Hardwood Floors Renovation and Update

Ok, so I do have a few "done" projects, not many, but a few. Here's one that I think makes a major difference and may be, just may be a "done" project only because I hired someone to do the whole project! The guys at Frontier Hardwood  were just fantastic to work with, very professional, reasonable priced, and got the job done to my satisfaction!

The downstairs floors were in pretty good shape
but were just a bit too yellowy-orange for me.

I did have to have the elevator removed so they could
patch this spot so the floor was no longer mobile!

This lovely blue, nasty, nasty carpet covered the
entire upstairs (with the exception of the elevator room)
and the stairs. 

To save money, my oldest and I pulled all of the carpeting, the padding,
and the carpet tack strips out and then
had a great time throwing it out the window,
and then eventually into the dumpster.

My oldest on top of the dumpster pile!
Yeah! We filled it, and a second one!

After the sanding, I think they look better already. 

Trying to decide what stain to go with??
Decisions, decisions?
I wanted a dark floor so the stain on the right it is.

First coat but needs a lot more.

Much better than the blue carpeting, though.

Freshly applied second coat.
Luckily, it dried matte because
I did not want it glossy.

The finished product!
I love my floors and think they turned out
just great. 

The floors have been here for 90 years and hopefully, they'll be here another 90. I was a bit verklempt when the first scratch happened but then I realized that the scratches will only give it more character and add to the "charm" of the our home. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not protecting everything with pads!! I have a few more "afters" to show on other projects but that will be for another post!

Kristin

From the '80s to Today . . .

Ok, so my dad FINALLY retired last December. He went slightly kicking and screaming into retirement because he still wanted to work 70 hours a week! Why?? We'll never really know but he is slowly starting to get used to the idea and actually starting to like retirement, at least a little bit.

With his retirement came clearing out his office for the past 30 years. O vey! Since he was a CPA, there were papers everywhere, and we mean ev-ery-wh-ere! There was also a lot of wood furniture just begging for a coat of Chalk Paint. I passed on all of those items but I did have a big need for seating in my living room so I chose to take two of the chairs below . . .  yeah, me (slightly sarcastic).

This looks like it belongs in a John Hughes
movie but I will admit,
they are S.U.P.E.R. comfy!

The original plan was to have them recovered and that still might be my long term goal. Unfortunately, I don't have a bunch of extra money just laying around (I spent it all on eBay and Craigslist, remember?) and reupholstering can be pricey. My next option was a slipcover but they're not my favorite unless it's a down-filled, sink-in-it, cozy couch. So where did my crazy mind go - how about if I paint them? I had read about other people who had done it, right?  I mean, if its on the Internet, then it must be true! But then I remembered I actually already owned a painted fabric chair that I bought for my daughter's bedroom from The Brocante Market.

Isn't it cute? 

So I can do this, I think to myself. I am woman, here my roar! Ok, a bit melodramatic but I do get excited when I have a project to work on. So off I went to Michael's to buy some fabric medium. You mix the medium with some paint (I used the eggshell latex paint I had used in the hallway and stairwell) and water so the fabric doesn't get too stiff.  It will be rougher than fabric but not much worse than outdoor fabric and truth be told, anything was better than the current fabric.

I took off the cushion and being my lazy self,
threw down a towel in front of the TV.
It was the perfect time to catch up on 74 episodes of
Days of our Lives. Yes, I still watch
it so don't judge me!

I first sprayed the chair with a light mist of water and then
I used a regular paintbrush and just started painting.
It was a bit addicting as I slowly started saying
good-bye to 1986!

This is the second coat.
I did a light sanding with 100 grit sandpaper
in between coats once the paint had
completely dried.

The third, and final, coat.
It looks kind of like a leather chair and
feels a bit like a fuzzy leather chair.

The only funny thing is that when you sit on it, the cushion slowly deflates. It's kind of depressing when you have been dieting hard but it does pop back up when you get off of it so that's a plus. We thought maybe if I didn't paint the back of the cushion it wouldn't do it but we will never know, at least on these chairs.

One last look at the Before . . .

And now the pretty after!

Overall, I'm very happy with the way they turned out. I used coupons at Michael's (I put them on my phone so I always have coupons) to get the Fabric/Textile Medium for cheap and since I used paint I already had, it really only cost me under $10 to change the two chairs! Hello!?!? That's a freaking good deal. I have some extra medium so now I'm constantly walking around the house to see what else I can paint. It's an issue, I know and I'm sure something will be my next victim makeover but that's for another post!

Kristin

The Dining Room Before and ALMOST After

I love my new-old home, it has SO much potential, but this dining room needs a lot of loving and I mean, LOTS!  I actually had no plans to do anything in here other than new curtains and paint the walls (for the time being) but then something lovely happened (wait for it).

Here's the dining room when I bought the house.
Yes, those are burlap curtains.

They were made really well but they had-to-go and in the spirit of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, I used them for drop cloths. (They were faded and stained and gross so don't going feeling all sad for them!)

So I painted.
Usually I get the color on the first try but nooooo.
This one turned out to be too baby blue
and not the cool, steely grey-blue I really wanted.

Lovely lighting always makes a room so purty!

And so this is part one of the lovely thing that happened
to me! I got these fantastic built-in cabinets
from a friend of mine for practically nothing!

I physically could not let them just sit there looking all sad and not installed. I couldn't do it, so I called my GTG (Go To Guy) and came up with a plan. I went back and forth a couple of times but using the built-ins as inspiration, I finally decided to wainscot the whole darn room.

We  My GTG added lauan to the walls.

And over the soffit that contained the AC ductwork.

And everyone who knows me, or reads this blog,
knows I am a more-is-more kind of gal therefore
a coffered ceiling too!

I'm going to channel my inner Oprah, "Dining room, you get a coffered ceiling! Living room, you get a coffered ceiling! Hallway, you get a coffered ceiling!" You get the idea.

Every single wall in the dining room was uneven and had measurements
all over the place. We decided the only way to have a bit
of uniformity was to have different size wainscot trim panels
but keep the distance from the corners/edges of the walls
the same. I think they turned out great.

A little Bondo, a freaking ton of caulk, and
it is starting to come together!

Every tricked out dining room needs a ceiling medallion.
It seriously is a must!
Google it.

Now, the question is . . .  who gets to paint this? Oh crap! That's me! I don't have a lot of money so I made the only decision I really could and that would be do as much as I can and hire the experts for all the rest. I see a lot of sanding, priming, and painting in my future! 

And remember this other lovely?
This was given, that's G.I.V.E.N. to me by
another friend! Don't I have the best friends?

Before I know it, I'll be eating meals in my dining room but that's for another post!

Kristin

eBay

I'm baaaccckkkk . . . the girls and I just got back from a 10-day road trip (loads of fun) but I'll blog about that later. Today, I want to share another addiction frugal shopping resource for me - eBay. I am addicted, and I mean might-need-professional-help addicted, to checking it each and every day for the newest offerings. Luckily for me, you can see just the newest listings (which is a HUGE time saver) and of course, there is something about "winning" an item that brings out the competitor in me (and I thought I was bad with SEC football)! A lot of the items I am interested in offer a Buy-It-Now option so if I really want it, I don't have to worry about winning it, it just becomes all mine! Borrowing a quote from Lord of the Rings (which I have never seen but love this quote), "We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious." That about sums up my eBaying life!

This is one glass knob that I "WON" in of a box of 8 that I bought for
just a song and a dance (figuratively speaking, of course)!

I mean really, who doesn't want a box full of glass knobs?
This is my heaven!

This gorgeous window was originally going
in the Butler's Pantry but has now been
reassigned to replace a boring window in the kitchen.
I got a good deal on it however it's still in the shop getting a good cleaning
and overall check-up before being installed as an exterior window.

This is a bad photo but this window is going to be installed
above my fireplace. It's simply stunning and I could
not stop checking it out! I was going to eBay every couple
of hours to make sure no one else had bought it.
It simply makes me happy, and yes, I know I am a material girl!
It has some broken glass pieces that need replacing so
this will go into the window shop shortly.

Isn't this cute?
I added this to a door on my new appliance closet. 

I love these corbels!
The colors are perfect and I can't decide if I'm going
to use them for my house, possibly for open shelving in the
kitchen or in the family room, or if I'll use them to make
something to sell on Etsy. Decisions, decisions!

I also got some smaller ones but don't have a picture of them
right now. I'll show those to you later.

I love my new-old home. I love the layout and size of the rooms. It has almost all the original windows, solid wood doors with glass knobs, 9' ceilings, and fab wood floors but a lot of the detailing and charm have been removed over the course of time. My job is to add it A.L.L. back! I have also been busy "sprucing" up my carriage house so I can rent it and that should be done in about a month so I'll share all those Befores and Afters with you, too.

Sneak Preview of the Carriage House bathroom -
it's a beaut, isn't it?

The carriage house kitchen and yes, I had the oven removed
but everything else you see is exactly how it is!

I also have some more goodies to share with you from some local salvage shops and thrift stores but those will be for another post! So much fun!!