Dingy Kitchen.... Clean it up!

Hey All!! I hope everyone has had a great week! I know this week has been a rough one for Jared and I but we made it through and are praising God for making us stronger then we were last week! God never ceases to amazing and strengthen in a weirdest and most wonderful ways! Any who, I figured sense we are both home sick from church this morning [ :-( ] I would take this time to update all who care about the current, and most recent projects we have been working on! I am happy to report (to my knowledge) we have kept up the closet organization from last post! [ :-D ]

Also THE FENCE IS FINISHED!!!! And it looks amazing! Props to Jared, Jared, Josiah, Mr. Mike, Derek and I think Jason helped too! Also thank you Jeanie for letting us use your saw! And Tristan, Ms. Ellen, and Jeanie for letting us borrow your husbands for a few weekends! We greatly appreciate all the help we have in the network that surrounds us. We are totally blessed and we know it! :) Here are a few Pictures, just in case I didn't get the finished product up in the last post I made (I don't remember if I did or not and I'm not 100% sure how to back out of here without loosing all the pictures I just uploaded, so better safe than sorry!)

Doesn't it look great?? Next for Jared's list of Projects a DOGGIE DOOR! :) Apollo is one lucky pup if you as me! :)

No onto bigger and better things..... the kitchen. It is still currently in some major need of work, but I have some ideas and a priority list ready to go! First thing was first, I could NOT stand looking at the "dingy" "discolored" "water damaged" and "ugly" cabinets any longer. The kitchen (although bleached MANY times before and sense we have moved in) just did not look clean. I am a weird person about any kitchen. If I think its dirty by the looks of it, it is VERY hard for me to eat food that came from it. I, and I'm not sure who else because everyone was too nice to tell me if they did, felt like my kitchen was one that if I came over as a guest, I would not have eaten the food out of it by the looks of the kitchen. I, of course, knowing how, and how often I clean the kitchen knew it was however despite the looks of it, clean and sanitized. With all that said, the current state of the kitchen cabinets had to GO. Here is a glimpse of the "before" pictures if the cabinets:

Here is just a wide angle "before" picture. As you can see the cabinets are a faded and dingy color next to the new all white appliances. You cannot see the water damage on the doors from this far out but below you'll see a close up of just how much damage we are working with...

This door just came off in our hands one day. It was being held on by ONLY glue. Yep, glue.

Most of the cabinet doors were in this shape or worse....

Apparently the people who live here before either had a dog they let chew on all the cabinets, or left water standing on them all the time. Sadly enough, we do not have the money to replace all these doors, but we do have craft, skills, and determination to at least make them look better. Here is where we started. We removed all the doors and laid them out on the back porch for sanding. (I got an electric sander, did I tell you? I love it!!! ) As you can see from this picture not all the cabinets were even the same "dingy faded color"!!!!

Funny Picture, here is what my kitchen would look like with NO doors! Haha!

Eventually when we can afford new doors, I want the cabinets on the far right of this picture to have glass panes so you can see the pretty colorful dishes through them! Add some more color and fun to the kitchen!

After sanding it started to rain so we moved all the doors into the garage for priming and painting, the whole process form start to finish took us a little over 48 hours.

Allowed time to dry...Then applied second coat....

While the doors were drying I decided all the white in the kitchen would make it very, well... white. And if you know me I am a HUGE fan of color, and sense we were working towards a "colorful retro throw back kitchen" I thought it would be a good idea to being a "pop" of color into a place that wouldn't normally be examined for anything other than the standard white trim color. The window seal!

I decided I wanted a bright but subtle yellow with a white crackle underneath. Add a little "age" and depth (as well as son visual interest) to the kitchen itself.

I love this crackle paint, you can get it at any craft store and even Wal-Mart. It is what I used to crackle and age all the signs and stuff for the wedding. Its a clear shiny coat that you put on in-between the first color and the second color.

Once you put the second color on you have to work fast because if you go back over the same spot the paint will peal up and look weird. I am very please with out this project turned out! Here is a close up of the "crackle" texture on the seal .

The color looks very bright in this picture when in reality it is more like the picture about. A much softer Subtle yellow, but bright enough to be noticed.

Once drying was done it was time to put the cabinets back on! My Hubby has been such a help in this project! I could not have done it without him!

Here are a few "before and after side by sides I put together for a Facebook Mini Album Im doing. It give you a good Idea visually what an upgrade the kitchen has had.

Drawer Door is back on! [:-D]

The Cabinets look TONS better and cleaner due to the sanding and priming. But they will never look new because the material was not made to be sanded, or to be damaged like it was for that matter! I wish it looks more like new, but from a distance you cannot even tell anything is wrong so I am pleased with the outcome and totally able to live with it until we can get new doors!

This before and after really shows the dramatic different the color has made in brightening up the whole kitchen!

Same with this one!

Below are just a few more "After" Pictures I thought you might enjoy!

Using stuff from the wedding to temporarily decorate with!

The kitchen Island is on its way, and I cannot wait to get it in there! Also the pantry will be painted a subtle grey blue color and the backsplash will eventually be tiled in with a sparkly white tile. BUT those are all on the back burner for now as the COUNTERTOPS are the next big thing for the kitchen for me. I am going to use Giani Granite, a durable countertop paint, to transform them from boring white laminate to a white and grey marble/granite stone look. I am very excited about this project and itching to get started! I am going to see if Jared will let me order the kit today!!! Its very price affordable and from the finished products I see online from real people it working amazingly! I cannot wait to try it, so stay tuned for before, during, after and a review of the product for next time! :)

As always thanks for reading and being interested in the remodel! As always any tips, suggestions, or questions are always welcome! Love to all!

In the spirit of Valentines Day this is one of my favorite verses regarding love! You are Loved!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. - 1 John 4:10

Closet OVERHAUL!

Hey there cyber world! Happy Saturday night!! I for one have had a VERY productive day and so has Jared! Just wanted to share real quick with y'all out there! Today's MAIN project was to GET ORGANIZED, so basically I can tell what kind of clothes I have so I don't wear the same things to work over and over again like I've been doing sense August of last year.

Okay here is some back story. August 2011 was the month Jaclyn, my sister, and I did not renew the lease on our apartment and moved back in with the rents. We did not renew because I was getting married in November and she didn't want to carry the rent on her own until she could find someone else to pick it up. So Alas back to the rent's out we both went. Well sense Jaclyn was going to be staying for an undetermined amount of time and I was well about to move right back out ALL my stuff got put in the garage. Clothes included. SO essentially besides about 2 weeks worth of outfits (or pieces to put different outfits together) everything else was packed up, in the garage or so disorganized I was too overwhelmed to try to find it. Let just say to put that I was 'living in an episode of Hoarders" is an understatement. Any who Jared and I closed on our home about 5 days before the wedding and then we were gone to Mexico for 7 days after that SOOOO my parents were so tired of all my crap being EVERYWHERE in their house they blessed us by organizing a moving party and moving us in while we were gone! Which was such a HUGE blessing because we both had to go right back to our jobs when we got back. SO needless to say everything has been a little disorganized ever sense. So today I woke up and decided, this is the last day I live without my clothes. And so it began......

Here is a glimpse of what I started with. This did not count the MOUNTAINOUS PILE of clothes in the floor.

After about 5 hours, some lunch, like 10 million loads of laundry and three Mountain Dew Code Reds (I love those things) Later this is what I ended up with, and I have to say, ever I am impressed with myself on this one....

Everything is color coded by sleeve type AND goes from lightest to darkest as best I could.

Shoes were all tucked away with care...

Here is a side by side comparison of the project. Mind blowing, isn't it? And the saddest part it, there is another load in the dryer that I have no hangers for... guess I'm going to Wal-Mart tomorrow!

And of course as promised a quick update on the fence. We were once again blessed by having AMAZING friends like Jared Tuttle who came and work on the fence yesterday (because the weather forecast said it was going to rain all day, weatherman you should be fired because it was sunny and 70 thank you very much) AND he came today as well to finish up. Jared Tuttle you are one rad awesome beast at building stuff and we couldn't not have done this project without you! We are eternally indebted to you and Tristan!

Josiah also stopped by to help! Thanks Josiah! Josiah is another blessing in out lives, he is always around to lend a helping hand!

AND.. drum roll.... the next project (which I also started today, yay caffeine) is the Kitchen Cabinets, here is a brief look of the "before". Hopefully the after will be MUCH better! They are already turning out great so far!

... yeah that wasn't supposed to happen... Home Depot tomorrow too!

Well cyber world that's it for this post! Look out for the Finished Cabinets next time (hopefully tomorrow! :) )

As always thanks for reading and have a blessed night!

Fence, Paint, and CHRISTMAS DECOR!

Hey there Blog world! Sorry things got crazy and there was no time for you, but now I'm back and committed to keeping you up to date on this crazy thing we call home ownership! First lets start with Christmas!!!! God has truly blessed us with some amazing friends and family who have been willing to help decorate, paint, build, plum, and everything else we might have needed so far (you'll see below)!

I loved my banister this year, I used some old supplies mom was getting ride of and so graciously let me have! Plus some accidentally stolen garland! I did however legit think it was mine until told otherwise, praying I can keep it again for next year!!!!
For Christmas last year mom and dad gave us a gift card to get Christmas decor after Christmas on sale for the house for Christmas this year! We got this awesome tree for a steal of a deal and we love it! I overall love Christmas decor all around and wish we could keep it up all year, but alas is it already taken down and packed up again... But please however take notice of the color of the walls here. I like to call this color "baby poop green". This said poop green is the color Fannie Mae (or whomever) picked to paint the entire house in order to sell it. So you know me and change and wanting every room as different as possible, this said poop green color had to go.
These are the only other pictures I really have of the said poop green color in my kitchen and living room. Now these two rooms are connected and have no walls separating then, therefore they have to be one color. Which put me in a dilemma. I want a "Old (earth toned) Library" theme for the living room, seeing as the stone fireplace kind of sets in stone (pun intended) that I must have an "earthy" color scheme and I have my heart set on a "Vintage 1950's" mock kitchen with the pastel colors. So you can see my predicament. After much color searching, i believe I have found the perfect color for these rooms!

It is an "ashy" light green. It is pastel enough to pass for "vintage" and subtle and earthy enough to pass for "earthy". I will eventually have bookshelves/cases covering most of the walls in the living room so the color was more directly aimed at the kitchen since there will be more showing in there eventually, but I still wanted something that would go well with both. I LOVE this color. Here are a few shots of the "process" of painting the room. Thanks to my amazing and rad awesome friend Tristan Tuttle we were able to finished painting both rooms (cutting in and two coats), baseboards, and doors in 2 days! We are pretty much painting masters basically.

Puttying holes... always a fun job.... on the up side, I got an electric sander out of the deal and LOVE it! Cannot wait to use it for more projects!

I was so freaked about about painting on the new carpet (as I should have been I think!) we taped the drop cloth to the base boards! Here is the finished product, well as best my phone camera could capture it. I promise to post more detailed pictures with my good camera this weekend!

Here is a closer up shot of the color. Of course that nasty "pop green" on the counter tops was already there and will be covered in a future project so please ignore!

The other big project we've been working on (for three weeks and counting, due to rain, trips and other unforeseen problems) is Apollo's Fence! We had to get approval from the neighbors, then from the HOA then we could finally start. So just an estimate this has been in the makings since we bought the house! It apparently takes a long time to get stuff approved by all the right people! Jared Tuttle and Jared's dad, Mr. Mike, along with some brothers and Josiah have made great progress the days they have actually been able to work! Thanks guys for all your hard work so far!!! The progress on days 1 and 2 were just holes and poles as seen below!

Day three picked up a bit with the adding of the actual fence slats! Lots of cutting and air gunning! Apollo was not a huge fan of the air compressor!

Here is currently what the fence is looking like with the results so far, I personally am very proud of my husband and Jared Tuttle, I think their first fence looks amazing so far and I cannot wait to see what this weekend brings when the final project is finished! Stay tuned for a final product picture, its going to look amazing I know it! :)

Stay tuned for more updates!

Also I need your help! I need to know what to work on this weekend... I am thinking kitchen cabinets.... yes? They need some serious love!!! :)

Love and God Bless to all!