Kitchen remodel on the cheap!

I'm finally posting my kitchen reno!! It's been done for awhile, but we haven't gotten around to grouting our backsplash yet... Since that's not on the top of my "house to-do list" right now, I figured I'd go ahead and share the pictures with y'all. Enjoy!

Getting a farmhouse sink was a deal breaker for me... So Nick searched online  for quite awhile before he found this affordable one from Lowes. (Bonus: it has a double basin!!!!!) 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We needed to keep our costs low, but desperately needed new countertops... So we decided to do these DIY butcher block ones which I ABSOLUTELY love!!!

We basically bought the cheap wood from Home Depot (a 2x12, 2-2x6's and a 2x2) for the length of our countertops. After attaching new sub countertops, we screwed in our wood from underneath, filled the gaps with wood filler, sanded, stained, and applied 7 coats of poly.

These countertops cost less than $150!!

Some good news for those trying to design on a dime is: those cheap subway tiles are totally in!! I love the retro vibe. Bringing your backsplash all the way up to your cabinets makes a big difference in the look of your kitchen!

We kept the original custom cabinets, giving them a fresh coat of paint and new hardware. We spray painted the hinges oil rubbed bronze to match the new door handles and light fixtures.

Coffee bar!!! This was an old (and extremely ugly) desk that my grandmother didn't want. I painted it with some leftover cabinet paint and sanded it a bit for an antique look. I also removed the keyboard shelf and built a couple of storage shelves for that bottom left corner to make it look less like a desk. My grandma has a vast antique drip coffee pot collection. The top of my coffee bar was the perfect display spot!

This is probably my favorite project I did personally in the kitchen... The trash can drawer! There wasn't a good spot for a trash can and having it out and visible drove me nuts! I converted these regular drawers into a pull out trash bin by knocking out the bottom section of the top drawer and removing the tracks. I then connected the 2 drawers with scrap wood on the sides and back and... Voila! Besides buying the trash can to fit inside, this project was FREE! (My favorite kind!)

Other side of the kitchen.... This fridge was left here for us and is very old, but still works fine all except the ice dispenser. Eventually we are going to purchase a stainless counter depth model. (Check out my vintage glass door knob on my pantry!! :)

I just love sentimental details! This arrangement is from my bridesmaid bouquet at my sisters wedding... ❤️

I made these "little kid" benches for either side of the coffee bar with a basket under them for each kid. This is near our entry, so it's a great place for them to take off their shoes and stick them out of sight. :) (Baskets from Walmart, Wooden letters from Hobby Lobby)

Well, that's about it! Posting new rooms very soon... Hope you enjoyed!

Master bathroom update

I finished my master bathroom just in time for Thanksgiving. We had the whole fam over our new place for turkey day and it was just the push I needed to get some things accomplished- with a little time to spare before baby #4 makes her arrival. :)

Enjoy!

BEfORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Dining Room re-vamp

Okay, so the dining room was the easiest room in the house, because not much needed to be done in there. (You may remember that my Mamaw asked me to re-do this one room for her 4 years ago when she lived here- I posted about it here: http://thelyricalsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/mawmaws-dining-room-makeover.html

All it needed was a little tweaking to fit my personal style a little more. Here is the BEFORE :

I really should have closed those blinds (sorry!) but if you view my post from 4 years ago- you will see what the table looked like a little better. 

She left this in the house for us when they moved since it wouldn't fit in her new place and we had gotten rid of ours. The color of the wood was just not me- a little "orangey" is how I described it. So I did the Pinterest thing and stuck some wood on the top toake my own DIY farmhouse table:

The bottom of the table and chairs got painted white. We realized this table was badly bowed after we started using it, so that was another benefit of this project: I was able to give it a level surface by adding the wood on top. (It was so bowed that I had to cut some mdf for the center to support the wood. It all got attached with liquid nails and screws.)

This table project cost me about $80 total. Certainly cheaper than buying a new table!

Oh- and I built this bench for the kids:

I'm super proud of this bench :) I'd never built something people could sit on before, lol. I viewed a lot of easy DIY bench tutorials online and kinda winged it from there using some leftover fencing materials we had from our rent house. Meaning: this project was FREE! That is probably what brings me the most satisfaction about it. ;) 

My dad had some cedar logs that he sliced up for us to use in my sister's wedding decor last year. (They actually came from my great grandparent's property in MS, which was very special.) We still have a bunch of this wood sitting around, so I decided to chop one in half to make little shelves for some plants. That cedar smells AMAZING when you walk by!! (Thanks to HGTV's Fixer Upper, I'm suddenly obsessed with hanging flowers and plants on the wall in unique ways...:)

Well that's about it for this room. I'll share pics of another space soon! 

Boy's Room Makeover

My boy's room is FINALLY *officially* finished! It's really been done for awhile (before we moved in I was working on it) but I had to save my pennies for the perfect light fixture to complete the space. (Which came from Lowes btw :)

Here are the BEFORE pictures:

Sort of typical 90's decor. Don't you love how I'm too lazy to get my kid out of the picture? 😜

...And there he is again. Must have been super satisfied playing with that blanket, and hey- why mess up a good thing, right?

Okay, so here is the BIG reveal!! Benjamin told me he wanted an "outer space" room. He is super into Star Wars right now (um, who isn't?) but this momma does not do "themey", and I wanted something that would also appeal to the boys for quite awhile as they get older. I am SO happy with the results!

AFTER pictures:

So I added a casing trim about 8" down from the ceiling which helped make that starry sky seem bigger and heightened our 8' ceilings. 

Choosing the right colors was key in not making the room too dark. I ended up with Behr's Pixel White on the walls (really more gray) and Cosmic Blue on the ceiling.

The bedding is from Target and I made the star pillows (copying something I saw on Etsy.) The exposed seams fitting right in with the style of the room made that a super easy and cheap project!

There's my Pinterest rain gutter bookshelves and DIY roman shades over mini blinds projects :)

I'm in love with this little rocking hair I bought on Craigslist and that is Nick's old toy chest in the window on left. It houses all the dress up stuff :) (My kids are costume fanatics!)

Another view...

I just had to use this scripture in the room- so perfect! (Frame: IKEA)

For a pop of color on the adjacent wall, I spray painted an old mirror I already had a Marigold yellow color. (Lamp: Ross)

Aaand... Yay for toy storage!

(Large gray tubs and outer space rug: Target, small blue tubs: Dollar Tree)

Well that about about wraps it up! My boys think their room is AWESOME, it has all the functions I was hoping, and I smile when I walk into it, so I think: mission accomplished! :)

The New House Makeover- Adalynn's Room

Hello all, I'm back!! Some of you know I was sick for several months recently with baby #4. It got pretty severe this time. We're talking losing 12% of my body weight, multiple trips to the hospital, 3 months on the couch, couldn't keep water down....  Yeah. It was rough.

They call it hyperemesis gravidarum, and it is no joke! Doing some research made me realize just how bad some people can get- even needing hospitalization their entire pregnancy and/or losing their baby! Thank the Lord I didn't get that bad!! 

I'm about 20 wks now and just have "normal" mild morning sickness lingering. But I am finally living again!! I can't say "thank you" enough to those of you who prayed, sent me a "get well" text, cooked us a meal, offered to keep my kids... You just have no idea how much it was needed and how much it meant! I am forever indebted to you guys! ❤️

I am SO excited to resume working on the house and I can't wait to show you all the transformations that are taking place in each room of this beautiful country home we are buying from my grandparents! (Move in should be happening in a few weeks... !!!!!)

So without further adieu... 

Here is Adalynn's room:

Wall Stencil- Michael's

Owl lamp base- Walmart

"A"- Hobby Lobby (painted and glued onto a frame purchased elsewhere)

Paint- Sherwin Williams 

SW6597 Hopeful (darker pink)

SW6595 Armour Pink (lighter pink)

Closet Hardware Knobs- Home Depot

Chandelier- Reused from her old room (originally purchased at Home Depot, spray painted white)

KidKraft kitchen- purchased online

Kid table and chairs- purchased on Craigslist and painted white

Annabel duvet cover- Serena & Lily 

Window Sheers- eBay 

Our EXTREMELY tiny new home ;)

I've heard stories of people doing this before... Moving into an RV in order to get out of debt or build a house mortgage free. It sounded brilliant and crazy. Definitely not something I was considering doing!

But, then one day (after running the numbers,) Nick and I looked at each and said, "What on earth are we waiting for?! Let's do this thing!" 

Becoming debt free wasn't happening as quickly as we wanted, and our dream of building a house in the country seemed so far in the future... Who wants to build a house for their family just before they all graduate, get married and move away? If it was gonna take that long to accomplish our goals I really didn't see the point. So... We decided to sell most of our possessions, rent out our home, and move into a travel trailer on my parents property. 

Not having to pay our mortgage alongside the profit from rent each month is going to enable us to reach our financial goals about 10 times faster. It's exhilarating! (A feeling extremely necessary to inspire one to move their family of 5 into a 8' x 28' dwelling.) :D

We got a sweet deal on a used travel trailer and love it so much we have no plans of selling it after we build. The interior was so much more beautiful than anything could have hoped for- but the fabric was not to my taste, so, of course, I did a little remodeling!!! 

So, if you are like me, all you really want to see is PICTURES! Here are some before & afts:

Bedroom Before:

Bedroom After:

Having a window directly over my head while sleeping felt odd to me, so I removed the cornice and covered the window with a headboard I built specifically for this space. Tip: when building things for an RV, your goal should be to keep things as light as possible. I used thin pine wall paneling as opposed to 1x4's for this headboard. Total cost: $12.

Here's another view of the bedroom:

Kitchen Before:

(This kitchen totally sold me on this rv!!!)

Kitchen After:

The cabinets and flooring were already great (thank goodness!) so mainly what I changed was all the fabrics inside and the wallpaper border. I left the cornices in the kitchen and covered them with a blue geometric fabric. (I bought 1 curtain panel from Lowe's and cut it up to make all my curtains. I actually did no sewing on these- just gluing and utilizing the hems already present.

 I applied this border directly over the old one:

This is a paintable wallpaper border I purchased at Lowe's (which I just left white.) I felt it had a wood moulding sort of a look and really dressed it up without any added weight or difficult application. It was $7 a roll (I think) and I used a little over a roll. A friend if mine used this exact stuff on the fronts of her stairs and it's gorgeous! Can't tell at all it's not wood!

Here's the Living area Before pic:

(And my little cutie checking out the place :)

See all the green?? And tan?? And ugh?!

Yeah, I had to change all that.

Living room after:

I removed the cornices in here and put up small brushed nickel curtain rods (cheap ones from walmart.) I slip covered the dinette cushions with canvas drop cloths purchased at Lowes. That was the most time consuming part- but I'm glad I did it! Still thinking of changing that light fixture...

Here's what it looks like with the table in: (which we don't use all that much except for school. I just prefer it as an open couch type of space)

The table folds down and the dinette makes into a bed which is where the kids sleep. Most of time I just remove the edge cushions and they sleep like that with Gabe's playpen slid in that middle section (perfect fit!)

Here is another angle of the living space:

The toilet room:

And here is our bathroom area and shower (this is a before pic, but not much has changed in this area. I am considering doing a peel and stick backplash at the sink...)

And here is the outside:

(Which I was pleasantly surprised to find out after we had purchased it- has an outdoor shower!! Perfect for hosing off muddy kids pre-bath :)

Well, that is all. I may do a video in the future explaining where we keep our stuff and how we function in this small space. I've learned a lot from rv living Pinterest boards. 

Bye for now!!