*Press Pause* Insert Side project...

Well, the pine trim replacement is underway, and my driveway/front yard looks like a construction zone. Not exactly the look I was going for, but a necessary sacrifice for the ultimate goal of having our exterior finished. We have two major projects still looming (and have solicited the help of professionals) :  replacing our rotted wood trim around the entire exterior with new pine trim, and installing new gutters around the perimeter. Jace has primed and painted the wood, and it should be ready to go next week. I have a dumpster arriving today for us to discard all the foliage/xmas trees/lawn clippings/dead pine trees/leaves/pine cones/misc crap from the backyard, old trim, and old remnants of what once appeared to be gutters. Thank you previous homeowners for so carefully preserving 6 years worth of Christmas trees and junk in the west end side of the house. Needless to say, I am deeply looking forward to the cathartic process of eliminating every shred of our previous homeowners laziness/ineptitude, and starting fresh in our backyard. 


"After I finish with the dumpster, what is there for me to do?!"

I'm dying to start another project....(pause for about 4 seconds before coming up with a list of 700 other projects I could start.....)

As luck would have it, we purchased a great new gas grill this past weekend and could use a grill prep station for our tools and spices. I could also seriously use a potting table for my vegetable garden. So, here is the project I will be tackling once my new love arrives next week  
   

                                             My Semi-DIY Custom Prep Station/ Potting Table:

I ordered this beauty from Sears.com and here are my plans:

Paint with Martha Stewart exterior satin latex paint in Feldspar (color seen below), and brush off the edges for a shabby/rustic look.

Add a bunch of functional accessories:
-S-hooks to hold grilling utensils
-2 small wire racks to hold small items on one side of the cage and hold cleaning items on the other
-An attachable aluminum foil rack for the side
-A large galvanized steel garbage can for underneath.
-A cutting board
-A wash bin for sticky plates and utensils.
-A small rack to attach underneath the table deck for cloth towels.


I was originally inspired by the article in this month's Martha Stewart Living {found here:Grill station inspiration}. I loved the aesthetic appeal of the original bench she used, but was looking for something with a more rustic appearance, as though it was something I salvaged and brought back to life. This is why I am in love with the potting table I purchased. This will also be a great place for me to store my other side project in a wood crate (see below) when it is raining or not in use. I also wanted something more sturdy, and although the original option of folding the table up was appealing, I was more interested in carving out some dirt, laying stone on the ground, and creating a permanent fixture in my backyard.  I am so excited to get started on this mini project, and am eagerly tracking the arrival of my table.

DIY Jar Lanterns:
I subscribe to every home decor catalog I can get my hands on. (I always recycle them when I'm done)- And here's why-- Often I find the best inspiration and can complete many of the ideas on my own at a fraction of a cost. I was flipping through Pottery Barn the other day, and found these cute little glass canning jar lanterns. They wanted $7 a piece for them, without sand or candles. Not bad, if I needed one or two. But I envisioned lining my entire deck with them. So, craftiness out of necessity strikes again! A few ball canning jars and some craft wire... a few tries with the wire cutter.. a few swear words...and, voila! Beautiful lanterns that now hang on posts lining my lower deck outside. I also added citronella candles to keep the bugs at bay this summer.


While I was busy cutting and twisting wire, Chloe was "helping":

I can't wait to reveal the photos of our completed exterior (hopefully in the next 2 weeks)

Jace and I were waxing philosophical about our home the other day, and realized the enormity of what we have already accomplished. I am so proud of the efforts we have put in, and to put it in Jace's words.....

                                                              "I think our house loves us"

Sorry for the snow delay...

Here it is, May 1st, and we are buried in snow yet again! Unfortunately we received about a foot of snow last night, which put a prompt halt to any outside painting we wanted to accomplish this weekend. A brief update so far however, we are about 40% done with the exterior painting. This is proving to be quite the laborious task, with washing of the aluminum siding and removing rust the most frustrating, time-intensive task by far.
         Our method for success:  1) Wash aluminum siding and remove all traces of rust.
                                                2) Apply one thick coat of Bull's Eye latex 1-2-3 primer (this stuff is amazing, it truly protects the siding, applies quickly and easily, and lays a great base coat for rich color)
                                                3) Apply two coats of Valspar Ultra Premium Paint in Arid Plains.

We has chosen to do this all by hand, with brushes. Honestly, our hands hurt and our wrists are wondering what they've done to deserve such abuse, but the result is nothing short of amazing.

Although we've suffered some minor setbacks (minor accidents, major bruises, dog's covered in paint (it is a very flattering color on our bulldog!), and weather), we've had nearly the whole neighborhood stop and tell us how amazing it's looking so far. Now, we don't mean to toot our own horns here, but we're putting in some MAJOR sweat equity into our home, and are very pleased to see our neighbors agreeing with our hard work.

I can't wait to post the photos of the "after", but for now, here are some glimpses of this major project:

Closeup of rust-covered siding BEFORE cleaning, priming, and paint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front BEFORE

I can't get this to flip, but nevertheless, it's a fantastic closeup of the BROWN siding. Yes, that would be rust you see. Good news is, this rust was surface and had not ruined the siding. It's a little thing called upkeep prior homeowners... meh.

 

 

And, a few teasers shots!!:

our beautiful pup Chloe, with a side matching our new paint color. Thanks for sitting against the house pup!

My extremely brave and amazing fiance! (The little green ladder is mine! =D ) And, our new exterior light fixture!

Please send us warm weather!

NEXT PROJECT!!!..

Weather permitting, we will be tackling the immense task of stripping, prepping, priming, painting, and sealing the exterior of our house over the next few weekends. The house is currently 5 different colors (if we don't include the sections of siding that were replaced in bright blue and never painted!), rust, chipped paint (where it does exist) broken siding, the wood trim is bare, dry, and dead, the sealant used to exist at some point probably 10 years ago, and the gutters are currently a great metal strainer in which all the water simply gushes out. Oh boy. After digging ourselves out of the snow and our first winter in our new home, we had a chance to really survey the damage, and agreed... this project is going to SUCK! However, we are confident our home will look amazing once we dedicate our blood, sweat, and tears into this next project. We spent last weekend testing paint colors and types of paint, 2 trips to Lowes, and 2 different house colors... and we finally decided upon Valspar Ultra Premium in Arid Plains for our primary color, and our wood trim in Polar Ice.

Weekend warriors, unite!

DIY Weekend Project #1... Master Bathroom

I awoke mighty inspired and full of energy on Saturday, and while sipping my morning coffee, decided to embark on a lovely weekend project: renovating our existing master bath. I was inspired by the Waldorf Park Astoria in Park City, Utah, when Jace and I stayed there for his birthday this past year. The bathroom was rich, deep woods with taupe walls and ambient lighting. While flipping through my most recent issue of Ballard Design, I was inspired by an absolutely gorgeous combination of summer orange, beige, and deep chocolate brown. With this as my inspiration (an another BIG cup of coffee) I set out to work.

Our home, built in 1980, appears to have never had the bathroom renovated, and this project could have been MAJOR. However, we established that the cabinets were in good shape and just really needed a staining.

Here is our Master bath BEFORE any renovation:

Product Catalog from the 80's?

Beginning Steps: Cabinets

-We visited our local Habitat for Humanity REStore (Awesome place if you've never been- I highly recommend it) and picked up some random polyurethane stain in "bamboo mahogany" and a few paint cans of taupe beige colored paint for only $0.50 a piece.  

Just a typical day in la la land....

-I removed each cabinet, labeled the section it came from, and separated each set of hardware (ex: left bottom hardware). 

-Next, I sanded down each cabinet (We were fairly lucky as there had not been any stain or sealant placed on these cabinets for decades, and there was a dry, thirsty finish already waiting to soak in some paint).

-I removed all of our cabinet pieces into the kitchen to stain, and then stained the base unit as well as each door and drawer. Cabinets Before:

"Feed Me"

"Ahh....=) "

Cabinet after 1 coat of stain:

-While the stain was drying, it was go time for the paint in the bathroom.

"Painting the cabinets red, we're painting the cabinets red, or off with her head!"

-Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall.... You have to go.

"Mirror Mirror on the Wall"

This mirror could have been great, thirty years ago. Now, however, it was a sad shell of it's glory days (if it ever had any?) It has rust spots from aging, nicks and scuffs galore, and spanned the ENTIRE length of the bathroom. I'm assuming the previous owners didn't understand that less is sometimes more, either that, or Narcissus used to own my home. Either way, the mirror had to go. I hopped up onto the counter top with a Spackle knife and pried the edges until the entire thing popped off. Once it did, this was what I found:

The "Holy" Wall

7 large holes in my wall. Hmm... what to do? Have I mentioned I've never remodeled a bathroom yet? If not, now would be a good time to tell you that I have no clue what I'm doing. Perhaps I should have mentioned that....

As luck would have it, two brains are better than one. Jace returned home around this time to find the bathroom in disrepair and me in confusion about my "holy" wall.

Luckily, the people at Home Depot really know their stuff, and we were able to re-texturize the wall so it flowed seamlessly with a little spackle and paint. Spackle, sand, spray, paint, repeat as needed.The color I painted was a medium beige-taupe with slight purple undertones, extremely neutral and very flattering, even though the camera coloring is off.

"Snowball fight!"

Next up, the Medicine Cabinet:

The previous cabinet was entirely rusted out metal that looked like it too, was original to the house.

This part of the demo was actually quite fun, as I now have a gaping hole in my wall... whoops. And I guess putting a window into the bathroom would be a bad idea, right?

At this point, we decided it would be a great idea to head to Home Depot to purchase supplies. 

Here's what we bought:

-New wrought iron Light Fixture -$30

-Large beveled bathroom mirror- $45

-Beveled glass medicine cabinet- $35

-Antique-finish hardware pulls for cabinets-$20

-Molded shelving: $35

-Antique-finish towel rack- $20

Total Hardware purchased: $185

Let there be (pretty) Light!:

There's a light at the end of this tunnel, right?

After we returned, Jace set to work changing out the old, too bright light fixture with the new one we picked up. I believe in good lighting, but in a bathroom this small, there's no need to re-create Florida here people. I understand it snows 6 months out of the year, but give me a break. I knew warm lighting and a brilliant light fixture would transform this room!

Our new light fixture

NOW we're getting somewhere!

By this time, it was nearly midnight, so we packed it up and called it a night.

Bright and early Sunday morning, we started up again and the cabinet doors had finished drying from their second coat of paint

We drilled holes for the new hardware which had previously not existed, leveled everything out, and re-installed the cabinets for a beautiful finished look:

It's hard to believe they're even the same cabinets!

We hung up the mirror using the correct caulking glue and pressure, finished with some minor details.. (aka Jace versus the towel rack. The towel rack won Saturday, but Jace won the final battle....)

Next, we went decoration shopping! (Did I mention this is my FAVORITE part of redecorating?!)

And picked up:
-New antique bronze shower rod: $5 (Was on a sale and we didn't even know it!)
-Waffle texture white shower curtain $25
-Antique Bronze Waste Basket : $20
-Orange and beige decorative towels: $10
-Antique Bronze Towel Rack: $13
-Antique Bronze Tooth brush holder: $10
-Antique Bronze Soap Dispenser: $10
-Glass Apothecary Jars: $10
-New bath rug $15
-Candles and candle holders $15
Total Decor: $133

And, without further ado, here is our finished master bath...

And, the amazing part of it all? This remodel cost $330 total. Take that Bob Villa.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

 

 

 

 

--Happy Home, from your newbie renovators, Jace and Cass

Upstairs Living Room, Before and After...

Above you will see how this room was decorated with the previous owner.. My primary influence in redesigning this room was to provide a sense of serenity from the moment you enter my home. The design construction layout is split level, so this room is the first real image you have of the house. 

The red wall made me have nightmares.. similar to the scene from the Shining, when the little boy says REDRUM over and over... I found myself rocking in a corner saying RED WALL over and over. 

Here's Jace completing the most challenging part of painting.. taping off edges. 

 

And for the life of me, can't get this pic to rotate!

And here is the finished product. 3 coats of Behr premium paint later..... I chose the seafoam green, black, white, and taupe damask, as I love the colors palate blended together. When the tea lights are lit, this room feels cozy, warm, and welcoming. It's the quaint sitting room I had imagined! 

Before & After:

 

Next up.... The white tiled entry way.. (Who puts white tile in an entry way? Seriously! It snows here and I have a dog...)