What Ana Does

One of the biggest shockers of this basement remodel was the price of vanities... even the cheaper styles. So I was super excited when our builder said he'd be game to building out a DIY version of something I saw on Pinterest. Here's what the vanity inspiration looked like. You can read more about the inspiration in this post .  And here's what we spent on everything:  Given that we went over our projected budget, it felt pretty good to find some savings, especially in the bathroom.  Related Posts: All about my bathroom vanity inspiration . When I found out how pricey vanities are.  

Now that I have my wall of cabinets in the basement -- all unfinished Ikea pine -- how do I want them to look? This is a question I've been mulling over for weeks now. I know, from past experience, I'd prefer not to paint them. Even though they are pine, I'd still like to see the grain texture and not hide them behind a color. I have two pine dressers we bought from Ikea a decade ago that we painted (first grey and now multicolor for Alice's room) and I've always regretted it. So stain it is. Stain Board for Cabinets Clearly, I'm thinking more green/grey color. I'd like to stay away from the reds and tone down the inherent yellow in the pine because it looks brassy against the greige walls. (And clearly I'm into making these little graphics these days.) I did some research and found both Minwax and Cabot make transparent stains in a bunch of colors. And I would like a pop of color, some color, on these cabinets because they're a real acce...

It's been a while since I've posted which is unusual for me so here's the catch-up on a few things. San Diego Convention Center I just spent last weekend in San Diego for the cabi convention. I recently became a stylist selling cabi at home shows and I'm not going to talk about it much on this blog but ... just know I'm testing the theory of stepping far out of your comfort zone to make a real big change in your life. We'll just see how it goes. The basement is complete as I've posted before except for a rather longish task list that includes painting the second coat in the bathroom, trim painting and touch up, and tackling the finish on the pine cabinets. But, as I'm told is common, I'm burnt out on these home projects. Especially over winter break when the girls were home. So burnt out. But I may be feeling the itch to get my paintbrush out soon and get this list done. The stay at home experiment has been rather eye-opening and inter...

Due to some pretty heinous past experiences, I approach recipes mined from Pinterest with extreme caution. They're much less reliable than recipes from trusted cookbooks that have been copyedited and kitchen-tested by various cooks and editors. But I've been looking for some kitchen inspiration as I attempt dinners that the girls will eat, and are also high in veggies and beans (I'm introducing other protein sources to go meatless more often). Last night I got lucky with this recipe from the Cooking Classy blog. It's her Avocado Hummus and it was pretty delicious. I didn't make any variations on the recipe, but I will warn you a little garlic goes a LONG way. Avocado Hummus Recipe Here . The only drawback is because of the two avocados, it gets brown pretty quickly (despite the lime). It's not something you can store in your fridge for a few days like regular hummus. Did the kids eat it? Sadly, no. But Dave and I enjoyed it along with chicken, feta ...

Maybe it's because this brand-new bathroom is the first I've ever planned, or it's completely new and unique to this house, but this is the room I'm most proud of in the basement project. This  Before  photo looks at the area where we planned to put the bathroom, if you look closely at the foors you'll see where we drew-in the walls. Since there was no plumbing roughed in, a majority of our budget went into cutting open the concrete and laying the pipes (see  this post  for details). There are now walls, so the window will be the only thing that shows you what's there now.  Before: The Placement for the Bathroom The niche vanity really helped us save lots of cash on the budget, as I'll post about soon. After: See the Window Over the Vanity? Last Coat of Final Paint Still Needed. It was pretty amazing to see this bathroom come together. And I'm pleased with how the tile and the other finishes look. After: The Brand-New Bathroom ...

A few days after Christmas, our town permit guys came by and made the basement project officially complete!! With all of us home for the holiday, we had lots of time to move in and make the space exactly what we've been envisioning since we finalized the layout. More posts to come with the four different spaces, things I learned and details on resources, but in the meantime, here is a pretty BEFORE and AFTER photo. This is the angle of back to the wall, looking at the stairs and the "looong" part of the basement. You can see the ping-pong table and the set of mats we planned to keep around. Before: Looking at the Bottom of the Stairs The After picture shows how they covered the ceiling duct work and the cut out we did along the stairs. We were afraid the walls would make this long room look narrow, but it doesn't look like we lost much space. I also made the decision to make the wall along the stairs straight, instead of cutting into the storage room, which i...

I was thinking about all the books I read in 2016, because I read a lot and usually, when I finish a book, I don't take time to reflect or even review it before I move on to what's next on my To Read pile. So I picked this quiet morning after all my guests left (*sniff*) to list out everything I read in 2016. I'm counting the audiobooks here but not the books I reread (mostly romance). There are too many to review each one, so I'll bold my favorites. (Oh! And this list is just in random order.) Take the Key and Lock Her Up  (See How They Run #2)  (The latest series from fave author Ally Carter and it's sooo good.)  Conspiracy of Us  by Maggie Hall Map of Fates (The Conspiracy of Us #2) by Maggie Hall Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo   (The sequel to Six of Crows , my favorite book from last year, was kind of a let down.) Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge Cruel Beauty  by Rosamund Hodge Gift of the Magi (Heist Society spinoff) by A...