New floors!

So this past summer we got my parents' old dishwasher since they were redoing their kitchen.  Not meaning to, Kent didn't tighten one of the screws all the way and it slowly dripped and water moved clear over to the dining room table and warped the laminate floor.  We didn't really think much of it until water started to continually pool near our dishwasher.  We realized the problem and fixed it, but unfortunately (or fortunately!) we needed to replace some of the floor.  SOOOO, I said, if we are going to have to get new flooring, why not just replace ALL the ugly flooring so it all matches and flows much better.  See, we had 5 different types of flooring downstairs - pretty much each room was different and I hated how choppy it looked and how ugly the laundry room floors were especially!  After much looking around at all the different types of flooring, pricing, etc.  we were talking to Kent's brother, Clark, about it and he offered to lay the tile for us.  I was wanting the tile planks that look like hardwood, but Kent wanted something that was less expensive to install (if we had it done professionally).  SOOO, since Clark works construction and had laid lots of tile before, it turned out perfect because we were able to afford the kind of flooring I wanted. 

Laundry room before:

Before dining room (warping on the right side of the table but you can't see it here)

Kitchen before (wasn't bad, but I wanted it all one kind of flooring so it would flow better).  You can see on the cabinet on the left where there was some mold damage, but it was just on the laminate paper that just peeled off.  Eventually I want to paint the cabinets white since the brown cabinets and dark brown floor doesn't really go together, so that will be fixed then.

Clark removing the old laminate planks. That was the easy part.

Peeling off the vinyl in the kitchen was pretty difficult b/c it was stuck pretty good to the vinyl underneath it, but NO WHERE NEAR as hard as that horrible stick and peel vinyl square stuff in the laundry room!  THAT was a complete nightmare!!!!  Whoever thought that up was crazy!!!!  We had to chip it away because it wouldn't peel off in full squares.  I despise that stuff!
 

Luckily there wasn't any mold damage to the subfloor of the dining room.  It was wet underneath, but we kept fans on it all day and night and that helped dry it up really well.

Everyone but me kept hitting their head on the overhead dining room light, so they zip-tied it up until they were done.  Like the refrigerator and stove in the family room? :)

We had a slow start because they had to figure out a way to stop the water from flowing out of the ice maker line.  That was a pain, but they finally got it fixed.  I was excited to get the backer board down, but really excited when Clark started laying the tile!

Loving it already!
 

No more laundry (at least here) for a while!  After it was all done, it totally made me want to paint the walls and make the laundry room a cute place to be.  It was the only room in the house that I hadn't done anything to yet.
 

All grouted and ready to be wiped down.
 

Love the look!!!!

This was before Kent put back all the base boards.  But now they are up and we only need to spackle the nail holes and repaint them to freshen them up again.   We also need to put down transitions strips as well. I have picked out a color for the laundry too.  Just waiting until the kids are back in school to take down the hideous wallpaper border!  Then we will have to have Kent take the washer/dryer out again and start painting!  Our dryer came from my parents too and was needing some sanding and paint, so I did that when it was sitting in our garage.  It needs another coat, so that is another reason to move it back out to the garage again.  I love the way the floors turned out!  I love updates to my house!  It definitely shows more dirt and grime, but it helps me keep up on the cleaning better. :)

 

 

New entertainment center

Kent had been wanting a new TV because the video game system hook-ups on our old TV were wearing out and we always were banging on the TV or having to jiggle the wires to keep the sound and picture up. We had had our TV since we first got married 13 years ago!

 So since he wanted a flat screen, we were going to have to get a new entertainment center for it to be able to fit.  I love the wardrobe entertainment center that my sister-in-law has, so I looked on Craig's list for one I could refinish.  Found one for $75 that was real wood and in really good condition, besides missing the shelf inside the cabinet.

I didn't get a before picture, but it was honey colored with a wooden swirly thing as decoration in the middle of the top section and ugly hardware.  I decided that I wanted my big furniture to be neutrals so that if I ever want to change the colors in my living room, all I would need to replace would be curtains, pillows, etc  Much less expensive than large pieces of furniture!  Anyway, so I painted it black and still need to replace the hardware (probably a brushed nickel color).  I ripped off the swirly thing too.  I love the crown molding on it!  It was a pain in the rear to paint around that silly TV stand  and the door tracks inside though.

 

I knew I would be losing shelf space, and couldn't decide if I wanted to just put shelves on the wall, but then I found these awesome solid wood shelves on Craig's List again - both together only costing $60!  They had the crown molding and were much taller with deeper shelves than any book shelf I looked at in the stores and online.  I couldn't wait to get started on them!  I had this perfect vision of what it would all look like put together.

  After realizing we needed to anchor the shelves to the entertainment center so they wouldn't fall over, Kent figured out a way to attach them.  I finally figured out placement of all my pictures and decor and this is the final product!  We also bought and painted a shelf for the cabinet so we could have ample room for all our DVDs, video games and video game systems.  Kent bought a device that you can plug up to 4 different things in it so you don't have to keep changing out the wires for the different systems.  That is such a great thing!  We got the flat screen from my grandma, so after it was all said and done, we spent about $250 for this entire solid wood entertainment center!  I looked online at solid wood entertainment centers and they were in the 1000s of dollars!  I just love getting such a bargain on quality items!

Kids' room make-overs

I don't think I ever posted pictures of when I made-over the boys' room, so since I sort of changed up the girls' room with Callie's new big girl bed, I figured I would just post pictures of both rooms.

Here is the boys' room before:

Here is the after:

I painted one of the dressers, got the headboards from my Grandma, Julie made the drawing on the wall for Kent a few years ago, but it went perfectly with their room that I decided to put it in there.

I found this shelf at the Goodwill and loved it.  I painted it white and loved it.  I am kicking myself now because there was another one just like it and I should have bought it so that both boys would have his own shelf, but I was trying to not spend a lot of money so I didn't.  UGH!  Now I totally regret my decision!  I repainted the boys' initials (except the blue ones) to match the room too.

My SIL, Erin, made this cute French picture holder for me and it also went perfectly in their room, so I found some pictures I loved and made prints to hang on it.  It turned out so great!

So here is the girls' room before:

 And the after:

We are going to add some throw pillows to add more colors from the sheets and make the quilt a bit more girly looking.  Morgan may even make some herself!

I wanted to do something else to add the colors of their sheets to their room, so I found some ribbon I had and bought a few more colors to match and then glued them to the lampshade.  I love the way it turned out!

I found this nightstand at the Goodwill and painted it white.  The shelf below is perfect for a bright basket of books!  My SIL, Kelly, gave Morgan the CTR shield for her baptism.  Morgan wants a cute alarm clock to add to her nightstand. :)

The other dresser we used when Callie was a baby was perfect for a changing table, but there just wasn't enough room for it anymore, so I inherited my Grandma's dresser and painted it this bright, cheery yellow.

 I really want to get the boys and Morgan loft beds so they have room for a desk or some more storage because their rooms just won't fit much else besides their beds and dressers.  Morgan is dying for a desk, so maybe for her birthday this year we can make that happen.  BUT I do love the way it all turned out and I was able to do it so inexpensively!

Sweet, adorable, beautiful, and just plain CUTE sisters!!!

 Aren't these little girls just the CUTEST, SWEETEST, MOST ADORABLE AND BEAUTIFUL things you have ever seen????!!!!!

 I bought the fabric ages ago when I found what looked to be a fairly simple ruffle skirt on Pinterest.  I didn't have my own sewing machine and I wanted Callie to be a bit older before I attempted  to make matching skirts.  So this summer I finally started the project. 

I don't know exactly what happened - whether I measured wrong or what - but Callie's was WAY too short and Morgan's was knee length ON ME, so I had to add another ruffle to Callie's skirt and shorten Morgan's skirt without undoing all my hard work.  Talk about a pain!!! Morgan's was a ton more of a headache, but in the end they turned out cute.  The seams are not all straight and the hems may not all be completely equal, but from a quick glance, they look fine.

I found these green flowers in my craft supplies that matched perfectly to make barrettes, so that was fun too!

 

  

I loved watching Morgan helping out her little sister.

A new look!

So Kent's aunt and uncle gave this hutch to us about 6 or 7 years ago.  From the beginning I wanted to update it but for some reason Kent wanted to hold on to the look of it since it had been passed down to "him".  I think he thought it was treasured family heirloom passed down from generation to generation or something.  After asking his aunt, she said she had just bought it at some garage sale for $75.  But Kent had some kind of attachment to it and still didn't want me to do anything about it.  Why a guy cared about what a hutch looked like, is still kind of a mystery to me.  When we asked all his brothers if they would care whether their wives painted and updated a piece of furniture, they all said they could care less.  It was kind of a sore subject between us and I think he was just being stubborn, BUT I won't go into all that. :)  Anyway, once we bought a house with a fence and he was able to get another dog, he FINALLY agreed to letting me update this piece of furniture that had HUGE potential!  So, I used some of my birthday money to buy the paint and new knobs and handles for it.  Here is the before (it also used to have glass paneled doors  on the two upper sides that I took off a while ago so I was able to showcase things better):

 

Look at those spindles! I tried rearranging and adding things to see how I wanted it to look after I painted it all.

After A LOT of puddying in old holes and re-drilling new holes (b/c it was so old they didn't make pull handles that size anymore!) priming, painting, touching up, and adding the new hardware - it was finally finished!!  I am TOTALLY in love with it!

 

My friend recently repainted and added new knobs to a buffet she bought at a garage sale and used all different knobs.  I LOVED the idea, so I copied it!

Look! No more spindles!!!

 I have an old, mid century style, long, low dresser that a friend of mine from college gave us when Tyler was just a baby that I am also going to paint black and add the same/similiar knobs to.  The two pieces of furniture are totally different styles, but I think the black and the knobs will tie them both together nicely.  It was perfect to use as a baby changing table with lots of room for baby clothes, diapers, AND blankets/burp cloths, BUT since we are done having kids and we didn't have room for it in the kids' rooms, I moved it downstairs to give us lots more storage for "stuff".

The rest of my birthday money went to updating the decor in the family room that will match our NEW FURNITURE AND PILLOWS that we are getting next week!  Once I get it all put together, I will post pictures!

Desk Makeover!

So I have this corner in our office space that is COMPLETELY unorganized, cluttered and DRIVING ME CRAZY! I REALLY needed something to help organize it all, so when I found this desk for $10 I couldn't resist! As long as it was sturdy, I had a vision to make it cute and very useful!

From drab, dull and outdated:

To fun, cute and totally updated!

I always thought it would be so fun to have a built-in window seat in our room because we have the perfect cut-out wall space for it, but I don't see that happening anytime soon, so I decided to put my "new" desk there instead. I am using it to sit my sewing machine and sewing box on as well as a place to store my other crafty project supplies, like fabric, headbands, silk flowers, etc. I found the idea of using ribbon instead of hardware to save on cost in some magazine I read a long time ago, but I can't find all my torn out magazine page ideas, so I'm glad I remembered it! I LOVE the way it looks! Now I just need to find a cute chair I can re-d0 to match it.