Finally, only 6 months after picking them up from Home Depot, the new solid-core, interior doors have been painted and installed. The doors were approx $50 each on sale. We were looking forward to doing the labor ourselves to make the improvement an even better deal, but after Will and I tried to hang the first one, we ended up hiring out for both the painting and the hanging. I was second guessing hiring out the whole time. Did we really need to hire out for a few hinges and paint strokes? Well, let’s just say that we found out that the one door Will and I tried to hang was hung upside down… Frustration.

To our surprise the job took a few days to complete vs the afternoon we were quoted, which made the cost worth it considering it could have been us working that long. Apparenlty the old hinges on the jam were not budging. They really did quality well back in the 50s.

Love the sound of a solid door slamming. Also love that our bathroom looks completely, complete. Our yellow-ish doors were holding us back in rental land.

Door nobs were purchased at Home Depot as well. At $20/knob, we were very happy. No need to pay top dollar for knobs. Glad this job is behind us and now onto painting the hallway!

Found this door on a walk with a friend. I think it is the perfect fit for our house – traditional, but not overdone or boring, and a little classy. Perfect. I also love the bluish/green grey. If you’re the owner of this door, please let me know where you got it and what paint color you used!

…Now I just need to find an amazing deal. I’m going to start making calls next week . All the craftsman’s I was originally looking at were around 1,200 installed. I’m hoping to come in for around half that much. I’m sure it’s impossible, but no harm in asking, right?

This evening we were gifted a beautiful arrangement of hydrangeas from a friend of ours for having them stay with us while their house was being renovated. Rumor has it that if I allow them to soak up all the water, they will eventually dry and look very much the same. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Very thankful this evening for good friends and lovely flowers.

Last night we had dinner with our two neighborhood friends, Graham and Micaelin. They bought a beautiful gem in Brykerwoods a few month ago and we’ve enjoyed watching them transform their 1940’s historic “brick asymetrical” back to it’s original modern luster.

They are still a few years (and dollar signs) away from what they would like to see, but I just love all the minimalist, white space married with warm dark furniture – mmm… furniture

Here are a few shots from last night:

Fantastic bookshelf via Craigslist, thanks to Ikea

Old wire baskets, I believe made for milk jug carrying… they fit perfectly!

Warm hide on the raw concrete floors perfectly matched with the white walls. I’m loving this natural/unnatural mix.

Perfect accessory, their life-mate, Lilly. Micaelan had the rocker on the left upholstered in some very cool fabric she found online. The rocker on the right was an old find that she reupholstered herself with a really nice linen. The lime green ottoman is a fun piece that Michalan designed.

If you like what you see, you should check out Micaelan’s website and Etsy page…and shout-out on Apartment Therapy. When she isn’t scouring the Internet for herringbone fabric, she’s hand making leather purses for her Etsy store front. Her calm, cool and collect personality and style will woo you. Enjoy!

When we first bought the house the front door was the same color as the surrounding stone – a pale white that blended into the house and accentuated the “country” in the house. It was a cheap, hollow steel door that I took a $12 can of navy oil paint to about a year ago and it made a huge difference.

Before:

After:

The house looked much better with a rich color on the door, but I also knew that this was a temporary solution. I was hoping that one day we could replace the metal door with a real, hardwood door.

This weekend I was in Boston with my mom visiting a friend and was able to stroll through Boston’s most beautiful neighborhoods - I’m sure we missed out on plenty of gems, but for those Bostonians, we were able to hit up Brattle St near Harvard, Chestnut St and Mt. Vernon in Beacon Hill and Commonwealth in Newbury.  Talk about gorgeous, authentic wood doors. Just thought I would share my latest inspiration. More Austin inspiration to come soon!

I am drawn to dark doors, but I love this creamy blue color.

This door had beautiful boxwoods in planters – Love the symmetry.

This door had all sorts of door jewelry. Beautiful numbers, mail slot, and knocker.

And your neighborhood staple – the red door. It’s interesting because the sidelights are actually glass swirls. In the picture they look like metal – I actually like the way they look on camera more than they did in real life!

The neighborhoods were amazing and provided me with great inspiration. Including this picture I will leave you with – A fantastic window box from Beacon Hill. Cabbage, who would have thought… I need to think more about ruffage and window boxes.

Not sure what it is about Sunday evenings that brings out the demolition is us, but tonight as we stared at our perfectly functional kitchen, we decided it was time to bring back the chaos and bash out some more cabinetry.

The kitchen was a big selling point for the house. Considering the other 50’s style houses we were looking at, the kitchen was fairly spacious with lots of cabinetry and counter space. We knew at the time that we’d be taking most of it down, but we loved that we wouldn’t have to move the plumbing/gas lines or take down any walls.

In this round of demolition, we’re actually giving up storage by taking down cabinetry, but in my defense the cabinetry was not functional considering how impossible it was to access, plus I know the storage those cabinets offered will pale in comparison to how nice it will look to have a clean, open, shiny-tiled wall with a large, industrial chimney-style, vent hood. Mmm chimney-style.

Here is a before:

A cherished 1950’s original decorative piece, now living in our backyard:

The demo was as always, a ton of fun. I served as the hammer assistant/clean-up girl while Will did his own version of “Max” in Where the Wild This Are.  Lots of battle cries, and flailing arms. Here is a shot of him taking down the existing vent hood.

Now that the grunt work is complete, I plan on replacing the cardboard style drywall with cement board and tiling to the ceiling with white subway tiles.  Although I would love to whip out my check book and be done with it, I plan on completing the job solo and I honestly foresee success. Given my year of learning and watching the experts, I think I’m ready! Here are some “after” photos – Don’t forget to use your imagination.

After:

Still more demolition to come as we take off the one cabinet to the right and replace with open shelving. I’m also envisioning a white, billowy roman shade hung at the ceiling to make the window look extra tall.

Next up, I’ll screw in the cement board and purchase the subway tile at Home Depot for a fantastic price of $22 fo 12.5 square feet if I remember correctly. I’m also on the look out for a schoolhouse pendant light to hang above the sink.

Just last week I found myself wandering Home Depot looking for things I might need, things that might make my house better, things that might just change my life – the usual. And I found this unbelievable, new product – Tile Setting Mat by SimpleMat – that allows you to tile directly over an existing tiled back splash. This could be the most amazing thing to find me since my Dremel or it could be a incredible failure.

I had been wanting to replace the tile in our kitchen but  was dreading the demo and drilling the cement board up in the tight nooks and crannies in between the cabinetry and the wall. With the Tile Setting Mat, I can apparently peel off the backing of a sheet, stick the adhesive side directly onto the existing tile, and then peel off the other side and stick the new tile on. Grout and done.

I’m seriously looking forward to sprucing up our kitchen with the “quickest, easiest, cleanest way to install tile” but am fully prepared for a disaster. For $25 for 10 square feet, it might just be worth a try!

On of my favorite and most cost efficient home improvements is simply cleaning. Is it sad that I consider it a home improvement? Yes, but it doesn’t make it any less true! It’s so hard to take the time to clean when there are more fun things to do, but cleaning is the easiest and cheapest thing you can do to make your space look more inviting and more wonderful.

We have a few house guests coming our way soon, so I spent my morning with my favorite power tool and my Swiffer – room by room making my area more spacious and inviting by hanging clothes, putting shoes away, catching dust bunnies, filing bills, folding towels all of those good things and all incredibly easy to do – no need for me to hire out here. However my Kohler cast-iron tub is my one problem fixture. It’s so shiny and beautiful, but the no-slip texture is impossible to clean. I hate that this is what my guests see when they shower.

No scrubbing or crazy chemicals could break through the dirt that gets caught in it’s texture so I turned to Google and the power of chat rooms for a solution. On my first search I found a thread full of solutions. Apparently Kohler sells a product ($24) to clean that area, someone suggested a deadly paste of bleach and powdered soap, I saw a recommendation for “Bar Keeper’s Friend” and then I read a comment about “Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser,” which I’m a huge, huge fan of. So before I could even try Bar Keeper’s, I pulled out a Magic Eraser and in 10 seconds it took care of it. My tub looks showroom ready again and it literally took me no time at all!

I’m just so surprised that elbow grease wouldn’t do it. Not sure what is in those things but they are mighty powerful…and magical.My $1.50 Magic Eraser provided me with an incredibly thrifty renovation.