House To Do List

While 2017 has been the hardest year we have endured yet, we are starting to see the light. Starting to get fired up about doing projects again and ready to learn new things. Maybe some of that is because I started bullet journaling. (I'll do a whole post on that soon. It's freaking awesome).  But really, I think I need to see some changes in my physical space. It's time to take this builder grade house and make it into OURS. 

Basement Walkout

The priority number one that we are doing is making the basement a walkout on the side by the dart board. This window shall magically become a door. 

Basement Before

We are doing this primarily so that we can AirBNB out the basement. We LOVED that we were able to rent the basement in our last house and it allowed us to do all sorts of renovation projects. We will also add a small "kitchen" area: toaster oven, micro, coffee, mini fridge. No sink though. If we really get cranking on this stuff, perhaps we will add a full kitchen down here. 

Master Bath

While I'd love to do a full gut of this space- I HATE the tile with a passion- I think we will start with new hardware on the cabinets and painting them. I have gone over and over and over what color to paint these cabinets because eventually, I WILL GUT THIS SPACE. So trying to find a color that may work when I eventually demo out the whole right side of the bathroom is causing me designing angina. 

Offensive cabinetry. 

Offensive tile AND offensive cabintry. 

"Kids Bathroom"

It's cute how I have it decked out for Lyla, but boasts much of the same offensive paint and cabinetry as our bathroom. Just blah. And naked... with no hardware. 

PAINT EVERYWHERE

We've only painted the first floor common spaces, LB's office, our master bedroom, and Lyla's room. I LOATHE THE PAINT THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE HOUSE. Flesh is not a color. But somehow it is. And I hate it. 

Crown & A Rug in the Living Room

What is clearly the most done space is the living room. We love it so much we basically live in it... get it? Hilarious. But it needs crown molding... that's right, I said NEEDS. And it just calls for a rug to tie the room together. I wish that was meant to be a Big Lebowski pun, but it wasn't. It really does need a rug. 

The Main Floor Bath

Just add some board and batten and paint it. Immediately. It's so boring. And replace the blinds. Woof. 

Stack of toilet paper anyone? 

The Kitchen. The God Damn Kitchen

This kitchen needs: painted cabinets, new countertops, new hardware, a backsplash and window casements. So just a few VERY EXPENSIVE THINGS. And don't worry... I have already replaced those fugly lights. 

So yeah. We've got quite the to-do list. It's a tad ridic. But what also is ridic is the amount of updated house tours that I owe you kind folks. We've changed a lot. I am adding a blog page to my bullet journal... which means... this shit is gonna get done. :) 

DIY Built-In Desk

Sorry y'all. No final kitchen reveal as promised today. Instead we are jumping to a different space under construction: My office. Bedroom number 2 of three upstairs. It's been my little space for my clothes and all of my stuff since we moved in. But alas, having a baby is about compromising and changing and making space and so I am gladly welcoming LB into "my space" to create our combined office. The desk may go, but the clothes? They stay. :) Speaking of the desk... that big blue bad boy was PERFECT for law school. It was a Goodwill score that we painted before school started and it served me well throughout all the studying hours that were mandated for my little ol doctorate. But the time had come to take it apart and scoot it along.

I also had to say adios to my dressing bar... sad.

We had kicked around a lot of idea of what to do with the double desk situation that needed to happen. In the end we went with what would be the most simple: a double desk "built-in" made from stock cabinets at Home Depot, plywood, and laminate flooring.

We picked up two 18 inch lower cabinets (they each have drawers) and one 12 inch guy for the middle. When putting the plywood down we cut the slab in half and then used L brackets to attach it to the wall.

Once we got the slab all the way across the top, we stopped for a few days because we had to figure out what we were going to do for bookshelves on the top of the desk. Originally, I assumed we would do Billy Bookcases from Ikea. However, they were way too tall and as someone who has tried to cut Ikea crap before, we knew that trimming them would NOT be simple.

So, LB found these on Amazon for $97 each (picture is linked):

They were the perfect height and price. Once they arrived we realized that the decorative pieces weren't attached already. Which was great because I hated them for this project and was planning to saw them right off.

We once again used an L bracket all the way at the top to attach these to the wall and left space at the top for crown molding and trim to be applied down the road.

As for the top of the desk, we just picked up some Allure Laminate flooring and using an X-acto knife and some tape for the lines, trimmed it up to fit. In hindsight- I'd get a piece of wood that I could stain and call it a day/the desktop.

The bookcases are all loaded up now, but we still have the trim work and the other wall to deal with (read: finding a futon/couch/daybed that we like for that space and clearing out the pile of tools that got moved in here from the nursery. We need a shed people. We need a shed real bad).

So stay tuned for the final word from our office...