We mentioned in a previous post that we got our cabinets from 3 different places! Some of the ways we worked to tie them all together was by purchasing new doors and painting them and the cabinets from Craigslist to coordinate with the “new” cabinets from the Outlet. Another thing that we did was to…
Getting Closer: The Countertops Are Here!
Throughout the renovation process we’ve worked hard to keep the costs minimal wherever we could, so initially we didn’t think granite would be a possibility. However, my grandparents told us about a granite supplier out of a town near Chicago they had used in the past with very reasonable prices. They were much cheaper than…
Our Laminate Floor Installation
When it came time to choose a flooring for our main living space, Home Depot had a “special” flooring in stock: a gorgeous laminate from TrafficMASATER in Saratoga Hickory for only $.99/sq.ft. {They’ve since started stocking it regularly so they must have had a lot of success selling it!} This particular flooring is considered a…
Time for Tile: Durock Prep, Installation, and Grout
When it came time for the tile work in our bathrooms and laundry room, we had done a lot of research and felt confident in our ability to attempt it ourselves. We were also blessed to be able to use my parents’ leftover tile from their lake house, which was enough to do the master…
Kitchen Cabinet Install
After the walls were finally painted, it was time to install the cabinets! Luckily my family is full of carpenters, so my grandfather and my sister’s fiance James installed them for us. marking the heights & stud locations locating the studs whoops! looks like someone (me) marked the wrong spot for that light 🙁 after…
We Love to Paint!
After the texturing was completed, we could finally paint! We had spent a lot of time figuring out our colors, so it was super satisfying to see it all starting to come together! our paint samples – kind of hard to see, but we went with 3 main colors we’re always looking for a deal,…
Drywall, Texture, & Primer
The single biggest thing that has “held us up” on our renovations, as far as time goes anyways, is contractors. We were hoping to finish our renovations in about 3 months, but it’s going to end up being closer to 6 months. We did everything keep the process moving on our end, but sometimes there’s…
Finding Our 6 Panel Doors
Doors. Are. Expensive. Ok, so this is another “we weren’t originally planning on…” post. I couldn’t help it! Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely budget-conscious, but we had saved enough in other areas, and these were such a good deal that we made it work. And I’m soo glad! You can probably already guess I…
Plumbing Rough In
The first step of our plumbing is finally done! The “finish” plumbing apparently occurs after everything else is done (aka, toilet setting, fixtures, etc.) I guess that makes sense. Anyways, just thought I’d share a few pictures of the plumbing progress! to the left are the pedestal sink hook ups, and to the right are…
Cabinet Door Bead-board Wallpaper Inlay
We scored a great deal on the vanity for the kids’ bathroom, but I wasn’t a huge fan of it’s appearance. I decided to use beadboard wallpaper (I paid $18/roll online, but it can also be found at Menards for roughly same price) in the inset of the doors and then paint the whole vanity off-white….