Doorknobs

Happy weekend!  Hope everyone is enjoying this crisp, fall day!  I can't believe how cold it is this morning.  Rob has been up in Maine the past few days, so I'm feeling a little out of it.  He gets home in a couple hours and I can't wait to see him!

I thought I'd share a little quick fix I worked on this past week. I am working on the dining room post and am hopiong to get that up the beginning of next week.

Over the past couple months, I have really grown to love having an old house.  Even though it is so much work, it makes the benefits of all that hard work that much sweeter.  

There are so many great characteristics to old houses, one being the doorknobs.  We are SO fortunate that none of our doorknobs have been painted over.  Even though there are ways to get the paint off, I'm glad we don't have to worry about that step.  All they need is a good scrubbin'.

Bar Keepers Friend is the best.  It's cheap, and it gets the job done.  I happened to have some on hand that I bought when we first moved in to give our kitchen sink a good cleaning. 

Here's what most of the doorknobs in our house look like.  Gross.

I used a damp scouring pad with the Bar Keeper's Friend and just went to work.

Can you see the contrast of where I started to scrub?  One knob takes a little under 10 mins, so it's the perfect thing to do if I just have a short amount of time but want to get something done.

The end result

How crazy is that?!  And how gorgeous is that brass color?  I actually had no idea they would be this bright.  I put brass hardware on our cabinets without even thinking the knobs would match.

I then just wiped them down and used some Goo Gone to make sure I got all the nasty off.  Scrubbing took some paint off around the knobs, so after a quick touch up I was done.

 

I did all 3 doors in the kitchen, and now I just have to do ALL 6 of the upstairs doors.  I'm just so happy I discovered how easy this is.

 I realize this last picture gives you a little sneak peek into our kitchen.  It's been awhile since I posted our plans and to-do list.  We've gotten a lot done, but still have a few more things to finish up.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

The Kitchen

In hopes to be better about blogging the process of our house, I decided that I would take rooms/areas one at a time, share what we've done so far and what we hope to do.  Hopefully that will keep you updated along the way.

I thought we would first start with the kitchen.  This is the room that probably has had the most done to it so far, and still has a fair amount to be done.

Let's start from the beginning:

All the wallpaper was ripped down.  How hideous was this wallpaper?    There was also some older wallpaper underneath in some places.  Rob's dad made it his mission to get rid of every last inch of wallpaper in here.

We moved the stove, which required some electric re-wiring, done by my father-in-law.  We took out the cabinet above it, and ripped out the backsplash thing on the wall, which left us with this:

We spackled over it and sanded down, instead of trying to get that adhesive off.  We figured that since the fridge was going there anyway, it wouldn't be too noticeable if the wall was a little rough.

We moved the fridge out of the middle of the room.   Look how small that space was where the fridge was!  I also added a chalkboard wall in the area between the kitchen and foyer, which you can kind of see in this picture.  And I painted the doors black.  I still have the basement door to paint.

Here's the island that Rob built using 2 cabinet pieces we found on the side of the road and butcher block from Ikea.  Besides being painted, the shelf needs to be finished on the top where we will keep all our cookbooks.  

This next pictures shows how we moved the stove over to the other corner by the window and the fridge where the stove was.  

We added the shelves from Ikea above the stove and Rob used a leaf from a table that was left at the house to build a small piece of countertop next tot he stove, which the Ikea cart fits under.  

We are planning to put a piece of pegboard above that (next to the shelves) for a couple pots.  

Here is the sink area that has had nothing done to, but I have big plans for. 

I'm hoping that we can keep the same sink but replace the countertop with butcherblock.  There is also more of that funny backsplash behind the sink, but I'm actually hoping we can keep that intact because  I have a plan for a backsplash, but we'll have to see how all that plays out.  

So, here's the long list of things left to do:

-Prime and paint all cabinets

-Add new hardware to all cabinets

-Add pegboard potrack

-Hang pantry cabinet between bathroom and back door (where fridge was)

-Replace counter top at sink

-Backsplash behind sink

-New ceiling light fixture

-New faucet

-New floor

The floor is a major undertaking that Rob and I are kind of dreading. We've been talking a lot about what to do because not only is the linoleum hideous, it's in terrible shape.  It's coming up in a lot of areas.  There is one more layer of linoleum underneath that, and then a layer of plywood.  The cheapest thing to do would be to rip up the two layers of linoleum put down a new vinyl floor, which I'm fine with...especially because I've always wanted a black and white checkerboard floor in the kitchen. 

source

Doing the floor while living here with 2 kids sounds very overwhelming, but we know that once we get all the other things done in the kitchen, that floor is going to be even more noticable and annoying.  

So, there is the kitchen update and plans.  I'm loving how things have been turning out and can't believe all that has been done in there, and pretty inexpensively so far.  We were fortunate that the appliances were fairly new and all work great.  Having to buy new appliances right now was not in our budget.  The funny thing is, in  a lot of ways, this kitchen has become more functional than our old one.  Probably because we are the ones that are planning it out, and being intentional with the set up and making things work.  

Thanks for sticking with me through this process.  Hopefully more updates to come soon!  

The floors are done!

The floors are officially done.  Rob spent a lot of time putting 3 coats of polyurethane on both floors, but they look awesome.  After the second coat, he used a fine sandpaper and lightly sanded by hand and then brushed on the third coat for a smooth finish.  Obviously, this was more time consuming, but now they are nice and smooth.

Master bedroom (this was actually right before the 3rd coat).

Living room...

There was one water spot (?) on the right in the middle that didn't come up, but our area rug should cover that.  

The boy' room...

I spent yesterday totally cleaning and touching everything up in here and I am so glad that now their room is totally done.  I mean, besides the floral wallpaper in the closet and a new ceiling light, they could move in there tomorrow and it would be fine.  Oh, and Rob and his dad are hoping to install quarter round under the trim this weekend.

As you can tell the floors upstairs are different from downstairs.  We believe downstairs is oak, and they are thinner boards.  Upstairs we found out might be fir, and they are wider and have kind of a reddish tint to them.  They feel a little more rustic, which we like.  

I finally remembered to take a picture of my pocket doors.  Be still my heart.  I am so excited about these.  I hope we actually use them.  We also like that they are the original wood, which there is not much of in the house.  There is some paint on the side where they close, but we're hoping we can strip it off.  

My (30th!!) birthday is this Friday, so Rob and I are staying over night in the city tomorrow.  Even though we feel like we are in total crunch time right now with the house, we need a break.  We have no big plans, just walking around, going out to dinner and sleeping in.  I'm so excited.  

We're planning on moving next week, and I don't think everything that I would have like to get done will be done, but I'm ok with that.  We are so anxious to move in and live there.  

I showed Aiden the picture of their room last night and he was so excited, he said "I wish we could just go live there right now!".  I'm so excited that he has so much enthusiasm about the new house.  It makes us even more excited than we already are. 

I'll try and get back with a few more updates after the weekend.   

Coming along

We got a lot done this past week at the house.  Most of the time was spent cleaning up after all the sanding Rob and his dad did last week.  It looked like there was a sandstorm in the house.  I was honestly shocked at how much dust there was.  We got the downstairs 100% cleaned up and got the first coat of finish on the floors.  Here is a sneak peak (taken with Rob's phone).  I'll have more pictures later.

Rob and I spent a lot of time this weekend talking about the kitchen and planning what we want to do. We're hoping to make an Ikea trip within the next week or so and want to be prepared for what we need before we go so that we don't end up spending more money than we need to.

We've been planning on making an island for the kitchen, similar to what we did in our kitchen now, but probably not as big.  It will actually come out from the wall that is in between the two windows in the kitchen.

We have been looking on Craigslist, trying to find something to use for the base.  we don't want to spend a lot of money and were even trying to figure out if there was a way to use our current MALM dresser that is in our spare room.

Yesterday when we were driving to church, we found some cabinet pieces on the side of the road.  They were in excellent condition and we quickly swiped them up.  The one piece is a set of drawers (which we desperately need because the current kitchen cabinets have none).  And the other piece is a large cabinet that is probably from a wall cabinet.  So, it is a little shorter than the drawers.  Rob has the idea to do something like below since they aren't exactly the same height.  He's so good at this kind of stuff!

One thing we are definitely getting from Ikea is this cute little cart.  When it came out in the new catalog this past year, I loved it and was hoping that some day I would have a place to use it.  I realize it's everywhere and everyone seems to have one, but it's just such a great design!  We're gonna tuck it next to the stove to store lots of cooking things.  

 I'm getting really excited about moving into the new house, which we're hoping will happen in about 3 weeks.  I am hoping to get the foyer and kitchen painted this week.  It feels like things are really coming together.  After last week when I was very sick and feeling pretty depressed about the state of the house, I'm feeling much better this week.  Even though it's SNOWING on March 25th!!!  I'm not letting that get me down.  

I'll be back with more pictures this week.  Happy snow day!

House update

I think we are about due for a house update, don't you?  The past couple weeks have been crazy.  Not to mention the kids and I have been sick off and on.  On Friday I was so sick I actually thought, "this is the end!".  I know, I can be dramatic, but it's been years since I've been that sick.  Thankfully, other than some congestion, I am feeling pretty good.  I am blaming it all on this blasted weather.  I mean yesterday I came out of the Y and it was icing, on March 18th.  I mean, c'mon.  I would also gladly skip over spring and all the allergies that come with it.  I said it before and I'll say it again, I love summer- the hot, the sweat...I'll take all of that over this stuff.  Ok, I'm done my rant, I swear.

Rob and his dad basically almost killed themselves this past weekend getting the floors sanded at the house.  They did it in 2 days, and it looks awesome.  Even though there is about a half inch of dust everywhere, it looks amazing.  I am so thankful for a husband (and father in law) that are so handy and willing to work so hard.  I'm also thankful for my mother in law who took care of the kids those 2 days since I thought I was on my death bed.  SO thankful for family.

Here is a corner in the boy's room.  I'll take more pictures this week once we get in there and clean things up.  We're not planning on staining the floors, and I'm still a little unsure how they will look with just the clear finish, but I think it is the way to go and more what we like.

Before they started the floors this past weekend, we took a couple of shots of the house to show the progress we made.  The boy's room is done being painted, walls and trim.  It's amazing what paint can do!! There was lots of prep in all the rooms before we could paint, like spackling, sanding, taking down borders.  Rob and his dad did most of that prep.

Before

The living room also got done.  We decided to use the color in our current kitchen now, Seashell Gray from Valspar.  Trim also got repainted.  

Before

And, maybe you noticed in the one picture above that that horrible green is gone in the foyer.  We got 2 coats of primer in there and it is just waiting to be painted a fresh white.  Hoping to get that done before we move in, but we'll see.  

I got 2 samples. and we're going with the one on the right, Pale Bloom by Valspar.  

And then there's the kitchen.  This room is by far the one that has had the most done to it and it looks the worst.  Rob's motto is "it has to get worse before it gets better".  This room looks like a crime scene right now.  We're not doing a major kitchen renovation right now because we don't have the money, but, we are making some small and inexpensive changes that will make a huge difference and make it a great kitchen for a few years until we have the money to do what we want to. 

The one thing we are doing is moving the refrigerator and stove.  The fridge is going in the corner where the stove is.  Wallpaper is all down and the stove is out of this corner.  Plastic backsplash thing is also torn out.  Leaving it to look like this....

Remember, "it has to get worse before it gets better"!!  So, the fridge will go in that corner.  The stove will go to the left of the door where you walk into the kitchen.  We'll be putting some open shelves above it.  I don't have a great pic of that area, but here it is before.  

The kitchen has me the most stressed right now.  We're really hoping to get it all painted and fairly arranged before moving in.  We're planning on making an island, but that probably will not happen til after we move in.  

Ok, so I think that pretty much sums up where we are now.  I admit that I am feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do.  PLUS moving on top of all that and those logistics.  We're moving 2 blocks away and it is stressful, I can't imagine making a big move to another town or state with kids.  The good thing is we have our house rented for May 1st, and that gives us just a little more time to get things done, so I feel good about that.  I think we are both anxious to be living in the new house as soon as possible though.  We figure it might be easier to get some things done if we were living there, like after the kids are in bed at night.  

I'll be back with another update soon!

New house inspiration

 Over the past couple weeks, Rob and I have had a lot of paint discussions for the new house.  I really don't want to rush into things too much. I want to take our time decorating and figuring out what works best by living there.  However, there are some things we have to make decisions on before moving in.  Like, some paint colors.

I want to get the boys room and the living room completely painted before moving in.  These are the 2 rooms that would be hard to accomplish too much in once we are living there because of the kids.  For the boy's room, we've decided to paint it the same color it is now in our current house, so that everything we already have works.  (We're also working with a minimum budget, so using what we already have is best)

The living room is where we kept running into problems.  We have gone back and forth on whether or not to keep things neutral downstairs or go for a bold color.  Part of me wants to have the guts to paint our living room something like this...

Deuce Cities Henhouse

But, I just can't do it.  I think that I may like it for awhile, but I know myself too well and know that I will get sick of it.

I'm aware that I like to switch things up, like, curtains, pillows, etc.  Having a neutral pallet allows me to do that.  There are so many other ways to add color, I would feel better having the freedom to do that with keeping the walls neutral.  Plus, I think the house will look so good with fresh white, or light gray paint.  I'm also really particular about lighting in a house, and until we live there and I get to know the natural light in rooms, or how it feels at night with lights on, I just can't do something this daring.  

The only room we may get a LITTLE more daring with is the dining room.  But, that's covered in wallpaper and has two chair rails, yes two...why have one when you could have two?!  So, we have a lot to do before making any decisions in there.

Here is my favorite house right now for inspiration.   I love everything about this house, it feels more like our style.  I love what Maria says about old houses in this interview,

“I love the fact that old houses have nicks and aren’t perfect; the floors aren’t level, the windows aren’t square,” says Maria. “Old homes are a lot more interesting and forgiving, so your lifestyle can be more forgiving.”

It's so true and exactly why I have such a love for old houses!

I love the kitchen.  I'm all about mixing black and white cabinets and butcher block!  Just check my Pinterest.

I love how this desk space is a little messy but stil looks pretty.  

Bedrooms

And, I just love this shot from the hall looking into the master bedroom.

all images from Vintage Simple blog

I'll share more inspiration along the way, but right now I can't stop thinking about this house and these images.  They just make me so happy! 

5 years...and some big news

Aiden turned 5 last week.  I can't believe he is 5 years old.  I know everyone says it, but it's true, time is going by so fast.  In the fall he'll be going off to kindergarten, and while I am super emotional about that, I am also a very proud Mama.  Aiden is a sweet boy, and watching him learn and grow over the past 5 years has been a blessing.  I am so excited to see how he does with his next journey in life.  He's so social and loves school, so I am eager to watch him blossom even more over the next year.

We celebrated with family last weekend, and of course I had to have somewhat of a theme, so I went with mustaches.

We decided to forgo the "friend" party this year and instead took Aiden and two of his best buddies bowling.  Aiden has been asking to go bowling for a long time now, and I think it lived up to all the anticipation.  They had a blast and Rob and I had so much fun with the 3 of them.  Doing things like this for Aiden bring me so much joy.  

It was a good birthday.

Unfortunately, we ended the week with the stomach bug.  Brady got it first and then Aiden and I followed.  Thankfully, Rob stayed healthy and was able to take care of the 3 of us.  Brady is still recovering, he hasn't bounced back as quickly as his big brother.

And now, for the big news...

Yup, that's our soon-to-be new house.  We're so excited.  More on that soon...

Painted Backsplash

Hello!  I'm sorry that for the past month my blog has said, "Merry Christmas"!  I've just accepted the fact that I am really terrible at posting, hopefully you have too :)

I hope everyone had a great New Year and you're sticking to all your resolutions!  I finally finished a project that I started months ago but then procrastinated on finishing.

We have talked about putting in a backsplash, but never got around to it.  I realized I could do this at basically no cost (I only bought a sample of the dark gray color).  So, I figured I would go ahead and try it.

I used a stencil from this book and chose this one because I thought it kind of looked like tile.

It was a bit time-consuming, which is why it took me so long to finish.  I only had one (15in?) square stencil and would have to do a couple coats for each stencil.  I used a sponge for the area above the sink, but realized using a small roller was MUCH quicker.

The design is imperfect in places, but I am happy with how it turned out.  Rob helped finish it off with some trim on the edges. (ignore the touch up paint that I need to do in this pic).

You can also see some of the other changes in these pictures, like the chalkboard above the stove.  It's just a piece of wood we had in our basement that I painted with chalkboard paint.  I've been having fun changing it up every couple of weeks.

Also, the window above the sink we've had in our basement for years.  I just wiped it off and put a piece of wrapping paper behind it.

So, I can finally cross that off my project list!