Every week or so, I like to make a room-by-room list of every single thing we need to get done, just to really stress myself (and William) out. One room that we don't have a million things to do in anymore is the den. Other than decor, it is finally coming together. Last weekend, I tackled a project that had been looming over my head for a few weeks now: the fireplace.  When we moved in, the fireplace had a mantel, but it was so ugly, we just ripped it out and never replaced it. It had a decorative routed edge and was painted with some weird textured, multi-colored paint. I wish I had a photo, but I don't. I'm not sure what look they were going for with it, but it was just plain ugly. The brick was already painted, which was fine with me.  It was covered really well and it seemed to be a decent paint job. The only problem is that the paint was a dingy off-white color, much like a lot of the trim in the house. (Why do people do this? White looks best!)  The hearth was also a mess. I'm not sure what it's technically called, but instead of being nice, square tiles, it has those red, cracked, misshapen tiles. It also looked like someone had polyurethaned over it or done some type of glaze gone wrong.

Similar to this, but with yellowing, peeling polyurethane on top. Really beautiful!

For this project, I decided to try a project from Young House Love and just paint the entire thing, except for the firebox because we have working gas logs. For the hearth, I painted 3-4 coats of white paint. I haven't done any type of glaze or top coat, and it may not need it. You can't use polyurethane on white paint because it will turn yellow with time.  The paint I used for the entire project was Olympic no-VOC kitchen and bath semi-gloss. Only one thick coat was needed on the bricks since it was already painted a similar color. It looks great on the bricks and the hearth, and has a nice sheen without being too glossy. We also use this paint for our trim. I love it - it looks great and there are no fumes!

Dingy bricks getting covered with white!

After a few coats on the hearth

We decided to go with a simple mantel - no routing or decorative edging, just a rectangle. I went back and forth on painting vs. staining but William convinced me to stain it, and I love it! We have a white couch and white curtains, so I'm trying not to add too much more white. First, William cut the piece to size and I used our orbital sander with 220 grit to smooth it out. To stain it, I used Minwax dark walnut. I haven't sealed it yet since no one really touches it, but I may put a coat of Waterlox on it just for good measure. To secure it, we are just going to use some liquid nails (glue). We will be wall mounting our TV and the mantel will just be used for some decorative items - if we were actually placing the TV on it, we'd probably look into securing it differently.



Hopefully my image quality will improve when I get a new phone - my current phone's camera is definitely on its way out! Even though we made some big strides on the fireplace with this quick project, there are still a few more things to do in this area:

• Mount the TV above the mantel


• Add some trim around the hearth to clean up the look


• Caulk area between bricks and side trim


• Glue mantel and waterlox


• Decorate mantel and hearth

So far, this fireplace makeover has been very cost efficient. The paint was $15 and we have tons leftover for trim around the house. The mantel piece was around $7. I used stain that we already had, but you can buy a small jar (and still have a ton leftover) for less than $5. The glue and waterlox we'll be using is something we already have on hand, too.  Overall, I'd roughly calculate that we spent less than $15 for the entire project considering we mostly used what we have and how much we have leftover.

Update: The fireplace paint held up pretty well, but I have done an additional coat of white paint on the hearth to be safe. I have also purchased some satin Minwax polycrylic and plan to do a clear coating on top of the hearth only. I would also suggest priming your surface, first. I use Kilz multi-surface primer and it works very well! 

So far, the kitchen has by far been the biggest and most time-consuming project we've worked on. When we came to look at the house, it was small, dark, and not laid out very well.  We actually all stood there wondering where all the appliances were supposed to go. (Many times, foreclosed houses have no appliances in them when you buy them, or bottom-of-the-line new appliances installed by the bank.)  There was no dishwasher ever installed, but there was also no space to put both an oven and a refrigerator.

I don't have a true "before" picture to share right now. I may be able to track one down to share later, but I do have a lot of in-progress photos.  Almost right away, we knew we needed to tear down some walls. The kitchen and dining room are right beside each other, and before there was just a small doorway between the two.  We've knocked down the wall separating them completely. We are rebuilding part of it as a refrigerator nook, and the other side will be open, with a counter separating the rooms.  This will give us storage space and an extra place to eat and prepare food. It also really opens up the house!

You're seeing it correctly. The cabinets are painted 3 different colors.

At the very beginning, we were thinking about saving the cabinets - obviously they needed a paint job. After seeing the faulty plumbing and the water damage it had caused, we decided to just take it all out.



After putting a few holes in the wall, we decided to just go ahead and also take down the whole wall. (You might notice a pattern emerging here...) In retrospect, I guess we could have actually just patched it and left it, but I am actually glad we took the time to just take it down and replace. The wall was filled with some nasty stuff (rat poop, decades old razors) and obviously was not very strong. I don't think I would have trusted our new cabinets to be held up properly with this wall!



This area had a little L-shaped cabinet configuration. I can't quite remember, but I think they were actually all the same color! Either way, we knew we wanted to open up this space so we started tearing up the wall almost immediately. We did it on a whim and all we had was a mini crowbar, but that did the job! We were just thankful that it was not plaster.


                       

You may be noticing the crazy color scheme here. Dark green in the hallway to the left, dark red cabinet, bright orange kitchen, a lighter, but still bold, green in the dining room to the right

Here you can see a glimpse of the base cabinets and the counter tops. Again, multicolored cabinets and drawers! Who does this?! There was an ugly peg board over the old stove exhaust (see above) so we tore that out to see what was going on. As soon as we saw this brick, our minds started churning with ideas for bringing some kind of exposed brick into the space. You never know what you'll find behind a wall (just hope it's not more rat poop!)





Next up, we started on the floors. Installing and refinishing hardwood floors warrants a whole other post, but I'll give you the summary: it's hard. We only put new hardwoods in the kitchen and part of a bedroom, both of which were small spaces, and they took much longer than we expected. That is probably our biggest lesson during this renovation: it's going to take longer than expected.

The kitchen is in much better shape these days and we have a functional gas stove, dishwasher, over-the-range microwave, new counters, new plumbing, new sink, etc. We are still working on our exposed brick shelf, the back splash, and the bar/peninsula area that is open to the dining room. More kitchen updates to come soon!

If you spend any time looking at Pinterest or DIY blogs, you will read about chalk paint pretty quickly! Chalk paint is not chalk BOARD paint; it's not meant to be written on.  It's just a different type of paint and the main appeal is that you can paint it over other finished without sanding and priming. This is perfect for reviving an old piece of furniture with minimal effort.  It is also supposed to work on many types of surfaces: wood, veneer, laminate, etc.  Most people buy Annie Sloan's chalk paint, but there are a few new brands out there, too.  The problem with chalk paint (for me) is that it's on the expensive side, and you generally need to have it shipped to you.  I definitely like to see paint colors in person before buying them, so this is definitely an issue for me.

Luckily, chalk paint is VERY easy to make yourself! Be sure to have your piece of furniture (or whatever else) ready for painting before you mix. It isn't super time-sensitive, but you can't make it and save it for another day. All you need to do to prep your furniture is remove on/inside it and clean it with some cleaner and a rag to get dust off.

Yep, it's that easy! I bought the Plaster of Paris and paint at Lowe's while we were getting some other items, and it took me about a minute to mix everything up.  I bought a $2.99 sample jar of paint and the plaster was less than $7, which is another perk of this project. I also have tons of plaster leftover for the future. I used a plastic spoon and a solo cup, because I didn't want to risk contaminating any of our regular cups or spoons with the plaster.  Being the non-detail-oriented person that I am, I wasn't even that exact with the measurements and it came out great. It should have a texture similar to that of a mousse or pudding.

Once it's mixed, you're ready to start painting! I used a regular brush and did one coat, let it dry, and did one more coat.  This paint dries fast, so it's great for a quick project.

Most people recommend waxing furniture that you've chalk painted. After a bit of research, I found that a lot of people kind of hated this part about chalk painting. What's the point in skipping the time to prime and paint if you're going to spend the same amount of time waxing? I decided to skip the wax because 1. I don't have any, 2. I'm lazy, and 3. This piece of furniture isn't extremely valuable - it's just a side table that we use in our den right now and will probably switch out eventually. Instead of waxing, I used a clear Valspar spray paint protective coat on the top. I did several light coats of this to protect it from water and other damage.  So far, so good!

Instead of starting with our harder projects, I have an easier DIY project to start with. This is not only beginner-friendly, but also very affordable, and you can easily get it done in an afternoon. If you mess it up, you don't have to feel guilty about wasting tons of money, which is a nice comfort on any DIY project.

The first step of the project is finding an old chair from a yard sale, thrift store, etc.  We found our chair for $15 from a local thrift store. Make sure the chair is in good enough structural shape to sit in and that it's comfortable. I tried to find a chair that didn't have too much reupholstering to do. For my first DIY reupholstery project, I wanted something simple and something that didn't require sewing.


Next comes sanding. To sand the chair, I mostly used our hand held orbital sander, which I love. It even has a dust bag so it's extremely easy to use and clean. We liked the idea of having a dark finish, but because the chair was veneer, we had to paint it instead of staining.  If it were solid wood, we probably would have used a dark stain instead of paint.

After I sanded the chair, William had fun kicking out the sides and adding a couple of additional screws to make it sturdier.  I skipped this part to do some fabric shopping, so unfortunately there are no photos of this! I probably used about a yard of fabric for this chair, but bought 2 just in case. Overall, the fabric cost was $30. I also bought some piping for the trim and a one-inch foam panel for the back of the chair in case I wanted to add some upholstery as a back rest.

Once I was back home with the fabric, the chair was ready to be painted.  We wanted it to be a dark, charcoal grey color, but not black.  I took a little bit of a risk here and used Rustoleum automotive primer, along with a satin protective finish by Valspar. (Note: I do not like regular Valspar spray paint, but the Satin finish did just fine.) I couldn't find any colors in "normal" spray paint that I liked, but I actually really liked using the automotive primer and would definitely use it on a future project. The color is really dark without being black, it goes on well, and I like that it's not a gloss finish. It also dries very quickly! For furniture or anything people will touch a lot, I would suggest using a gloss or satin finish coat, not just the primer.

I tried to be a good spray painter and do several light coats and get all the corners, back, and under areas. While the paint was drying, I worked on recovering the seat cushion. This was probably the most labor-intensive part for me because I really wanted to get the fabric pattern centered and the staple gun is hard (for me) to use with one hand while stretching the other side of the fabric in place. It is helpful to have someone on hand for this to call over from time to time, but not completely necessary. It would also be much easier to have a staple gun that is attached to an air compressor. We didn't have the right staples to use with our nail gun, so we went without it this time, but for the next project, I will definitely be buying those staples!



Since the paint was dry by the time I was done with this, I tested out the look and so far, so good! I couldn't decide whether to take the effort to upholster the back panel, so I draped the fabric over it to test out the look. I really liked it and felt like that small detail made the chair seem so much more finished and better for the den, which is where this chair was going.

So, I got to work on the back rest portion of the chair - first, William and I deliberated on how to best get this part done. In the end, we decided to just leave the caning in the back middle portion of the chair and cover the front with the foam panel that I cut to fit. (Remember to put your cushion back in the chair for these measurements - my cushion would not have fit back in the chair had I added foam all the way down!) Then, I just kept the foam in place while I stapled the fabric over it and onto the back.  Once again, I made sure the fabric pattern was lined up and matched the cushion. After I stapled all the way around, I used a utility razor to cut the extra fabric from around the staples. I also used some heavy duty adhesive to the bottom of the fabric (behind the seat cushion) to help everything stay in place. Then, I repeated this process on the back of the chair, but without the foam. This is just to make the chair look more complete and finished.

After the excess fabric is removed, I used glue to add piping all around the edge of the front and back parts of the back rest of the chair. This is to hide any staples. Use a heavy duty glue so your piping holds up! This part was easy and adds a decorative element to the chair.

Finally, admire your finished work and put it in the room! (Our den is still very much in progress, so I'll add a photo of the room when it's more complete.)


For anyone interested, here's a cost breakdown of this chair makeover:

• Thrift store chair: $15
• Fabric: $30 (and I have plenty leftover!)
• Piping: $2
• Foam panel: $3.99 (There are cheaper options but I wanted a high quality, high density foam.)
• Glue: $3.99 (Again, plenty leftover)
• Spray Paint: $9
• Total cost: $64, with materials leftover for future projects

I've seen plenty of "vintage" upholstered arm chairs around the web for $200, $400, even $800, so I'm very happy with my outcome! It's not perfect, but no-sew DIY upholstery is not for perfectionists. I would definitely do this project again!