Spring Break Projects

When Spring rolls around, I always dream up house projects.  House projects usually involve dollar signs, but a couple of recent projects were very inexpensive.  Last summer, I painted our wooden garage doors this chocolate brown color.   But I still wanted to give the doors a little more of a custom look.  So I turned to everyone's source of decorating ideas, Pinterest.

First, I used one inch painter's tape to tape off each top panel.

Then I took a small can of black paint and painted over the entire thing.  Wondering where I'm going with this yet?  Are you slightly scared?

After adding carriage door hardware from Lowe's and removing the painter's tape, this was the final result.  I have to say that I was pleased with the update.  We've even had people ask if got new garage doors.  

Next, I turned my attention to the master bathroom.  This was one area of the house that had not been updated when we purchased it.  I searched pinterest high and low until I found something I liked.  I decided that one easy upgrade would be to have someone build a cabinet in between the two sinks and then give it a more custom look with some nice, new crown molding.

The stark white-ness of the cabinets and countertop were also a little much for my liking.  Somehow or another I happened upon a product called giani granite.  It's a total do it yourself granite paint kit.  That's right, I painted my bathroom countertop to give it a granite look.  I have actually had this granite kit for a long time but I couldn't get the nerve up to actually try it. I mean, if I messed this up it would be a colossal nightmare.  But I finally decided to bite the bullet and try it.  It was now or never.

Turns out, I was super pleased with the results.  I know that I at least fooled a five year old.  When it was all said and done, Hadley walked in to our bathroom and said, "Hey, this matches our kitchen."  Our kitchen is real granite, too, I might add.  It was actually a lot of fun, too; kind of therapeutic almost.

The paint kit only cost $19.99.  Not too bad for a cheap, quick update.  Now, on to the next project.  Justin is praying it doesn't involve dollar signs. ;)