Updating the Outlets and Vents

The one great thing we noted about our house when we were looking at the first time was the ample amount of outlets. There is at least six in every room plus at lest 2 vents and were all either almond colored or an odd metal finish. Vents are expensive and we didn't feel like buying 40 covers, so we decided to just grab some spray paint and update all of the outlets and vents. We used Rustoleum Satin White we picked up  for $6 and Rustoleum Clear Semi-Gloss for plastics for $4 from Wal-Mart. So for $10 we changed a small feature in our house but made a big difference.

After we took off all the covers and vents, we made sure to give them a good cleaning before we laid them out to be painted. A few of them didn't get a good wipe down and started to bubble up because the paint didn't have a good surface to stick to. We did two coats of the white and then two of the clear. The clear spray paint just ensures that scratches won't peel the paint off. You can also prime the pieces first if you don't buy the 2-in-1 stuff. Young House Love did that in their Updating Hardware post.

Favorite Finds for September

Our flooring situation has changed. The quote for the sheet vinyl came back with an insane prep and installation fee, so we decided to look for other options. We ran to Home Depot to return some things and decided to look at the vinyl tile. To our surprise we found this Carrara Marble vinyl tile that I fell in love with. My original kitchen mood board had wood flooring that I thought we could match to our hardwoods. But after we refinished them, we just could not find one that matched the beautiful grain that came out. That's when we decided to go to a local store and have them install some of their sheet vinyl. Unfortunately, they only had a medium gray tile that I could settle for even though I was looking for a white one. So when we came across this vinyl tile at Home Depot that we could install ourselves for 1/4 of the sheet vinly price, we immediately made a decision. Yesterday we leveled the floor underneath and are going to install it this weekend. Yayy! Wednesday we'll share our updated vents and outlets that we DIYed. P.S. There is a 30-50% off Home Sale at Macy's for 48 hours!

Since I don't have any new renovation pictures to share, here is a few cute items for the upcoming fall season. You can follow my Pinterest Favorite Finds board to see all the past items I've posted about and some that I will link to in future posts! I'm seriously envying the duvet for our new king bed and am going to DIY that awesome chalkboard art. The Rewind Champagne candle is one of the best smelling candles I've ever some across. They make candles in all kinds of wine scents and they smell crazy good.

Hand art / Candle /  Turkish rug / Basket / Rug /  Duvet /Throw 

 White Soap Dish / Black Soap Dish / Waste bin (silver version) 

Installing New Modern Kitchen Counter-tops

Today is the day, we finally got our new kitchen counter tops installed! Here's where we got them and the new cabinets in. It's hard to believe that just a few days ago we had the 70's vibe counters that were gross beyond belief. We also installed the sink and faucet that we got from Home Depot and pulled up the ugly vinyl. That took about an hour and a half and resulted in some sore backs the next day. The faucet turned out better than I had hoped. I was worried that because we settled for a satin nickle finish, it wouldn't match the gold we had planned. But after doing some research on how to mix finishes and reading Studio McGee's post, I had some confidence that it would work out.

Here is what the kitchen looked like before.

And here's what it looks like now with the new counters.

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Update on our progress: today the electrician and Internet guys are at the house doing their thing. Yay for internet! The electrician is putting in an outlet in the full bathroom because it didn't have one (I don't know why). Next the counter guy can come and then the floor guy! Now for the usual other stuff for today.

This bathroom picture from Kate La Vie' post is giving me a bunch of inspiration for our half bath off of the master. When I think of tiling, like most people, I think of a straight edge where it meets the wall. But this picture blew my mind. Laying the tile in a herringbone pattern and leaving it unfinished gives the space a texture and a pattern at the same time.

Updating Old Hollow-Core Interior Doors

Things are coming along you guys! This week we have gotten all the outlets and vent covers repainted and put back up. I am putting the last few top coats on the cabinets and we got the plumbing leak fixed. The floor and counter guys are supposed to come in the next week, and then we can put the sink and pendant in. It feels like we keep saying we're so close to moving in because I say it every time, but now we seriously are. Waiting on other people just stinks because you have to work around their schedule. Thankfully, the Internet guy is coming tomorrow, so I can watch Netflix while doing stuff. 

Does anyone else have an old house with old doors? Yeah, I'm talking about those cheap hollow-core doors that have yellowed over they years but you don't want to spend the money to replace them. Well, that's where we're at. Interior doors aren't as expensive as exterior doors, but they are still too expensive for us right now (this one at Home Depot is beautiful). So we decided to skip the new stuff and just revamp our old stuff. The process was pretty simple; we just painted the doors, painted the knobs, and then painted the faux-knob housing. The inspiration behind painting the knobs to look like they were sitting on plates was this knob at Home Depot. After I put the knobs back on the plain white door, it just looked like a painted hollow-core door. With the faux-plates, it looks just a little bit nicer and livable until we can afford to really invest in good doors and knobs. We used Sherwin William's Extra-White trim paint in semi-gloss, the same stuff we used for the trim. I picked up some black matte spray paint and a top coat for $10. Here are the steps we went through, and you can to, to update your old hollow core doors.

1. Paint the doors. Obviously.

2. Paint the knobs with color and top coat. Taking them off the doors will make it 10x's easier. I used some spray paint I picked up at Home Depot for $10.

Putting Down Quarter-Round

We are getting anxious to get in this house you guys. So anxious, we just ripped out the old counter top and sink before we were done painting everything and moved some of our stuff into the bedrooms. No sink obviously makes things more difficult, but it felt like we were getting somewhere. After the last coats of top coating go on the cabinets, we really only have to have the vinyl and counter top guys come out before we can start moving stuff in, eek!

After the floors were refinished here, we were going to put quarter-round down to polish it off. The house came with some pretty hardwood natural quarter-round, but after taking the whole of it out we decided to buy new ones. It seemed easier to buy it than try to repair the ones we had broken, try to get the million and one nails out without breaking them more, and then painting them twice. In lieu of the hours it would have taken to do all that, we decided to scrap the old ones, run to Home Depot and get 200ft.(61¢ per ft.) of primed quarter-round for just $120. It was well worth the money. Auston lined up and painted them all trim white with one coat, and installed it over the weekend.

Here is the living room right after they refinished the floors, with no quarter round. There is a gap between the floor and the baseboards, making it look unfinished and a nice place for bugs to hide (ew!).

And here is part of the room with quarter round installed.

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In case you haven't seen, Target is having a huge 30% off home items. I snagged this adjustable floor lamp that I have been eyeing for the living room and this double lamp for the office. Lamps are perhaps the best thing to happen to homes since electricity. Registries are such a wonderful thing becuase you can use them even after whatever event you got it for. I keep all ours we did from the wedding up to date just in case someone needs a birthday, Christmas, or whatever occasion gift idea. I love giving presents and I think registries are a great tool because you know you're getting something the person really wants.

Speaking of gifts, do you ever want to send someone a small, cute, personalized and inexpensive gift for any occasion? Greetabl is here to rescue you. They make a small box that you pick the pattern of, fill it with whatever gift at whatever price point you want, and then put in a personalized message and pictures. The gift giver in me is just jumping for joy. They have the best taste in patterns and gifts they offer, and give you great advice if you don't know what to write in your message.

Currently, I am dreaming about a cozy bedroom like this one from Room&Board. I usually don't like canopy beds, but this modern wood looks amazing in the fresh white room.