M's Kind of Surprise 25th Birthday

Way late post from April- sorry, guys! I'm finally getting around to finishing all my drafts :)

This past Friday was my fiance's 25th birthday and I wanted to do something really special for him! I planned little surprised throughout the day. Now, Matt is very quick on his feet and is either completely aware of everything going on, or completely oblivious. This day he decided to ruin *almost* every surprise I had in store! First, he discovered the balloons in his trunk before they flew out at him. Then, the free lunch I had planned at Chipotle was foiled when I found out his coworker was already taking him there to eat. Afterwards, he went home early and saw his beer cake before he was supposed to!

At least my outfit was super cute ;)

At this rate, the surprise party I had planned was worrying me. I had sent out adorable invitations a month ahead of time and yet NO ONE has RSVP'd. Matt and I went to dinner with his parents, his brother and his girlfriend and during dinner, everyone except Matt was FREAKING OUT, to put it lightly. We needed to kill a LOT of time while our roommate scrambled to figure out where everyone was. During dinner, all of us except Matt were on our phone texting like madmen trying to figure shit out. To help, his parents asked us to go out for a drink, which instantly made Matt suspicious, since his parents usually keep it to only the glass they had at dinner. UGH!

Finally, we gave up and made the drive home... very slowly. Matt thought I had something "gay" planned for just the two of us- I had told him we had to go home and change into pajamas. My heart was beating so fast as we pulled into the driveway and Matt went to open the door to hear "SURPRIIIIIISE!" There were about forty people packed into our living room and stairway! Somehow our roommate had managed to get everyone- and also a bunch of people I'd never met- to the house just seconds before we pulled in! Such a relief. The look on his face was so priceless, and I knew it was a success!

For the man who doesn't like cake- perfect.

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Review & How-To

I am one of those people who constantly has to be working on something. Don't get me wrong, I spend quite a lotof time in bed watching TV, but I always have to have some kind of project in the works at any given time. In my last post we talked about me getting out of bed at 11 PM and starting to rip out our vinyl flooring, which I gave up on and decided to leave that to a professional... Until I get bored again ;) Instead, I decided to purchase the Rust-oleum cabinet transformations kit in pure white- I am such a victim of Pinterest. After reading a ton of reviews I figured "what could go wrong?!"

I started by pulling the doors off of the cabinets. Of course I happened to strip three of the screws, which made my husband have little faith in my restoration ability. The kit itself was about 70 bucks at Home Depot. I had them mix the color for me, as the box instructed- make sure to read that fine print, people!

I took the cabinet doors into the garage and got to work. 

Step 1: The Deglosser coat strips the cabinet of shine, dirt, and grease. My cabinets weren't very dirty so it didn't take much elbow grease, but I've read a lot of reviews saying people spent 15 minutes on each door! I only spent about 2. I thought it was fairly easy.

Step 2: I had the bond coat mixed in pure white, and I painted it on each cabinet going with the woodgrain. Make sure you do this! There are some tiny areas where I didn't and you can definitely see it! I think I ended up doing 4 coats to get a good solid white color. I put only 3 coats on the inside of each door.

You can still see the woodgrain! Hooray! I was so worried that they would not look like wood once I did this project; we have builders grade oak in our home and it's very sturdy and surprisingly good quality. I'm glad you can still tell it's real!

Step 3: I wasn't sure if I wanted to use the decorative glaze. On the box, and on the instructional DVD that comes with the kit, it looks really good. It looks like a distressed, shabby chic type of thing. Not so much in real life. You're supposed to put the decorative glaze on in very thin layers and immediately wipe off with a clean piece of cheesecloth, included in the kit. This is what I ended up with:

That is NOT hot. I am very into things looking a tiny bit rustic, but not overkill. This was overkill. My husband hates anything looking country or unfinished, he's so into that sleek modern stainless steel look. I knew this wasn't going to fly, for either of us. Luckily, I had tested it on the inside of one of the doors so I was able to go back over it with the bond coat and turn it back white.

Step 4: The protective glaze/topcoat is like a milky color, which is good for the bright white cabinets.

I had read that this is one of the hardest steps of this process, but I didn't find it to be hard at all. Make sure you're using a synthetic brush because real brushes tend to leave hairs behind in the paint. This coat tends to bubble, which you do not want, and a foam brush would only make those bubbles worse. 

It's very glossy at first, but it dries really quickly so you have to make sure to get out any bubbles or fibers right away. I had some teeny tiny bubbles that seemed to disappear overnight.

Then it was time to do the whole cabinet face- this seemed to take a thousand coats! What a hot mess. However, the results? FANTASTIC! See for yourself:

After three coats.

The final product!

And with the new tile :)

The Bottom Line: Would I use the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit again?
Because I have so much leftover, sure. But my girlfriend did her cabinets in black paint with just a bonding coat underneath and they look great too. The kit took a good four-five coats, which I wasn't wild about, but the final look is beautiful. So it's completely up to you!

I had a ton of the paint kit left over, so I did a dresser while I was at it! Knobs are from Cost Plus!

See my other post for more information on the paint, baseboards and tile!

We're Married!

Written on our last day of the most amazing honeymoon:

I'm writing this from the resort in Costa Rica where my husband is still passed out to my right and I'm up way too early for my own good. Today is our last day in the most amazing place you can imagine, and I never want to go home.

The beach in front of our hotel, the RIU Palace Costa Rica.

Coco Beach, an amazing little town with awesome souvenirs and good food.

We protect the environment.

Since we've been here, we've done it all: rode ATVs, held monkeys, had drinks on a secluded beach, zip-lining, horseback riding, hiking to waterfalls, covering ourselves in volcanic mud and then hopping into mineral baths, rode a waterslide through the rainforest, Matt won a resort-wide beer chugging contest... This has been the best week of our lives. We've practiced getting used to saying "my husband" and "my wife" and have made friends who travel the world and went on a search for cuban cigars and have tried every fruity drink you can imagine. 

In front of the fountains at our resort after a few Micheladas.

Costa Rica is straight up paradise. It's green- emerald green- and open land as far as you can see. The people are so kind and helpful. The weather is perfect. There's so much to do and despite some  mehhhh resort food, we've had some awesome meals.

This honeymoon was the most fantastic way to start our marriage- we have bonded and laughed and pigged out and seen an amazing country. I am so lucky to have had this experience and can't wait for our last adventures today: snorkeling, massages on the beach and hanging out at the Monkey Bar- where there are monkeys climbing all over while you drink! :D

Late Night Spontaneous Remodel

When we bought our house, we loved just about everything about it- except the master bathroom. It's the smallest area of the house and is really outdated. There's an area in the vinyl flooring that has always made me suspicious there could be mold at the floorboards (I used to work for a restoration company so I'm familiar with this type of thing) so tonight at 11pm I decided I needed to tear out the vinyl.

(Ps my husband is asleep and when he wakes up he's going to think I'm crazy. I'm used to his. So is he.)

After obsessing over the floor the whole night and next day, I decided to leave it to the professionals. We hired a guy and trusted him to do a beautiful job, and he did just that.

Before 1

Before 2

Before 3

Before 4 (please ignore the clutter- of course the day after I scrubbed the bathroom I decided to remodel)

I decided to buy the Rust-oleum Cabinet Transformations kit and just go for it. I wanted a nice, clean look and the builders grade cabinets which, while in great condition, just aren't "me" so it looks like they're going to be white! 

**See my post on this process**

The cabinets turned out amazing so it was time to get serious about the floors. We selected an LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and hardy backer and grout for about $260, but I decided I wanted real tile- vinyl tile doesn't up your resale value, while real tile always does! I loved this rectangular tile from Lowes, purchased for $110. I also bought a high end grout in "pewter" and a sealant to mix it with. 

After doing the floors and cabinets, it was time to paint. I used Valspar "Magic Spell" on the walls with a bright white on the baseboards (which are also new). 

I found beautiful knobs at Cost Plus World Market and installed them onto all the cabinets and drawers for the final touch. I am so happy with the outcome- the bathroom looks so different and much larger than before! (Not pictured- I must remember to post a photo!)

Here is the finished product! My iPhone camera isn't the best for this- the tile is actually a gorgeous charcoal. 

Labor $300, tile and other materials came to about $400, cabinet kit $75, knobs $35.

Total cost: roughly $800 and well worth it

Here's the tutorial on the cabinet makeover!