Mirror Upgrade: Drab to Fab

This upgrade may not be quite fabulous, but it's a definite improvement with a friendly budget.

Generally, when purchasing a home, the bathrooms tend to come with really drab mirrors. You know, the ones that are builder's grade, glued to the wall and exhibit absolutely no decorative feature at all?

I'm not a fan of the drab, unoriginal mirrors. I tend to hear "Upgrade Me!" screaming at me in my head.

When we bought our house, the mirrors were one of the first things on my list of things to change. The husband didn't necessarily agree, but luckily, I make my own decisions:).

I searched far and wide for mirrors that would replace the space of the drab mirrors in both our guest and master bathrooms. I didn't want to spend a fortune so I hit up Hobby Lobby (armed with a coupon of course), HomeGoods, Kirkland's and NFM.

Everything seemed to fall short. I wanted something simple, yet decorative and modern. Nothing too fancy or metallic, just a dark wood, so it was still appropriate for years to come.

The sizing was a whole different story. I couldn't find anything that fit the space right. I wanted to utilize the space as much as possible, without compromising the wall area between the vanity and the light fixture, and accomplish this without making the mirror look miniature. No luck.

Somehow, I moved my craze with switching out the mirrors to the back of my mind and forgot about it for awhile. Until one lazy weekend when the Mr. and I were watching HGTV and they easily upgraded a drab mirror. We were out the door and headed to Lowe's within seconds.

We purchased exactly what they showed in the HGTV show: decorative floor trim, liquid nails and a dark walnut stain.

First step, stain the trim pieces. Next, Brian cut them with a miter saw to fit directly over the drab mirror. Last, glue directly on top of mirror with liquid nails. Sounds easy, right?

For the most part, it was. Except that the liquid nails would NOT adhere the trim to the mirror. One more trip to Lowe's and a 2nd try at gluing with epoxy (stronger and faster bond than liquid nails), it worked like a charm!

I could not be more pleased! It made this bathroom look so much richer and upgraded. These pictures really don't do it justice.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE & AFTER

Introducing: Basement Facelift

You might remember when I blogged about our basement project here, here and here. A formerly unused space, small, drab and screaming for help. Not to mention the tan 80's-looking couches that just sat there collecting dust.

They might have been really comfortable couches, but I just couldn't see the room coming together if they were included in my Young House Love inspired mood board (sorry hubs).

Well, I have finally caught up with my crazy life this week and have photos and details to share with you all!

For starters, when I began this random blog almost a year ago, I never thought Keeping Up with the Kutters would be a space I would share home improvement projects. Not because I don't have anything to share with people, simply because we haven't achieved any home improvement-worthy projects.

We haven't conquered a kitchen remodel or knocked out a wall. Heck, we haven't even completed a tile job. YHL would most definitely laugh at our amateur upgrades.

But, I realized after reading many of the blogs I follow, a project doesn't have to be significant in order to share it. It surprised me how the smallest of projects would keep me engaged, give me inspiration. Seeing the way others displayed decor, the arrangement of pieces, combinations of colors.

So peeps, I might be sharing some of our past (and future) home improvement projects with you. Don't expect originality or anything close to greatness, but someone might enjoy it.

In all honesty, isn't that what us bloggers hope for anyways? We plan, think, compile and write, and then we hope that someone out there gets something out of it. It's sort of like taking a shot in the dark and hoping you hit something. Right? Why else would we take the time out of our busy lives to do this?

Wow, my mind is totally wandering now. I'll save this thought for later and get back on track. :)

Without further adieu, I present our new basement.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We can't believe how much bigger our house feels now that this space is complete! Brian is loving that we both can comfortably lay down with room to spare.

Couch: Choices by Jonathan Louis from Nebraska Furniture Mart
This couch is awesome! I can't say enough great things about it. With the awkward size of the room coupled with our desire of getting a sectional couch, we were really worried about finding something that would work. The Choices collection allowed us to mix and match pieces to fit our room perfectly. Offering 13 different ways to build a sectional, it's like having a custom sized couch! Plus, it comes with custom pillows of your choice.

Rug: New Wave by Momeni from NFM

Two words. Love it. 

Ottoman Cubes: [No particular brand name, just awesomeness] from Target

This room wasn't equipped to have a coffee table, too small, so I searched far and between for these bad boys to take its place. Crate and Barrel, Home Goods, Pier1, Kohl's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, you name it. Nothing compared to the ones I ordered online from Target when it came to quality and look. Plus, these have a nifty tray on the backside of the lid, making the piece multi-functional: coffee table, foot rest and storage. Thanks to Target's free shipping on $50 orders, no added expense and delivered to my doorstep!

TV Stand: By Aspen from NFM

Yellow Vases: from NFM
K Art: Hobby Lobby, $5.

Tower Vase and Stems: from Pier1
This item was a must to cover up our the electrical outlet and cord. I love how it looks in the room.

Framed Art: from Michael's
I originally wanted obsessed over three framed art pieces from Crate and Barrel, but the hubs didn't like my find when he realized they were $70 a piece. To compromise, I found these framed squares (buy one get one free) at Michael's and filled them with scrapbook paper, $0.25 per page.

Funky Mirror: HomeGoods
I love this mirror. And it was only $25. It goes great with the vase and stems, adding a metallic element to the room.

And that completes the tour of our new basement!

Signing off for a date with the DVR, sprawled out on the new couch.

Quit my day job?

I like to think of myself as a creative person with a good visual eye. I love seeing a project come together, the process as it goes from conception to reality.

I enjoy decorating my home and find contentment in bringing life to our walls. Just as I have been really looking forward to seeing our basement project come together.

My husband and I joke about "KK Designs" and "BK Designs," as we argue over what paint color to choose in the store. He wants this, I want that. We just never seem to be on the same page.

B: "C'mon, just let BK Designs take this one."
Me: "Ohhhh, no. Because then KK Designs will be forced to ride in and save the day."

It's quite humorous. Trips to stores such as Lowes, Home Depot and Sherwin Williams never go smoothly. I'm absolutely certain that the employees of these places think we are absolutely nuts.

So, we picked out a paint color this weekend. Not going to lie, it was mainly my decision. I happened to win this particular battle of KK vs. BK, but he did agree.

Well let me just say, I will not be quitting my day job anytime soon to start KK Designs and become an interior decorator.

The paint color was wrong.

And so was the second one.

Yes peeps, we are now in the process of picking out a third paint color.

In my defense though, the lighting in our basement is just off. The sales lady couldn't believe the original color with a rich blue hue undertone was looking like "baby blue." Oh, and the second color? More of a grayish blue. Well, it just wasn't what we wanted either. Too light.

So, as much as I don't want to admit it or give in, I am officially biting the bullet and turning this one over to BK Designs.

It's All Coming Together

As I sit here on a Friday night, catching up Glee Season 1 (thank you Netflix), my mind is a little overwhelmed at how much we have to do tomorrow and Sunday.

Oh yes, we will be tackling several house projects and begin preparing for Thanksgiving at our house for the first time ever.

I'm starting to get nervous about this, but I don't really know why. It's only my immediate family members (both sides are coming), but we have never hosted dinner with this many people before.

Now, don't think we are total losers, we have had our fair share of large gatherings in the past including one of my bestie's bachelorette parties and a progressive New Year's Eve party. There weren't enough chairs for everyone and not a ton of space. But cocktails were involved, so it was all good.

The group at our house on New Year's Eve 2010

Anyways, here's our weekend to-do list:

1. Hang Christmas lights (Don't worry Homeowner's Association, we won't turn them on until after Turkey day)
2. Finish painting trim in basement room
3. Pick out paint color for basement room
4. Rake leaves
5. Fix nails coming through ceiling and walls from getting roof replaced: hammer, spackle, sand, paint
6. Decide on Thanksgiving Menu
7. Start grocery shopping for Thanksgiving Menu
8. Start cleaning house to host family (This includes things like dusting the blinds...ewwww)
9. Get out the brand new turkey fryer and read up on the precautions so we don't burn our house down! (Brian is super excited about this turkey fryer)
10. And some relaxation and fun...hang with friends and Brian is going to the Chiefs game on Sunday

So, this brings me to the dilemma of number three on the list. What color should we paint our basement room?!?!

A little background -- the room is smaller, and not much natural light shines in, so I need to stick with a lighter color. As previously mentioned, a dark slate gray sectional couch will consume most of the space accented by black furniture, red, yellow and blue.

To further assist us in picking out the best color, and to also convince my husband that there are enough dark features in the room already and it needs to be a light paint color, I made my own mood board. Learned from none other than one of my favorite blogs Young House Love.

 

I must say, this whole mood board thing really helped. It allowed me to see everything together, or at least the possibilities.

Mood Board Details:
1. Sectional: Not our exact Jonathan Louis couch from Nebraska Furniture Mart, gypsy graphite color, but you get the idea
2. Pillows (come with couch): This is the exact pillow I picked out! Love it.
3. TV Stand: Got ours from NFM, by Aspen, black finish
4. Rug: Momeni, New Wave Collection, looking forward to adding some bold colors to our house decor:)
5. Ottoman Cubes: Not sure what we'll go with, but this one is by Hillcrest from Home Decorators
6. Yellow vases: Picked these beauties up at NFM
7. Red centerpiece bowl: Love this stylish red bowl from Crate & Barrel, want something like it
8. Square frames: 19" frames from Crate & Barrel, lovin' these so much I just might have to get them

Color Scheme:

Paint:
So here's what I'm thinking. All swatches from Sherwin-Williams. Can you tell I like the blue hues?

What do you think?

I'm hoping whatever we pick out we don't have to re-paint due to changing our minds, hello master bedroom! But that's the glorious thing about paint. It's super easy to repeat!