Finished projects

The week before Easter my parents came through on a visit to most of their kids houses (sorry Thad and Tera)! They decided to help each of us out somehow with a service project. Well, that's an easy thing at my house, there is always so much to accomplish around here! :)

To tell you the truth, I was really not in the mood to do anything. It was the end of the semester and a week before finals. I was burned out and tired and the thought of doing anything on my house was a little overwhelming. But, my mom, being the way that she is, was determined to help me accomplish the things that I just needed to FINISH! I am so glad that she did! In just 2 days we finished some major projects and made the house look so great!

First, the kitchen. I have done nothing with the kitchen since we moved in, other than buying new appliances and putting handles on all the drawers and cupboards. It is a very red kitchen and it has been fine except I can't touch up any paint spots and it is need of an update. I have also never had a back splash and have been trying to figure out something to put back there that will match my green countertops (yuck) and red walls.

I will someday change out my counter tops, so I didn't want to do anything like stone or tile yet (even though that is what I really wanted to do). One day as I was looking online I decided to check out wall paper. I know wall paper can look pretty fake and terrible when you are trying to do stone, but I found one that I love and it looks so realistic that I just had to buy it. I have had the wallpaper for a few months and just haven't felt comfortable about hanging it. So, when my mom (the queen of wallpaper hanging) came I told her that I needed to hang the wall paper.

Here is the kitchen before (this is way before, like right when we got our new appliances - notice no handles on the drawers or cabinets?) It was just painted red, nothing spectacular.

My mom and I started working on the wallpaper and it wasn't as easy as it should have been. The repeat was pretty far apart and so it seemed like we were wasting a lot to match up the patterns. We worried about having enough to finish the accent wall that I wanted it for. Luckily my sister, Tracy, came over and offered to help my mom. They both are experienced in wallpaper hanging (I am not) and while I finished painting the bathroom (see below) they got to work hanging the thick, nice, scrubbable vinyl wallpaper.



And after all of their hard work. . . Here is the finished kitchen wall. Now I will find a nice color to go with this to paint the rest of the kitchen.
I love the way it looks and it makes my kitchen seem bigger! Here is a close up of the wallpaper. People have had to come and touch it to make sure that it isn't real brick - which is what I wanted when I bought it. I am so happy with it and can't wait to paint the rest of my kitchen now.
The other project that my mom helped my finish was my bathroom. I haven't completed it because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted it to look like when I was finished. Well, Mom was determined not to leave without this complete. She took on the vanity. She sanded and painted it black and put on new hardware. I can't believe its the same vanity! It looks so much better! Some day we will get a new sink/top, but for now it looks amazing!

I went back and forth on how to paint the rest of the bathroom and finally decided that I liked the color that I chose enough to just paint the whole room that color. My sister, Tracy, also offered me the iron pieces that you see in the bathroom. They were a light green color, so my mom painted them black also. Now I have a place for magazines and extra towels. I still need to figure out something over the toilet and put up a window curtain. But I am really happy with how it looks now.


I also still need to find the perfect mirror, or something to go on this wall. I just love how clean and fresh my bathroom feels now!
I can't thank my mom enough for pushing me and helping me to finish these projects! It makes me so happy to have things done. And it helps me want to accomplish even more! Now, if only I had the money to get those things accomplished! :) Oh well! My mom ROCKS!