It’s Finally Done!

 

I am exhausted, but happy!  My kitchen is finally finished except for a couple of minor things.  I still need to get a new range hood and will be removing the shelf.

Here is where it all began.  Click on the photos for a larger view.  This was the first photo I posted of the kitchen when I first bought the house.  YUCK!

This is some of what I had to contend with .  The previous owners weren’t big on maintenance or cleanliness.

I almost ripped these tiles off the wall. As a matter of fact, I did rip off a couple behind the microwave (not shown) and of course, it took some of the wall with it. Since I am not made of money, I decided to give cleaning them a shot and I was pleasantly surprised at the result!  I scrubbed them down, bleached the grout and then I scraped out the old caulking and put down a new bead and it looks great!  I also brought the wall color down on the top edge of the tile.

I spent about 4 days with this!

And finally, I reached the finish line!  ::THUD::

 

 

 

At some point in the future, I may redo the countertops and I will definitely be redoing the floor at some point, but I must say that I’m very happy to live with this kitchen for a long time!

Keep in mind that EVERYTHING you see here was done with 2 gallons of paint and one can of spray paint.  That is ALL I spent on this project.

Technorati Tags: kitchen remodel,before and after,french country,country french,kitchen redo,diy

I Almost Can’t Stand the Excitement

 

I was going to wait until this whole project was done, but I can barely contain my excitement as I see my new kitchen coming together.  I can’t remember if I had previously mentioned that I was planning to paint my kitchen cabinets…..BLACK…..::::    That was my family’s reaction when I told them!    They think I’m crazy, but they also thought I was crazy when I told them I was going to paint the cabinets at our mountain house RED…only to admit later that I knew exactly what I was doing.

Almost as shocking was the wall color I chose.  My daughter said it will look like “Halloween” year round.  I gently corrected her and told her, “uh hem….it’s called “Country French”. 

So, here’s what I had to start with……

I must admit that when I first dabbed on a bit of this wall color, I too was a little taken aback.  But, I don’t have a ton of wall space in this “U” shaped kitchen, and the other things in the room will break up the color.  I would never put this in a large room.

Hence my point when you see how striking this is against the cabinets.  Not done yet, but you get the idea.

I’m over the moon about this!  Look at this UGLY hardware, SCREAMING 1980’s at me.

Heh…check this out!  Brushed satin nickel in a can!  I’m painting all the hardware with this and it looks great against the black. 

I plan to have all the painting done by Friday night.  Hope I’m not being overly optimistic. 

I’ve also been cutting out fat quarters and want to get those up in my Etsy shop soon. 

 

I’ll  be back to show you the finished kitchen in a couple of days!

Technorati Tags: before and after,kitchen,remodel,redecorate,renovation,country french,black cabinets,brushed nickel,krylon,fat quarters,etsy

The Renovation Begins Again

I’m on vacation this week and told myself that I am going to get the renovation of my new house going again.  My plan is to do the kitchen, which I will start on later today after I go into town to get my supplies.  I got a hair yesterday to paint the wall around the bay window and my front door.   It’s been driving me crazy looking at it.  I also got halfway up the vaulted ceiling and will do some more later today.  While things are drying in the kitchen, I will be in the living room.  I think I can get a lot more done this way.  It’s full speed ahead!

Here’s the wall so far.  The door needs another coat and the inside of the bay hasn’t’ been done yet.  Will do that today and While I’m out, I’ll be looking for a nice valance to go with my other furnishings I’ll be putting in the room.  I’ll show you a picture of that probably tomorrow. 

Can ya see why it’s been making me crazy?  UGLY describes it pretty well.  Only this wall is going to be brown.  The other walls will be the creamy yellow I’ve used in the other areas.  I am getting rid of that brass light fixture. I want something that sits tight to the ceiling, because they didn’t center the fixture over the door and I’m a symmetrical person when I comes to certain things being centered.  Plus, I find the hanging light to be a distraction against the wall.

First Coat

Almost Done

Come back tomorrow to see the progress and sneak peek  at the kitchen.

Technorati Tags: revovation,painting,diy,before and after

Pinterest

 

If there are any of you out there who haven’t jumped on board with Pinterest, you don’t know what you’re missing!  It’s like having a fresh magazine to browse through daily!  Look at some of the great pins that the ladies I follow have put on their pin boards. 

Technorati Tags: pinterest,cottage chic,shabby chic,romantic,vintage

These are pin boards separated into categories and as we browse the web and see awesome stuff we want to share, we pin it to our pin boards to share with our followers.  The latest and greatest in social media!

They ask that you not use the pin boards entirely for self promotion, but I do have one board featuring my own stuff.  All my other boards are other people’s stuff.

Membership is by invitation only, so if you’d like to join, leave a comment and the e-mail address you’d like to use and I’ll send you an invite!

The Great Depression

Just a short post to share a site with you I stumbled upon tonight.  It’s got stories about the Great Depression and I found them so interesting!  Have a peek!

http://newdeal.feri.org/sevier/index.htm

Obsessed With Saving

Since my last post where I talked about the death of my dryer and my newfound love for “making do”, I’m proud to say that I’m still hanging my laundry up to dry and that my little invention is working quite well, thank you very much!  Life has sort of “double dog dared” me lately to see how far I can take this frugality thing.  Well, I have to say that I’m finding it really fun! 

Since purchasing this new house, money is an issue, because there are so many things I need and want to do around here.  So, I’ve gone off on a mission to find every way possible to save money.  What started out as need has turned into somewhat of an obsession.  I have scoured the Internet for resources on all kinds of make-your-own…(fill in the blank) and I’m amazed at all the stuff I have found.  The first one I just finished trying was making your own laundry soap.  The powdered kind.  I was kind of skeptical as to whether or not it would get the clothes clean, but I must say…it works just as good as the over-priced, over-perfumed commercial brands.  You should really try this

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda

1 bar of Fels Naptha, Zote or Ivory

You grate the soap and mix it with the other two ingredients then store it in a container with a lid.  I used an old butter tub and the scoop from my last box of Gain.  I only use about 2 tablespoons.  I just eyeball it.

I also gave up fabric softener and I put 1/4 to 1/2 cup vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.  The clothes come out soft and static free.  I get a clean smell without the heavy perfume and it’s gentle on the environment!

The best part of all is that it saves money!  It works out to be about $.05 cents per load.  I was spending $.15 cents per load before.   We all know cheap vinegar is and how expensive fabric softener or dryer sheets are.  That’s a no brainer there.  I’m saving over $100.00 per year on laundry products.

You may be thinking that $100.00 per year isn’t that much, but if you do that with other things around your house, it could be a significant savings.  I will save about $200.00 per year by not using my dryer.  So, I can save $300.00 a year just by changing the way I do laundry and the products I use.  I’ve found recipes for cold crème, body wash, mouth wash, lip balms and dozens of other things I’m going to try.  I stopped buying the facial scrub I have used for years to exfoliate and I just keep a bit of sugar in the bathroom in a jar and mix a little in with a dollop of cold cream and I have a very cheap scrub. 

I’ll let ya know how my little experiments work out.  See you in the laboratory! Muwahahahahahahha!