Love It For Now

By Mandi 07/29/2013

Holy cow, you guys. I just took a week off the blog. I dont think that has happened since…well ever. I love coming back with fresh perspective!

How many of us spend our days thinking and planning out our dream home? Saving all of our good ideas for it? Hoping that one day it will become a reality. Meanwhile reality is that we live in a place that we will be in for the next while and we look around and don’t love it, and possibly don’t even like it because of A) B) and C).

I do this, and mind you, it is my job to redecorate my house.

I get it. You don’t want to invest time and money into something because it is a starter home, not a forever home. But what is wrong with a starter home? Do you remember how excited you were to finally find it? I distinctly remember promising Court that I would keep our house clean all the time. (Something that he never fails to remind me about)

Have you noticed that you haven’t really seen my kitchen? Its because its not my favorite. How about my bathrooms? Again. Not my fave. This pic is from the MLS listing, it doesn’t look this bad anymore. But it still isn’t great.

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In Southern Utah, builder basic consist of beige walls and red tile and oak. Such a happy little combination. But renovating is a little different than decorating. It can be expensive. It can take a long time. It can suck.

Its like the Serenity Prayer,  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,  the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Sometimes we cant drop 20k into a kitchen overhaul where we move walls and get all new goods. Sometimes we cant change a thing.

But sometimes we can.

Rewind back to when we moved into our house 4 years ago. All I wanted was hardwood floors. That was it. I didn’t care if we had a fridge, a toilet, or an A/C until. I needed hardwood.

We found our floors on clearance and they had almost to the box the perfect amount for our living room/hallways/master. Also please remember that this was a full year before Vintage Revivals, before I started decorating, before I knew anything about design.

Since that order, the floor has been discontinued. Until 2 days ago. When I found it again.

I have made our kitchen as bearable as I can. But bearable is not my favorite. So I have set a really small budget for updating our kitchen. I am thinking along the lines of $2500. So there you go. Is it doable? Am I going to be eating my words?

We will see how that turns out.

So if you are in the same boat as yours truly,  enduring things because you don’t know if it will be worth it to change, I want to hear about it,  what is holding you back?

For everyone waiting on the Master Bedroom Makeover,  its coming along and I have the leather pillow tutorial coming up tomorrow!!

36 thoughts on “Love It For Now”

  1. We're about to embark on redoing our kitchen as well. We're doing floating shelves up top, gray cabinets underneath, raw steel countertops (thank God my husband can buy the steel for cost and do all of the fabrication). The (admittedly less-than-thrilling) floor tile will stay for the time being. Our total budget for the redo is less than $500 (that's WITH the new countertops!

  2. I think you can easily do it on that budget if you keep the same layout and cabinets or have a small kitchen and get IKEA cabinets. If you do keep the cabinets, is your floor tile under the cabinets? I really want to change our tile in the kitchen but the tile runs under all of the cabinets.I don't want wood floors in the kitchen because we have wood cabinets (which I actually like)and that would be too much.

  3. Oooh, hooray for finding more of your wood floor material! I've been wanting to do some work on my kitchen as I have a decent sized kitchen with the least amount of counter space ever. The problem is that I don't have much of a budget for it, and short of closing off a doorway (which I don't want to do), there aren't a lot of options. I've recently decided on a plan, now I just need to figure out how to execute it! I'm hoping to do it for $500 or less, so we'll see!

    -Becca
    Ladyface Blog

  4. I am SO in the same boat, though I think my kitchen is worse than yours! The cabinets are 90's honey oak, with brass hardware, beige Formica (fake granite look) counters, beige Home Depot style back-splash tiles, and beige peel and stick floor tiles. (And white appliances.) We just replaced our dishwasher, which lead to replacing the faucet. Now I am working to replace all of the hardware and light fixtures to match the faucet (oil rubbed bronze) and putting up new faux-wood blinds. All of these things are pretty affordable, but what I'd REALLY like to do is put in white quartz counters to work with the white appliances, and some glass blue-gray subway tiles to work against the orangy cabinets. Though those things alone would be probably close to $3k. Not anytime soon…

  5. ummm, yeah . if you could NOT take a blog break ever again- that'd be great…. (office space anyone?!)
    seriously.
    we've got this rental makeover, we've got the basic diy series, we've got the odd personality number test thing, and your beautiful mini makeover all going on. my add is going wild!! and now the promise of a kitchen makeover!!!! i totally excited!!! i NEEEEED my VR fix daily. so get on it!!! LOL

  6. You can totally do it! I'm kind of in the same boat as you, builder basic kitchen but this isn't my forever home. I've been debating updating it for a while, now you've inspired me to get on it! 🙂

  7. The girls from East Coast Creative recently did a Know It Off show where they revamped a kitchen for $400. Your budget is going to seriously rock!

  8. We're smack dab in the middle of a kitchen gut (I can see wall studs as I type) and our budget is $5000. That doesn't include appliances, but it's everything else. Cabinets, floors, counters, electrical, plumbing, etc. We are literally doing every. single. thing. by ourselves. And with my husband having a real job, the process is sooooo sloooooow. But, the light at the end of the tunnel is visible. I hope to have my champagne kitchen on our beer budget before summer is over. I think you can rock it with $2500, for sure.

  9. If anyone can do it on that tight budget it's you. I have been amazed at your transformations and creativity. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

  10. This is the first time I have been to your blog but I love what I read with this post because I know exactly how you feel. my other half and I just moved into a rental trailer and 7 months later we are just now deciding to make it our own. We are finally starting to decorate. or at least decide what we want in each room. Looking forward to see what you guys do with the place.

  11. that is tight, but if anyone can do it, you can! we remolded our builder grade kitchen for around 4,000 i think. we put in hardwoods, repainted cabinets, got new countertops and upgraded the sink/faucet, etc. i'm excited to see what you will do with the countertops! paint, butcher block, concrete like jenny at lgn recently did in her laundry room? looking forward to it!

  12. DOable! Paint, new countertops, maybe used stainless steel appliances? Sure you can do it! Just gotta hunt for those deals which we all know you are super good at! Plus add your Mandilicious styling and you will have one awesome kitchen!

  13. DOable! Paint, new countertops, maybe used stainless steel appliances? Sure you can do it! Just gotta hunt for those deals which we all know you are super good at! Plus add your Mandilicious styling and you will have one awesome kitchen!

  14. We built our "5-7 year plan" home about 12 years ago! We started in on the unfinished basement about 2 years after moving in and then put it on pause because we thought that we wouldn't be living here that long to enjoy it. Like I said, 12 years later and we're still here! I wish we wouldn't have stopped on that basement. It's a full basement and would have equaled an entire other home for our now teenagers, to enjoy. So I am currently taking the finished parts and making something out of them. A finished closet+a rug+a desk= an office, right?

  15. I sent you an email about this very topic, but I haven't heard back from you yet. Did you get it? I know you are a busy girl 🙂 I am happy you made this post, it helped me realize I am not the only one in this boat 🙂

  16. Go have a look at East Coast Creative on facebook or their blog. They are doing amazing things on their new show, Knock It Off for very little money….they might inspire you!

  17. This kitchen looks like a magazine cover compared to the kitchen in our new rental home. You'd die if you saw the appliances. haha

  18. we had the same issue! we replaced the flooring in our entire house which left the kitchen redo budget verrrryyyy lacking- the white appliances and builders grade cabinets made me want to assume the fetal position and just cry. But with $100 we painted the cabinets white (to contrast our GORGEOUS dark floors) and we found stainless steel knobs on clearance at lowe's online. For the appliances though we found a "scratch and dent" appliance store where we are currently buying 1 appliance at a time (stainless steel high end GE) that has a dent in that you'll NEVER see when installed (I love the snooty people who turn their noses up to scratch and dent appliances! It leaves more for me to choose from!) Keep your chin up! with time and elbow grease it'll come together!

  19. First, you can do this. Secondly, these oak cabinets are the perfect candidate for a faux finish because they are wood. You probably already know how to do this so that it will last, but if not, I'd be happy to share some suggestions with you. A french country look (painted and glazed) works, very well, as does a glossy or stainy solid like gray or black. No need to get new cabinetry, although you may want handles. Go for it!

  20. We're in the very same boat. I'm considering painting the cabinets white'ish to brighten up the kitchen at least. I'm sure yours will rock. Can't wait to see it.

  21. Creative soul like you? Sure you can! I updated our kitchen for NZ$1700 (around US $1400) by painting cupboards in blackboard paint and walls palest grey, removing the old splashback and installing white subway tile (thank you tiling night classes!), sanding and oiling the timber floors and counters, and adding a small bench next to the stove (cost – $99 from a garage storage range). Here's the pic: https://pinterest.com/pin/465981892665268837/

  22. I can relate. We still are in our first home 20 years later. I have had so many idea to upgrade our kitchen over the years and most of them haven't happened – some of the things holding me back are a) getting husband to agree to the changes, b) finding the perfect change (still struggling with the perfect backsplash, etc), c) deciding to actually make the change (and be sure I won't regret it later). Other than our oak cabinets being in great shape (and husband completely having a fit if I even suggested painting them) I am to the point of deciding whether we put in a new countertop or not (the oak edging on 20+ year old laminate is showing its age), add a backsplash (we have always had about a 3" one and then only painted walls – thinking of adding painted bead board) and definitely time for a new stove (thinking of upgrading to gas instead of electric). If I do those things my kitchen will be close to perfect without spending a ton of money.

  23. For the short term, I want to update my cabinets. Our kitchen is small but the cabinets are large and would be a massive custom job if we replaced them so that leaves us with adding something decorative to them (Our swamp cooler makes it not a good idea to take the doors off because of the dust that comes into the house.)… Long term would be to take out the U shape counter in the middle of the floor and change counter to against the un-used wall and create a doorway out of a large bar pass through into the dinning room. I also need to figure out something to replace our original 50s flooring. Still can't decide on what would be best for our crazy family as far as flooring goes…

  24. I live in a rental. Currently 6 months into a 2 year lease. Our landlord has said that pretty much we should make changes that make it "our" home, as long as the changes are not permanent. I keep asking my hubs to help with some of the things I can't do on my own. (Due to my disability we gave our home back to the bank.) He refuses to do anything saying "It's not ours". I'm not sure if we will ever be able to own again, we've taken a hard hit due to the decrease in my pay to disability. I don't care if it is not ours, we still have to live here! I am hoping that I can convince him that we should love our home, even if technically it's not ours.

  25. Can't wait to see what you do with it! Our master bedroom is actually the room I ignore. It is AWFUL. But no one sees it but me and I never spend time in there, so why bother?? That's my train of thought.

  26. I've been holding off because I'm certain we'll move. We've been "about to move" for 8 years now and through all that time I've never enjoyed living here. About a year ago I found your blog. And you introduced me to Pinterest!! And since then things have been different.

    My furniture is slowly turning shabby chic – and it coordinates now!! I've got pretty pictures up the stairs which everyone comments on and I've given up hope of having the stair carpet I would really like and I've painted the stairs too! I've even started painting and selling the bits of furniture I'm not so keen on. I didn't think my husband would agree to all these changes (in fact he hinted that I shouldn't paint the dining table) so I started one day when he was out… and he likes it! I'm gaining confidence in my own taste and – it tastes good!

  27. Ahhh the kitchen. Mine still looks like it did when we bought our house almost 5 years ago. Now that the Army is moving us to Germany, and we have to rent out our maybe forever home, we HAVE to do something about the 90's kitchen. Ugly brass hardware, dingy and dark tanish paint, a buckling laminate counter, and a terrible faucet. It's never been my favorite room. Just getting all of the new appliance (because the original ones stopped working) was a hefty expense. Good luck with your kitchen re-do. I know I need all the luck I can find with mine.

  28. Yup, I'm there with you on the "Love it for now" boat. We bought our current, first home with the intent to move in a "few years" once we established our careers a bit. Now, 9 years and two kids later, we are in the same house, busting at the seams, still with plans to move in a year or two. I've recently come to terms with decorating for me, and not for future buyers. We've redone the kitchen backsplash and counters and some of the light fixtures and hardware, as well as finally painted to add a little more color.

    I'm DIYing some furniture projects that reflect our taste versus the taste of those who have given us hand-me-down furniture. It's starting to feel more like our home now, and not a home-in-waiting for the next buyer.

    I'm enjoying your posts, and you have some fabulous decorating ideas!

    http://www.foxfiregalleries.com

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