Customizing a track home...part 1 { Kitchen & Laundry}

I realized last week that I never posted the makeover we did on our last house. I didn't start blogging for a year and a half later...guess that's why. Still though, it's quite the transformation and something you may enjoy seeing and hopefully get some ideas and tips from.

We'll start with the kitchen today...

The only bummer is that I didn't do before photo's...again, with the "not a blogger mindset back then", so you'll just have to imagine white walls, your very basic lenolium flooring and builder basic oak cabinets and lighting.

Because our builder didn't offer any custom work, we decided to pick the cheapest flooring, etc. and then put in higher grade products on our own. As for the kitchen cabinets, they didn't offer white or off white so I chose the cheapest basic cabinets and then changed them up...

This was a big kitchen with a lot of cabinets so I hired it out.

Here's how they did it....

#1 Took off doors
#2 Applied a really good primer
#3 Painted on two coats of off white paint
#4 Used a brown glaze, applying about 8" at a time then wiping off with a rag

It really would have been simple to do myself, but there was a lot of cabinets!! Including the laundry and downstairs bath.

Actually the VERY first step was to add a chunky moulding to the top of cabinets...then the painting began.
It really added a nicer look.

After the paint/glaze, I ordered some bronze knobs Online. They were a great addition and seriously a must with white cabinets!!

We also added 5 or 6" baseboards.

For the first year or so, I went without anything on my back windows (after spending loads of money on plantation shutters for the front), but my dad came into town and took me to Home Depot. I had no idea they'd custom cut wood blinds right there for you. How awesome...plus paid for them & hung them all for me! :) Such a great dad...oh and the baseboards? He painted them when I was out of town. So great!

The valance was from Linens n' Things...obviously before I discovered the Nester and her "mistreatments".

To add a little something to the cabinets, I ordered two glass display doors from Lowe's and had the painter include them when painting.

We ripped up the linoleum flooring and installed hand scraped maple wood. They were gorgeous but dark floors show everything! It only took about an hour before I regretted them. I got tons of compliments on them but I'm not gonna lie...they were a pain in the tush!

Dear Kimball switched out all the lighting (in the entire house)! I didn't go w/ any super expensive lights but we got the look we wanted without spending a fortune by upgrading through the builder.

Of course the walls were originally white, so we had them painted and went with a two toned...darker color on the walls (a dark tan, almost looked kahki at times) Benjamin Moore Paints, but I don't remember the color. We had the ceilings a lighter color "Garden Herb" by Benjamin Moore.

We added this beautiful chiseled edge French country tile. I LOVED it.

That's it for this post! Hopefully you got some ideas for ways to spruce up your place. The great thing about it is you can do baby steps...no need to do it all at once and all of this can be done without hiring help. If I'd have it to do all over again, we would have done more of the work ourselves. Even though we saved a lot by contracting it out (rather than pay our home builder), we could have saved even more by going slow and practicing patience.

Here's a recap of the master bathroom makeover.

Have a fabulous week!!

Bathroom Makeover & Home Goals {Dave Ramsey Style}

Back in 2008 I did a makeover on our bathroom, I blogged about it,
 but accidentally deleted it when I combined my two blogs.
So here's the repost. 

It started out w/ your basic oak colored cabinets.

1. I first took off the doors
2. Lightly sanded the cabinets
3. Wiped off dust with slightly damp cloth 
4. Applied one coat of primer
5. Then two coats of black paint
6. Added knobs and handles

The knobs and handles are from Lowe's.

Cute little lamp from Hobby Lobby.

Paint color = "herb garden" by Benjamin Moore.

I got a TON of compliments on the paint color, only thing I did wrong was have the painter do my WHOLE HOUSE IN IT! I won't tell you how much that cost, and I slowly started changing the colors any way.

Word to the wise...when you first get into a new home, take time to really think it through. Don't feel like you need to pull a 'Martha' and decorate it from top to bottom all in the first month.

I also got this clock and scripture plaque from Hobby Lobby which is where I got the color scheme idea.

Roman shades above, from JCPenny's...obviously before I found the Nester or I'd have "mistreated" my own! :)

I jazzed up this photo board by adding crystal buttons and black fringe...made a huge difference.

Crazy thing is, I discovered it also works as a necklace hanger, (boo yeah)!

I printed pictures of places I want to travel...believe and acheive people!!!

Chunky mirror below was originally brown so I taped it off and painted it too.

 We had the builder put in linolium flooring (since they wouldn't do custom requests), since we own a masonry business we just pulled it up and added tile and wood throughout the house. This tyle is a french country chiseled edge style...can't remember the name of it but I loved it. I'll get back to you on that one (I'm sure Kimball can tell me).

We sold this home last May, I had forgotten how many beautiful renovations we did
and now I totally miss it! 

We're in a rental for now...not much freedom in that, and if there was I still don't want to
spend money on someone else's house,
that I may or may not want to move out of soon.

 So my "home goals" this year are to keep a clean and organized house,

that's a safe haven for my family,

while sticking to a budget so we can build this.

Now excuse me while I go cry my eyes out! :)

Oh and I'm linking up with Censational Girl for "bathroom's on a budget"
 & Nester for "Home Goals"

Soph's Frilly Apron Tutorial

I decided since Soph cooks with me EVERY TIME I'm in the kitchen, it would be fun to make some cute aprons. I saw one I liked at Anthropolgie the other day, but it was $40 and I didn't think it was cute enough to pay $40 for, so I decided I'd just make one. It turned out way cuter and only cost me $11 for fabric (including the fabric for mine). If I'd have thought ahead, I would have printed a 40% off coupon before I left for Hobby Lobby and it would have been even less.

Let me warn you, I'm a ROOKIE. In other words, I don't know how to sew, and I HATE reading directions, so I decided to come up with my own pattern. Sure it took me longer than the typical seamstress, but I'm happy with the way it turned out and Soph loves it.

I will now attempt to retrace my steps for those of you on facebook who said you'd like to make one.

#1 Choose what your main fabric will be, then choose 3 other fabrics. Now that I'm looking at it, I'm laughing because I originally had 5 fabrics...like I said, I was winging it, so who knows what happened along the way !?! 

Note: the ties are just a fat green ribbon, so choose a ribbon or decide what fabric you'll use for your ties.

#2 You'll need piece of fabric to sew all the ruffles to, I just took one of Soph's old skirts and cut down the sides, so I had a front panel to work with. You may want to just use plain fabric because explaining to a three year old girl why you're cutting up her skirt isn't easy!! Kids are so funny about their "stuff".  I am also noticing in some of the pics, you can see the heart fabric, so it would be better to use a solid white.

#3 Cut fabric for ruffles.

Main Fabric = Cut 2 strips. First one should be 28 1/2" x 3" (allows 1/4 " for seams on each side of stitch),

Second one should be 25" x 3").

White Dots = Cut a strip, 28 1/2" x 3"

Pink Print = 25 " x 3"

Pink Dots  = 25" x 3"

I started by taking the strips and folding the bottom over about 1/4" and ironed it.

Then I sewed that down, then folded the ends 1/4" over and then sewed them. You should have 5 strips now ready to be sewn to your underneath skirt piece.

I started sewing the bottom ruffle first, I pinned the ends first then the middle and put a few more pleats in the center to make sure it was puckering evenly. This is SO imbarrassing, I have no idea how to explain it in proper 'sewing terms' so PLEASE don't laugh!! :)

At this point I decided I wanted a bodice piece since she's so tiny...

I took the main fabric and cut a piece 9"x 8".

I folded down the top 1/4" and ironed. then ironed the sides in, folding it down 1/4", and folded the top corners in just a bit at an agle and ironed. I clipped the little bit of excess fabric at the corners, then sewed around all three sides. **You may want to cut your ribbon and pin it to the bodice before you sew, or like me, you can do it later. Just make sure you allow enough room for your childs head to easily come through.

Then I had to make the top strip for the waist band. I cut about a 4"x 17" strip, folded it in half and ironed it, I sewed a seam and left the two ends raw for the time being. Remember, I'm retracing my steps, should have taken pics before moving ahead, but I didn't plan on doing a tutorial at the time. Silly blogger!!

Now cut the ribbon for the back tie. Just cut 2 pieces 25" long, pin to each end of waist band and iron the raw edge of waist band over so you can sew both at once. 

 Last but not least, hand sew on the buttons, they were an after thought, but luckily I had a few to match. I obviously didn't do real button holes because I don't know how used ribbon. :)

She loves it and doesn't want to take it off. She insists on cooking something...too bad I'm pooped! Let me know if you make one, I'd love to hear how it turned out. Also, if you have any questions, or notice I forgot a step just shoot me an email.

Now I have to make me one, I'll mix it up a bit w/ the fabric or just use totally different fabric (and come up w/ a different pattern) since I'm sick of this one already. I'm A.D.D. like that.

Christmas Eve 2009

I'm acting a little CURRRAZZZY!

The decorating bug finally hit me.

I just finished my decorating.

It's Christmas eve.

I just started and finished Kimball's Christmas shopping.
Let's just say a certain store had about 200 people in line.
For a moment I thought I was at Disneyland.
Let it also be known I was the only woman in that line.
What does that tell you?

There are a lot of sales,

how could I resist?

The kids tree (or as Sophia says, "MY TREE!"

Hot Pink (my love cave of course)!

Front Room

Back Yard

Front Entry

Kitchen

My Sidekick

 

Family Room

I'm pooped!

My only regret is I never got around to the

stairway garland
and more outdoor lights
Oh well, there's next year.

The kids are having a blast with their cousins.
Jaxon and Kade are thrilled I bought sugar cereal...
a sure sign it's the holidays.

We had lots of fun at the park today,

the weather is perfect!

We ate out at a Mexican restaurant for dinner

then did our family gift exchange

and opened Christmas p.j.'s !

Sophia got her first pair of slippers

which she LOVED.

My brother Jeff got his first Snuggie Fuzzie Wuzzie

(the 'knock off' Snuggie),

 which he LOVED.

It was a super fun night,

except for the fact that I

left Kimball's big gift sitting right on the counter...unwrapped!

OOPS!

Craft Corner Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of my new craft corner. I've been thinking, planning, and working on for quite some time. We have this large, fabulous room over our garage. It's so large that it's kind of a pain. I want to make the most of the space but don't feel that I've utilized it to it's fullest...until now. Move over play room, here I come!

I got some awesome deals this week on magazine subscriptions. I'm talking $5 and $10 for 12 months! Go to Amazon and see if the Christmas specials still apply.

Love plants and flowers so I had to include them and I've been collecting buttons since I can remember but finally have one central location for them...duh!

Quick pause for a photo shoot in my new Favre jersey, (thanks Tammy)...love it!

Taking a picture of my own back wasn't easy, but since I have such perfectly cute ears (definitely my best feature), I had to show them off too.

Go Vikings...game starts in less than 2 hours.

I saw this on lots of craft room pics on the Internet, what a great way to remember the decor/craft ideas!

Since I do still have 3 kids, this is also a play room. It's perfect for Soph to play along next to me while I do my thing. Of course Mom, I will keep the sharp stuff out of her reach!! That's all for now, you'll have to check back next week for the before & after photo's and also to find out where I got all my inspiration, paint color was found here.