The Big Reveal

After a few annoying teaser posts, here it is-- Our new master bedroom!

I am so happy with the outcome! It's actually a room I want to spend time in now, instead of a room stuffed with odds and ends and hand-me-downs. The only thing I have left to do is to buy new lampshades. 

This was all done on a budget, but I'm really pleased with the end result. Here is the breakdown of where I purchased everything:

Furniture: Target & Walmart

Bedding: Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart

Mirrors & Art: Kirkland's

Accessories: Dillard's, Hobby Lobby, Kirkland's, Pottery Barn

Painting above the bed: our dear friend & super talented artist Brooke

My next project is already in the works-- the guest room! :-)

Our Bathroom Transformation!

This has been a loooong time coming-- and I can't believe I'm finished!

When we bought our little house in July 2008, one of the first things we did was replace the carpet in the bathrooms (yuck) with ceramic tile. These bathrooms were a mess! Carpet, horrible wallpaper (on un-primed drywall no less!!) Every time I even thought about tackling that room I practically broke out in hives. But, I am proud to say that it is finished!! A lot of blood, sweat and yes- actual tears were shed but I am so thrilled!

Here is her transformation:

and after the tile, we worked on the hideous wallpaper! The previous owners decided to be lazy and put their tacky wallpaper on bare drywall. It was an absolute nightmare to deal with. I had to remove the paper, patch the walls, prime about a million times, texturize the walls and actually paint them...

See the little hook? The bathroom didn't have anywhere to put towels and we couldn't figure out a good placement for a towel rack. So, I decided to use a hook instead. This one is a 3M Command hook- so it was super easy to install and will be easy to remove or reposition it if we ever get tired of it. And we finally have a place for our hand towel!

New Kitchen Floor

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of all my home improvement posts!

I'll share the before pictures one more time:





As I said in my last post, I decided to tackle this project last weekend while Mike was in Memphis. This was a pretty big project for me to take on by myself (hello, I moved our refrigerator and stove...all by myself!!) but I am so glad I did it!

I decided on a faux travertine tile:



I used Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine vinyl tile. I think vinyl tile aka peel and stick tile has changed a lot over the years-- this stuff was hard as a rock! Each tile really mimicked stone- in texture and weight. So cool! I was under the impression that vinyl tile was cheap, shiny and not very attractive. This stuff definitely changed my mind. :-)

I started the project at around 8 pm on Friday night. One of the benefits of doing this while Mike was gone- I could set my own hours! haha! I headed to Lowe's, picked up my supplies and got to work. I'll keep the instructions brief- I basically had to find the center of the room and dry fit (lay the tiles out without removing the protective backing) to make sure I didn't have to make any adjustments before I started "sticking" them. Here's a picture I grabbed with my iPhone while I worked:



I quit at around 1 am Saturday morning (I said I set my own crazy hours!) and was about 80% finished. I slept in Saturday, started the project again around noon and finished at about 1:30. All together about 6 hours to complete the floor. :-)

Here are some shots of the finished product:













The most difficult part to do were all the crazy edges. Our kitchen floor has some weird angles and it was kinda tricky to cut the edge pieces. It was also not so fun to move the fridge and stove- but I did it! (and I got to clean behind both- the previous owners were gross.) The most interesting things I found behind our appliances: a huge neon orange crayon and an expired pizza coupon from 1994. :-)

I loved surprising Mike when he arrived home Sunday evening- he was THRILLED!!

The Details:

• the materials used: Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine peel and stick tile & a boxcutter
  
• total project time: about 6 hours
• total cost: about $100 for 80 sq. ft
  

A sneak peek

of my weekend project!!

Eventually we plan on having hardwood floor throughout the living room, dining room, kitchen and office- but the gross kitchen floor was killing me! So, while Mike was out of town this past weekend I decided to do something about it:

old flooring:





It's difficult to see, but it was off white with purple and gray flowers- hideous! LOL

and here is a sneak peek of the new flooring:





It's just vinyl tile- but it looks soooo much better! I'll post tomorrow with pictures of the finished floor and all the details. I'm so pleased with the change!