The Silver Lining: Spare Bedroom Makeover

BEFORE AND AFTER

My previous roommate had a blind, special needs cat, whom he mostly neglected and kept shut in the bedroom for several months. Unbeknownst to me, said cat had stopped using its litter box, staining the carpets and leaving a terrible odor. When my roommate moved out, I spent a week trying to treat the carpet with enzyme cleaner to no avail. Bottom line: it was GROSS!

Since the cat urine had stained through the carpet, carpet pad, all the way to the subfloor, I had no choice but to replace the flooring. Not exactly within my budget this summer, but the odor was so foul that a classmate for whom I was storing furniture didn't even want to leave her things in the room.

So, I ripped up the carpet and started looking into flooring options, as discussd in my previous post. Before laying new floor, however, I treated the subflooring with more enzyme cleaner, then sealed the entire floor with a shellac base primer sealer.

Fortunately, my parents were planning a visit, and my dad had 150 sq foot of leftover hardwood flooring from a house he'd been remodeling. I thought the room was 12 x 12 (plus closet), so we'd have plenty of flooring to spare. And as long as I was going to replace the floor, it seemed like the most convenient time to refinish the ceiling and walls too. So, within 8 hours of my family arriving from Michigan, my dad had removed the popcorn-textured ceiling, while I pulled up the staples left from the carpet pad. The next morning, I woke up and Dad already removed the trim, and plastered and primed the ceiling. Dad had gotten a bit plastered himself! :)

Meanwhile, Mom and I went to pick up paint, and chose a light periwinkle-tinted gray, called "Silver Lining." I wanted a fairly neutral color, that wouldn't clash or dominate potential roommates' preferences and styles. At the same time, I didn't want white or beige. I've never painted an empty room before, and without having to tape or cover the floor, we were able to paint the walls in record time. The results are clean, cool, soft, and bright. One person said the room felt like being in a tree house!

Our 48-hour makeover plan hit a bump, however, when it turned out my room measurements were short by ~10 sq feet short. Oh no! Fortunately, we were able to find matching wood flooring at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to make up the difference. For the closet, we picked up Pergo, and used a darker wood border.

 

Finally, with the trim removed, Mom sanded and cleaned all the dirt and paint from previous sloppy jobs. Then, the trim was re-stained and varnished before re-attaching it to the walls.

It is a beautiful new room, and now smells only faintly of hardwood and paint: the silver lining to a situation that literally stunk.

Kitchen Makeover

Okay, okay, I know you are all dying to see photos of the kitchen makeover. After much deliberation (and sampling Benjamin Moore's Pale Avocado and Sweet Caroline), I decided to paint the kitchen Richmond Gray, which is a shade lighter than Sag Harbor Gray, which I was originally imagining for the living room. Turns out that the brighter greens appeared too bluish-cold against my red-orange counter tops, whereas the gray actually has a warming effect. It's so hard to see how green the wall is in the photos, but the results are lovely, and provide a subdued backdrop for my red, orange, and green accessories. A few highlights:

• Note the original Oh So Lovely Peach-colored paint, discovered behind the stove. This picture also shows off the greenness of the Richmond gray best, since you can see the peach, white, and strip of gray next to each other.
  
• Also, take a look at photograph of my cabinets, before and after a fresh coat of wood stain!
• Finally, check out my new appliances: a microwave, toaster oven, and RED rice cooker.

Having posted these, I realize that there aren't any panoramic views of the entire kitchen AFTER. I'll have to take some more pictures during our next sunny day.

The Laundry Room

Previous occupants had repaired an old leak by nailing plywood over a hold in the ceiling of the laundry room. There was also a shoddy drywall repair job on one of the walls. Finally, the laundry room smelled "earthy" to me, and I suspected there was still some moisture or rotting hidden behind the machines.

So, I awoke one day to find the washer and dryer disconnected and the plywood and drywall ripped apart. There had, in fact, been a leak from the upstairs bathroom; but it wasn't from any of the plumbing, it must have been from an overflowing toilet or tub. As a result, the inside of the wall had become moldy, which it what I smelled. So, my dad replaced the rotted and missing drywall, re-plastered and painted the walls and ceiling (isn't the original peach color lovely?), built and installed new shelving, and reconnected the washer and dryer. My mother cleaned the appliances, inside and out, before putting them back. Et Voila!

Family Vacation Makeover

My parents visited for the week of Thanksgiving, and literally turned my home (especailly the kitchen) inside-out. My father gutted the laundry room and half-bath, removing moldy drywall, repair badly-patched holes, fixing leaky toilets, and smoothing out the popcorn-textured ceilings. Meanwhile, my mother, armed with toothbrushes and razors, cleaned every square centimeter of my kitchen, including the insides and outsides of the stove and refrigerator! Each day, I'd wake up to find my home improved in some way, along with home-cooked meals and leftovers galore! I'm excited to share the before and after photos.

New Kitchen Furniture

This weekend is the final week of 2009 Kitchen Cure, which I am marking with the purchase of new kitchen furniture. Tomorrow, I am acquiring two craigslist finds: a kitchen table (and chairs) and a kitchen cart (CL pictures below.) I wasn't originally looking for a cart, since I don't need more cabinet storage, but I am looking forward to the extra counter space. Yesterday, I made panacea vegetable soup, and found myself needing more room to prepare vegetables and such. Also, since I am hosting my parents for a week for the Thanksgiving and My Birthday holidays, I've been looking for an attractive, modestly-size kitchen table. Ideally, I would have preferred an round table that extends; but the table I'm purchasing is simple, functional, and perfectly suits the space I have.

"After": Organized Pantry, No more black shelf

This past weekend, I accomplished a number of kitchen related "cures":

• I stocked and organized my pantry, transferring all my food items from the open shelves in my kitchen to the pantry shelves. I grouped food items by grains & cereals, legumes, canned foods, vinegars & oils, and baking-related supplies. I also dedicated a shelf to glass containers (for re-use) and another for cookware. I'm sure I'll re-organize this over time, but it's nice to have a well-stocked kitchen and see all my food in one place!
• I sorted my recyclables (which I'd been collecting all month, since I didn't know where my recycling bin was or when pick-up was!) Since I only have one bin, and need to separate glass/plastic/aluminum from paper, I will have to take out one or the other each week until I can pick up a second bin from the county. I'm impressed that Orange County has free curbside-recycling!
• I hung a picture and moved my makeshift "table" to the wall where the black shelving unit was. Eventually, that might make a nice wall for a kitchen cart, which would provide more counter-space than I current have. For now, it also serves as the meal central for the Kiddos™.
• Finally, it may seem like a small thing, but I printed out the oatmeal poprocks mosaic and pinned to the wall behind the oven. The colors make me really happy, and I'm still trying to consider the best way to incorporate this palette into my home.

Lazing About

I haven't completed my kitchen assignments yet, in part, because I've been catching up on my real assignments: for school! Also,  I'd originally  scheduled an eco-friendly housecleaner for this week, and was planning to wait until she worked her magic before cleanly my kitchen shelves and pantry more deepy. However, I ended up rescheduling the cleaning for next week, so I'll have to put in some elbow grease for Halloween.

The Gift of Flower Power

In honor of my first week of classes, I stopped at the Harvest Food Co-op and bought myself some fresh flowers! According to Apartment Liberation Theory (as I am now calling it), flowers set a standard for attention to detail that will inspire each day the return home.

Yay for nurturing my home and taking care of it. Even if there's still a pile of junk in the hallway...