Doesn't it figure that I can't find any before pictures? Shoot. Well try to use your imagination here...when I bought my place every single wall was painted ace-bandage beige. Dino was not yet living here so I picked all the paint colors on my own. In an effort to spruce up the upstairs bath (which is not large) I painted the wall a green color that seemed like a good idea at the time, but in reality looked like Kermit the Frog on a bad acid trip. It was electric, anti-freeze green. Not pretty.
Besides the horrific paint choice, the bathroom had a very standard formica countertop over a very standard pickled oak square box of a vanity. Oh, and an awesome $14 light fixture that looked like it would have fit right into a '70's dental office. My place is less than 10 years old, but the contractor was not thinking style at all when he built it, obviously.
Since we've been living here together we've taken on a few DIY projects that have been great successes--we painted our kitchen cabinets, put up a pressed tin backsplash, installed hardwood floors, redid the powder room and changed a ton of light fixtures. Dino's a regular handyman and his unemployment status makes him readily available for renovations!
We were debating getting a new, smaller vanity for the upstairs bath--but for $400 we would have lost a ton of space and had to deal with fixing damaged wall board where the old vanity came out. So, our fix was to keep the base cabinet, paint it a clean, minimalist white and replace the formica top with a nice black granite with a deep bowl sink for $200. We added modern handles and pulls to the drawers and doors for about $25, replaced the light fixture for $60, installed a gorgeous faucet for $150 and of course painted over that hideous green with a calm, cool blue. We could have saved on the faucet, but it was hard to find something in the $80 price range that really fit what we were going for. I was able to keep my old black and white damask shower curtain, and I didn't replace the towels so that saved a few bucks.
Our overall expenditure was just under $500 and the project from start to finish took a week. It was really done in two days or so, but the finishing details always drag don't they?
So our home improvement projects are nearing completion--last on our list are new kitchen counters and replace the carpet upstairs. By the time we're finally done and this place is perfect, we'll probably be shipped off to Tulsa or some other obscure place for Dino to go to work!
