Tag: rental home

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Comparing the Cost of DIY Curtains and non-DIY Curtains

Easily the best feature of my new room is the insane amount of windows I have. On the other hand, having an insane amount of windows is not so great when you’re trying to sleep.

When I moved in, there were plastic blinds on half of the windows and the ones that were left looked like junk. My friend that lived here before me tacked blankets up to keep the light out. I knew I was going to go in a different direction and wanted something pretty. Something that would block out the light when I wanted and let light in when I wanted.

Comparing the Cost of DIY Curtains and non-DIY Curtains | Windows Before

As I’m sure you know, curtains are freaking expensive, especially when you have a bunch of really big windows. So, I made curtains out of sheets which was an idea I had seen from a few different bloggers on Pinterest. In this post I’ll show you the materials I used and their cost so you can weigh the pros/cons of doing a similar project.

My Window Dimensions

In my room I have 3 windows that are all 70 inches by 70 inches. Therefore, I needed 6 curtain panels that were at least 35 inches wide and 70 inches long. Obviously, these dimensions would cover the window but the length would not look great.

Ideally, curtains are hung at least 3 inches above the window. Personally, I like the curtains to touch the floor but not pool too much. To make sure I got sheets that were long enough, I measured from the top of the window to the floor and added three inches.

Curtain Materials

After searching around a little bit for different sheets I decided on the Mainstays 200 Thread Count Sheet in twin size. They had the best color option at the cheapest price so it was an easy decision. I used both a solid and patterned sheet to make the curtains thicker as well as reversible. I chose navy for the solid color and the blue diamond ikat pattern.

These sheets are $4.97 each and I needed 12  (6 patterned, 6 solid) for a total of $59.64. Each sheet is 66 inches wide by 96 inches long. In a different room I think one sheet would have been fine, but I wanted to block out a lot of light in my bedroom.

Below is an example of how much light 1 sheet (left) blocks versus 2 (right).

Comparing the Cost of DIY Curtains and non-DIY Curtains | 1 sheet versus 2

Cost of DIY Curtains (Fabric) and Pre-Made Curtains

I thought I was shelling out a decent amount of money for these curtains, so I was interested to see how much more I would have spent to buy fabric or just straight up buy curtains and achieve a similar look.

If I would have bought fabric from JoAnn’s:

  • Lining Fabric (54″ wide) – $3/yd (on sale) x 16 yds (to match 96″ length)= $48 (not on sale = $96)

  • Print Fabric (54″ wide) – $4.50/yd (on sale) x 16 yds = $72 (not on sale = $144)

The total price for just fabric would have been $120 on sale, $240 not on sale!

I found a pretty good deal at JCPenney on 50″ x 95″ back tab curtains for $13.99 each (clearance) times 6 panels for a total of $83.94. These aren’t that much more expensive, but the user reviews mention these curtains are not the best at blocking light.

Curtain Hardware

In all honesty, I didn’t want to do a whole lot of work besides hanging the curtains up so I didn’t get all fancy and make back tabs or put in grommets or anything. Instead, I just bought clip rings in oil rubbed bronze. There are 7 rings in each package, each package costs $4.74 and I bought 5 packages for a total of $23.70. I ended up using 5 rings on each panel so I still had 5 left over.

Last but not least I got curtain rods from Home Depot, also in oil rubbed bronze, for $6.97 x 3 for a total of $20.91. They’re 48 – 84 inches long and 7/16 in. thick.  I was trying to get the cheapest option possible, but aesthetically I think a thicker curtain rod would be better.

Total Cost Breakdown

here is an overview of the items I bought and their costs:

  • 12 twin sheets x $4.97 each = $59.64
  • 5 packages of (7) curtain rings x $4.74 each = $23.70
  • 3 curtain rods x $6.97 each = $20.91

Bringing the total cost of curtains and hardware (without tax) to $104.25

Comparing the Cost of DIY Curtains and non-DIY Curtains | Curtain Pattern

I absolutely love the way these curtains turned out and I think they add a lot of style and function to the room (but hey, I may be a little biased). I know in my next apartment I won’t be using all of the panels but I think it was a great investment compared to buying pre-made curtains.

What do you think? Would you try sheet curtains, DIY curtains out of fabric, or just buy curtains? I would love to hear your pro/con list!

See You Around!

Lauren <3

Comparing the Cost of DIY Curtains and non-DIY Curtains

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Spray Painted Counter Update – Almost 2 Years Later

I wanted to share an update since it’s been almost 2 years since my post about how I updated my counter tops with spray paint! When I researched doing my counters, my main concern was how well spray paint would hold up. If it tells you anything about how they’re holding up, I can’t believe it’s been almost 2 years since I did this project!

If you want to see what materials I used and the how-to for this project, check out this post.

My biggest concern was next to the sink where we put our dishes to dry. We have a drying rack but most of the time all the dishes won’t fit in that. So, Chris lays a dish towel down and lays dishes on that. As you can imagine this gets a lot of moisture on the counters, and it discolors. I went back and added another layer of poly because I was concerned it was hurting the counter, but so far it hasn’t done any damage. (It still discolors when wet, but like only when it’s really wet).

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

We usually clean down the counters with a Clorox disinfecting wipe or just with a sponge and soap. Initially I didn’t think the Clorox wipes had any effect but I did notice a little bubbling of the poly.

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

I’m not 100% sure that this is from using Clorox wipes but I’m pretty sure because I don’t really use them on either side of the sink and those areas don’t have any bubbling.

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

I’m not sure what it’s from, but there’s also this area that looks a little gummy. It’s not very noticeable and the only difference is that it’s not slippery smooth like the rest of the counter.

There’s also a tiny little scrape or two on the edge of the counter where the white is peaking through. I thought maybe it was a flake of white paint because that’s the case in other areas but I think this is a little ding. When I scratched at it though it didn’t make it any worse.

Overall I’m really happy with how they’ve held up and I’m surprised considering we’re not as gentle on them as I thought we should be.

Here’s a full picture of the counters now:

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

And here’s the before and after from when I originally did the project:

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

Spray Painted Counter Update - Almost 2 Years Later

You might also notice that we have a tile backsplash and we removed the upper cabinet doors. If you want to read more about the backsplash check out this post about doing the tile, and this post about prepping the wall.

For the time and money this project takes it’s a perfect solution to fixing up counters before a complete overhaul. This could even be a permanent solution for areas like a laundry room.

So there you have it! My counters are holding up great and I’m really glad I decided to spray paint them. My ongoing struggle now is to make our open cabinets look a little prettier.

See You Around!

Lauren <3

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DIY Staircase Update

About a month ago I texted my landlord about ripping up the carpet on the entry stairs and replacing it with some vinyl. It took her about a week to respond, so I figured the answer would be no as it usually is.

Quite the contrary, she texted back and said sure! That surprised me. Having permission to sporadically change things in the house is very exciting.

I started ripping the carpet up within half an hour of getting her text.

DIY Staircase Update

Here’s what we started with. The big rug is usually in the kitchen, but it’s been up there a while because spring tracks a lot of mud in, and it’s annoying having to vacuum the landing all the time.

DIY Staircase Update

We also track in a lot of pine needles which hurt like a SOB to step on when they’re stuck in the carpet.

Since I had permission from the landlord and was raring to go, I didn’t bother telling Chris before I started destroying the carpet. I was so sick of it and wasn’t going to wait any longer.

DIY Staircase Update

The first thing I found was the landing is made of plywood and covered in that black stuff. I think the black stuff is some sort of non-slip sand adhesive. Then I kept pulling up the carpet and got this piece of joy.

DIY Staircase Update

Nice pine steps and risers! Yay.

After ripping the carpet and padding off I pulled out all the tack strips and staples from the stairs. I didn’t pull all the staples from the landing because I’m going to cover it with vinyl, and the stairs will be painted and stained with General Finishes Java Gel. Instead, I pulled all the padding out of the staples and hammered them down.

One issue that I ran into with the tack strips is that I don’t own a crowbar. Instead, I just used a hammer and flathead screwdriver. Just wedge the screwdriver under the strip where the nail is and use the hammer to wiggle it under further. Then use the leverage and pull up on the strip (by pushing down on the screwdriver). It’s kind of a pain in the butt on some of them, but it works.

After getting all the staples off the steps they were ready to be sanded in preparation for stain. The picture below is before sanding.

DIY Staircase Update

I took my Ridgid random orbital sander to the steps with an 80 grit sanding pad. Since I have an orbital sander (which is round) I couldn’t get all the way to the edges of the stairs very well which left some paint. I went back by hand to try to get as much off as I could, but it wasn’t very efficient.

The picture below is after sanding. It’s a little hard to compare because of the opposite angles, but they’re a lot cleaner with fewer paint splatters.

DIY Staircase Update

Next, I cleaned the steps off with a shop towel and some mineral spirits. Then I applied mineral spirits to each step right before I stained. General finishes recommends this to help the stain go on smoothly.

Make sure to apply stain to every other step so that the stairs are still usable while the stain dries (6-8 hours).
DIY Staircase Update
And then here’s a picture of them all stained.
DIY Staircase Update

After the stain dried, I taped the stairs off to paint the risers.
DIY Staircase Update
I also used paper so I wouldn’t get paint on the steps. As you can see in the picture, I didn’t tape off the risers when I stained. I figured it would be easy to paint over. It seemed that it actually was easier to cover the paint with gel stain than the other way around.

Before priming I sanded the risers by hand with 80 grit sandpaper.
DIY Staircase Update
After the first coat of primer I went back and filled in the holes with spackle. Then I sanded lightly and did another coat. I like to wait until I prime to fill in the holes because it makes them a lot more visible.
DIY Staircase Update
After two coats of primer I applied two coats of paint.

I also sanded and repainted the trim by the landing to make sure it looks crisp before installing the vinyl
 imageDIY Staircase Update

I’ve repainted this trim probably twice already, but it gets dingy pretty quickly and the new floor will be lower than the carpet.

Before putting in the new vinyl I also wanted to stain the threshold of the front door to match the steps.
DIY Staircase Update DIY Staircase Update

Since the stairs are going to be a different color than the vinyl on the landing, I wanted to make sure the entry looks as cohesive as possible.

And of course, since stairs are high traffic I added a coat of General Finishes Gel Topcoat.

And after several days of putting it off, we finally got around to laying the vinyl on the landing! It’s really easy to do, and I was going to attempt doing it myself. Chris wanted me to wait until he would be around to help me though, which honestly was a good idea. Laying the floor and cutting the boards isn’t too bad when it’s just straight cuts, but having to work around the trim pieces was really frustrating for me. I explain in this post how we laid the floor in our bathroom, and what exactly we used if you’re interested 😀

DIY Staircase Update

Chris did up until this point on the landing, and I got to do the rest until the trim on the other side of the door. I didn’t get to do much cutting when we did the bathroom floor, so I’m glad I got to try it out.

DIY Staircase Update DIY Staircase Update

DIY Staircase Update DIY Staircase Update

I am so obsessed with how this project turned out. The entry is so much brighter and spacious now that the carpet is gone. And it’s going to  be way easier to keep it clean. No more lugging the vacuum all the way up the steps!

DIY Staircase Update DIY Staircase Update

If you like this post let me know, and feel free to pass it along!

See You Around!

Lauren <3

 

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Punch List for A Rent Ready Home

I contacted my landlord with questions about the house which means I am one step closer to buying it. With all of the questions I asked her I should be able to run the numbers, make an offer, and work out a deal. Considering I can’t know how much longer we have until it’s time to get renters I compiled a punch list of things left to do.

In order to have the lower unit rent ready, these are the things that I must have completed

  • Remove the door in T’s bedroom
  • Paint the last wall in T’s bedroom
  • Paint the trim in T’s bedroom

Punch List for A Rent Ready Home

These first three tasks are the leftovers from when I painted the paneling in this room and the fact that the trim is in desperate need of a fresh coat

  • Touch up paint around the house
  • Finish Painting Inside Cabinets
  • Paint Outside Cabinets
  • Seal the grout on the new backsplash

Punch List for A Rent Ready Home

  • Check that the heater is clean and running smoothly
  • Check the smoke detector
  • Fix the run in the carpet
  • Install a fan in the bathroom
  • Fix the overhead light in the bathroom
  • Clean everything

On the other hand, there are also things I would like to have done before we get tenants. Time and money permitting

  • Replace carpet with new carpet in bedrooms/living room
  • Replace carpet with laminate in kitchen/dining area

american-quarter-horse-angle_1000

I’m thinking of going with a laminate similar to this (maybe even this one), and a beige brown carpet

  • Stain stair treads, paint the risers.

These last three wants all have to do with flooring. The only spot in our unit that doesn’t have carpet is the bathroom. Even in the places that it makes sense to have carpet, the carpet isn’t so great even after a good cleaning. Mostly the idea with replacing the flooring is we would likely get a better deal if we bought the same flooring for upstairs and downstairs all at once. One of the first things I would like to do once (if) we get the house is replace all the flooring upstairs even before moving in.

I’m planning on knocking out some of the items on the must-do list over my spring break (in one week). It’s probably a good thing that we just got bombarded with snow here in Michigan, otherwise I might be tempted to do some yard work.

What’s on your punch list?

See You Around!

Lauren <3

 

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The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

I’m moving quite slowly on progress with the house, so this weekend I finally painted little T’s bedroom!

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Here is the panorama of this crazy room before its kick ass makeover. Hello again weird door midway up the wall. Glad you decided to make another appearance on the blog.

The post title suggests there is literally no more paneling in my house, but I mean the paneling is painted. Then again that’s not entirely true because I’m not going to paint the closet wall until we take out the weird door and drywall it. When that happens I’ll fill in the cracks in the paneling on just that wall so it doesn’t look super mish moshy. But anyway, PROGRESS. and that is why we are gathered here today.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

First I filled the crib up with toys, shoved it to the middle of the room, took stuff out of the room, put things in the closet, and decapitated the iron man sticker.

To prep I filled in all the holes with spackle, covered the stuff left in the room with a plastic drop cloth, and took off all the outlet covers. I then went through and sanded all the walls with 220 grit sandpaper. I was going to use my new electric sander, but I figured that would be a bit excessive for just needing to scuff the walls up a bit.

Please please do not skip the sanding step. When Chris and I painted our bedroom paneling we didn’t sand and it was a big mistake. If we nick the walls the paint scrapes right off and you can see the paneling. At the very least rough the surface up a bit even if you don’t sand the crap out of it.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Before I started painting I wiped all the sanding dust off the walls along with any cobwebs in the corners. I also vacuumed the carpet and along the trim to make sure no dust would get into my paint.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

When I was cutting in I got all of the cracks because a roller doesn’t do a very good job of that. At this point I also filled in any more holes that I didn’t notice the first time around.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

After priming I saw areas where either the paneling color was showing through or it was discoloration from nicotine. In the end I decided to do one coat since that is what we did in the bedroom, and that paneling was even darker.

 

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Even when I cut in with the paint I filled in all the cracks. When I started brushing on the paint I remembered how much I love this color. It’s called winter sky gray. It seems rather blue to me though which was a surprise when we first painted our bedroom. I guess it makes sense though since skys are usually blue to some extent.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Slightly above the electrical outlet near the door you will notice some flaws in the gaps. These parts were pulling away from the wall which obviously wouldn’t look good when painted. Chris’s genius solution was to staple gun them down, and it actually worked like a gem.

I love this picture because even though I haven’t repainted the trim you can see the crisp difference between the bluish gray wall and the white trim. Just beautiful. (excuse the splotches, the wall wasn’t done drying yet).

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Final product with the “accent wall”. still hadn’t put the room back together yet. I love how much the painted room draws attention to the window. It’s a reminder of how much brighter the room is.

Also notice how high the top of the door goes, and that the area up there is painted. I was using a chair to paint, but couldn’t reach high enough so I asked Chris if he could reach. He just decided to open up the door and stand on the stairs landing. It’s a good thing we’re close friends with the upstairs neighbors and we keep that door unlocked. (it is set up though so both sides can be locked and not one unit has control over the door). Either way it needs to go. Sayonara door!!

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

Another view and a way for me to imagine that there is absolutely no more paneling. 😀 I’m in love.

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

The Final Piece to a Paneling Free Home

And of course some views of the room put back together/rearranged (minus the still decapitated Iron Man)

Before painting my paneling I also got some really useful information in this blog post about what to use on different types of paneling, and some tools that make it a lot easier.

Chris and I worked on this project for about a day and a half. My body was definitely sore from constantly kneeling, standing, and getting up on a chair. Maybe I’m just weak but that stuff is taxing!

I’m glad to have this project done as it’s really going to propel me into finishing my other projects and working on my time management.

What are your motivating factors?

If you want to see how I finished the white dresser, check out this post.

See You Around!

Lauren <3

 

 

 

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DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

Today is the day I share with you our brand new tile backsplash, and the steps it took to install it. Our kitchen is yet another step closer to being awesome, and it almost doesn’t visually suck anymore.

We were very lucky to get most of our materials free. Below are the list of materials you would need. The only things we had to buy are the items I indicated with a price. Clicking the material links will take you to sources of where to purchase/ where I did purchase the items.

Materials:

My Project Cost:  $37.50 (Accounting for selling the joint compound leftovers and not accounting for sales tax)

Project Value/Potential Cost: $251.53

NOW. The cost will vary depending on the type of materials you buy, and what tools you already own. I just wanted to see with the almost exact products I used, including their sizes, how much this project could have cost me.

If you missed my post of how I prepped my walls check that out here.

I mentioned I was going to explain how we filled in the hole in our backsplash wall, but I can’t really do that because Chris did it without me. Not complaining, but he didn’t take pictures and he didn’t really explain it to me very well. But, I’m assuming most people don’t have that issue and it’s mostly a case by case thing anyway.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

The next thing I did was lay out several tiles in my pattern on the counter. This way after we put the mastic on the wall we wouldn’t have to scramble to get tiles up, and it would help us engrave the pattern into our brain.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

As we went along we used 1/8″ spacers in most places to keep everything even. In some places we didn’t use them because the tile cuts weren’t 100% even so it looked a little weird using a spacer, or the spacer wouldn’t stay put.

You can see in the picture above that we just tiled around the outlets. This is because we didn’t have the proper tools to make the types of cuts we needed. This can sometimes be avoided by laying out a pattern in a way that doesn’t have weird cuts.

We left all the spots around the outlets without tile, and took tiles to Chris’s brother’s house to have him cut them (since he had the right tools). Afterwards we then reapplied some mastic on the wall and to the tiles.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

Here is what the tile looked like from a distance once we put it all up.

Then we let it sit for longer than the recommended amount of time before we grouted. We definitely did not choose the best timing to decide to grout. It was around 11:00 PM when we started. We would’ve done it during the day but Chris had Little T over night and we had to wait until he went to bed. 2 year old boys are not very good at entertaining themselves when house work is going on.

Another problem we ran into was rock hard grout. We had to chisel away at the chunk to get usable grout which ended up having little chunky pieces even after we mixed it with water.

If we had started doing this during the day we would have said screw it and just went to buy a new bag of grout but we were tired, wanted to get it done, and it was so late so nowhere close was open. This made it a pain in the behind to apply, but overall didn’t really hinder the way the grout looked.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

Here’s the grout right after we applied it and before we wiped anything off. Do you like our light strategy? We had to be super quiet because our house only has one heat source and we couldn’t shut Little T’s door all the way because it would get too cold in his room. So instead of turning the kitchen light on and risking waking him up, we just used this and moved it around.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

This picture is after I wiped everything down with a damp cloth to clean the grout lines up, but not necessarily to get the tile perfectly clean (I have yet to do that).

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

Here is a close up of an area that I got pretty clean.

I really liked the light look of the tile without the grout, and I was a little nervous about what the tile would look like with the dark grout. However, I really like the way it turned out! I think it goes quite nicely with the counter tops and the tile doesn’t stick out as being too modern.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

As a reminder that is what the kitchen looked like originally.

DIY Ceramic Tile Backsplash

This is what it looks like now. It’s a little discombobulated, but with some new flooring and painted white cabinets it will look prim and proper.

My main suggestion would be to make sure your materials aren’t going to cause you any headache. I’m all about reusing materials so they don’t go to waste but I think I much rather would have bought new grout. Cutting the tiles wasn’t a bad choice, but it was a little nerve wracking that everything wasn’t completely straight as this was my first time doing tile.

The most frustrating part was trying to find the right time to do the project, and I could have benefited from slightly better planning. Overall, I’m satisfied and this was a much needed update.

Have a good holiday, and see you around!

Lauren <3

 

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Cleaning Cabinet Hardware Naturally

Once upon a time in an insane land far away, I thought my landlords were going to let me paint my cabinets. In some fantasy I’m still holding onto hope they will. I feel like a broken record at this point, repeating my wishes constantly.

Because I thought they were going to say yes, I spent the time and energy taking all the upper cabinet doors off, labeling them with sticky notes, and cleaning the hardware. I put all the hardware in separate baggies with numbers that correspond with the cabinet they go on.

 Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have

To clean the door’s hardware I put them in separate containers to clean them. I sprinkled baking soda on them before covering them in distilled white vinegar and let them soak for a few hours.

Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have

After soaking I scrubbed the hardware with an SOS pad and rinsed. The baking soda and vinegar really did a good job of loosening up the gunk that was caked on. If you’re in the process of revamping your cabinets and are reusing your hardware I really recommend doing this step. You can really get into every crevice when the hardware is not on the door.

Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have

Here are a few side by sides of how much of a difference this can make. Plus, a reminder at how horribly disgusting my cabinets are.

Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have Cleaning Cabinet Hardware | Super easy technique for cleaning hardware with items you probably already have

Now I sit and wait until my wish comes true. My cabinets are without doors, and the insides are begging me to paint them. I’ve done a few of the inside shelves as you may have already seen here, and I’m slowly painting them while I wait. I hope I don’t finish all the insides of the cabinets and clean all of the hardware before I get to paint. At least I will have something to keep me busy in the mean time.

When is the last time you thought about cleaning your hardware? Do you get impatient waiting to do your next big project, and how do you deal with the anticipation?

See You Around!

Lauren <3

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DIY Plank Vinyl Floor – Bathroom Update

I am so excited to finally have this project done. I’ve been waiting at least a couple of months to put the new bathroom floor in, and we finally had time to do it! On Halloween weekend nonetheless, but it was worth it 😀

As you may know if you’ve been following along, we got free Mannington Adura floors from Chris’s dad who installs floors for a living and had leftovers from a job! This stuff is awesome. I can already tell it’s going to be really durable, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. The style and color is called Dockside Seashell. This whole name confused me when we first got it, but I’ll break it down. Mannington is the brand, Adura is a type of “luxury vinyl”, Dockside is the style/grain on the wood, and Seashell is the gray color.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

Just a reminder, above is what my bathroom looked like before in all its carpeted glory.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

Here is what we found when we moved the toilet. A nasty wax ring, and a nasty unpainted wall! woo. I honestly wasn’t surprised one bit. Grossed out? Yes. Surprised? No.

 DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom UpdateDIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

The next step was removing the carpet, and the layer underneath. Luckily the floor that was under the carpet was in good shape and we didn’t have to remove it all the way down to the concrete.

Next we pulled the tack strips up, swept and cleaned the floor thoroughly before we laid the glue down.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

To lay the glue down we started with just one side of the room so it was easier to work. There are instructions that come with the glue but basically you just dump some glue on the floor and use a trowel to spread it around. Then you put a fan on it and wait until it gets tacky or until it is mostly clear. You want to be able to adjust the pieces a little bit, but not enough for them to slide around on you while you work.

To start the floor we put a full size board in the top left corner. Then we cut a board to fit in the space below. The remaining piece from the second board is then put at the top in the next row. Just keep alternating like this and you will get a floor with a good pattern. This is what the professional told us to do, I wouldn’t make this stuff up! 😛

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

To cut the boards we just used a square and a box knife. In some cases we had to measure the length of the board we needed, but most of the time it was easier to put the board next to where it needed to be laid and make a mark with the knife of where to cut. Generally the boards just need to be scored with the knife, and you can snap it.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

Above is where we stopped before laying more glue. Once the rest of the floor was ready to be done Chris sat on the boards we already put in place, and cut the boards on top of a cardboard box.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

When we got to this point Chris had to measure how wide of a piece he needed and cut the boards long way. This was pretty difficult using the square, but I imagine there is an easier way to do it so the cut is even the whole way down. We had a little bit of a struggle, but overall it ended up fine.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

After the floor was all down there were still a few things I wanted to fix before putting everything back together. One of the things was painting this wall! I couldn’t put the toilet back knowing that this monstrosity was behind it. It just wouldn’t feel like a complete reno. Also notice the rotted out trim in the corner.. we’ll get to that in a bit 😉

The first thing I did was wipe the nastiness off the wall with a hot rag.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

Then I sanded the wall so the paint was able to stick well, primed it, and then painted it!

Notice the rotted trim looks different? I used Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty to fill in the holes and prevent the wood from rotting further. It is a powdered material, and you just add water to activate it. Mix it up and apply it to the surface. I just used my hands since that seemed easiest. This stuff is moldable, sandable, and paintable. And since it comes in powdered form you don’t have to worry about it setting up in the container. It’s super cheap too and I already have other plans for it around the house 😀 I think this is my new favorite home improvement product.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

The other thing we did was get rid of the yucky wax seal, and instead of replacing it with another wax seal we opted for a universal reusable seal. It was like $7, and is somewhat adjustable. The whole thing was too tall so we just removed a layer of the spongy stuff in the middle.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

The last thing I decided to do was quickly go over the trim with a coat of paint. I’ve painted the bathroom trim before, but now the floor height is lower and some ugly areas were uncovered. As usual I sanded and wiped it down first.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

The trim looks as fresh as it’s good ole pal the floor. 😉

Now are you ready for the finished product??? are you sure?? okay, here it is!! 😀

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

It’s everything I dreamed and more. No joke. I feel like it just makes the space feel so much bigger, brighter, and lighter. It’s amazing.

The bathroom has come such a long way since we moved in and I think it’s becoming one of my favorite spots in the house if it wasn’t already. I can’t wait to show the landlords the results.

Next my plans are to re caulk the shower, and paint the new trim piece between the carpet and the vinyl. I also need to look into cosmetic fixes for the shower surround.

DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update DIY Plank Vinyl Floor - Bathroom Update

Here’s a side by side just as a reminder 🙂

Do you love it too? Do you feel like you could tackle a similar project after reading this post? What’s your favorite flooring?

See You Around!

Lauren <3

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Thrifty Bathroom Storage

My bathroom is pretty small, and seriously lacking in the storage department along with the rest of my house. I’m a total storage and organization nerd, and I would spend SO much money on storage if I could. But since I can’t, I’m always looking for thrifty ways to get the same effect. The other day Chris and I were at Goodwill, and he spotted this 3 piece bathroom organizer for only $10!! Thrifty bathroom storage for the win!

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

I found the exact same thing in the $30 range online!! For some reason I couldn’t find this exact thing on Wal-Mart’s website. Maybe they don’t sell it anymore? In that case this piece is a collector’s item 😉 I was a little nervous to buy it at first because I thought maybe some of the pieces were missing. The box was taped really well, but I was able to peek inside and see that the pieces were still in the plastic bags. So, we decided to take a chance on it.

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

When I got all the pieces out I found half of the directions and got scared until I found the other half. Nothing a little tape can’t fix!

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

After I fixed the directions I pulled all the pieces and was making sure they were all there. And then I came across this…

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

You can’t really see it on the paper, but this is supposed to be one piece. I don’t know what happened but there are two of these parts, and both of them were broken. I put the rest of the shelf together while I figured out how to fix these pieces. They went on top so they weren’t necessary, but it would be better if they could be used.

Finally I remembered some sort of welding stuff that came in a tube. I had seen it on Pinterest before but couldn’t remember exactly what it was. When Chris came home from work he told me it was called JB Weld and he already had some! 😀

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

It comes in two tubes. One labeled hardener and one labeled steel. He just mixed a fair amount together (equal amounts of both) on a piece of cardboard and applied it to each broken piece. We let it sit over night and it was all fixed!

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

Not the prettiest repair job, but it’s fixed and it’s not very noticeable when the shelf is all put together.

Thrifty Bathroom Storage #thriftstorefinds #goodwill

I’ll have to figure out what all I want to store on here, and how to style it but for now I’m just happy to at least have a place to set things 🙂 I want to store towels on it, but most of the ones we have are stained and ugly. That’s another thing I need to invest in.

Have you ever ran into a thrift store disaster, or had a close call? What was your favorite thrift store find?

See You Around!

Lauren <3

Posted on

Painting Cabinet Shelves

The cabinet painting is still basically at a halt. The landlords still say no. However, I still have hope and the next plan is to get an extra box of flooring that we will be using in the bathroom, and then we’ll have enough to do the kitchen too. But, we’ll tell the landlords we can’t do it unless we paint the cabinets. Yellow cabinets do not look good with beautiful gray barn wood looking floors. Hopefully this last resort tactic works. I might just have to paint them anyway, but I rather not.

Since I can’t paint the outside of the cabinets I’ve started painting the insides since they desperately need it too.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

This is a different cabinet than I painted, but I had already peeled too much paint off for you to see how dirty it was to start with. I cleaned the shelves really well and they’re still too dingy to be left alone.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

You can see here how the paint is peeling. The peeling is worse in some of the other cabinets.

The worst part about the cabinets is that they trapped the smell of food horribly. Even after I cleaned the cabinets and let them air out without food for a while, I could smell it again shortly after I put everything back.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

Here is the cabinet I painted with most of the paint peeled off the bottom, and quite a bit off the walls. I peeled as much off as I could before sanding it down and wiping up the dust.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

Above is the cabinet with a coat of primer. When I painted the wall trim I didn’t put a coat of primer on it, and I wish I did because it might have helped it from getting dinged up again. I absolutely hate dealing with the peeling paint, so I hope that this primer will cut down on that.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

The cabinet with a coat of paint and all dry.

Painting Cabinet Shelves Painting Cabinet Shelves

Here are comparison photos of a painted shelf and a non painted shelf. The bottom shelf in both pictures is painted, and the top one is not.

Painting Cabinet Shelves

Painting Cabinet Shelves

The cabinet is put back together, now I just need to find a better way to organize the spices. I’ll slowly work on painting a shelf or two at a time and hopefully that will keep my mind off wanting to paint the outsides.

I should make decent progress if I don’t get too irritated with having to peel all the paint off. I might, however, get a little grossed out with doing some of the lower cabinets by the sink that are exposed to the pipes inside the wall. Maybe I’ll come up with another project entirely to make them look more finished.

What’s your worst home improvement nightmare? Do you have any tips for organizing spices?

See You Around!

Lauren <3