A little paint makes a new door.

Our front door – well, really all our exterior doors – were in pretty rough shape when we purchased the house. We’ve since updated our garage door, but our front door & screen door were still in for a long-overdue make over.

Yuck. I bought some indoor/outdoor black paint from Lowes, and a new screen door from Menards.

I was feeling brave, until I made the first brush stroke. Then I started to have second thoughts. Black seems so permanent to me, but I managed to keep painting through the knot in my throat…

And voila, big changes in the front door area!

I knew it would be a big change to paint the door black, but it’s even better than I imagined! I love love love the black exterior. Looks brand new, but it’s the same door as before! Ten dollars brought big impact!

I took an even bigger risk and painted the interior black also. I’m still not certain how I feel about it, and the pics are awful with the lighting, but in keeping with my “keep it real” motto for this blog, here ya go…

My mom & sister like it, and I think I do too. I’m still deciding though. I really just liked the glass image reflecting in the photo frame in the photo below…

Oh, and our door that goes from the garage into the house – disgusting. Totally disgusting. And that’s after I scrubbed and scrubbed it!

So how about this $10 transformation?

Sooo much better!

House tour: bathroom.

I’m wrapping up the virtual house tour. For the past posts, you can see them here: guest bedroom, little one’s room, master bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room.

Our main bathroom is small, but it’s been through a mighty DIY transformation. Most of the projects are detailed in the bathroom reveal post; however, Eugene put in new flooring since then.

This room was bad, bad, bad when we moved in…

And here’s the now…

I think I’m most proud of this room & the kitchen for transformations on a low budget. I painted the pink tile. Yes, painted, and it’s holding up marvelously! Still looks good as new! I spray painted the faucet, but that one’s not holding up quite as well. I’ll probably need to repaint soon due to some chipping. I sewed ruffle curtains and added a lengthening ruffle strip to the shower curtain. We had someone come in and fix the ceiling, and Eugene & his dad installed a new vent/light. {Still need to install one more light.}

Looks much better than the befores, huh! I have a few more projects up my sleeve for this room, but I’m super happy with its transformation.

House tour: guest bedroom.

I started the virtual house tour a couple weeks ago before I went on vacation. I’m close to finishing it, so pardon the pause and jump back in with me. If you missed any earlier ones and want to catch up, you can see them here: little one’s room, master bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room.

We have three bedrooms on the main level of the house. The third bedroom hasn’t really served a purpose yet, so I haven’t focused on making it pretty. Eugene’s family lives right down the street from us and my family is only about 20 minutes away, so we rarely have overnight guests. When we do, they usually are Eugene’s college buddies who prefer to crash on the couch after playing videogames or watching sports way late anyway. Right now, the room is a guest bedroom/my closet/office space. Perfectly clear, right?

To be fair, we have to start with what the room looked like when we moved in…

At first, Eugene & I used this room for ourselves, but we later moved. I can’t remember why, maybe for a bigger closet? I just loved this tri-paddle fan. {Sarcasm.}

Looking at the photo below makes me so happy we got new windows. So happy.

I haven’t shown this room on the blog in quite a while. Basically, I painted all trim white, painted the walls a cool light grey color, refinished a $5 dorm desk into a cute turquoise gem, added a new FOUR paddle fan, and threw in a twin bed, leftover rug and hope chest. Like I said, I haven’t paid much attention to this room. Nothing really matches, but it’s okay. It’ll probably become a playroom for the little one soon. And then maybe another nursery one day. {Lord willing.}

Don’t mind the random engagement frame leaning in the window.

I’m keeping it real here. That big cardboard thing next to the bed is the leftover Ikea butcherblock. I have plans for that baby someday. And yes, I stuff lots of stuff under the beds.

All that’s left is the bathroom, the outside, and basement; I think I’ll leave out the basement ‘cause it’s not pretty. ;)

This room needs some attention for sure, but I feel like it’s best for the budget if I just wait until we have a purpose for the room. If you haven’t figured out, we’re pretty low-budget and low-maintenance around here, so for now it works just fine!

House tour: little one’s room.

In continuing with the virtual house tour, let’s move onto another bedroom. The bedroom we converted into the little one’s room started out yellow…

And there’s a small half bath attached to this bedroom. Here’s the “before”…

For a while, pre-baby, I turned the room into a guest room without painting or anything…

And then we found out the little one was coming & I got to work creating a happy, colorful spot for her. This included lots of DIY projects: button light, button adjustable crib skirt, orange fitted crib sheet, colorful mobile, & orange changing table.

The half-bath’s still “in progress,” but it’s come a long way with beadboard walls, new flooring, new toilet, & new sink…

It cracks me up to compare these to when I first revealed the nursery {before the little one was here.} These have so much more real life clutter – toys, and towels, and diaper bags. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I really love how bright and crisp this room turned out. I realize not everyone loves color the way I do, but I think the room shouts joy when you walk in…perfect for my joyful little one. :)