Refinishing & Modernizing Our 70's Built-In Pantry

I don't know what it was about the 70's but they built-in everything, down to a nook for a rotary phone! In our house the builder included this large built-in pantry in the dining space. I'm not sure how the people who lived here before us only had one side of cabinets because this pantry is the only space to store food. When we moved in I had to give it a massive scrub down because like every other surface in the house it was covered in smoke tar, but it was still remained that over-varnished orange color.

Project List for January to April

January is half way over and April is creeping up fast! With that in mind, I have several projects I'd like to finish before baby Jase makes his arrival in late April. It's not a strict "I must get these done" list, it's more of a guideline that gives me goals to achieve. Most of them are just buying a piece here or there, but there are a few DIYs I have in mind.

DIY Christmas Bucket + Door Mat

Christmas is right around the corner! We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our family and ate all the regular trimmings until we could pop. Baby was especially happy with the homemade (extra cheezy!) macaroni and cheese. Now turkey day is officially over my brain can start to get into the Christmas spirit. My biggest goal when decorating for the holiday this year was to keep the budget at a minimum and try to utilize things I already had. When we did our Very Merry Christmas Home Tour before Thanksgiving, you guys sweetly commented on my two DIY's I did for the front porch — the bucket and the door mat. It was super easy and budget-friendly and anyone can do it, so here is the tutorial!

DIY No-Sew Roll Up Shades

We finished our guest room reveal for the Spring 2019 One Room Challenge a few weeks ago and ever since then I've been flooded with requests for a tutorial on the DIY roll up shades I made. They are super easy and since I had drop cloths on hand, it was a great project for the budget. If you can use scissors, you can do this DIY — trust me.

$100 Room Challenge | Week 4: The Full Bathroom Reveal

Every reveal day is like Christmas. I get to compare where a space started out to where it is today. Today I get to share our bathroom renovation we complete for just (90¢ over) $100 in 4 short weeks. One of those weeks I spent out of town so it really was only 3 weeks!

Week 1: The Bathroom Befores & Plans
Week 2: Refreshing the Hex Tile
Week 3: Painting the Walls White

$100 Room Challenge | Week 2: Refreshing the Hex Tile

September is hurricane season and in Georgia we are preparing for the backlash of Florence. Everyone is headed in-land from the coast and traffic patterns are crazy. The second week of the $100 Room Challenge is usually pretty non-eventful for me. I'm still in the undecided planning zone still wondering which direction to take the space. This week I turned my attention to our 60 year old matte black hex tile floor.

Week 1: The Before & Plans

Utilizing the Useless Space Above the Cabinets

Do you have an awkward empty space above your cabinets? Once we installed this side of the kitchen when there was 0 cabinets there before, we totally had one of those spaces. It nagged at me for 2 years and I finally found a way to utilize all that dead space. I just had to build it myself.

Disguising the Guest Room Shoe Rack with Paint

The guest room doubles as my closet and vanity. We have small closets and having a dedicated desk where I can get ready is really helpful. The downside is I also have to store all my shoes on an ugly pre-fab shoe rack in there.

Installing Feet on the Couch

Thanks for welcoming me back from my blogging (and social media) hiatus, it's amazing what some time off to focus on yourself can do.

I'm 99% sure everyone has those tiny tasks you just can't seem to take the time out of your day to do it. It's not that it would cost a fortune or even take that much time, but it just sits there and sits there, un-tackled. For us, that was the replacement feet for our love seat. When the couch got moved from Atlanta to this house the feet got lost and we have lived with it sitting right on the floor for 2. YEARS. You might not think couch feet would make that big of a difference both sitting on it or looking at it - but it does.

One Room Challenge | Week 6: Modern Guest Room Reveal

Phew! That's how I feel after 6 weeks of procrastination and spring through the last 7 days. The One Room Challenge has come to an end for the guest room makeover. As per the norm, I've gotten sick this past week and had the busiest week at work that I'll have all year. BUT we got it done and Auston can barely peel me out of this space.  If this is your first time here, you can check the past 5 weeks posts below (Week 1 is really the best).

Week 1: Guest Bedroom Befores
Week 2: The Mood Boards and Plans
Week 3: Making A Hard Wired Sconce into a Plug In
Week 4: Painted Ceiling Fan
Week 5: Vertical Board & Batten

One Room Challenge | Week 5: Vertical Board & Batten

Reveals out the wazoo this month! Between last week's closet reveal, this week's playroom reveal, and next week's One Room Challenge reveal, I am going to be having some celebratory drinks after it's all over. It's week 5 and crunch time! Everyone is wrapping up their spaces and per my M.O. I still have large chunks to complete and shopping to do.

You can visit all the One Room Challenge guest room posts below. This space has already come so far and this next week is going to be fun.

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: Mood Board & Plans
Week 3: Making a Hard Wired Sconce into a Plug In
Week 4: Painted Ceiling Fan

Small Closet Gets A 24 Hour Makeover For Less Than $700

Back in February, we polled our readers for spaces to makeover during the spring. It was our first time renovating someone else's space, so we took our time picking two we knew could be tackle by ourselves and within the spring timeline. This small closet rose to the top with weird/small dimensions but incredibly important function that obviously not being used in the best way. And the best part... we completed it in under 24 hours! (not counting sleeping hours)

One Room Challenge | Week 3: Making a Hard Wired Sconce into a Plug-In

Everyone participating in the One Room Challenge during week 3 starts to paint, install, construct their rooms, whereas I always drag my feet. I have tons of ideas and are usually hesitant to start something that will completely change the room - thus, my last minute decision on doing board and batten on my Stories. So in lieu of a super room transforming post (hopefully that'll be next week), I rewired this swing arm sconce I bought last year. Living in a house built in the 60's has is advantages, but good wiring is not one of them. Instead of messing with hardwiring this guy to the wall, I decided to turn it into a plug-in with an in line switch. By not hard wiring guests won't have to get out of bed to turn the light off, the switch will be right next to them. Now let's show you how I did it!

Week 1: The Befores
Week 2: The Mood Board & Plans

One Room Challenge | Week 1: Guest Bedroom Befores

I can't believe it's been a year since our laundry room makeover and 5 months since the home office! It's spring time and the One Room Challenge has rolled around again. I had a hard time deciding if I was going to do this challenge or not, and really only made a decision last night. Since I have a busy spring and am doing two other spaces outside of my house I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to put into this round. But after thinking about it, I realized one of the spaces I'm almost finished with and the other I'm going to knock out in one weekend. And this challenge really give me motivation to better my own spaces. So let's do it!

We Found a Space(s)! Where Our Spring Makeovers Are Taking Us

First of all, thank all of you who sent us your spaces and stories behind them! We haven't been doing this long and don't claim to be experts, but our hearts were warmed when so many of our readers welcomed us into your home and trusted us. I honestly was not expecting anyone to actually be interested, but when the first one rolled in I teared up haha! Then the next one came in and my jaw just hit the floor every time! In fact there were so many, I narrowed it down to two we could accomplish over the next few months.

There was not one space that I saw that didn't have a ton of potential. Some already had some renovations, some had not been touched, and some just needed some TLC. In fact, we had such a variety of spaces we couldn't narrow it down to just one... so we picked TWO spaces!

$100 Room Challenge | Week 2: Paint & Fauxlap

Week 2 of the $100 Room Challenge was so satisfying. Painting covers a multitude of sins and this week it covered the ugly yellow-white walls. I have to finish this challenge by next weekend and get all the pictures taken and post written so I will be kicking into high gear this weekend. Keep an eye on my InstaStories to see the real-time progress and behind the scenes. 

Week 1 | The Befores

How-To: $11 Dyed No-Sew Dropcloth Curtains

Thank you for so much love for our One Room Challenge Office reveal! Even though the ORC is fun to participate in, I can't wait to participate in the January season of the $100 Room Challenge. I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off of blogging to concentrate on getting all the houses ready and spending time with all the family that came down. Over that week we got so many questions on how we dyed the dropcloth curtains - so we wrote down every step!

An Update on Our DIY Fridge Paint Job

You might remember when we DIY'ed our fridge paint job when we moved in almost a year ago. It only cost $16 and transformed our old almond color into a not so ugle black one. 2 months later, that fridge died and we were on the hunt for another one. Luckily, my parents had just bought a house to renovate and it came with an old almond Whirlpool Mark I, the same model that had died. We spent another $16 on paint and basically we got another fridge for $16. I grabbed the spray paint and gave it the same treatment as the original. Today I wanted to answer all your questions and give you an update on it 10 months later.

 

$100 Room Challenge Week 4 | Modern Half Bath Reveal

A day late, but this is the last week of the $100 Room Challenge and it's reveal day! We decided to redo our half bathroom that connects our master and guest bedrooms. The great thing about this challenge is that you can spend $100 to make the room a little more livable, but if you decide to do a full renovation you don't feel so bad because you haven't put a ton of money in it. See the previous 3 weeks to see how far this room has come in only a month.

Week 1 | The Half Bath Before
Week 2 | Painting the Tile
Week 3 | Open Shelving & Wall Paint

$100 Rom Challenge Week 3 | Open Shelves & Wall Paint

I've decided that the older you get, the faster time goes by! It is Week 3 of the $100 Room Challenge, and somehow I have been able to squeek by with only spending $16 so far. This week, I was able to get all of the painting done, took out the old medicine cabinet mirror, built/installed the two open shelves above the toilet. Catch up with the past two weeks:

Week 1 | The Half Bath Before
Week 2 | Painting the Tile