Bathroom Makeovers

My bathrooms needed a quick and inexpensive makeover...and so out came the black paint!

I figured if I was going to do one bathroom...I might as well do them all.

We would love to replace all of the vinyl in the bathrooms with tile...but that will come later...hopefully.

Here is the after photo of the upstairs "master bathroom."

I am a little ashamed of the before pictures because they are so gross. 

When we were doing our final walk through inspection I took these pictures...and lets just say that the guys living here could care less about having the house clean.

Here is the BEFORE:

and another shot of of the AFTER:

Here is the BEFORE shot of the kiddos bathroom:

and the AFTER:

and another view:

This next shot is the first floor bathroom.

I realized after I took the doors that I didn't have a before shot of the cabinets...

So excuse the leaning doors.

And the AFTER: 

I distressed these a little just to give it a rustic feel.

New bathroom cabinets make me happy.

All with just a gallon of black paint.

Staircase...before and after

When we moved into the house there were quite a few items on the must do list

to make the house our style:

new carpet

new wood floors

new granite countertops

new lights

But...since we had to be practical with our budget...the first thing I decided to tackle was our

STAIRCASE!

Here she is before paint:

I sanded her down...getting all of the chipped varnish off...

She also had a lot of scrapes from some pet that had lived here.

Then I primed her with a layer of KILZ 2.

Covers over the stains...

There I am...my hubby wanted to take this picture to show you all that I really did it.

Each and every spindle.

Argh...I hate spindles right now.

I think each one took about 15 minutes...I was so worried about drips. 

After priming...painting...and painting again...

I sanded it down to make it smooth... 

Then one last ROLLED coat...and another sand with 200 grit sandpaper and here she is... 

Here is our banister from the top of the stairs.

Matt hung the pictures for me...I LOVE IT! 

It reminds me of all of the amazing people in my life!

What do you think of the white banister?

Laundry Room Before and After

Ahh...my favorite room in the house.

This is the room I find true delight...the Laundry Room.

Okay, so I am trying to be optimistic.

I HATE doing the laundry...so in order to make it more fun,

I decided to make my laundry room more desirable.

Here is the before picture:

Doesn't that room just scream...SPEND TIME IN ME?

No.  Simply.  No.

Here is the AFTER photo...

When we moved we needed a new drier...ours was gas and this was electrical hook up.

So...YIPPEE I got my matching drier to my front loading washer.

Now they are so happy together. 

I wanted some more light in the laundry room so I decided to hang my window mirror.

Years ago I made this beauty by just going to my local glass dealer

 and they cut me a mirror to go inside an old window.

This week I made a few pendant  burlap banners...one for my mantel and one for my laundry.

Adison painted my little sewing thread holders turquoise to go with the color accents.

Ahh...Mrs. Meyers.

Love the smell...and the color was perfect too!

Plus a little bucket for those buttons, toys and lost socks that show up in the laundry.

The room is quite small...but it washes and dries the clothes...

if only it could fold and put the laundry away for me.

I needed shelving for my other detergents. 

So, I grabbed my old wood crates...

asked my fantastic hubby to put them into some studs...and wallah! 

SHELVES!  Plus...they are kind of vintage and fun.

Now...I want to put a cute little chandelier up...and maybe some more turquoise?

Maybe paint a pattern on the wall?

We'll see.

Guess I should go fold that laundry that was hiding in the drier.

Anyone want to come and put it away for me?

Fall Mantel and our Famiy Room

The cool weather blew in this weekend in Westerville...

and so I decided it was time to decorate with my fall items.

Out came the pumpkins and fall garland and I decided to get the sewing machine

 out and create a burlap banner to hang on the mantel.

Matt was excited to get a fire going...so he ran to Home Depot and bought a chimney sweep log to make sure that we wouldn't burn the house down on with our first real fire.

Phew...

We hung a few more things on the walls this weekend, which always makes the house feel more like home.

We hung the shelves on the walls to the right...

and sometime this week I will show you the wall going up the stairs to the bedrooms.

I was excited to put up my old cameras again.

Our goal for this family room is to have meaningful talks, read lots of books and play a ton of games.

So, we put a few vintage games on the shelves...to remind us to play.

We've moved to Westerville, OHIO!

Greetings from Westerville, OHIO!

We are finally feeling like we've gotten a little settled.

If you would like our new address...email me and I will send it to you.

amydyksterhouse@sbcglobal.net

The boxes are pretty much unpacked. 

Of course there will always be a few that will stay in permanent storage.  WHY do we even move them?

Slowly...we are getting mirrors and pictures on the walls.

Projects are popping up...and I can't wait to share with you the changes:

The painted banister, laundry room fun, and visions for new flooring.

One of the projects you can see in this next picture.

Do you like the new outdoor light fixture?

 

This last picture isn't so great...but at least you can get a view of the full house.

We are feeling blessed to live in such a great neighborhood!

Our neighbors are super helpful and friendly...the kids have found TONS of friends. 

First day of School!

School starts early here in Westerville, Ohio.

Kalie started 4th grade with Mrs. Huston.

She had a wonderful day and made lots of fantastic friends.

On the way home she talked all about her new BFF's.

Ethan started First grade with Ms. Considine.

He was excited to get started learning on the first day and was a little bummed when

they didn't do any math or reading.

His teacher is also super...and we became fast friends.

Adison doesn't really start school till next week...but she just went with the flow.

She made a few friends today...and one even lives right up the street.

The rest of the day we worked in the copy room, Kindergarten room, and bound LOTS of books.

I am so proud of my little kiddos...off to school.

Wanted to let you know the website that I found the cute grade level signs...

just in case anyone else wanted to use them for their first day pictures.

free first day of school signs

I love how they truly care about each other.

We decided to take some fun pictures to celebrate our first day.

Happy CONFETTI!

Oh...how cute.

I wish they were really sleeping.

They just kept complaing the sun was too bright...

so I told them to shut their eyes and pretend they were sleeping. 

So many new things

There are so many things to tell you, but finding the words to tell it all could take weeks.

Probably because it has been weeks...months...since I have written anything on this here blog.

so...where do you begin?

Let's start with the good news!  WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!

well...i don't want to jinx it...so I should say...WE FOUND A BUYER FOR OUR HOUSE!

YIPPEE.

Second, we found a great new home in Westerville, Ohio.

It is super close to Columbus...we will be living on the north east side of the city.

Third, because we can't move in yet, (Sept. 4) we are living in temporary housing.

It has been perfect for what we need:

2 beds, kitchen, laundry, Internet, and a pool...one kiddo gets to sleep on the floor each night...it's all ok.

We just feel blessed to be together and able to start living in Columbus.