Progress report on my own house

I haven't really done a whole lot on my house since the spring.  I did a lot of projects throughout the summer, trying out various products from various furniture/specialty paint companies.  I also painted a living room for a client and did some painting and other diy projects for Mom in her house.  I had a few Interior Decorating consultations as well.  It was a very busy summer.

Last week, I turned my attention back to my house and with the help of family, we accomplished quite a few more things.  Come along with me and let me show you where I am at with my house now and the things I plan to accomplish this fall.

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The kitchen/dining/entry area:

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Cupboards . . . new mouldings, paint, hardware . . . completed in December 2016.  See posts HERE and HERE.

Countertops . . . made from solid wood doors . . . completed in December 2016.  See post HERE.

Side hutch & plate rails . . . completed in March 2017.  See post HERE.

Floating shelves . . . completed in April 2017.  See post HERE.

Subway tile backsplash . . . completed in April 2017.  See post HERE.

Bench & chair upholstery as well as curtains . . . completed in May 2017.  Post not yet written.

Message Wall Board . . . completed in June 2017.  See post HERE.

Old window frame w/wreath . . . completed in July 2017.  See post HERE.

Table refinished . . . 'completed' in September 2017.  Post not yet written.

Bicycle wheel light fixture . . . completed in September 2017.  Post not yet written.

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So yeah.  Lots of 'post not yet written'.  LOL.  I will do more updated tutorials later.  But for now, I will give you the highlights of those. 

The bench & chair upholstery.  I purchased two large table cloths at Home Sense for the buffalo check fabric.  Mom sewed the curtains.  She helped me re-upholster the bench and chairs.  We built the bench back from scratch.  I hung the bench back on the wall and the bench itself slides snugly underneath.  When I have guests at the table, we can easily pull the bench over to the table and have comfortable seating for 6 people.  I scotch-guarded the upholstery for protection.

The chairs themselves, I used specialty paint from one of those companies I was testing out and although it covered & self-leveled beautifully, it didn't hold up at all and easily scratched off so I will be repainting those this fall with Dixie Belle and then putting a tough top coat for protection.

The table.  It was quite a job and a long story.  For now, I'll say that I ended up with Saman stain on the top, protected by Dixie Belle's Gator Hide and I LOVE how the top turned out.  The legs, may or may not stay white.  A post for another day.  :)

The bicycle wheel light fixture.  That just got installed yesterday!  Both Dad & Ryan were super frustrated with it.  It is NOT an easy DIY project.  I got the idea from a friend who did one in her entry.  I didn't ask her how she did hers until ours was done but she also had difficulty.  Myself, I bought a pendant light fixture and put the wheel in between the pendant and the ceiling mount part and cut off the leftover wire.  Sounds easy enough, right?  LOL.  I got the flush mount fixture in front of the door and this matching pendant at Canadian Tire.  I will put live links in the underlined words in the previous sentence.  The bicycle tire I got off a bike I bought at an auction for this very purpose.  My dad & Ryan say its on the ceiling because I ran out of storage area in the huge barn out back.  NOT.  LOL

Isn't it gorgeous, though!  I just love it!

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The things I have left to do in this kitchen/dining/entry area:

1. I need to finish changing out the old colonial trim for the new simple craftsman style trim all around the remaining 3 doors and entry into the living room/hallway as well as the baseboards.
2. I need to spray paint the brass & bronze door hardware to black.
3. I'm strongly considering painting the upper cabinets the same colour as the lower cabinets.  I think the off-white doesn't really work against all the white I have in this room.  What do you think?  The thing about this is, I do NOT want to go through the same time-consuming process that I followed in November/December 2016.  I would want to use Dixie Belle Paint and therefore, I would also have to repaint the lowers to ensure the exact same colour because you can't colour match this type of paint.
4. Repaint the chairs and table legs and then clear coat for protection.
5. Paint the kitchen cabinet toe kick, because I forgot to do it when I did the cabinets!  LOL
6. I'm strongly considering painting the interior doors in this area all black as well.  What do you think?  Would you do that or just leave those white and the exterior ones black only?
7. I also am strongly considering painting the window frame black.  Not the casing, just the metal parts that hold the glass and the crank.  I already bought the paint for that but just hadn't done it yet.  Is that too big of a risk, you think?
8. The ceiling needs repainted (it hasn't been done in several years) and the walls all need one more coat of paint.

​That finishes off that large area.

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The living room:

You may remember that I had painted it Dulux Limey back in November 2016. But even then, I did say it may end up being temporary.  While the color was a perfect match for the wall mural and I did love the color, I found that the whole look/style was kinda clashing with the kitchen/dining area look/style.  So, I repainted a few months ago.  This time I went with Dulux Beachcomber.  The best way I can describe the color is sandy grey.  It is perfect.

Before . . .

. . . after!

Even though this picture isn't the best lighting/quality, you can see that it blends much better with the other main room of the house!

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The bathroom:

The bathroom was the same as when my mom moved out.  I had put up a couple of things but didn't care that they didn't match the room.  I hadn't even bothered to cover up all the small holes in the walls left behind by Mom's wall decor (which were super noticeable because I didn't have wall decor to cover the same spots).  The bathroom just wasn't a priority of mine . . . until last week.  Yes, just last week I decided it was time to give it a quick facelift as inexpensively as I could.

The only 'before' picture I have I just got Dad & Mom to send me for this blog.  It was from when it was their bathroom.  The only thing different from that picture was that they had replaced the old countertop with a solid black one while they still lived here.  And of course, the decor was theirs.  The flooring, cabinetry, fixtures, mirror, curtain, and wall colour were the same.

Before . . . 

. . . after!

I crackfilled all the holes and Ryan did the majority of the sanding.  He also cleaned the back half of the bathroom walls and pulled out the washer & dryer and painted behind there for me.  I did the rest.  I do love to paint.  Have I ever told you that before?  LOL

I used Dulux Diamond Matte paint in their color "Wood Smoke".  Really, the pictures do not do this bathroom justice.  The warm grey with hints of coolness picks up on the 'grout' lines in the flooring and just looks so good.  The whole family loves the new color.

I took off all the cabinetry door handles (and the towel bar) and cleaned them well before spraying them with Zinsser 123 primer.  Then, I used Krylon Dual spray paint in Satin Black.  Its amazing what a little paint can do to a space!!

Left to do in this room:

1. Clean & spray paint the cabinetry hinges to match the handles.
2. Reorganize the cool metal tray I bought at Hobby Lobby last month (you can see it in the right of the last picture of the bathroom).
3. Replace the tub & tub surround (the tub HAS to be replaced and its a one-piece unit so that requires the tub surround to be replaced also).  It will likely mean new taps, too.
4. Find/create new wall decor, of course!  :)

You can see the hallway through the bathroom door there.  That was painted the same colour and at the same time as the living room (Dulux Beachcomber).  That is textured wallpaper that you see as wainscotting.  It took 2 rolls.  Mom bought me the wallpaper as a gift.  :)

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Exterior:

After the pool was taken down for the season, I began to stain the privacy fence.  

Disclaimer:  I do not have the strength in my arms to have done the proper prep for the fence, which was to scrub it with specific cleaning solution, Benjamin Moore Restore, and had already used up my 'credits' on the honey-do list so I cheated and went right at it.  If the stain peels off next year, it will be my own fault for not doing the proper prep.  You don't even get the true color of your stain when you leave the grey (dead) wood behind and stain overtop.  Don't do as I did, I did know better.

Anyway, moving on.  LOL.  I used the same Wood Pride exterior semi-transparent stain carried by Dulux, in Flood's color Natural Cedartone, as I did on the shutters and baby barn doors . . . and little fence that backs the small turn-around Dad had installed.

I was like 95% done on the 'pool side' of the fence when I ran out of stain.  That gallon sure did go far, though!  I bought a second gallon of stain and even though both myself and the employee verified we had the right base and the right color name, we didn't even consider that the computer would get the formula wrong so we didn't double check that.  Yup.  It wasn't the same formula and the color was not right.  So back to Dulux to get the right formula!  

My oldest daughter finished staining the fence, front and back, for me.  It was her first time to stain and she did it like a pro!  Mom's girlie!  :)  She already said that she is going to do the back of the other fence for me, too.  I may even get her to do the gazebo floor (if she wants to) and that will finish off the exterior staining jobs.  

Before . . .

. . . after!

Lastly, for exterior work that I would like to accomplish this year, the flower beds need work:

1. ​The two cedars need their tops trimmed because they are brushing the eaves now.
2. I would like to have the rock taken out from around and between the two cedars, and it brought back to be part of the lawn with grass extending to the house and around those cedars.  
3. I would like to just put a small circle of rock around the hydrangea tree there in the center.
4. I would like to take up ALL the rock, actually, and redo even the area from the front door to the left side there.  Its past time as the landscape fabric underneath must have deteriorated because I haven't been able to control the weeds this year.
5. I would like to move the patio blocks to leave a gap between each one where the rocks can lay, but otherwise keep the same shape.
6. I would also like to uproot the perennials that are on the baby barn side of the house.  I don't like the 'untidy' look of perennials.  Well, except for hostas.  I have two of those there that I plan to keep.  Other than that, I would just keep the plain rocks that were there, just put new landscape fabric underneath to control the weeds.
7. You know that ugly rock pile in the back yard that the little cement fisher boy sits on?  We have no idea why that is even there so I say its time for it to go.  I would use some of the rock to border all around the baby barn (as a type of skirting).  The rest needs to find a new home.  Whether this all gets done this year, is probably on the unlikely list.   LOL  Its not something I am physically capable of and the ONE who is, doesn't see things like I see them.  LOL

So yeah, I do have a lengthy to-do list for this year.  I set my sights high so I can accomplish a lot.  Set them low, and nothing much gets done.  :)

Before I completely forget, I DID get my business sign done this summer!  You can see that post HERE.  Since that post, I won two battery-operated lighted house number signs off a local online auction.  My husband helped me install those on the sign post.  I put the official 911 sign on the baby barn over the door instead.  I'm super 'signed' up.  LOL

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I would LOVE some feedback on the things in my lists that I am 'thinking' of doing.  What would YOU choose to do?