PROJECT CLEAN HOUSE: Kids' Bathroom

This week I decided that I had had enough of staring at the multi-colored walls in the kids' bathroom.  The people who lived in the house before us had children and had used an underwater creature theme.  When we moved in there were plastic peel away stickers all over the wall and I immediately pulled them down but just got busy with other things and didn't paint.  Up until now, the only people to use this bathroom are overnight guests so I just haven't made it a priority.

Now that Kanin takes showers on his own and all three kids are brush, brush, brushing those teeth, I would like for them to start using their own bathroom.  We have family coming in this weekend, too, and I am notorious for starting a project with a set deadline.  (Click HERE to read about Scott's mom's buffet project).

So here it goes.  Be prepared.  I had to use 3 coats of primer plus the paint.

BEFORE

I had primer and a neutral paint down in the basement.  I decided to go ahead and use the same shower curtain because I really loved it but I just bought a new liner.  I also used the same shower curtain hangers.  I told Scott this morning that between the primer, paint and shower curtain I probably saved a good $100. 

I received a $50 gift card to Bed, Bath & Beyond for Christmas so in total I spent $55 extra dollars (total of $105) on this bathroom.  I bought 2 pictures, 2 small hanging things, 1 decorative hand towel and 2 useable hand towel and a shower curtain liner.

AFTER

I think it looks so much better and I don't have to wear sunglasses when I go in there anymore.  LOL

Fireplace Makeover

I finally started working on our family room.  After much debate, research, and brainstorming I finally just decided to paint the fireplace.  If the brick were a "prettier" brick, I would not have painted.  I typically like natural-type decor but this brick was just not pretty at all.  I also looked into changing the front or facade of the fireplace but since it is raised up and not level with the floor, we just couldn't find a way to do it.

Before

First thing I did was to vacuum all of the dust from the fireplace.

Then I wiped down the whole thing.

I just used primer and paint that I already had.  I read several articles saying to use this paint or that paint but before going out and investing more money, I thought I'd take a chance on these.  

I primed the fireplace and the mantel.  I gave it 2 coats.



I then painted it with a paint called Heavy Cream.

Next step is to pain the wall behind the fireplace a green.

Then, I'd like to build something like this:

I want the unit to take up the whole wall and let the green show through in between the shelves.

DIY: Mother-In-Law's Buffet

A year or so ago my sister-in-law, Debbie, moved to a new house and in the process she got rid of a lot of extra furniture.  Scott and I got two pieces, their mother's buffet and the piano.

I have been using the buffet to store dishes, place settings, table cloths, etc., but recently, I decided that I could really use the storage for other things.  I only use the "fancy stuff" one time a year, Thanksgiving, and I could move all of that stuff down to the basement and have a lot of extra room for other miscellaneous stuff.  The buffet, though, just wasn't my style.  It is quite a few years old, the door was broken and one drawer stuck so I decided to redo it.

Before I go on with this let me tell you that I am not a a crafter, DIY'er or anything close!  The only thing I can claim to be is a HGTV watcher and I have seen shows where they refurbish plenty of things so I figured it couldn't be hard, right?

BEFORE:

Notice the broken door.

The one thing that I knew for sure that I did not want to do was to sand it down and stain it.  I knew that I wanted to paint it but I wasn't sure if I could just do a spray on Krylon paint or if I should prime it and then paint it.  I decided to prime it first. 

Before priming, I took off the hardware and used a wood filler to fill in the holes.  While using the wood filler, it didn't seem like it was "working right" but I have never used it before and I didn't know.  After the filler dried, I sanded it down.  I primed all of the pieces two times.

Next, came the paint.  I decided on a semi-gloss black.  Everything took two coats with a little extra touch up here and there.

Here is where the problems started mounting.  After all pieces were painted, I headed off to find some new hardware.  If you look back in the original pics, I just couldn't stand that look so I knew that I wanted stainless steel pulls and handles.  After using the wood filler and sanding it down, I could still see the holes from the original hardware but I couldn't get them to fill up.  I don't know if I didn't do something right or what.  I, personally, didn't care because I knew that no matter if you could see the holes through the paint or not, it still looked better than it did before. 

It was at this time that I realized that I was way over my head.  I am full of creative ideas but I do not have the knowledge to follow through on them.  I have never used a power drill before today. 

When I got to the store, though, I started doubting myself.  I had really put a lot of effort into the buffet already and I didn't want to mess it up so I decided to go with handles where there were handles before and pulls where there were pulls. 

Now, remember how I said this piece was old.  I couldn't find any handles that where the holes were exactly the same length apart as the old ones.  I decided to get as close as possible to the original ones because if I would have gotten 5" or 6" pulls then you would definitely be able to see the former holes.

I got home and measured where to drill the holes and this is where the trouble began.  The new holes were literally within millimeters of the old holes so whenever I would try to drill the bit would slip over to the path of least resistance.  No matter how hard I tried to drill down straight, it happened every time.  So, now, I didn't have two holes but 4. 

This is where the meltdown began.  I don't mean getting upset.  I mean full on crying, ugly face upset.  This was Scott's mom's furniture and I didn't want to mess it up to where it had to be thrown away.  I would have been heart-broken.  Plus, I really wanted this to be a piece that I would keep for a long, long time since it was hers. 

After I came to terms with the fact that I would have to fill in some extra holes, I went on to put on the pulls for the three doors down below and I didn't buy any.  Are you kidding me?  I had texted Scott to ask him how many handles I needed and he told me 7 but we both didn't even think about needing pulls for the 3 doors.  I just figured that I would get the doors back on, replace the magnets and then go out tonight and buy the pulls.

On to the hinges . . . I bought hinges this morning along with the handles and magnets.  When I went to put the hinges on, they wouldn't fit.  Don't ask me what this means but, apparently, the old hinges were kind of like two "backs" put together that allowed the doors to open.  The six that I bought this morning would not let the door open.  Ok

It was getting close to time for me to pick up Kanin so I thought I would just run back to Home Depot and exchange the hinges, buy the pulls and buy some new black puddy to fill in the new holes.  I drove all of the way to Home Depot and realized that I had forgotten my wallet.  I didn't think they would exchange anything without an i.d. and a lot of the times stores will just credit back the card that you used to purchase.  

Back home to get my wallet and then on to pick up Kanin.  I took Kanin with me to pick up the stuff and realized that there were NO hinges like what I needed.  By this time I had been working on this buffet for almost 3 full days.  I was very frustrated and overwhelmed.  I just decided to grab some spray paint and spray them black. 

Finally, after a very, very long and stressful day.  The buffet is finished.  It is beautiful and I love it.

I hope she would have been proud of me.

I forgot to the put the costs down:

1 can of Valspar primer $20.98

1 can of Valspar semi-gloss paint $24.47

2 3" brushes $2.72

1 1" brush $3.79

1 can of spray paint $5.19

3 knobs $8.91

Puddy $2.97

3 Magnet catches $2.94

7 handles $20.93

GRAND TOTAL:  $92.90

DIY: Downstairs Bathroom

When we moved in to the house in December 2008, the downstairs bathroom had carpet in it.  I don't know why anyone would think it is ok to put carpet in a bathroom but apparently that used to be a trend.  Anyway, the toilet flooded one day and the carpet got soaked.  Scott ripped it up immediately and then . . . we walked on sub-flooring for a year!  Yes, I know.  A year! 

In his defense, he did ask me several times about putting tile down in the bathroom but we also want to tile the kitchen and the laundry room and I would like for them all to be done in the same tile.  It would totally be my luck to tile the bathroom and then not be able to find the same pattern for the other rooms.

We are having Thanksgiving at our house again this year and I could not stand the thought of the entire family coming over and still having no flooring down in the bathroom.  Plus, and this is where it just gets gross, Gracie has potty-trained all summer and if you have ever potty-trained a little person you know that they don't always make it to the toilet on time.  Get the picture???

So, we decided that this is the weekend to fix the bathroom.  Staying true to my fear of not being able to use the same tile, I told Scott to just lay down the stick and peel tiles.  

BEFORE

Of course, Gaga couldn't do the job by himself.  His boys had to "help" him.

And, of course, every helper needs to walk around with a chicken nugget in his mouth.

As with any DIY project, we expected some mishaps.  Caleb got into the chalk and it was red.  There was little red feet all over the kitchen.

The Finished Project

I love it!  I still want to put down a tile but I think it turned out really well.  The final cost was under $50.  It took 2 boxes of the tiles ($17.75/box) and then the carpet strip was under $6.00. 

As a side note, see that star on my wall?  I got that at the consignment shop for $8.  It has been sitting on my chair for at least 3 months because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  Perfect place for it!