kitchen pt 1

The kitchen needed a little updating, and we've made a lot of progress. The beige paint didn't fit with our black/white/grey/color theme, so it had to go. Since the rest of the house is in shades of grey, we decided to go with a color. Also, the appliances were pretty old. The dishwasher was black and the fridge and range were a gross off-white. I decided to go with all white. I thought it best complemented the cabinets and the bright color we chose. Here are the before and afters:

We decided instead of painting the backsplash, we would use textured wallpaper. Mom put the paper up tonight. Once it dries, we'll paint it grey and then give it a silver glaze. This will give it the look of tin tiles. Stay tuned for more pictures of the progress...

painting, painting, painting

The bathroom repairs/updates are done! Now, I just have to buy a shower curtain and some accessories. Here are pictures of the installed fixtures, etc:

We started painting the rest of the house last night. There's so much painting to be done! Here's a picture so you can see the old beige color versus the new gray.

The living room

The dining room

Finding the perfect color for the kitchen has been a bit of a trick. The color on the right is the first sample color we got. It was not the right color. The color on the left is the color we are going with.

This is my bedroom. It's a grey one shade lighter than the living room/dining room and two shades lighter than the bathroom. Once the gray is dry, we are adding a deep red stripe around the room.

stay tuned... more to come...

bathroom!!

Much progress has been made in The Starter House since Monday morning. Here are some before and afters:

Remember the stained bathtub?

Now, it's a pristine white!

And the splatter green tile?

White, too!

We painted the walls tonight before Bill installs the vanity, toilet, mirror and light fixture tomorrow. Mom and Dad were both there to help.

I think the finished product looks pretty darn classy, if I do say so myself.

Now, I mentioned the vanity. We had this lovely little Shaker vanity all picked out for the space. It fits with the color scheme, I love the style and it was 6 inches less deep than the existing vanity which was going to save me some room in the small bathroom. Isn't it so cute?

well, unfortunately, we came across a little surprise:

there's no flooring under the vanity!!! which means we had to find a vanity that was the exact same dimensions as the existing vanity. Luckily, we found one:

I like this one just as well, it's in the same price range and will cover the gaping hole in the floor.

We also picked a mirror that will hang over (and cover up) the medicine cabinet.

...and a new light!

More pictures to come!!!

I'M A HOMEOWNER!!!

So, I just closed on my first house and I'm SO thrilled! It's a 1954 Ranch in great condition, but its in need of some updating. My mom and I are taking on these updates as a project together and we decided to keep a blog to keep everyone updated on our progress. The first project is the bathroom. Here are the before pictures:

The floor tile is definitely the best part of this bathroom. I've never seen tile like it and it's in absolutely impeccable condition. The color theme for the house is black, white and grey with each room having a different accent color. For the bathroom, green is the accent.

We're told that the wall tile is original to the house. It's also in amazing condition. However, I'm not really crazy about the green splatter paint look. So, we're having the tile painted with a special paint by our good friend, Bill.

Bill is also going to remove the door on the medicine cabinet and we're buying a mirror that will hang over the cabinet and cover it up. It's installed into the tile, so removing it altogether was out of the question. We're also replacing the light fixture.

Bill is also refinishing the tub to get rid of all the nasty stains in it. We are also replacing the vanity and the toilet. More tomorrow! With more pictures!