Where We Live

Besides our bedroom, we spend the majority of our day to day in our living room. On the couch. Everyday when I get home from work I am on that couch. Unless I am painting furniture...We even eat in the living room almost every single day. Scandalous, I know. I love our living room which is a good thing since we spend so much time living in it. It is the most finished room in the house, after the kitchen.

Here is the main area of our living room. I will do a tour of the rest of the room in different posts. 

I need to move the chevron painting down...There used to be a larger picture there.

Most of the furniture in here we bought shortly after we moved in. Before I yard saled/craigslisted/thrifted/repurposed. 

We bought the Kivik couch and chaise from Ikea the day after we moved in while we still had the moving truck. We were originally planning on getting the same covers so we could make it into a sectional but decided to have the chaise separate. I think it would be more functional/comfortable to attach it now but I like having the chaise in the blue material. The couch cover is the Teno Light Grey and is more durable and is still in perfect condition after two years. You can see I need to adjust the cushion covers a bit...The chaise cover is machine washable and the couch cover is dry clean only.

The chaise color also helped us pick out our paint color. We wanted something greyish-blue. It turned out a little more blue then we originally planned but we like it. It is Skyline Steel by Behr in an eggshell finish.

I bought the end tables and coffee table from Target online (on sale of course) a couple months after we moved in. They are pretty good quality and are actually solid wood. I like that they are black and seem a bit Pottery Barn-esque. Now that I am over the whole matchy-matchy thing I want to get new ones...The end tables are bigger than I really need and I don't need storage anymore now that we have the built-in bookcases. Also I tend to just stick things under there when I am "cleaning". I would like a new coffee table too but am hesitant to get anything fancy/nice since we use it like a dinner table...

The chair is also from Target... Its another thing that I am "over" but it works for now.

The lamps I loveeee. Because they are new :) It took me two years to find the right lamps! I bought these lamps in black originally from Target literally an hour before we were having our first dinner party. They were way too small but we had them for two years. I bought at least 3 different pairs of lamps that I brought home but then ended up returning. I would go to Target, TJ Maxx, and HomeGoods at least once a month in the past year looking. My budget was $60 total which was hard. Why are lamps so expensive! I finally found these Nate Berkus lamps with Threshold shades at Target. I had seen the lamps a while ago but they were $50 a piece just for the base. They finally went down to $25 each! With the shades and bases I spent $80 but then I sold the old lamps on Craigslist for $20 so I still made my budget!

The pillows are from Target, TJ Maxx, and Ikea. The big clock was a TJ Maxx find for $20. The pictures to the right of the window were made by my husband. And lastly our lovely window shades! This took a while to find. We wanted shades instead of just decorative curtains because you can see in this window from the street. Also our TV is in here so we didn't want any glare from the window. I was worried that due to the size we would have to get custom shades and that would be expensive...But Amazon came to the rescue and we bought these faux wood blinds for a perfect fit. 

Closet Turned Vanity

After our bathroom renovation we were left with an empty closet as part of our bathroom. We did not need anymore closet space plus that would make the bathroom look smaller if we had a closet inside of it. For a time we thought about making it into a standalone shower and then just having the tub next to it. However we decided that it would be too small for a shower.

I think it was actually my husband who suggested using it for a vanity space. I know, such a nice husband.

The light is from Ikea for $20. The mirror is from Ikea in the As-Is section for $10. The "vanity" is also from Ikea. I didn't need a whole traditional vanity as I was able to organize everything in the open with out it. So looking for an inexpensive solution I picked up these two cabinet doors in the As-Is section at Ikea for under $5 for both. There are bookshelf brackets at the back holding them up. They are not supporting anything too heavy and its not like I sit on the vanity. I use the bottom shelf of the vanity for my hair dryer, straightener, and other hair accessories.

I had some pinspiration for my jewelry and makeup organization (See here, here, and here).

I had the hooks already and I bought the dowel for less than a $1 at the craft store. I could have painted the dowel and hooks but I thought the wood/metal tones matched the sink vanity. For the make up board I bought that cookie sheet at the dollar store. I decided I liked it as is but I can always dress it up later when I get bored. I bought a roll of magnets that were already pre-glued. Now almost a year later some of the magnets have fallen off the makeup. Sooo, use a hot glue gun would be my recommendation.

I walked around my house looking for something to fit my bracelets and found this candlestick that was free at a yard sale. The small bowl was made by one of my lovely friends and the glass jar is from an old candle. The ceramic egg rack is from Amazon and was only $10 when I bought it (I got the inspiration from YoungHouseLove). It looks great and works great and I highly recommend it.

I made this art with some canvases and the paint from our bedroom. I just picked two quotes I liked and put stickers down. I painted over the stickers and then pulled them off. So easy. I mod podged over the whole canvas after.

My vanity chair was given to me by my great aunt. I spray painted it with metallic silver paint and then re-upholstered it.

And now a year later it looks like this...I found this fabric with bobby pins by accident on Spoonflower and had to get it. Spoonflower's fabric is a bit more than I like to spend but you can't beat it for unique fabric or even DIY fabric! It was about $10 to do the seat. 

And that is the end of the bathroom renovation (for now) and the completion of my very own vanity. A year later I can say it still works for me and I actually keep it pretty organized. Which says a lot. It is helpful for me to have everything in view with its own spot instead of a big cabinet where I will just lose things. 

Bathroom Put Back Together

So after starting with a bathroom like this....

Almost exactly a year later we had this...

We need some art in here!

We bought the vanity about 6 months before actually putting it in. We got the sink and cabinet for $250 at Ikea when we were there for something else and saw that it was being discontinued and was on sale. It has the perfect amount of room and since it is a floating cabinet makes the bathroom feel larger. 

I loveeee this mirror. I found it at HomeGoods for $40! I was planning on buying a regular mirror at Ikea and adding trim to it but this was even better and close to the same price. 

This is the old pantry from the kitchen. We took the door off of it and it has enough storage for all of our sheets, towels, cleaning supplies, etc.

The glass shower door was our most expensive bathroom purchase but my husband really wanted one. It was $400. It sat in our house in the box for a few months before getting installed and I was veryyy nervous about it breaking. It is easy to clean and I think it helps the bathroom look bigger and feel more open. It was pretty easy for my husband to install following the instructions in the box.

Our massive rain shower head. Something we knew we wanted from the beginning! You can see we kept the original tile surround (and the tub of course). It would not be our first choice but it is in good condition.

Confession, I have a lot of shampoo...But anyways. This shelf works great to store everything in the shower. I have seen them at Bed Bath and Beyond, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Amazon. I believe ours was $30 at Lowe's.

This is our amazing light that was $90. Now it make not look like much but we actually bought it because it is a light AND a fan! I had never heard of such a thing until I saw this. 

These blinds are from Ikea. We have the same ones in the walk-in closet. We bought them right after we moved in and realized after they are the wrong size...They should either cover all the trim or be small enough to go inside the window frame. Fail. I don't care enough to change them right now though. 

Here is our lovely toilet. Exciting I know. What is exciting is that it is a dual flush toilet which is more energy efficient and saves us money. So it is exciting! By the way you can see in the below picture that we never caulked around the bottom of the molding or painted the pre-primed molding...Full disclosure here. It has been a year. Working on that.

And here is a shot from the bedroom. You can see that we do not have a door. Still. Working on that.

That is the whole bathroom! Except for what we did with the nook where the old closet used to be...It has to do with make-up and jewelry...

Our total cost for everything for the bathroom was almost $2000. It felt like a lot to us but I know it is less than most bathroom renovations and we now have a bigger more usable space that will work for us the whole time we live in this house. 

Master Bathroom Demo

When we made two bedrooms into our master bedroom we gained some extra space that we could use towards the master bathroom: the kitchen pantry and hall linen closet.

I was hesitant to take on a bathroom renovation and the current bathroom really was in okay shape. But my husband pointed out that if we were going to do it now would be the time.

So when we did the bedroom we left the space open for extending the bathroom. Our main was goal was to be able to have a double sink. We finished our bedroom renovation in October 2011 but waited to start the bathroom renovation until May 2012. (Warning- lots of cell phone pictures)

Three different floors in the bathroom

Lucky for us my cousin is a plumber and he was super awesome to help us. We wanted to move the toilet closer to the window so we then would have room to put in a double sink. He helped my husband take up the tile and then he jack hammered the concrete to run the pipe for the toilet to the new spot. This is definitely not something that we could have DIY-ed.

After the spot for the new toilet was ready and we had covered the old hole with concrete, my cousin told us to drywall, paint, and tile and then he would help us put in the toilet and vanity. This took us a few months...So from May to August we were running upstairs to use the bathroom.There was a lot of drywall to patch and dry-walling is the WORST. At least for us. 

One place Pascal had to drywall was the ceiling. We had to patch it after he opened it up to work on the bathroom vent. The bathroom had a vent already but it was just venting into the ceiling...So he ran a flex exhaust vent pipe through the ceiling to vent through the soffit outside the bathroom window.

After Pascal dry-walled we painted the bathroom. We picked Water Mark by Behr in a satin finish. We wanted an aqua color and we picked that one after holding it up next to the bedroom color. We wanted them to compliment each other since the bathroom opens up to the bedroom (of course I now want to repaint the bedroom but that's another story...)

The next step was tiling. This was the first time Pascal laid tile but he had done the backsplash as practice. We bought our tiling supplies at Home Depot again and bought gray porcelain tile for $1 a square foot for a total cost of $50. The tile was actually originally $1.20 but was discontinued so we bought everything they had left and got the discount.

Rookie DIY-er mistake...Cut your tile outside! It will be some extra work walking back and forth after measuring but worth it. We had tile dust EVERYWHERE. 

But it looked oh so nice when it was done. Since this was the first time floor tiling there are some crooked grout lines but I think the husband did a great job!

Once the tiling was done my cousin put in the toilet and helped Pascal install the new vanity. We also changed out the bathtub/shower hardware and added a shower door. My cousin got the toilet and hardware for us from Ferguson. It was a bit more than Home Depot/Lowe's but he had a discount and it is good quality. 

The main part of this job that we did ourselves was the drywall, paint, and tile. We could have managed changing out the toilet and hardware on our own but not running new plumbing so we are so thankful to have had family help for that!

Yard Sale Finds- Furniture!

It takes a lot of garage sales usually to find good furniture. I finally found some this past weekend. I got the oak office chair for $10. That's more than I would usually spend on a chair, especially when I find chairs for free on the curb all the time. But this is a solid oak antique chair that is in great condition from the 1940's. I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet. I definitely won't be painting it since it is an antique and in good condition! (By the way I found what looks like the exact same chair online for $150! http://classifieds.apartmenttherapy.com/posts/50987-classic-1940s-gunlocke-swivel-desk-chair?rf=5432)

I bought the end table for $5. It is in okay shape and has wood veneer. I bought it with our master bedroom in mind for when I re-do it (my husband wants me to finish some other projects before re-doing a room that is already done...). I may attempt to re-stain the veneer or paint it. I am going to wait and see what the bed looks like first. I was excited about this end table because so many that I see are laminate so at least with veneer you have the possibility of staining. 

Desk and Chair Makeover

My "little" (she is younger but taller) sister just re-did her bedroom and I was very proud when she came garage sale-ing with me to find some things for her room. We got really lucky and found an old sewing machine table to use as a desk for only $5! I had actually gone to the same yard sale the month before and they had the table for $40 then.

The next week I found this seemingly terrible and ugly chair in the trash for freeeee.

It was the perfect size for the desk and the wood was in good condition. My sister came over to my house and we re-did them together. For the desk we taped off some stripes and painted it with the light gray that she was using on her walls as well. I ordered 1 yard of fabric from Joann's for $12 and we used less than half a yard. 

First I cut a piece of batting to make the seat softer. I used to wrap the batting all the way around the seat cushion but sometimes that makes the seat cushion too wide for the chair so for this one I just cut it the size of the top.

I didn't take the old fabric off because it got covered by the batting anyway so would not show through. We stapled just once on each side first so we could check the front to make sure everything was straight and not too tight or too loose. 

Here is the nice little neat corner.

Re-upholstering the top was a little more complicated...And I was just winging it.

I covered it with batting too just to make it a nice smooth clean surface. 

I cut the fabric to size, wrapped it around, and cut slits in the back. I just used my hot glue gun to glue the fabric down on the back and sides and used staples and the hot glue gun on the bottom. 

And the after picture! We also spray painted the hardware with some Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint that I already had.

Her wall is actually red this is just a bad cell phone picture...

We already had the paint and batting, the chair was free, the half yard of fabric was $6 and the desk was $5! The only way you can get an awesome and unique desk and chair for $11 is by refurbishing! And getting lucky with some great garage sale and trash finds...

DIY Built-In Bookcase Complete

Once my bookcases (see how they were made) were done I couldn't wait to fill them up! I had piles of stuff just waiting. I don't have as many books anymore so I didn't have quite enough to fill the shelves. I would like to buy some more accessories and books to fill it up but it is a big area and I know it will come with time...So I shouldn't rush it.

I bought the white boxes on the bottom at Ikea. I bought them in July when they were actually $1 off with an Ikea Family Card so it cost me $20 for all of them. There are a lot of cute options out there for storage boxes but this was definitely the most affordable. I organized all my craft supplies in them and now have boxes for paint, tools, etc. 

And now the before and after pictures again!