What Ana Does

 So the builder left this big nook in-between two closets in the guest room. I suspect it was meant for a dresser but it's a dumb space that I've been struggling with since we moved in.  It's been a reading nook with bench, a desk, I've moved dressers and cabinets in there. Nothing looked right.  After the success of the towel nook in the bathroom, I knew that installing a base cabinet in this space would finally put an end to my torment of finding the right solution to this space. So that's exactly what I did.  I bought a cabinet from Home Depot for about $200. I went with a cabinet and not drawers because I wanted to store my sewing machine and other crafting tools. And I got a butcher block top for about $100 to go on top.  First, I had to pull out the rug, because installed cabinets need to be placed on solid floor. That was easy, other than those annoying tack strips.  Then, I pushed the cabinet into place and secured it to the wall. I got lucky with t...

Long title, but now that we've gotten through a bunch of professionally-supported renovation projects, I've learned a thing or two about how to keep projects moving.  Always be there on Day 1 morning. Work from home. Take the day off. You'll need to be there to talk through the final plans, and figure out if you have all the supplies you agreed you'd gather.  Before anyone arrives, I clear out the space (that's obvious, but a big courtesy). And clear out the path to the door. And close all the doors. There will be dust. It will settle on every surface of the house. But keeping doors closed does help. I'll also write on the walls with pencil. "Tile here" "Demo out" "Outlet Here" "Keep this" -- communication is key.  Display all the plans or drawings . Some construction guys come in from other jobs and I'm sure they all get mushed together eventually. I also tape up to an adjoining wall the plan so I can point to thing...

 Here we go again!  Our girls' bathroom has long been the last room on the checklist that sorely needs a renovation.  The current pictures tell it all; the vanity is outdated and faucets are leaking, the shower has plastic tile and a dangerous angle in the tub that I've nearly slipped on. The shower head also doesn't turn off all the way and leaks often.  It's dated and dumpy.  And here's a breakdown of our goals for the renovation: updated tile that's bright and pretty. A new vanity with lots of storage and two sinks for our two daughters. A larger mirror for maximum users.  A walk-in shower is going to be key. Not only for the older guests but it will just look better. We have a new tub in our bathroom, in case you're thinking "what about resale?!" Which I don't normally consider. Everything is pretty much staying where it is, no major plumbing or electrical is going to be involved, just getting refreshed and working properly. This Fall!  ...

Leah's room was the only one in the house I haven't painted since moving in. She liked the light grey color and didn't want me to bother with it. I hated the pale color and flat finish, plus all the pock marks from moving furniture, but I let it go.  Now that she's away at college, I have (nearly) free-rein on her room, and I have IDEAS!  First up, YES, paint!  I picked Smoky Azurite from SW . It's dark blue but with lots of grey undertones and gives the room a cozy yet active vibes. I immediately loved it. And it coordinates with the quilt and the grey in the curtains. Excellent.  The flat finish of the old paint soaked up the new paint so well that I had to do a second coat in most places -- even though I used the Emerald line of paint from SW, which usually only needs one coat. But that's how it goes with flat; it's an excellent primer.  Here's the desk wall in the old grey. If you could see all the holes and dirt, you'd understand why I was so ex...

When we last saw the back hallway (AKA boot room) it looked pretty good. Lots of hooks, new floor, fun gallery art. But the issues were many: I wanted a wood element to warm up the space. The new shelf was the wrong color ... but really it was the walls that were the wrong. They were just "off" the blue cabinet color.  So, obviously something had to be done. And with Leah off to college, I needed a 1-weekend doable DIY project that I could focus on.  Off to Lowes for $200 worth of shiplap and new pine boards for the hook rails.  Demo started! All the rails came down easily. The wall to the right of the garage door (on the left side of this photo) needed to go white, so I primed that a few times to cover over the erroneous blue.  Shiplap install time! Went up pretty quickly once I started chopping. I wish those half pieces/cuts were on the bottom of the wall, instead of the top, but I'll know better for next time!  I put three coats of the ("SW: Denim") blue pain...

It's been a while since I thought much about our dining room, other than the chairs that I'm desperate to replace. They're in terrible shape, too big and not comfortable. But, lately, every time I'm in the room I find things that annoy me. And since there's no major renovations in the budget for the year, I'm going to pour a little time and effort into this room.  Let's review my to-do list ...  The wall color. While I love this "Greenwich Village" color, it's not the same temperature as the blue in the kitchen or front room. It's too muted, and the rest of the house with color is brighter.  There's a lot of holes in the walls from where I moved art. And I tried to patch areas, and the sample I used wasn't the same color.  It's dark at night! There needs to be another light source.  The light switch is lose and has needed to be replaced since we moved in.  The aforementioned dining room chairs. Too big, too uncomfortable, too ...

The guys left me all the unused shiplap from the bathroom and I've been trying to think about where to use it. I had so many ideas but not a lot of shiplap, so I eventually settled on this corner of our basement. It's where the exercise mats and treadmill live, right behind the sofa. And also where the Marvel-themed bathroom with shiplap is located. So it made sense. It took much of a rainy Sunday to cut and nail up the new boards ...    I even had enough to do on the "backsplash" of our little kitchenette in the basement I've been slowly building out.  Next up will be to patch all the nail holes and calk around the edges for a clean look. And then the best part ... picking out paint color. Since this is a "free" project, I'm hoping I can find a color in my paint cabinet.  I'll keep you posted. 

 Surprise! We're renovating our bathroom!  At the beginning of August, we noticed a wet seam in the ceiling of the kitchen. We assumed it had something to do with the kitchen renovation last year, so we called our contractor to come out and take a peek. Lo and behold our toilet in the primary bathroom, just above, was slowly leaking.  Gross. To sum up, we got the mold remediation guys involved, submitted a claim with our insurance company and hired our buddy General Contractor Bruce ... and now we're renovating the bathroom.  Look, in the back of my mind, while I'm falling asleep at night or while strolling through Pinterest, I have thought about what I'd do when the time came to redo that bathroom. When we moved in, it has been "updated" with grey & white matte tile and marble hex tile. But the bathtub takes up 80% of the bathroom and the tile was never sealed, so it grows dirt/mold like no tomorrow. And it's painted an offending beige and you know h...

The downstairs powder room is really coming together much faster than we thought. After an initial text with our contractor, once we had all our materials picked out and our vanity delivered, he was able to fit us in THE SAME WEEK due to a two-day hole in the schedule.  So BAM! In two days they removed the old vanity and floor tile and had to new floor down and vanity nearly installed. Ugh, there was a minor plumbing issue that got resolved on day 3, so on day 4 they officially installed the vanity and were done.  Here's where we started, to where we finished off with the contractors ...    Also! I was able to sell the old vanity on Facebook Marketplace for $350!! That was a solid piece of granite, people! And got it out of our garage in less than 24 hours. A new record!  Next up ... TILE!  

 Just a few more updates from the back hallway. And here's where we currently stand.  (Will I be buying a third dark gray basket for the top shelf? Yes, yes I will.)  So last weekend I painted the pinky/terracotta floor tile a matte black. Other than not being able to step on it for a few days, it was one of the easiest DIYs and cheap -- about $70. Looks just like the black tile in the kitchen. Unless you stare at it, it's a total dup.  I always forget what a huge difference flooring can make.  Then I decided to paint the interior of the closet/drop zone to match the rest of the walls in this hallway. And I love how it turned out. That oversaturated blue on the beadboard ... it's so good.  I also finished that lower shelf and found bulbs for the ceiling fixture that is SUPER BRIGHT.  Here's a quick walk through the progress of this much-used space ...  I wish I could have taken down that wall, but Dave was not interested in a demo project. Maybe s...

During our kitchen renovation, our walk-in pantry got outlets! (Nope, there were no outlets in there before -- crazy, right?!)  That was a huge addition to this wonderfully useful room that houses all our small appliances and servingware, like bowls and glass jars. We can now use those small appliances in the pantry, rather than carting them out to the kitchen counter.  It's on the list, at some point, to replace the Formica countertops, laminate floors and add a backsplash in here, but not at this time. So I painted the room this moody blue and came up with a FREE solution to the backsplash.  Chalk pen!  This was too easy. I got a level and a scrap board and made horizontal lines along the wall with a white chalk pen. Then, added horizontal lines to connect. Voila!  It was really just as easy as that.  The best part, it's all chalk, so if I decide I don't like it or want to try another design, I just wipe it off with a wet sponge.  There's nothing I a...