Friday, January 30, 2015

Planning For Resale

We are planning for to put our house up for sale soon and have a few makeovers to do around our house. We've been planning on downsizing for several years and we think it might as well be this year sometime. 

The first room is we need to work on is our master bath. Our house being nearly 15 years, old could use a few updates. We will paint and redo the shower surround with tile and have a frameless glass door installed.We haven't quite nailed down exactly what colors and materials yet, but I sure do love the little glass and stone rectangular mosaic tiles we found at Lowe's.

Here's what the bathroom looks like now, with a few years of wear and tear on it. That brass framed shower has got to go as it has seen better days. Besides new tile in the shower, we plan on replacing the faucets, showerhead and vanity light. The Master Bathroom will be our biggest expense. 


Our Master Bedroom needs new paint too. The dark brown paint is showing wear, scuff marks, chips, etc., and it's time for a fresh color. 

Quite a few diy Design Fanatic Facebook followers loved this color in my mock up. I think we will paint the Master Bedroom a light neutral greige and leave the color for the adjoining bathroom. 


Last week I  showed you how we replaced the broken blinds with these Roman Shades and inexpensive Vivan curtains from Ikea. Nothing else needs to be done in here since we just updated the paint a few years ago. 


We've also gave the laundry room a little update, as well. We've painted the room with Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams but still plan on painting the cabinets with Annie Sloan chalk paint. 


I thought it would be good to update our Guest Room since it's the first bedroom a buyer will see once upstairs. The paint still looks good, but we plan to lighten things up by changing out the furniture and add some Vivan curtains instead of the black ones. I figured that if we sell the existing furniture, which we found at an estate sale and Craigslist and use some existing furniture we have in other parts of the house, this makeover will bring in $400  when we sell the furniture! 
Sounds pretty good to me! (if you deduct what we paid for the furniture, curtains and supplies, the net amount might be closer to $0, but at least the sale of the items will cover the cost of the reno)


The last space we would like to paint is the basement Family Room and Bathroom. Basements can always benefit from lighter and brighter paint, even if it is a walk out basement with lots of windows. We may or may not get to this room.

Along with all the painting and redecorating, Mr. DIY is caulking all the windows. making repairs and replacing a few window sashes. The list is LONG! Of course, we won't be doing all of these projects ourselves and will be hiring others to help us out.

While we're doing all of this, we will be working on the kitchen reno at the Mountain Cottage, which we are starting this weekend. I'm pretty sure this reno is going to take many months, especially with all that needs to be done at our home.

I guess that's our project list for the year, until, of course, we find another house that needs some work! 


Pam







Saturday, January 24, 2015

New Window Treatments For The Family Room

Oy

I'm ashamed to admit this, but this is how the window looked in our Family Room for uh, 
at least a year
or so.



The blind on the right just downright broke and fell down. 

The string on the blind in the middle is broken and the slats don't hang straight. 
I had plans to sew some fancy burlap trimmed roman shades, but I never got around to it. 
Well, we have been a little busy with the reno at the Mountain Cottage.



I had a few of these bamboo roman shades from Home Depot that I had bought for the Mountain Cottage. I brought them home because I changed my mind and was going to bring them back because I wanted to make some fabric Roman Shades for the upstairs bedroom
 (we'll see how that goes)






 Mr. DIY put them up, but they really should have been about one inch wider for a perfect fit.




They still were better than a missing and broken blind. 


Ikea to the rescue! I thought the same curtains we have in our Breakfast Room would be perfect to cover up the gaps. Mr. DIY picked up a couple pars of  Vivan curtains at Ikea on the way home one day for $9.99 each. Gotta love that!




He picked up a black 10ft rod at Ikea for $7.99. 


The curtains are about an inch too long and I might shorten them.


or not...



What do you think?
Should I shorten them or not???


Pam

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

January Vignette In The Foyer

Now that the Christmas decorations have been taken down and put away, something pretty had to fill their place on the dresser in the Foyer. 



I brought out an antique furniture leg that was found in my grandmother's basement many years ago and placed it next to some vintage books, along with an antique key and a tall candleholder. 



I set out one of my favorite candy dishes, given by my brother and sister in law back in the 90's(?) I had seen that same dish in a catalog that year and I was so surprised when I opened the gift!


I set out the Valentine Vintage Hearts and hung them on some bare branches in a crystal vase.  I made them a couple of years ago from some fabric that my grandmother made me a dress out of when I was in elementary school.. Stop by that post to see how I made them...If you follow the link at the bottom of that post, you'll see a photo of me when I was about 8 years old wearing the dress my grandmother made me. 







I think the Framed Chalkboard makes a great backdrop for just about any vignette. 


Thanks for stopping by today!
Hope you are staying warm during this cold Winter month of January. 

What are you decorating with now that all your Christmas decorations have been taken down?

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

The Vintage Style Pantry - The Mountain Cottage Reno

*this post contains affiliate links...



cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage



Mr. DIY and I were all set to start on the kitchen at the mountain cottage, but realized that we needed an area to set up a temporary kitchen and kitchen storage during the kitchen reno. Since the entrance/laundry room had a sink, we would use it to set up a makeshift kitchen, but there really wasn't an area for storage.
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage






Then I realized that we could use an under utilized closet in between the kitchen and the living room for a pantry. The closet was the perfect place to add more storage, since the kitchen is pretty small and won't have very many cabinets. If you look at the layout of the mountain cottage, the closet should be the coat closet just inside the entry door, but since the house was built with the back of the house near the driveway, this closet isn't where you enter, but on the other side of the house and doesn't really make sense to use it as a coat closet. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage

Anyway... Here's how the closet looked before... definitely a big waste of space...
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


First thing we did was remove the doors and take everything out. Instead of making the pantry the whole width of the space, I thought it would be great to have a removeable kitchen cart to add a little more workspace should we need it. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


Since we will eventually be installing pine flooring throughout the house, Mr. DIY installed some pine boards and started working on the cabinet on the right. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


Once he finished the cabinet, I got to work finishing it. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com



While I was painting and staining the right size cabinet, Mr. DIY built a beautiful rolling cart. He made a custom sized cart that fit perfectly on the left side of the pantry. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com

I started painting the slat shelves with a paintbrush, but it just didn't look smooth enough. I sanded them down a bit and painted several coats with my HomeRight Finish Max paint sprayer. The spray painted finish looked so much better. The shelves were painted white and the legs were painted Benjamin Moore Balboa Mist and the top was stained using a blend of  MinWax Provincial and Rustoleum Driftwood, finished with a coat of poly. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


Mr. DIY built more shelves above where the cart would go. Then we found a piece of old wood outside at the mountain cottage and thought it would be perfect for  an apron rack. I used a spray poly to finish the wood, but no staining was necessary. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com



We added oil rubbed bronze hooks.

cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com

Beadboard was added to the back wall before the cabinets were installed. I'm not sure if you can tell, but the panels and legs on the cart are painted Balboa Mist and the beadboard and shelves are painted white. 



cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com




The  baskets on the left hold kitchen towels. The cabinet on the right is the perfect place for a coffee/tea station. Mr. DIY even installed an outlet to accommodate a coffee maker. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


I found the baskets at Ikea. 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com







We both love how it turned out!
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com









cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com




cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com





cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


Here's the kitchen cart pulled out a little bit...
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


...and the pantry with the kitchen cart all the way out.
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com



Once again, here's how the closet looked  BEFORE:
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com


...and after: 
cottage, cottage style, cottage kitchen, kitchen reno, farmhouse, farmhouse style, farmhouse kitchen, Vintage Style Pantry, kitchen cart, reclaimed wood, coat rack, pantry storage, diyDesignFanatic.com

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our new Vintage Style Pantry. 
Now, on to the kitchen reno!

Pam

*this post contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a commission should you purchase something after clicking on one of the links.