Thrifting

Secondhand Shopping: Estate Sale Tips

You all know my love of a good thrift store. I’ve talked about thrifting for years, along with flea markets. I love a good deal, the thrill of the hunt, yada yada yada. But within the last year or two, I really have come to love estate sales as my secondhand shopping method of choice.

Estate sales are their own beast, and I have learned a few things while shopping that I wanted to share with you! An estate sale is typically done when an individual passes away and the family members hire a company to sell the items directly from the person’s home. This can sometimes happen if a family is moving and taking very little with them, they may choose to sell many of their belongings, but the passing of an elderly person seems to be most common. This means that a company has come in and gone through the items in the home (after family members have removed sentimental items) and organized them for a sale. What makes this better (in my opinion) than a garage sale is that everything was used by the individual in the home. It’s not just the junk they didn’t want anymore and decided to toss out. And as is the case with many elderly people, there may be items present that were in the home for 50+ years, so they are a great place to find vintage!

I love to go to walk through the house. You get a sense of how the home was decorated (though things will be moved around and set for the convenience of the sale), what types of things the inhabitants of the homes collected, they overall style. At a thrift store you don’t get to see how the drapes worked with the paint color, or what rug was paired with a certain piece of furniture, you only see items in isolation. Plus it’s fun just to walk through a house to admire its architectural details (surely I’m not the only one!).

So, now that I’ve convinced you to go to an estate sale, here’s the things I’ve actually learned.

First, browse online beforehand. This doesn’t always work, because not all companies list their sales, but I use estatesales.net as a search engine. You can sort by zipcode, and you’ll be able to see what company is putting on a sale near you, the dates, times, usually lots of photos, and any pertinent details about the sale.

Plan to go multiple times. This actually depends on your strategy and your pain price point, but there are advantages and disadvantages to going at the beginning of the sale as well as the end of the sale. If you go right when the sale opens, you have a better chance of scooping up a particular item you came for (if you saw something in the listing you liked). On the flip side, if you go later in the sale, you’re more likely to get a deal. I like to go early in the sale, and I may grab something if it’s something I truly wanted/needed/came specifically for it. Then I’ll go again if it’s nearby toward the end of the sale. Estate sales are generally several days long. While every company has their own policy, most will lower prices on most items incrementally down to 25, 50, even 75% off as the end of the sale gets closer to close. I like to find out when they’ll be lowering their prices, and then come again to see what’s left. You are of course risking losing out on something here, but it depends on what your price pain tolerance is.

Make a bid on something! This only works for higher price point items, and every company does it differently, but you can leave a bid on an item for below asking price, and if it’s still available at the end of the sale, you might be the lucky bidder! My strategy here is always to bid just under the lowest percentage off I know the sale will go to. For example, if an item is $100, and I know they will be going down to 75% off in the final hours, I may leave a bid for $20. If it’s still available at the end of the sale and didn’t sell for $25, they’re going to be a lot more likely to take my offer. It seems laughably low, but you never know! Some places will have a bid box where you can drop you information, others you will have to give your information and bid to someone directly.

Get friendly. If you start frequenting sales in the same area, chances are you’re going to come into contact with the same estate sale company time and time again. Be chatty, friendly, like them on Facebook, etc. Ask about upcoming sales in the area. You never know what inside scoop you might get with a little kindness!

Cash, cash, cash. Most people take car now, but either way, it’s always good to have some cash on hand if the wifi is down/card reader isn’t working, etc.

Are you an estate sale shopper? What tips do you have that I missed? I’d love to hear! That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

April 30, 2021 by
Personal

We Paid off All Our Debt! How living on a budget helped define my design style

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw that as of this week, we officially paid off all of my student loans and other consumer debt. It was a big deal for us. I went to a private christian university that was very expensive. At eighteen years old I did not have the forethought to consider how the loans would affect me entering my adult life. There are a lot of things I would have done differently given the opportunity to do it all again. Coulda shoulda woulda. I figured in case anyone was interested, I would share a bit about our story in general, how we did it, some tips/tricks, and since you all are here for house content, how living on a budget affected my design style.

For some context, I got married six months after college at age 22. So from the moment I had to start paying on my loans, I was working with a (albeit fairly small) dual income. Unfortunately, I have no experience with being a young single professional trying to pay off debt, but I think a lot of the same principles can apply. We loosely followed Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps. I say loosely because he advises not purchasing a home (if you don’t already own one) until your debt is paid off. We obviously did not do that. But we had almost 100k in a small credit card, one car loan, medical bills, and a majority student loans. It took us six years. That’s a long freaking time.

One thing we did was set a very intentional budget each month. We designated an amount for every expense we had. This form is a really helpful starting point. (By the way, none of this is sponsored, this is just what helped us!) The most important thing was deciding what was important and spending our dollars there. That might be different for everyone. If spending quality time out with friends is important to you, set aside an amount you’re willing to spend on that, and write it in the budget! Then, boom. You get to spend guilt-free money going out! Just don’t overspend in that category, and you have nothing to worry about.

One thing that helped us make sure we didn’t overspend in different categories was using a cash envelope system. In my wallet I have an envelope with cash for groceries, household items, entertainment, and personal spending money. This helped me make sure I wasn’t blowing my budget because I could clearly see how much money was left for the month. Personal spending money was vitally important because I never felt guilty about roaming Target as long as I had cash in my envelope. And you can bet your bottom dollar that if I had extra grocery money on my last grocery shopping trip for the month, I was going to spend $20 on a cookie cake. It’s not about depriving yourself, it’s about having a plan.

When we were writing our budget, everything extra on top of all of our normal expenditures went toward debt. There were months (before kids lol) that we would make an $2,000 payment toward our debt. Now, that’s not to say every month was perfect. There were long periods of time when things were really hard or we had to put a pause on things. We needed a new truck, so we saved up cash for a few months and didn’t pay anything extra on loans. We needed medical intervention to start a family. That cost us a lot of money. When we actually had our first child, those medical expenses were high (don’t get me started on the the high cost of healthcare in this country). We experienced a job loss and lived on one income for about a year and were just barely making it. There were normal highs and lows, but that’s part of the reason it took so long. We had to stay motivated through long periods of lows, and it was really freaking hard. I stay at home now, but for the first 18 months of my son’s life I was teaching full time and had a pretty high daycare bill. It ate quite a bit into our budget to be honest. But it all came down to the budget. We wrote in line items for formula, diapers, baby clothes, all of it. Kids are expensive, no way around it.

It was hard to stay motivated at times, I’ll be honest. Six years is such a long time. But we constantly reminded ourselves of how much easier life would be without these extra payments lying around. Once our kids were born, we knew it would be so much better for them growing up to grow up in a household where money isn’t a stressful topic. That’s what kept us going.

At the risk of making this the longest post I’ve ever written, I did promise to discuss how living this way has affected my design style, so I wanted to touch on that. Every month I would spend my “spending cash” on house stuff. But I wanted to stretch my spending money as far as it would go, hence the love of thrift stores, estate sales, and flea markets. Why would I pay $200 for a dining chair at Target when I could buy a whole set of higher quality dining chairs at a thrift store with a little patience and persistence for $40? (That is a real example, by the way.) And shopping secondhand made me appreciate classic, traditional pieces that were different from what was trending at the big box store. I had to practice a lot of patience and be content with what I had in the interim, but I’m grateful for the forced exercise in self control.

Does any of that make sense? I feel like I both rambled on and on and also barely scratched the surface. If you have questions, let me know. That’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

March 19, 2021 by
House Progress

Exterior Color Inspiration and Ideas

You guys have seen the outside of our house by now. When I share a photo of our exterior on Instagram, it’s always a favorite. When we bought the house, we knew we would be painting it eventually. We still aren’t ready to paint (we have a couple other things on the list ahead of painting), but I’m having fun thinking of ideas and looking for inspiration! I have four different directions I’m thinking of, and I wanted to walk you through each idea. There are some pros and cons to each one, so I wanted to get them all out in one place, if nothing more than for me to reference later on.

Classic White

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My love for white houses runs deep. It’s the most classic, most timeless in my opinion. Had we painted the house immediately upon purchasing, I would have painted the house white with black trim immediately without question. Now that I’ve had time to think through our options, I have the opinion that white with black trim can look a bit harsh, so I’d probably stick with white on white. The downsides are the frequent powerwashing needed to keep it looking fresh, as well as the fact that several houses in our neighborhood have recently been painted white. I don’t want it to be just another white house. In some sections of the exterior where we can see previous layers of paint, white is the oldest layer. That’s not to say that white was the original color, but it was white sometime a long time ago, so that’s something to consider.

Cream with White Trim

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This kind of goes along with the light and bright vibe, but I feel that it would hide dirt better. This color option is born of sheer practicality. I would do a white trim with it, so there would be some contrast, but overall, it would be a light colored look. I can’t think of a ton of other houses near us that have this scheme going on either, so that’s a plus.

Blue with White Trim

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Okay, so this one can look really classic as well. I think we would go with a fairly dark, greyish blue, so all of our detail trimwork would really pop in white. And, when looking at a cross section of paint layers on some of our siding, there’s proof that the house was blue at one time (after it was white)! I can’t think of any other houses in town that have this scheme, it would hide dirt really well, and blue is my favorite color! The downside is that a lot of our interiors lean blue, so I’m worried that it might be too much blue? Is there such a thing? I’m not really sure, but it something to think about.

Black on Black Monochrome

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Okay, so this is the most bold and dramatic of my ideas. Black is definitely having a moment, and I really like the possibility of being the only house in town painted this way. It’s a bold choice for sure, and it would certainly be a talking point around town (some people would love it, others would hate it, and that’d be okay with me). My concern with this would be heat/energy. We do live in Texas, and summers are long and hot. I don’t know if having a black house would make it hotter inside in the summer? Also, would the color fade quickly? We would probably go with a deep deep grey, but it would be close enough to make it look black. Another concern is that this option is too trendy? The house’s current paint job is about a decade older than I am, so it’s something that will be with the house for a while. I don’t want to be tired of it in five years, you know?

In a way, I’m glad we haven’t painted yet, because it’s given me some time to think on the decision. But the more time that passes, the more options I think of, so I’m further away from making a decision. I want to do something that suits the house, and the neighborhood. Sure, we technically own this house right now (and plan to for a very long time), but this house belongs to everyone who has ever lived here, to everyone who uses our sidewalks to walk their dogs, to everyone who uses our house as a marker for where to turn to make the shortcut to the next signal, to everyone past and future who enter the front door, or just admire from the street. It’s a big decision, and I want it to be the right one. Unfortunately I just don’t know what that is yet. What do you think?

That’s all for today, have a fabulous day!

February 5, 2021 by
Organization

Organizing Baby Clothes (and a free download!)

Do you know what I was most unprepared for with having my first child? It wasn’t a lack of “stuff,” or even a certain thing my kid did that I couldn’t handle. Nope, it was the alarming rate at which babies grow out of clothes and then having no where to put those clothes. I’m going to show you my secret shame today, in hopes that it might make you feel better. At least that’s the hope!

I had absolutely no game plan for clothing storage with my first. And now, almost two years later, this is what his closet looks like:

None of those boxes have diapers in them. Every time he would outgrow a size, I would just throw all the clothes into a diaper box and stash it in the closet. Now that he’s going on two, there are a lot of boxes! It’s rather unsightly, and now that I have another child’s clothes to deal with, I am realizing I need to get a handle on this. Like, immediately!

So, I’ve come up with a plan to take care of this situation. And I’m going to get to it! Nope, I haven’t done it yet, but I did create some labels for new storage bins, and that’s half the battle, right? Right? Just agree with me.

I haven’t even started yet (I’m waiting on my new storage boxes to arrive), but these labels are getting me excited about this pesky little project. I’m going to just print them and laminate them before attaching them to my storage bins. Easy! If you want to snag some of your own, click here to download. I made a set for boys and girls!

I’ll keep you updated once I get moving with this project. In the meantime, happy organizing! That’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

September 3, 2020 by
DIY Projects

DIY Abstract Art

Last week I shared a post with several ideas for free and low cost art (you can read that here). This week, I’ve been super bored around the house with no big projects that I’ve been working on, and so I was itching to do something. I had been inspired by some abstract paintings I’d seen online, and figured I could make something similar with items I had in my garage. File this under: free projects. (If you don’t have a garage full of leftover renovation junk, this might not be free for you. But still super low cost! So, let’s get started!

The first thing I did was grab some plywood from the garage. Mine is smooth, but pressed wood would work as well. I used a board that was 24×36 inches, but any size will work! I also grabbed some drywall mud, a drywall mud pan, and a putty knife.

These photos are screenshots from a video I filmed at 8 pm while starting this project, so probably not the best quality. But bear with me. I started out scooping the drywall mud slowly onto the board, but quickly realized it would be easier to just pour a bunch on the board directly and move it around with my (gloved) hands.

Then, using both a putty knife, and my hand, I just gobbed it all around until the whole board was covered, and there was textured look to the entire thing. The goal was to make it look like super textured. I let it dry overnight, and when I woke up the next morning, it looked like this:

Exactly what I was going for! Then, I poured white paint over the entire thing and brushed it over the mud texture.

This step isn’t technically necessary, but I wanted it to be a brighter white. I used Behr Ultra Pure White, which is just what the color is with no tint in the paint can. You could also choose to do a different color here completely, depending on what you wanted your background to be.

After the white was dry, I did the final step. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of this step, because I was being climbed on by my toddler and forgot to take any photos! However, this is the fun/easy part. I just took a small craft brush, some blue paint I had on hand (Glidden America’s Cup Navy) and painted on some loopy squiggly lines. I didn’t really have a plan, I just went for it. You could do this in any color with any shape/line.

Some of the paint ended up dripping down, which I actually love. The messier the better with this!

You can see in some areas I went a little thicker with the paint, and in others I let the texture show through.

Overall, excluding dry time, this project took probably 45 minutes of active work. And now I have a larger piece of “art” that I didn’t have to pay for. And I absolutely love the way it turned out! You know that blue is totally my color, and so I think it works perfectly in the dining room where I have lots of blue and white going on.

What do you think? Would you try this? Let me know if you do! Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

*This post may contain affiliate links.

August 7, 2020 by
House Progress

Status Update: Year Two

Today marks the official two year anniversary of owning this old house of ours. Today I wanted to look back at this past year, year two, and see all of the things we accomplished. I’m going to share a few (not all) of the big projects we’ve done in the last 365 days.

If you’ve never seen the before pictures of our house, you might want to start there, just for fun. This last year kind of unintentionally became the year of getting the upstairs more livable. One year ago, our master bedroom was downstairs and the only thing we had done upstairs was our son’s room. In the fall, we updated one of the bedrooms upstairs and moved the master up there.

Then, over my winter break from school, I decided to do a bit of work on our upstairs bathroom.

We also worked on finishing the third bedroom upstairs this year when we found out we were expecting our second child. The nursery is one of my favorite rooms in the house, and I cannot wait to get to use it very soon!

During Spring Break (are we sensing a pattern here? it seems like every time there was a break from school, I did a project!) I painted the porch floors on all three of our porches. That ended up being a lot of work over an extended period of time, but made a huge impact.

In a spur of the moment decision late last summer, I decided to paint some dalmatian spots on the wall between our living room and dining room. Best decision ever!

We’ve also done tons of work in the yard, and countless small projects around the house to help move the progress along. It’s crazy to see how far we’ve come. They say that people overestimate how much they can get done in a day, but underestimate how much they can get done in a year, and it’s so true! Last summer I could not have imagined the progress we have made. I can’t wait to see where we are by the end of year three! Hopefully some work in the downstairs areas… I’m getting real sick of looking at a few things downstairs. LOL! Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

July 31, 2020 by
Home Decor

Free and Low Cost Art

They say that to make a house feel more homey, it needs art. Well, I agree, but what I know about art is that it’s expensive. And if I go to a big box store and buy something off the shelf, chances are someone I know has the same one in their house. And that doesn’t make my house feel special or unique. Today I wanted to share with you a few ideas for finding art for free or inexpensively that are unique and make your home feel special!

First, let’s talk free. It’s my favorite word.

This is a view of the art ledge in our living room. Our living room is a work in progress. Let’s look beyond that. A couple of things I have here are some literal weeds that I cut from my yard and pressed under some magazines. I stuck them in some thrifted frames I had on hand, and boom. Done. I also have a framed scrap of wallpaper that we found while tearing out a wall in our house. It’s probably close to 100 years old. Now, you may not have 100 year old wallpaper you want to frame, but you might have something personally special to you like a handwritten recipe card from your grandmother, or a silk scarf that your mom used to wear. Frame it, and it’s personal and unique and free art!

You can also paint your own abstract art. I would consider myself “creative,” but not “artistic” if that makes sense. But anyone can paint some circles or blobs on a piece of paper and call it art, right? (Also, check out this sneak peek of my bathroom refresh! I’m waiting on a few things to be delivered before I share more, but it’s coming! And it’s green!)

And while you’re browsing your favorite magazine, be on the lookout for pages that appeal to you. You can always cut pictures from books and magazines and frame those too!

Now let’s move to the “low cost” category.

Not quite as good, but still pretty cheap, so listen up.

These large frames in our living room are prints of Sanborn Maps. These are map views of our neighborhood from the early 20th century that I had printed. They are available for free on the library of congress website, but I’m including them in the “low cost” category because I had to pay a few dollars to have them printed in large format at my local office supply store. You may not live in an old house and so these may not be relevant to you, but I wanted to share with you my favorite and new found obsession for amazing prints.

The Smithsonian has thousands of archived digital files available to download right on their website for free. Can you even believe that?! Through Smithsonian Open Access, you can browse tons of actual paintings and photographs that you can legally download at a great resolution. These are free to download, but I’m including them in the “low cost” category as well, because I print them as posters or large scale photographs at my local drugstore. This ballerina print in the nursery was one that I downloaded from their website.

And lastly, you know I’m going to tell you to thrift. This original mini oil painting was $4 including the frame. No one else has one, and it helps the room feel unique. Thrift stores, flea markets, and estate sales are filled with framed art for just a few dollars. Sure, you have to look beyond the 90’s prints of flying ducks or the “live, laugh, love” posters, but there are some real gems to be found.

You can fill your home with pieces that not everyone has on a budget! You can fill your walls with art and special things without spending a ton of money. That’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

July 29, 2020 by
House Progress, Room Tours

Baby Girl Nursery REVEAL

It’s finally finished! The room we’ve been working on for months is done and I can’t wait to share with you all the details. If you haven’t been following along, you may want to catch up with some of the older posts pertaining to the nursery. First, I shared the original moodboard, how I did the DIY wall stencil, how I stripped the painted doors in the room, and the updated list of what projects were still left as of a month ago. Now that all those things are crossed off my to-do list, I’m finally ready to share.

Before we have a look at the photos though, let’s take it wayyyyy back to early April when I was in the planning stages of the room. This was the moodboard I came up with, mostly based on a few things I already had found (art) and furniture I knew I would be reusing from our son’s room (crib and rocker).

Now the whole thing has come to life and I could not be more excited.

The artwork over the crib was purchased at a flea market before I even knew I was having a girl back in… February? March? I snagged it because it was only ten dollars and I knew if I had a girl it would be perfect for above a crib. Luckily I am actually having a girl, otherwise I would just have this painting with no place to put it. It came without a frame, so it took me a while to track down a frame that fit, but I did eventually. I bought some random ugly artwork just for the frame, threw away the print inside, and used Rub ‘n Buff in the color Gold Leaf on the frame to make it look a little more aged. Here’s what it looked like before:

It’s so 2002 chic, am I right? Anyway, our crib is the same one I used in our son’s room, I just dyed the crib skirt with some RIT dye to change it up a bit.

The footstool, curtains, rug, and curtain rods were all new purchases for this room. The rocker was one we already had from our son’s nursery. You can see in these photos some shelves both with artwork and with books. Ethan built the book display shelves with a lip on the front to keep books from falling over. I stained them with my favorite stain color, Varathane Early American.

The pillow was something I whipped up in 30 minutes on a sewing machine on a whim after an unplanned Hobby Lobby trip. I used a pillow I already had and made a new cover for it with $3 worth of fabric. I used some leftover trim from another project.

The lamp was a Facebook Marketplace find, the table was a flea market find a few years ago, and the picnic basket was something I’ve had forever (it’s full of baby toys). The little doll quilt sticking out was made for me by my Great Grandmother when I was young.

Moving to the other side of the room, the dresser was Ethan’s when he was younger and I repainted it. The basket was a thrift store find, and the tassel on the doorknob was an estate sale find. The tree was found randomly on clearance one day just after I had started browsing Facebook Marketplace for faux trees. It was meant to be!

The artwork and decor on both shelves are a combination of thing I had and repainted, or things that were picked up at flea markets and estate sales. The actual art prints are from a source I recently discovered and am currently obsessed with. The Smithsonian Museum has something called Open Access which is an online catalog of millions of photographs, paintings, pictures of sculptures, etc. They’re all free and available to download without copyright infringement, so I like to search for different art prints and have them printed as posters. It’s a super affordable way to get high quality prints that aren’t just the same thing everyone has from the same box store!

The nursery is a such a happy room, and I absolutely love it! Although, it’s now time for it to be filled with the ugly but necessary baby accessories that aren’t pictured in these photos…

I love that just like the rest of our home, this room encompasses a little bit of old, a little bit of new, a whole lot of DIY, and a whooooooole lot of thrifted and secondhand finds. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now we just need a baby sleeping in the crib!

And, just for fun, let’s throw this waaaaaay back to two years ago when we first bought the house (and let’s be honest, also a year ago because we did nothing in here for a long time).

Now that’s crazy, right? So, what do you think? Do you see what I saw with the original moodboard? I am so glad you stopped by to see our baby girl’s nursery! That’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

*This post may contain affiliate links.

July 3, 2020 by
Tutorials

How to Restore Old Doors that Have been Painted

Today’s post has been a long time coming. Because this project is not for the faint of heart. If you live in an old house, chances are, you have old doors. And, if you’re like me, many of those doors have been painted over time and time again. Now, maybe you’re luckier than me and a paintbrush has never touched your wood doors. But about half the doors in our house have been painted. With multiple layers of paint.

We plan on restoring all of them eventually, but hadn’t gotten around to any of it. But, since we’ve been working on the nursery, I figured the best doors to start with would be the two painted doors in there. Now, I’ve stripped a lot of furniture in the last several years, and restored a lot of tables and dressers, but I’d actually never done a door before. So consider this my totally non-professional guide on how to restore doors that have been painted.

Step One

Remove your door from the room that it’s in, and take it somewhere you’ll have room to work. Remove all the hinges and hardware.

Because I’m such a professional blogger I forgot to take a photo of the door while it was still in the room, but here it is outside of my garage before I got started. You can see in the corner of this photo the other door that I was already working one. I did this same process to both doors.

Step Two

If your house was built before 1978, you may have some lead paint. I use these tests to check for lead. Luckily for me, neither of the doors I was working on had lead paint, so that meant I could continue. If your paint tests positive for lead, you may want to consider your options. I would not recommend the following method. If there are multiple layers of paint, the most likely culprit will be the oldest paint, or the bottom layer, so be sure to check that.

Step Three

I found (after some trial and error with paint stripper) that the quickest way to go about removing paint quickly is to scrape it while it’s dry. I tried stripper, which worked, but it seemed to only take off a layer at a time. I found that this set worked well getting off lots of paint at once. The different shaped blades allow you to get into different cracks and crevices along the different surfaces of the door. I didn’t worry about getting 100% of the paint scraped off, but in general I got as much as I could.

Step Four

Sand. Sand like the world is ending. I used my orbital sander, and sanded first with a course 60 grit sandpaper to get the last of the paint off. On the edges of the panels where the orbit sander couldn’t reach, I sanded by hand. Once all the paint was off, I repeated the sanding with a 120 grit sandpaper and a 220 grit sandpaper.

Step Five

I used steel wool and mineral spirits to scrub the door one last time after all the scraping and sanding. Now, keep in mind, these steps took me like two weeks. I work in limited time shifts during naps and after toddler bedtime, so a normal schedule might allow this to get done in a matter of days, but I was averaging two weeks per door.

Step Six

This would be optional based on your wood and your preferences. I had one door in the room that was untouched, and I wanted the three doors I was working on to be all about the same color. So I used the stain we used on our floors throughout the house (Minwax Early American) and it ended up being a pretty close match to the door that was already in the room. I prefer to use a rag to apply (with rubber gloves on!), rather than brushing and wiping the excess. I just apply with the rag and rub it in immediately. If you like the color of your wood after you strip it all down though, you could totally skip this step.

Step Seven

The last thing I did was put a coat of Polyurethane on them. I like to buy the cheap paint brushes to apply the poly, and then just throw them out when I’m done. I ended up doing just one coat of poly (again, trying to match an existing finish!). I let the first side dry for 24 hours, then flipped the door around and did the other side. I let it sit for another 24 hours before moving them back into the room.

Step Eight

Bring your doors back into place, and re-install the hinges and doorknobs. And for goodness sake enjoy the fruit of your labor!

The door on the right is the entrance to the room, and the door on the left is one of the ones that were painted. There are a couple of white spots that you can see which are actually wood filler. They aren’t perfect…they’re 125 year old doors that had six coats of paint on them! But for goodness sake I think they turned out pretty good.

This door on the other side leads to the bathroom, and is the one from the first picture. Let me show you again:

Can you even believe that wood grain was hiding under all those layers of paint?!

This project was a doozy, I’m not gonna lie. It was weeks worth of work, sweating it out in my hot garage in a mask and protective gear. It wasn’t a fun DIY. But, they are back to the way they were intended to be in this house, and I think that’s what matters. And I’m stinking proud of the work that went into these. So, do you have any doors that need refinishing? Are you brave enough to take it on? (I totally think you can!) That’s all for today, friends! Have a fabulous day!

June 8, 2020 by
Organization

My Weekly Cleaning Schedule (and a Free Printable!)

I shared a couple of weeks ago over on my Instagram how I have silly names for all the chores I do each day of the week, and several people were interested in it, so I decided to share!

I have always been a pretty “clean and organized person,” but I never really stuck to any sort of routine, I would just do things as needed. But then I had a child and when I went back to work after maternity leave, I was feeling very overwhelmed about keeping up with my house and so I knew it was time to start a real routine. So even though it’s summer, and I’m technically home right now, don’t think that this isn’t for you if you are working outside of the home full time. This is about getting a little bit done each day so that you never have to do a lot at once.

First, there are a couple things I do every single day (or weekday). A load of clothes is one of them. I know that may seem counter-productive to some, but trust me on this. I never spend more than 5-10 minutes folding and putting away laundry. I start a load as soon as I’m dressed in the morning, flip it over, and fold it while I’m waiting for my son to fall asleep after I put him down for his nap. During the school year, I start it on my way to work, Ethan flips it on his way to work, and when I get home, I quickly fold and put away. Because it’s only one day’s worth of clothes, it’s never overwhelming. (Also, our washer has an auto sensing fill, so it’s not using excessive water. We haven’t noticed any difference in our water billing since I used to only do clothes once a week or so.)

I also vacuum every day. I realize most people don’t need this, I just have a hairy dog and a crumb monster child, so it works for me. If you don’t need a daily vacuum, just consider that a quick kitchen floor sweep. I usually do this in the evenings after my son goes to bed.

The last thing I do every day is dishes. We actually don’t have a dishwasher (pre-renovated kitchen problems), so I wash by hand at the end of the day, let them dry on the counter overnight, and put them away first thing in the morning. I know this sounds like a lot. I promise it’s not.

Then each day of the week, I do one chore or task that needs to be done on a regular basis but not every day. I came up with names because I’m nerdy like that, but it helps me remember! On Mondays I mop, hence Mop Monday. I mop all the hard surface floors in my house. on Toilet Tuesday I clean my bathrooms (we have two). On Wash Wednesday in addition to my load of clothes, I also run a separate load of sheets, and one of towels. On Third Thursday, I rotate through different things that don’t need to get done every week, but should still be getting done somewhat regularly. One week I’ll dust my flat surfaces and shelves, the next week I’ll do windows (again, dog and toddler), and the week after that I’ll do my kitchen. I’ll throw away anything in the pantry or fridge that needs to go, as well as clean the outside of my appliances. On Free Friday I just catch up on anything that I may have missed through the week. Inevitably there will be something that didn’t get done, so I give myself a buffer. And on the weekends, I don’t do anything but the dishes and vacumming. I keep the weekend open for bigger projects around the house.

And that’s it! I spend about 30 minutes each day keeping up with my house, and it keeps me on track so I don’t wake up one day to a bathroom that hasn’t been cleaned in a month. I never have to worry about doing a huge cleaning day, or spending all my weekend working on housework. Although our house is in a perpetual state of disarray because of projects going on at any given time, the general cleanliness is usually up to par.

If you’re reading this in the days that it was first written, join me on Instagram, as I’ll be walking through each day on my stories. You can do it with me! You can either screenshot the photo above if you are wanting to save it on your phone, or if you’re a paper kind of person, you can click the link below to download and print your own copy. Check it off each day as you go! I can’t wait to get cleaning together!

Click here to download the printable cleaning schedule!

Well, that’s all for today, friends. Have a fabulous day!

May 31, 2020 by