Powder Room Weekend Project

My husband, son and I actually tackled this project a few months ago but I moved on to the next project and forgot to share!

We wanted to give our powder room a little makeover!  Something we could tackle over a long holiday weekend. We pulled everything out and added board and batten going up about 2/3rds of the wall. I fell in love with the color Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore on Pinterest and just had to have something painted in this color. We painted the bottom portion of the walls the same as the trim and then Revere Pewter above it. It is a beautiful neutral gray. Not too blue and not too pink….just right.

It was time to put my novice chalk painting skills to the big test. I have painted a few end tables but never tackled the focal point of the room….until NOW! I decided to paint the cabinet for the sink. Our home is craftsman style and the cabinet is much too formal for our style. I knew I wanted a distressed look and chose Annie Sloan Old White and French Linen to create the look.  This is how the cabinet looked when I started:

Original Cabinet

First I painted a coat of Old White on the entire cabinet.  Next, I took French Linen and really worked it into the raised decorative areas and then added another coat of Old White.  I wanted the wood to show through in many areas and decided to try a new technique for distressing it.  I actually did the painting in my dining room, yes I know, I really know how to live on the edge and take risks!  Because I was in the dining room, I didn’t want to create a lot of dust from sanding.  I kept a damp rag with me and while the paint was still wet, I wiped off the paint on the decorative areas and corners where I wanted the original wood to show.  The terrific part was that I didn’t have to go back and heavily sand the cabinet when I finished.  Wiping the paint off doesn’t offer a subtle distressed look but I am ok with that.  I did do a light sanding all over before applying the wax.  I used AS clear wax over the entire piece and then used AS dark wax in the corners and over the decorative areas.

I love how it turned out.  It was one of my easiest projects.  I need to find some artwork for the room now and then I can move on to my next project.

Sink Distressing 1

 

Sink Distressing 3

 

Sink Complete

 

Bathroom Complete!

Bathroom Complete!

Have a great weekend!

Kimberly

Advertisement

New Paint, New Driveway and New Landscaping = DONE!

It is time to wrap this remodel. I really admire the HGTV crews that get a home makeover done in three days because that was not our reality!

Everything turned out great though! The new paint colors really brightened up the house and the new grass and landscaping offered a much needed facelift.

Beach house remodel before

Exterior of beach house before

 

Beach House Exterior Remodel After

Searenity Now After!

Now it is time to go enjoy the beach!  Come visit us at “Searenity Now” in Isle of Palms, SC!

Enjoy your weekend and let me know if you like the new exterior!

25th Hour Gal

Meanwhile on the inside…

While things have been in the works on the outside, we have been actively working on the inside. We put in new floors throughout the house, redid the bathrooms and had the house completely painted. All new appliances gave a much needed facelift to the kitchen.

Mr. 25th Hour had to move in for a few weeks and give the project his full attention. He did a great job adding board and batten to two of the bedrooms and it really provided a nice touch. In the master, he did one wall as a focal point. In one of the secondary bedrooms, he added the trim to all four walls but only covered about 2/3rds of the wall and added a fresh pop of green color (Hearts of Palm – SW6415) above the bright white walls (Charleston White by SW).

In the third bedroom, we decided to add twin beds and we wanted to add a fun element in this room as well. We selected exterior galvanized metal lights that we installed over each bed and also added individual light switches by each bed so that the lights could be used as reading lights. We also picked out a fun vivid blue for this room – Swimming (SW6764).

We used Charleston White as our main wall color throughout the house and Lattice (SW – 7654) on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  We loved the color “Swimming” so much that we decided to paint the interior of the garage the same color.  It is a nice cheery surprise each time we arrive.

Here are some pictures of the before and after of the interior.


Family Room and Dining Room BEFORE

Family Room and Dining Room BEFORE

 

Family Room "AFTER"

Family Room “AFTER”

 

Master Bedroom BEFORE

Master Bedroom BEFORE

Master Bedroom with new floor, board and batten wall treatment.  Love the light blue ceiling.

Master Bedroom with new floor, board and batten wall treatment. Love the light blue ceiling

 

Queen Bedroom BEFORE

Queen Bedroom BEFORE

Queen Room AFTER with new Board & Batten trim throughout the room

Queen Room AFTER with new Board & Batten trim throughout the room

 

Twin Room BEFORE

Twin Room BEFORE

Twin Room AFTER with Individual Lights Over Each Bed

Twin Room AFTER with Individual Lights Over Each Bed

 

Porch BEFORE

Porch BEFORE

Porch "AFTER" with new paint and furniture

Porch “AFTER” with new paint and furniture

 

Kitchen Before

Kitchen Before

Kitchen "AFTER" with painted cabinets and new appliances

Kitchen “AFTER” with painted cabinets and new appliances

 

SeaRenity Now our home away from home at IOP

“SeaRenity Now” our home away from home at IOP

 

We are very happy with how things turned out.  As far as the exterior, More About That next week!

Happy Valentine’s Day! ~ 

      25th Hour Gal

 

 

All Decked Out

With the old shrubs cleared away, the next step was to design the new front porch and find the builder for this project. We knew we wanted something bigger and honestly, I was the one that pushed for the extra space. Mr. 25th Hour was fine with a slightly smaller porch. Thanks for letting me win this one!

Anyway, we spent lots of time riding around and taking pictures of front porches on other homes that we liked. This decision was one of the easiest ones that we made in the home renovation project. We also decided to add a deck coming off the back screen porch. We wanted something for grilling but also an outdoor area where we could sit and the grill master (Mr. 25th Hour) could relax while grilling the steaks we plan to have after finishing this project!  We designed an area with built in benches and the cool part is that we added storage compartments under the seat of each bench.

Back deck with Storage Benches

Back Deck With Storage Benches

Front Porch "BEFORE"
Front Porch “BEFORE”

 

Front Porch "AFTER"

Front Porch “AFTER”

 

We think both projects turned out great!

Welcome to the Jungle

Did I mention previously that we applied to be a part of a new HGTV show for vacation rental homes that needed a makeover?  We could have used their help!  Big SOS here!!!  We were actually more overwhelmed with the overgrown landscaping (and I use the term “landscaping” loosely) than with the work that needed to be done on the inside.

About three weeks after we closed we had several inches of rain and our front yard and driveway were soon underwater! We were thinking that it would soon subside but they don’t call it the low country for nothing! At this point we knew we needed some serious help and called in the professionals from YardWorks.  The back yard was bordered by many overgrown Elaeagnus (pronounced:  Ug-lee-ag-nus).  The house was surrounded by shrubs that had never been pruned.  The front yard no longer had grass probably due to the flooding.

Front yard with weeds and overgrown shrubs

Front yard with weeds and overgrown shrubs

 

Back yard Ugly-agnus and beautiful 250+ year old Live Oak

Back yard Ugly-agnus and beautiful 250+ year old Live Oak

The team at YardWorks put together a great landscape plan and suggested dry wells to eliminate the periodic flooding in the front yard.  It took a team, a bobcat, two dump trucks and two days to eliminate all of the existing shrubs and weeds but it looked so much better and we could actually see the beauty of the 250+ year old Live Oak Tree.

Front Yard Debris

Front Yard Debris

 

Backyard debris

Backyard debris

 

And now we have a clear canvas for the starting point of our new landscape plan.  First, we will be replacing the driveway, followed by adding the dry wells and we also have a new deck to build.  Why a new deck you ask?  Because, the current one was never attached to the house!?  Seems like that would have been noticed by the building inspector at the time….just sayin!

Weeds are still there but overgrown shrubs GONE!

Weeds are still there but overgrown shrubs GONE!

25th Hour Gal

 

Paint Your Brick Fireplace – It’s Easier Than You Think!

I decided that my first DIY project for Searenity Now would be to tackle the fireplace. It wasn’t ugly but it didn’t look beachy. I searched Pinterest and lots of other sites to find out how to give the fireplace a makeover, and I found an easy step-by-step guide on the Lowes site.

The very 'un-beachy' fireplace

The very ‘un-beachy’ fireplace

One rainy day, I went to Lowe’s on my mission to find the paint colors I wanted to use.  I wanted a white shade for the background that blended in with the white on the walls and then for the darker color, I wanted something that wouldn’t offer too much contrast.  I ended up using Benjamin Moore White Dove for the base (because I happened to have it already).  For the top coat, I used Oatlands Subtle Taupe by Valspar (6005-1B).

The first thing I did was to wipe off the exterior brick with a damp rag.  I also ran a hand vacuum over the exterior to get cobwebs and any dust and debris off the hearth.  No offense to the previous owner but let’s just say that she could have spent a little more time on cleaning.  I didn’t bother with the interior of the fire box as I knew I was going to put a screen over the front.  If you want or need to paint your firebox, I recommend you start with that project before moving on to this project.  I did paint the one row of bricks around each edge but nothing inside the firebox.

I then taped some paper to the floor using FrogTape and also taped around the edge of the brick to protect the wall.  You know, just in case of a spill.  I am prone to accidents so I plan ahead!  By the time I had the paper down the brick was dry from cleaning and it was time to start the painting.

For the white coat, I used a cheap brush and a roller specifically for rough surfaces.  I think Lowe’s offers “Good,” “Better” and “Best” brushes.  A “Good” brush is fine for this project because I promise you will throw it away when you finish.  First, using the paint roller, paint the entire brick area.  You will use the brush to paint the mortar that the roller doesn’t cover.  Load a lot of paint on the brush because the mortar between the bricks will really need a lot of paint for coverage.  You may have to move your brush in both directions and even jab at the mortar a little with the brush to get the paint in all the cracks and crevices.  You really want to make sure you have everything completely covered with your white color before moving to the next step.

First step complete!

First step complete!

Let the white coat completely dry and touch-up where needed.  Once that coat is complete, you can move on to your contrasting color.  This is where I stopped using the Lowe’s instructions and came up with my own technique.  I used a 4″ foam roller for the top coat with the contrasting color.  Foam is important as you only want to lightly hit the high spots of the brick, not completely cover it.  This top coat takes about 20 minutes.  Very quick and easy!

 

You want the darker color to be uneven.

You want the darker color to be uneven.

I completed the entire project the same day and I love the result.  Don’t you think it looks more beachy?  And guess what….no spills!  This was a very easy project.  Here is the final with the new decor.

The new 'beachy' fireplace completed!

The new ‘beachy’ fireplace completed!

 

Leap of Faith

We may have taken a seriously wrong turn but I don’t think we have! We have been searching for a small beach house in the Charleston area for several years. We just couldn’t find the perfect one for us. Then last year, we found one on the market that was in our price range and we thought had great potential. To say that it looked sad & tired is an understatement! It looked nothing like a beach house even though the ocean was only a block and a half down the street.

The house was a short sale and we had no idea about the long grueling process. But, we decided to go for it! It took six long….make that very long months from the time we made the offer to the time we closed! I won’t sugarcoat it as it was a painful process. It was also pretty painful for our friends that had to listen to us whine!

But good things come to those that wait, right?! So the house is ours but now we needed an extreme home & yard makeover. On the HGTV website, we found out about a new show and they were looking for people who had just purchased a beach house (check) and wanted to update it (check)! We applied and actually made it through the initial screen but then we were DENIED! Oh well, I love HGTV anyway.

So we will dive in and get the job done ourselves. I hope you follow along to see our progress.  Before we begin, here is the start of our vision…”SeaRenity Now!” If you aren’t familiar with this Seinfeld episode, it is one of my favorites. We decided to name the beach house after it with a play on the spelling (get it?…SEA). If you missed this episode, check out the highlights here “Serenity Now, Insanity Later!”

photo

We’ve “Nested!”

Ever since I saw my first Nest, I have wanted one too.  So this past week, I finally bought and installed our new thermostat, the Nest.

The Nest is an impressive thermostat but the technology is what makes it outstanding.  The installation is very easy and they even include a screwdriver and the screws you need.  First you visit the Nest website:  https://nest.com/thermostat/life-with-nest-thermostat/ to check capatibility with your wiring.  If you pass that simple test, you are ready to install your Nest.  I could have completed the installation in about 15 minutes total but I had to do a little painting behind the old thermostat.  Don’t forget to turn off  your current thermostat before disconnecting and turn off the power to the part of your house where your thermostat is located.

After painting, I connected four wires into the Nest and then it was time for programming.  First you connect the Nest to your WiFi and then it will automatically check for software updates.  You then set the lowest minimum temp and the maximum temp for your home.  This means that your house will never be colder than your minimum or warmer than the maximum temp you set.  Next you turn the dial to the temperature you currently want in the house.

Now for the cool part!  Download the Nest app to your smartphone or tablet.  You can then control your thermostat from your phone or tablet.  That may sound silly but let me tell you a couple of things that are very convenient about this feature.  We turn the heat down low at night because we both sleep better when it is cooler.  When we wake up one of us has to go turn the heat up a few degrees to warm up the house but now we can just grab our phone or iPad off the nightstand and adjust the temp.  Easy!  Have you ever left on vacation or a long weekend away and forgotten to change the settings on your thermostat while you are away, well now you can do that from your phone.  Just go to the App and click on “Away.”

It takes a week for the Nest to get to know your habits and your temperature preferences.  After that, it will automatically adjust to your desired temperature several times during the day based on your past preferences.  Of course you can also make adjustments any time you want.  No more programming different programs for weekdays and weekends.  Just install and enjoy!

We have had our Nest installed for just a few days now so it is still learning our schedule.  But so far we love it!  Nest has a new product out that is a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm.  I may have to update our smoke detectors after the holidays!

Nest packaging

Nest Packaging

photo 4-1

Nest Screwdriver

Simple Nest Wiring
Simple Nest Wiring

Updating Software

Updating Software

Installation Complete!

Installation Complete!