Leaner Mirror Makeover.

Once our walls went dark, I really fell out-of-love with our large leaner mirror.  It blended in with the walls and didn't provide any pop.

I solved that problem the same way I solve 90% of my other problems....with some leftover paint!!

For our master bedroom refresh, I knew I didn't want to completely rid our room of my signature teal color, so rather than have an accent wall covered in Behr's Balmy Seas, I wanted to incorporate it using accessories and accents. That gorgeous shade of teal would be the perfect hue to make our old mirror come to life again.

I took it outside, spray primed and painted it with a leftover paint sample.

Once that was done I got out my Citri-Strip gel, coated the over-spray and used a scraper to clear the mirror surface.  (Yes, I was lazy and didn't want to cover and tape before I primed, so I had to strip later.)  After that, I used Minwax's polycrylic in semi-gloss to cover and protect the paint.

And voilà...a new mirror!

I think it looks great against our dark walls, and all dressed up for the holidays... ;)

Can't wait to share more details soon!!!

Kitchen Dreaming. With a Little Help from Cabinets Direct USA...

Our kitchen has come a LONG way.  When we purchased our home, it was a cramped, dark hole.  I knew it wouldn't take much to improve the space because, well, anything was better than what it was!!

It would have been fantastic to rip the entire kitchen out and start fresh, but we were working on a major budget. The entire main floor of our fixer upper, and then some, had to be renovated...so a total kitchen overhaul was way out of reach.  I needed to come up with a short-term, smaller scale reno and leave our kitchen dreams for down the road.

We kept the original cabinetry and general footprint of the kitchen the same to save a ton of money.  Then it was time to remove walls and the weird restaurant booth seating.

After that is was time to to lighten things up!  The cabinets were painted white and zhushed up with some new hardware.  I nixed the old linoleum floor and carried the hardwoods into the kitchen to keep the flow of our open concept home going.  Then we added some much needed new lighting, countertops, backsplash and appliances.

For an "in-the-meantime" renovation, we sure did a lot of work, but it was all done on a tight budget.  We spent the least we could and still ended up with a great looking kitchen.

Of course that great looking kitchen still has bones from the 1950's, when our house was built.  The doors may be solid wood, but the hardware is showing it's age.  And no amount of prep or priming could keep the heavily varnished, knotty pine cabinets from bleeding through a couple years later.  Don't get me wrong...our current kitchen gets the job done!!  But the design lover in me can't stop myself from dreaming of a kitchen that is both beautiful AND efficient.

Looking back, I'm thankful we couldn't afford a complete gut job of our kitchen when we bought our home. Living in the space for a few years has taught me how I want the space to look and, more importantly, function.

And even though we can't afford it now, I know we'll be replacing our charming kitchen one day.  So there is no better time than the present to start planning and prepping for our space.  I mean, how else will I know how much this whole shebang is going to cost us?!?

Not too long ago I found myself {along with hubby and my parents who were visiting} pulling up to a Cabinets Direct USA showroom.  Walking into that place, I was like a kid in a candy store!!!  They have the most stunning displays and super helpful sales people.  I was able to send my own sketch-up from floorplanner.com to their sales person who then translated my elementary work into the awesome images below.

During our reno we would flip-flop our current door and window placement.  This move would allow me to create a floor to ceiling pantry in the kitchen that we currently do not have.  I'm not going to lie...I love that I have two spacious linen closets in our hallway, but I've been missing that type of storage space in our kitchen.  This rearrange would solve that issue.

Then I took things a step further and even extended the island to the wall {since the door is no longer there}, giving us even more countertop and cabinet space.

{Pretend the bar height counter is extending all the way to the wall in the rendering below....just like the ones above.}

So what do you guys think of our "future" kitchen?  I'm kinda in love.  And now I'll just count the days months years until we can afford it. ;)

Anyone else dreaming of far-off renovations?!?!  I can't be the only one...

Mailbox and Mums

Fall is clearly in the air, and all over the blog world.  I have to admit that I am loving every minute of it!  After a summer of record high temps and zero rain, the crisp, cool air is a welcomed change.

To go along with some interior autumn decorating I’ve done {more on that to come}, the hubby and I decided that our mailbox could use some season-appropriate sprucing up.  Ideally, we would love to replace our entire mailbox.  Its old, and definitely not our style.  The poor thing has definitely seen better days, and I think it was even recently hit by someone….possibly the new garbage truck our town just purchased?!?  Now the lid won’t close all the way, which means it’s become a wonderful structure for spiders to call home.  YUCK!

I always thought I’d remove the cracked plastic sleeve and spray paint it a fun color.  But upon closer inspection, the sleeve is majorly screwed into the mailbox, and those screws and some other areas, have become rusted.  Soooo we are going to make do until we save up for a new one.  And truthfully, a new mailbox isn’t at the top of our priority list.  We might have this pathetic thing for a couple more years.  {Please don’t judge!}

So to make our mailbox less heinous to look at more tolerable, we decided we should create a mulch bed around the base and plant some pretty mums.

Hubby already pulled up what little grass we had in that area before I could snap a picture…so here is as “before” as I could get for you. ;)

And after we planted some mums…

And after we watered and mulched…

The key for this project is to not focus on how grimy our mailbox is, but to look at how pretty it’s base is now. :)  Yea, let’s just do that…because the plastic cardinal sleeve is beyond sad at this point.

Oh, and for sake of keepin’ it real, I’d like to point out that we planted these in say mid-August {yup, we totally jumped on the “hey fall is right around the corner” bandwagon}, so the mums were already in bloom and have since lost their flowers. :(  At least we still have some mulch and greenery around the mailbox, right?!?!

Anyone else in dire need of a new mailbox?

Move Over West Elm!

I apologize to any of you who follow me on Instagram {retroranchreno} because you’re probably all “been there, done that” with the subject of this post, but forgive me.  I couldn’t restrain myself from taking so many pictures.  It was just so much prettier than it used to be!!

Yup, that’s right…I’m talking about the bench for the end of our bed. 

I was very excited when I first laid eyes on this guy, well over a year ago.  The outdated fabric and beat up legs didn’t do it for me…but the size and price of this thing could not be beat.  For $20, I was sold!!  

And then along with most of my Craigslist finds, this poor thing was banished to live in the basement {first at our in-laws and then in our actual basement} just waiting patiently until I got around to transforming it.

The bench would probably be waiting another year if my mom didn’t convince me it was time to get it done.  During one of their trips north, we pulled it out of the darkness and got to measuring.  After figuring out how much fabric we needed, we went shopping.  Of course, nothing I saw was “it”, so I started looking online.  Once I laid eyes on the Islander Ikat Silver fabric from Fabric.com, I knew I didn’t need to look any further.  I submitted my order and impatiently waited for it to arrive.  In the meantime, my mom and I tackled the “fun” part of the recovering process {couch…sarcasm…cough}.  We ripped out all the old staples and removed the old buttons and fabric.  

Lucky for us, these staples came out MUCH easier than when we recovered my dining room chairs.  Phew!

After that it was time to find some new legs for the piece.  I could have easily sanded and re-stained the original ones, but they weren’t the style I was going for.  

Instead of thick, block-like legs, I wanted curvy, romantic ones…a la West Elm’s Essex Printed Bench.  During one of our numerous trips to Home Depot, I was able to pick these pretty things up for under $10 a piece.  I wasn’t thrilled to spend more money on the bench makeover, but I knew adding fun legs would put this project over the top for me.

At least I already owned the stain and sealer I needed for them.

Finally my fabric arrived and we got to recovering!!  After some thoughtful placement {taking pattern and direction into account}, sewing and button covering…I had myself a brand new bench!  

Or should I say Perny has a new bed.  I’m pretty sure he thinks this we completed this project just so he has another place to lay. ;)

Here is the breakdown of what I spent to make over the bench:

-Ugly CL’ed Bench - $20.00

-3 Yards of Fabric {with plenty left over to make pillows or something} - $44.94

-Legs - $36.00

-(2) Button Covering Kits - $3.94

-Upholstery Needle - $4.99

-Stain and Sealer - $0 {already owned}

-Thread - $0 {already owned}

Grand Total = $109.87

Okay, so this wasn’t the cheapest makeover, but it was way more affordable than if I bought the West Elm version brand new!  Their similar bench is priced between $299 and $349, plus a $30 delivery surcharge.  So in that case, I saved myself $219 – 269 on this project.  And while my bench isn't as perfect or professional, I still consider this project a major success! :)

Labor of Love

{Be prepared for a ton of pictures in this post!!}

Just like our kitchen, our main bathroom has gone through a major transformation.  When I look at pictures, it’s hard to believe where we started.

Our cramped main/guest bath used to look like this…an awkward space…with way too deep of a vanity.

Soon…we busted through the walls and took over the too-small-to-be-functional master bath that backed up to the main bath…as well as a small part of the “large” master bedroom closet.  {See our “Floor Plan” page for more clarification.}

Once we had the space we needed, it was time to put things back together, and create a bathroom where guests and future kiddos would all feel comfortable.

And the journey does not stop here.  I know the main bath looks very boring as is, and there is a reason for that.  I always planned to put thick horizontal stripes on the walls, but it just wasn’t a priority to get done.  Other things were “must do’s”…and once those were completed, I got an awful sinus infection that set me back a of couple weeks.  Well I finally got better, and I no longer had any excuse as to why I wasn’t tackling my stripe project {except for the fact that I knew it was going to be the biggest pain in the butt…so I was being a baby and dreading it.}

I finally manned up and got to work this past Saturday.  I started at 2:30 in the afternoon and finished around 1:10 in the morning.  I had to take a break halfway through taping the walls because I RAN OUT OF PAINTERS TAPE!  Yes, those capital letters mean I'm yelling about it.  I was uber annoyed, but it gave me an excuse to take a breather, go to Home Depot and pick up some dinner with the hubby.  I think I told myself and my hubby “what was I thinking” and “I’ll never do this again” about a million times, but I know myself, and since I loveeee the results, I will most likely do it again…or some sort of variation of it. ;)

So here is my labor of love to punch up our former very-neutral-for-a-reason-because-the-base-stripe-color-was-the-only-thing-up-on-the-walls-bathroom.

And this bathroom is definitely not finished yet.  I still need to add some pops of color, some décor, and the current bath accessories will be replaced with some fun ones that are being shipped to me, as I type, from West Elm.

Anyone else tackle major projects on their to-do list this weekend?!?!?!