Sharing our DIY budget kitchen updates. Affordable kitchen updates that will make a serious impact on a small budget!
Discover The Nichole Collection: Trendy fashion meets affordability. Shop handbags, clothing, and jewelry without breaking the bank! Shop Now!
A Before and After (or progress) and What's Next! We have been in this house for just over two years and I thought it was high time for a status report! We have been updating our 90's home on a budget and working out way through the entire house, room by room. This year, I
Beautiful ways to decorate those little corners around our homes.
en we first moved into our home I knew that these brown doors couldn’t stay long. Something about the hollow 70's look just wasn’t giving me the right vibes. We opted for a little easy DIY door moulding.
Can you believe summer 2024 is almost here? It's the perfect excuse to revamp our bedrooms with some of the coolest, comfiest styles. Imagine blending comfort with style and updating your bedding to reflect the latest summer vibes. Let’s dive into how we can bring these exciting trends into our bedrooms. Eclectic Grand
Need inspo on what to do with you bedside table? This post shows you 22 stunning bedside table decor ideas to recreate.
We analyze different wainscoting ideas and styles, pick the best one, & show you the update on our bathroom renovation's wainscoting!
I get asked about our flooring almost daily, so I wanted to share a little more about the LVP flooring in our home.
One of our favorite places to take design risks!
The before and after pictures of this stucco exterior update show an amazing remodeling transformation that brought new life to our home.
Sharing a quick progress update in creating a modern cottage boy’s bedroom. Well my friends, as you can see, things are looking much different up in Carson’s new modern cottage style bedroom! When we last chatted, I shared our design plans for this space, which included all the ways we hoped to bring some cottage…
Hey guys!!! So, I haven't blogged in nearly 4 months. It's crazy. I barely even know where to begin! There's so much to say and so much to share, so let's just jump right in and pick up where we left off. Our little Ava is now 5 months old and doing really great. We survived 4 months of colic/milk allergy/reflux and between that and a pretty difficult pregnancy, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my sails. But, little by little, things are getting so much better and I'm slowly starting to feel like my old self again. Thank you guys so much for being patient with me and understanding that I needed some time off to focus on Ava. I'm so grateful for this precious girl, and I'm sure one day I'll look back and laugh about the past year. But, like, not yet. Ava on Halloween...finally giving us all sorts of sweet smiles. So, let's get down to business. In the final few months before I had Ava, I was able to share with you guys the finished basement renovation, our upstairs flooring redo, and the nursery. But I kinda ran out of time (duty called) before I could share the finished living room. So, a quick 5 months after I finished it, today I can finally show it to you. Many of you guys have been following my blog for awhile now and have already seen the before pictures of the upstairs living area, but I'll share them again, as it's always a nice reminder of how outdated our house was when we first moved in. So, here are the before pics. This is the living room in May of 2010 when we first moved in...wall to wall carpet, outdated light fixtures, dark wood trim, and windows so old that you could feel the wind in your hair when you stood next to them. This was what the entryway looked like. Outdated light fixture, parquet flooring and carpeted stairs, rickety old stair rail, and dark wood trim and door. This was what the dining room looked like. There was a wall between the kitchen and dining room that made the room almost too tiny to use. There was an old glass sliding door that barely opened, dark wood trim and wainscotting, outdated light fixtures, and a tile/carpet combo. This is what it looked standing in the dining room and looking into the living room. This house sat on the market for a really long time before we bought it, as it was obviously totally outdated. I was a little scared, as it was our first house and I had never renovated anything in my life. But, ultimately I decided to just go for it and I'm so glad I did. Renovating it took me almost 5 years to complete. Sometimes it was totally stressful, sometimes I wanted to quit, but ultimately it's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And I learned a lot. Which is great because we won't live here forever, and the next time I renovate a house, I'll be much better equipped. So, that being said, here are the pics of what this upstairs area looks like today. Let's start with a little recap of the dining room and entryway and then we'll move into the living room. One of the things that made the biggest difference was knocking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. We also built a new stair rail, painted all of the trim and wainscoting white, added new light fixtures, and installed white washed hardwood flooring. I painted our kitchen cabinets and updated the hardware when we first moved in the house, and although in an ideal world I would have been able to fully renovate the kitchen, I decided that I could really stretch our budget by just painting the cabinetry and working with what we already had. In the dining room, I added a bold rug that I found for $60 (I know it's not for everyone, and that's okay.). I found the dining room table at a salvage shop, and the white leather chairs with metallic legs I found on Overstock. The original post about the dining room with sources can be found here. Also, we've talked about my orchid sabotage many times, so...that's a fake orchid. I've got a child to raise. Here's a quick view from the landing at the top of the stairs. You can see where we also knocked down the wall and widened the old doorway into the hallway. Here's a look around the corner. You can see how we painted the old outdated wainscoting white. We also replaced the old sliding glass door in the dining room with nice french doors. In the entryway, we replaced the light fixture, and installed double doors on the coat closet. We replaced the carpet on the stairs with hardwood treads and painted white risers, and we also built a new stairrail. I painted the existing front door Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (favorite!), and added a little silver coat hook from HomeGoods. One of the deer heads broke off after I brought it home. And now this little coat hook reminds me of Jesse tinkering in the garage for an hour, determined to fix it for me. I think there was some ametuer welding going on in the garage, but I was too pregnant to waddle out there and watch. And now, let's move on to the finished living room. I don't expect this room to blow anyone's mind. But, it's come such a long way, and it's where we spend most of our time, so it definitely deserves at least a little time on the blog. We replaced the light fixtures, added some inexpensive tufted couches and a giant comfy ottoman, the rug is from awhile back, and then I thrifted the TV console. Here's a pic of the TV console I found at the thrift store. It's obviously nothing special, but it was the right size and $20, so...sold! I painted it (using the only furniture paint I ever use anymore) and changed out the hardware. It has a super glossy lacquer finish and looks really great up close. I'll eventually mount the TV on the wall, too. Here's a closeup of the hardware. Some little polished nickel pulls from Home Depot. I haven't decided on what kinda curtains I want to hang yet, so for now the windows are just bare. It took us 5 years to finally replace those old windows, so I don't mind looking at the new ones in the meantime. I added some Etsy pillows to the sofas. Here's a view of the living room looking back into the dining room, one of my favorite views. We built the mantel and made the stacked log insert for the fireplace (both were done awhile ago) and then I freshened up the mantle with some things I had around the house. The little framed floral art is a print I found on Etsy. And then, I made some art of my own...some black and white abstract art for above the sofa. I had Jesse build me a basic wooden frame. And I spray painted it with this Krylon Foil Metallic silver spray paint (affiliate link). It's good, ya'll. I think I'll be using it as my go-to silver spray paint from now on. It made my little frame look like actual metal or like it was silver leafed. Either way, good stuff. For the painting itself, I just used some Sherwin Williams Simply White paint (the same color that's on the walls), mixed it with a little gray, and then sketched out a doodle and filled it in with some Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (the same black paint I used on the front door). It's probably not gonna end up at a museum, but it took me an hour and only cost me a few bucks, so homemade art for the win. And that, you guys, is the finished upstairs living area! I'm sure it will continue to evolve and change, but it feels great to at least have it furnished and not under construction. We lived in the basement throughout most of my pregnancy, so it's nice to no longer be a cave dweller. And I'll leave you with this picture of how the living room looks in real life, filled with baby stuff. Because it would be ridiculous to pretend like my house always looks like the above pictures....it took me at least twenty minutes to clean out all the baby apparatus before I could take some blog pics. Let's be honest. :) As for the blog, a lot of you have asked what my plans are. I plan to slowly get back into the swing of things, as time allows, and as quickly as my brain starts functioning like normal again. Thank you guys for all of your sweet comments and messages. I appreciate it so much. I know I'll eventually find my groove again, but right now I'm still doing a lot of this. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 'Til next time! Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address:
Say goodbye to ugly oak banisters! Find out how we completely transformed our stairway with this inexpensive DIY tutorial.
A bedroom makeover with the IKEA classics, the IVAR shelf system. Customizing it where needed, creating an original wardrobe
Say goodbye to ugly oak banisters! Find out how we completely transformed our stairway with this inexpensive DIY tutorial.
Welcome to the Free Resource Library for Montessori, early childhood and lower elementary teachers, parents and educators! I am thrilled to provide you with a curated selection of free printables. […]
When we moved in our bathtub was pink! See how I update an ugly bathtub and make it fabulous! You won't believe the before & after pictures!
Let’s talk vanities for a hot sec. Why are they so expensive? Okay, actually I get why they’re so expensive. The base is pretty simple – it’s a box with some doors and drawe…
Our guest bathroom was a throwback to some other decade.....not sure which decade, but it was an UGLY one...so we decided to give it an update to make it match…
Our feature artist/reference today is this RUN CYCLE BREAK DOWN by the talented Yoh Yoshinari (who I can’t find a Twitter account for - if you know it please add to the comments so I can retweet with a link in the future). Such a fantastic BALANCE of WEIGHT and FLOW here! #anime
Transform your RV into a cozy and modern home with these 15 easy updates you can do in just one day. Upgrade your space without breaking the bank!
As time goes on, you might have to think about doing a boat renovation. Here's how we decided what to do and how we did it.
Bob hairstyles are timeless, versatile, and can be tailored to suit any face shape or hair type, making them a perfect choice for women over 40. The bob haircut continues to evolve with new trends in layers, colors, and styling techniques. Whether you prefer a classic look or something more modern, there's a bob style
How to complete a modern staircase makeover to give your home an updated look. Follow along with our DIY staircase makeover.
Our old wardrobes are gone and our new Ikea Pax are built, fitted and finally have their new doors. Come and see my Ikea Pax Hack on today's blog.
This is such an easy way to update your IKEA Billy Bookcases - fill all of those shelf holes and make a huge impact without a lot of work.
How we stained, finished and installed our new pine flooring in our renovation. #flooring #pinefloors #diy
Real-life examples of the 15 Best Greige paint colors from Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore. Plus how to sample and test paint colors!
From using lighter shades to make a small hallway look bigger to highlighting architectural details with accent colours, we share 12 hallway paint ideas.
The next pattern in our summer series is an update on a favorite that I released last fall. These crochet wristlet keychains are absolutely perfect for markets and would make cute (and useful) gifts.This beginner friendly project works up in about 10-15 minutes and is one of my favorite items to make for markets. The wristlet is crocheted using the I-cord technique. Don't worry if you've never used this technique before. It's surprisingly easy! If you can make a chain and draw up a loop, you
Thinking about refinishing your hardwood floors? Do it right with my complete guide that walks you through the process & shares helpful tips & advice!
Add budget-friendly curb appeal to your home with these upgrades you can do in a day, weekend, or month, from freshening your garden to replacing your mailbox.
