Done! (for now lol) I really wanted this room to be set up and relaxing, since we are in the midst of unpacking (yes, it’s been 3+ months but we are human), and tackling other projects. This house is a lot of work, which is why mentally I just needed a room “done”. Eventually we’ll replace trim, flooring, and doors, but that’s going to take a lot of time and money.
****LINKS**** Here are the links for everything:
It’s done! What was once a poorly laid out extra large sized bathroom, is now a beautiful & functional master bathroom AND separate powder room! A special thank you to my dear friend Megan for coming up with the concept.
It’s complete! Well, just about. 300+ square feet for an entryway was a lot for us to tackle. When you throw in 5 random closets, it really makes you think how it could be mapped out to be efficient for a busy family. Other than adding art to the stairway halls, and finishing up the stairs themselves, the space is complete and we couldn’t be happier.
Here are a few of the Before & After photos:
Recently we’ve made some big changes to Evan’s room. Excited to share them with you!
Below are three photos of Evan’s room BEFORE we did anything. (except carpets were ripped out, but that’s it!) It was a mess!
If you’ve followed my blog (as slow as I’ve been..*wink*), you know that my husband Glenn and I have been working hard to complete our foreclosure renovation. We have an ultimate goal of 5 years to complete everything, and this started in December 2014. The dining room is not done, as this is just an update, so please excuse the partial finishes in all of the photos. The floor is birch hardwood from Menards and was the first big project Glenn completed, besides our heat/cracked pipes. The walls definitely need a painting, and the brown window next to the table will be replaced in the spring. Our sliding door is brand new, but my perfectionist husband now wants a different one that will “be a better fit”, so out that goes and in comes the new sometime also this spring. Once that’s installed, he’ll be able to complete the trim and also fix the heater covers and add baseboard.
My dear friend Kandi just purchased and renovated a kitchen table from her local Craig’s List ads. I’m excited to share her experience and the steps along the way to complete this fabulous table, all for under $100!
Our weekend company has come and gone. It was so nice having the house filled with people. I absolutely love having guests stay because I love being a hostess, and enjoy spending time with family/friends. My cousins that stayed were able to enjoy our now complete guest bath.
In my earlier post I mentioned our wallpaper dilemma, and now to further expand on that.. The previous owner used wallpaper borders in multiple rooms. They have been very difficult to get down, and I’m so glad this is the last room we have to remove them from. The process we used in the other rooms was using a hair dryer and a good spray remover for the glue. This was definitely a two person job, where one would be peeling the paper while the other followed ever so slowly behind with the hair dryer to heat up and loosen the glue. Once the outer layer was gone we could then spray ‘WP Chomp’ gel remover from Home Depot on the second layer which mainly consisted of glue. This particular brand did the best job out of the few we tried, therefore I would definitely recommend it.
Our guest bathroom is pretty much complete! Whew! It’s been a long ride, and slowly but surely we are coming to the end. The only items left are painting the door and scrubbing the grout on the floor to hopefully get it nice and white. The floor was the only part of the bathroom we didn’t change. Technically you could count the shower too, but we did tear out the door and door frame to replace with a frame-less clear glass one (the previous was a frosted 1980s style glass with a thick metal frame).
This bathroom is located on the lower level of our home which was built in 1986. It definitely had a very late 80s, early 90s, look to it and was in need of an update.
Here are a few “before” photos:
Part two: Hardware and a few light fixtures
The hardware is installed! One more step complete until we reach the final goal. The project is definitely taking longer than most kitchens, but doing it all ourselves and with our busy schedules we knew it was going to be an ongoing, lengthy experience. Just to have these handles installed is a huge excitement in our life. I can open my drawers without a fight! Hooray!
One of the very first things both myself, and Glenn (my husband), wanted to tackle in our new house was the kitchen. With a baby on the way (May 2015), we knew it had to be a priority. Unfortunately there were other bumps in the road that needed to be taken care of immediately because of the house sitting vacant for two years in cold, northern Minnesota. After fixing what was necessary and immediate, we officially ordered new kitchen cabinets in November of 2015. Our budget without appliances was $5,000, however we knew it was going to go over and sure enough it ended up doubling. It is possible to do a kitchen for $5,000, and here is one I came across of a family doing their kitchen on this budget.
The style we are ultimately aiming for is a blend of modern, rustic, and industrial. The rustic will blend in from the dining room, as our hopes are to purchase a nice rustic dining table down the road. I can’t wait to do mini posts with updates on furniture purchases and decorating. My great friend Molly has been an amazing help with advice for this entire process, as our unofficial interior decorator. She’s quite creative and we are glad to have her input.
To give you an idea of what our kitchen looked like: