Getting Handled

Finally starting the kitchen project (aside from the appliances I told you about yesterday). I'm so excited! The first thing that I needed to do was take down all of the decorations, which I did last week. My kitchen is basically bear of all things pretty right now. I also had to take the hardware down because the dirty and ugly bronzed gold looking stuff was not working for me in the kitchen anymore.

Remember the before?

(I'm not going to paint these little knobs, I'm investing in some cuter pulls.)

 Here's the cabinets unadorned! Crazy looking right?

And the heap of 80s gold on my dusty rose countertops. Ahhh 1988... you weird colored animal!

My new BFF aka Oil-Rubbed Bronze spray paint by Rustoleum!

I took one of the cardboard boxes that I had in my room from one of my many boot purchases this winter. I'm up to about 12 pair of boots of all flavors and styles. hehe. Everyone has their vice! I lined up all the knobs in the box and went outside to do the spraying. This way the spray is contained and I can do all of the knobs at once instead of dragging it out.

Have I ever mentioned just how much I love spray paint? It is such good stuff! Not even the same handles anymore!

Here's a better shot of the handles. They are dark and beautiful! Usually I do everything in nickel but I thought that this would be a good variety for the kitchen, plus they're darker which means they won't show as much as far as fingerprints go. Total investment in these new handles? $0.00 


Sweet right?? I obviously already had the handles and the spray paint is one from my arsenal.

Someone asked me the other day what my color scheme was for the kitchen. Here's the basic color set up! White, oil-rubbed bronze tones, and yellow accents! I haven't officially decided on the wall color but I do have some ideas. My Dad is even excited about the kitchen upgrades! I think he's finally come around to the whole idea of redecorating!

Hi Dad!

Here's a final view of the "Before" kitchen!

Next step? PAINTING! Yay! I have just the outfit for it! lol! Just kidding.....

maybe!

An Applied Rebellion!

My electronically inclined devices have all decided that it was an excellent time to hoist a rebellion against me. Translated. They are all taking a dump. It first started with my dishwasher and furnace during finals week. Little old me was just plugging away at my final paper for my English class minding my own business, when all the sudden I sensed an odd aroma wafting from the kitchen... My dishwasher was smoking and melting all of the plastic inside of it. Something with the heating element and the motor.

Of course we knew it was bound to happen at some point. The dishwasher has been in my house since I bought it in 2008 and who knows how long before that. Unfortunately at the same time the motor in the furnace went out. My Dad thankfully got that fixed for me but the dishwasher is a bit of a disaster.

So I've been comparing a couple different ones to replace it. Plus adding extra hours onto my work week to pay for it. Yayyy!

I found one at Lowe's that's fairly standard (I'm sticking with white because everything else is white andddd it's more inexpensive, plus my cabinets will be white so I think it will look okay.)

This guy is from Lowe's for $299.00. Not a bad deal! The stainless steel in person was kinda cheap looking so I'm definitely glad we decided to go with white on this one. It was quite a selection, we had to measure several different ones to find a good fit. It'll be about a week before we get the dishwasher in, but it is Energy Star rated and has several different washing options versus my old one that was simply "Start" and "Stop." It's going to be so pretty! It is a Frigidaire which so far I haven't had a problem with because my washer and dryer are also that same brand.

The next thing was the refrigerator. Because once one thing breaks, so does everything else. Right?

I bought this fridge in 2008 for about $60 or $70 dollars at Habitat for Humanity in town. It was only a matter of time before it decided to fail also. It's about 14 cubic feet, which is a small apartment sized fridge. Very small. Since the compressor went out in the fridge we came to the decision that replacing it was just the best option that we had. So since we were at Lowe's anyways...

It's sort of hard to see in that picture but it's about 18 cubic feet and has all kinds of shelves inside! I'd show you pictures but they didn't have a display of this one at Lowe's. You can see all the specs on it {here} Thank goodness for great Dads who help you pick out appliances! I was so lost I started playing with the shelf organizing stuff across the aisle. Lol. We went with this one because it is also EnergyStar rated which we are hoping will help with the electric costs. That's one thing with most manufactured homes... everything runs off of electric.

So the total breakdown:
Dishwasher.......................... 299.00
Refrigerator......................... 519.20
4 year Extended Warranty... 179.97


Total after taxes, etc.:         1146.75


Not too shabby for 2 new appliances plus extra warranty for both. Sort of puts a damper on my new car plans... sorry Nissan XTerra... you will have to wait for me just a little longer!

PS: I started on the kitchen! Aside from new appliances going in, wait until you see the new hardware! I'll show you all about it this week!

Getting into Working Order

Helloooo friends! I am sorry (once again) that I've been MIA lately! But I am very pleased to announce that the semester is officially over! Hopefully I got good grades. Oh I'm sure I did. Not a "C" in the mix! So since all the craziness of finals week is over I figured it was about time that I get back into my bloggy! I have missed it, like a piece of me was missing. 

So for starters, you all know that I've been working on combining my office and bedroom again, which still kinda stinks but I've gotten more used to it. Remember this mirror I found at a thrift shop back in June and decided to repurpose to look like a more expensive one I was in love with?

 Well this poor beautiful mirror has been sitting on the floor in my bedroom for the last 6 months. A total disgrace to all things mirror! It really is a pretty piece and it has the perfect vintage flair that I love. You can check out how I painted it and all that good stuff here.

It was high time I hung it up and what better place then over the computer desk? (Yup. That is definitely Facebook you see on the screen). Since my boyfriend and I recently broke up, I found that funny little subway sign for $3.00 at Ross and decided it was the perfect addition to my computer area. hehe.

Ignoring the huge heap of homework that was on my desk at the time this picture was taken you can see that it is really coming together well! And my artistic gallery wall looks pretty cute also.

I finally installed the hooks that I bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of months ago. They look really cute and they hold up one of my many purses and a jacket. Plus they appeal to my inner mermaid!

Another project that I have to finish is the other side of the doorway to the bathroom. It's another wall that has been somewhat empty since I took down the boyfriend shrine a couple months ago. What does a girl do?

Paint a picture!

I've been really into bikes lately. And yellow. And vintage stuff. So I combined all of the above!

I decided to paint a vintage tandem bike with a yellow background.

Here's the finished product! I think I'm going to have to redo the one on the right because it doesn't line up as well with the one on the left but it definitely adds a lot of character to that wall and looks cute. Plus I like bikes. In that empty frame I want to do some sort of "M" monogram. I have to figure out what to put on the left side but! It's getting much closer!

Hope everyone is ready for some kitchen action! I've picked out the tile at Lowe's and found the paint colors and am going to paint the hardware this weekend! Sadly my dishwasher decided to start smoking (traitor!) and now the counter fund has to go to a new dishwasher but.... they will be done eventually!

Linked to: Addicted 2 Decorating Dittle Dattle