Another Kitchen Update - Just the Beginning...

If you've been stalking following me on Instagram you will already know my Kitchen is mostly back together. By mostly I mean that we still have to install shelf liner in the cupboards and drawers (the liner I liked on Amazon takes 3 weeks to get here....boo. so we put almost everything back in the meantime for some normalcy), replace the switches and instal the new light we bought above the sink.

Here's what it looks like this morning (we're not sure about all of the stuff above the cupboards yet - might change, might get vitto'd completely).

Just to remind you, here's the before.

It really is amazing what some sweat equity and 4 gallons of paint will do for a space. It's like a whole new kitchen. I, for one, couldn't be happier! I love to cook and the old kitchen made me depressed. 

So now we're on to phase two of the kitchen remodel. We're replacing the countertops, the flooring, knocking down a wall, moving some electrical and building an island. I know it seems a bit ass backwards to paint and then remove the countertops, but I didn't really have The Boy on board when I started painting, I just did it expecting it would stay the way it is right now for another 5 years. I didn't expect him to get really excited and start picking out flooring and light fixtures with me...not that I'm complaining! ;)

Most of you who've been hanging around for a number of years might remember how our living room and dining room look and when I redecorated those rooms a few years ago. 

more living room posts and pictures here

more dining room posts and pictures here 

These two rooms pretty much look like those photos today - even my still unpainted dining room table and chairs...this is what happens when I leave stuff up to The Boy....lol.

So, to give you some geography of our space - when you sit in the floral chair in our living room you face a dividing wall between the kitchen and these two spaces. It's hideous - because we've never painted it due to the fact that we have planned all along to knock it down, so I've never posted it on the blog.
Until now!!! Complete with my pile of donations from the kitchen and my painting supplies piled right there.

Yup. Right behind that ugly wall - The Boy likes to call that colour 'Dirty Old Bra', our entire house was painted that colour when we moved in - is my pretty kitchen. And that walls days are numbered my friends.

I'll be sure you keep you all updated as the kitchen progresses. I'll be busy in the next week painting another room in our house that the fish tank will be going to live in. We figured it would be better to paint it now rather than have to move it twice, moving a fish tank is A LOT of work.

Then, wall knocking down time. hehe...I can't wait.



Lisa.xo

Kitchen Update

Four years ago I posted this picture of my kitchen, along with my plans for a light reno involving paint, some new hardware, light fixtures and flooring.

Things happen slowly in this house and it's taken that long for me to get around to putting those plans into action. Last Monday I finally started emptying out the cupboards and on Tuesday night I started to paint. 

It's not finished yet. It's not even half finished, but I thought I'd stop in and let you know what I've been up to this week...and probably most of next week. It's a big job! I won't bore you with the details, but basically everything needs a coat of paint from top to bottom. 

So here are a few pics to tide you over. Follow me on Instagram for daily updates on the reno! I'm posting pics there while I work. 

Our house was built in 1976 and this kitchen is original and as you can imagine needs some love. This is a before of one of the cupboard interiors.

Here is how my kitchen looks as I write this post. Two coats of primer on the cupboards (a painter friend told me two coats of primer instead of one would help my actual paint go on better) and ready for paint. 

I'll be sure to post some after pictures when I'm finished!


Have a great weekend!

Lisa.

Trim the Tree

Well it officially feels like Christmas in our house. I set up the tree and put up our Christmas decorations today. I even got The Boy (who can be a bit of a Grinch) to play Christmas music this afternoon!

Now I just have to start the dreaded shopping and put some presents under that pretty tree.

Lisa.xo

Another Dressing Room Update

This should be one of the last ones. lol! This room is nearly complete.

I've got a curtain to hide the treadmill, a laundry basket and a few more floating shelves to purchase, install and she's done!! :) But I couldn't wait to show you, so here it is!

The gallery wall I hung (with a little help from The Boy - he hung the anchors for the venetian style mirror). I love this. It makes me smile like crazy.

And what it looked liked in previous incarnations.

You can see the old carpet and wall colour really well in this photo. 

And now:

Pretty awesome! :) Lots of elbow grease in this room, but worth every second.


For more photos of the progress on this room click here. 
For Dressing Room inspiration check out my Pintrest board here.


Lisa.xo

"It Looks Like a Used Clothing Store"

That's what The Boy said when I showed him how I re-arranged my dressing room last night while he was out snowmobiling. That'll teach him to leave me alone for an entire day! ;)

Warning! This is a picture heavy post!

Honestly, I've been dreaming about re-configuring my dressing room for a while now, almost since we bought our house. Frankly I'd love 3 PAX wardrobes all kitted out from IKEA, but I just can't afford them right now. That $1500 is better spent in other places.

So I've been scouring Pintrest for inspiration. I thought I liked the idea of my clothes behind doors (and it would be better to keep the vintage out of the light), but I was continually drawn to rooms with the clothes out in the open on display. I was inspired to get my clothes out of the closet and create a wardrobe on a budget.

These are some of the images that inspired me:

Check out my Pintrest board Dressing Room Ideas for more inspiring images!


For those of you who may have forgotten, here's what my room looked like before:

And the dirty little secret I kept from you is that I have my treadmill in my dressing room (see it peeking into the pic below on the right?!). It used to live beside my vanity in the corner of the room in plain sight. Not pretty. My goal was to eventually move my clothes into a wardrobe on the wall you see below and put this treadmill in the closet behind a curtain or a screen when not in use.

And that's exactly what I did last night when The Boy was out hehehe... (he hates it when I upset the house like this, so it's better for him to see the "after", even if I know he won't like it) I went to work assembling my new clothing rack and moving the furniture around.
Here are a few shots of the chaos:

Almost there!

Normal people might empty the room completely, vacuum then start bringing things back in. But I'm far from normal and really, what's the fun in that?

Here's what it looks like now:

This is the view of the room when you walk in now! 

I am in love with the results. Instead of looking at the treadmill when you walk by you see this. I don't care if The Boy thinks it looks like a used clothing store - I took it as a compliment! ;)

And here's the other side of the room.

And the closet. Less pretty - the treadmill does a great job of looking terrible in here wherever it is, but I need it, so here it sits.

This summer I've got plans to paint this room white - I'm still deciding on a tone. I want to room to be a neutral backdrop for my clothes, not compete with them. I've also got some window treatments from one of my old apartments in storage I want to put up in here, find an effective way to hide the treadmill, hang a full length mirror on the back of the door and put in a rug. Eventually we'll get the carpet changed in here too.

I've got this rug picked out from IKEA. That's my next purchase for this space. I've got to try and mask the brown shag carpet.

This major upgrade only cost me $140! I bought a second clothing rack, an expandable hanging clothing rod and some more 3M hooks to hang more hats on the wall. Oh ya, and some sweat equity. I think in the end I'll be able to renovate the entire room (including new carpet) for less than $1500! Take that IKEA!

What do you think? I spent an hour laying on the floor enjoying my handiwork this morning! haha! 

Lisa.xo