Final Details Update- Week 2

I am a day late on our Final Details Update- it has been a crazy week around the Kirksey household!

If you are just tuning in, I set a 6 week timeline for myself to get all of the final details finished of our kitchen and living room make over, and I am updating our progress each Wednesday (or Thursday!) Our "Final Details Update" series is modeled after the One Room Challenge- one of my FAVORITE blogger series that happens twice a year. (More on that here).

You can see where the project started HERE, and what we accomplished in Week 1 HERE.

The frustrating thing about the final details is that they rarely make a huge impact on the space. On my previous posts, I have been updating you on exciting things like new cabinets and counter tops, which makes shoe molding and touch up painting seem less than thrilling. But, alas- it has to be done. And honestly.. if I hadn't committed to blogging the progress, it would probably never get done!

This week we finished painting and attaching the shoe mold, finally hung our blinds and picked out the paint for our doors!

Here are some update pictures:

You can't see in the pictures where the shoe mold was added to the trim, but it finishes off the flooring and gives it a much cleaner look. 

We also removed some old closet doors from our Master Bedroom, and I threw one of the panels behind the chair with a wreath to take up space and add some color in to the room. I'm sure it won't stay there forever, but I like it for now!

And because Murphy will finally sit still long enough for a picture, I have to show off our sweet pup. 

I am so excited to get our doors painted in the next week! The color I chose was Dovetail from Sherwin Williams.

From all of the reviews and photos on Pinterest, it looks like this will be the perfect neutral gray. I didn't test the color (I know, I know) so I hope it turns out okay! We will see!

So, an update on our to-do list: 

• Painting and adding crown molding- Done- 10/11/2015
• Touch up painting (almost done)
• Adding new shoe mold to the trim- Done- 10/19/2015
• Hang blinds- Done- 10/20/2015
• Find curtains/window treatments
• Paint our new doors
• New pantry door
• New laundry room door
• Recover chairs for the kitchen (hopefully!)

Up next week, I will FINALLY get all of our touch up painting finished (everywhere I look I see something else that needs fixing), get our doors painted, and hopefully get started on my first upholstery project! Check back next Wednesday for updates!!

Final Details Update- Week 1

As promised, for the next six weeks, I will be updating the progress made on the FINAL details we have to wrap up our kitchen/living room makeover. (See the before HERE).

If you aren't familiar with the One Room Challenge, it is a 6 week blog series that I started following a few years ago, where bloggers will make over an entire room in just 6 weeks, and blog about their progress along the way. Well, I know I am not making any major changes in our space, but I did want to use this series as a way to set a timeline for myself to finally finish all of the small details that need to get done in our kitchen and living room. I also like to set realistic expectations for anyone wanting to dive into the DIY world themselves, and I think the finishing touches take as much time (or more) than the big projects.

This is the To Do list of final projects that Richard and I created:

Painting and adding crown molding

Touch up painting

Adding new shoe mold to the trim

A new area rug for the living room (I love this one, but it is relocating to our bedroom)

Hang blinds

Find curtains/window treatments

Paint our new doors (photos coming soon!

This past week and weekend we tackled some touch up painting (with a lot more to go, oh the joys of wood paneling- a full post coming soon), and the crown molding. Crown molding may seem like a small detail, but it is one of the things I have been most excited about and I LOVE the results!

Our fire place is truly one of my favorite features of the house, and I think the crown molding emphasizes it even more. I cannot wait to get a mantle up and decorated for Christmas! 

Crown molding is really one of the easiest, most inexpensive ways to add character to your home. We bought primed, 3 5/8" molding, painted and hung it ourselves (with the help of trusty, ol' Dad). So for less than $100, we added visual appeal (and resale value) to the space! I will say, after pricing the molding, local lumber suppliers were MUCH more reasonably priced than Lowe's/Home Depot. Lowe's and Home Depot were $2+/foot and we ended up getting this from Harbin Lumber (a local lumber supplier, but anyone can buy from there) for $.70/foot- and when you are buying 100+ feet, the difference really adds up. So my advice, check around for prices- and when you have a free afternoon, enlist the help of someone with a miter saw and go crazy!

As expected, new items are constantly being added to our to-do list, so here is an update of what to expect (fingers crossed) over the next 5 weeks: 

Painting and adding crown molding  Done- 10/11/2015

Touch up painting (almost done)

Adding new shoe mold to the trim (almost done)

A new area rug for the living room I have decided against this for right now

Hang blinds

Find curtains/window treatments

Paint our new doors- Sherwin Williams sale this weekend to anyone that needs paint! 40% off!!!

New pantry door

New laundry room door

Recover chairs for the kitchen (hopefully!)

So that's what's on the horizon! Check back next week to see what has been checked off! And if you are in to home decor, DIY, blogger series, etc- check out this weeks updates of the One Room Challenge !  

Where We are Now

We have been busy, busy, BUSY in the past month! In the most recent progress post, our cabinets had been painted white and we had just gotten our new counter tops installed. Since then, we have laid new tile flooring, installed our appliances and vent hood, tiled a back splash (my favorite addition to date), painted the paneling (RIP wooden walls) and the trim, and a few other things here and there. We are trucking along, and for the first time since we moved in to our house (about 4 months ago), it is really starting to feel like OURS! Here is a progress picture since the cabinets/counters were installed to where we are now. (The points of view are a little different, but you get the idea)

Wow! Honestly, you kind of forget what the "before" looked like when you are constantly making changes. I don't think I realized exactly how much we have gotten done in the past month! One of the reasons I started this blog in the first place was so that I could look back and see how our house changed into our home, and I am really beginning to realized how much I am going to appreciate having everything documented!

Richard and I could not be happier with our progress so far! We are loving the lighter feel of everything and how much BRIGHTER the space is. I am also so thankful that the orange "glow" the walls reflected on everything is now gone! (see: counter tops)

I am going to do some more detailed posts on our experience with tiling and painting glossy wood paneling to help out any of the other DIYers our there, but let me just take a second and praise our family and friends again. We could not have done all of this without their help and guidance. Richard's Mom and Uncle gave up a three day weekend to come down and help us lay floor tile and  some of my best girlfriends agreed to painting our walls in place of a girls weekend. One of things I know I will appreciate most when looking at our house years down the road, is seeing all of the love that has been poured out to make our dreams a reality. In every demo, installation, update, etc. there will be a memory attached to it that is so personal to us and will tell the story of how our house became our home.

Okay- so what will be doing over the next 6 weeks to finalize the space? Our current to-do list involves:

• Painting and adding crown molding
• Touch up painting
• Adding new shoe mold to the trim
• A new area rug for the living room (I love this one, but it is relocating to our bedroom)
• Hang blinds
• Find curtains/window treatments
• Paint our new doors (photos coming soon!)

I know this list will continually grow, but this gives us enough to get started on! I do promise to have more pictures coming soon.. I am just currently out of storage on my iPhone, and lost the cord (again) to my camera! But here are a couple of more shots of where we are now: 

Check back every Wednesday during the One Room Challenge to see the progress we are making!! 

One Room Challenge is BACK!

It's one of my favorite times of year in the blog world- the One Room Challenge that Calling It Home puts on! I started following along with this series when several of my favorite bloggers were a part of it a few years ago, and it is something I have looked forward to every year since!

The basis of the series is that 20 bloggers are selected to transform a room in 6 weeks. Every Wednesday, everyone blogs their updates, starting with their design inspiration, and finishing with a final reveal 6 weeks later. Wednesdays are by far my favorite day of the week during the ORC when I get to catch up on everyone's progress...TGIW. (However, if you aren't careful, you realize you haven't looked up from your computer or spoken to anyone in 4 hours and you really hope everyone at works just thinks you've got some major work ethic and concentration... consider yourself warned.) The transformation in some of these spaces is AMAZING after only 6 short weeks- do yourself a favor and check out this before and after from blogger Jenna Sue Design:

See all the details here: Jenna Sue Design

Okay, I bring this up for 2 reasons..
1) I want to share it with everyone so you can enjoy it too and
2) Because I am going to blog alongside the ORC and use this to set a timeline for myself to get our kitchen and living room DONE!

We don't have any major renovations going on in the space, but rather just the final "details" which take a lot more time than you think! So I am going to vow to update every Wednesday, from now until November 18- which works out perfectly, because we are having our first house guests on the weekend of Nov. 13-14!

I will do an update tomorrow of what the space currently looks like (lots of exciting updates to share!) and then a summary of what all we have planned for the next 6 weeks!

Also- if you want to follow along with all of the bloggers in the One Room Challenge 2015, check out their blogs here:

Apartment 34

Arianna Belle

Because it’s Awesome

Coco+Kelley

Design Darling (**One of my personal favorites)

Design Indulgence

Design Manifest

Christine Dovey

The English Room

Vanessa Francis

Hi Sugarplum

Honey We’re Home

Jojotastic

The Pink Clutch

The Pink Pagoda

Simplified Bee

Style Your Senses

A Thoughtful Place 

Kimberly Whitman 

The Zhush 

Cabinets and Counters!

I'm starting to realize it's hard to find time to blog about updates when there is constantly a new project to work on! I say that to apologize (again) for the long break in updates. At least I have big, exciting changes to update you on!


Our cabinets and counter tops are FINALLY done! This was definitely one of the updates I have been most excited and anxious about. I can't say the process was particularly... easy. Everyone told us when we started working on home renovations that everything would take longer than expected, and I can now attest to that. The process should have taken around a week and a half, but ended up taking around 4 weeks. So to say we are excited is a major understatement.

So here they are in all their glory!

 Here's a shot of our cabinets right after they were painted and before the counters were installed.












And after the counters! (Excuse the dishes.. we were so excited to finally have a sink to wash dishes we couldn't stand it)

Here's a shot showing the new breakfast bar leading in to the living room.

Richard and I are both LOVING our new counter tops. This was one of our splurges so far and I know we will enjoy them for so many years to come. I also can't wait to get some stools under our breakfast bar, enjoy a cup of coffee and just stare at my new, clean, crisp cabinets!

And here's a before and after from the day we moved in to where we are now.. 

Still a long way to go, but it already looks SO different. The room is so much lighter and brighter than it was when we first moved in. 

So what does our schedule look like for the next couple of weeks?

Flooring - appliance installation - painting

That is my current to-do list. However, as we have learned in home renovations, your plans can change at the drop of a hat. No matter what, I am hoping for the kitchen to be TOTALLY done in about a month so we will be busy, busy, busy! (With the help of our awesome family and friends!)

I promise I will try to do a better job of updating on a regular basis! As always, on to another project!

Kitchen demo is finished!

We have finally finished the kitchen demo and can really see the shape our main living space is taking and I couldn't be more excited!! Just as a reminder, here is a picture of the kitchen when we moved in-

View from inside of the Kitchen-

From the living room, looking at the kitchen-

Everything was very closed off. When Richard or I would be cooking, we couldn't effectively communicate with anyone in the living room without walking around the cabinets, and that just wasn't practical for us. And after demo- SO MUCH BETTER!

Everything is so much more open! There will be an oven and cook top in the "peninsula" next to the refrigerator and bar seating on the side closest to the living room. We will have to install a vent hood from the ceiling, but it will still be so much more open than before. Soon I will have an update on nice, bright, white cabinets and our new counter tops! Hopefully that will be done in about a week!

In the meantime, we also were able to finish pressure washing the front walkway and the back patio!

 

I'm kind of embarrassed to even show y'all this picture because it shows just how dirty the walk way was before, but hey- it's all about progress! I still say pressure washing is one of my new favorite activities- you get INSTANT gratification of your work! 

Here is a before and after of the front of the house.

The difference isn't as dramatic in the pictures as it is in person- it made a huge difference! (Excuse the ladder in the picture- we are working on changing out our windows also! More on that soon!)

Of course I had to have a little fun with the pressure washer too. Who needs graffiti when you have a pressure washer? 

Thanks for reading! We are moving on to some more exciting projects soon and I will keep you updated as more changes are made!

An Updated Filing Cabinet

With a week or so  of downtime on the house renovations, I decided to start tackling some smaller projects. My office was having to get rid of these old black filing cabinets:

And just before we tossed them, I remembered the current state of mine and Richard's important documents.. 

My co-workers were more than happy to have me take the old cabinets off their hands and I was ecstatic to have a free filing cabinet to work on (I had no idea these things were so expensive in the store!) 

 I started brainstorming on what I wanted to do with them- I knew didn't want to invest too much time or money (these are just filing cabinets, after all), but I did want to update them a little to hide some of the scratched paint and make them fit in better in our house. 

For quite sometime I have been wanting to try out some of the less expensive brands of chalk paint (I had only used Annie Sloan up to this point) and this was the perfect opportunity. I picked out THIS chalk paint in "Nautical" from Joann Fabrics, and with a 50% off coupon, it was less than $5! I also picked up some gold spray paint for the hardware. 

Within 1 afternoon, this project was completely done- and less than $10 invested, I was a happy camper. I did spray paint a primer on, which I am pretty sure was completely unnecessary and gave it three coats of the chalk paint. I used a small foam roller for the paint because I didn't want to see any brush strokes. I was able to paint the whole cabinet with just one of the small jars of paint and still had a little left over. My review of the paint: worked great for this project. I didn't sand down at all, so it isn't a super smooth surface, but I love the color and it went on really smooth. I will definitely be trying this brand again in the future. 

Is it perfect? Far from it.. but that doesn't bother me. I didn't use a top coat on the chalk paint because I wanted a very matte finish, so it does show imperfections, but I am fine with that. Can't sweat the small stuff.. and in the scheme of projects going on in our house right now, a filing cabinet is most definitely small. Navy and gold might be my all time favorite color combination, so looking at this little cabinet brings me joy! But you know what makes me even happier? 

Seeing this:

Turn in to this:

Thinking about having to find something in that jumbled pile of papers before would be enough to send me into a meltdown, but now everything has its own little home. Not to mention, I got to grown up "school supply" shopping (does anyone else miss school supply shopping trips as much as I do?) And of course I had to pick up the 20 pack of fine point sharpies while I was there..(they were 50% off.. can you blame me?)

Well that wraps up this little project! In between all of the chaos happening at our house, I love working on smaller projects that make me feel like I have accomplished something. It's easy to get overwhelmed when the larger scale renovations have a longer timeline and it feels like no progress is being made. 

Thanks for reading- on to the next project!! (Cabinet demo part 2 will be done this weekend and I will be updating soon!)