Here we are, more than halfway through February, I’m finding myself in an unprecedented position… I’m wanting winter to slow down! The month of January was good and productive. I love getting stuff done inside and feeling zero guilt about not getting outside. The stars aligned when the kids went back to school after Christmas. The garage/ pool house was done, which meant I could finally make real progress on our bonus room that was more staging storage than the rec-room we had envisioned 6 years ago.
I had a goal to remove ALL staging stuff from the bonus room, and though the pool house could store most of it, I didn’t want to move out textiles or a few other things (like candles). So I decided to clean out 2 closets upstairs that could hold that stuff, and I succeeded in getting every bit of staging stuff out of the bonus room. In the interest of full disclosure, I do still have things at our current flip house, but I’m pretty sure I can fit them in without issue.
Of course, once I got the bonus room cleaned out, I realized it was finally time to put in the flooring. It was the last piece to get the room finished since we moved in way back in 2013. And even though I still had a long winter to-do list, I made the silly decision to go ahead and dive into laying 620 sq feet of floor with zero floor-laying experience.
I’m not going to lie, the first bit was extremely frustrating, as the floor kept shifting/floating and I was learning how to properly lock the planks. But once I had it figured out, it became fun! I starting thinking about where I could put flooring next. That is, until I sprained my ankle. And I quickly saw my productive winter screeching to a very abrupt halt.
On the bright side, it is possible to lay flooring with a sprained ankle, but moving tons of furniture and boxes up and down steps? Not so much. So I was grateful that I had already gotten that out of the way. With some patience, hobbling, and lots of awkward squatting (I still can’t kneel and sit back on my feet), I got it done.
And now we can play ping pong! Our castaway furniture and rug now serve as a nice second family room. In time, I hope to at least get up window treatments and better lighting.
While I was getting the bonus room to working order, I was busily planning some updates for downstairs, which I am really hoping to get to before my spring to-do kicks in.
In other news, our kitchen island is painted and in. I’m not going to lie, I’m lukewarm on it 🙁 Sometimes I’m good with it, sometimes I just want to repaint it. The jury is still out. Granted, although I hired professionals rather than trying to tackle the doors myself, they are, unfortunately, not well done. The painting company said they are happy to come back and do touch-ups, but quite frankly I don’t know whether to ask for touch-ups or a whole new paint job. And so I’m still deciding.
I’ve also started some updates to the foyer and downstairs hallway. Here are a few mostly before pics. I have never done much with this area, and I’m hoping to make it feel more cohesive and finished. We shall see if I’m successful!
Here’s to these updates going smoothly, no injuries, and spring arriving on time. Happy February!
I mentioned in my first post about our Primary Bath Reno that the idea of…
The renovation of the shower in our Primary Bath has inched along slowly, and as…
If you missed the reveal, be sure to check it out here. If you're trying…
It's here! One of my favorite parts of flipping... being able to walk through the…
View Comments
Bonus room looks awesome.
Thanks! Kids are enjoying it!
Hello, I loved reading your article about "Greenish kitchen cabinets". I read the whole thing& read it again to my husband because i was amused by your description of you& your husband regarding decorating. It reminds me of my marriage. Much to my discomfort, you never gave the name of which one you decided on 😳...
I began searching & then found this article with a kitchen island update. Again, you didn't mention which one you decided on nor did you post pics. I suppose I missed something or perhaps you were waiting until the painters came out to repaint the island. We have loved SW Pewter Green after seeing Emily's kitchen a few months back but after getting samples it just looks like dark olive, not quite like Emily's kitchen. We've also been debating whether Benjamin Moore-Yorktown Green, Farrow& Ball-Green smoke, Farrow& Ball-studio green would possibly look more like Emily's Henderson's kitchen. If have any suggestions that may help I would be most appreciative! Also, where can i find what color you decided on& would love to see pictures. Thank you
Hi CJ, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it and love that you read it to your husband! So the color I went with was Sherwin Williams Retreat, which I love as a color but hated on my island. Unfortunately, I misjudged how it would look with a black countertop. And on the back of my island, where there is the overhang, it looked REALLY dark since there is less light under there. The kitchen that I had pictured with that color was beautiful, but it had light countertops. The other thing tricky about picking a paint color from pictures is that there is so much room for variation in light, the camera settings and how the picture was processed before publishing. So my suggestion would be the following: use google or Pinterest to search for the color and compare it across a lot of pics. Secondly, get paint samples and paint a couple of poster boards and hold them up in different spots to get a feel for the color. Foam poster board should work, though I know Sherwin Williams sells adhesive squares just for this purpose. They are called small wall sample boards.
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/products/small-wall-two-pack-sample-board
In the end, I got totally gun shy and went with what I know... blues! I ended up using Sherwin Williams Niebla Azul. I don't have good pics, as it is is a light color. Sometimes it looks almost white. I can honestly see myself painting them again in the not so distant future, now that they've already been painted. Good luck with your selection! I would love to hear which direction you went in!