Monthly Home Improvement ~ DIY Storage Shelves

Yay! We have new storage racks in the garage!! I know it sounds so trivial but it makes a big difference in our home.

Pictured is the first of many such shelves that we are planning on building to improve the function and aesthetic of this space. We will be making a wall of these in the garage for our February and March home improvement project.

Supplies:

1 8x4 sheet of flooring cut to 4' x 18" at the store 

12 2x3x8 limber 

Electric saw (unless you have the lumber cut at the store also)

Screws

Electric screwdriver 

Pencil

Tape measure 

Custom plans

Tubs (optional)

We purchased all of our supplies at Lowe's because it's the closest, by far. The total for the wood came to about $50.00 for one custom unit.

For my space I needed a depth of no more than 21". To make the best use of the space and materials I went with 8' high and 4' wide. 

Drawing up the plans ahead of time was a great help. We did end up altering them a bit but added those changes to my drawing as we went. That really made it easy when we built the second one.... and then the third..... and the forth.

Now that we have a wall of custom shelves for organizing our stuff, it's time to actually organize.

I hope your home improvement adventures are going well.

Kitchen Makeover - The Floor

Every new year brings new opportunities and the opportunities that I'm focusing on in 2017 are in the area of home improvements. I'm happy to say that we have gotten off to a good start.

I'm organizing my to-do projects based on necessity, not necessarily the order that would make the most sense. My vision for the kitchen includes tile back splash, white cabinets, new flooring, and the microwave above the stove replaced by a rod to hang my cast iron. The logical thing to do would be take the cabinets out and do all the projects at once. However, we are working with a small budget and practically live in this room. So, each project needs to be done in a way that gets us the most bang for our buck and takes a minimal amount of time.

Kitchen floor Before and After

Having said all of that, the project that would make the most difference in our kitchen is the floor since it covers the most space. The tiles were popping on a regular basis and looking atrocious in the process. We knew that we had to do something about it before it became a health hazard (because stubbing your toe on a jagged piece of tile is no walk in the park)

We decided on an inexpensive DIY that was fast and fun for the entire family.

We pulled up the old tiles and put down snap together laminate flooring in less than 24 hours.

The floor in the adjoining dining room was already done in laminate and had minimal wear. We were able to match the floor color pretty well.

Tools & Supplies:
6 cases of laminate flooring
underlayment
tape (for the underlayment)
rubber mallet
rubber block
pencil
something to cut the flooring

This project came in at around $150.00. The room is about 100 sq. ft. and we had a few of the tools already. With the assistance of a borrowed miter saw, with a fine blade, we were able to make the necessary cuts without jagged or splintered edges on the new flooring. The children even took turns tapping the flooring together. Laying our new floor only took a few hours.

With this first step in our kitchen project finished I can start planning for the next - Painting the cabinets white. This one will take some time and doing. Not because I can't paint, or that the price of paint is prohibitive, but because my Mr. doesn't want white cabinets. As an added hurdle, the finish on the cabinets is in really good condition so I really have no excuse to paint them other than because I just really want to. I'm sure he'll come around if I give him some time.

In the mean time, I can organize the cabinets and drawers to accommodate the additional appliances and supplies that I got for Christmas. I can also occupy my time and build my cabinet painting knowledge by working on the cabinet in the second story bathroom. I have lots of remodel DIY ideas for that room as well.

What are your plans for the new year?

Interested in seeing future plans for our quaint cottage? Check out my Pinterest inspiration board:
She Buildeth Her House