Are you thinking about redoing a room before the holidays? You’d better get it in gear!
I’m going to show you how I transformed a couple rooms in my friend’s house that were really bad just to show you that you can make even the worst looking rooms look pretty good without spending a fortune.
Do you ever walk into a room and think, OMG – where do even begin? I’ve had people asking me how I was able to transform my friend’s dining room from disaster to homey and comfortable.
Truth be told, I was overwhelmed at first too.
Here’s the process I use when tackling any room re-do –
First, remove anything that doesn’t belong in that room. Put it away, find it a home, give it to charity, throw it away – whatever is appropriate.
Now, take a step back and look at what is left.
Make a starting game plan.
What has to stay?
In this case, the carpet and furniture has to stay for now.
What needs to be bought?
Keep your eyes open when shopping.
I found these curtains in the clearance aisle at Walmart. Bob cannot afford to replace the carpeting right now, and he likes the burgundy colors. These curtains fit the bill.
That meant something had to be done about the chairs. As luck would have it, these slipcovers are on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond around the holidays. Limited colors, but inexpensive. You can also find chair covers at Amazon and Kohls.
Then comes the paint chips. We taped them up on the wall and looked at them in various light. The room doesn’t get much natural light.
Meanwhile, there was a lot of wall washing to be done. Years of nicotine and grime to wash away. That actually took the most time.
Then came patching, sanding and priming.
I don’t care what these new fangled paint cans say. If you want a good paint job that is going to last, you have to prep your walls correctly. I was talking to a lady today who was unhappy with the paint job that had been done in her condo. She said it looked nice at first, but any little hit to the walls left chips.
Now settling on a color was a challenge.
I originally wanted to go more taupe, but that would have made the room feel too drab and cave-like.
The curtains had taupe, green, gold and burgundy. We had so many paint chips taped to the wall!
We settled on Antique White by DutchBoy. Painting the trim and the ceiling white brought out more beige in the wall color. It brightened up the room, but still had a bit of color.
The entire process, doing a little at a time- and Bob getting a pacemaker, took about a month and cost less than $200.
The Bathroom –
Want to talk overwhelm? I wanted to cry every time I walked into this room. I really wasn’t sure I could save this room. 3 men who never cleaned…
The process was basically the same.
Remove anything that doesn’t belong.
Look at what’s left.
Decide your game plan.
Bob could not afford to replace the tub, surround and floor right now. We can ‘paint’ the tub and surround, but there is only one bathroom and they would not be able to use the tub for at least 4 days.That’s a problem…
All I could do was clean it the best I could, and cover it up with a shower curtain.
He did replace the vanity, sink, faucet, cabinets, and light fixture. And then of course, there were rugs, towels and shower curtain. Fortunately, the shower curtain hides the biggest eyesore.
Choosing the color…
This time we didn’t have anything to base a color choice on.
I stood him in front of the paint display and told him to pick a color. He picked the teal because it reminded him of a 1963 mustang. OK then…
The whole bathroom looked pretty much like this when we started.
First there was the washing and mold treatments. It was bad. Real bad. I was really afraid of the mold stains. I was sure that I had killed the mold with all the Clorox Clean-up I had used on it, but it still looked like it was there. I found Kaboom Stain Remover with Bleach – said it removes mold stains! And that took care of it. If you paint over mold, it will come back through.
Then there was the installing of all the new stuff.
We found the shower curtain at Walmart. Then we picked up the brown tones for the rugs and towels. It turned out very masculine – which is right for this house.
This took us only a couple of weeks, Everyone needs the bathroom everyday. He spent about $600. The sink, vanity, and faucet came from HOBO – which doesn’t exist anymore. You can find sinks, vanities, and faucets at places like Home Depot and Menards. The wall cabinets and paint came from Menards.
 When his daughter came to visit, she exclaimed, “That room has never been that clean my entire life!”
So you see, its pretty much the same process in each room you tackle.
– Remove what doesn’t belong
– Look at what’s left
– Find your inspiring piece
– Search for the items you need to pull it all together
– Wash, prep and paint
– Put the room together
I hope this helps you make your next decorating project a success!
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(Nasty Mold Photo credit: Wikipedia)
