Calendar Wall Art DIY

Galley Wall 4 I really enjoy making my own wall art. Not only is it typically cheaper than buying art, but it’s also cheaper and more unique. With our big remodel complete I’ve been on the hunt for cool things for our walls. Hopefully this project is just the beginning! Recently, I was at Barnes & Nobel and found a really cool calendar featuring WPA Poster Art of the National Parks. Standing in the store I instantly knew I wanted to put these beautiful posters on my wall. Combine those posters with some framed paper maps and I’ve got a perfect gallery wall in our family room!

May Calendar

Isn’t the art beautiful?

Continue reading

Kitchen Reveal! The Before & After

The kitchen is practically, almost done! I’m not sure that it will ever be “done” but at this point it’s close enough to call the project complete. This has been a giant project for us. We did everything ourselves, except outside brick work, wall texture, and countertop installation. So, now it’s reveal time! I can’t wait to share it!

Before 3

Yes, if you opened the dishwasher, fridge, or oven while someone was at the cooktop they would be trapped!

First lets take a look at the kitchen before and what we were working with. I’m pretty sure this layout is the definition of the “one person kitchen”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s a picture from taken as it looks now… Continue reading

Repainting Brass Fireplace Doors

Before Room

This was a picture I took when I first toured the house, before buying it. See how much it overwhelms the room?

Our kitchen/living/dining/entryway remodel is practically complete! As we’ve been wrapping up little finishing projects one large, ugly problem has surfaced. Our fireplace is right in the middle of our remodeled space and we haven’t touched it, so there it sits all its dated brick and brass glory. Ugh.

Continue reading

The Kitchen Remodel – Part 4 Walls & Floors

Cabinet We’re finally starting to see the end of the tunnel on our kitchen remodel. Well, really at this point it’s more like a half-house remodel! At the last update, we had just finished framing walls and installing utilities. Next we installed insulation, sheetrock, mud & taped, textured, and prepped the floor. All of that was a little bit of an adventure, but then we get to the stuff that really starts to bring it together – floors, paint & lower cabinets! Below are pictures, with a more detailed explanation each step of the way.

Continue reading

The Kitchen Remodel – Part 3 Rough Construction

The kitchen is slowly humming along and we’re now starting to build it back up. Rough construction includes framing, utility installation and other things that will get covered up by the “finished construction” phase. To get all this done on the weekend, we’ve been spending every Friday night at Home Depot.
Home Depot
As we get into this phase, the trade knowledge necessary to keep things moving is increasing. This means sometimes its easier for The Boyfriend to do things either by himself or with a friend who is also skilled. I’m a quick learner but we’ve realized where I can be most helpful is to be the “Logistics Officer” (we’ve definilty taken too many incident command classes). I’ve been picking up and dropping off rentals, making phone calls, running errands and making sure everyone gets fed and takes breaks. I’ve also been the lead sweeper/cleaner-uper, and hander-of things (especially into the attic or crawlspace). Of course i’m still assisting with the physical work a lot too, but dividing the work this way seems to be working out pretty well. Continue reading

The Kitchen Remodel – Part 2 Demolition

I hear from a lot of people that demo is fun. And The Boyfriend was the only one I knew that hated demo, and I mean HATES it. I thought it was just because he did construction for a living and was just tired of it. I mean, who doesn’t love breaking things? However, after our own demo I have come to agree with The Boyfriend. I think people that love demo either, 1. really just love the IDEA of demo (and maybe have never done it), or 2. have done smash demo and haven’t had to clean it up. Our kitchen demolition took four full days of work and resulted in sore muscles, a few minor injuries, and frustration. But at least it’s done!

Demo 2

Kitchen Remodel Part 1 – The BEFORE

I have a great house. When I bought it, at first I was surprised that a family hadn’t swooped it up right away. And then I tried to cook something, and I understood!

Our kitchen has an insane layout. I have a good sized living and family room and then a teeny tiny kitchen shoved into the back dark corner of the house. Opening the dishwasher means you can’t open the fridge or oven. Plus you’ll block someone in if they are at the stove or sink. It just didn’t make sense. So, I immediatly started a remodel fund so I could one day fix the tiny inconvenient disaster that is my kitchen. Well, the day for the kitchen remodel has arrived!
.
We have plans, we have a binder, we’ve ordered materials, and we’re ready to go. We plan on doing most of the work ourselves (The Boyfriend used to be a contractor, so really HE will be doing a lot of the work… love you babe!). Since we both have full time jobs (and have been working long hours recently), most of this work will be on the weekend.
For reference, here’s a drawing of our floorplan (with the old layout).

Organized Hall Closet

IMG_2829 The hall closet can very easily become a mess. Sheets, towels, toiletries… they can into one giant messy avalanche. Our system has been to contain all the little stuff in plastic totes, allowing us to easily carry things into another room should we need to use them. Plus putting things away is a breeze. Here’s how I’ve organized our hall closet…