I'm back!!!

Hello all! It has been far too long since I have posted on my blog, but I have been very busy these last few months. Sean and I bought our very first home! We moved in at the beginning of August and have been neck-deep in house projects ever since. I want to use this blog as a way to track the progress we make in transforming our home, mostly just for myself, but if others would like to follow, then the more the merrier! I love being able to look back and see the transformation of things from start to finish. Since we have been in our new home for over 4 months already, I will have ALOT of catching up to do on the things we have already done. So sit back and enjoy the journey with me!
First, the background story of how we came to find our home...
After months of house hunting, we were beginning to feel like a house that had the things we wanted did not exist in our budget in this area. I would check online every day for any new houses to come onto the market. And I mean EVERY day, several times a day, every hour may be more accurate. It seemed like everything that was available that we liked was juuussttt above our budget. We went and looked at several houses, even put offers on a couple and were outbid or our offers were rejected for being too low (yes, I want to get a steal on everything I buy, even a house!). The current house that we were renting was available to us until the summer of 2014, but we were ready to get a place of our own. We had several things on our checklist: at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, kitchen open to the living room, a fireplace, double sinks in master bath, and most importantly, a big lot. We didn't want to be right on top of our neighbors and wanted quiet and privacy. This was the one thing we were not willing to give up. Subsequently, this was also the reason we were unable to find a house in our budget. If we did find something that had everything on our list, it was just over budget, or even if we found something that didn't have everything, but did have the lot...still over our budget. Sean and I had a "come to Jesus" meeting and re-evaluated our wishlist. We decided we were willing to give up alot of things, almost everything, but not the size of the lot. I guess we just really like our privacy :) So, we decided that we would continue house hunting, but since we were able to keep renting our current house for almost a year longer, we would just be patient and continue saving up our money so that in a year, we could finally afford what we wanted. A few days later, something happened that wrecked our plan. The owner of the house we were renting came by to talk to us. He then let us know that he and his family's plans of coming back to the U.S. in summer of 2014 had changed and that they would be moving back into the house in the next month! In a matter of minutes, we went from having almost a year to find a house, to having one month! I ran for the computer and searched the housing market again. We made a list of any and all houses that we could consider, mostly houses that had been on the market for a while, but we weren't interested in, or ones we liked but were over our budget. We no longer had the luxury of being so picky. I called our realtor and told her our situation. She was wonderful and calmed me down and told me that "we can do this!" I wasn't sure how though, since houses could barely close in 30 days and we hadn't even found a house to put an offer on yet. We made plans to go look at several houses that we had stuck our noses up at earlier when time was still our friend. I knew every house that was on the market in San Marcos at that time and we really weren't excited about any of them except the ones that were over budget of course. I hated the idea of "settling" for a house that we didn't really love. A house is a big commitment and I didn't want to buy one with hopes of moving again in a couple of years. We also really didn't want to go back to apartment living. We were ready to settle into something that was finally ours. After discussing it some more, Sean and I decided that we would raise our budget, go for one of the houses that we did like, but was over budget and somehow make it work financially. That seemed like the best option that we had. I spent all afternoon and early evening crunching the numbers, convincing myself that raising our budget was going to be okay. Then, I went to check online to see if any new houses had popped up, as I did quite often. And there it was,...3 bedroom, 2 bath, large lot, and IN OUR BUDGET! oh, ya and a basketball court?!? That's when I knew this house was meant for us. I jumped and squealed and showed Sean, who tried not to get excited, probably for my sake, since we had seen a lot of letdowns in this process. Then he saw the basketball court, and I saw his eyes light up :) I called our realtor and emailed her the link to look at the house. She was going to set up a time to see the house the next day. I had just gotten out of the shower when our realtor called back. She said we needed to go see the house tonight. It was 8pm and I had just rolled out of the shower, but Sean and I jumped in the car and drove to the house. We pull up and another car was in the driveway, but not our realtor's car. It was another realtor showing the house to someone else. Just our luck. We wait around outside until the other people leave. After touring the house, it was love. Well, not ALL of it, I didn't get my double sinks in the bathroom and there is ALOT of updating to do, but the outside was perfect, it was the best thing we had seen in our months of searching, it was in our budget, and we were going to be homeless in a month. We'll take it! We made an offer right there in the kitchen of our future home. Over the next two days, we found out there was another offer and submitted our best and final offer, wrote the seller a personal letter (it was a nice touch) and said a prayer, lots of prayers. Then we got the news, the seller had accepted our offer! All that had separated us from the other offer was our personal letter and $15!!! Over the next 30 days, we managed to close on our house on time. All I can say is, clearly, God handpicked this house for us and all in His perfect timing. Thank you Lord! So here are some pictures of the house before we moved in:

 

 

 

 

So, as you can see, we definitely have our work cut out for us. But we love our home and it has tons of great potential. I'm excited to reveal the updates we have already done and continue to post our current and future projects in this blog! Until next time...

-Amy

Cavins Dresser Redo #2

I have finished the second dresser redo for my friends Taylor and Marlena. This dresser had a tag on it that said it was from the 1920's, an actual antique, which meant two things....one: if I ruined it, I ruined an ACTUAL antique, a piece of furniture history. And two: it was going to be a lot more difficult to work with b/c it was NINETY TWO years old. But I was up to the challenge :)
Here is the dresser in the store where the very talented Laurie Cavins (Taylor's mom) spotted this great piece.
Just imagine it without all the other items on it. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it originally, I guess I was just too excited to get started :)

Here is the dresser after I removed the knobs and sanded. It looks pretty rough.

Then I spray painted it with the same gray that I spray painted the other dresser I did for the Cavins. (See my previous post)

The drawers spray painted gray, and I hand painted the raised detail on one of the drawers in a light yellow. 

Then I coated the entire dresser with a lacquer and polyurethane to help preserve the paint.  

I already had on hand the four pulls on the bottom two drawers. They came off of another dresser I redid a while back. The pulls on the top two drawers were the original pulls that came with the dresser. I spray painted all the pulls with primer and then a white Epoxy which is used for appliances and indoor metals. 

All in all, I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. What do you think?

Love you all!

-Amy

Cavins Dresser Redo #1

I was recently given this dresser to redo for my friend's Taylor and Marlena's bedroom.Their bedroom colors are white, gray and yellow. I was a little nervous because I was told this dresser had been in Marlena's family for awhile. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin a possible family heirloom! I thought for a long time about how I wanted to transform this dresser. It was tough because I didn't want it to look too modern, and I felt like that would be easy to do with the colors white gray and yellow. Also, I didn't just want to do white...booooorrrriiinnnggg. So I finally settled on gray. 

As you can see, the dresser was beautiful on it's own, and I loved the details on the drawers.

Here it is after I sanded. There is foil wrapped around the slats that the drawers slide on. I covered them so that spray paint wouldn't get on them and the drawers wouldn't slide as smoothly. 

Here are the drawers after sanding. (p.s. the thing the drawers are resting on is another piece I will be finishing soon...)

Then I primed the dresser and drawers.

I knew I wanted to make the drawers pop and bring out the pretty details on them but I thought white against the gray might look too modern. So I had a "taupey" shade of gray in a sample size paint can, it was a warmer shade of gray than the body of the dresser would be. I hand painted the drawers without taping anything off! The trick was to use a veeerrryyy small brush and go vveeeeerrryyyy slowly. Here's how they look after hand painting. 

Then I spray painted the body of the dresser gray and coated everything with polyurethane. 

I also spray painted the knobs that came on the dresser with primer and then a white Epoxy which is used for refrigerators and appliances (I thought it would be more durable on the metal than regular spray paint). And I spray painted the base ring of the knobs in a yellow. I wanted to make sure that there was some little pop of yellow somewhere on the dresser and I think this ended up being the perfect touch.

I really like how it turned out.

I will be posting another dresser/dressing table that I am redoing for the Cavins soon so stay tuned!

Love you all!

-Amy 

The Cavins Guestroom Reveal

Ladies and Gents, it's finally here. The moment I know you have all been waiting for.....the Cavin's guestroom reveal........(drum roll)..........

Taa daaaaa!

Ok so there are alot of pictures, possibly some of the same thing, but I tried to get nearly every angle to give you the best possible "tour" of the room. Enjoy!

This is the view from the doorway of the room.

I hadn't planned on using this cute little table, but when I started setting up the room, this little nook needed something and this table which Taylor and Marlena already had fit perfectly. Plus, it was just the right size for my lighted branch to sit on. Now, I just have to spray paint the table a hammered brown color that will match the room better.

I looovvveee the sconce that hangs above the bed. I found it at Goodwill for $5. Also, the headboard is actually a piece of wrought iron decorative wall art that I found at Marshalls.

Here's the side table I redid all dressed up. A picture of the happy couple in a frame from a thrift store that I spray painted, some flameless candles, and all the books were $1 or $2 each. Books are one of my favorite things to decorate with. I got one from the dollar store (yes, they sell hardback books), and the rest from Half Price Books in the clearance section. Take note that I got the books strictly on color not content. If you ever spend the night in this room at Taylor and Marlena's you will have a variety of reading options from poems to Galileo to How to be your dogs best friend (my personal favorite). 

Here you can see the curtains I made from the fabric I had leftover after I recovered the lampshade.

Here is the crest I made. I got this idea from Pintrest. To see how I did it read my previous post.

They already had the vase and the two extra throw pillows in the basket and they just happen to go well with the room.

Oh yeah, and if you can't tell, both dogs, Lucky and Texas approve of this room :)

Both things I had to buy that are in the picture above, the flower stems and the basket were 50% or more off. Gotta love a good sale!

Here is a view from the opposite side of the room.

The three things on the wall by the door are these really cute hooks with the numbers 1, 2, and 3.

And that's the Cavins Guest Room Tour! I hope you enjoyed it. Love you all!

-Amy 

Pieces for the Cavins room

Well, I have been working on decorating Taylor and Marlena's guest bedroom for a few weeks now, and I am very excited to say that it is finished! However, before I reveal the whole room, I wanted to go through the steps of a few items that went into the room...

This side table ended up in the room. You can see its transformation in my previous post.

This was a piece that Taylor and Marlena already had  and they weren't using it for anything so I offered to take it and give it a makeover to match the guest room. It's always good to evaluate the pieces you already have first instead of going out and buying a new piece. In this case, the piece was beautiful and ended up working perfectly for the needs of the room. The picture above is after I took the cabinet apart and sanded all the edges and surfaces.  I forgot to take pictures of the steps in between, but I painted the body of the cabinet in a cream color then I distressed the cabinet using a wet washcloth and also a putty knife. I painted the door in a light green color that wasn't too far from the cream color but added a little bit of contrast. I distressed the door as well. Then I decided that it looked too "clean" so I put a stain made of vinegar and steel wool that I just happened to have laying around. The stain was really watery so I put it on, let it sit for a few minutes then got a washcloth and lightly took some of the stain off and left a light layer of it on. Here were the results:

I also made a lamp for the room. Well, it was a lamp I already had, I just tweaked it. This is the original lamp:

I really liked this lamp as is but it just didn't go with the room I was planning so...I took of the crinkle covering off the lampshade and recovered it with some pretty green lacey fabric I had that matched.

I also had enough of this fabric left to make curtains for the room as well but I didn't take a picture of them. You'll just have to wait until the room reveal to see them :)

I found this great oval frame at Goodwill.

 I got an idea from Pintrest to make a crest with their initial in it and I knew this frame would be perfect when I saw it. So first, I took out the embroidery that was on it and recovered it with this blue fabric which was actually a placemat.

Then I bought a wooden letter "C" for Cavins and painted it a cream color. Once it dried, I spray the back with spray glue and stuck it on. Sidenote: I learned that Elmer's spray glue is no joke! You do not want to hold the object that you are spraying or you will get glue all over your hand and it won't come off with soap or water. For the rest of the afternoon everything I touched was sticking to my hand including my own fingers! Thank goodness for GooGone or that stuff would probably still be on me! 

Okay so I forgot again to take a picture of the finished project on this crest so I guess it's just another thing you'll have to wait and see in the room reveal :)

I'll be posting the Cavin's Guestroom Reveal soon!

Love you all!

-Amy