My friendly Kitchen!

This past Saturday was another day working hard to get everything nice and pretty! The kitchen was on the task list this day!

Special thanks to the Knapps! Brian, Rana, Aubrey, and Evan, for coming over and helping! They painted, they played on the roof, and they made my kitchen look beautiful!

Also, Patrick, My parents, and my brother Sam and sister Becky, contributed to the day as well!

Take a look and see how far it has come!!!

The color on the walls is "Sunkissed Yellow" by Behr paint (Home Depot)... nothing a little paint can't handle.

First I scrubbed all the walls so not to seal in dirt in the paint. Then I primed the walls with KILZ primer and patched any holes with Spakel. Then I sanded, cleaned again and then painted!!

BEFORE!





AFTER!





What changed?

- New BEAUTIFUL hard wood floors on first floor (minus the office)
- New Dishwasher & Hand-Me-Down Microwave... Spicy Red!
- HEFTY DUTY cleaning of Stove/Oven and Refridgerator... nothing like a little elbow grease! (Shout out to my Momma, Janet! She is a champion... my stove looks brand new!!)
- Sunkissed Yellow on the walls
- Primer on the cabinets

It's not quite done as it still needs some touch ups as well as some decoration. There will be a FINAL kitchen post in the next few weeks! Stay posted!!

SHOUT OUT TO HYDRO CLEANERS

For all those following my blog, I have to say, that after Hydro Clean came and cleaned my carpets on the second floor, I feel SO CLEAN!! Prior to Hydro Clean coming, I would not even walk around the 2nd floor barefoot. Who knows what lingered on the floor before I moved in to this house!

I actually can lay on the floor and sit on the floor, and roll on the floor laughing. I love it! And it just looks so nice too!

Thank You Hydro Cleaners in Baltimore! You guys are awesome!

Project Bathroom - Almost Finished

It's taken a beautiful month and a half to do 3 bedrooms and a bathroom!! AWESOME!

Well.... The master bathroom is almost finished, minus mounting some photographs and art as well as the mirror! Look how far it has come! I could not do it without my Dad, Marc, and my boyfriend, Patrick! Two of the most amazing men I know!
Look at how far the bathroom has come. Transformation from a 1985 bathroom to a 2011!!

BEFORE
What was changed:
Cabinet Removed, Toilet removed, Plumbing repared, Walls spackelled and painted, Floor torn up and redone with tile





AFTER - Thanks to Behr, I selected a color that reminded me of the beach! I LOVE THE BEACH! I bought Seaside Sand and decided to do the whole bathroom next to a white trim and a beige tub. With the shower curtain and the NEW sink and counter, it blends beautifully! I also decided to recycle items that I had bought years before from overseas and college. I also decided to use my personally photography, instead of buying new images, to save money for decorating the bathroom! I am planning on printing a large print and putting it onto canvas for the wall above the towel rack that you cannot see from the pictures.






Where did I buy everything you see?

Vanity - Home Depot
Counter with Sink Built in - Home Depot
Mirror (not yet hung) - Ikea
Glass Vase - Hand-me-down from a boy who bought me flowers
Shells - Hobby Lobby
Candle Holder - a market in Zambia, Africa
Shell picture - one of my own from my photography business
Frame - Ikea
Wicker Storage shelf with drawers - FREE from a friend moving
Shower Curtain - Target
Flower Rug - My mothers laundry closet
Wicker Trash Can - Ikea Garden Center

Still need to do:
1. Hang Mirror -
2. Add picture frame line down wall - Beach, Water, and Spa-like
3. Lighting - May keep the 80's mounted wall lamp... still in question!
4. Window Treatments for mini-window! Super cute, and don't want to hide it!

The Great Flood

Well... I was in NYC this weekend and I came home Monday (yesterday) only to find that my basement had FLOODED! AHHH!!!

That definitely took the home improvement project a little off course as it involved carpet removal, damage control, and water removal!! There is hope though! See below for pictures! That will put a damper on things... no pun intended ;) It will take some time for it to dry out. Then we have to do some recovery including replacing some dry wall, and adding tiles, but then I get to paint! YAH!









What we lost and gained:

Lost One Couch
Gained more space
Lost Lots of Carpet
Gained new tile that will be put in (which means I get to buy or find a fun rug for the basement hangout)
Lost a few paintings (thankfully I was getting rid of them, just bummed I couldn't give them away or sell them)
Gained the use of using my own photographs and art on the wall! Time to bust out the paint or camera!

BIggest Gain: The chance to clean, paint, and design/decorate a hangout for when my friends (or my brothers) come over!

Here's a video after the carpet was out... "still so much water!"
Please excuse the sound... it is the luxurious sound of blowers to air out the basement!

Some Inspiration

I really like showing where some of my inspiration lives. I have some great ideas that I'd like to implement into my new house! We shall see what I come up with using these inspirational ads as a guide!

DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY

I have learned a lot throughout this home makeover.
I have serious problems with dirty people. I 'm not kidding. haha.

I actually really wish I would have taken pictures of the fridge, the oven, and the railing and the walls CLOSE UP as now I have no proof of how dirty this house actually was... there still is lots to clean.

Not only do I need to paint (that's the easy part)... but I need to wipe and scrub down EVERY WAY, every piece of wood trim, chair rails, fans, doorways, EVERYTHING. I'm pretty sure that whoever has lived in this house prior to me has NEVER cleaned, and if they did then I am in utter shock at how much filthiness people can handle.

I guess it could be worse... there could be human feces on the walls... actually, I did find some blood but no poop... still super gross!!!

Anyway... it is taking a while for this house to get to a place that feels like home.

I have officially moved in as the 2nd floor of the house is almost complete... decorations still need to go up, but at least the house is coming together.

Stay posted and online for more coming your way!

Transformation of Colors with Paint!

BACK YARD BEFORE

BACK YARD AFTER - Where did it go?
Dump, Dump, Dump. Most of the things that were outside and left behind by previous tenants had to be thrown out due to water damage. Anything that can be salvaged will be fixed up and sold.


BEDROOM 3 BEFORE

The colors were a crazy purple, the kind that you get as makeup as a teenager. It also had hot pink mixed in... I feel like I need a retro 80's jacket to blend in.

BEDROOM 3 AFTER

I decided to go with a light, clean lavender, actual called Morning Haze. It is made my Behr.
It turned out beautiful!

BEDROOM 2 BEFORE - This room was in shambles. Don't get me wrong, I am patriotic and proud to be an american, but WOW... this room took the longest so far to get to normal. It was peeling and completely a wreck. Poor American Flag.



BEDROOM 2 AFTER - Thanks to Home Depot, my new favorite store, I bought Sea Cap, another airy color that opens up the room. After 2 layers of primer + 2 layers of paint = there are still little lines from the previous stripes that you can see if your face is against the wall :) There is a great little closet that I have not taken pictures of yet. It is one of my favorite rooms in the house!



MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE - Whoever chose the colors before I painted must have been thinking Colonial Days. It was a mauve brown with a Navy Blue. I thought I was in a conference room in an old time court house. There were some serious holes and uneven walls in the room.

MASTER BEDROOM AFTER - Wow do I love Blue! I feel like I am at the beach! I am an ocean fanatic and really wanted a bedroom that could be my "sanctuary." I decided to paint it Mineral Water, another Behr color that I bought at home depot. Thanks to my friend, SPACKLE, we evened out the walls prior to painting. Holes really show after you prime. Take that into consideration when painting a room!