Adios Apartment

My keys are turned in…I’m officially out of my apartment!

It’s probably the cleanest it’s ever been. My lease agreement stated that I had to have the carpets professionally cleaned when I moved out (and provide a receipt as proof). I didn’t really care when I signed the lease; I just wanted my apartment, but now it sucks. $85 later I have clean carpets (and a receipt)…you’re welcome! I finished cleaning and patching nail holes on Tuesday, but I didn’t have that damn receipt with me, so I didn’t get to turn in my keys until yesterday.

Anywhoo…I thought I’d show off my clean, empty apartment, so we all could say goodbye.

Kitchen and Office Area

(Now you know why I don’t own a desk)

Living Room

Bedroom

One chapter officially closed, another just beginning!

List Lady

I like to write lists out for EVERYTHING. There are probably 3 lists in my purse as we speak. Grocery list, errands to run, appointments to schedule, etc. So, when I saw this ‘Things to Do’ project at eighteen25 I knew I had to make one for myself. This is way more stylish than my ratty list notebook!

You can find the tute for this project and the printable (fo’ free) at eighteen25. But I’m still going to show how I created my version.

I started with this gold frame I found at the thrift store for $1.

Before:

I decided to use my free Valspar sample, Sweet Mustard, for this project. Spray paint would have been easier, but I already had this on hand.

I quickly sanded the frame because it seemed like the proper thing to do. And by quick I mean like 1 minute…sanding sucks.

2 coats of Sweet Mustard later and the frame was looking pretty SWEET (get it?).

(after 1 coat)

I shabbied it up with a little distressing and glazing (I used Minwax Dark Walnut stain and a paper towel...fancy)

 

I threw the printable in my frame and…ta-da!

After:

My first project done and posted! Finally!

I’m still debating whether or not I should permanently print/write out my weekly to-dos, so I don’t have to keep re-writing them.

Total Cost:

Frame $1

White Board Markers $2-something

Total $3-something

Dark Walnut stain)

Weekend Junk #5

It was so nice to get back into my Saturday thrifting routine. I didn’t get quite as much thrifting done as I’d planned to, but I still found some great pieces. If you read my last post you know that we were also going to the Arizona BBQ Festival on Saturday. The food was good and the whiskey samples were even better. We had a blast; I can’t wait for the Arizona Taco Festival.  It turned out to be a great Saturday (not just because we started drinking at noon).

Enough food talk…let’s look at my finds from this weekend:

End Table - Savers $9.99

Wood Tray – Estate Sale $0.75

Towel Holder – Savers $2.99

Glass Carafe – Savers $0.99

Silver Bowl – Savers $2.99

And my favorite piece from the weekend:

White Finial – Savers $1.99

I was so excited when I found the towel holder. The master bathroom doesn’t have enough wall space for a towel rack, so I’ve been looking at these in the stores. They are way expensive though.  $2.99 is more my price range.  

I’m sure you’re asking yourself, "Sam. What are planning to do with some of these pieces?" Well, let me tell you!

End Table – Paint White, Distress and Glaze

Wood Tray – Paint (Color TBD), Paper Inside

Towel Holder – Paint (Color TBD)

Silver Bowl – Paint Black

Did anyone else do some bargain hunting over the weekend? I’d love to see/hear about your finds!

Repair Day

I only worked a half-day today, so I could be home to meet with all the repair guys I have lined up. Right now the DIRECTV guy is hooking up my dish (it’s almost TV time, yeah buddy!) and the window guy just replaced my chipped kitchen window (paid for by the seller). I’m expecting the termite guy any minute. I had scheduled a garage door repair guy, but he had to postpone until tomorrow. It feels so good to be home doing nothing while everyone else is at work…suckers!

I can’t write a post without including at least one picture, so I thought I’d show off my backyard. It’s HUGE! That’s me waaaaay back there. It needs some TLC, but it’ll be pretty sweet one day. 

 My swimming pool:

Don’t mind the leaves…there are even more in there now.

Speaking of leaves, maybe I should get my lazy bum outside and strain them out….

Moving Day and Thanks!

Moving Day

I’ve officially moved into my new house!

Saturday morning was moving day and with the help of some awesome people* it only took a couple hours.

*A special thanks to my boyfriend, his roommate, my friend Joe, and my parents for helping me move.

Load 1 of 2

I told everyone I had a lot of stuff, but no one believed me…until they saw all the boxes!

So, I’m officially in and living out of boxes for now…and without cable until tomorrow. Apparently DIRECTV doesn’t care that there’s a new episode of Chuck and House on tonight. Did I mention I’m a TV junkie?

Thanks!

Two wonderful ladies recently awarded me the Versatile Blogger and the One Lovely Blog award! Thank you! I know these come with rules, but I’ve already listed 7 facts about myself and I’m not interesting enough to come up with 7 more. So, I’m going to forget the rules and just feature Natalia Lynn and Melissa.

From Natalia Lynn at Ma Nouvelle Mode

She lives in France, so right away I’m jealous in awe.

She has some great tutorials:

Just took a trip to Switzerland:

And started a new linky party for Projects in Progress:

From Melissa at The Chronicles of a Rookie Mom

I liked her from the moment I found out she’s a hockey fan.

She recently went to Vegas (and got stuck in an elevator):

Made St. Patrick’s Day treats with her adorable daughter:

And made these (I’m drooling):

Stop by and show these wonderful blogs some love!

Night of Destruction

Alternate Title: How to Piss Off Your Neighbors Before You Even Move In

When I first looked at the house, we (my realtor, my parents, my boyfriend, and I) all agreed that the built-in entertainment center would have to go. I think it was built for an old chunky TV, so it’s really deep.

And the big, ugly thing overshadowed the beautiful fireplace.

My plan was to tackle some of the smaller projects before I my boyfriend took a sledgehammer to this thing. I was just going to repaint it to match the new wall color, but my mom pointed out that this would be “a bitch to paint” (yes, those were her exact words). And after our painting debacle in the master bedroom I couldn’t take anymore painting headaches, so it had to go!

Demolition started after work Tuesday…from about 6 p.m. -10 p.m. It was loud and the tile floors echo the sound throughout the house…hence the “How to Piss Off Your Neighbors” alternate title. We didn’t get any complaints, so hopefully it didn’t bother anyone too much.

And finally:

We were so excited that the dry wall wasn’t damaged and would just need a little patching! Yeah buddy!

On a completely unrelated note, I just hit 100 followers! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Thank you so much for following along with my nonsense! Y’all are awesome!

New Buttons!

If you haven’t already noticed I’ve updated my buttons! You can find all the code nonsense on the sidebar. Grab one!  

If you’ve been featured please take one because I really do think you’re awesome!

My Dad’s Before and Afters

While my mom and I were busy painting over the weekend, my dad was busy on his “daddy-do” list. He finished the list faster than I thought; I should have had more projects ready. I’m thankful that my dad is so handy! However, he has no idea what a blog is or why I’d want a picture of an outlet or gross shower head, so I’m sad to say that I’m missing some “before” shots. Luckily I got the good ones!

Before – Back Porch

After

(Home Depot)

Before – Front Porch

After

( Home Depot)

Before – Master Bathroom

(My dad took it off the wall before I could get a picture)

After

(Home Depot)

Also Completed:

New showerhead in guest bathroom

I wish I had a before picture…it was G-R-O-S-S

White light switches/outlets in master bedroom and bath

Bye, bye beige!

He replaced:

1 double light switch in master bedroom

1 double light switch in master bathroom

About 6 outlets in master bedroom

1 outlet in master bathroom

…there’s not a shortage of outlets in this house

Correct light bulbs in ceiling fans and recessed kitchen lights

Every light fixture in this house had mismatched light bulbs…a CFL here, a 67 watt there, a 90 watt here, and a flood light bulb there. Have you ever heard of a 67 watt light bulb? We hadn’t. So, my dad was sent to buy CFL bulbs for the ceiling fans in the living room/dining room/kitchen and smaller bulbs for the recessed lights. 90 watts was way too much for those and they kept getting too hot…so unsafe!

Thanks Dad for all your handy work and for being our gopher all weekend!



Secret Locket Fail

Let me start by saying I don’t have an “after” picture for the master bedroom and bathroom yet…

I decided on the color Secret Locket by ColorPlace for my master bedroom and bathroom. I know everyone loves their brand name paints, but the $7 bucket from Wal-Mart has never done me wrong.

It took all day Saturday for my mom and me to prime and paint the first coat on both rooms. So, we planned to paint a quick second coat, along with the trim and doors on Sunday. However, Sunday morning we ran out of paint for the master bedroom and had to send my dad for another can. I had finished one full wall and 3/4 another wall before I ran out of paint. We opened up the new can and I finished that wall and the other 2 walls.

Then this conversation happened:

Mom: Did you paint the top part of that wall with the new can of paint?

Me: Yeah.

Mom: Do you think it’s still wet?

Me: Maybe. Why?

Mom: It looks a little darker

Me: Ugh, you’re right. Maybe it’s still wet.

*a couple hours later*

Me: OK, it’s definitely not wet anymore.

Mom: You’re going to have to re-paint that wall.

Me: MOTHER F***ER!!! AHHHHH!

So anyway, I have to go back sometime this week and re-paint that wall. My boyfriend said he’d roll the wall if I’d do the edging with the brush. I’m glad I don’t have to paint the whole thing, but I’m still annoyed it’s not finished. 

Tomorrow I’ll show you what my dad did while we painted.

Bye Green, Hello Gray

Say goodbye to the green!

Today was a VERY long day of painting. I'm so grateful that my parents came down to help. I would have given up if I had to paint by myself today. It took my mom and me four and a half hours just to paint the primer over the green in the master bedroom and bath. 

Say hello to the gray!

 

OK, the picture doesn't really look like the actual color. I'll take better pictures when the room is finished and post them on Monday. We planned to finish the master bedroom and bath today, but we seriously underestimated the size of the room. Tomorrow morning we’ll put on the second coat and paint the baseboards and trim. The ceiling is done and looks amazing (thankfully it was already white, so it only took one coat). My shoulder I can’t wait to finish and see how it looks. The gray better look awesome because I don’t want to repaint that room again for a long time : )