The year began with a bang on a super simple project that went viral -
the mason jar soap pump. This is my second most popular post of all time (although the turquoise chalk paint armoire beats the competition by a mile!)
I tried my hand at making a sign:
I painted my
tree stump and added a fleur-de-lis design. I made a table out of it using a piece of glass as a tabletop.
I tackled my mudroom and laundry, adding much needed storage to this house! Nothing you see in this photo was here when I moved in. I installed a closet organizer (the shelves with the clothes rods at the side). I also bought a cabinet and installed a laundry tub and built shelves over the top and a little counter at the side. Then, with the help of friends, I installed a new dryer vent and stacked my new washer and dryer.
I finished off my front entry by installing beadboard on one wall to cover up missing drywall and built a cover for my electrical panel.
Then I converted my coffee table to a bar height table by swapping out the legs for longer 2x2 legs that I cut to the height I wanted.
I found a 5 panel door at a garage sale and added legs and some trim to create a king-sized headboard:
I made over my Ikea chair using a shower curtain for the slipcover.
To add storage to my kitchen, I bought some Ikea brackets and used some wood I had on hand to build shelves on one wall.
and added a pot rack that I hung vertically:
I took a 6 cube storage piece that I didn't really like, added legs and a table top and made a cool console out of it.
I attempted mitered corners for the first time when I built a hook rack from scratch.
I built my own shutters from a 10' 1x8 piece of pre-primed pine.
My greatest triumph of all this year, came with my
Impossibilities Challenge of renovating a bathroom completely on my own. I don't have photos of the original bathroom - can you say U-G-L-Y???
It had vertical tongue and groove dark orange stained knotty pine boards on every wall and an even uglier imitation drop-ceiling treatment (yep, weird. Not a drop-ceiling, some fibreboard thingy designed to look like one). The bathtub had a storage cupboard built over the top of it (nothing like mouldy storage units). The vanity had a medicine chest complete with Hollywood light strip that wasn't hardwired to a switch. SHUDDER! Do you understand why I never photographed it?
This is what it looked like after the demo was done and I had installed new insulation.
and this is what it looks like now.
The plumbing hasn't been done yet and I still need to install the door frame and door, the crown moulding and baseboards. What a job! I hope to have the whole thing done and functioning by Spring 2013. I am exceptionally proud of myself!
Thank you for following along with me on my journey to renovate and decorate my house. The blogging community has been so inspirational to me, giving me tons of ideas and direction. I really appreciate all of you for your support, your uplifting comments and your unflagging belief that I could do this work myself.
You are all ROCK STARS!
Here's to a happy and successful 2013 - onward and upward!
If you missed Part 1 - The Power of Paint, click HERE
