My Massive Painting Project Recap

Back in September/October I started following this blog called "The Nester" that my friend Brittany introduced me to. I quickly became addicted to this blog! The pictures of her home made me swoon! It was simply GORGEOUS! Like something straight out of a magaizine! 

I mean seriously....how GORGEOUS are these pics?!?!

If you have never seen or checked out this blog...please, do so...

http://www.thenester.com/

Great Inspiration.....

The Nester blog is what inspired this whole massive re-painting project at my home...first, the living room, then the kitchen, then the kitchen cabinets, then the new kitchen table & chairs, and the new kitchen buffet! You name it, I've painted it in the last 3 months!

Seriously.....

OVER.THE.PAINTING!!!

 I got this new furniture almost 2 years ago and fell in love with it! It was just a basic tan sofa & love seat which is what I wanted... something neutral. That way if 5 years down the road I get tired of it, I could just change out the throw pillows and could get a whole new look.

 But for now, the throw pillows are my favorite part. 

Do you notice something about the color scheme in these pillows?

Yep, very similar to the colors in the Nester's home! 

Cue the 3 month painting project!!

So I was totally loving this color scheme and wanted to enhance the look by changing my wall color & window treatments. The only problem was that my living room opened up to my kitchen which was decorated in red & black and had more of a primitive theme.

I couldn't paint one room without painting BOTH rooms....Sigh.....what a project this was going to be!

Here is a before shot of my living room before I got ready to start painting..I almost forgot to take this "Before" shot...as you can see, curtains were down, ladder was in place...I was ready to get started! You can see the fall decor on top of my armoire...that shows you how long ago this whole process began!

Another view of my living room from the front door. You can see a little bit into the kitchen and see a glimpse of my red/black decor. My whole goal...UNIFY these two spaces!

Here is a shot of my living room now...Ahhh I simply LOVE it! Yeah, still not as gorgeous as the Nester's home, but hey, one step at a time, right?

View from the kitchen

I wanted to do one accent wall in the blue color, because the rest of the colors I chose were very neutral..
a cream & very light tan.

View from the hallway...yes, my tree is still up!

Oh yeah, another thing I painted...those frames...the chocolate brown frames just weren't working on that blue wall! Still have to replace my Uppercase Living that was on this wall! Cue my friend Kasey..I know you are reading this post! :)

And I know I have already posted these pics of the kitchen, but its part of the whole painting project, so bare with me. And with as great as the kitchen turned out, the pics are worthy of a re-post don't you think? If you are new to this blog and would like to see more on this kitchen remodel with before & after pics...you can click on this link....

http://loveoffamilyandhome.blogspot.com/2010/12/kitchen-remodel-ii.html

No, I didn't have to re-paint the cabinets, I could have left them the color they were, but I knew how pretty they would be if I did...Thanks to some help from my mom, it wasn't too hard of a project.

I have gotten a new light fixture above my sink since these last pic & I must say...

I'm LOVING it! How adorable is this pendant light?

Still have to get a window treatment up on this window of course.....

Thank you to my dad (the handy-man) for hanging this fixture & helping 

with so many other project in this home!

And here is one last view of the dining area which then opens up to my living room..again, sorry about the Christmas decor...its STILL up!

So that is my massive painting project recap...hope you enjoyed!

Again, Thank you to The Nester for some great & beautiful inspiration!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas...

Wishing you & yours a very Happy New Year!

Prepping for Christmas Guests...

So since finishing my kitchen remodel, I was looking to get a new kitchen table & a new hutch/buffet of some sort. I started my search on craigslist & found the exact table that I was looking for! Its a round pedestal table and has a built-in leaf so that I can seat more people when we have company. I got the table and four chairs for $100!

The chairs shown in these pictures are my chairs from our old table which I decided to use instead of the chairs that came with the table. The chairs that came with the table are currently sitting in my garage on standby for when I need some extra seating. After finding the table I was looking for, I then had to paint it & and the chairs to match my kitchen cabinets....

And this is what it looks like now....

Then I was on to looking for a new buffet or hutch to replace my old one. I again looked on craigslist, but had no luck. I then went to our downtown area here in our small town & visited a couple of our antique/resale shops and came across this....

It was perfect!

Perfect size....perfect style....perfect price! I bought this buffet for $60.00! And of course, I couldn't leave it as it was, I had to paint it too! :)

I love all the little details on this buffet, including the hardware. I also love the feet! It turned out exactly how I pictured!

Now with the new table & buffet painted and looking gorgeous, I had to decorate! I wanted to add a little Christmas cheer & get ready for our guests...

Here is what I came up with....A couple of trees, some greenery, & twinkling lights...MAGIC!

Also bought that oval mirror to go above the buffet....compliments of Hobby Lobby!

I know my little sign is hard to read in these pics, but in person I swear it is ADORABLE! It spells out "Merry Christmas." I got this idea off of Thrifty Decor Chick's sight, click on the link to check out her version... http://thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com/2010/11/thankful-foyer.html It is such a cute & simple little project!

This lamp is temporarily on loan from my bedroom...it looks really cute here in the mean time...lol! Gotta get a new lamp for this spot!

Love this lantern! Got a pair of these last year and used them for outdoor decorating...this year I decided to bring them in the house to enjoy! Just added a candle, some greenery, and a few Christmas balls!

Created this centerpiece with all things I already had laying around the house...turned out kinda cute considering...

So this is where we will be spending our Christmas Eve, and I couldn't be more excited! This will be my first year hosting! Kitchen decorated....check! Tomorrow I will be baking some yummy treats for the party! :)

Hope you all are taking time this Christmas to enjoy the holiday! Don't get too caught up in all the hussle & bussle! Tis the season to enjoy time with family!

Kitchen Remodel II

Okay, so after seeing my mom's beautiful kitchen remodel & seeing how big of a transformation she was able to make with so little money, I decided to do a little remodel of my own....

Just to give you an idea of what the kitchen looked like before.....

Pretty uninspiring, huh? I know, I know...I'm surprised I tolerated it as long as I did! Plain countertops and that awful sink & faucet...I was definitely in need of a makeover!

Because I don't enjoy painting as much as my mom, I decided to start my remodel by replacing my countertops, sink, & faucet. I was able to by the countertop at Lowe's for less than $100! You can buy the countertop in pre-cut sections by size. I had to purchase one 10 foot section, and one 6 foot section. The sink & faucet was where the majority of my money was spent. These two items ran me close to $400!

After new countertops, sink, & faucet....
(This picture was taken with my cell phone, sorry for the poor quality)

I have to admit, the new countertops, sink, & faucet made a huge difference in the kitchen, but I still wasn't quite satisfied.....cue PAINT!

We started by taking the cabinet doors off of all the cabinets, then we removed all the hardware. We sanded all of the cabinet surfaces and then cleaned all of them with a special cleaner to get all the grease and residue off. Then we primed the cabinet with KILZ2 primer. After priming, all cabinets and doors were given 4 coats of paint (waiting 4 hours between coats). We used a latex, semi-gloss paint. Oil-based paint also works well and is actually more durable, but the home improvement store we used only carried the oil-based paint in a high gloss finish, which we did not want, so latex paint was our next option. My mom used this in her kitchen remodel and it is holding up well. After the cabinet doors were finished, the hinges were put back on & my new hardware was added. And then we re-hung all of the doors.

And this is what my kitchen looks like now.....

Ahhhhh...Now that's what I was looking for!!!!!!

New HardwareLove my drawer handles!!!!

And LOVE my new sink & faucet!!!!!

Talk about a transformation....let's see the before & afters AGAIN......

Before

After

Before

After

Needless to say.....I LOVE my new kitchen & I am looking forward to doing some holiday baking in it! This was just the inspiration I needed!

Cost for the primer & paint totaled $40 and my new hardware was $50 at Target. If you have any other questions regarding this project, please contact us or leave it in the comments section! Thank You!!!

For more information on our countertops & kitchen paint colors please refer to my FAQ's page. 

Hope you are all having a very Happy Holiday Season!!!!!