Master Bath Redo on a Budget

 We are still slowly making changes to our new house making it feel more like home.  For me that involves a lot of painting :)  However, the master bath needed a little more than paint.  We wanted to update a few things on a budget.  

 Here is a picture we took during the inspection.  The Hollywood lights weren't my style.  Although the cabinet space was wonderful, I really didn't care for the cabinet itself.  The vanity was paintable, but the fixture was old and there was no working plug.  We were just going to change out the fixture and hardware, but we found a whole new vanity and top on craigslist for cheap.

This is the newer vanity with top.  

We took off their towel rack and filled in the holes and painted the vanity to match all the woodwork.

 More before Pics with the newer vanity.

  I'm not sure if you can make it out on the above pic from inspection, but we had to take down some wallpaper border.  The walls really needed some paint. 

Here are all the added fixtures and touch ups we did to make it more to our taste.  I actually made the shower curtain out of a drop cloth.  It is just more my style--not necessarily cheaper :)

We painted the woodwork in Annie Sloans' Versilles.  

The walls are Sherwin Williams' Oyster.

Amazing how much warmer it feels!

First Christmas Mantle: keeping it real

What an exciting time of year!

One problem, I am tired!  Am I getting old? 

A little confession here, I was not ready to decorate for Christmas this year.  Maybe it is because my oldest is far away at college, maybe grieving a little since my Poppa passed away before Thanksgiving, or maybe it is just that we've been constantly on the go since we moved in.  Yes, I am a little crazy at having to make my home cozy and can't seem to rest until it is allllllll painted!  Am I the only one?  Poor Hubby!

Either way, I just don't do well with change, and there has been a lot of it lately.

If it wasn't for my other kiddos at home, who are now practically adults, I wouldn't have any decorations out yet.  As I got everything out, I just put things here and there.  I keep putzing around the house and moving things.  I am slowly putting decorations where I want them.

I knew I wanted to have a wreath on my mantle, but it was small.  Then I remembered this huge frame my daughter and I found while walking around town back in the summer.  I had no idea what I was going to use it for, but now I know exactly where it belongs!

 RIGHT HERE!

I always hang onto things.

Glad I did with this one.

FALL:A Change of Seasons and A Change of Shutters

Happy Fall Ya'll!

It has finally been some jacket weather here in our area.

I love the cooler weather.  Today was so cozy with it being overcast outside.  I had my little candlelights in the house on and lit a pumpkin apple scented candle.  Isn't it amazing how many senses we use to identify with seasons!

Hubby and I started to spruce up the outside a little more to our liking today.

When we first moved in, we knew that one of the very first things we wanted to do was change out the shutters.  We really weren't impressed with the royal blue shutters.  I also like the raised panel look better than the louvered look.  We finally bought some black vinyl raised paneled shutters.

Here is a pic that was taken at the inspection.

Here are the new shutters.

It makes such a difference, and they really aren't that expensive.  Although we are only doing the front of the house so only 4 sets were needed.  We still have 2 more sets to hang. 

We are waiting on a longer ladder :(

Waiting is a good thing.

It builds character :)

'New Home' Tour #3: Dining Room

I am later than what I wanted to be in getting this post written up.  

We took our oldest to college, finally started school with our last two kiddos, and worked on painting another room.  Lots going on, but it is all very good!

Just to clarify, from the title some of you may be thinking this is a New Home.  It is not.  Our home was built in 1940.  It is just new to us. 

With that said, I am so excited to share with you our dining room.  I never had a dining room, so it is such a treat to not have to worry about the heat from the stove or the pile of dishes glaring at you while you finish up your meal.  I love it!  Our dining room is not open to the kitchen allowing me to escape from reality for as long as I wish.:)  I know many people like the open floor plan idea, but I am loving the separate dining room.

 Here are some before pics.  You will notice in the first pic that they had bookshelves built in.  We thought it looked more open and natural without them, so we took them out.

In this After pic, you can see how open it is into the family room. 

I love filling the house with things we created.  The big checkered board was made by my youngest son.  The small one I made years and years ago.  The little Pallet Plate Rack I made.

 I have another place in mind for my ironing board and washboard, but for now they will stay here.  I still have a lot of painting to do upstairs.

 ON this wall is my Hutch with my little collection of yellow ware and jars.

Last but not least, remember my great find and dining room treasure, my Primitive Chandelier!

It really feels so cozy.  I am so very, very thankful.

New Home Tour #1 kitchen

It is so hard for me to give a tour of our new home when it is still not the way we are envisioning it.  I realize though that our vision may not happen and if it does, I can share the changes with you along the way.  

The day that we moved in, I started to paint the kitchen.  I had my Annie Sloans' French Linen ready to break open and paint.  I knew it would be easier to paint before unpacking all of my kitchen stuff.  It took about two weeks (with some interruptions and waiting for more paint & wax) to finish the kitchen.  I would paint a section and then unload a box or two.  I work well in steps :)

Here is day one.  

Can you see all the stuff in the background?  

I had stuff and boxes everywhere!

 Would you have unpacked everything first and then painted?

I know, I am a little crazy.

I used clear and dark wax on the cabinets.  I knew from my previous Kitchen Makeover (3 yrs ago in our old home) that I wanted to use Annie Sloans Chalk Paint and Fiddes and Sons wax.  It held up so well in our last home.  In fact, I only had to touch up where fingernails dug into the cabinet around the handles.  

Here is a good pic of the color and the hardware I used.

The hardware was from Lowe's.  I decided not to put any hardware on the cabinets, because my son counted all the cabinets and I had 34 cabinets to paint--not counting drawers.  I wasn't going to pay for all that hardware.  We'll see how things hold up.  It has been about a month, and so far no scratches or chips. 

 Finally here are the before and after pics.  

The "before pics" were taken during the inspection of our new home before purchasing the house.

This is the view as you enter the kitchen from the front of the house.

Sorry for the not-so-focused pics.  It is so hard to photograph this house. 

I bought some panel board and made panels for the doors with windows. 

 This is the view as you turn left when walking into the kitchen.

I found these paneled doors left in the garage.  They did not match in color, but you never would know it now.

 Finally, This is the view from the mudroom entrance.

I still need to finish painting those cabinets in the hallway.  I ran out of paint.  I also need to paint the wall next to the fridge.  I am debating about what I want to do with the back splash.  I think I like the white and will probably just keep it that way for now.

I will try and post a new room or area each week.

It has been very fun personalizing our home.

I know a lot of you out there really don't like a dark kitchen and may be cringing at the dullness.  I guess I just really love Linen.  I had white and was ready for a change.  I am really happy with the way it turned out.

My New Primitive Hutch! Project #1

Finally, we are moved into our new home!

We have been painting and fixing and painting some more.  The first thing I had to do was paint my kitchen cabinets.  I will need to post about them another time though.  Hubby was painting the living room and dining room while I worked on the cabinets.  I did not want to unpack anything unless the place that the item was going to be stored was painted and ready to accommodate them.  So in between cabinets and wall painting, I decided to work on my hutch. 

I bought this pine hutch at a consignment shop.  It is not old and was not primitive enough for me. The person that built it did not sand the edges.  Every edge was sharp and perfect.  I don't necessarily like perfect in my decor :)  The doors are also too country looking and not primitive.  I needed to change that too.

 The first thing I did was to take off the doors and tear off the "T" shape center piece.  In doing so, I gouged the top frame....oops...but wait, that will make it look more rustic and used.

 I had a white shelf top that I used as my new door frame.

Here it is sanded down and ready to take in some stain.

 I painted the hutch (right over the sanded red paint) in Benjamin Moore's Carter Gray.  I absolutely love that color!  You will see more of that color in my future projects.  I just added a layer of Walnut stain over that counter top, but other than that the stained part of the hutch stayed the same.  You can also see in the top right photo that I did not paint all the way to the edge of the center frame board.  This gives it that worn and aged look without sanding.

I finished it with Minwax's Dark Walnut (my favorite).

As you see, I made two new doors that go all the way to the bottom edge of the hutch frame.  To me this looks more primitive.  I also changed the hardware and painted and stained them too.

Here is a before and after.

What do you think?

It feels so good to be doing projects again!

Happy Sunday to you all!

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