Our kitchen cabinets are like lemons. We’ve spent the last five years trying to make lemonade with them… but I’ll get to that.

It all started when I noticed the finish wearing away from the vanity in our master bathroom. We found it through eBay in 2006, and it came with the sink top and faucet. It didn’t match anything, so I decided to sand (by hand) and refinish it.

Before:

After:

The stain is mahogany (Bombay Mahogany by Minwax), and it matches our bedroom furniture. The next thing I knew, I was scrubbing an inconspicuous corner of our kitchen cabinets. To my surprise, the finish came off very easily. I kept going, until I got that sinking “there’s no turning back” feeling I know all too well. I sanded a little at a time, whenever Micah was home and able to watch the kids. I had finished an entire section of cabinets (the area near the pendant lights) before becoming very frustrated. That was when Micah bought me an orbital palm sander for $16.00. I was skeptical, but it turned out to be amazing! We never could have finished without it.

I learned some tricks along the way. I had to strip the first drawer and door after I used a brush to apply the stain. It went on too thick that way and turned out dark. I put on some rubber gloves and covered them in socks. That worked perfectly! I also learned very quickly that I had to do as much work in the garage as possible. The dust would have been overwhelming if I hadn’t!

This went on for about a week, until Micah took over. I never could have gotten everything done without him! I was exhausted.

As I said, our cabinets are like lemons. I don’t know which crazy PO installed these things, but they’re all mismatched. We will never be able to replace them, so we had to get creative. It started when we cut six doors and added glass inserts. Now, they have a beautiful mahogany finish with a glossy coat of poly. It turned out to be a huge project, but we are so happy with the result.

Before:

After:

More kitchen photos are posted here.

I bought a cork and dry erase board, stained the frame, covered the cork in scrapbook paper and added hooks for keys. All of the wall art ties together now.

Cost breakdown for this project:
Stain: $12.00
Sander: $16.00
Sanding pads: $5.00
Board: $10.00
Paper: $1.00
Key hook: $3.00
Total: $47.00.

Click here to see how our kitchen looked when we moved in, along with more before-and-after views.

I would like to get some metallic paint for the light fixture in the master bathroom. It has a few rust spots, but there’s no reason to replace it. I’ve also been searching for a good deal on clear glass knobs for Lily’s dresser and chest of drawers. I think I can find a good deal on eBay if I keep looking. We’ll see!

When we moved in, the kid’s bathroom was a bit too cheery. Almost everything was sunshine yellow, including the shower tile. We replaced the old tile flooring and sink top, and then someone told me it would be safe to paint the tile with kitchen and bath paint. It looked good at first, so we painted the tile in the master bathroom too. That turned out to be a disaster, which forced us to have it re-tiled. The kid’s bathroom held out longer, though. That shower never gets used, since the kids still take baths. Recently, the tiles started to bulge, and the paint was chipping away.

Demo complete:

New backer board:

Work-in-progress:

Ready to grout:

The finished product:

More photos of the completed bathroom are located here.

What we used:

Behr Paint:

Wall Tile – Marazzi Montagna Lugano 12 In. x 12 In. Glazed Porcelain (The Home Depot)

Mosaic Tile Accent – Premium Mosaics Smoky Mountain 1 In. x 1 In. (The Home Depot)

Shower Curtain – Canopy Waffle Weave, Artic White (Walmart)

In case you didn’t notice, recent posts contain links to previous, relevant posts from this blog. These links give you a better look at the before-and-after, as well as related projects. Check them out!

It started with the hallway flooring shortly after we bought the house. Two years later, we built a wall to divide our giant family room into two rooms. Later, we did a sort of overhaul of those rooms to create a fourth bedroom for Molly and Mia. To complete our budget-friendly renovation of the lower level, we are moving into the bathroom.

Before:

After:

More updated photos of the bathroom are located here.

We were left with bare concrete when the old cabinet came out, and I couldn’t find the name of the flooring to order more. The opening in the wall is two inches wider than the vanity, and some space is also visible in the front. We decided to go with glass mosaic tile (we’ve been in love with mosaic ever since we did the kitchen backsplash). The colors blend nicely.

Here’s a list of everything we used:

Behr Paint:

Mosaic Tile – MS International 3/4 In. x 3/4 In. Ivory Iridescent (The Home Depot)

Medicine Cabinet – American Classics White 15 in. W (The Home Depot)

Faucet – Price Pfister Brushed Nickel Double-Handle (Lowe’s)

Vanity – allen + roth 28″ White Wynn Combo with Granite Top (Lowe’s)

Shower Curtain – Essential Home Bamboo Leaves (Kmart)

As I mentioned yesterday, the gazebo is up.

I finally got around to bringing a power source outside. My parents gave us the light set they had for their gazebo because they hated setting it up. It had a center lantern and 4 others that hung from the corners. I rewired it so we’d just have one:

I’m out there right now! It is so relaxing.

The sound of a bathroom demolition is not so relaxing.

The pile of junk you need to dispose of is not, either.

The result, however, is going to be amazing. I am so excited!

It takes 2 1/2 – 3 hours to mow our lawn (as you can see here). Micah always gets the mowing done on his day off. Meanwhile, I take the edge trimmer along the fence and steps, trim the bushes and rip out some random weeds. The lawn bags fill up quickly. The town only picks up lawn waste every two weeks, so this is what we’re left with after mowing twice:

It’s pretty disgusting, actually. The bags smell too bad to keep in the garage, so we just hide them along the left side of the house (where there are no windows). Have I mentioned how glad I am that Micah handles all things lawn? He’s very good about helping out with things I hate to do (like emptying the dishwasher). Lucky me!

A few months ago, I painted the sink top in the downstairs bathroom. I knew this wasn’t a permanent solution, but I figured it would work until we got around to replacing the sink… Then, the kids discovered it and thought, “Wow! Peeling paint and throwing it everywhere is fun!” We can’t ignore it anymore.

One of our home’s many previous owners added the bathroom sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. It was in total disrepair when we first moved in, and we had to hire someone to replace a lot of the plumbing. The last step is the sink. It sits on top of a built-in cabinet and has unusual dimensions. The “vanity top” is a piece of plywood with a thin fiberglass (I presume) material glued to the top. The sink itself is porcelain, and it has many chips and stains. Hopefully, we can rip it out soon!

We’re still waiting to hear about the driveway. We had it repaired about two months ago, and now we want to have it sealed. The company said they’d get back to us when they started sealing for the season.

We’ve been looking for a screened gazebo for the back patio. The patio is 13 x 13, but I doubt we’ll find one that will cover the entire thing. Most of them seem to be 10 x 12. It would be nice to have a shaded place, away from bugs, to sit with Lily while the kids play.

Lastly, we ordered a new gate. One of the pickets broke off the existing one. We tried just about everything, but it wouldn’t attach again. That should be ready to pick up any day now.

The downstairs bathroom confused the hell out of me when a realtor showed it to us. Since then, we had most of the plumbing redone, put in new flooring and a new toilet. We even tried to paint the moulding to contrast with the walls, but that never looked right. The most confusing thing of all, however, was the light fixture on the ceiling.

Before:

I couldn’t find a replacement with the right dimensions at first glance, and couldn’t spend the money on one anyway. I picked up some glass trims for recessed lighting (which also reminded me to replace a broken one near the front door). I replaced the flood lights with energy efficient bulbs and painted the ceiling, along with the fixture. This was the end result:

I’d rather have this fix for a few dollars anyway. The next task was replacing the sconce. The ceiling was built with what I presume to be fiberglass-faced drywall. The sconce was so close to the ceiling that it had burned a hole into it! I’m surprised it didn’t start a fire.

Here’s my $11.00 replacement:

Micah was impressed. He helped me finish painting the rest of the bathroom, which I can only describe as the hexadecimal color formerly known as “Alice Blue” (I still miss the simplicity of HTML). Everything looks fresh and updated. I’ll attempt to keep it that way.

We had a relaxing holiday, but also accomplished a few things.

I scrubbed the patio and finished the hard-to-mow areas with the edge trimmer. I found some stainless outlet/switch plates on mark down and replaced the ones in the kitchen. The old ones were a shiny chrome finish and seemed so outdated. Lastly, I painted the kid’s bathroom. It was supposed to be a very pale gray with a hint of blue. It turned out a bit different, but I still like it. It’s been hard for me to use brighter colors in this house. I prefer muted and neutral colors. I figured it was a good idea to brighten things up a little in the areas that the kids use the most. I’ve been trying to accomplish that without using anything too drastic.

Will “made” Micah a card at day care for Father’s Day, which I framed. It matches the rest of the bathroom, so it looks really cute. I love to display the kids’ artwork.

The rocking chair is almost done (finally) and the chandelier will be installed Monday. I realized that I haven’t updated the photos from the twins’ bedroom in a while, so I’ll get around to that soon.

I have found some deals on eBay lately. I bought white roman shades for the kid’s rooms, and fabric-look pleated shades for the two windows in the playroom. They look nice, but you do get what you pay for. The installation was tricky, and we had to be careful. I added a new curtain rod in Will’s room that I actually bought years ago. Micah painted one of the walls navy blue, so Will has an accent wall now.

I bought a plain white chandelier a couple of weeks ago ($37.00). I spent a lot of time shopping around for a good deal on that. I found some small purple shades on clearance at Pottery Barn. I was all set to install it in the master bedroom, and then I realized that the ceiling fixture is not connected to a switch. I’m going to need my Dad’s help with that wiring.

Will has an old armoire from Target in his room. I bought it when I was pregnant with the twins, and they used it for a couple of years. Throw in several relocation moves, and it was in pretty bad shape. It wobbled every time I moved it. In addition to this, the girls had an old dresser as well. They used to be pretty rough with it, and I had to use duct tape just to hold the drawers together. It was obvious we’d have to do something eventually.

I went to the Raymour and Flanigan clearance store last night and saw an as-is dresser for $509.00, marked down from $900.00. It was missing one handle and had a few scratches that weren’t very noticeable, but it stood out because most of the other pieces for bedrooms were far more expensive. The salesman approached me, but I was stubborn. I finally negotiated my way down to $299.00! The next thing I knew, Micah was taking the seats out of my van and I was picking it up. It’s 70 inches wide and 40 inches high. I absolutely love it.

The kids have inherited our old dressers, which we recently painted white. I’ll post updated photos of their bedrooms soon.

We still haven’t done anything with the rocking chair. We’ll have to wait until the weather is nice so we can strip it outside. We’re going ahead with the shower tile, though. It will be done in about two weeks. I chose this 12 X 12 porcelian tile:

Rapolano Noce Tile

I’ll have lots of updates and photos posted on the site soon.

The downstairs bathroom is complete. We decided to choose a wall color that would
match the flooring, and a dark brown for the trim that would give a natural wood appearance. I chose a semi-gloss for the walls (as always), but a flat paint for the trim. This worked very well. I painted the frame of a wall hanging and a cabinet we had on top of the toilet to match the trim, purchased a new shower curtain and a candle with holder. It all was very time consuming (especially when it came to the painter’s tape), but we are happy with the results and it was an inexpensive
improvement.

After walls were painted:

Before:

After:

I am exhausted. Even if there was anything left to paint, I wouldn’t do it!
I even re-painted the master bath ceiling tonight so Micah wouldn’t have to.
That was not a fun job, but it had to be done! Yesterday was a big house cleaning
day, and I had to do some odd jobs like put a new plug on one of the track light sets
downstairs, sweep the garage and organize to start making room for Micah’s car.
There were a lot of large items I had to throw out. Winter will be here before we know it, and I’m not sure if I am excited about that!

The kids’ bathroom is complete. We painted the shower tile tonight, using the same color that was used in the other bathroom:

Before:

After:

The yellow tile was a LOT easier to paint over than the blue! We have about 2/3 gallon left, just in case we ever need to do touch-ups.