Suzannah Hamlin Stanley's Blog, page 64

Get all of the small things done so we can focus on the BIG, exciting things to come! #stanley90sreno week 25

We are planning two big projects in April, and wanted to get started on the right foot by finishing up our little projects and getting the rest of the house cleaned up!

You can call me crazy now or later, but I'm writing it down anyway--I'm having a party with some girlfriends the last week in April and want to have our powder room totally redone by then. Jason suggested how about we do the guest bath at the same time??

We're going out of town next weekend and so will have two solid weekends to...

Two very different kinds of bathroom inspiration

We have not one but TWO bathroom renos planned for next month. That's the plan, anyway. I'm having friends over at the end of April and we figured, nothing like a deadline! Why not try to get the bathrooms friends might use at least functioning with new toilets, vanities, flooring, and paint?!

So we are making a LOT of design decisions right now and I'm seriously torn on the style we want to go with.

One thing I've realized in this whole process (we have three bathrooms to redo) is that bathroo...

A fully functional kitchen for the first time since October!! #stanley90sreno week 24

What a good feeling!! This was a big one!!

We had one (big) goal for the weekend, broken into several pieces:

Finish tiling the kitchen walls and backsplashFinish grouting sameFinalize/wipe down grout on main kitchen wallInstall vent hoodInstall shelves
And we did it!! I did another 10-hour day tiling (though this time I also fit in some grouting) on Saturday... I had been grouting in 1-hour bits during the week but got a lot done at once Friday and Saturday. Grouting takes a while cause so much...

Our favorite budget buys of the #stanley90sreno thus far

When we first started looking at fixer uppers I made spreadsheets for each of the houses we seriously considered looking at what they all needed. Paint, flooring, cabinets, etc. Some needed more work than others. All of them needed thousands and thousands put into just the construction part!

I didn't make budgets for furniture, decor pieces, etc. and we did not have a big chunk of money dedicated to that purpose. So I've been very creative with spending and decorating and I've found a few incr...

DIY baseboard installation: 4 things I've learned

I was dreading installing our baseboards even more than installing 1,600+ SF of laminate flooring ourselves. I had this fear that we would somehow never get to it and would live in an unfinished house for years. They make SUCH a difference! But luckily we got into a groove and I figured out a few tips for making the baseboard project go smoother!

The first day we spent on baseboards was a little slow as we got the hang of things. But it definitely got easier, and one day we did a who...

Very pretty things have started happening. #stanley90sreno week 23!

We still have more baseboards and flooring to do, but I convinced myself it was okay to switch to more exciting projects for a while and boy, was it fun!! And hard work.

I was really looking forward to doing our kitchen tile backsplash after choosing a pattern (thank you!), and, once we do that we can install our range hood and shelving which will seriously add functionality to our kitchen! On Saturday morning my parents came over to help out. My mom and I worked on tile while Jason and my dad...

Our perfect easy-install bamboo blinds

I've been getting questions about the bamboo blinds we've installed in most of our windows downstairs. I can't wait to show you how they look when all of our rooms are finished, but in the meantime...

I had very little experience with blinds growing up, but since then have lived in many apartments with venetian and other blinds and I am generally not impressed. When I think "blinds" I think dusty, few pieces broken, cords a little messed up. But there are so many more options now! The other cr...

Becoming baseboard pros, and obsessive Craigslist searching pays off: #stanley90sreno week 22 progress!

Moooooore baseboards. We did a lot of the downstairs last week but there's still so much to do! Good news is it went much faster this weekend and we made big progress. And on some other little projects... and I finally got a piece I've been looking for on Craigslist!!!

On Saturday we got the living room and hall done (those involved some tricky pieces, angles, teeeeny floor pieces we had to recut, etc.....) and on Sunday we powered through the spare room and upstairs hall in less than 2 h...

Homemade Coconut-ey Lara Bars with EXTRA Protein!

Who doesn't like a sweet, chewy, satisfying Lara Bar?? They are pretty darn tasty but such a treat! We don't buy them often but I do appreciate their real food, whole ingredient nature and have made many, many similar bars before back in my raw vegan days--so I knew I could make an even more nourishing and satisfying homemade version!

I've shared my homemade protein bar recipes before (plain/PB flavored and cranberry vanilla almond) and those are awesome tasty, easy-to-make, balanced snack bar...

Subway tile backsplash alternatives - affordable DIY options. Vote!

We still have a lot to do to finish up some of our big projects like flooring and baseboards, but tiling the kitchen backsplash has come to near the top of our project list and I could not be more excited. Not only does this mean I will soon have a place to put plates and coffee cups (not that the countertop space far away from the dishwasher isn't great) and we can install the vent hood and stop smoking up the kitchen... it will make the kitchen look so much better!!!

I've been planning on do...