breadsticks that look like witches fingers. This year since I am trying to be low carb / keto I thought I would try to make a few substitutions and see if my guys will like it.

I used a recipe I found for meatballs and substituted the breadcrumbs for pork rinds and added a black olive to the middle to look like an eyeball. If you look up the recipe you will see that i made a few other substitutions as well. I added parmesan as the cheese instead of romano and left out the garlic. (my grandson thinks its spicy) /https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/40399/the-best-meatballs/

After splitting the spaghetti squash, I removed the seeds and brushed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I then baked at 400 until browned and softened. When ready remove from oven and peel away the squash from the peel with a fork.

Witches fingers

The recipe for this is a basic fat head dough

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

2 T cream cheese

Italian seasoning

shreaded parmesan cheese

pesto

1 egg

3/4 cup of almond flour

handful of sliced almonds – for fingernails

combine mozzarella and cream cheese and microwave for 1 minute. mix and microwave for 30 more minutes. add egg, almond flour, italian seasoning and pesto. Form long finger shape on silicone baking sheet, ceramic dish or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. add parmesan cheese, more pesto and almond slivers for nails and bake until golden brown.

They were so much better than the breadsticks I used to make. I have to say that this dinner was a huge success!

Thanks for checking this recipe out and I hope you have an awesome Halloween!

XO Valerie

About Me

Hello World It’s Me Valerie

October 14, 2020October 14, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

So where to begin? I am going to be 50 in February…yikes! I think if you asked my 16 yr old self what I wanted to do with my life, I would have said I wanted to be a buyer for a department store or own my own shop, but I always knew that I wanted to do something creative with my life. I figured that i would have a husband and kids but that was something that would happen later. Well (clear my throat) add 4 years, 2 children and a divorce and I was well into the first part of my life and It wasn’t exactly go the way that I always envisioned. I have no complaints though. During that time I learned what I was capable of, what I could do on my own, how creative I actually could be and not to mention frugal. I learned how to get what I wanted on a small budget. These days because of all of that I am the person that my family calls if they want something fixed, built or installed. I told myself that when I am financially able to I am going to buy brand new furniture, but you know what I realized? When I was able to I didn’t like it as much as the headboard I built from a door or the dresser I painted. Now here I am 50 and while I may be able to buy new, I prefer the thrifted and painted furniture and the self made artwork for my home or the reclaimed items that I have made new again.

This reclaimed life is not just about tangible things but about doing more things and meeting more people. Not just talking about it but being about it. I am going to start a business! I am going to write a blog! I am going to have a YouTube channel! I am going to get more involved, whether its in my church or my community! I am going to go on adventures like take an RV on the longest yard sale, be part of the Junk Gypsy’s Junk-O-Rama Prom at Round Top, TX’s Antique Week Festival. I am going to live the life I have always imagined and document the whole dang thing!

I hope that you will follow me and come along for this next adventure.

XO Valerie

Uncategorized

A little about me :-)

September 28, 2020October 14, 2020 valeriesreclaimedlife

I am a single mother ( can you say that when your kids have flown the coop?) well I waaaas a single mother. The kids are grown now and mostly moved out (my daughter and grandson live upstairs). The reason I mention this is because money was always tight and my décor relied heavily on hand me downs and thrift store finds. I had to be resourceful when decorating, unless of course it was tax refund time ;-). I had even grabbed things from the side of the road a time or two and this started my love for repurposing and rehabbing furniture for my home. I often surprised myself with how much charm these things added to my home, so much so that I began to document it in my first blog Valerie’s Homemade Home. There were many reasons why I didn’t keep up with that blog, the kids moved back in… then out… and then I sold my house. That actually was probably the biggest reason I didn’t keep up with it, I lost my inspiration. Then a few years went by and more life happened. Now I am at a point in my life when I needed to settle in somewhere again and stop living in limbo, so I bought a new home!

Its in a great location and conveniently located close to my mom and brother. I also have a grandson now and want a place to be at home in. He already tells me how much he loves our home :-).

I will be 50 yrs in February and hope to start a business doing what I love, that I will hopefully be doing for the next half of my life. This is what this blog is about, rediscovering what I am capable of and sharing it all with you. Thanks for reading and hopefully joining me on this adventure. My two worlds will more than likely intersect (my precast concrete sales and my youtube/blogger life) and I plan on taking you there with me. So sign up and subscribe to both my YouTube channel and this blog and let’s be friends!