2010 Projects

I love to look back at the year that is drawing to a close and recall all the projects I've done.   It has taken me a few days to think of everything and it's not that I've done all that much - quite the opposite in fact, but I just have a terrible memory.  I love making lists (in the lead-up to Christmas I had three lists on the go at one time) and so here are the projects I completed around the house in 2010.

1) Painted our kitchen cabinets.  (You can read about it and see before and after photos here).  This was the biggest project I undertook this year and it involved three weeks of mess and sore muscles, but was so worth it.

2) Added beadboard to the en suite bathroom.  (You can read about it and see before and after photos here).  I have to say it was one of the most rewarding finish-in-a-weekend projects I have ever done and we are enjoying how pretty it looks.

3) Prettified my office-in-a-closet.  (You can see more photos here).  This redo was inspired by my office being shown on Centsational Girl's blog and how it just didn't look too pretty.  I've enjoyed the cleaner tidier version (although it isn't always as tidy as it is in the photos).

4) Made over my curbside bench to use on our front porch. (You can see more photos here).  Nothing like finding a fabulous freebie and then fixing it up.

5)  Made an autumn wreath.  (You can read about it here).  It was a nearly free project and I loved seeing it hung on our door all during the fall.

6)  Made letters from twine to spell the word "joy" for our mantel at Christmas. (You can read more about it here).

7)  Sewed a stocking for my son's fiance who joined us for Christmas this year. (You can read about it here).

I have other projects on the go (and by on-the-go I mean they aren't done yet and I haven't touched them in months) which means I will have plenty of fun projects to work on in 2011.  

I'm linking up to Savvy Southern Style's linky party and Top Projects of 2010 at Southern Hospitality and am looking forward to seeing what everyone else accomplished in 2010.

Our $250 Kitchen Makeover

It took almost two and a half weeks of painting and some moaning on my part about how endless it all seemed, but the kitchen is finally finished (well almost, more about that later).  I spent all morning cleaning, because if I'm going to show the world our kitchen it needed a little spit and polish, especially after all the disruption during the painting.  I'm pleased as punch - and glad it is finished - to introduce you to our made-over kitchen:

And just so you can compare - here is the before:

 Before

After

Before

You can read about the inspiration behind painting the lower cabinets gray and uppers white  here.   After much deliberation we chose burnished gold handles for the new cabinets.

I also wanted to introduce some gold accents in other places around the kitchen.  I figured yellow would work as well to visually tie things together.  Of course, this involved a trip to Anthropologie where I bought some lovely (and overpriced) soap and lotion dispensers.

I also bought some bowls in colours that would coordinate with the new kitchen.

You can also see the little gold-coloured pear that I bought at the thrift shop for $2 (it was 50% off day so I got myself a real deal, because otherwise I would have had to pay $4).  I dug through the china cabinet and found some things that would coordinate with the gold to put on the shelves.  The antique salt cellar is from my father's parents and has a cranberry glass liner.  I know it isn't polished, but to me that means it mixes better with the gold tones, although there are some (and they shall remain nameless) who would disagree. The plate standing up against the back is from the Limoge set that belonged to my grandparents on my mother's side.

There is also yellow in the vinegar and oil set that was given to us by the french exchange student who lived with us a few years ago.

I personally never tire of looking at some before-and-after photos, so here are a few more.

After

Before

After

Before

And finally a view of the kitchen from the dining room.

I put out my favourite thrift store vintage table cloth to welcome you.

As for the bottom line, here is the $250 breakdown:

$100 paint

$100 handles

$50 new baskets

 Not bad for $250 (and a lot of elbow grease. I'm just saying...). 

We still  need to do a few things in the kitchen.  Here is the 3-year plan - in a nutshell (well a picture anyway).

And now we get to enjoy the kitchen - the best part!

Linked to:
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Make it 4 Monday at Cottage Instincts
It's So Very Creative at It's So Very Cheri
White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design
Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage
We Can do it Cheaper at The Virginia House
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Inspired by at The Inspired Home
Power of Paint Party at Domestically Speaking
The Colour Challenge Linkup at Funky Junk Interiors
Heart of the Home Party at Note Songs
Best of 2010 Before and After Party at House of Grace

Down Under

 

I finally got around to painting the patches on the  basement wall, where we had had a water leak from the now replaced sliding door in the dining room above it.  It has only taken me the better part of a year to get around to painting over the repair.  

Since the walls have now been repainted and the kids have all gone away for the summer, I took the opportunity to deep-clean the basement, wiping down baseboards, washing the floor, vacuuming under everything etc.  And then of course since it looked so nice I thought I would take you on a tour. 

We had the basement finished three summers ago and have thoroughly enjoyed having the extra space.  The first thing we did, prior to having the basement finished, was have a larger hole cut in the foundation and a window about twice as big as the previous one installed.  It has made a huge difference in the amount of light coming into the room.  The sunlight pours in until about noon time, and since this is the only window in the family room, it was well worth the money.

We let Kate have a big say in decorating this room and she wanted something younger and more modern feeling.  She chose the turquoise colour for the walls and then we went to IKEA and bought orange accents in the area rug, runner, and the wall decorations (more about that later).  We only painted the walls in the TV area turquoise so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for a basement room. 

When you go downstairs and turn to the left there was a small area that I had the builder make a recess and hubby built shelves to hold the DVDs.  We have a rather large collection and they no longer fit neatly on the shelves, but at least they are relatively contained.  The painting on the cabinet was done by my grandmother at our cottage.

Then looking right from the bottom of the stairs, you can see the family room past the piano and the foosball table. 

 The foosball table was given to us by good friends of ours when they downsized and gets a lot of use whenever the kids have friends over.  We just happened to have the right size area for it between the piano and the laundry room.

We didn't have the sofa at the time we finished the basement, but my parents gave it to us last year when they were changing things around at their house.  Fortunately it works with the colours we already had used and is fantastically comfortable.

I made the wall art using a very inexpensive duvet cover from IKEA (something like $20), which I cut into squares and stapled to art canvases.

The TV is sitting on a radio-record player console that my uncle bought in the 1960s.   The TV and DVD player fit perfectly on top and it helps add that mid-century modern touch.  Argh - all I see in that photo are all the wires hanging out below - what do you do with all the wires?

I added a little giraffe that my grandmother brought back from Zambia when she taught there in the 1970s.  I love the contrast of the rustic giraffe outline against the turquoise wall.

Kate and I went to a Pier 1 outlet store and found this unusual table with four cushions that you store underneath it.  It often gets pulled apart so everyone can sit around the table and sip their tea or play cards.

And looking back toward the piano and foosball table.  The door behind the sofa leads to William's bedroom, which hubby and I built about 7 years ago.  We had never built anything before but just bought a book and built his room.  It was a ton of work but we were very proud of ourselves.  We would have built more of the family room part of the basement but we needed it done quickly, so we had to hire someone to do it for us.

We hung a series of three black-and-white photos of New York City from the 1950s over the piano. 

Yep books and more books, always more books.  Our movers told us they had never moved so many books before and it is sometimes a challenge to fit them all onto shelves.

That about wraps up the basement tour.  Behind the four closed doors are William's bedroom, a furnace/storage room, a storage room, and the laundry room (which you can see pictures of here, along with some shots of how the basement looked before it was finished - yikes).  

How about a game of foosball before you go? 

Baby Steps

I've been working on my summer to-do list (you can see the complete list here ) and making some headway.  I'm afraid it isn't very exciting stuff but it sure does make a difference around here.  If you are a neatnick then you should probably leave now, cause I'm only a neatnick wannabe and you might be a little scared by what you see.

1.  The most exciting thing we did was decide on the style of cabinet hardware that we are going to use in the kitchen when I paint the cabinets - they are sort of simple, sort of transitional.  The thing we have to finalize is whether to go with the brushed nickel or the burnished gold coloured handles.

2. Next I tackled the messy cupboard near the sink.  This cupboard was hard to access because the doors didn't swing all the way open, so it became the repository for misc items.

Yikes - can't believe I posted that.  Here it is all sorted with the doors removed.  We actually would like to have glass put in the cupboard doors but I'm not sure how to do that, so in the meantime I'm kind of liking the open shelf look (hubby less so).  The new baskets allow us to still store things on the shelves but they look all purty.  I also bought some beadboard to put on the back of the shelves, which I will tackle soon.

3.  I also painted the inside of the cabinet under the sink. For your viewing pleasure I even took some before shots (and this was after I had scrubbed the area, but it just wouldn't come clean anymore).

It looks so clean I hate to use it.

4.  Are you still with me?  I completely understand if you have gone off to read a blog full of inspiring design photos.  If you are still reading, the next thing I did was organize the basement storage room - really the less said the better.  It all started with some things that got put on the floor in the way of reaching the shelves and next thing you know we had a disaster in the storage room.  You couldn't even open the door all the way. I have a photo of the before but just don't have the nerve to post it.  It has been put aright and here it is - still a lot of stuff, but it is all back in its proper spots and lots tossed or given away.

Finally, I've had a new inspiration on the colour for the kitchen cabinets so stay tuned.  I'll begin painting just as soon as I get rid of my last child (oops, did I actually write that?) - I mean weep sadly as my youngest goes off to camp for 5 weeks and I have the entire basement to set up as my painting workshop.  In the meantime, I'm trying to do projects that don't involve taking over the house. 

Further up-dates coming soon.

*******

Also, don't forget to put your name in for my Johnson Brother Old English plate summer giveaway which you can read about here.  

Our Distressed Bench

I did it  - I made something old, look new, and then look old again!   Well that's how I felt this weekend anyway.  Here's the bench all purtied up -

Just to jog your memory - here is what it started out looking like, fresh from the garbage (well and it sat in our garage for 2 years, but fresh from all that) - 

Why is it that projects always cost two times as much and take two times as long as you expect then to.  I came back from the hardware store having spent $70 to fix up our "free" project.  Now I will admit that most of what I bought were things like clamps that will get used on other projects, but still....  And in order to get the project done all in one weekend, I was painting like a madwoman in the dark no less.  The things I do for my bloggy friends.

Now for the nitty-gritty step-by-step.  The first thing I did was sand the bench down to get rid of all the flaking paint.  I know some of you are sobbing that I got rid of all the chippy loveliness, but it was a bit too rustic for our house, so cover it up I did.

Since the bench was split in half, I had to glue it together and clamp it overnight.

Then I cut 2 small boards to put underneath for added support, and glued and screwed them into place.

Then I primed the bench,

and painted it two coats of blue, sanding the edges after each coat.

Then the fun began - I used a product that was a combination of stain and sealer that you rub on and then wipe off.  It was messy because it is oil based, but does the job of making your bench look old and dirty.  Here is a picture with one board just with paint and one board that has also had the stain applied so you can see the difference.

Then I had to let it dry.  All I can say, after writing all this, is I know why no laundry got done this weekend.

I love the toned-down blue and the bench looks really happy on our front porch.  Now we just need to get going on planting some flowers.

Here's a few more photos for your viewing pleasure.

The End!

Linked to:
Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
More Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality
Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Show and Tell Day at Blue Cricket Design
Home and Family Friday at Home is Where My Story Begins
Inspired by Linky at The Inspired Room
We Can Do It Cheaper at The Virginia House
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Modern Craftswoman Monday at Tools are for Women Too!
Best of 2010 Twice Owned Tuesday Party at House of Grace