the painting/remodeling/refinishing never ends…

So now that we’re done with the bathroom, we’ve started the small renovation project of my daughter’s room…

When we first moved into our house, EVERY WALL had wallpaper.

A closeup of the prettiness…

Sorry for the lighting – no overhead lighting when this was taken! But you can see the pretty border all the way around the room…present for 25 YEARS.

That first week, before we even moved anything into her room, I removed the wallpaper, painted the walls with an oil primer, and painted them with her choice of paint (pink…as in, cotton candy pink).

so very, very pink…

Well, times have changed and it’s time to revamp and update her room…if for nothing else that I can’t stand the pink paint anymore. Now, B wants RED. As in, cherry tomato red walls ALL THE WAY AROUND THE ROOM.

That ain’t happening.

We’ll be removing the beautiful moss green carpeting (with the faint rim of decomposed matting along each and every edge) and installing Pergo. I’ll be removing the closet doors, painting all the trim white, and the closet itself red for a “pop of color.” We’ll also be installing a new closet system to help get use out of every.drop.of.space. I’ll be putting in a chair rail, painting the top half of the room a soft, pinkish peachish color and the bottom white, and then putting in red accents throughout the room to appease my 5-year-old red fiend.

So first up is the painting. Since the trim is going to be removed and painted (and I couldn’t get it out before starting!), and the carpet is going to get tossed, I really have minimal cares about if any spills. Yesterday I painted the ceiling (HOLY CRAP that was hard!) and did 3 coats of the bottom “white” border…normally I’d do the white last, but since I had to open the can for the ceiling I just kept on going.

3 coats later…

Next is the peachy pink (or pinkish peach?) color :

Tuscan Pink – which looks more pink than peach here….

I’m hoping that since this is closer to the “original” wall color that it won’t involve 3 coats…

Then the closet…which I haven’t picked out yet.

And then the floor.

Wheeeeeeeeee….

Even zebra stripes aren’t this exact.

So based on my last post, it seems like a few people have questions on the stripes. (Though, to be honest, it wasn’t posted as a comment, but a reply to me on Twitter and FB.)

Here’s what I did.

We first coated EVERY exposed painted surface in the bathroom with Kilz, because, well, it is a bathroom and it can get quite humid (despite our exhaust fan). I also had no idea what was beneath any of the existing old paint and wanted to make sure it was all done “right.” We then followed that with 1 coat of white semi-gloss paint.

Once that was up, I started taping off.

love the blue tape…

Now, I knew I wanted my stripes to be evenly spaced and evenly sized. I measured from the top of the wall down to the floor, then subtracted 2.5″ for the floor molding (moulding?). That left me with the actual exposed space for the painting. To give you an idea — I measured the height of the wall to be 96″. Subtracting the floor molding gave me 93.5″ of space. I wanted stripes to be somewhere between 10-12 inches wide, which meant I could have 9 stripes of 10.4(ish) inches.

Once I had that down, I started the taping process – measuring down from the ceiling for a 3 foot section and pencil marking the lines. Now I did luck out because Hubby has a laser level, so we used that to figure out the “straight” part of the lines….the tricky part came in when remembering that I was painting GREY, not painting white, so the “top” part of the stripe had tape above the line, and the “bottom” part had tape below it.

So looking at this photo, it seems like the stripes are different sizes…but they’re not.

For future painting I’d also recommend taking OUT the light fixtures, but hubby had just finished rewiring everything and wasn’t about to remove them.

Once the tape was put in place, I painted the edges with the same white semi-gloss as my first layer. This provided a “seal” with the tape and meant that the grey wouldn’t “leak” through, only the white. Once that dried – well, the next day – I painted the darker stripes. When it was tacky (about an hour or so later), I removed the tape.

The white “sealer” didn’t take away all the leaking but did 99% of it. I came back through with an art brush to get every last little tidbit, though Hubby swears he couldn’t tell a difference between doing that and not doing that.

But if I didn’t, would this be as pretty?

The Bathroom – REVEALED!

I can’t even tell you how happy it makes me to say type those words.

So without further ado –

Looking into the bathroom from the hallway…

The new shower curtain and restructured shelves

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New countertop, sink, mirror, and sconce lighting

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New sconces

I LOVE IT.

Now, to give you an idea of the “before”….

Previous mirror with old brass lighting

Old shelving, but after the old doors had been removed

The old countertop

If I had planned better, I would have taken more before photos to really give you a true sense of the FUGLINESS that we were surrounded by. Luckily, my quest to try and keep this as inexpensive as possible meant we DIY pretty much everything – the countertop (as detailed before), the lighting switch (from the large brass piece to two sconces and two overhead LED lights, controlled by separate switches), the painting, revamping the storage closet, replacing the toilet, and installing a fan switch for the light/exhaust fan combination. I didn’t take a true total, but if I had to break it down, here’s what it cost:

1. Countertop: paint (including the ugly first try), epoxy coating, new sink – $110
2. Cabinet: paint (Valspar glossy in black) – $14
3. Floor: adhesive vinyl tiles – $50, dark grey caulk to fill in gaps – $5
4. Walls: paint (the grey was a mistint!!) – $35, tape – $5
5. Trim: painted the existing wood trim (Valspar glossy in white) – $14
6. Shower curtain: on clearance – $12.50
7. Lighting: sconces – $60, LED lights – $50
8. Miscellaneous electrical: wiring, new switches, boxes, etc. – $70
9. Details (towels, window curtain, shower rod, etc) – $72

Grand Total : $497.50

The total is definitely more than I’d prefer to have spent, but to be honest — we have most of the gloss (both white and black) paint leftover, which has gone towards painting all the doors and trim in the hallway. We have about 50ft of electrical wire leftover, which is being utilized for a myriad of other projects in the house. We have over half a gallon of the grey and white paint (used for the walls) left, which is being used for a few other projects.

But the most important part?

IT’S DONE AND I LOOOOOOOOOVE IT.

Bathroom Remodel – countertop edition

So – FINALLY – I have some updates on the bathroom for y’all! (And as a warning – this is a VERY picture heavy post!)

I want to give you an idea of what I was working with. Our house, while I love it, was built in 1985. The last time any updates were done? 1985. You know what the 80s are known for, in houses? Lots of brass. “Fake” marble. Oakey-orange wood. UGLINESS.

That’s what it’s known for.

Here is what we started with:

The original cabinet, complete with black etched “inserts”

The original mirror, with brass overhead lighting and spanning the entire width of the cabinet

A close-up of the countertop…marbling and all.

Phew.

I couldn’t wait to do something with this room…it screamed 1980s to me. So after getting a price on countertop replacement we knew there was no way we could afford to go with granite or a solid surface countertop (because the cabinet was so large – 65″ long and 23″ deep). The pricing was over $1000 for just the bathroom!!

Enter Google. And Pinterest. And more Google.

I found lots of examples of painted countertops, and some of which actually appeared to look like granite…but when I tried?

FUG. Our attempt at granite.

Scratch that.

So then it went back to the Google.

My theory was, I could screw up this countertop to high heaven, because our only other option was to sell off our child (which, mind you, was contemplated) to get a new one. We did look at getting another formica top, but I wanted something a little classier than that (if at all possible) and just getting one of those would cost over $100.

And the Google had a good idea – spray painting.

So I laid down some primer.

And then spray painted.

And added some glitter.

And spray painted again.

And I got this:

A little textured spray paint and glitter goes a long way!

It already looks better!

But then…how to seal it?

Luckily I had done some more research and found this – Envirotex Lite. This stuff is AMAZING. It hardens up to a solid finish, has a gloss like you wouldn’t BELIEVE, and is relatively easy to find. I got it over at Michael’s with my 40% off coupon.

So with the help of Hubby (this stuff is definitely a two person job!) this is what it turned out to look like.

Ahhhhhh…..

SHIIIIIINY.

The downfall? It takes a full 3 days to cure, but only 6-8 hours before I could remove all the plastic and tape. (It is quite goopy so it drips all over the place!)

But hey, look at this:

Before and after!

So pretty.

And worth the trial-and-error we went through!

Next – striping galore!

Opinions, please…

So I’m in a bit of a conundrum –

As you all know, I am pregnant with child #2 — and this one will be born at the same time my first-born turns 6. Most of my daughter’s newborn items were given to one of my best friends (who is currently pregnant as well) and a lot of the items you need for a newborn (ie bottles, nipples, wraps, blankets, sheets, etc) we gave away a few years ago, when we erroneously thought that we wouldn’t have any more children.

Anyway. The question is - do I register for this child?

I’m not going to be having a shower as my aforementioned friend won’t throw one – duh, she’s pregnant herself!; running wife hates showers/social gatherings; and other best friend wouldn’t think of doing something like that since I have child #1 already. My mother lives 1000+ miles away, and my in-laws wouldn’t ever do anything like that.

I do work at a different job now than I did when I was pregnant with #1, however I work at an extremely small clinic with 2 men and 2 women, all of whom are much, much older than I and have already stated “oh, thank goodness you have everything you need from child #1.” Hubby also has a new job, but with all his travel he doesn’t really have co-workers or people at work that he socializes or talks to (other than immediate vendors).

The only reason I can really think of TO register is for the completion discount.

So….thoughts?

Finally, progress!!!

I will pre-apologize, I have no idea if this is going to work or not. WordPress CONFUSES me.

So, the photo above — the door on the left, covered in wood, is what EVERY DOOR in this house is. Wood. With wood trim. And we have 5 doorways in the upstairs hallway (a whopping 5×12′ space), so pretty much you feel like you’re surrounded by an old house.

The photo on the right (with a sneak peak of the bathroom I hope to unveil this weekend!!) is what it looks like painted white.

LOVE.

I have now painted 3 of 5 doorways in the upstairs in the span of 48 hours.

I don’t nest, I paint. And remodel.

what’s next?

So now that Hubby and I have gotten most of the bathroom done (what’s left: finish caulking the sink and trim, minor touch up paint, find fabric for the window), now we’re faced with what room to tackle next – because if there’s one thing home remodeling does, it’s that it makes it VERY apparent of what else needs to be done!

We’ve mainly finished the baby’s room – luckily, I had thought ahead and had it painted back in November (way before we found out about our surprise!) and that color will work for the room as well. The flooring was ripped out and replaced with Pergo Laminate. I still need to find window coverings and am debating painting all the wood trim (long story short, I started painting the trim to the bathroom and will now end up painting ALL the trim upstairs…). At some point I’ll have to figure out how to organize the closet too.

B’s room also needs to be attacked – she still has a beautiful melon color carpet floor (original to the house) and we are expecting her new bed to arrive in a few short weeks; that means that if we want to get rid of the carpet (which we do) and put in laminate (which we do) that we will need to get started on that ASAP.

Our room also needs to get finished – I hate the greige (it’s not grey, it’s not beige) color I picked out and painted the room with. However, I need to not only pick a color to paint it all but I need to figure that out very soon if I’m going to paint it (or if I have our painters come back and do it). This room also needs a flooring upgrade. And new lighting. And a closet overhaul.

I love our house, don’t get me wrong…but it feels like every time I turn around there’s something else that needs attention to be remodeled or updated. There’s so much imminent potential in everything…it’s just updating it all to that point that drives me crazy!