2013 DIY Plans

I realize we've really been slacking on the home improvements this past year. I was so gungho in September to get the kitchen cupboards refinished - I did about 50% of the sanding during the first week of October - but since then? I don't think I've been in the garage in weeks, except to park my car.

Before:

Currently:

My lofty plan was to sand an hour a day, plus more on the weekend, until it was all done. I've got to get back to that. This is what my kitchen cupboards are going to look like - before Easter, damn it! 

source: KitchenCabinetsColors.com

We'll also install a new backsplash - white I think. And we'll start looking around for a stainless steel refrigerator - but we're in no hurry.

The second big item on the list is renovating the ensuite bath. Besides the shower being a dark little cave, the water leaks around the door and the drywall has started to fall off at the bottom. When we got Little Dog, she liked to spend her nights laying on the bathmat scratching at the loose spots.

Of course she just turned 3 so I can't blame it on her any more. The grout between the floor tiles is also coming loose, and Tom would like a new vanity - specifically a new sink.

We plan to tear out the shower tiles, knock down the shower wall between the shower and the toilet, and install a frameless shower door, re-tiling of course. I hope we can find a sliding shower door that fits because there is just no room for a pivoting door.

source: Dreamline

I think the frameless shower plus the sliding door will make the room seem so much bigger. We're also going to retile the floor and I think we're going to install this floating vanity from Ikea. More visible floor area should give the illusion of more space.

source:Ikea

What else? There will definitely be some painting going on. The front room, the master bedroom, and all of the beige-y trim is going to get a fresh coat. And I'd like to paint the basement as well. All three of those rooms are just kind of blah.

I want to paint the bedroom a deep, rich grey. Maybe something like this:

Benjamin Moore Stormy Sky

source: decoraat.net

Currently it is a weird yellow with some sort of plaster texture on the upper half of the wall. Can you remove that kind of thing? There is a chair rail that cuts the room in half visually. I want to paint the walls all one colour so that the ceiling looks higher. Do you see a theme here? It's all about making the house more spacious.

The front room will probably be a taupe colour to coordinate with the rest of the house, but we're going to go with a beachy theme in the basement. Not surfboards and seahorses, but shades of soft blue, sand, white. And black and white photography.

Plus a dozen other smaller projects. But we really want to focus on knocking out some of the larger ones first. What projects are you working on this year? Any major changes?