Workin' Hard for the Money

This is the first year in a long time that I am not earning a paycheck.  For the first few years of our marriage I was the primary income earner, so this has been a bit of an adjustment.  Okay, okay, so having no work responsibilities, sleeping in, and doing what I want with my time have all been pretty easy to get used to.  The only real downside is I want to feel like I am still contributing financially in some way.

So now, instead of bringing home a paycheck, I get to provide free labor for home improvements!  I must admit, the house projects pretty much screeched to a halt during the first trimester of my pregnancy.  Who knew pregnancy fatigue could be so exhausting?!?  But recently my energy levels have picked up a little and I have set my sights on tackling some jobs around the house (while still finding the time to nap almost every day).

Project #1

First on the list, the upstairs bathroom.  Here is the one picture I could find of what it looked like before.  I wanted to capture the hideousness of the pink walls, but the picture does not do it justice.  They were seriously the color of Pepto Bismol.

What is not shown is the wooden toilet seat lid, outdated sea shell towel fixtures, boring shower curtain, and an unstained wooden vanity with plastic drawer handles.

I first removed those disgustingly ugly brown vinyl dots and repainted the pink walls.  I also  repainted the trim to go from cream to white.  Spencer helped me remove the old wooden toilet seat lid, and I installed a new white one.

Next, I sanded down and refinished the old vanity and replaced the plastic hardware with brushed nickel door pulls.

I added new towel racks and a toilet paper dispenser and a new shower curtain rod, shower curtain, towels, and rugs.

And the final product...

The wall and trim paint were left over from other projects, as were the wood stain and polyurethane for the vanity.  The only costs were the toilet seat lid, fixtures, shower curtain, towels, and rugs.  Not too shabby!

Project #2

We have a small two car garage, and Spencer is always working on auto repairs, rebuilding an old army trailer, or modifying the off-road capabilities of his 4Runner.  With no built-in garage shelving, it was getting pretty messy in there.  So for one of Spencer's Christmas gifts this year I had a cousin of mine help me build two 4' x 8' shelves to use in the garage.  Ben (my super-helpful cousin) gave me a supply list and instructions, and even helped me for a few hours one evening to get started building the shelves.  I finished up on my own the next day, and VOILA!  

Total cost for supplies was around $60, which is pretty cheap considering the size of the shelves and how sturdy they are.

Project #3

The second story of our house has been pretty neglected up to this point.  Since most of our main level rooms have been updated, it was now time to focus on the upstairs.  After finishing the upstairs bath, I turned my attention to the master bedroom.  It's a good-sized room, but every wall, the ceiling, and the trim around the doors were all painted the same creamy beige color.  Blah.  And the crown moulding (if you can call it that) and baseboards were just flat pine boards covered in a creamy beige whitewash.

Spencer pried off the old baseboards and crown moulding while I sifted through dozens of paint samples to try to find the slate blue-gray color I was envisioning for the room.  I eventually chose a color, bought the paint, and completely painted the room - two full coats plus trim and touch-ups.  I tried really hard to love the color I chose.  I told myself it would work.  I imagined what room accents I could get to go with it.  And after about two weeks of having the color up on the walls, I turned to Spencer just before going to bed and said, "I'm repainting the bedroom."  The color just was not right.  Too much blue, not enough gray.  Grrr.  

Now while the blue color was still up on the walls in the bedroom, before I decided to change it, I bought another paint color to use as an accent in the bedroom and to paint the upstairs hallway and stairs area.  I loved the way this new color looked in the hallway, so that's the color I used to repaint the bedroom.  And I love it in the bedroom too!  Good thing, because I did not want to have to repaint it all a third time!

Here's what the hallway and stairs look like now (the walls were a boring, dirty white before).

Spencer painted the tall parts of the walls around the stairs and helped with the trim around the stairway and hall.  I didn't trust myself to climb up a ladder on stairs while pregnant.  Yikes!

As for the bedroom, that is still a work in progress.  We got a killer deal on some new crown moulding thanks to a friend of ours who had the inside scoop on a company going out of business.  But it still needs to be installed and painted.  And we need to buy, install, and paint baseboards and trim for around the window.  At some point the master bath will be redone too.  And new carpet in the master bedroom, hallway, and stairs.  And I want to replace all the brass door knobs.  Before I can get to all that, I will be replacing all the cream colored outlets in the bedroom and hallway with white ones.  So no pictures of the bedroom yet.

My goal is to have the crown moulding, baseboards, and trim installed and painted by the middle of February.  Spencer is in charge of installing it all and I will paint.  I'd like to have the door knobs replaced by then too.  In fact, if I can fit it into the budget, I may go pick up new knobs and get them installed sometime next week.

Then it will be on to the main level office (which needs wallpaper removed - UGGHH!), the upstairs office/craft room, the upstairs bonus room (nice big room, floor to ceiling wallpaper - DOUBLE UGGHH!), and then down to the basement family room, spare bedroom, and bathroom.  The baby room upstairs was already painted a pretty pale yellow and has nice trim and molding, so it's basically ready to go.  Good thing too, because I have a feeling I'll be working on some (or most) of these projects after the baby comes.  Probably a while after the baby comes.  From what I hear, pregnancy fatigue kicks in again during the third trimester.  So I better get crackin' while I still can!