Have you ever seen anything so wonderful?

What I want my playroom to look like.....

{sigh}

Welcome to my {almost} FINISHED kitchen!

Now, if you are not totally impressed, visit THESE posts, and then you will be! We have come a loooooong way!


I got that table and chairs on KSL classifieds for $20! Score!! I (ok, my Dad) sanded it down, and then I stained it, and sealed it with polyurithane. I also covered the wicker part of the chairs with white vinyl fabric, cause they were really worn out.

Now all we need to do is put the rest of the hardware on the cabinets, finish the wood under the cabinets, put in our window sills, and finish the electrical on the garbage disposal and we are DONE!

Curb Appeal!

First impressions are SO important! So, having a great curb appeal is too! It's the first impression of your house, and the way you live! Here are a few ideas on how to update, or freshen up the look of your home!

Other things you can do to spruce up your curb appeal:
-spray paint some pots and plant flowers to put on your door step
-put out a cute bench, or seating area.
-put some pillows on your bench or chairs.
-vinyl lettering is inexpensive, and can make a big statement!
-landscaping- change up the plants in your yard- we are going to plant drought- resistant plants this fall!
-hang a cute wreath, or seasonal decoration--but be sure to only hang your favorites, so you don't look like you have a year round yard sale:)

My front door

Paint can make such a huge difference! I wasn't crazy about...well most of this door. So, I took the knobs apart, and spray painted them silver. Then I taped off the window and painted the trim white (instead of that awful coral color), and painted the whole door a cute dusty sage color! I love it. And I especially love the hook (that matches my door knob now), that holds my super cute wreath. Oh, and I even painted the yellowed door bell!
I still have to paint the trim, but that will happen when we paint the other accent colors that are still CORAL! So, be looking for pictures soon!

Sneak peek into my remodeled bedroom

I know I said I would post pictures like forever ago, and I didn't, so here is one picture, that shows just a peek of the massive overhaul we did on our bedroom. CLICK HERE to see what it USED to look like!!
After I put some pictures up and get my curtains up, I will post some real pictures of the whole room!

My favorite bench

Growing up, my family had a tradition. We would all go out and sit on the bench in our front yard. I lived in the middle of the city, so it's not like it was a serene place to be. BUT, we LOVED it! We loved watching people, and talking, and just hanging out together. So, when I got married, a family friend gave me this bench, in hopes we would continue our family tradition! We moved it to four different apartments, and finally to our first starter home! It was a little worn though, so I thought I would...you guessed it...spray paint it! I did it all white, since the trim on my house is white, and it looks really cute on the porch now:)

Can you spray paint ceiling fans?

YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!
First I took apart every little piece of this ceiling fan... every screw. It took forever...oh and later that day I got the flu, and so I didn't get very far for a few days. ANYWAYZZZ, I first hosed off all the fan blades so they were nice and clean. Then I let them dry. Then I spray painted them white. Then my husband helped me get the whole fixture off the ceiling, and he spray painted them silver. Here is the part that SUCKED: We didn't wait long enough for the silver paint to dry. We were too excited to see how nice they would look up, so we put them back together, and then turned them on. Silver paint splotches EVERYWHERE! On my NEW black leather sofas, our wood floor, our recliner, our clothes, our KIDS...ya, you get the picture. It made for a lot of clean up. So, WAIT til they are completely dry!! Oh, and only spray LIGHTLY onto the part where the motor is. My husband sprayed a little too much on one of them, and when we turned it on, we could hear the motor TRYING to turn, but it wouldn't. So we left it on for a couple nights, and then it worked fine. It was just really sticky from the paint that was still wet. So those are my two tips... of what not to do. But, I must say, I am VERY happy with the outcome of this project!!

Ugly lamp re-vamp!

Can you believe THIS:

USED TO LOOK LIKE THIS!:



I got this big drum lamp at the DI for $2, and brought it home and spray painted it! It now looks nice and classy in my front room:)

Welcome to my kitchen, part 3

This may not look too exciting, but it is!:) Baseboards are in! And I love how they look!
I completed the painting of the cabinets a couple weeks ago, and I am so pleased with the transformation! We just need to add hardware and wainscotting/bead board to the ends, and they are done!
And this has been done for a while, but I need to document it. Car put the wood floor in, and it looks fabulous!
Here he is, installing it! Almost done!

As of today- July 30, 2010, this is what we have left in the kitchen:
-put wainscotting on cabinet ends
-put hardware on the rest of the cabinets
-install window sills
-finish electrical
and that is it!! Then I will have a functional, cute kitchen! YAY!

Welcome to my kitchen, part 2

Here is a picture of the kitchen just after we got it all drywalled and mudded. Car had just put in the countertop, and installed the cabinets to the wall. There is no spot for the sink yet in this picture, but that is where it is now.

Charlie is always in all the action, which makes the job a million times HARDER!! Seriously, I think our house would be totally renovated if we didn't have kids to take care of during the whole process! The plastic is over the cabinets and appliances so we could sand the mud- which is by far the WORST part of this whole thing!!!! Here Car is sanding the cabinets so we can prime and then paint them white! Sanding is also not a fun job. In all the pictures, Car is doing the work, but only cause he doesn't take pictures of me working. I am totally in the thick of it too though, and I sanded my little heart out!
This is a picture looking into the kitchen from the front room. I think this was right before we sanded. You can see the sink to the right that Car installed.
This is a picture of my paint job, just after I cut in all the edges. It took FOREVER! I did this while Car was at work, so I had both kids to handle, and it was NOT EASY!
Just after I cut in the edges.


The paint is complete in this picture, but it totally clashes with the hideous cabinets, which is why we painted the cabinets white!:)
The cabinets are now a nice, clean white, with cute dark bronze hardware! It took a very long time to sand, prime and paint these, and also to take them apart and put them back together at the end! Not to mention putting the hardware on, but it's worth it!!
As of TODAY- July 13, the wood floor is installed (pictures coming soon), the electrical is done, the kitchen is painted, half the cabinets are painted, and the rest are primed. Our new 2 person breakfast table is in there, and I have a sink full of dishes...Oh, and we have half the baseboards in. Now we need to put the wainscotting/bead board on the sides of the cabinets, finish the baseboard, and frame a door, then finish painting the rest of the cabinets, and......we will be done! I will keep you updated:)

Remember this wall paper? I thought this would be the biggest project we had ahead...but as you see below this post, I was dead wrong. Yes, tearing off all that wall paper was hellish, and painting wasn't a treat, but it was nothing compared to our other projects.


Just after we had torn all the nasty wall paper off the plaster walls...

The odd closet, before it was painted.

STARTING to come together. My Dad is a painter, and he had this room primed in less than 45 minutes! He is SO fast!!
And here I am, painting my little heart out, while Car demo'd the kitchen and boys' bedroom, and the kids were screaming. FUN!!
It's a two toned room, with a white chair rail separating them. I will post pictures of the completed room when I get around to it!