In August 2018, a simple project ended up turning into completely making over the main rooms of our home: the kitchen, living room, and dining room. We spent several months scraping, sanding, taping, mudding, priming, painting, wood-working, drywalling, caulking, sawing, drilling, gluing, removing, hanging, replacing, and building everything ourselves. (And honestly, I did about 90% of the work myself! It was a fun, therapeutic project for me to work on daily for months on end.)
Here are links to the posts that involve the renovations--including before and after photos.
I would start with The Story of Our Home. Jerry and I bought a manufactured home (a.k.a. trailer, double wide, call it what you'd like!) when we got married. We intended for it to be temporary, but we fell in love with where we live. Read that story first.
After 15 years, we decided it was time for a remodel. I took it upon myself to give the house a makeover--and I did it (almost) all by myself! (Jerry did the flooring and sanded some of the ceiling, but the rest was all me). Here are the posts all about the big "Renovation 2018-2019"
The Dining Room: Before and After!
The Living Room: Before and After!
The Kitchen: Before and After!
The Bathroom: Before and After!
The Kids' Bedrooms: Before and After!
The Pantry: Before and After!
The Master Bedroom Closet: Before and After!
The Utility/Laundry Room: Before and After!
The Dining Room: Before and After!
The Living Room: Before and After!
The Kitchen: Before and After!
The Bathroom: Before and After!
The Kids' Bedrooms: Before and After!
The Pantry: Before and After!
The Master Bedroom Closet: Before and After!
The Utility/Laundry Room: Before and After!
KITCHEN
Everything I did for the kitchen and the final reveal:
- Working on the textured ceiling removal and removing the backsplash from the counters
- TUTORIAL: How to remove a textured (a.k.a. popcorn) ceiling
- Removing the crown molding, and the nightmare that followed (taping and mudding the large gap between the wall and the ceiling). Also, the colors we chose for paint.
- The physical toll on my body
- Building shelves above my cabinets so they go all the way to the ceiling
- "Before" and "Current" photos of the cabinets (and update on carpal tunnel syndrome)
- Building my own countertops and a funny story about hanging a ceiling fan
- Installing a new sink and laminating the countertops
- Building my own kitchen island from scratch
- How I built my kitchen island from scratch (and plans for the countertop)
- Revealing the island countertop--a unique top made with epoxy
- Our epoxy nightmare!
- Final kitchen reveal!
DINING ROOM
- Primed and painted my table and chairs, as well as pantry door--orange!
- Painted the casing and trim
- TUTORIAL: Giant Chalkboard Clock: How to make your own wall clock
- Replaced the flooring with the same luxury vinyl planking as the kitchen (and living room)
- Built two cat perches for the window to get rid of the cat tree that was an eyesore
- Added stools to the snack bar that divides the kitchen and the dining room
- Added a new light fixture above the dining table
- Added new base board floor trim
- The final dining room reveal!
LIVING ROOM
- A thrifty furniture find for the living room
- Another thrifty furniture find--and an unbelievable coincidence
- Trying my hand at upholstery (it was awful!) and building my own kitchen island from scratch
- Trash to Treasure: How I've been utilizing Facebook to buy and sell things
- The final living room reveal!
BATHROOM
The whole bathroom post, including photos, can be found here.
The whole bathroom post, including photos, can be found here.
- Removed textured ceiling
- Taped and mudded the seams in walls and ceiling
- Replaced floor
- Painted walls and trim
- Painted vanity cupboards
- Made a brand new countertop complete with new sink
- Hung a new mirror
- Replaced shower drain and faucet head
- Replaced flooring
- New floor board trim
- New door slab
- Painted door and trim
- The bathroom reveal!
NOAH & ELI'S BEDROOMS
- Removed textured ceiling
- Taped and mudded the seams in ceiling
- Painted walls and trim
- Expanded Eli's closet door opening from 24 inches to 48 inches
- Replaced closet doors with bi-folds
- Replaced flooring in the closets with leftover vinyl planking
- Built custom shelving for each closet
- Replaced casing around windows and doors, and painted that
- Replaced the door slabs and painted them
- New bedding
- Replaced the floor board trim
- Built a new bed frame for Noah
- Built a "fishing gear station" for Eli
- Built some small shelves for Eli's Rubik's Cube collection
- The final kids' bedroom reveal!
PANTRY
The whole post about the pantry, including photos, can be found here.
The whole post about the pantry, including photos, can be found here.
- Removed every single shelf until it was completely gutted
- Patched all the holes in the walls where the shelves had been attached
- Removed the dreaded textured ceiling
- Taped and mudded all seams
- Painted the ceiling and walls
- Replaced flooring with leftover vinyl planking
- Built custom shelving to extend from wall to wall
- Painted the shelving
- Added contact paper to the tops of each shelf
- The final pantry reveal!
MASTER BEDROOM CLOSET
- Removed textured ceiling
- Removed crown moulding and all trim
- Taped and mudded ceiling and corners of room
- Removed all wire shelving
- Built new shelving to maximize space
- Painted shelving
- Painted ceiling and walls
- Installed and painted new floor trim
- Final closet reveal!
UTILITY/LAUNDRY ROOM
- Fixed hole in the ceiling
- Removed textured ceiling and furring strips from walls
- Removed all trim and crown moulding
- Removed texture from ceiling
- Taped/mudded the ceiling and walls where needed
- Painted ceiling and walls
- Removed wire shelves and built wood ones
- Removed very outdated home security system
- Painted exterior door and jamb
- The full laundry room reveal!
- install insulation and soffit vents
- hang drywall on walls and ceiling
- tape, mud, and sand the drywall joints
- prime and paint the walls and ceiling
- paint the concrete foundation wall
- add trim to cover the sill on top of the foundation wall
- frame the windows, add trim, and paint
- install shades on windows
- install ceiling fan over "man cave"
- paint coffee table and futon frame
- build and paint shelving across one wall
- make covers for the flood vents (I also made a framed screen to go behind the covers)
There are TONS more photos in each of the above links, as well as descriptions of what I did and how I did it. You can also find tutorials here and crafts here.
Also, I'm not finished yet :) I'll be posting more as I finish up the last few parts of the house.
