Home Transformation

Our First Total Gut Job

  It's been a pretty crazy two months

The first thing we wanted to do was the kids room and bathroom. We lived on air mattresses in the kitchen and living room! We currently have our playroom couch behind our living room couch, but hopefully our garage turned playroom will be done soon!

 This was the original closed off view from our front door. We opened it up which means we will have to do a little better job of keeping it cleaned.

We spruced up the entry way a tad. The door people messed up on measuring. Instead of waiting another few weeks, Wes offered to buy the door at a big discount, trimmed the bottom a little, and installed it himself. This saved A LOT!!

 The hallway was blown open and the ladders give it a nice touch!

I stained a lot of wood...

I still have a couple door frames to stain, but I needed a break!

The kids bath had wallpaper falling off the wall. We lifted the ceiling over the tub and found tile that was discontinued at just 50 cents a piece!

As much as we loved the green and white sink, we decided to get a little bigger one. Avery is not excited about sharing a sink with Zane, but I have a feeling she will survive.

We removed one of the master closets in order to get me my tub...

 Doing this made the tiny master bathroom into a tight, but full master bath. We need to order the glass shower surround. That's our goal for this weekend!

 We are still working on our bathroom (mirror, light, staining vanity), but I like being able to close it off from our bedroom. I'm not a fan of open concept when it comes to bathrooms!

We still have some little random things we need to finish, but most of the living space is complete. We are now working on the big jobs of converting a garage to a playroom and then having a new garage built. We have decided to be the general contractors so we will see how that process goes!!

I Give This Kitchen Makeover a C-

 Drab and Dreary to Hello Skittles

Here it was when we moved in

It definitely needed some brightening up in the paint department as well as the floor

It needed color in the cabinets as well as blinds and a curtain. I have walked around in the kitchen at night nearly naked many times with an uncovered window. Oops.

Then the task of making a valance. Love the fabric but hate the satin trim. I wanted cotton bias tape but it didn't come in the thick size. It looks like it came off a bridesmaid's dress. It will be changed...eventually.

I didn't like these two pictures on a huge wall with a long table, so I thought throwing up a painting would help. It didn't.

So then I thought I'd try a bunch of un-windexed mirrors. They hang high, but our chairs are tall and its a narrow space back there. Does it need more? Does it look too much like skittles and I just need to start all over???

I'm thinking the valance will be changed to match the table runner. The orange is slightly better, although I'm wishing I had done black. Again...skittle-ish?

 I recovered the barstool's and need to have the rug narrowed down, but that will be...eventually. Welcome to my Willy Wonka's Kitchen. I think I over did it. I HATE decorating.

Oh, and here is the kid's bathroom finished window treatment. Should it have been longer??

Oh well

And the here's the hanging artwork. 

I thought it was a tad more masculine for Zane than the original hanging bow.

 Yes. One mirror is hanging lower. It'll be fixed...eventually...

Designer Challenge

I HAVE NO CLUE!

I get frustrated decorating. I can sew some, paint a little, but having a vision of what goes well together? I got nothin. Just look at my living room...the one place I would like to look nice, resembles a garage sale. Anyway...

I bring you our guest bath. We are not redoing this shower anytime soon, so what are the options? Can you spray paint the brass doors? Or can you get a shower curtain for a non-tub shower? I know the white shelf above the toilet will be a gonner, and the old blue towels do not match the more muted tones. But...

 Would you change these walls? They had a professional texture/painter guy do this stuff before moving. I'd hate to cover it completely. I bought the rug, which had that color in it, hoping it would make it look a little better. Did it work?!?

Thankfully there was already a framed mirror. No hitting glass with hammers will be necessary, but this is still short of luxurious...and given the kid's bath was kinda crazy, I thought I'd be a tad more sophisticated with this one? 

 So, these walls, what would you do? leave them? Get rid of it? Add stripes of another color/s? Paint the woodwork?

I'd LOVE ideas!!

Kid's Bath Redo...Finally

 Its only been 2 years...

This is the kids' colorful bathroom. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so the orange is from playroom, blue is from living room accent wall, and the light grey/white is from main living area. Not in love with the triple photo frame hanging, but I had it, so used it. I painted the little canvases to match the shower curtain. I just need to get a thick matching green ribbon to hang it with instead of the clear.

(PS. I didn't feel like cleaning dried toothpaste off the counter, drawers, and everywhere else for that matter just to take a picture. I did flush the toilet and remove dirty underwear for you though. You're welcome).

I also would LOVE to make a "boxed" type valance (no clue what the technical term in) with this awesome material if I get time this weekend!

Wes did an awesome job shattering and tearing down the GLUED wall mirror and then texturing behind it. He added the towel rods, and helped me hang the mirrors.

I think I will add more blues and bright greens to the painting. Other than that. I think I love it, even if it's crazy and makes the value of our house go down!!

Now for a question. Would you paint the cabinets the greyish/white since the granite is black? I wouldn't want to paint any of the other wood around the walls or the baseboards, so I'm not sure if that's a big no no or not? I'm just wondering if it would brighten it a tad? Would love thoughts.



Decorating/Painting The New Home

For some reason, people assume I'm great at home decorating because I'm "so creative."
Well, I promise you I'm not! There is nothing more overwhelming to me than decorating a home. I'm impatient and just end up throwing stuff together so I can be done. I start many projects but get frustrated/overwhelmed and move on to something else.

Just to prove to you all how unamazing I am at decorating...here is some proof!

I have painted our previously blah looking living room. I tried to brighten it up with a very light "popular grey" but decided to try something crazy and have a blue accent wall! We got rid of the hideous entry way wallpaper and painted it green. It looked very choppy, unputtogether, and nonflowy until I came across this awesome clock at hobby lobby. It kinda helps tie it all together, but I'm still very unsure of how this looks. Since taking that picture, I have updated my shelves a little (on one side!) but I'm worried it's starting to look like a gumball machine with all these bright colors?! On a good note, I've finally replaced a picture of me and my sisters from high school with a picture of my nephew! He has not made it onto my shelf until almost turning 6. He should feel special though, the others still haven't made it yet! haha. I'm working on it!! I also replaced our 4 year old family picture with one that is only 2 years old. Progress.I tried hanging up something in our entry way, but Wes thinks it's a flop. Is it? Would it be better if I painted the picture frame red, orange, or that same blue color? Or, should I take it all off and start over?! Because I was sick of looking at empty walls, but didn't have a clue what to do, I decided to brouse Uppercase Living and possibly went overboard (pictured above and below)?!
(Craigslist never lets us down. We got ourselves a TV the kids can actually see now. Wes just needs to get the electric outlet behind the TV working so the ugly hanging cord can be hidden!)More Uppercase Living. Would you believe I still have one more to hang up?!

This was a Ross find this week. I don't know if it looks good, but I no longer have an empty corner. This room has changed a little. We weren't crazy about the blue curtains and I wanted burnt orange. Wes said he had found some, but they are more of a brickish color!! It'll work, I guess. Yes, that was in fact a random side table with an outdoor flower pot under it. I have no idea what to do with it.

Now on to a project that is VERY SLOW GOING, but hope to have it completed sometime in 2012!! It's my craftroom/my little sister's temporary closet... I love the rug though!! Here's the other side of the room...

Just in case you feel like your decorating/unpacking/organizing skills are terrible. I've now made a tag for my House Updates to prove that you are not alone and in fact I may be worse!!!!

Quick Crafting

Welcome to my craft room. This picture was taken after my little sister had cleaned/organized for an entire day! It looks better now, but not complete by any means. I would love a black futon and black/white rug if anyone has one they want to sell!!! She sure is good at organizing...

It's been so long since I've made anything that my body was going into withdrawal mode. This past month, I got my little crafting fix taken care of!
I threw together this little bandana dress for Avery. Not real summery but it's one of those "whatever I could find" dresses. I wanted to make a matching headband and necklace. That necklace was literally a throw together with no rhyme or reason and I kinda like it! I wanted to try out a three stranded necklace. I thought the strands were a little too close for how chunky the beads were but I still like it! I tried making my sis-in-law one more spread out but I think it's a little too far apart! My little sister found a picture of a necklace she wanted and it was priced at $160!!!!! Do people really pay that? Anyway, I made her a look a like. I decided I do like the strands closer together after all and I prefer the ribbon instead of the clasp!

These are so easy people, please do not pay $100+ for a necklace...unless you want to give me that much!

Finished a little more...

I finished one corner! I'd really like to paint a swinging monkey on the opposite corner where the gymnastics bar is...but I'm thinking that won't happen...
I'd like to get a bigger TV for the wall also, that little TV just doesn't cut it.

This is what the room looked like before... Zane has been keeping busy while I paint by playing outside in the mud or pulling out toys that never get played with like bendaroos...
I tend to like eyeballs that are bigger than the yellow balls.

This is the room I'm working on now! I'm hoping to finish it soon.

Since I know you wanted a better look at the insanely huge plant...

Both over-sized items are out, tile is laid, new door is installed, paint is up...we just need drywall/texture in a small area and curtains!!