It's a black and white thing

My guest room in my condo has a black, white and grey theme. It really doesn't match a single other room in the house but I've always wanted a black and white room so the rest of the rooms in my condo will just have to deal with the outcast.

It's a work in progress but on my to do list to find were a black and white duvet cover and a black and white chair for the corner. I nixed the idea of a black and white duvet after I found the Fieldcrest Luxury Hotel duvet in white with tailored seams. I love it! I need to buy the matching shams but I haven't seen them for sale on eBay recently.

The other day I went to my most favorite thrift store in Northern Virginia called Sisters' Thrift. They have the most amazing furniture selection and I've had my eye on a vintage chair/side table combo for the past two months. This past weekend I went there to check out the new selection of furniture and lo and behold, the chair/side table was still there and I snagged it for $30!

Here are the before and afters and the "how did I do it" explanation.

1) First I removed the chair back and seat cushions by popping them out of place.



2) Then I spray painted the chair/table a glossy black. I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gloss Black.



3) Next I went to Joann's Fabrics and purchased a black and white damask print upholstery fabric for $7.00 a yard. I purchased 2 yards so that I would have left overs to make two small pillows.

First I laid the cushions on top of the fabric and cut the templates. Then I used the handy dandy nail gun air compressor (courtesy of my Pops) (i.e. one of the best inventions in the world) to nail the fabric onto the cushion.









Voila!



4) After the paint dried on the chair/table, I reassembled the cushions. Here is the final product:





The black and white room so far. I have a LOT of work to do but it's coming along nicely.

First Flip...or Flop.....

In December of 2010 I bought my first investment property...in the middle of no where.

Middle of no where = 2.5 hours away.

Normally middle of no where is ok....unless you work a full time 40 hour a week job and then "middle of no where" quickly turns into "pain in the ass." But, in order to make money you need to spend money (and time). Along with everyone elses time since my parents put a LOT of time into helping me out. (Shout out goes to my mother for repainting the back porch steps 5 times because once wasn't enough and for spending countless hours removing all that wallpaper and to my father for spending multiple weekends trying to get the water to work.)

7 months later the house has been finished and is on the market. Hopefully it sells soon as I have my eye on two other investment properties. And I need to pay off my credit cards before Mr. Emily kills me.

Here are some before and afters along with what I did and where I bought it from.

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:



Sorry for the low picture quality. All photos can be found on my Flickr account. The link is at the bottom of my blog.

Team Emily (aka, boyfriend, parents and anyone else who will work for free) completely renovated two rooms in the house. The kitchen was one, the bathroom was the other. First came removing the old counters and the old laminate flooring. Since I was on a budget, everything you see in this kitchen aside from the floor and countertops are used.

The cabinets came from Habitat for Humanity, easily one of the greatest stores around. All the cabinets were from different years/designers and if you look close enough, some of the doors do not exactly match. But paint everything white with a glossy white spray paint and then topped with glossy white paint in a can from Walmart and you have yourself custom cabinets that cost $180.00.

The countertop is from Lowes. Milano Quartz. Approximately $200.

The appliances were used from my parents, thanks Mom and Dad!

The tile floor is from Lowes and are size 18x18 at .68 a square foot.

The table and chairs I found in the garbage that someone wanted to throw out. Stupid people.

The paint color is a color match. My friend's house is wonderfully decorated and I loved the paint color in her bathroom, so I took a sample to Home Depot and had it color matched. The bathroom was painted the same color.

All accessories came from Ikea and Walmart.

Now, for room no. 2 - The Bathroom

Before:



Can we say UGH. The only saving grace in this whole entire bathroom was the vintage claw foot tub that I eventually resurfaced using the Rust-Oleum White Tub and Tile Resurfacing Kit. Oh and don't listen to the reviews that say it's hard and you should pay a professional. Hands down this was the easiest thing I did during the whole renovation project.

After (I will re post the cleaner pictures later):

Look at that tub! Hire a professional? Pfft. I AM the professional. Professional at being awesome that is.

This bathroom was gutted. Walls, flooring, etc. Looking through the before pictures I can't believe how well it turned out. This bathroom was the location for numerous fights between Mr. Emily and I and multiple water explosions. It was also the location for every single headache I had during the renovation process.

For a few months we had to stay at a hotel due to the plumbing needing to be replaced. Then when we finally put the toilet in we found it was cracked. Another toilet had to be purchased. The water lines for the tub didn't fit.... nor did the new shower surround.

But it all worked out in the end.

Shower curtains - Walmart

Vanity - Lowes

Toilet - Tru Value

Paint color - Color match. Also seen in Kitchen. For the color code, just ask.

Shower surround - Ebay

Decorations - Target and Walmart