Kitchen Love

When we first moved in, one of the first things I did was paint the kitchen cabinets.  They were the hugest victim of the yellowing and caked in gunk.  Gross.

They needed another coating this weekend.  I took some pics of the inside of the doors because I have to show what I worked with prior.

This is pretty much what the outside of the cabinets looked like.  

Greasy, yellowed, dirty.   

Painting away.

I painted the cabinets when we first moved in...but I am about to paint again.

No hardware came in the kitchen either. SO, I have hardware to install

after I'm done painting.  

This is the product of broken dishwasher (hence piles of dishes in the sink)

and an insane person painting.

Fireplace Love

Ugly brick. Dirty brick.

3 hours later I had this :

 We had the house to prepare for our friend's 60th birthday.  

It looked great!

Back Yard Love

This is what the teenie bed looked like to start with.

The cottonwood tree out back wreaks havoc on the back yard. Well, the neighborhood, for that matter. I'm not sure what neighbor has the tree, but it does this every year to the whole street.


I cleaned the bed out and headed to Lowe's.  For about 30 bucks I got some plants, soil and edging.

Much better!  It's a teenie start, I'll admit. But it's a start.

Bathroom Makeover #1

Floors. The house is covered with these floors. Dirty, stained, pitted, scratched, dented.

With these gross, dirty, old and torn floors no room could EVER look clean and tidy.

I chose a darker tile for this bathroom.

I painted the trim in this bathroom as well.  Believe ALL the rooms in this house will soon have painted baseboards! I added brushed silver hardware because there was none.

Here's the 'AFTER'.

This was shortly after we moved in the home in 2008.

Peel N Stick 'Em!

When we moved in this rent house, besides the yellowing of what was once white paint, we were grossed out by the floors.

The man we rent the house from is of the mind "If it serves it's purpose, it's fine."  So, no frills here at all.  But we were given creative license to do any cosmetic things to the house we wanted. The floors in this house are damaged, gouged, stained and ripped.

These things are awesome.  So many patterns and prices are very agreeable....depending on where you're going.

I purchased peel and stick tiles at Home Depot. They're called Newport 12 in. x 12 in. Solid Vinyl Tile.

Here's the BEFORE of the entry tile :

The flooring that's there is the same flooring in the kitchen and both bathrooms.  it's torn, discolored and just looks dirty no matter how many times I've been on my hands and knees scrubbing like Cinderella.  

The installation of these tiles is so simple...even I could do it!  I started at the center of the door, lay the tile straight back, then on either side.  When you come to a place where you need to cut the tile, I used a backing paper from a used tile, laid it down and made a template.  Easy friggin Peasy. 

I also painted the inside of the front door and trim white.  Whatever is supposed to be white paint in this house is a gross yellow.  I am still not done painting all the doors and trim, yet.

Here's a partial on the kitchen tile.  I can't tell you the improvement just laying this peel and stick tile made!