Progress

Ok, don't know if I can call it real progress but it's progress nonetheless. I started on that dastardly caulk, fill, and paint the trim project tonight. And by start I mean I did two living room walls. But that's okay. That's two walls I didn't have done two hours ago. Thanks to a friendly little competition ensuing chat with my wonderful mom this afternoon I realized I gotta get my you know what in gear. So the weekend's goal is to finish up this last project. Because when that is done, I will have two rooms of trim left to do. And then what? To be honest I'm starting to get a little nervous about what I'll do when it's done. We will have three major projects left to do but they will take some major budgets to go with them. My mom said I should start digging. She's all over us to put one of these babies in the backyard:

 
Don't mind if I do. Thank you very much. She says she will help. With the digging. Not the financing. Go figure.


 In other news regarding ways to spend my free time...this weekend is my youngest step-daughter's 13th birthday. Every year for their birthdays I try to make some kind of special cake. This year, in honor of our family's obsession with the hunger games series, I'm going to attemp a hunger games cake. Using fondant. This should be interesting. My intent is to have it look like this:

 

Ha ha.  As if.  So this is how it turned out (thanks to my mom and her steady hand):

 

Not bad! Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!

 

 

Finally!

To be honest, the whole reason I wanted to start a blog in the first place was to show this baby off, I mean to keep myself motivated. I'm not an arrogant person and I usually don't like to have the attention on me but I'm just so darn proud of myself for finishing this kitchen and I'm so excited that is done. By far my best work.

So here she is in all her glory and I love her. I just want to have people over for coffee from a french press (even though I don't have one) just to sit and enjoy her splendor. Okay, I'm getting carried away. Could be the fumes.










And since the laundry room is all but directly connected to the kitchen, I had to get moving and redo that too.
Before:
And after:
Could make a woman want to cook and clean, eh?

From Day One

I wanted to paint the kitchen. When we were talking with our realtor I said "this kitchen would look so good white". You see, the previous owners were nice enough to install the largest granite backsplashes I'd ever seen, new appliances (bisque?), and new pergo floors. Who are we to complain about the 80's era oak (you know me and wood) cabinets? I mean they were in excellent condition, there was a ton of storage and the kitchen was large. It just wasn't us (me). My husband talked me out of it for about a year and half but I knew what I wanted and I was determined to get there. We tried fixing it up a little for the time being, new handles, accessories, etc. But it just wasn't what I envisioned for my favorite room of the house.
Here are a couple of befores:


But I was patient. I tested colors, I researched how to paint cabinets on Pinterest for about 3 months (Thank You to the Young House Love blog) and I developed a really clear picture of what I wanted the kitchen to look like. But I knew what I was getting into. I knew this was going to be a marathon of sorts. And it was. Think of it as some sort of "rebirth" because I started this whole project on New Year's eve last year. And here it is, March 19 and I'm all but two pieces of trim away from being done. Not that it was that easy. Here's a photo montage of the many steps to the project (cue the 80's power ballad):


Even the kids got in on the action...
Gingerbread is such a giveaway to times gone by, don't ya think?


And gone.Oh so many doors...
Almost there...
Thankfully "Winter Blast 2012" hit the northwest about the time I was putting on the final coats of paint. Stay tuned as I believe a project that took three months to complete is worth two blog posts.

And While We're Down There

The wood paneling in the rec room was starting to get jealous of the refreshed bathroom so over Spring Break I enlisted my mom and my sister to help me tackle this bad boy.

In the words of my wonderful sister:



But they hung with me and helped me get a coat of primer and two coats of paint on this gigantic room. This room was such a bonus for us when we purchased the home. We loved the idea of having a space for movies and football games and an over all hang out. It definitely has lived up to its expectations. And I love it even more now that that big ass room is painted. It's not done yet but it just a few accessories and we'll be done.

Church basement no more

When one my best friends came over for the first time she announced that our basement bathroom looked like a church basement. What? Does the wood paneling and speckled tile floor remind you of something? Okay, thank you very much, that's all the motivation I needed to get moving on redo-ing the downstairs bath.

New floor, paint, painted cabinet, new mirror and light fixtures and some accessories. Voila! Sorry Jesus. I like you, just not your bathrooms.

Can you feel the love?

We did. Especially from our neighbors the day we went from this:




to this...



Thankfully we had a lot of help the day we decided (or planned out for weeks on end watching the weather report, coordinating schedules, gathering supplies) to paint our house. The fact that this happened on the first sunny day in June was not lost on everyone around us. This house had been pink and black since 1966. The same colors. Each time it was repainted. We had neighbors driving by and cheering all day. Just doing our part to keep the community happy.

I Spy with My Little Eye

Don't hate. It's true. We had a spy door. Check this baby out. If you look closely you can see that circle that held a telescope of sorts. You could pretty much see into the neighbors bathroom with that. On the back side of their house. No joke.

But we figured the neighbors liked their privacy so we traded that guy out for a slightly more updated version. No peeping Tom equipment included.

Come on baby light my fire

Just me, sitting here singing the Doors. Appropriate, don't you think, since this post is all about how we redid all of the doors in the upstairs. This was not an easy undertaking but now at least we can put another DIY notch in our belts. Amazing transformation I feel.
Looking down the hall one way:


And the other:
Drum roll please...

I didn't like the color with the white doors so I went with a little bit darker greige color. It was the perfect color. I said when it was done that I felt like someone was wrapping their arms around me when I was in the hallway it was so warm and pretty.

Pink, pink and more pink

Pink.

Pink.

And more Pink.

This was the main bathroom before our paintbrushes got to it.



.
You're just going to have to trust me on this one. Don't be fooled though, the pink swirly tile is still on the countertop and in the shower. This bathroom and the master on this summer's list of redo's but those actually are going to be reNO's and I've got a lot to learn about tiling before we get to that. I will be sure to take detailed notes on that one.

Master Makeover

After settling into our new life as rambunctious puppy parents, we needed to get things going again so we started on the next room that made sense. The master bedroom. In our old house we had a California king bed that was heaven but there was no way we'd fit that and our little fingers in our new room. It wasn't the biggest of masters and someday we have big plans for expansion but right now, it was due for a coat of paint, some new furniture and an overall update.
We found some furniture we liked on a Sunday and it was going to be delivered on Monday so that meant another late night of ripping out carpet and painting. I think we finished the last piece of baseboards 20 minutes before the delivery guys showed up.
Before (on the day we made an offer):


Gotta love those curtains!
During our little makeover:


See all of that wood? Ughh. The color on the walls is Lynchburg mushroom from Lowes. (I think.)


And finished! We've done a few more updates since this but we think this was a good start: