Before and After

$130 DIY Small Laundry Closet Storage Ideas & Makeover

$130 DIY Small Laundry Closet Storage Ideas & Makeover

When we bought our house, one of the few things I disliked about it was that it had the laundry room off of the kitchen and it was very far away from the bedrooms. It is crammed into a corner in the eat-in-kitchen and enclosed with bi-fold doors. Inside were those builder grade wire racks in an awkward U-shape. The laundry closet is just deep enough to house our top loading washer and dryer but not much else. I never snapped a photo of the inside, but here is how it looked right when we moved in.

Downtown Raleigh Bungalow Project | Screened in Porch

Downtown Raleigh Bungalow Project | Screened in Porch

This particular project was so fun because we got to see this screened in porch addition come to life from the ground up! The space started as a deck, but the homeowners hired a contractor to transition it into a screened porch. Here in Raleigh, we get more than our fair share of sweltering summer days and pesky mosquitoes, so a screened in porch is a pretty solid investment!

Review of WallPops Peel and Stick Vinyl Floor Tiles FloorPops

Review of WallPops Peel and Stick Vinyl Floor Tiles FloorPops

It’s been about six months since we wrapped up our $500 guest bathroom makeover for the One Room Challenge. You can go and see the before and afters, as well as budget breakdown of this room here. We used a new-to-me product in that project called FloorPops by WallPops which are cheap vinyl floor tiles that are self adhesive and printed with today’s popular patterns. In other words, they’re not your grandmother’s vinyl. :) During that project, a few people asked about the product and how I thought it would hold up. I totally get the concern - we too were skeptical about using a peel and stick product and have not had the greatest luck with them in the past. This being the case, I wanted to give it some time before I gave my honest opinion, good or bad. Also, FYI, this post is not sponsored or anything. This is just my experience and opinion.

One Room Challenge | Guest Bathroom - Week 6: The Reveal

One Room Challenge | Guest Bathroom - Week 6: The Reveal

I am thrilled to be joining in on all of the fun of the One Room Challenge as a guest participant this fall. The ORC is something I have followed forever but the timing was never right for me to sign up to participate. You may have seen my post a few days ago about our tired guest bathroom and I’m excited to transform this outdated space over the next 6 weeks for the One Room Challenge. Of course, it will all be done on a budget. ;)

Hardware to go with Brass Hinges & Other Affordable Options

Hardware to go with Brass Hinges & Other Affordable Options

I mentioned a while back that my parents had begun renovating their 1990s builder grade home (which is basically in original condition). It'll be an on-going project, but they have started renovating the 90's kitchen and it already looks like a completely different space! The old oak cabinets got a fresh coat of white paint and we painted the small island a contrasting gray to mix things up (Sherwin Williams Functional Gray). My parents chose to hire a professional painter to tackle the cabinet makeover, which I believe was a wise choice. Painting kitchen cabinets is not a quick weekend project and the paint will peel if the cabinets are not prepped correctly (been there, done that). If you choose to DIY, make sure you take the time to clean, sand, and prime the cabinets and allocate mutliple days for the whole process (it took their professional painter about two weeks with drying/curing time).

Denmead House: French Farmhouse Dining Room

When we were house hunting, we had a pretty short list of features we really wanted in a house. Since we were looking to buy a house in a pretty competitive market with a budget on the lower end for the area, I tried to keep our expectations realistic. On aforementioned list, albeit towards the bottom, was a dining space. Brian and I could easily get by with just our eat-in kitchen (and did more many years in our first home!) but since we enjoy entertaining, a dedicated dining room that can accommodate my large family (just barely!) was a wish list item I am so grateful we got with our new home.