Let's Move In!

It's been 11 days of hard work but the worst is over! We did it! Also, I'm exhausted. My feet hurt. It's all been worth it though. I love the changes we've made.

There are things that still need to be done like paint the trim around the doors, add a second coat of paint in the master bathroom, paint and hang doors, etc. Yay. More painting. :|

BUT, all my big projects have been completed! 

Putting the sealer on the floors:

I LOVE how they turned out. There are tiny imperfections throughout (small cracks and holes from tack strips) but those just add character! I'm so happy with the color and how the concrete accepted the stain. 

Check it out! Ignore the black marks on the walls. I got crazy with the stain...

The stain I chose was New Look's Smart Color in Hazelnut, diluted and sprayed on with a plastic pump sprayer. When the sprayer was working, it worked great! However, it kept getting clogged! We ended up cleaning it out three times before we finished all the floors. Very  frustrating. I already liked the color but wanted more dimension. We let that dry all day and then I came back after work at 9:00pm and sprayed on more Smart Color in Black. Because I didn't want to wrestle with the pump sprayer and end up throwing it through a window, I just mixed up the black stain in a plastic spray bottle. It kept splattering a bit so I would keep blotting here and there with a rag so it didn't look like there were huge drips on my floor. 300 squats later, my floor looked exactly how I wanted it! 

Tonight, my fabulous cousins came over to help us with baseboards. Before Scotty got off work, Phil and Dad worked on baseboards and Amber and I went to get a load of stuff to take to the house. We got pretty creative with our packing and also lifted a lot of heavy things to make us feel really macho. 

Phil, thank you for your skills! And your saw and nail gun...

My eyes lit up when I saw this: 

And THIS: 

You can see the burnt orange paint in the bathroom in the above picture. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I'll get it later. 

I just wanted to stand in the living room and stare at it all night. I LOVE taller baseboards. We chose 5" base since we took the floors out and had more to cover! Oh darn...  ;)

So much cleaner and more finished-looking!

We also started to set up our bed frame. I really need to change the bulbs in our room. So dim!

I hung this 'ol thing up tonight. I'm still not 100% on it in that spot. i just don't know where else to put it. What do you think?

I can't wait to move more in this weekend! I'm ready to make this a home!

More updates coming soon! I already have a couple of projects in the works.   

Stained Concrete. The Mother of all Projects.

HI! Let's talk about stained concrete floors, shall we? I feel like so many people don't understand when I tell them I'm staining my concrete slab.  "Huh? No carpet? No tile? You're dumb. What a dumb idea." Arg, you don't understand. You've seen stained concrete a million times you just haven't noticed it.  Well, if this is your first time hearing about it, GOOGLE "stained concrete" right now (GO! DO IT!) and come right back. Or there's the girl at Lowe's who told me that my "feet would hurt if I did that" because she has to walk around on it all day at work...As if I'd be rackin' up miles in my house for 8 hours a day.  And then there's some of the people that DO know about stained concrete: "I don't like that, that's ugly." WELL, YOU'RE ugly. (Not really, I just don't have a better comeback than that...)

I LOVE stained concrete.  I HATE carpet.  Stained concrete is modern, clean, easy to maintain, and just looks freakin' cool, industrial, and urban.  Whatever it is, I just totally dig the look of it.  Don't think my house is going to be all cold and morgue-y (yeah, it's a word now).  I'm going to have an area rug in the living room.  There are so many different looks and designs you can do with stained concrete.  However, I have my eye on a dark brown flooring color.  I really like the mottled, variegated look that acid staining gives.   I have been researching stained concrete for a solid two months.  I was originally going to do acid stain but after we found out what our flooring looked like, and weighing the pros and cons, I decided on a water-based stain instead.  It's also safer AND less expensive so that's a plus.  It won't make me go blind OR broke.

The thing about staining concrete is the PREP WORK.  It's all about the prep.  What a JOY that was.

Scotty and Dad worked hard at the house while I did some makeup for a wedding on Saturday. They started by pulling up that laminate flooring:

What they found underneath was not just carpet glue like we had originally thought from pulling up a small piece of flooring.  This is WET paint.  They painted and just laid the flooring right down over it, probably thinking it would dry.  Who knows how long it's been like that.  This gives us a whole new obstacle to deal with.  'DOH!

Oh yeah, and TACK STRIPS ARE THE DEVIL.  They are very difficult to remove from the concrete and they leave some lovely HOLES too.  They are all around the room like a charming polka-dot border.  See what I did there? I'm looking on the bright side!

Son of a paint-stain!  Ok, let's get this crap off.  Contractors don't take care of the slab because normal people like to cover it up with carpet or hardwood flooring.  Also, this house was built 10+ years ago before it was cool to do residential interior concrete staining. Looks like they sprayed the doors (and the walls) and the overspray is just chillin' on my floor. There are a couple thin cracks, which I'm fine with, it'll give it character. We just need to get it clean. The living room looks like this:

We went down to Rental Guys and got this concrete grinder.  Let's do some damage.

We want the floor nice and clean and porous in order to accept the stain.  The blade on the bottom didn't cover a ton of area at once so this was a very time consuming process.  We also had to apply pressure so it was a good workout too.

It's getting clean! Look at the difference! 

A few hours into it, we didn't think the paint was coming off as easily as it should have been.  Here I am brushing on paint stripper.  This loosened it up just a little and the grinder was able to get a little more.

Being an innovative thinker.  Small spaces, small person, no big deal.

A huge improvement in the living room.  

Dad was able to use a handheld grinder to get everything else the rented machine didn't get like corners, edges, stubborn paint stains, etc.

Before we left tonight, we scrubbed the floor with hot water and a stiff brush (there was concrete dust EVERYWHERE) then shop-vacuumed it up. Dad and I working together to get everything so clean!

I wanted to do a sample test just in case I discovered that the concrete wouldn't accept the stain and I'd have to eat the money I spent on it.  I think I paid $7.50 for a little sample bottle.  It's meant to be diluted and actually goes a long way.  For the test, I just mixed it in a spray bottle to apply.  However, when we apply the stain to the whole house, we will use a plastic pump sprayer.  I tested it out in my closet, so it would be hidden in case it sucks.

I DIG IT.  I sprayed it on, looked at it for a minute, then turned around and threw my arms around Scotty.  He didn't understand but accepted it anyway.  I was just SO happy that it worked.  These are transparent stains and I like that you can see the concrete underneath. It gives it that mottled look that I like.  I did get a darker color to give it even more contrast. I mixed it up and sprayed that on over the "Milk Chocolate" brown.

Obviously my spray bottle was being dumb and dripping spots all over the place but it actually looks kind of cool, like more textured and stoney.  This is not what it will look like when we are finished.  We are going to apply a glossy sealer to it.  But I am REALLY happy with it so far and I can't wait to see what it looks like with baseboards put in.  We are getting close! Stay tuned for the end result! :)

*THE FINAL RESULT WITH THE SEALANT AND THE BASEBOARDS CAN BE FOUND IN THIS POST HERE.  

Kitchen Cabinet Update

Well THAT was more of a pain in my rump project than I expected.  When we had all the cabinet doors laying out on the driveway, one of our friendly new neighbors came by to check it out.  "I've been wanting to do that to mine", he said.  The deeper we got into the project, the more we kept yelling toward Friendly Neighbor's house, "DON'T DOOOO ITTTTTTT!"  I really thought I'd just be able to sand those dummy cabinets down and just start painting with my paint + primer in one.  Who's the dummy now?  The wood grain was too freakin' smooth, the paint just slid off.  FINE.  We go to the store to get a REAL primer. Happy? Spray primer on, and still have to paint 2 coats on.  I don't like how many steps there are here. And WAITING. Waiting really blows.  DRY! DRY! DRY!

However, they are done.  It took FOUR days but they are finished.  Want to see?  Of course you do!

Cabinets before:

Cabinets After (Covered in dust since we started the floors when this was taken...next post!):

Calm down, the wood we didn't paint won't be seen with our stove, fridge, and baseboards in there.

So we were going to go the all stainless steel look with appliances but since the microwave and stove were already white, and are perfectly fine, I can't bring myself to just replace them on aesthetics alone.  Paying close to $5k just to change everything to stainless?  That's just getting too crazy.  I can live with white appliances and dark cabinets.  I talked myself into it by Googling "white appliances with dark cabinets" to get a feel for how it might look and I didn't mind it. (Yeah, I Google everything.)  It kind of keeps it bright and will match all of the white trim.  I'm going with it.  I hope you are too. Oh you don't want to? Well there is a saying we have in our family:  "You can't see it from YOUR house."

I really think we could have painted these cabinets purple and it would have looked better than before.  Maybe you liked them before, but looking at them makes me do this:   : |     also, this: : /    
Those are faces, by the way, if you're confused or aren't familiar with DIY emoticons...

More dusty cabinets:

Instead of putting a tiled backsplash up there just yet, I'm trying this on for size.  There are damage-free hanging hooks on it just in case I think it sucks later.  On this amazing blog that I love, I saw this idea of putting a full length mirror horizontally behind the counter.  If you love to be (or aspire to be) super duper organized, this woman's blog will blow your mind.  I nearly drool when I see some of the things she does.  It just makes my brain very happy.

That bar area will be great for sweet food and drink buffets at parties, don't you think? ;)  I'm already picturing it with delicious snacks and cheese plates and bounties of fruit and crudites and a cocktail station and---... Droooooool.  I know I say "drool" a lot but I really do drool.  It must be my big teeth.

I really like the color and the way they turned out.  A couple of them may need a little touching up but that will be simple and I can do that later.  I thought these cabinets were a thorn in my side but stay tuned for the most labor intensive project yet: THE FLOORS.

Thanks for reading! :)

Home Improvement Progression

Another 12 hour day. I'm ready for more... except that my feet feel like I've been walking around Disneyland for two days straight. And I hate Disneyland. I know, now I've said too much. How many friends did I just lose? Anyways...

Ok painting, I've had enough of you. I love the actual painting with the roller, seeing the transformation immediately (over all of the COLORED ON walls). But the tedious detail work around corners and ceilings makes me want to punch myself in the forehead. (And I HAVE an edging tool!)

Speaking of things that make me want to punch something, let's talk about cabinets. Let's laugh about how I thought it was going to be a one-day job. Here it is 3 days in and those dummies still aren't done. BUT the end is in sight, they should be done tomorrow! GAH! Annnnnd they're going to look fabulous. I love the color.

All primed up:

They now already have the espresso paint on them but I forgot to snap a photo! We just need to give two more coats to the fronts and they will be finished! Oh you'll see, don't worry.

Oooooh guess what else I did (besides a million things?!) I painted Scotty's man cave! Did you ever see the Pepto Bismol pink room?! Let me show you!

Awww how sweet... But we could save it for a little gir------NO.  Also, you couldn't see all the wonderful drawings on the walls in this picture. I'm not kidding when I say kids drew on every single wall in this house. Even under the counter. And I'm pretty sure there were poop smears too. You could say it was chocolate but I guess poop. Back on track here... This is the man cave NOW:

Looks a little smeary but I promise it's just the lighting on my not yet completely dry paint. (I was excited OK!?) You can't really tell but the accent wall is a rich navy. It was really bright in the room so that wall looks almost black but then I saw it later this evening with the light on and it was such a gorgeous blue! I'm happy with the way it turned out because it was really smeared-looking when I put the first coat on. I actually planned on doing both of those walls but since I had to double up on coats I only could do one. It turned out just fine though because I think it would have made the already small room look even smaller and darker.

Also, the master bedroom is finished! I love the accent wall so much I could just squeal. It's Behr's "Intellectual" which tells you how awesome it is. Surely it will make us more intelligent when we sleep. That fan was already here (SCORE) but we cleaned it up and flipped the blades over to that pretty walnut color instead of the light pine color they were on the other side. I think our white headboard will look totally rad in here, especially since we sharpened up the ceiling paint with a bright white.

Remember the teal room? ME TOO.

Well that's now my office! I think I may want to brighten up this ceiling too. We will see how I feel about painting tomorrow. Meh.

Ah yes, the two toned living room.

And BAM!!! 

Just the paint change alone makes me feel so much more relaxed. The previous paint made me nervous.  Don't ask. Did you notice the fan update? 

Here's a view from the living room. You can see the spot over the beam where I was OVER IT. "Painting, you suck!" It looks fine like that, right?

OH! I can incorporate a "thrifting find" in here! So I knew I wanted to replace the dated entry light. (see below)

They are about $40-ish at home improvement stores. Well, that's just dumb so I had been keeping my eyes peeled for lighting fixtures.  Guess what I found at the Sacred Heart thrift store on HALF OFF day for $2?!!!

I got this puppy home and guess what? It MATCHED the other dome lights in the bedrooms and the hallway. 

 Here are the boys putting up my 

THRIFT FIND OF THE CENTURY: 

And the last thing I'll share tonight is something that really really makes me delighted like a little girl at Disneyland (remember, not this little girl, but maybe a normal one)...

My drab front door before (shown previously above)

To my FAB front door now!

It's not black (even though that's not a bad thing) and that's just the first coat. It's the same Intellectual as featured in the bedroom. I love multipurpose! My precious charcoal door...

Oooh welcome! Come inside! Doesn't my flooring look stupid? Want a cookie? A cocktail? 

Stay tuned for more updates. Thanks for reading! :)

We got the keys! Let the games begin!

The waiting is over.  We can now do things like this: 

That's right, honey. You're so mighty. You show that sign who's boss.

We got our keys and within five minutes were ripping out old stinky baseboards and moulding. Everything is so GRIMEY. But I can't worry about that now. We are about to tear the place up anyway. The deep cleaning will happen eventually. 

Here are a few of the place before we started ripping it to shreds today:

Living room view from kitchen

Kitchen view from living room

My office/guest room. Which, we ended up deciding to keep the carpet in here (the one and only room that will have carpet).  It's not in terrible shape and I can get it shampooed. 

Dirty door with dirty hardware.  I'll be getting a new handle. What fabulous/obnoxious color can I paint this door?!

It's pretty overwhelming but I just need to focus on one thing at a time. While dad helped with baseboard removal, I got started on removing all the cabinet doors.

"Oh look, I'm smiling and having the grandest of times! Operation Espresso Cabinets is SO enjoyable!"... 

It was all sunshine and rainbows until I gathered my collection in the garage.

 *Cue my BEST unamused facial expression.

Lawwwwwwd help meh! Can you say "over-freaking-whelming"?!  This wasn't even all of them! Watch out cabinets, I'm comin' for you tomorrow...when the water gets turned back on and I can wipe off all those sticky food stains and handprints. I cant wait to come back and start sanding. Wooooo power tools!

We will also be prepping those dirty walls for painting. We may have to re-spray some texture back on after we scrape that caulking from the chair rail we removed. I can't wait for it all the be one clean color! It will be so much easier and more calming to my peepers.

We are keeping the laminate down while we paint to avoid having to protect the floor.  BUT I did want to lift up a section to see what we're working with.  Because I want to stain the concrete floors, I was really hoping for the concrete to be in good condition. Specifically, NO CARPET GLUE. 

Oh, hi, fake wood floor that doesn't match! Let me just lift some of you up. Show me your goodies. Please no glue, please no glue, please no glue.

YOU. IDIOT.  HI carpet glue! There still might be hope. If we can remove all traces, I'll do the acid stain as planned.  If not, I'm still staining, I'll just have to do a water-base stain to cover it. I'm not doing an overlay (More time and money). We will just have to prep the concrete really well. 

We also started to put together the new living room fan and realized it didn't come with the extension rod and the one on the existing fan did not work. Luckily, good ol' Home Depot opens at 6:00am! Did I mention I am a slave driver  dedicated, hardworking individual? 

Well we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I should go to sleep.  If I have any trouble drifting off, I'll just count cabinet doors... Stay tuned for updates! 

New homeowners elated to have just taken on thousands of dollars in debt.