Cabinets, again

Three years ago, we started to remodel our master bathroom.  We ripped out the medicine cabinets and started the process of putting in built ins.  But due to a series of unfortunate events (and life getting in the way), our bathrooms have been sitting like this for a while:

My inspiration (from Pinterest):

Our first contractor was taking months to get back to us after coming to take measurements, so we had to let him go.  I've never fired someone, so that was a difficult experience.

We met with a second contractor (who happens to be a dad at my school) and he built our cabinets.  He has a handyman company and is a carpenter for the Venetian, so he's legit.  He also lives really close to us and was extremely flexible with our schedule.

Basically he built two boxes that will fit into the wall and drilled holes for adjustable shelves.

Each cabinet will have 2 shelves.

They sat in the garage as I dealt with end of the year chaos:

But finally it was time to paint.  I borrowed one of the hubby's work shirts, found gloves and a mask, then got to work.

Since the wood was brand new, I didn't have to de-gloss or sand it.  I got to jump right to step 2, which is painting.

Unpainted wood and after one coat:

One of the blessings of living in the desert is that paint dries incredibly fast.  Instead of waiting for two hours between coats, the real wait time between coats is about twenty minutes.

The cabinets get two coats of paint, which ends up looking more purple than I'd like.  Luckily that's where the stain comes in.

After eight hours of dry time, I put on the stain.  This is perhaps the easiest part.  Using a sponge brush, I slap on black paint.  Before it dries, I use a cloth to wipe it off in long, vertical strokes.  Some black color is left behind and the result is a sea-washed, quasi-rustic look.

The final touch is putting on the clear sealant coat.  Using a dry brush, I coat all sides with the sealant.  I used a sponge brush to soak up excess white bubbles.

The cabinets then stayed in the guest bedroom until our contractor came back to install them:

I had some issues with the inside edges (they are darker than the rest) but I think it'll be okay once they're in the wall.

I laid everything out in the bathroom (and of course had furry investigators): 

The process:

The final look:

(They do perfectly match the cabinets below the sink, despite the lighting in the picture.)

Naturally, I put my own touches on my side right away:

I originally bought the ceramic cactus for my classroom, but it fits perfectly there! I've been eyeing it for over a month and it's really hard to say no to whimsical knickknacks that are under $5.   Darn it TJ Maxx!

Up next?

We're going to replace the carpet in the bathroom (yes, bathroom) with some white and gray tile and re-carpet the master bedroom...next summer.  I'd also like to frame the mirror with the same molding he did on the cabinets and replace the lighting over the sink. Perhaps that's a winter break project? 

Next up?  I should probably discuss with the husband first...

One project at a time!

Summer Goals

 

Summer 2017 Plans:

Professional Growth and Responsibilities

1. Attend a 3 day Whole Brain Teaching conference (6/12-6/14)

This, unfortunately, became a one day adventure.  Read more {here}.

2.  Renew my teaching license (done 6/14, along with a name change with the state DOE and HR for CCSD)

3. Set up my new classroom early.  We report back the 9th, but I'm picking up my keys on August 3rd.  With a new classroom and a new grade level, I'm treating myself like a new teacher next year. 

4. Clean out the Sunshine (social club) closet.  We're going to use left over funds to purchase some table cloths for future events (so we don't have to keep buying disposable plastic ones).  We also have the goal of buying a Keriug and setting up a cafe table in the teacher's lounge.  We'd have creamer in the fridge and charge a dollar a K-cup.  I'd like to do a teacher survey first to make sure there's an interest in it before we spend a few hundred dollars on a whim.

5. Finish Your School Rocks So Tell People (completed 6/13/17), Teach Like a Pirate, and Ron Clark's Essential 55

Home Improvements

1. Finally stain the cabinets for the master bathroom.  We ripped out the medicine cabinets and had a carpenter build custom shelving to fit inside the wall holes.  I just need to stain them to match the rest of the cabinets:

When we're done, it will look like this (above).  I've already stained the rest of the bathroom cabinets (below).

They've been sitting in the garage for months waiting for me to find the time to stain them.  My goal is by the time we leave for our honeymoon in July. 

2. Clean out our master closet and donate unused items to charity.

3. Create a new wreath for the front door.  A friend posted this on instagram:

 PC: Andi Hunt (Instagram)

It'd be fairly easy (and cheap) to recreate.  Plus our front doors are similar colors, so I already know it will be match.

4. Touch up paint in our master bedroom and hallway.  After living here for three years, there are some scuff marks.

Friends & Family  

1. Host B's graduation party (check! 6/10/17)

2. Take all 3 pets to the vet for their yearly check ups (Waffles is scheduled for this week, cats are early July)

3. Help plan a baby shower for his second cousin.  She's due early October, so we're thinking Labor Day weekend.  They're fairly certain it's a girl and I'm pretty positive I've only planned baby boy showers (three of them?).

4. Help Katie make her wedding favors. She's getting married the Sunday of Labor Day weekend and I'm her day of wedding coordinator.  

5. Finish my mom's wedding book (it's almost done I promise!) and order our wedding pictures to put into the album.

Side Job Goals

1. Finish the Dark Prophecy and create the matching TpT guides

2.  Finish the partially completed projects for TpT.  I'm currently at 216 products.  I'd like to be at 250 at the end of the summer. 

I also plan to nap, a lot.

In the dark

Day 9 of the photography challenge: "Dark"

I am totally in the dark about how B is going to fix the roof.  We had a massive wind storm last week and our roof took a beating.

Here was the view of our playground at dismissal:

Here were some news reports on the event:

(Image from the {Washington Times})

(More on the storm {here})

Today we went to Home Depot to get supplies to repair the roof.  As always, I love Home Depot!

We also picked up supplies for some smaller home improvement projects.  

When our front security door was installed, they left a layer of white caulking surrounding the door.  With a tan door and a tan wall, it was super obvious when up close.

Tonight, I remedied the situation by painting over the caulk.  It looks much better now!

Later this week I'll be staining the oak cabinets in the garage to match the bathroom ones.  Our next big home improvement project will be to replace the carpet in the master bathroom with some gray and white marble tile.

In a perfect world, our home would have had everything 100% to our liking when we moved in.  However, we don't have an unlimited budget, the house was ten years old, and we have to do things in baby steps.  

In the almost three years we've lived here, we have:

1) Replaced the dishwasher and the water heater
2) Installed a new fridge, washer, dryer, and water softener
3) Added 2 security doors
4) Added new furniture (couches, coffee table, dining room table, chairs, media stand, TV, recliner, bedroom set, mattress)
5) Painted the master from green to calming shades of blue and gray
6) Hung lots of curtains 
7) Stained kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets
8) Started a fire pit in the backyard

Up next?

1) Replace carpet with tile
2) Replace carpet in the master
3) Redo the backyard with artificial grass and rock
4) Purchase patio furniture
5) Organize the garage to convert it to a man cave (to be fair, I'm working on that this week)

Spring Break Goals

1) Celebrate Ms. S's wedding (tonight!).  Not only am I sure to cry a lot (thank you waterproof {Younique} mascara), but take lots of pictures for her.  My friend Mrs. K took lots of the venue and decor for me, which helped tide me over until the professional ones came six weeks later.

2) Paint our cabinets.  We ripped out our medicine cabinets in our master and had custom shelving built. I'm staining the new cabinets over break to match the other cabinets that I painted {last year}.

We're going to Home Depot tomorrow to get some new paint brushes to complete the project.

3) Paperwork

Between a doctor's appointment, renewing my teaching license, getting finger printed for my license, and updating my passport with my new married name, I've got a lot of paperwork to do.  

4) Family time

I'm helping B's aunt plan her mom's 90th birthday party next month.  We're having lunch on Monday to talk about decor and some of the details.  Plus she won some free leggings at a Lularoe party I hosted, so I've got to give those to her as well.

5) Prep for third grade

I'm redoing my "No Way Jose" game to fit third grade standards.  I know I won't need it until August, but I won't have access to a printer over the summer, so I should start this early.  I'll need to cut out laminate, but that's easily done during a summer Netflix binge.  I've also started mapping out my supply list of what I'll need for third grade.  

6) Finish my mom's album

As part of her Christmas gift, I'm making my mom an album of wedding pictures.  Shutterfly doesn't work well with our professional pictures (they're too detailed, so it comes out pixalated), so I'm using another site instead.  I've got the backbone done, I just want to add in some silly photo booth images as well.

7) Catch up on grading

To be fair, this may or may not happen. I'll probably grade in spurts, meaning three papers and then do something else.  It seems less painful this way.

8) Finish Play Like a Pirate

It's one of the books I picked up at ASCD and I'm loving it.  As I shared on Twitter, it's like having a super nerdy conversation with an old friend. I'm feeling inspired and making lots of notes in my book.

9) Nap.  Every day if possible.  (Day 1 complete).

10) Catch up on blogging.  Between classroom adventures and ASCD, I've got a lot of half started blog posts I need to finish.

What are your spring break goals?

Grateful November 5: Amazon

A few days into the Grateful November challenge and things are going well.

Today I'd like to express my appreciation to Amazon.

Yes, Amazon.

First, if you aren't using {smile.amazon}, change that immediately.  Amazon will give 0.5% of your spending to the charity of your choice.  You get the warm and fuzzies just for online shopping.  It's truly a win-win situation.

Second, I appreciate a good deal.  Now that I'm a home owner, I get the joy of doing things like buying my own air filters.  After having nose surgery to correct my sinuses, I'm more fully aware of how bothered I am by tiny dust particles crawling up my nose and wreaking havoc on my nasal passages.  This means that we religiously change our air filters every few months.  (I appreciate the pinterest hack of actually writing the date on the filter itself to eliminate the guess work.  We also timed the filters with the HOA payments to make our lives easier.)

These are our favorites:

But man oh man, are they expensive!  Target has them for around twenty five bucks each with Home Depot being slightly cheaper.

Enter Amazon, our digital knight in shining armor.

A six pack of these filters is {on Amazon} for just under sixty bucks.  They also qualify for free shipping, which is an additional bonus.  It's literally half the cost of nearby stores and I don't have to go to Home Depot.  Everybody wins!

What's your favorite Amazon deal?

Grateful November 2: Good friends

Tonight one of my dear friends and her boyfriend are coming over to help us with a project.

A few weeks ago, we inherited two couches from his parents because they upgraded.  We moved my original couch into the den (because I'm not ready to part with it) and brought in two new (to us) pieces.

I was hesitant at first because the love seat has a broken spring.  However, the living room does look more complete and it's nice to have more seating for when guests come over (you know, like in a week when I get married).  

However, the cushions need new padding and the love seat lacks some structural support.  We looked on Amazon at different "sofa saver" ideas, but want to pick our friends' brains because they've recently reupholstered their (Craig's List) couch.

We found an online store for foam if necessary since Joann's doesn't sell thick enough cushions or polyester batting.  

I'm grateful for friends who will come brainstorm our DIY project strategies and help us with the project.  I'm grateful to his parents for giving us their couches, prolonging our need to buy new furniture for a few years.  I'm grateful for relatively inexpensive fixes that help sustain the life of things.

What are you grateful for?