House Updates: Guest Bath

Lets take one more look at the before of our Guest Bathroom when we moved in

Gold walls, tiny mirror, Yuck!

Here was the last update to this bathroom that I left you with

 We added an extra long white shower curtain and a cute rug, but that Gold 

wasn't going to stay for long.

 In came my super awesome handy Dad to the rescue.

I knew I wanted to paint this room a fun color, but with the rest of the house being so neutral and white I didn't want the whole wall screaming at our guests when they entered the bathroom.

So up went the Board & Batten

 There are a ton of how to's out there on installing Board & Batten, just search 

for it on Pinterest and done! 

 of course he is making sure it is level. Bottom part done!

 Now on to the paint, oh wait this little closet posed a bit of a problem.

You can tell best in the picture below this closet is very shallow and is covering up some type of duct work. Leaving an empty space on the right side that looks terrible.

 

So we decided it would look best to cut the original door down and have the top part become open shelves. Dad framed it out perfectly, you will see!

 Here was the paint going up and me starting to freak out. I was thinking is it too orange? Too bright? Too coral? Just keep painting and quit worrying.

So I did and I love it!

One more look at the BEFORE:

AFTER:

 Up went the new mirror and light fixture!

 See how nice the open shelves turned out. We lined the back with beadboard to 

cover up the vent and the empty space.

 I knew I wanted to add navy into this bathroom, but couldn't find a shower curtain I liked. 

So I found a navy and white striped sheet set at target that I just knew would work. 

A full sheet works perfectly to keep the extra long length I like. 

I still have to add some artwork, but I am loving how this bathroom is turning out!

House Updates: Master Bedroom

In addition to my dresser revamp we have updated a couple other things in the Master. Here is the shot when we bought it. Empty...but green.

The first project that had to happen was to paint. So out came the swatches of gray. I think Gray might be one of the hardest colors to pick out. We ended up going with Benjamin Moore Smoke Embers.

I also added trim to some Ikea curtains for this room and I love the way they turned out.

I used the Athena Greek Key trim in Yellow.

How does a girl who doesn't know how to sew do such a thing?

Fabric Glue!

I found some great matching lamps at HomeGoods for such good deal.

The cute little print reminds me of Jonathan Adler.

After the dresser all that was left was hanging some pictures.

And we are ready for company.

I actually have already ordered a rug and gotten it in, but for now it is going to live in my living room until I find what I want for that space. 

DIY Mirrored Dresser

I have always had a love for mirrored furniture, and a hatred for my cheap-o dresser. I knew it was time to do something different to the piece that I look at everyday. Thanks to Pinterest I found a How TO mercury glass, and from there my wheels started turning and next thing you know I was on a roll. 

Like I said I really hated my dresser, so much that I have never taken a picture of it and I forgot to take a before for this project. I did find it in the background of one picture and did a little zoom and crop to give you an idea of the before.

  I wanted the mirror to be antiqued. These are some of my inspiration pictures.

 I did do a couple tests on picture frame glass. I decided I wanted to add some gray paint in with the black paint for the antique look.

Here are my tools: 

Krylon Looking Glass paint

Gray paint diluted with water in spray bottle

Black paint diluted with water in spray bottle

drop cloth

cut clear glass

 First I sprayed the black and gray paints to give the look I wanted and then while wet sprayed the top with the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint. 

Next I used Liquid Nails to glue the pieces onto the drawer fronts. 

Halfway

Before:

After:

 

This was a pretty easy project. I will be mirroring more in the future!   

House Updates: Master Bath

I am hoping to fill you in this week on what we have been doing around here.

My parents came back up this weekend to help me knock a few other things out. It has been a little tough to get everything done when my partner has been gone for the past 3 weekends on Bachelor Parties. Arg!

We have been working hard during the week, but I needed a little extra help from the parents.

I picked up my shower curtain from my seamstress last week. 

I was thrilled with how it turned out, but the extra length meant extra weight. Too much for those tension rods to hold. So another run to Home Depot and I came out with wall mounts for the rod.

Dad helped me install and wah-lah...

I had 5 yards of this Windsor Smith for Kravet fabric and had it bordered in an ivory linen. This curtain is about 96"long and hangs from ceiling to floor. The best part is that it matches the paint that was already in the house so I don't HAVE to paint...before the party this weekend. 

Here is what my kitchen looked like on Saturday....are you dying to know?

 BYE BYE slate floor, you will not be missed!

Now hopefully everything will go as planned and I will have a new kitchen floor before this weekend. 

or I will cry!

Deal of the Century

Sorry I have not been keeping you updated with our house projects. I promise I have a lot to show. 

I have been busy busy getting ready for 12 girls coming next weekend.

I do have to take a quick minute to tell you about the sweet deal I scored at Scotts last month.

My mom and I were walking around outside and passed by this light fixture, 

I thought it could be cute with a paint job and some new wiring.

So I got it...puke green and all.

I painted it one night with a quick coat of the Whythe Blue I used for my front door.

Still not really knowing where I was going to hang this guy.

Last night I was flipping through the One Kings Lane  H & H Home Tastemakers Tag Sale

and what do I see?????

AHHHHH! My fixture in yellow for sale for how much??? WHAT??

Can you see that? Retail $1,125 and Our Price $549!!!

Are you serious? 

Now are you ready for the deal I got? I paid a whopping 

$20.

Yep just one Jackson and the fixture was sold to one lucky girl!

Happy Friday..I know mine will be I saved $529 so I'm going shopping.

AND Im going to see Hunger Games tonight

 Whoo Hoo

Kitchen Makeover

Last week I had Spring Break and man has it changed. Instead of flying off to some island drinking Mai Tais I was working all week on the house. My mom came up and we spent all of Tuesday tiling the backsplash in the kitchen. 

Here is the progress so far...remember the before

And this is after we painted the cabinets and took out the one over the sink 

Dad and Wesley patching the hole  

Hole is patched! Here is our electrician Gary doing some pre-tile work for us. He worked all day Monday to install the recessed lighting and under cabinet lights; he even ate dinner with us. 

We took out the pendants over the bar and until I find the perfect one, Gary moved one over our sink.

Now we were ready to tile. 

Besides Gary here were our secret weapons for the project...

Simplemat... this is a sticky mat that makes tiling super easy to work with and 

less messy than the thinset 

 

A supermom tile cutter and wet saw

an eyeliner pencil...we used this to mark our cuts. The waxy texture stuck better than pencil marks while using the wet saw.

 We started the project at 10am and finished at 10pm.

I cooked dinner in the middle of all the mess with the stove in the center of the kitchen.

We had this Strawberry Balsamic Chicken Pizza...Amazing! A must try! 

You can spy my attempt to find hardware...finally solved!

 Wesley learned to be a super tile cutter too!

 Before the grout

 

  On to the grout...wesley and I gave mom a break while 

we got literally up to our elbows in gritty grout.

 Can you even remember where we started? Here is a reminder of what this Kitchen looked like just 3 months ago.

and here is the after:

 The wall on the left is a grey chalkboard wall and I love it!

Taking out the pendants over the bar really opens up the small space.

 a peek of the hardware that finally made the cut

 The recessed lighting and under the cabinet lighting makes such a huge difference in the space.

The only things left for this space are changing out the fixture over the sink and changing out the floor. 

I love my new kitchen and have to give a big thanks to my super amazing mom!