New Floors!

The laundry room in our house is very spacious! But the vinyl in them is awful. It is also the same vinyl in our bathrooms but I'm patiently waiting for the paycheck to redo the whole bathrooms. It is awful. The house is 19 years old and I'm betting there were there from the get-go.

But anywho- if you are like me you skip to the pictures :)

I forgot to take a before picture. *Sigh* I always get too excited to start a project I don't want to take the time to find my phone after I realized I already spilled the guts of the project on the floor. 

So here is my "before" 

The floor was stained (Notice the blue spot that was an OOPS! FYI don't put a went paint roller on a grocery bag. The grocery bag does nothing to stop it from getting to the floors apparently.. Who woulda known? But, either way it was awful before. 

So insert my friend Angela. She did peel and stick tiles to her whole kitchen and the difference was amazing. I probably would have never known about these (even though I spend hours of my time in Lowes walking around for "fun" haha) 

For 68 cents a sq foot...you can't lose! Well unless you are awful at it.. then you might lose. I wasn't allowed to do the cutting around the edges but Casey was pretty good at it. Thank God for men right ;)

Here's me doing the easy part 

The easy part literally took like 10 minutes..the hard part was trying to cut to size. 

I would try and give you tips but you will learn as you go and figure out the best way to do it for you. 

We used

• a measuring tape
• a ruler
• a utility knife
• and a dry erase marker (helped make marks that could easily be wiped off after)

I would recommend using a ruler to get a straight edge. And then you snap the tile where the cut is. It is that easy! Unless you are dealing with some stupid edges. Then I would recommend grabbing a beer and get ready for some patience. Casey I think was about to strangle me after about 20 minutes of trying to get the right cut on one of them. 

But let's skip to the end result!

I'm so proud I constantly find myself heading to the laundry room to flip the switch and stare. Notice the beer on the washer- I'm going to recommend that as a good tool to also add to your tool list. Normally it would be a nice glass of Moscato but Octoberfest just came out by Sam Adams and I couldn't pass it up. 

They offer the tiles in many colors. Here are the four I was debating from

I was favoring the last one but I needed Casey to help me and he liked the grey and sometimes you just need to go with the man's choice so he feels like he is a part of it! (oh he is going to kill me when he reads this lol) 

I like the end result so I'm okay with it :)

They also offer this peel and stick tile in a "hardwood" 

I should add that these tiles are textured so they feel like more of the real deal. Also you have the option to grout these so they look more real. I probably wouldn't suggest doing this to the hardwood but you get my point. I loveeeed the second one from the top. I'm thinking that will be in my bathroom with a nice brown vanity when I eventually get to my redo.

But anyways, another project in the books. Hopefully for the better! I would say so! Saying I <3 DIY would be an understatement! I love doing these projects. I might end up single because I may be a little obsessive about these projects but fingers crossed he says because he is a good one :) Bless his heart! 

Yay floors! 

Eryday I'm stencilin

Eryday I'm Stenclin.. 

Well, not really..this was actually my first time :)

 I get all my ideas from Pinterest. I'm about as creative as a plain white wall. I wish I said I came up with any of these ideas my self, but sadly, I do not. 

So when I start these projects I never think to do a picture step by step. So unfortunately I only have one measly picture to show. Sigh, sorry people. 

So since we already have covered that my creativity level would probably be outdone by a three year old with a paint set here is where I stole the idea :) 

Isn't that pretty! 

Side note: Have you ever looked at how much stencils run these days? I think I'm in the wrong business because every where I looked stencils were running from $20-50 

But of course I won't even spend $20 to get my oil changed on time (irrelevant but true) I was determined to do this for much cheaper. 

Here is what I ended up with:
(I do still love the inspiration picture a whole lot better, but I think this will due) 

The silver paint is from Home Depot and ran me about $5.48 for a small thing of it. 

MSL Metallic Polished Silver (I'm trying to make your life easier) 

The stencil I got from Home Depot. I had a much larger stencil in my hand which I thought might give it a similar effect as the inspiration photo but this design was similar to the fabric I wanted to use to make a valance in the kitchen. (Spoiler alert- that is my next project!) Anyways, the stencil was around 6.99 but of course I had a coupon. And now that you know of coupon (if you didn't already) never buy anything again without using this coupon. It is always the same *40% off* 

Hobby Lobby Coupon

The back of the stencil said to use spray on adhesive. But don't waste your money. It worked for like one paint job. I just used painters tape on the corners. It worked much better. 

I screwed up like 7 times. What's great about this Martha Stewart paint is that it easily wipes off with water. I scrubbed off a whole stencil after I didn't space it right and you couldn't even tell. You know what else is great about this- The paint dries pretty fast so that I could easily go down the wall without messing up the one before. 

I was pretty impressed with myself. The boys in my household thought it was cool, so that's always a win.  

Alright, onto to the next project!

Kitchen Makeover

Design on A Dime: Kitchen Makeover

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations in Pure White

Well, people I took the plunge and painted my cabinets. Up close you can tell I'm an average painter (lol) But for the most part I think they look a whole lot better.

If you are thinking about doing this let me give you a few TIPS:

1. Buy wood or something to prop up your cabinets when you paint them. Don't be an idiot and lay a blanket with fuzzies over a ping pong table and think that that's a good idea. Because..it is not! (I made this mistake and ended up having to do a little sanding and touch ups) 
2. Do not cuddle with your cat and then decide it's a good idea to go outside and paint. (If you look closely you may find a cat hair permanently imprinted on a cabinet or two)
3. Lastly, do NOT paint when it is 104 degrees outside. Yup, I'm the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to paint the hottest weekend of the year. But in my defense it was the last two days of my vacation and with Casey's son out of town it just made sense to start this project. I can really say that this project took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Except I didn't cry, although the thought of going outside every time to do a layer did make me want to cry. Needless to say, I was miserable.  

Now for the fun part. The Reveal  :) 

Here is the before:

And the After:

Since this picture we have put hardware on and it looks even better. But of course, I forgot to take that picture this morning before deciding to do this blog. But you get the point! Next step painting the counter tops! We are eventually going to get granite but I am trying to hold off on my impulsive spending habits and wait another year or so. 

So would I recommend this? Yes! The kit only costs about $75 and comes with everything you need minus paint brushes and painters tape. I would say if I could do this over again I wouldn't have picked Pure White. I would have picked Linen or something a little off white because this is BRIGHT! It doesn't look awful but I think an off white may have looked a little better in person. 

So if you are thinking about tackling this project plan on devoting a whole weekend to this! There is a lot of drying time between everything so I could definitely seeing this project taking a whole week if you weren't impatient like I was. But I would definitely say do it! I couldn't afford to get new cabinets and I definitely think it was an upgrade from the builder grade brown! But if you asked my Dad he'd tell you differently but then again he also thinks it's stupid when I wear a headband. So what does he know? ;)

This is embarrassing

Let me start off with I love my boyfriend. But I do not love his job! I don't know what it is (maybe the peanut oil or something) but my shower has been disgusting since the day he first stepped foot in it. (If he reads this he is going to swear up and down that this wasn't him) But it is. Anywho... this is so embarrassing I should not post this but I have had a miserable time cleaning the bathtub. Mind you I wish I was as clean as my mother but I am not..but I have tried everything. I have bleached bathtubs and used 409. Nothing has worked. 

But I'm here to tell you- if you have this same dirty boyfriend/significant other you are in luck.

 I found this on Pinterest (of course I find everything on Pinterest) 

http://thecraftpatch.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/pinterest-tested-tub-cleaner.html

Mix a half cup vinegar- I warmed it up in the microwave in my spray bottle for 30 seconds- and then added a half cup dish soap. The post said to use blue dish soap but all I had was the green kind and I thought I would give it a try. Maybe the blue kind gives it a extra kick but the green seemed to do the job. Let it stay on for an hour and then go back and wipe it off. The pin said you wouldn't have to scrub- but I had to. Not a hard scrub but I did have to put a small little muscle into it.

Probably for the better- I had pizza for lunch and maybe I burned roughly 7 calories doing this, hehe. 

 Now this tub is disgusting.. I shutter even putting it on here for the world to see. But this was too good not to share.

 (disclaimer- the green is the dish soap. I forgot to take a before picture before I sprayed the tub.)

Now here for the after. It could probably use another spray down but I may or may not have done a happy dance. I don't think my tub has been this clean for three years. 

So that's all. Happy Sunday. May your tub be ever brighter. 

Because I don't do average.

Well if you are a Facebook friend you already know that I painted this door a while ago.. oh this door and I fought.

Let's just say I could win an award for the world's worst painter. But Casey was at work and I had too much time on my hands at work. So I decided- on a whim I might add- to paint my door. It was a barf ugly green door. I don't know whoever decided to pick out that color but they shouldn't have. So out with the old in with the new.

(Sorry about the wreath picture- for some reason all of my pictures disappeared and well this was me doing my best to try and find the pictures again)

The color is Full Sun by Valspar

Now really.. I want to know who thought it was a good idea to paint this door barf green? Maybe it just isn't for me and someone might say that about my yellow door.. but hey, I like it. Here are some tips for the bad painters out there attempting this project. Be patient. I lack that on all levels and this is why the door and I fought. To go from green to yellow was obviously going to take some coats. I did coat one and it was bad (but it was smooth) Let the paint dry for a good amount of time before you go on to the next coat. I just kept going. I was determined to get that door yellow.. I think that's where I messed up. After time it started getting clumpy and runny and awful. I had a mental break down. I took many wet paper towels and started wiping off the paint. I didn't know what else to do. This door was about to be garbage. Well after about a roll of paper towel on the floor I got most of the paint off. 

And then I waited.. (which I should have done in the first place) 

Needless to say WAIT people. This is an easy project, just not a quick one. The next day I did one more coat to even out what I had wiped off and this is what I got. I'm pretty proud of the color. If you have been in my house you know I like colors on the bright side. It isn't every one's cup of tea but I like it and I live there. 

On that note, have a bright and sunny day :)

Slackin..

Well..it looks like this is going to most likely end up like my twitter account- inactive. I just can't figure it out. Everyone has such pretty blogs and I have your joe schmoe of one. Oh well maybe some day.

Last night I stained wood for the first time. Let me start off with saying I am the worst painter in the world. But this I could do. I googled and googled how to do this but let me tell you this is pretty easy. I didn't have to sand the wood very much because I was talked into buying stain grade wood ($$$- I'm an easy sell lol) so that was nice. After the first coat the can said to wait 4-6 hours between coats but I have the  patience of a 2 year old. So I once again went back to google and someone said just wait 10 minutes and go for the second coat. So I did- and well it turned out just fine. So anyone else out there staining for the first time I can let you know if you too have the patience of a small child my project turned out okay. I did wait a whole night before I used the clear top coat. 

Anywho- now on to the bragging. This is the first big pinterest project I have taken on. We already had a Kitchen Island we bought from Target. Here's me putting it together back in November.

Well after some time we realized our itty bitty kitchen needed some more counter space. So insert Pinterest which led me to this http://www.curbly.com/users/capreek/posts/13399-before-after-a-diy-kitchen-island-makeover. They took a average kitchen island and turned it into this! Beautiful. And I thought- hey maybe I could do that!

 So here is my attempt! I didn't use a butcher block (which in hindsight probably would have cost me the same in the long run) Instead I took 5 stain grade pine and rigged up my own countertop. (Also a pinterest DIY post) http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/2010/11/diy-kitchen-island-top.html <-- It must have been there lucky day because they got wood for 50 cents and it cost me $20! Sigh..

 Here is my pre-stain beauty..

And here is post stain... (still wet I should add)

I clearly need to take a better picture. But I was really proud of this thing I couldn't wait to post it. Casey and I did a fine job if I can say so myself. Now time to paint the Kitchen cabinets white (Yikes) And hopefully talk Casey into letting me take off that ugly backsplash! (He hates me I'm sure of it)