Easy Peasy Key Rack

The last time my parents came down for a visit my dad walked into the house and said 'you guys need a key rack' A few days later The Husband's mom (aka my mother in law) came over and said 'you guys need a key rack'. True story. 

So we made a key rack. An easy peasy one. 

What you'll need:

- A Mirror or Picture Frame

- Painter's Tape (I used Frogtape because that's what we had laying around)

- Paint and Paint Brushes

- Hooks and Screws

- A Husband (or someone comfortable with operating a drill. I am not, so I used my husband for this step)

- A drill

We used the Malma mirror from Ikea for the back of the key rack. Our hooks are also from Ikea, I can't find them online though. 

To paint the diagonal stripes I used painter's tape. I just eyeballed the angle to be as close to 45 degrees as I could. I then taped over the whole mirror with diagonal tape, using full pieces to go all the way across the mirror and butting the next tape stripe right next the adjacent tape stripe so they could later be peeled off with out disturbing the tape that I wanted left on. I then peeled off every other piece of tape. Looking back I probably should have taken better pictures of this step. Sorry! Once you've peeled off every other stripe your mirror should look like this:

I bought Martha Stewart craft paint for this project. I picked Beach Glass (aqua), Deep Sea (navy), Pollen (yellow), and Chipotle (red). Once I had the stripes painted on I didn't like how the chipotle worked with the rest of the colors so I switched it out for Benjamin Moore's Adobe Orange. I had that paint on hand already so it was a quick fix. 

Tip: Before painting use a credit card (or something similar) to press down the edges of the tape to make sure it seals really good so you don't get any seepage. I went over each piece of tape a few times pressing fairly hard to make sure the tape was good and stuck. 

As soon as I was done painting and I had enough coats on (I let the paint dry to the touch in between coats) to get the coverage I wanted I peeled the tape off. 

The husband then attached the hooks along the bottom. He used 1/2" screws (the hooks we got from Ikea didn't come with screws) to attach the hooks to the bottom of the mirror. He measured and spaced the hooks out evenly (which, with the Malma mirror was about 2" apart) and then drilled a hole for each hook and then screwed the hooks in with a screwdriver. This took him maybe 10 mins. 

The Malma has a predrilled hole on the back for hanging but because we are going to hang keys on it we needed to two holes, or hangers (which is what we used) on the back. Otherwise when you go to hang one set of keys the whole rack will tilt. That's not really what we wanted. So The Husband attached two picture hanger hooks to the top two corners of the back of the mirror so we could safely and securely attach it to the wall. 

The hangers we used on the back of the mirror (we only used two though)

And that's all there is to it.

How Easy Peasy was that?!

Getting Down To Business - Office Makeover Series

The Husband and I are both self employed with a home based business. So we need a space to work, otherwise known as an office. Until our basement is finished (which won't be happening for awhile) we both have to share an office in one of our spare bedrooms. Buying a desk from an office supply store just wasn't an option. We wouldn't have found a desk to fit in our spare bedroom that would give enough workspace for the two of us. Plus it would be quite a bit cheaper to DIY the desk and that way we could get exactly what we wanted.

When planning out our new office space I, like any rational person, turned to Pinterest for some inspiration, or pinspiration, if you will.

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I like how this desk has the option for some extra desk space but isn't always taking up valuable floor space.

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Seeing as the office will also function as a second spare bedroom for now we like the idea of a murphy bed. Guests come over: voila, we have a bed. No guests: No bed = open spacious office. It's the perfect solution. 

We took into consideration what we all wanted in an office and this is what we came up with:

We decided to add some movable tables underneath each desk area like in the first inspiration pic. We both liked the idea that if we need more desk space because we are working with large scale drawings we can pull out the extra table. If we don't need the extra space the tables can stay put under the desk.  

In our situation I feel a murphy bed is a necessity. We decided to camouflage it as a full height cabinet with a panel that we can utilize as a whiteboard. 

The open shelving will allow quick access to reference manuals and help keep the room look larger and more open.

Magnet boards and hanging pen/office supply storage should hopefully help keep our desks clutter free. 

What do you think of our new office space?

Have you given your office a makeover recently?

Anything we should add to our office?

Is it spring yet?

I am ready for green leaves, flip flops, drinks on a patio, the smell of a freshly cut lawn, not wearing a jacket and boots everywhere. I am ready for Spring. Instead our yard still looks like this:

I am so sick of winter. I am ready for the warmer days ahead.