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What You CAN totally DIY in a bathroom remodel

March 18, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

So we’ve been slowly chugging away at a complete bathroom remodel and I’ve mentioned before how I’ve begrudgingly handed over most of the bathroom remodel to a contractor. As someone who spends an awful lot of time on Pinterest, it’s really hard to look at my own failures and hand over large amounts of cash that are explosive compared to the numbers you see from DIYers. But there are things that I have DIYed myself for the space, even if it’s not tile work or electrical. So I thought I’d share what I’ve been able to do for any of you who may also be feeling exasperated with your own skills.

Here are things you CAN totally DIY in a bathroom remodel

(for those of us limited in time, skills and money)

Paint: Having a room painted is ridiculously expensive. Skip the pro and do it yourself. With quality paint tools and a decent paint, the job won’t be as difficult as you may imagine. And starting with a small space like a bathroom can give you confidence to put those quality paint tools to use in other spaces (and you’ll earn back your money spent many times over with this DIY job).
Assist Your Contractor: This may not be an option depending on who you work with, but many are happy to cut you a discount for helping them get the job done faster. Whether it be helping unload materials, or if you’re extra skilled, helping install floors, drywall or tile, you could save yourself some cash by helping them save time.
Build Pieces: A lot of times, cabinets and vanities come dismantled to make it easier for shipping and storage.
Install Shelves and Cabinets: Anything that’s not connecting to plumbing or electrical- totally try to put it in yourself! The worst that could happen is that you may have to have your contracor do it anyways. And I doubt that’ll happen because you can totally do this.
Install Lighting: Installing new lighting is actually pretty easy. I spent a long time terrified of doing anything with wires, but I’ve practiced and I’ve taken precautions. If I can do this, you can do this (unless you’re dealing with questionable electrical or a complicated light fixture- please do not hurt yourself or your home).
Hang Window Treatments: A power drill is so easy to operate. Start practicing on small things like hanging curtains and blinds. They’re never as complicated as they may look. Have fun looking for a style that suits your space and put it up according to the instructions. You can even find youtube videos that will walk you through the process for most types of window coverings.
Make decisions: I’ll call this “project manager.” If you’ve got a bit more time, you can skip a contractor and contact individual craftsmen to do the work in the bathroom. An initial phone discussion should let you know who needs to come first so you can schedule those appointments in an order that goes smoothly (and be prepared if you’re going with #7). Plumbers, Tilers, Drywallers- they all work individually with clients outside of a contractor.
Make purchases: A contractor isn’t going to scour craigslist for a good deal, nor are they going to spend a lot of time choosing the best bang for your buck for the look you want. Even if they did, you’re paying for their man hours searching for that product. By ensuring your contractor/floor guy/tiler is willing to work with the product you choose, you cut out paying for their shopping time and you’ll save money. Many contractors get special deals by working with certain companies. But they get those deals because the product is already more expensive (hence why they have room to wiggle). Be careful with taking on the job of buyer, you don’t want to ruin a good relationship by bringing in tile completely different than what you and your tiler agreed on. They quote you based on labor and a large tile takes less time to install versus a small one. One light over the mirror involves less time than two sconces flanking the mirror.
Demolition: It’s fun! Have your bathroom tested for asbestos and lead and if you’re clear, tearing out tile and drywall is an easy way to save some money. There’s a few tools you’ll need, but they aren’t nearly as expensive as paying someone to do the labor for you. It doesn’t require much skill and a friendly contractor will give you a bit of guidance.
Final Clean Up: You may not realize it, but to get a shiny bathroom for reveal day, cleaning up has to happen. Do you really want to pay someone to clean or do you want to save yourself some cash and clean it yourself. You’re going to have to clean the bathroom again anyways, so might as well get in there when it’s (hopefully!0 it’s worst.

With a willingness to use your own time and labor, you can totally play a part in your bathroom remodel. No fancy tools required! From as early as demolition, to choosing tile and hiring tradesmen, to cleaning up your finished space, DIY is more than Pinterest deep. You can do this!

Knock It Off DIY: Upholstered Hairpin Bench

March 15, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

For this month’s “Knock If Off DIY” challenge, we are taking on World Market. (I totally spilled the beans on that yesterday with the free printable I shared!) We all love World Market and their pricing is definitely on point with my budget, but there are a few things that they have that you can get creative, have fun and make yourself (you know, to save money to shop more ;)). Since I’ve begun working on my dining room, I thought I’d focus on that space as the basis for what I wanted to knock off.

We don’t have a table yet because I haven’t found one I love, but the seating situation I’m dreaming up is an oval table, 2 captains chairs, 2 chairs down one side and a bench on the other side. The piece I’d love to have in the space (but don’t quite have the budget for) is the Calypso Upholstered Hairpin Bench.

Since I’m not much of a builder (and if I’m ever telling you complex building instructions, know I’ve gone missing) I took a look at Craigslist to see if there were any benches I could customize to look more like the bench I wanted from World Market. I kid you not, there was a listing for a World Market bench. The fabric is much different but still has fun color and pattern. I think it matches the tapestry I’ve hung much better than the fabric of the calypso bench, too.

If I were going to reupholster it though, I would probably choose to go with something like these:

So I don’t have an upholstery to share (winning!) but I have covered a bench seat before and you can watch the video here if you’d like an idea of what to try if a bench you find doesn’t work well.

The only other thing I needed to do was replace the legs. I found these hairpin legs on Amazon of all places and they ship prime so I had them in 2 days. Then it was just a very simple matter of unscrewing the existing legs and whipping out the power drill to install the new legs. I did have to get a tad creative getting the legs and screws to line up where they could actually be drilled in, but it didn’t take much effort.

I can’t wait to find the dining room I’m imagining! It’s really hard to see a vision without a major piece like that, but you’ll have to stay tuned!

And now the most exciting part: There’s more! Yes, there’s a whole group of us working our way through the challenge every month. I am so heart eyes for these projects- I’m so impressed!

A Designer at Home // Casa Watkins // Up To Date Interiors

Monica Wants It // Vintage Romance Style

Iris Nacole // Pretty Practical Home // Domicile 37 // This is Our Bliss

Indian Inspired Copper Stenciled Wall Border

March 11, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

I finally have a post about some progress on the bathroom. At this point the major stuff in the bathroom is finished. The walls are insulated, re-drywalled and painted. There’s a new tub, new tile, new floors, new vanity. Pipes have been moved, electrical has been moved. It’s a fully functioning bathroom. But, I like flavor. I like knick knacks. I like pattern and texture and plants. So I’m still working on putting all of that in. One of the things I’ve planned on doing since the beginning is a copper, global inspired border along the ceiling. I’m a fan of the look when I see it done in moroccan interiors.

How To Create an Indian Inspired Copper Stenciled Wall Border

My set up involved a step ladder with a work surface, my brush, the paint, a roll of tape to refresh the stickiness as the tape wears off from moving the stencil over and over, and the stencil. For the area above the sink, I removed the mirror and stood on the vanity.

It’s a really simple process that involves a large dry brush, a copper paint to dip the brush into, and a stippling motion of the stencil taped in place.

For a worn look, like the one I was going for, a sparsely bristled brush and a “messy” stamping motion disperses the paint heavier in some areas and lighter in others where the paint has worn off the brush. I enjoy the textured look it has but if you want a fuller coverage, a sponge brush would give you a fuller and more opaque coverage quicker.

The lighting is terrible in the bathroom. There’s a lot of yellow light which really throws off the color in the space. I may just change out the edison style bulbs in the lights sometime before I take pictures of the finished space. I was too excited to share this to not share just because of the lighting though.

I know it’s kind of a bold decision to do a stencil like this on the walls but I really like the look. And I think you should totally go bold with things like paint. It’s easy to paint over!

(and of course I wouldn’t notice the shades were crooked until finalizing the post- oops!)

Stenciling a fun border on the walls in a small space like a bathroom is a really unique way to bring your particular style to a space. It’s a small commitment and really inexpensive! Plus, the stencil is reuseable so there’s tons more projects that can come out of buying it.

Shop This Tutorial:

My biggest full bathroom remodel regret

March 4, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

So I hate to be a debbie downer or sorts but I feel like this post is necessary to get off my chest. Taking on a full bathroom remodel has been an awesome experience for the most aprt. Everything from finding our contractor, to picking tile to scoring on a better vanity than I’d imagined. I’ve spent so much money on the space. Even though it makes me so happy to enter the space, I don’t feel like I’ve wasted money. Except for the tile installation.

You may or may not know the breif story I told about my first attempt at tiling. We initially tried giving the bathroom a “facelift” and I attempted tiling the floors with 2″ white hexagon tiles. I loved the tile and was pumped to get it done. I watched so many youtube videos and the guys and lowe’s, home depot and the tile shop assured me it was an easy DIY. Time consuming, but easy. I feel like the only person on this planet that doesn’t find tiling easy.

When we came to the decision to hire a contractor, I was happy to pass the tiling responsibility off. I didn’t want to touch anything that wasn’t cosmetic. I’ll share later what I did do, but today is about my regret. The one thing that makes me cringe everytime I use the bathroom.

When our contractor asked us about how we wanted to do the bathtub/shower situation, I excitedly showed him pictures of built in shelves I’d found on Pinterest. He said it was doable but gave us an additional list of supplies we’d need to get it done. For the shower wall alcove we were also going to need border and bullnose tiles to match the gorgeous jeffrey court tiles. I cannot beleive how difficult it is to find bright white tiles. We eventually found them at The Tile Shop and spent an arm and a leg and our last bit of patience getting the pieces we needed (short story- they promised us tiles on a certain day and it didn’t come).

So what was the big regret?

But after the contactor got to laying in the tile, I started to worry about how things lined up. I marked the especially noticeable ones and had him fix them. But there are still so many imperfections. Many of the tile sheets aren’t spaced correctly. Some are raised off the wall more than others. The corners didn’t match up (and he neglected to use caulk and used a messy thick line of mortar). And the alcove border is sloppy. Some of the tiles are crooked and the moroccan inspired tiles around it weren’t properly cut to fit.

I think it looks pretty bad.

So what could I have done differently?

I should’ve stuck to my guns and required the border be done the way I wanted it be done.

I should’ve asked for proof he’d know how to work with uniquely shaped tile like these ones.

What can I do now?

I can take a tiling class. I know that the big home improvement stores have classes pretty often. And I can learn how to fix this myself. Or I can bring in someone with proof of experience to remove the worst tiles and lay a cleaner borner of tiles. Supervised. So I can have adjustments made before everything is set and “permanent.”

I’ve learned a lesson. I have to wait until after we replace the roof and windows and give the kitchen a facelift (aka forever) to get this fixed but I know for sure it’s not going to happen again. Expensive mistakes are hard to swallow but I had to share. A terrible tile job isn’t something I’ll have to live with forever, but it’s made the elation of the other progress not as exciting.

Have you had a home improvement project go wrong? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. I hope I’m not the only one!

Vintage Bohemian Dining Room Mood Board

February 19, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

I’m still avoiding the bathroom remodel and dreaming of other spaces so I put together a mood board for the space I want to set my sights on next- the dining room. The basics of great dining room design is simple, but looking into the function of the space and playing around with all of the different furniture options we have now gets a little daunting. Overall, I have a general idea of what I want the space to look and feel like. I have most of the furniture but the walls need to be painted. I have little trinkets and window treatments. But, I also have a pile of junk that I need to figure out what to do with. An ugly old light fixture that needs replacing. And a lot of painting to do. I’ll consider sharing pictures of all that chaos later, for today- it’s pretty spaces and a mood board 🙂

Featured in my mood board: Hairpin Bench, Chairs, Shades, Tapestry, China Cabinet from Retro Therapy Rehab, Dresser, Rug, Light, Bar Cart, Boho Chair

I’m inspired by eclectic dining rooms. With a lot of neutral pieces and pops of rich jewel toned color.

This dining room from Lindsay of The Buffalo Styling Co. has inspired me for ages now. That light fixture has haunted my design dreams since the first time I saw it. But there’s other pieces, too, that I’m inspired by. Like the subtle, yet still fresh and vibrant, curtains. The rustic vibe of the table paired with the clean lines of the mid century china cabinet is so interesting. And the fact that the space isn’t huge is a big thing for me. It can be so overwhelming looking at giant spaces full of all the bells and whistles when that just isn’t relatable to my space at all.

There’s a similar trend with many of the dining rooms that serve as inspiration for the space I hope to have. This space from Ashley of Bigger Than The Three Of Us also has a fresh and bright vibe. Eclectic, again, is the theme of the space. The mid century dining set is to die for. She also used an interesting light fixture, different style but still so cool and different. Those same style chairs pop up again and it’s a mixed seating situation in both spaces. Hm.. and now that I think of it, anyone else seeing double with the cowhide rugs? Ha, I’m kind of predictable, eh?

One other space that I’ve swooned for pretty majorly is Thought’s From Alice’s dining room. Striking lighting never fails to enter the dining room of my dreams. Her space isn’t so heavy of the jewel tones like Lindsay’s is, but I love that they both have a rustic feel to them. The pretty coordinating artwork have warmer tones that I adore. And look, more of those cafe style chairs. Every one of these spaces are stunning. It’s crazy how beautiful they are, but they still look comfortable and easy to be in. That’s exactly the feeling I want in my space.

Cozy Changes for an Inviting Hallways

February 12, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

As part of a New Year kick to the butt, I took on refreshing our hallway to inspire me (and you?) to give our homes the attention it deserves. To recap, we basically started off with a stark and dark space. It was cold, it was ugly and there wasn’t adequate light. A summary of our goals for the space is that we want it to be light, bright, cozy and homey. My design plan includes my favorite theme for a space- Vintage Bohemian. So let’s dive into what changes we made towards this goal and maybe you’ll find a few things you can do to make your hallway more inviting.

The first thing we did was paint the walls plain white. I mentioned early on that we cheated and had already done this. There were a few touch ups that needed to be made so I did those. The doors and trim are all pretty old and aren’t in the best shape. Since we’re simply doing a refresh, I plan on going back in and giving these all a good scrub (or waiting until we can afford to redo the trim ;))

You’ll also notice that I changed the color of our doorknobs. I think this does a lot for the overall bungalow cottage vibe we want for the home and compliments a bohemian vibe well. It’s a classic so it doesn’t warrant a tutorial. I simply removed the handles, spray painted with Rustoleum’s oil rubbed bronze, let dry and reinstalled them. The paint was sensitive the first couple of days, so if you can hold off on putting them back on, that would be best in my experience.

Another small hardware change was the plate covers. Hallways can have a lot of these for outlets and light switches. Because we normally can’t squeeze in as much furniture, they’re harder to cover up. So I sourced out (and looked at dozens upon dozens of options) and settled on ones that gave me a mission style kind of vibe (these ones if you’re curious). For me, I’m aiming for a cottage bungalow feel so these suite the style pretty good and are easier on the budget than “authentics.”

The number one question I receive about this space is, “where is the rug from?!” And I’m going to tell you it’s from ecarpetgallery on eBay. I really ought to dedicate an entire post to this rug but in a nutshell, it’s a one of a kind. I got it for $95 because I bought multiple items that triggered an automatic 10% off. It’s beautiful, thick, and I do plan on going back to them for rugs in the future.

I know a rug can do a lot for any space. Warm colors, a fun pattern, and cushion underfoot really help solidify this as a “space” instead of the tunnel to other rooms. By making sure a rug is in place, it visually layers the space. And you must know I love layers for a lived in look.

If there’s room to squeeze in any furniture, a cabinet or even a small (but tall) plant stand, it makes the space feel more like a room simply because that’s what we see in a room. Utilize all the space. I like warm wood tones for adding warmth and that “cozy factor” to every space I work with.

I really went all out with the artwork. It did eat up a ton of our budget, but there are other ways of getting large scale art for much cheaper. Varying sizes of artwork, different textures for wall decor, and globally inspired frames help tell the same story the rest of my home tells. By being so cohesive with the other rooms around it, they all feel like expansions of one another versus closed off spaces.

So if you’re struggling with making your hallway an enjoyable space, try switching out or spray painting the hardware to fit your style, paint the walls a brighter color, choose a rug that is both comfortable and beautiful, squeeze in a piece or two of furniture and coordinate the artwork with adjoining rooms. You’ll be on your way to a beautiful space you enjoy strolling through instead of dashing through.

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