Tuesday, August 23, 2011

While they were sleeping...

As you may remember, we moved into a house, that we are renting, this past January. When we first moved in, there were 2 rooms that I made some changes to immediately. I'm trying to link to the old post but it's not working, sorry.

But since then, I haven't really done anything. Although I have lots of ideas of things I'd do if this were our home but since it's not, it doesn't make a lot of sense to put a lot of money into it. But the other day, I was in the kids' bathroom and I noticed that the wallpaper was beginning to peel in several places. And I thought, "I could take down the wallpaper, use the paint I have left over from the dining room & be done with it. Easy peasy." Famous last words...

Here's some before shots~


As you can see, lots of brass and lots & lots of flowers. The thing we ALL hate most about this bathroom is the shower curtain rod. It was here when we moved in. It's plastic & brass with grooves & the hooks are suppose to slide through the grooves except that they don't! So to open the curtain, you have slide each hook individually! If I change nothing else, that curtain rod is going!



I started Monday morning by removing the wallpaper. If you follow me on twitter, you may have read my mid-morning tweet asking, "Is it common to wallpaper directly to the drywall? Sure makes it hard to remove." Yes, the wallpaper was directly on the drywall & it was not coming off easily. After several responses to my tweet, @HisHollySmith gave me some tips to help it come off easier. While the boys were napping, I was able to get the rest of the wallpaper off. My original plan was to paint immediately but because of the lack of primer on the wall, I knew I'd need to prime it first. When Steven came home Monday afternoon, I waited for him to see the bathroom but since he rarely uses this one, he didn't see it. So I decided I'd see how long it took for him to notice.

On Tuesday morning, I primed the walls, taped & painted the trim. I decided to spray paint the hardware with some rubbed oil bronze spray paint that I already had. I was too chicken to try to take the light fixture down, so this is what I did~



So professional.
I knew that if I got any of the spray paint on the wall, I could use the primer to cover it before I painted. See, there is a method to my madness.
While the boys were napping, I got the paint on the walls. Steven still didn't notice the bathroom.
On Wednesday, I painted a 2nd coat & did the touch ups.
After~







Here's the breakdown:
paint- free, already had it
spray paint- free, already had it
2nd can of spray paint b/c I used all of the other can- $3
tape- $2
new shower rod- $10
shower rings- already had but they got a coat of paint
Grand Total- $15

On Saturday night, Steven came into the bedroom and (jokingly) said, "there's something different about the bathroom?" Ha! He couldn't believe that I'd done it without him even knowing.
One more side by side before and after~



Aaaaahhhh, so much better, at least I think so.

Monday, August 8, 2011

First Day of School...




Today was the first day of school for Emma & Dougie. Emma is starting to 8th grade and Dougie is starting 5th grade. Would someone please tell me how we went from this~
2007 4th grade & 1st grade

to this 2011, 8th grade & 5th


What's even scarier, this time next year Emma will be starting HIGH SCHOOL! OMW!!

If you need me, I'll be on the couch in the fetal position!!


Love y'all dearly.