Oh, I so needed a little crafty creative fix with all this healthy stuff and working on the master bathroom. This was just the thing.

These cute little heart clips were $1 in the Target dollar spot.

I printed out BE MINE (since there were six clips, a six letter phrase was perfect)  in Ecuyer DAX font (free!) onto white cardstock. I think it was about size 200 font. I ripped apart a clear scrapbook page cover (ahem..since I don’t scrapbook anymore) and cut it into a triangle to fit over the letters and traced.

Our next project?? The master bedroom and bathroom. Let the fun begin :)do you think I should choose one of these colors, or perhaps a mosaic all around the room? :)

The bathroom is COMING and we hope to finish it up this week. Here’s a little sneak peak:

I loved these questions from Margaret S. Lifferth…full talk found here.

Previously, our backsplash was just your basic beige laminate. We googled installing a tile backsplash over laminate and the recommendations were mixed. Some said not to do it, others said you should be fine if the laminate was in good shape and you roughed it up real good. When our over-the-stove microwave was installed, we could see that the laminate went up quite a way behind the cabinets. We figured it was going nowhere. So..guess which one we went with?? We are DIY rebels.

1. Turn off the electricity to the outlets! Then double check to make sure they are off. Did you double and triple check? Okay, thank you.

2. Then, we roughed up the backsplash with some heavy duty, 60 grit sandpaper to prepare the surface for the tile.

Next comes the mastic. You just buy this in a bucket at your home improvement store.

Apply a layer with a notched trowel to get yourself some nice grooves.

And then start applying the tile. Watch a bunch of youtube video tutorials and you’ll get a good idea of what you’re going to do. It’s basically a big puzzle~we worked from the bottom middle up and you just go along placing your tiles with little spacers in between.

When you come to the outlets (are you SURE your power is off?? double check.) just unscrew them slightly so you can get the tiles behind the metal things on the top and bottom of the outlet.

We bought this trusty little tile saw at the Home Depot over 4 years ago and it’s never let us down for our little tile jobs.

You’re going to run into some tricky cuts around outlets and corners, so this is how we do it: make the cut for both sides for where the outlet will go

then, make a bunch more cuts in between,

so they will be easier to break off with tile nippers (that’s what they’re really called!)

and there it fits. Those cuts don’t have to be perfect because the outlet cover will be hiding most of it.

and just keep moving down the line. Let the mastic dry overnight, then you can apply your grout. I like the look of unsanded grout better, but you’ll want to use sanded if your spaces are bigger. They also sell pre-mixed grout, so you don’t even have to worry about mixing it up.

I didn’t take pictures, but basically you apply the grout with a rubber float (look at Katie’s from Bower Power)

until you fill all of the tile joints, then you wipe the tiles with a sponge, smoothing over the grout.  Let it dry for about 20 minutes and when a haze forms on the tile, you polish the surface with the sponge, being careful not to rub the grout out of the joints.  It’s really not bad, I promise!

Listen to Rocky.

full talk found here

I promised we’d talk about price and what we did in the kitchen, so here we go!

I loved the open-ness of the kitchen right into the family room. The cabinets were in great shape and had some nice features, they were just orange oak. Painting was the least expensive route. Do you remember how I got some quotes to have a professional paint it? They came in for around $2500, so with our budget right now we decided to DIY.

Here are the price breakdowns:

Cabinet hardware: Martha Stewart Bedford Dowel Cabinet Pull and Martha Stewart Bedford Canopy Pull. Total: $200 We spray painted the hinges with a brushed nickel. Who cares about hinges? I guess I don’t.

Now, you could save a lot of money on pulls for your cabinets by purchasing them on Ebay, but I LOVED these and figured since we were painting ourselves, I was totally justified in the hardware…right??

That sweet topiary was a fun surprise from my friend, Robyn! The paint and primer for the cabinets was about $100 ~ the tutorial for painting kitchen cabinets can be found by clicking here.

You can read more about the kitchen shelf here with the beadboard wallpaper backing. The containers are from Target, but I scored one at a yard sale. The silver platter was a wedding gift, the plates and crock are also old Target purchases. Total: $22

We kept the sink, and you can read more about the faucet here. $100

The milk glass and white glassware are mostly from Goodwill (that white pitcher is from Target), total about $20.

DIY schoolhouse light here $35

Curtain fabric info here about $15

the baskets were from my cut up coffee table turned bench! (free), the dishwasher was a crazy deal last year, a kitchen aid marked down from $1589 to $589 (remember?)

That fridge came with us from Texas, so I’m not including it. I would love a different style, but we’re waiting on that one. The microwave ($149) and stove ($598) were black Friday deals last year.

The green chair at the desk was about $15, the diy roman shades were about $20

The subway tile is the good old .24 cent tile in store at Home Depot – $20 total.  I don’t think you can get more bang for your buck if you need a classic update in your kitchen or bath. The tutorial for the subway tile backsplash can be found here.

The corbels are from Home Depot, $8 each = $24 they are hot glued on there….shhhhhhh.

The bowl is TJMaxx $17

Glass in cabinet doors (see tutorial here) $18

Penny tile cabinet back -- click here for tutorial $150

I saw the idea for this in PB magazine and pinned it, then copied it. The hooks are from summer garden clearance at Lowes $3 each = $6

The pitcher is from TJ Maxx $9, and the lantern is from Real Deals in Missoula, Montana when I was there visiting. $20

The table refinish -- click here for the full tutorial was about $50, the chairs from Craigslist were $100, the diy drum lights were $120 – tutorial here.

We kept the laminate counters, because we’re trying to meet some financial goals and new solid surface isn’t in the budget right now. But at least they are nice and neutral.

Neither are hardwood floors…but, someday? I hope. The previous owners put brand, spanking new linoleum in right before we saw the house for the first time. I saw the bill for it on the counter (I ain’t  nosy) and they paid $2800. Gulp. Of course I think of what that could have gone towards flooring wise, but can’t really change that now, can I? It’s not bad at all though.

And there you have it.

TOTAL: $2397 for EVERYTHING including the appliances we purchased. It feels like a new kitchen! I love that we would have paid a painter more than that just to paint the cabinets. Awesome.

So…NOW it feels good, now that the work is all over, but I’m not gonna lie, it’s not a fun process.

Let’s look at the before one more time:

and the after:

I know I probably missed something~let me know if you have ???

Well, of course it snowed.

Because Christmas is over, and it would make too much sense to snow before Christmas??

I’m a little bitter today…because it’s BITTER cold outside, I’m still trying to get Christmas down, my new years resolutions aren’t going so hot, and we started on the upstairs’ bathrooms over the break and they are just sitting waiting for me to finish peeling the wallpaper borders.

Blasted projects~who thought they were a good idea anyway?

Happy New Year! The first courage for the week in 2012: