I don't love the 80s, but I love our library!

We’re jumping back into house projects! Part of it is new year ambitions, and the other is that we just couldn’t stand another minute of the utter brown-ness of our library.

Where's my scrunchy?

Can you blame us? So, over the three-day weekend, we cracked open an ol’ can of Kilz and primed the panels. We did two good rounds on the grooves and trim, then did two rounds of rolling. A few stubborn areas got a third coat. Then we grabbed a fresh bucket of our Valspar base in Ultra White satin (our trim choice) and painted the panels. Easy enough, if stretched over several post-7 p.m. sessions once the toddler is in bed. So, slower going than we’re used to.

Fantastic dresser makeover!

This is our first guest post on House of M & Em, and it’s a great debut from our good friend Stacy! She did a fantastic job on refurbishing a dresser into a kitchen island. Check it out!

Last year, I went with my Mom to an “Idea House” show at a local garden center. Every year they repaint and redesign the entire how to showcase different ideas, interior designs, flowers and plants. What caught my eye that year was an old dresser that had been turned into a kitchen island/storage space in the small kitchen area.

My own kitchen, while actually fairly spacious, has no countertop space at all. Gorgeous built in cabinets, yes, countertops, no. I had been using an old table left behind by the previous tenants, but hunching over a low table to chop vegetables is a terrible idea for your back.

A year went by and the idea just kept percolating in my brain. Finally, after some prompting from a friend, she found a cheap fixer upper dresser on Craigslist. I e-mailed right away and got it!

It was in a little girl’s room. While a nice and sturdy wood, it had been painted with a heavy, glossy exterior paint. Besides the white and purple you see here, one side was pink and the other a pale yellow.

I started off the project by attempting to just sand down the paint. That didn’t go well. The paint was so thick and tough, I went through a lot of sand paper and even with the power sander, it didn’t go well. A quick trip to Home Depot and I was prepared with paint stripper.

There are actually a few different options for paint stripper. Spray can stuff, water-based stuff, a paste you paint on with a brush, a liquid you spray on with a bottle. I went with the liquid you spray on with a bottle, thinking it would be easier to apply that way. If I had to do it over again, I’d go straight to the paint on kind. The bottle just sprayed in patches I had to smooth out anyway and took forever. But, boy did it work!

             

A short 15 minutes after it was applied, the paint started bubbling up. Then it was easily scraped off, leaving behind a clay-like residue.

            

After repeating this with all the drawers, dresser sides and top, I then went back and cleaned off the residue with the accompanying cleaner. I took special care to get the top cleaned off nicely as I intended to keep the natural wood top look.

I knew going into this project, I didn’t want a sharp, clean or modern look for the piece. It wouldn’t look right with the dresser and it wouldn’t fit with the old house with its original, built-in wood cabinets and 1920s sink. Instead, I wanted it to look lightly distressed, a little old and worn, but nice.

I quickly learned making something look artificially old is more work than a clean, sharp coat of paint. But it was worth it.

I started by applying 2 coats of Antique Artichoke semi-gloss paint to everything except the top of the dresser.

 

After the second coat of paint finished drying, I applied beeswax to the corners and other areas where I wanted the green paint to show through.

I then painted the dresser a soft, warm white color. Two coats of paint.

     

For the drawers, I originally wanted to just whitewash them so more of the green showed through. It’s easy enough to do by adding water to the white paint. I then made a strong batch of coffee to brush over the dry, white paint to give it a nice, aged look.

  

The site I saw that recommended using coffee to age it said to leave it on for 20 minutes before wiping off the extra. I don’t know if my coffee was too strong, if I put too much on or what, but 20 minutes was too long for me. It left hard, puddle outlines and too dark in spots. So I ended up only leaving it on for a few minutes to dry before using a paper towel to wipe it down.

After doing that, I changed my mind and decided I didn’t like the whitewashed drawers. I liked the green too much and wanted more of it. So, I painted the drawers green again.

Now to distress the piece. Using some sandpaper, I sanded down corners, edges, places where it would look nice and make sense for the piece to wear down. This let the green peek through. The beeswax I had applied earlier to these spots let the paint come off more easily without really scuffing up or over sanding any of the areas. I also sanded the drawers, allowing a little of the whitewash to show.

       

For the top of the dresser, I sanded it, applied one coat of a natural color wood stain and then three coats of a matte finish poly to protect the top.

Then it was just a matter of finding new hardware to replace the knobs and pull and my project was complete! A custom kitchen cart adding storage and counter space. No more sore back while prepping food!

the projects that took way more time than it should have

This post is about two projects that we thought could be whipped up over a weekend.

Spoiler alert: They took almost a month.

It starts back on Memorial Weekend, when we were visiting our friends in Minneapolis. Mike's sister sent us a picture of an outdoor bench going for $5 at an estate sale. Did we want it? Heck yeah! We envisioned using it as part of our landscaping.

It's a lovely teak bench that just needed some cleaning up and paint to pop (it really blends with the brick). So, we decided to paint it. We also wanted to refinish the patio table that the previous owners left behind. Seemed like simple projects.

For the table, we decided to use our Kilz Primer and our leftover trim paint, since it'll be in the covered patio. The bench would specifically get outdoor paint, since it'll get full exposure to the elements. Off we went to the hardware store, blissfully skipping because we knew our DIY dreams were about to come true.

...

See, there's a funny thing about painting outdoors. You don't just have your schedule to contend with, you have the H word. Humidity. I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone around us, because I think this stormy June is our fault. It pretty much started the moment we set out to paint the table and bench. Our bad. Anyway, you need to be careful about humidity levels when you paint, because the moisture in the air will cause the ingredients to evaporate at different rates, which can cause bubbling and other woes.

We decided to paint the bench rails green and the wood white. With a can of Rustoleum and a humidity check (look on the can for workable levels, then check the weather report), I set to work.

This was definitely the easiest part of the process and took a few coats.

The next step was painting the wood. I enjoy painting, but this quickly became tedious due to working around the iron rails and in-between the boards. We used Rustoleum's Painter's Touch Ultra Cover (not spray), since it's supposed to handle outdoor conditions. This is where we started running into humidity and schedule issues. The first night, I just painted the wide flat spots, then had to wait a couple of nights before I could get into the tiny areas with my tiny brush, because of Humidity. And torrential thunderstorms. The VOC rating in the paint was above the low level and the can specifically said to use outdoors or in a fresh-air, well-ventilated. Considering we were hitting the 90s in between nasty storms, we weren't going to open the windows and paint inside. Plus, that would let in the humidity and defeat the whole bloody point.

BUT. We could do that with the table.

 See, we took the leftover green paint from the bench rails and sprayed the flat sides of the table top.

By the way, even if you're outside, I recommend using a ventilator while spraying. Right after this shot I grabbed ours, because the fumes were nasty and I like my lungs and brain cells.

Once the spraying portion was done, we cleared space in the dining room and brought the table inside, since we'd be using low VOC primer and paint.

Yep, that's the bench hanging out with one coat on. We brought it in during the storms, since it was still curing.

I do wonder what any snooping neighbors must think, since all they must see is chaos through our windows. The table painting, at least, was a 3-night project with priming and two coats of paint. We probably could've done it within 36 hours on a weekend, but this was a week night project.

The roller made things go on fast and smooth.

The hardest part was getting the table through doorways.

Now it's complete!

Tonight, now that our Humidity was back to a workable level, I set up a work space in the patio. Laptop, bluetooth speakers, Netflix, and some ginger ale is all I need. Is that asking for much?

Check out our new swing and pad!

Things went much faster this time. I'll still need to do another coat (and hope the weather cooperates), but I think this will give you a good idea of the finished piece! It'll look nice against the brick out front.

Schedule? We don't need no stinkin' schedules! Or half bath misadventures

Half bath remodel … where to begin?

Half bath on closing day.

You think you’ve got the task figured out … and then it laughs at you. Hard. The shrill cackles in this case came from our half bath. It’s been next on our to-do list, but we’d had a tendency to just pick at it. With the Super Wallpaper Bowl, we were lulled into thinking the hard part was over. So it kind of just sat there, with Mike periodically having a go at the adhesive backing. There was no sense of urgency.

Then my mom asked if we’d like to host Easter the following weekend (now this Sunday).

Urgency, you have arrived.

So last weekend we decided to give our semi-nude half bath a makeover. All we needed to do was remove that last bit of glue, scrub down the walls, and slap on some paint. Spray paint the dated brass light and cabinet pulls. Great weekend project with lots of satisfaction but less heartache than the master bath.

Right?

… right? Hey, are you laughing?

Saturday morning dawned, we rolled out of bed, sipped some coffee, and started the fun. This began with a breaker box adventure. Since Mike didn’t feel like electrocuting himself when he removed the light fixture, we had to shut that circuit off. This was our first clue our proposed schedule was going to need adjustment.

Mike headed to the basement while I stood at the top of the stairs, my eyes on the bathroom light. There was a muffled swear and then he appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“The switches aren’t labeled.” I’m sure he wanted to insert another word in there. “I need a pen and paper.”

So, then we turned on all the lights in the house and proceeded through a baffling 20 minutes that consisted of Mike throwing switches and me running around the house to see which lights had gone out. We concluded our house was wired by a mad man, because the oddest things seemed to be on the same circuit. Maybe it would make sense to electricians. Eventually we discovered that our half bath, laundry room, garage, and radon system all run on the same circuit. They are all on that side of the house, so it makes sense by location, but we have no idea if we’ve messed up the radon system or not. I guess you don’t know until it slowly kills you?

With the light removed and the switch fun complete, it was on to scraping off wallpaper glue. Which, we swear, had reproduced, because there was more than we remembered (and it had developed a stubborn streak). I had been assigned to prep and spray paint duty (for fixtures), but I had to wait for the outside temperature to warm up, and it became clear that Mike needed help if we were going to stay relatively on schedule.

While Mike stood on the vanity, scraping away, I got close and personal with Mr. Toilet. Like really close.

Obviously the toilet had yet to be installed when the wallpaper went up (or had been temporarily removed), but we just aren’t at the comfort level yet of removing toilets. It doesn’t leak, things seem to be holding up, minus its tendency to run, so we were just going to have to deal. The trouble with this, however, was that no matter how soaked things got in that tiny, tiny space between the tank and wall, you didn’t have a good angle with the putty knife. The wall behind there started to resemble a fuzzy sweater that had been through the wash too many times.

We’d grabbed some stir sticks at Lowe’s when we were getting paint swatches, so Mike had the idea to use those. This worked much better, though there was a definitive lack of angels singing. But I discovered something a little funny. Once I had most of the glue shreds off, it was just bare wallboard behind it. Everywhere else, once the wallpaper was removed, we had white paint. But not behind the central part of the toilet tank. So, that makes us think the wallpaper isn’t original and the toilet was originally installed before painting began, and it’s perfectly normal to miss spots back there, thank you very much.

A some point in my toilet contortions, I bumped the supply valve and some water dribbled out. I tightened it back up and put a towel under it, just in case, but then we moved on.

Sometime in the afternoon, when we were already weary and somewhat discouraged, it was time to whip out the Kilz Premium and get our prime on. We debated whether or not to paint the trim and eventually decided on it, because while the window and door trim is in great shape, the baseboards were pretty beat up. Mike wants to re-trim the house someday, but that’s in far off future dreamland.

I’m the cutter, Mike’s the roller. On the trim, I decided to try out a foam brush, just to see how it would work. I love my Purdy edger, but the Valspar paint we use on the trim really shows the brush strokes. I’d love to switch to something more friendly, but we have SO MUCH of it left from doing the master, it just seems wasteful. Verdict? Not a big fan of foam brushes, but it’s just primer.

I also tried the foam brush for cutting in on the walls and I started to worry if I’d lost my touch or something. I switched back to the Purdy and sighed with relief. With the angle and stiff control, I can cut me a pretty good line, if I do say so myself.

It took us Ghostbusters II to prime. Then we called it a night.

Sunday

Sunday came. I rolled out of bed (Mike grunted and went back to sleep), padded downstairs, and got the coffee going. While it brewed, I painted each swatch on each wall to see how they looked in different light. Especially in this small space, each color looks different on each wall. Fun.

Then, coffee in hand, I hopped online to revisit the problem we always get stuck with: do you paint the walls or the trim first? In the master, we had painted the walls first, and a few days later put up painters tape to then do the trim. But the fresh wall paint had flaked a little, so we quickly stopped that and risked some freehand (which was fine, because we were freshening paint that was already there, so I could cheat just a bit below the edge, then caulk the gaps).

Should I slap on a second coat of primer and just hope it’s dry enough by the time we choose our color and run to Lowe’s for the bucket to not be a nuisance when I cut in with the paint? Is it easier to paint trims or walls first? I’d looked up this question up, but the answer seemed all fuzzy.

The answer from professionals and DIYers: It depends.

Thanks, guys.

When Mike woke up, I posed the question and walked through the pros and cons. He said to wait on the trim, the wall was the big thing, and if we didn’t have the final coat on by next weekend, it would be okay. Any chips the kiddos might put in the trim could be touched up on the final coat. No Big Deal.

Whew.

On to the next thing: Paint swatches. Originally we’d started with a couple dozen swatches on the wall and whittled it down. We’d chosen what looked like subtle greens on the little chip cards and then one greige with a green undertone. That one, Plantation Moss, got an instant veto because it looked poopy in some lights. The other three, Ante Meridian, Sage Morsel, and Portico, looked much greener on the wall than the swatch. Initially we loved Portico but thought would it be too saturated for the small space.

Ante Meridian, Sage Morsel, Portico, and Plantation Moss

So it came down to Meridian and Sage. Back and forth, back and forth. We wanted some warmth in our color and Meridian might be a little too cool, but Sage would get a weird yellow tone on some walls that didn’t appeal. We worried about a green hay effect once it was all on the walls, so we went with Meridian. Which is funny, because it originally was just a middle runner in our selection.

But before we could paint, Mike had another task: the toilet supply valve. The towel we’d put under it the night before was slightly damp, so it was still dripping. My heart sank. This is what I saw happening to The Plan:

I did not disagree that fixing the valve was important. But was it urgent? Couldn’t we fix it after the Easter bash? Or at least later in the week, after the paint had fully dried? Paaaaint. Paaaaaint!

But sometimes as the wife, you have to recognize that your man is going to Do This Thing and he will not be deterred. And other than The Plan, The Schedule, I really didn’t have a good reason to argue against it.

So I did this to the plan.

Then our half bath makeover took another turn. To make sure we had all the right bits, Mike wanted to remove the valve and take it with us. So we had to turn the water off in the house. After revisiting the London Underground that is our water closet, we turned off the house supply and ran the faucets until the water ceased to come out.

Then Mike put a bucket under the toilet valve and started to loosen it.

Gushing is probably overdramatic, but the bucket was filling fast! We turned on the basement sink faucet again, just to check, and sure enough, some procrastinating water came out. Did it get lost earlier? Take a wrong turn? I don’t know. Once it ran dry again, the toilet supply valve sputtered to a trickle and then finally stopped.

Mike removed the valve, but we would still need to cut the pipe to get to the plate and a nut. Boo. So we schlepped off to Lowe’s with our fingers crossed this would be a simple, cheap fix and not become a disaster. Because we’d like to turn the water back on and shower. And flush toilets.

We grabbed a new supply valve, plate, and pipe cutter. The valve supplies cost around $25, and we hoped this wouldn’t lead to a $300 plumbing bill. We actually had the luck of bumping into a Lowe’s worker who knew what he was talking about and got us all the right bits, including pointing us to a different valve that will make future fixes easier (pops off with a release instead of requiring the chop).

Back home, Mike set to work. The cutter was funny to watch, because it just looked so loose and easy to cut the pipe.

Once the pipe was cut, Mike popped off the nut and grotty plate. He put the new shiny plate and valve on ...

... and then the supply line didn't actually fit with the valve. The sizes matched, yet it didn't work. I suggested he check the ridges in the line's end for gunk. In doing so, he realized there was an extra middle ring in there, and that was what seemed to be making the parts fit together. Hmm. How important was this ring? he wondered. Was it actually an adaption piece and this valve had been replaced before?

Mike took the gamble and removed the parts that just seemed to be in the way. And guess what?

It worked.

Old valve, plate, some random leftover bits, and the handy lil cutter

New valve, bucket ready just in case.

I marched down to the basement to turn the water on and Mike stood at the valve, ready to holler if water started leaking. To ease pressure, we turned on a couple of faucets, so if there was a leak, we wouldn't have all the water come shooting from one point. But lo and behold - NO LEAK!

And there was much rejoicing.

So, what did we learn?
- Label your breaker boxes ASAP.
- Water hides in the pipes, so be ready.
- Changing a toilet valve is pretty easy.
- The schedule is merely a suggestion.

Next up?
Paintin' time!