Door Transformation & Tutorial

I will be the first to say I am a hasty, spontaneous DIYer. I get an idea, I hit up a TON of Pinterest pins/blogs in quick succession, then pin some paint colors and run to Lowes as fast as I can. It happens quickly and before my husband even knows what hit him, I'm knee deep in paint and whatever else I've gotten myself into.

Today's project? Well, I wanted to sand and paint my entire kitchen. Talk about thinking big, right? I have a tendency to take on large projects and totally screw them up, so I decided to start with a small project that would have a big impact- painting the front door on both sides.

For the inside, I used a beautiful Valspar color, Siene. I'll eventually trim it in white. The Posh Red is for the outside of the door and the Chef White is for the screen door.

Taping that window off was a bitch. I was nervous to do a dark color in our entryway, but I have to say- I am absolutely THRILLED with the final results. Here's the before and after!

 

 Inbetween coats, because I have absolutely no patience, I needed a side project. I happened to have just bought some house numbers from Lowe's, and also happened to have the perfect sized wooden plaque.

 

I didn't want to drill it to the house because I didn't want the screws to show, so I used some liquid nails I had left over from having some baseboards installed. It didn't stick right away (clearly) so I did this lovely makeshift support... thingy. 

And the final results for the front door:

A little blurry but when I can get to an actual computer I will post a better one!

Chair Transformation

Before: just some fugly old bar stools we bought on Craigslist for $30 and the worlds cutest dog.

After: two AWESOME barstools- in 10 minutes! 

It was SO EASY. I bought 2 yards of fabric from Hobby Lobby and made sure it was a quality material ($8.99/ yard at 30% off plus a 40% off coupon). I also bought straight pins. I ended up only needing about a yard total for both chairs- luckily i have more things that need recovering!

My chair pads were screwed into the barstools so I just unscrewed them, covered them in fabric held in place by pushpins, and then screwed them back on. SO easy, and a huge transformation for any room.

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 It's the smallest area of the house and is really outdated.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!

The Dotted Line

I recently started an Etsy shop and in a week, I've gotten three custom orders! It's an amazing feeling, and I want to keep the momentum! Please help me spread the word! 

Click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thedottedlinesignco

Project Garage Storage

A few Saturdays ago, I woke up at 8am and my fiance and our roommate were gone (rather strange for two sleepyheads on a weekend morning) and the next thing I know, they've shown up at the house with a truck full of lumber and grandious plans to build a shelving unit. To be honest, I was expecting three Ikea-looking shelves with brackets*, but that was not the case.

*Please note that M, my fiance, is no handyman. He has never experienced building things or fixing things or power tools. Amazingly, he is not only willing to try it all out, but he's good at it! So proud :)

BEFORE

Wow... I was incredibly impressed at how good they looked and how sturdy they were! The guys had measured everything down to the last centimeter, and the shelves were perfectly level!

BEFORE PAINT

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

Project Dinner Table

Talk about WORK! My mom gave me an old, beat up Pottery Barn dinner table and told me to do whatever I want to it- so I got to work! The legs were white and the top had a glaze over it so I got a heavy duty sandpaper and used every bit of elbow grease in me to sand the entire thing. I think my arms almost fell off at one point... But I kept at it! Note: you HAVE to sand along with the grain in order for this to not be a disaster.

I painted the legs a matte black and sealed them with a semi gloss spray paint. Then I picked up a stain at Ace Hardware, along with a cheapy foam paintbrush and a bag of cloths. The stain color was "Provincial" and I started by pouring it into a paper bowl. I saturated the entire brush with the stain and painted it on going in one direction only. After covering the entire table, I used my crappy cloths (dry) to wipe the entire table down and get off any remaining stain. And that's it! Once dry, I will seal the table with an acrylic sealant, which I have in spray paint form and is really easy to use.

To be honest, this is by far the BEST project of mine to date. It just looks like a million bucks- literally! It looks expensive, and yet I probably spent $20 in materials to do the entire thing. That, my friends, is why I'm all about DIY.