Showing posts with label House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label House. Show all posts

December 15, 2017

Our Kitchen Makeover

If you follow me on Instagram you already saw the reveal of our kitchen makeover. I wanted to write up a post to share my thoughts and experience incase anyone wants to give this a try.

We went with Rust-oleum Cabinet Transformation Cabinet Coating System that we picked up at Menards for around $70. We ended up needing 2 boxes.  We bought the light kit and got it in Pure White.


The kit comes with everything pictured below. There are 4 steps but one of the steps is the glaze coat which we decided to leave out as we just wanted a crisp white finish.


Here's what we were working with as a before. We live in a log cabin so everything is wood inside. It was just too much wood and has just that one window so it was very dark in there.




 We decided to work in sections, starting with the upper cabinets on the dining room side. We removed all the doors and hinges and laid them out on the counter with some paper down. A friend recommended some little triangles that hold your doors up so you can paint both sides, but we just used some push pins so when we flipped them over they would rest on the pins. Worked well actually.



The first step is the deglosser. It's essentially a cleaner. You just rub it all over following the instructions that came in the box. After the recommended drying time it's time to paint. The instructions say you'll do 2 coats but we did three just because I noticed once the second coat dried there was areas that didn't look covered completely.  



After the paint is dried you can do the glaze coat if you want. It gives it a more antique look to me so that's why we decided to skip this step. I wanted bright crisp white. The final step is the protective top coat. When I first put this on it had a slight yellow tint to it but dried clear. I let everything dry for a whole day just to be safe and then we installed new knobs and hinges and hung the doors back up.

The process is pretty simple and fairly easy. It just requires a lot of time. Each coat has a 2-3 hour dry time. So we would paint for maybe 30 minutes then wait for it to dry. I'll be honest and admit that it took me a month to get all the upper cabinets painted. I waited 6 months to start the bottoms and that only took me a few days because the weather was nicer so I took everything outside and didn't have to do it 2 or 3 doors at a time like I did the uppers. I definitely recommend doing it all at once if you have the space instead of in sections like we did. Just seemed to go faster that way.

And now for the big reveal!



Isn't it AMAZING!! It makes it seem so much brighter in there. It's been a few months since we completed it and it's held up great.

For fun, let's do a side by side comparison.


Overall, I am very happy with how it turned out. But now we need new counter tops because they look really bad now. Let me know if you've ever tried this or have been thinking about giving it a try.



*this post is not sponsored by Rust-Oleum, I just wanted to share my experience*



May 13, 2016

Homemade Carpet Cleaner Solution

I don't know what it is, but when I am pregnant I am OBSESSED with vacuuming. I literally do it every day. Something about seeing those lines in the carpet is so satisfying.  This pregnancy I splurged and bought a carpet shampooer. My mom has one that we usually borrow, but I needed my own. I bought the Bissell ReadyClean from Menards. It's a smaller one, but I love it. I'm not going to lie, I bought it in March and have cleaned the carpets three times already.  Another thing I've become obsessed with lately is making my own cleaners instead of spending all that money on them at the store. I searched Pinterest and found this recipe for carpet cleaner solution and loved the fact that I could buy everything at the Dollar Tree for just $4. Yup, FOUR DOLLARS!! And you only use a small portion of each item so it's really less than $4 for a whole gallon of cleaner.



Here's what you need:

2 Tablespoons Liquid Tide Laundry Detergent (They have small bottles at Dollar Tree)
1/4 cup Awesome cleaner
1 scoop Totally Awesome Oxygen Cleaner (Oxyclean)
1 teaspoon Fabric Softener  (I used Snuggle Blue Sparkle because it smells the best to me, but they sell small bottles of Downy at the Dollar Tree)

Mix these all together in a gallon jug and then add hot water until it's filled. Fill your shampooer per instructions which is about 1/4 cup of cleaner and test a small spot of your carpet before doing it all to make sure it doesn't mess up your carpet.

We have really old carpets so I didn't think this would make them look brand new, but it would at least clean them before the baby comes. I was disgusted with how dirty the water was afterwards. That may be part of the reason I've cleaned them so many times since I've gotten the shampooer, but they were lots cleaner on the third time. HAHA!



December 12, 2014

Mason's big boy room

We moved into our house in May of this year, and I don't feel like any room is really complete. Until now. Mason's room is about the only room that has the right furniture and decorations.



He is no longer in his crib and we got him this awesome firetruck bed.  I also picked up some car border on clearance at Menards and a few car canvas prints also on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 



He does need new carpet like all the other bedrooms, but for now his room is complete. 

He does great in his bed and doesn't get out at night time or when he naps. He waits for us to come get him out, which is awesome.  


Next room to finish is Marley's and I have huge plans for her closet / soon to be art space. Can't wait to get started. 

November 21, 2014

Easy bookcase upgrade

The other day I decided to get rid of Mason's toy box and get him a bookcase instead. He has built in shelves behind his toy with most of his toys on that so his toy box was practically empty besides the books and toys on top.


Before putting the bookcase together completely I decided to give it a little upgrade. I just found some fabric in my stash that went with his room colors. I laid out the cardboard back piece over the fabric. I stretched it tight and used some box tape to attach it when I wrapped it around the cardboard. Then I nailed the cardboard piece to the bookcase.  Quick easy and fun upgrade to a simple $17 bookcase.






July 29, 2014

Homemade weed killer

Our house sat empty for 2 years before we moved in so it needs some serious landscaping help. Think 6 acres of oak trees with 2 years worth of dead leaves, that equals about 6 inches of leaves in the landscaping. We've started clearing out the front and it's very time consuming so we just do a little at a time.  There's a small rock bed in the back by the back porch that I decided to tackle the other day. I cleaned out all the leaves and then started pulling weeds. It was taking forever so I hopped on pinterest and found my pin for a homemade weed killer.  I had everything already except for the spray bottle that I picked up at Menards for less than $5. 


All you need is 

1/2 gallon vinegar
1/4 cup salt
1/2 teaspoon blue dawn dish soap

Just mix it up in your spray bottle and spray it on the weeds. 


It smells very strongly so I wouldn't go overboard with it. I just did a light spray down and then came back a few hours later and did more.  


This top picture is before I sprayed it and the bottom one is about 5 hours later. It did work, but I still needed to go through and pull the weeds out. This will kill all the plants you spray it on, so I would be careful around your good plants. 




May 2, 2014

In a Cabin In the Woods

My mom used to sing that little song to us and now I'm using it to describe our NEW HOUSE!!




Back in December we sold our house and then moved into our rental. As of last night we are home owners again.  We purchased a house on SIX acres about 30 minutes from where we are living now.  I don't even really know how to explain this house except lots of wood. Everywhere.  The walls, floors ceilings, doors, covered in wood.  It's pretty much awesome.  


This is the living room from both sides. 



Downstairs bathroom and kitchen. 



Back door that also has the laundry room to the right.  


Dining room and pantry space. 



This is Marley's room. When you walk in the door the room makes an L shape so it's a fairly good sized room.  



This is Mason's room above and below is the upstairs bathroom. Someone apparently tried to paint this wood and didn't do such a good job. It either needs sanded down or a few more coats of paint. We haven't decided what route we're going with it yet. 



This is the master bedroom.  It's the biggest bedroom I have ever had. And it also has the biggest closet I have ever had.  


I was trying to get a picture of the door. Every door in this house is also wooden with fancy little wooden door handles. It's hard to see because it blends it with the wall.  


 Here's the master bedroom ceiling. All the rooms upstairs have vaulted ceilings. The stairway ceiling is so high it's crazy. I tried to take a photo of that too, but with all the wood it was hard to even tell what it was. 



Hallway from the master and back down the stairs. 





These are just small parts of the yard looking out the upstairs windows. 


The rest of the pictures are just of the cleared yard space.  There's lots of woods and even a small creek that runs though the back of the property too. 





So there it is. There's work to be done, but if you know Mike and I, you know we wouldn't buy a house without it having stuff to be done. I think I'm most excited about all brand new appliances and Mike's most excited about the garage and the land.  Just as I did with our old house I will be posting updates on what we've done with the place once we get all moved and settled in.  

Ok, so who's jealous of all the leaves I get to rake? Anyone? =)  I was there for a while today and I already hate the leaves.  They're everywhere!