Banister Makeover

Once you start remodeling and updating a house it starts to make other things in the house look out of date and you end up wanting to redo everything. I didn't mind the banister and balusters on our front stairs at first but once we put in our new wood floors I knew I wanted to at least re-stain or paint the existing banister.

I started looking into how much it would cost to tear out the whole thing and start from scratch with rod iron balusters. I got a few quotes from locate places--one quoted me around $2,000 for materials and installation and another $1,200 just for the materials. That was way more than I wanted to spend so instead I looked at the materials I needed at Home Depot. I decided to buy everything we needed there since it was so much cheaper (the total was around $500 for everything we needed) and hire a handyman to install it.

 Felix Ortiz was recommended to me and he was awesome! We called him "Fix-it Felix" since he can do anything--tiling, painting, sheet-rocking, plumbing...you name it! I'd recommend him to anyone. His number is (801) 824-6225 if you need any help with your house. So in the end we ended up saving well over half the cost of what we were quoted. And I love the finished result! Totally worth it if you ask me.   

Here's how the banister looked before:

 

 And here's the finished banister:

 I threw some fall garland on them to be festive! It's from Hobby Lobby.

 There's a little section at the top of our stairs that we re-did too.

I think it made all the difference to update the banister! And we did without spending a fortune.

 

Master Bedroom Makeover

When we bought our house the master bedroom didn't need too much help. It just needed a fresh coat of paint, can lights in the ceiling, and that was basically it.

Here's a picture of the master bedroom before. It just had cream colored walls with a ceiling that matched. Just a boring blah color...

The first thing to do was choose a wall color. I knew I wanted something neutral and light so I looked at a few greige colors. I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb gray which I'm very happy with. It looks lighter in the daytime sunlight but darkens up at night. We painted the ceiling Pure White by Behr.

 The finished walls.

 

 Trying to paint the baseboards with a little toddler on your lap is tricky work!

We were going to keep the original carpet which was just a tan color but since we had a flood from the swamp cooler that ruined it we "had" to re-carpet the whole upstairs. (I'm grateful for that flood now that it's over with because we got to fix up more of the house than we were originally going to.) We chose this darker brown/gray color from Giant Carpet One. It's pretty speckled when you look at it up close so it hides everything. I was very happy with the service I received there and I love how soft and full this carpet is! (I'll have to look up the exact color and brand it is.) 

I bought our bedroom furniture from Actionwood furniture in Salt Lake City. Their prices were very decent and I love the color and style of the bed, nightstands, and dresser. I got the recliner a few years ago from Ashley furniture but you can also order Ashley furniture at Actionwood.

The pillows are from Shopko. I always forget about Shopko but they had these pillows for 50% off when I went to look there so the price was right and I loved the gray and yellow colors. The cream duvet cover is just one I picked up from Smith's Marketplace and the sheets are from Tuesday Morning.

In our other house we only had one nightstand so I for sure wanted one on both sides of the bed. It's nice having a place to put all my books, alarm, cell phone charger, and what not and not having to share it with my husband.

I love the little window nook in this room and having this comfy chair there is a perfect spot to read and relax! The only thing left I need to get is a tall reading lamp right behind this chair. And maybe a cute valance to go over the window...

I still have a pile of stuff to organize on my dresser so don't mind that but here's how it looks in the room.

 

Overall I'm happy with the way our master bedroom turned out. It was a fun project and now it's nice to just enjoy this room! 

Kitchen Remodel

One of the funnest parts of our house to remodel was the kitchen! I loved picking the finishes out, the wall color, the backsplash, appliances, and watching it all come together.

This is how the kitchen looked when we bought the house. Not bad...but definitely nothing special. I knew I'd keep the cabinets and countertops but everything else had to change. 

A view from the other end of the kitchen. Notice the horrible bulk head that ran right through the middle of the kitchen ceiling. That was horrible but we were just going to live with it. In the middle of our renovation our house flooded (from the swamp cooler on the top floor) and ruined the ceiling in the kitchen. Since the bulk head was ruined we were glad to get rid of it. We also had electrical issues in the kitchen ceiling that had to be fixed so in the end the flood was a blessing in disguise!

 

The first thing I changed were the knobs on the cabinets. At first they were just a wooden knob that matched the cabinets exactly. I wanted something to stand out so I ordered these oil rubbed bronze ones from knobs4less.com

The next thing we did was pull up the floor. It turned out that there were about 4 layers of laminate and vinyl flooring. My husband had a fun time digging that out!

I chose a medium dark brown hickory hardwood floor. It turned out gorgeous and I love, love, love it! This is a picture of the floor in the front room which goes throughout the whole main level. I got my wood from Kalia Flooring in Salt Lake City. I love the wood but the service I received was horrible so I can't recommend them to anyone.

 I replaced the old vent covers with these decorative ones from Home Depot. They were around $15 each.

I wanted a blue/gray color on the walls so I chose Aloof Gray by Sherwin Williams. It went perfectly with the backsplash I picked out and was just what I was looking for!

Here's a picture of the bulkhead gone and the ceiling being replaced. It was a long, frustrating few months after the flood but fortunately it was worth it in the end.

With that bulkhead gone we were able to put in can lights right where it had been and it made the kitchen much brighter!

The backsplash I picked out is from Home Depot. I wanted something with blues, browns, and creams in it to match the countertop, appliances, and walls. This one was perfect! It's made of glass tiles and stone and I love the combination!

 Backsplash going in.

Here it is finished and grouted.

The kitchen in the middle of painting.

For our appliances I chose the GE Slate series which we bought from RC Willey. You can get a pretty good deal if you buy them in a package and GE had a mail in rebate too so that was nice. I liked the slate color because it's a smudge proof stainless steel looking type but it's a little more of a bronze/brown color.

 I love cooking on the gas range!

 We needed a certain size fridge (33" wide) but I wanted the French doors and luckily this GE series had just what we needed.

The dishwasher is great because its buttons are above where the kids can't reach them. It's also super quiet.

We switched out the kitchen faucet for this gorgeous Moen one from Standard Plumbing. It made a huge difference!

 I got the barstools from Overstock.com. They're easy to keep clean and were the perfect color for the kitchen.

 The kitchen rug is from Kohls.

We kept the pendant lights that the house came with but we switched out the glass covers for some whiter ones.

Here are a few pictures of how the kitchen turned out:

I'm so glad the ceiling is flat now and that the bulkhead is gone! What were they thinking when they built the house with that ugly thing anyway?

 

Here's a video of the finished kitchen. It was a fun project but it's nice to have it done!