New house update and little about choosing paint...

The new house is progressing nicely. As normal, there have been a few hiccups along the way but everything eventually gets worked out and we keep moving forward.

My current home is finally under contract and we have a September 18th closing date so timing is critical at this point. I printed off a calendar , penciled in when everyone must complete their tasks….Paint, cabinets, tops, plumbing, floor refinish, etc….and I shared that schedule with all the subs. Funny things about subs….they sometimes think they work in a vacuum…they forget that 5 other people have to come in AFTER them and if they are one day late it creates a domino affect. And sadly they don’t seem to care! Unfortunately because of our moving schedule I don’t have a day to spare so I am just hoping and praying everyone follows my schedule….guess we will find out! What is the old saying about making plans and God laughs…..

On to my paint choices…. I am not one to anguish over paint choices. I usually find what is all the rage and go with it.

This past month I did learn a valuable lesson about paint though. NEVER have paint mixed at a big box store. I picked a very popular grey for a rent house ….it was a Sherwin Williams color but I had it mixed at a big box store that carries SW…no harm, right. Wrong.
It is blue. I mean like nursery blue. I suspect the person who mixed it put a tad too much of some color in the formula and so it has a “blue” tint so on the wall it is BLUE! If it where a house I was going to live in I would have had to repaint the entire house.

So lesson learned ….have custom paints mixed at a paint store….not that they don’t make mistakes, but that is what they do….they don’t float to every department in a store… they just do paint.

Anywho, in the new house the walls were Accessible Beige…. but I’m not really a “beige” kind of person. I have read a lot of great things about Agreeable Grey, which is very close to Accessible Beige but more on the warm grey spectrum.
So I bought a sample pot, painted a big swatch on the wall, and went with it!
I love it. It really is a great color. And two days after the paint was complete, I found THIS article …. https://theflooringgirl.com/painting/agreeable-gray-neutral-gray-paint-color/ (MY COMPUTER IS AT THE ACCOUNTANTS AND I AM USING AN IPad…clearly there are things I do not know how to do on this thing…like post links and phots!)

The laundry room and guest baths are the exact same color as the last makeovers in this house! ( search it in this site….I can’t post links on this stupid thing!)

The only paint choice I am agonizing over is the big kitchen island… I am leaning towards a warm charcoal grayish color but just don’t know…. at some point inspiration will strike me and I’ll know exactly what I want!

Based on my printed in stone schedule cabinets are due to be delivered and painted Monday….so I guess I better get inspired real quick!

My little signature graphic is on my other computer so until next week…

LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE1

BECK

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Designing a room....

Everything seems to progressing nicely at the new house…knock on wood! Wood floors are going in, walk in shower is being built, sheetrock repair is being done.

Today I want to talk about “design features.”

As I mentioned before, I kind of “wing it” when it comes to design. Some people need a visual like a design board that shows all the elements of a room.

Me…I find one thing I absolutely love and then go from there.

In the new kitchen, it was this tile….

I can not tell you how much I LOVE this tile. (It was delivered this week…even more beautiful in person!)

I have one space in the kitchen that is about 8’ long…it is the perfect “cubby” for a cooking center…cook top, oven and microwave. My vision is walnut lowers with two painted uppers to the ceiling, walnut floating shelves, white quartz tops, stainless vent hood and this tile.

This tile has a “brushed gold” accent in it so to tie in the gold with the rest of the kitchen I have decided to go with these simple pendant lights above the island….

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They kind of coordinate with the light fixture I have in my dining room…the exact same one I have ordered for the breakfast room in the new house.

What can I say, I love what I love!!!

Some really funky gold hardware.

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A touch of “whimsy.” I’m not a big “cabinet hardware” person…I don’t even have them on my cabinets here…but I am going with shaker style cabinets and they will need hardware. I just thought these were fun and different.

The appliances are all stainless. I LOVE my black stainless appliances, but I fear that will be one of those “fad” things. I think in the long run I will be happy with stainless. Also, there is Carrara marble accents in the tile backsplash and greyish veining in the quartz tops…I think the stainless will blend right in.

I have a two door/two drawer refrigerator. I went with a side-by-side.

First, I will NEVER buy another Samsung product. Love the other appliances but the ice maker on the fridge hasn’t worked right since the second year… I actually have to go buy ice every week. Evidently it is a “design flaw” not covered by their warranty. Rampant problem and no real fix. Not cool Samsung.

Second, while I love the drawers, I am just getting too old to bend down and dig through a big ole’ drawer for a frozen chicken. I know side-by-sides are not nearly as energy efficient and they aren’t the “in thing” right now, but I loved the one I had years ago so I am going back with one!

I read reviews and decided to go with either Kitchen Aide or Whirlpool. Considering the price difference, I went with Whirlpool.

The bar stools…I have struggled with that one because I have had mine for 20 years and I still love them especially after this little “makeover”…truth is if I needed “bar height” vs “counter height” I would just take them with me.

Unfortunately they are not counter height and they are iron so cutting them down is not feasible… so I had to find new counter height bar stools. The minute I saw these I knew they were exactly what I want….

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Super simple and I think the walnut color will tie in beautifully with the walnut base cabinets and floating shelves!

This is my “design board”….I drop pictures of what I like into a computer file…each has at least one element I like. I may not like everything in the picture, but there is one thing in each I am drawn to…

I know I am drawn to walnut cabinets…but I don’t want ALL of them walnut so I am going to have walnut lowers in the “cooking center” and painted uppers. The entire island will be painted. The tops are white quartz with greyish/taupish veining. I was able to go to the quartz place and actually pick out the slabs of quartz I wanted.

Some people HAVE to have a design or “mood” board….

…something that allows them to see every element of their design (This is not my design board, just one I plucked off Pinterest.)

I get it…and it isn’t hard to make…just find what you want on line and drop it into a file, then create a “board” on a program like Photoshop. You are able to see all your elements and determine if they coordinate.

Personally, I can see every detail in my “minds eye.” I wake up at 3 a.m. every morning and visualize every single element. Probably drives my subs nuts because if I “see” something I like, I will text or email them at 4 a.m. with my idea. (Hopefully they mute their phones at night or the “ding” of my text will wake them at this unGodly hour!)

My motto…YOU DO YOU! If you need a design or mood board, go for it. Do what works for YOU! Probably would have been a lot easier on my cabinet guy had I had a design board rather than 30 random pictures of cabinets and kitchens and having to go through each one to show him the one element in each pictures I love. I only hope and pray he has the same vision as I do!

Guess we’ll see in a few weeks. In the meantime I will continue to micro-manage the poor guys who have to work at the house every day…lol!

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Slow but steady progress...

The first week of “semi-retirement” has been brutal! I closed on two rental houses last week as well as the house we will be living in. I close on another rental house Friday!

The rental houses need my attention…blinds, a little paint, cleaning, etc. I spent one day this week cleaning carpets and painting trim.

The house we are going to live in also requires my attention. Meeting with sub-contractors, ordering tile and windows, selecting appliances, supervising the demo guys.

I’m exhausted.

But that is okay…it is a “good” exhausted and everything is moving along nicely.

My “demo guys” are on day four of demo. Little by little tubs and showers, trim, old appliances, the wall between the kitchen and living room are all making their way to the curb or into the garage for resale.

So far the bathroom and kitchen are gutted, the transom windows have been exposed for replacement, all the trim has been removed in the rooms I am adding hardwood, the crown above all the windows and doors have been removed, the new laundry room window has been framed, and all the replacement items have been ordered. HOPEFULLY, the plumber will show up today to move all the plumbing so we can start putting everything back together.

(Yesterday, this wall came down…LOVE!!!!)

I am so glad our community has “bulk trash” pickup!

The good news is I love what I love…and while I would kinda sorta like to take this opportunity to make some changes, I love the tile in my recently remodeled master bath and I love my new kitchen counter tops. I am going back with the exact same quartz top and tile backsplash in the laundry room that I used in the guest bath makeover. The wall paint color is the one I used in my laundry room here when I remodeled it recently.

That is how I know I made good decisions the first time!!!

As much as I tried to shake things up, I am basically going back with a lot of the same things I have in this house…including the black painted interior doors!

Right now, it is a MESS. But every morning when I wake up at 3 a,m, I can clearly visualize the finished design…and of course I have to map out my entire day which explains why I can not go back to sleep.

That’s okay…eventually I might get back to sleeping until 5:00 a.m. again. As much as I would love to recoup all this lost sleep, I have often said if I had the opportunity to recoup all the sleep I’ve have lost in this life time from kids, pets, and “stress” I would go to sleep and never wake up!

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BIG LIFE CHANGES

I know this is a rare Monday posting, but I can finally share the big changes that are happening in my life.

A few months ago I woke up one morning and decided it was time to sell my apartments.

I called a realtor I had worked with last year and told him I was ready to sell. At 3:30 that afternoon he brought me an acceptable offer.

I have owned these apartments for 23 years.

At first I was a bit “sad.” After all, they have been my “career” for 23 years…they are what I do!

The income has provided me with the ability to provide for my children and give them a good life.

I’m only 56…I still feel like I have a few good years in me.

Yes, I am giving up a decent income. I have to roll the profit into other investment properties, specifically rental homes, but they will not produce near the income the apartments have. But that is okey…sometimes you have to sacrifice quantity for quality. The “quality” of my life will be greatly improved.

Yes, I am “starting over” at 56. The new rental homes will not take up near the time the apartments did…so the question now is what will I do with all this free time. Trust me…I am not one to sit around on my hands. I have no doubt I will find SOMETHING to do!

It’s been a stressful few months…I’m usually awake and ticking by 3 a.m. and at this point I feel like I am running on fumes.

So naturally I did what I do when I am stressed and frazzled…I went out and found something else to fret about.

We bought a new home.

For years I have wanted to “down size.” Now that we are empty nesters we don’t need a big house with three empty bedrooms upstairs and a huge yard to care for.

So naturally I went out and found a house that is WAY bigger than what we have now and has a large yard that needs TONS of work.

After a lifetime of owning “projects” I wondered if I might have ONE MORE project in me. I guess I am getting ready to find out.

The new home is waaay more “traditional” than I like…but it has soooo much potential. It has good bones and a workable floor plan!

The kitchen and master bath are complete gut jobs…and after a lifetime of living in “remodel messes” I have decided that this work will be contracted out and we will not move until the big, messy work is done!

The big wall between the kitchen and living room will go away, as well as all the cabinets, and I plan on putting a humungus island smack dab in the middle of the existing kitchen.

The wall on the far right with the glass cabinets will become the “cooking” center with a cook top, wall oven and microwave. And the coolest tile backsplash in the whole world. I can’t wait to share!

No need for lots of upper cabinets because it has a huge walk in pantry!

This is the “sitting room” adjacent to the kitchen…

One way to “detradionalize” this home will be to replace the arched transoms with rectangle ones…a bit of work since it will require brick and sheetrock repair. This is on my list of things to do, but closer to the bottom.

The quickest, simplest and cheapest way to “detradionalize” is to remove all the crown molding around the cased openings and windows! The crown around the ceiling will stay!

Another way is to change out light fixtures…that is closer to the top of the list along with removing carpet and adding more hardwood flooring (yes they are REAL hardwood floors) and refinishing them all with just a clear coat…no stain!

The fireplaces? Yes those will eventually get redesigned…again, not something I will tackle right this minute but it is on “the list!”

The master bathroom…ICK!!!! Suffice it to say, it is a gut job!

Right now I am in the process of “making the plan.” Meeting with tile guys and cabinet makers and flooring companies…getting quotes and ideas. Making a list of what HAS to be done…wants vs. immediate needs.. As always there are things I WANT to do but I might not be able to do right this minute…they stay on the list, just closer to the bottom.

I have a life time of inspiration to pull from but I am still grabbing pictures from the Pinterest and the internet. I pretty much know what I want…

Now that we have closed, it is time to “execute the plan.” We start this week with demo…and then I will work the plan from there.

One by one I will be closing the new rental houses and hopefully creating a “new career.”

These are the big life changes that are going down in my world! Huge!

While the apartments have been stressful and back breaking at times, they were my “career”…they were what I did to provide for my family. Saying good-bye is like retiring and moving on to another career.

This house has been our home for 20 years…it is where I raised my children and I have poured my money, talents and time into this house to create a home.

It will be tough to walk away from both…but that is what is going on in my life and I am super excited about the next chapter…whatever that may be!

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Master bath reveal!

I KNOW! I have been MIA for a while now….there is just soooo much going on right now that I can not share! I promise, in due time.

In the meantime, AGAIN, I want to revisit one of my all time favorite “makeovers.”

I revealed my master bath makeover almost two years ago and I can honestly say I STILL love this bathroom. Love it! I don’t missed the tub at all and the walk-in shower is still my favorite addition to this house!

Head over to this post and check out the transformation and MAYBE next week I’ll have something new to share!

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Making cabinet doors shut!

This is a super simple DIY “home improvement” project.

I would never give it a second thought had my neighbor, Carolyn, not been looking for a fix for her cabinet doors that seemed to be possessed. No matter how well she shut them, they would open. To solve for the problem she bought sticky velcro….a novel fix for a simple problem but they do actually make little magnet thingies to solve this problem.

Truth is, I have several cabinets that have the same issue…no matter how much I adjust the hinges (and it usually is a hinge issue) the doors never want to close all the way.

I told Carolyn about the little magnet thingies so she bought a few and it took us all of about 5 minutes to put two on the offending cabinet doors.

Which made me wonder why I haven’t done this on MY cabinet doors. Seriously.

So this week while I was in Lowes I picked up a few of these little “cabinet door magnets.”

Super simple to install…you can either place them at the top of the cabinet or at the base…personally I say place them where they are least noticeable.

Walla! Cabinet doors will now stay firmly closed but are still super easy to open with little resistance.

Such an easy fix for a simple problem!

It only took me 20 years to do it.

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Kitchen counter top reveal....

Time and again I have made changes to my kitchen in my quest for “lighter and brighter.”

This past week was another piece to the puzzle in this quest…

I LOVE the white quart counter tops. LOVE!

In my quests for “lighter and brighter,” I started with under-the-counter lighting…an absolute must in any kitchen.

I swear it doubled the usable work space!

If you don’t have it, get it…seriously.

Then I popped up some cabinets, added floating shelves and some glass doors.

These awesome changes made a huge difference!

Then the last little makeover…new tile backsplash, larger window and more glass doors….

Then there was the addition of the black stainless appliances…one at a time, but eventually the stove, microwave, refrigerator and dishwasher all matched again!

All these changes have made a big impact…but I was still missing “something.”

I shared how I acquired my stunning granite…at an auction for a fraction of its retail cost. I had it installed nine years ago and it looked amazing!

It’s not that I grew to dislike the granite…I loved it. But my kitchen is relatively small and I just felt that even with all the “light and bright” changes, it still “felt” small and dark.

A couple of years ago I update my bar top with white quartz.

I absolutely love it…the quartz made a HUGE difference in the look and feel of the space and I have found it to be exceptionally durable and easy to care for.

When I did my mini makeover in the guest bath, I went with the white quartz again.

Now there was no question what I wanted in my kitchen. It was just a matter of affording it.

Quartz counter tops are not something I would suggest “DIYing” and while I really WANTED new tops, they weren’t really a NEED.

My rule of thumb…always ask, is it a need or a want?

“Wants” are okay…just as long as you don’t go into debt. So for a time I saved my pennies so I could afford new tops without digging into my savings or going into debt.

This past week they were installed.

Being a DIYer at heart I had to get in on the action just a tad. I used this AMAZING little tool to cut through the caulk between the old tops and the backsplash…

I have no idea how I managed without this tool for the first 54 years of my life! Add this one to your “must have” gift list!

I decided to change out the double bowl stainless sink to a single bowl black stainless.

I love it! I would like to have a black stainless faucet but I didn’t get around to ordering one in time…maybe someday. Right now I don’t find the stainless faucet terribly offensive.

My “baking corner”….

(The pink roses are from a bush Sarah and Joel gave me last year for Mother’s Day…I love gifts that keep giving! And in case you are wondering, I take my own advice…I asked for and received a battery trim nailer this year from my kiddos for Mother’s Day! LOVE!)

In case you are wondering if under cabinet lighting is worth it…this is the same corner pre-lights. I know the backsplash and top is lighter now, but just adding the lights made the space usable rather than just a big black hole!

I love the white tops with the black stainless appliances and the travertine backsplash! That backsplash is amazing but I really think it was over shadowed by the “busyness” of the granite. Now it really shines!

My quest for “lighter and brighter” took a HUGE leap with the addition of these tops. I LOVE them. Yes, they are just plain white…but in a kitchen with a beautiful backsplash and stained cabinets, they look great!!!

My neighbor ask me what my next big project will be…hum, I’ll have to think on that!

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Wall planters....

My counter tops will be installed tomorrow… I AM SOOOO EXCITED!

I will share those next week but until then I wanted to share a simple little addition to my kitchen decor.

For some time I have wanted to grow herbs for cooking but I really don’t have the space for planters on my counters. I guess I could put some on the deck, but I just have this vision of reaching over and pinching off a fresh herb while I cook!

(Keep in mind if I have garlic, salt, and pepper, I’m good. And trust me, when these herbs croak, the planters will be filled with fake greenery.)

When I posted this picture last week, I realized I have the perfect spot for herb planters….

On the side of the upper cabinet!!!

So I went searching for wall planters on Amazon.

I found two…these…

And these….

I wasn’t sure which I would like better, so I ordered both.

I like the diamond ones better…

As you can see I only used three….Katie took the “spare.” I had planned to return the other set but she liked those as well, soooooo.

So far I have planted rosemary and thyme…I would like to plant cilantro as well, but in the meantime I used a little fake greenery I had on hand.

This window doesn’t get direct sunlight so I am not sure any will thrive. No biggy…the faux greenery looks pretty decent.

Time will tell!

I worry that the little planters make that space seem kind of “cluttered.” Maybe when the plain white tops are installed it won’t seem so busy…we’ll see BECAUSE THEY WILL BE HERE TOMORROW!!! YEAH BABY!

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ANOTHER KITCHEN MAKEOVER....

The last kitchen makeover was in 2016.

I did a “mini-makeover” a couple of years ago when I installed a new microwave and stove…

….and last year I finally added a new matching dishwasher.

I also did a little makeover on the dining room last year and I LOVE IT!

I sat on my hands long enough that the “white painted cabinet” craze is slowly dying off. Fortunately I don’t have the dreaded “honey oak” cabinets and still like my cabinets…and truthfully I loved the granite tops when I first installed them.

But for years I have been on a quest for “lighter and brighter” without painting the cabinets.

Two years ago I replaced the black bar top with white quartz…and I have coveted white quartz counter tops since!

See the mini makeover of my guest bath with white quartz!

I LOVE IT!!! I have Google and Pinterest searched enough to know that I would love white quartz tops with the “paprika cherry” stain cabinets and a travertine backsplash.

To give myself a “visual,” I bought some white shelf liner and white duct tape and covered one entire side of my kitchen with it…just to make sure I would like a “white” counter top.

I LOVE IT!!!

The “visual” really sealed the deal for me.

For several days I debated on whether I should get tops that have “veining” in them or just plain white. I even contemplated going back to the shop and picking up a few samples of quartz with some movement (the unique pattern of patterns that flow through the piece of stone) in them.

I decided the travertine has plenty of movement and “veining” and really needs to stand alone…I ‘m concerned that any “movement” in the quartz would “compete” with the travertine and make it all too “busy.”

This is my personal preference…either “movement” in the backsplash or top…but not both! I know people do both, but again, personal preference.

So white it is.

They measured and templated this week…

… and the new tops should be installed in next weeks!

I ordered a new black stainless single bowl sink! I would love to have a new black stainless faucet but, HOLY COW, those puppies are expensive so I may wait on that luxury!

I can’t wait to share!

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ANOTHER laundry room makeover!

One nice thing about blogging is I can go back and know exactly when I did something…case in point, the laundry room.

Here I shared how the laundry room went from this….

…to this….

…in 2014.

I raised the cabinets to the ceiling and painted them. I painted the walls, stenciled the little birdie murals, installed a new light fixture, purged and added a little storage cart. Nothing earth shattering but enough to dress it up a tad.

The most dramatic thing I did to the laundry room was installing reed glass in the door. Here I share a tutorial on how I turned a plain ole’ hollow core door into a really awesome feature!

One thing I debated and am now glad I did not do…put a solid “top” across both the washer and dryer. I worried some day I might go back to a top load washer. Sure enough I did! The shelf is perfect and it is an element I kept!

The only other changes over the last few years was a little kitchen cabinet I removed in one of my kitchen makeovers and put in the laundry room and I moved the sewing machine to a little portable table.

When I painted the walls I was a tad frugal and used some paint I had on hand. I decided to go for broke and actually buy an entire gallon of custom color paint this time. Gasp! I wanted a soft “sagey/greenish” color so I did what I always do…headed to my favorite DIY store, picked up about 15 paint samples and brought them home. Took me all of 2 minutes to pick the perfect shade! Seriously, I think this is the perfect “sagey/green” color…I wish the photos did it justice!

THIS is the process I use for any “makeover”…whether a room or a piece of furniture. Find your inspiration, make a plan and execute the plan.

Inspiration came from cruising Pinterest. As I said in the first makeover, I don’t have the laundry room of my dreams but I have a space I want to be pretty and organized. I knew exactly what I wanted (the plan)…paint, storage, lighting and tile!

First step….PURGE! Empty out the entire space.

Yes, you are going to make a mess…there is just no way around it!!!

My goal is to NOT put back most of the stuff I take out. Now in my case, I am a pretty good “habitual purger” so I have very little “stuff”….but there are always things lurking that have been untouched for years and can go!!!

Next, remove the old light fixture, paint the ceiling (with a flashlight) and install a new fixture. It wasn’t that i disliked the old fixture, but it had fluorescent bulbs that got really hot and one of the three sockets evidently had a short or something because I could never get it to work right. I tried to change out the sockets in the fixture to accommodate LED bulbs, but the wiring was too short and I finally said “FORGET IT” and bought a new fixture.

Remove switch plates, shelving, and stuff on the walls.

Wipe everything down with a damp cloth….don’t paint over dirt!!!

Build storage shelving. I have lived here long enough to know what I need and how I want a space to function.

Caulk the new shelving.

Paint the trim, then walls.

A new shelf…I went with poplar sealed with a clear finish…no stain. I may or may not stain it or paint it in the future…for now, I like this look!

Then a debate. Do I or don’t I stick with my original “plan.”

So my original “plan” called for tile on the wall behind the washer and dryer. I really gravitate towards that look and every time I see a picture of it on Pinterest, I really love it. Yes, that would mean losing the birdies…

HOWEVER, as I have mentioned many times before, NOTHING is “timeless.” And I know me well enough to know that in 5-6-7 years I will not like whatever tile I pick out today…which means that sometime in the future I will have to remove the tile, repair sheetrock and do something else.

NOT something I look forward to. A huge reason why I didn’t put wallpaper in this house 20 years ago, even though it was still a “thing.” I had removed enough wallpaper in my years to know I never wanted to do it again.

So…no tile…for now! I painted the wall and added a little “farmhouse” mirror. The light fixture and the mirror add a touch of “farmhouse fad” without breaking the bank. This is a small room so the mirror is a huge plus!

The storage shelving is THE BOMB!

Love it…it is something I have wanted to do for years! And again, since I have lived in this house for 20 years, I knew exactly what I need. A place for doggy towels, some simple baskets for light bulbs and dust rags and plenty of room for my detergent stockpile! I designed the shelving so I would have the perfect spot for my sewing cart (See how I “upcycled” an old typewriter cart to make a portable sewing table HERE!) At the last minute I added a shelf above the sewing cart so I would have space for a sewing machine if I ever did away with the cart in the future…right now it holds my little coupon box.

Keep in mind that the cart between the washer and dryer I built on the last makeover holds a ton of stuff…dryer sheets, MORE detergent, the iron, spray starch, etc.

The back of the cubby is perfect for storing paints…remember, STORE YOUR TOUCH UP PAINT IN THE HOUSE!!!! Not in the garage or storage building!

Since I now only do laundry for two, my laundry room isn’t near as chaotic as it was when I was raising kids. But whether you do 8 loads a week or 30, there is NO reason to have a disorganized and blah laundry room. Get it organized. Make it a space that is beautiful…it won’t take the sting out of doing laundry but maybe it will make the experience a little more enjoyable.