Living & Dining Phase II: Greiging.

I've been working hard at balancing teaching and working my second job, thankfully I've gotten some time to really work on my living and dining room re-do plan. I've got all of the walls painted! Yay! I actually managed to do it all in one day over Spring Break. I was quite tired after that however.

Remember what it looked like before?

Peanut butter, peanut butter on my walls.

Before I could really break out the rollers and paint brushes I had to patch all the nail holes I could in the walls.... um there was a lot...

Here's just one spot in the dining room... hehe. oops.

I just used this spackling paste that I had on hand. I prefer to not buy things if I don't have to.

I also tried to finish up our patching of the cracks in the wall. My dad always does a better job but here's the best "before" color and "after" new color picture that I took. I freakin love it.

Sebastian not a big fan of all the changing around... the house was destroyed the entire time.... he no like that.

The ceiling looks so dingy after the new color was in place (notice that I even painted the fire alarm by the doorway so it blends in?? It's AWESOME.)

Did I mention it was destroyed in the house? The walls take on different colors throughout the day. It's a greige so it has grey and neutral tan tones in it. I love it because it's just so versatile.

I started to put a few things back together the other day but here's the progress so far.... The ceilings have been killer to paint, same with the trim, but once the whole thing is done and updated it will be so completely worth it!

Phew! Hopefully within a few weeks I can get you the ceiling updates as well as start doing bigger projects in the dining room and living room. But no lie this has been pretty epic. I think it totally modernizes and changes the look and feel of my house. Love it!

Insta-ness

This has been a pretty wild month and I thought that I would send out a little shout to my favorite app of all time... Instagram! I love it totally. I'm constantly snapping pictures with my doggie and kittans. Here's a grid of just a few of my favorites:

I know it's a little crazy that I included a picture of a boy up there at the top but he's really nice and I like him. So we'll see. But my birthday celebration was a total blast... I ended up having a better time at that then at my 21st birthday party! Pretty fabulous. Pouka has been working on her bloggy skills while I've been teaching and working on some major house projects!


Here's a picture from my birthday of my awesome-somewhat-inappropriate-tiara...

This is how we spend late nights at our house... painting nails and napping...

More pup pictures!

Hope everyone is having a happy Wednesday so far! Feel free to follow me on the ole instagram action (user name @missmcds) Yay!

Free Furniture Re-do!

I am relieved to announce that I have finally, for the first time in about four months, done a re-do worth blogging about! Yay! Let's just say I've been super crazy busy with this whole graduation thing, college ending thing, student teaching thing, and working thing. It happens. But! Back to the redo.

My parents picked up this buffet/dresser/furniture thing on the side of the road. For Free! I love people's garbage sometimes. I have been looking forward to being able to put my coffee pot and other items in something (remember my house has zero storage) and this was perfect!

And free.  But ugly.

The top of the buffet was a little rough.... It had some anti slip contact paper that they put on it right after painting it. Not good. It stuck to the top. I sanded as much off as I could...

The only part that wouldn't really come off is that ring part. Oh well. I used the paint that I had already from my cabinets (read: free) and painted the top and sides...

While Lucy-kitten explored...

I actually kind of liked the hardware it came with.... It was a cool vintage bronze and so I kept it. I figure I can just replace it later if I decided. I free handed some chevron stripes across the whole thing. I accidentally painted the bottom drawer upside... my bayyy-d.

And I placed it in it's new little home in the back of the dining room! My table is a mess. Don't look at that. But my new buffet is totally cute!

 

Total investment?

Zero Dollars.

My kind of project! Yay!

Linking up with: House of Hepworths Lil' Luna

Little Touches

My kitchen reno is coming along nicely! All of the cabinets are painted, along with the counters and hardware. Yup. Fantastic. There was just one little thing with the cabinets that needed some serious finishing...

The toe kicks.

Here's a shot of the toe kicks before.... 

We used just regular trim molding for the toe kicks and of course painted them white! (Ignore the gap, I plan on putting more trim around the dishwasher to make it look a little better.) I bought two long things of molding from Lowe's for $7.20 a piece and made a total of 6 cuts for the entire kitchen. 

Here's a wider shot of the new toe kicks...

And a little closer....

Definitely dresses up the kitchen and gives it a far more finished look. Plus it blends really well with the molding in the living room which gives it that cohesive look that I love so much!


The cats are in love with the new kitchen rugs.... I dunno why but they just roll around all over em.

Here's a final shot of the cabinets with the new toe kicks in. Looks awesome! Yay! :)

Half a Whole

It is three days into the semester and I am already swamped! Luckily it is my last "real" semester on the college campus! Next semester starting in August I will be doing student teaching in a ninth grade English classroom! Just have to survive this semester.

And get a 4.0.

No pressure.

This weekend to celebrate our last semester at Colorado Mesa my friends and I had a "Pre-Semester Ladies Night" at one of our favorite downtown spots! (Left to right; Chelsey, Katrina, and me!) The quality of the photo isn't so fabulous but it was a really fun night!

Now meet my new kitchen rugs! I bought them at Lowe's on clearance. 26.99 a piece. Still cheaper then the big rug I was going to settle for from online. I think they're pretty awesome! I love the dark blue and the moroccan pattern makes me feel like dancing! 

They are really durable too because they are made from wool, which is good for such a high traffic area.

The old knobs from the drawers were not going back into the kitchen. First of all they were ugly, and second they were broken. So I splurged and bought this great little drawer pulls, also from Lowe's, for 2.99 a piece.

Insta-improvement don't you think?

They look so awesome! My roommate helped me attach them because I strained my wrist... again.... dang it. But! How classy do they look? Totally classy!

The in progress kitchen was looking a little bit stressed out. Eek. I was also deep cleaning the stove. PS. Not a pleasant experience.

Though you can see how it is starting to look a little better with each door that is added on! I have also been doing a bit of reorganization which is really helping with the space. I keep finding things I didn't know that I had. Like 6 muffin tins. I've never even made muffins. Hmmm lol.

The right side isn't looking quite as fabulous... I have to move the fridge to paint the rest of the cabinets, which isn't a big deal but I figure when I move the fridge I need to have the paint to paint the wall that is behind it. Which I don't have. Hence random side not painted. lol.

But! look at it now! So beautiful!! The hardware is all painted oil-rubbed bronze. Total investment for hardware? 16.00. and that is just for the drawer pulls. I already had the paint and the handles are original same with the hinges, which are also spray painted. Looks FANTASTIC!! And it really is starting to blend in with the laundry room now.

Plus I did the dishes. Hehe.

Part of the project I still have to do. Put in new toe-kicks. They've been missing since the flood in 2009. Hate to rush into things.

My paint color for the walls is going to be the middle one on the paint sample. Bye-Bye orangey-peach-toasted-coconut!

Filling these little cubbies with vintage crystal champagne glasses and ball jars filled with wine corks. I love mixing vintage with some modern elements. I'm still in love with Ball jars no matter what though!

Ahhhh soooo prettyyyy!

This stove fan thing doesn't even work. And it looks awful. Bisque. I have bisque. That one I'm still trying to figure out. Spray paint it? See if I can replace it somehow? Who knows.

Broken ceiling lights. It's a better view of the huge fixtures. I still have to figure out how to get some new ones... maybe that BOTH work. lol.

 This is the not done side. The doors are mostly finished. Just need to do a few more coats of white on the lower cabinet boxes before I put the doors back on.

A picture of both Pouka and Lucy together! Though Lucy looks a bit malevolent...

Pouka is my princess kitten. She is also very spoiled. But I love her A lot.!

Still have to paint this part of under the cabinets... Right now it's all white like the rest but I was contemplating doing some sort of stenciling or something just to add some character. I've scouted out some really cute Martha Stewart ones at Michael's. Plus... I have coupons!

The lighting sucks in this picture but you can sort of see how all the white is starting to blend together. Makes it feel really open and cohesive. Which is what we were going for anyways!

These stools are going to need a little love soon! They are the most used seats in the house though. They often get used as shelving, end tables, table legs, and ladders. They aren't fancy but they are definitely sturdy!

Disadvantage to being tall in my house. You can't see anybody's head through the cabinet pass through. But it is nice to have! We'll be replacing those stilt things so they look less ghetto and more purposeful.

Check out the side by side comparison! It's not done but it's already a hugeeee difference! Ahhh the power of a $30 dollar gallon of paint!