I've owned my house for quite awhile now and feel like I've done a lot of upgrades. But sadly most of them I did before discovering the blogging world, so I didn't "do it as a I went" I thought it would be fun to highlight some of my big projects and some of my favorite projects. That might light my fire to pick up a paint brush again. or something.
1. Kitchen. The kitchen overhaul was my number one favorite favorite thing. (Besides installing wood floors rather than uglio carpet that was originally there.) This is what the kitchen looked like before. Clean. Dated. Nasty. Ew.
The kitchen had everything from the handles spray painted... to the cabinets painted... to the walls painted... to the countertops. It got real painted all up in there.
Installing wallpaper backsplash from Lowe's was also an awesome money saving solution and made it actually look pretty.
Here's a comparison of the before... and after. Way better in my opinion!
Total cost: $300.00
Total time: 10 days
find all the details: painting the cabinets here, painting the countertops here, see how i added little details here, tile backsplash here, accessories here and here,
2. Guest Bathroom. My second favorite project I actually did quite awhile ago... almost two years I think... might be time for some switcheroos! But anyways. This guest bathroom has undergone at least three transformations. The most recent one being from a baby blue nursery with the same dated cabinets as the kitchen to an elegant, relaxing space.
Here's what it looked like back in 2008:
Here's what it looked like back in 2008:
And in 2010-2011:
Everything in this room got a face lift. The countertop was replaced awhile back but I painted the cabinets a blue gray color and moved the shower curtain up to the ceiling and put in two panels which makes it feel bigger and allows light from the teeny tiny window to come through.
2011-2013:
New light fixture for super cheap from a WalMart clearance sale (I think it was only $20.00 or something) and even added a storage component where the old towel bars used to be. That's the problem with a house like mine... no storage. At all.
Total Time: 1 week
Total Budget: $150.00
find all the details: how it got started here, some cabinet assembly info here, and the final product here.
3. Jewelry display built-in.
Total Time: 2 days
Total Budget: $35.00 (already had beadboard left over, bought trim and hooks)
find all the details: built in details and origination here, how the whole bathroom panned out here.
4. Laundry Room.
This room was originally such a total nightmare we called it the "murder scene" when we first bought the house. (I say we because it was my parents and I.) Everything was basically wrong about this room and I've managed to correct most of it. The venting for the dryer was being pushed under the house, which is real bad bad for the insulation under there. So that was rerouted and new flooring was put in when we first did the overhaul on the place.
Here's what it looked like for the first couple years of living here (roughly 2008-2011):
My washer and dryer came from Habitat for Humanity. The dryer I actually got off a dude that was shopping that same day. For free! So they were okay for the first few years. They were super loud and sometimes you had to wash stuff twice and definitely not energy efficient.
Gross. That's all I can say.
After the great flood of 2010 (when my entire house had to have the flooring replaced due to a slow leak from the water heater) I decided it was a good opportunity to redo the laundry room, though I feel the color is a bit too dark now.
We ended up tripling the amount of usable storage/work space in the laundry room. Which has been really great.
And this was the final reveal picture:
Total budget: $900.00 for the washer and dryer. Roughly $150.00 for wood, paint, and accessories.
Total time: 3 weeks
find the details: starting the project here, making the awesome countertop here, making the shelf here, finishing up the accessories here.
5. Free Furniture Painting.
I think free furniture is the best furniture. If you know exactly how to make it pretty anyways, otherwise it could get a little out of hand.
One of the first things I painted was this park bench my Mom gave me. I don't recommend actually sitting on it but some spray paint and a little can of exterior paint can go a long way.
A previous roommate had left behind this old desk. It was sort of warped and funky but with a little engenuity it worked out well in the laundry room for the litter box and extra storage. That's my thing if you haven't noticed... creating storage.
Not to bad eh?
9 cans of spray paint and 1 horribly sore thumb later I had an awesome, all matching patio set.
Some spray paint and cute fabric made it totally awesome. No more weird chair! Yay.
Not too bad ey?
I suppose when I stop to think about it I do have a lot of things accomplished in my little house. I also now think that I've got a few more ideas for other things to do. No more blogging slump! Hopefully anyways. lol. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions on any of these. :)
