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February 21, 2018 By Yami 1 Comment

My Southern Home Tour

February is about to come to an end and I am so looking forward to warmer sunnier days. I have some DIY’s coming your way in a few days but I thought it would be fun to share a tour of my old southern home since we are going to start changing lots of things in our new home in the next couple of months!

As you know we moved into our new home last Fall, but before we moved out I took my camera and filmed our entire previous home right before moving out.

We had lived there 4 years before putting it up for sale. The last year I was there my husband and I put a lot of work into it and it was finally looking like the home I had envisioned when we first moved into it. I never expected moving out so soon, but we came across our new home and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

It was just meant to be!

Our house was on the market 2 weeks before we got an offer on it and we believe it was due to the work we had put into it.

We had updated our kitchen by painting our cabinet and adding new hardware. We transformed my smallest’s nursery. We updated the entire foyer and even front entrance of the house… to name a few things…. 😉

I will be sharing my tips on selling a home fast, so be on the look out for that post!

I created a slideshow of the images we used for our home listing below. It had a classic southern charm with a hint of farmhouse and coastal colors in a few areas. It wasn’t completely done, but I was happy with the process so far.

Now for the part you want to see!

Please keep in mind that this was before I started working on my YouTube channel so my filming isn’t the best and I could’ve shortened some things. I explain a few things we did throughout the house and keep in mind that by the time I filmed this, we had already started packing so we had taken curtains down and you will see boxes etc. throughout.

#reallife

My Southern Home Tour

I hope you liked and I can’t wait to share what we will be doing to our new home.

August 20, 2017 By Yami Leave a Comment

Front Porch Ideas For Curb Appeal

*This post is sponsored by Sherwin Williams and some links below are affiliate links for your convenience. All opinions are my own*

Para leer este post en Español haz clic aquí.

Hello friends! I know it has been a little while since you last heard from me… the truth is a whole lot has happened since and I have not had the time to even sit down and write about it.

If you have been following me on my Instagram account, you probably already know that we have moved. My husband and I came across an opportunity that we could not pass up and we took it, but it happened so fast and demanded so much of our time that I have barely had the chance to sit down and write a post about it.

I can say that selling and buying a home at the same time can be beyond stressful and time consuming, but we made it through and are happily settling into our new home…. still settling as my new house is currently filled with a ton of boxes and my furniture has not all been set in place, but at least we are in.

Whew!

Before this abrupt change we had planned to paint the exterior of the house we were living in, but quickly scratched that idea since we decided we were going to move and the new homeowners might want something different anyways. So instead we decided to spruce up our front porch to make it more appealing to potential home buyers.

So we decided to fix our front porch for some much needed curb appeal.

Time: 1 Week

Difficulty: Advanced

Supplies:

Purdy Woven Mini Rollers
Purdy Angle Sash Brush
FrogTape Multi-Surface Painter’s Tape
White Lightning 3006 Advanced Formula Caulk
American Line Pro Mini Roller Trays
1 gallon of Exterior Emerald (color matched)
2 quarts of Exterior Emerald (color matched)

So let’s be real.. after a few years, the exterior of your home may require maintenance to keep it looking good. You also may want to refresh the front of your house to keep it looking great for your guests… or in our case, we wanted it to look great for people interested in buying it.

Here are several things you can do to keep your front entrance looking wonderful and welcoming.

I have a covered front porch and this is what we did to fix it up.

The first thing you want to do (before cleaning your surfaces) is remove any dry-rotted pieces of wood– this is a normal thing that happens due to the changing of the seasons and weather.

Sometimes you may have to remove a large piece, but that’s okay.

Make sure you pay close attention to the crown molding and the bottoms of posts and pillars where water can accumulate and stay stagnant.

After you remove all the dry-rotted pieces, replace with pressure treated wood and clean all surfaces to be painted (we had removed the railing that was there a while back so we patched the areas up where they attached to the pillars).

Use exterior and paintable caulk to seal all the seams so that no water gets inside.

If you don’t plan to repaint the entire exterior of your home with different colors, simply remove a small piece of paint from each of the existing colors of your home and head over to your nearest Sherwin-Williams to color match the paint samples.

I have done this several times and each time we have had great color-matching results.

Once you have your paint, go over all the areas you replaced and add a new coat over all adjacent areas so the paint blends well.

I repainted the front door and the surrounding frame.

Once all work is complete and dry, add a new doormat (yeah I am totally guilty of having an ugly welcome mat).

These are also inexpensive. I think this one cost me $6 at my local home improvement store.

Add some summer plants in DIY pots to add more color to your front porch or you can even add a pretty wreath to your front door (I did both!).

And my house was ready for viewing! Don’t get me wrong, we did a few more things to get the house ready and I will cover those in detail on a future post, but we do think this is one of the reasons our house was under contract within 2 weeks time.

Of course, you don’t need to do this only when you plan on leaving your home, go ahead and do it now and enjoy coming home to a refreshed and welcoming front entrance.

I will be back soon with more updates!

Let’s connect! Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook |

March 30, 2016 By Yami 6 Comments

Powder Bathroom Reveal

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing our powder bathroom reveal and a few steps we took along the way to get what we wanted done. So if you remember a couple of days ago I showed you the before pictures here. Yeah, they were bad. So, after we removed the sink and most of the toilet (we kept the base in place, removed the tank) we painted the corners where the tile would butt up against the walls. I chose Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams.

The sink and cabinet base needed to be installed flush up against the wall so we removed the baseboards in this area using a dremel to cut into the baseboards and then a hammer and chisel to remove the actual pieces. It was pretty easy.

At least it looked that way from where I was standing 😉

Getting the measurements for this was easy. We just put the cabinet up against baseboards, made sure it was centered exactly where we wanted it and made pencil markings where we were going to cut.

Then after we removed the baseboards we put the sink cabinet back up against the wall and traced around it completely in order to give us a guide as we put the tiles up.

Then once we removed the cabinet we placed a temporary 1 x 4 where the top of the sink would be, this way our tiles wouldn’t start to slide down the wall since that was going to be our starting point as we tiled. up the wall. Below is a visual so you get what I am talking about.

This ended up not being necessary since the tiles stuck well to the wall, but it was nice to have it as a guide. This was our first backsplash project so we weren’t sure what to expect. Better to be safe than sorry!

And as you can see we started on the bottom left and worked our way up, then moved over and did the same again (working around the sink/cabinet area. At first, it was hard getting the right consistency of the mortar, but once we got it, we flew through the installation.

And in case you thought my husband laid the tile… you guessed wrong! I actually did this. He assisted. Say what?!

One tip, NEVER EVER attempt to mix mortar or thinset or grout without this tool right here. You attach it to your drill and let it do all the work….. However, if you are the type who wants your arm to fall off from excruciating mixing pain, hey, be my guest (but seriously, so worth it).

Moving on! We grouted and cleaned up and finished painting the rest of the room, but I won’t bore you with any of that, it was pretty basic stuff. Installing the sink was really simple (hubby did most of that, I assisted). And here is what it looks like now.

BAM!!!! That is one sexy wall. I apologize for not being able to show the entire bathroom in one full shot, but it’s a tight space and taking pictures of it is really tricky without awkwardly showing myself in the mirror with my camera in hand.

I chose those this style of sink and cabinet for a couple of reasons:

I actually liked the contrast of the nice rich brown wood with the sleek white top.
It had storage! I could put toiletries in there with room to spare.
It had an opening underneath, which is where I store the kids step stool, so it comes in pretty handy. Later I can always dress it up with hand towels in a basket or something, but for now, it suits my needs.
It was affordable (which is the most important reason). If I remember correctly it was on sale for $199 at Home Depot and it included the mirror – not the greatest mirror, but I like it better than the oval one we had there originally. I tried looking it up on Home Depot’s website to reference, but I cannot find it – it doesn’t look like they sell it anymore.
It had counter space (a little, but nonetheless, counter space).

You like that Bombay Sapphire soap dispenser? You can read about how I made it here.

The faucet was a little pricey by my standards, but affordable compared to most models – those things are just crazy expensive! We got it for around $69.00 if I remember correctly. Again, I don’t see it on Home Depot’s website either so I am not able to reference like I usually do.

The light fixture we got for $66.97. Home Depot currently has them on sale for $53.58 until March 31, 2016. You can check them out here.

Here is some more of that awesome tile work (If I do say so myself). And if you remember, this tile was only $2.99 a square foot at Floor & Decor. When we asked why it was so inexpensive, the rep told us that it was because it was a new line of tile cut thinner than ordinary tile. Cutting the tile thinner uses less of the material so it brings down cost and saves the customer money. Once installed you can’t even tell they are thinner than regular tile.

Fine by me! Woot woot!

Then across the toilet, I replaced the little wooden cabinet with this baby from Target. It probably won’t stay there forever, but it works for now.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our powder bathroom makeover. It is nice going in there everyday knowing that we accomplished such a transformation. Guests totally dig it which is even more awesome! I would love to hear your thoughts on the work we did and let me know if you have any questions regarding the project!

Pssst! You can check this and other awesome DIY projects at DIY Like a Boss Link Party!

February 25, 2016 By Yami 4 Comments

China Cabinet Transformation and Dining Room Update

Okay my friends, the time has come to share the progress in my dining room. It currently is the most put-together room on our main floor. And since it’s located directly at your left when you enter our home, I like to make it look good for first impressions.

…. and then you enter the “real” rest of the house 🙂 ha!

It is also the room that I do the most seasonal decorating in. Like right now, I have beautiful floral stems that I bought at Michael’s (at 50% off) as a centerpiece, since I really can’t wait for Spring! Ya know, I remember thinking that if I used faux flowers, my arrangements might look kinda cheesy, but I have learned that the key is to 1. invest in good quality stems and 2. to NOT overdo it. Simple (and less) is better…

January 28, 2016 By Yami 4 Comments

Cozy Office Nook, Small Budget

Hola! It’s Thursday my friends, that’s one day closer to Friday and that’s good enough for me! I wanted to share with you a bit of the progress in my master bedroom. Specifically, the seating area turned office nook. I actually have a dedicated “office” in the house, but right now it’s serving as a storage/craft room/play room/sewing room…. it’s just a hot mess.

I still needed a place where I could pay bills, write my blog, shop online that would inspire a little creativity and give me a nice state of mind while doing so – a cozy office nook. I wanted it to blend in with the decor of the master bedroom so it didn’t look like an after-thought. I needed storage, but it couldn’t take too much space cause I didn’t have a lot of area to work with and I also didn’t want it taking away from the rest of the room. Most importantly, I had a small budget.

So here is what I came up with…

Shop the look: Desk / Chair / Mirror / DIY Pillow

January 26, 2016 By Yami 3 Comments

Repurpose those unused curtain tie-backs

So, I’m a girl who likes a nice pair of curtains or drapes, however, I NEVER use the tie-backs that usually come with. I mean, who does anymore, right? This then leaves me with pieces of fabric in my fabric junk drawer that just seem to take up space.

Confession. I’m a bit of a hoarder (so my husband says). Well, simply put I just don’t like disposing of things that might one day, maybe, just might, probably never really have a use for. One of the things I’m really trying to do this year is SCALE back. I have already made my first trip to my local Goodwill in order to get rid of some stuff that I really hadn’t used since we, ahem, moved in…. oops! Truthfully, I already feel better

Up next, kids playroom, but that is a post for another day.

Back to this post!

Over the weekend I made this beauty….(drool)…. with, none other than, you guessed it…. tie-back rejects…. So here is how it went down.

February 3, 2015 By Yami Leave a Comment

Dining Room Reveal

We are moving forward with the dining room reveal!!!!! After we finished the chairs, it was on to paint the walls. I chose BIG CHILL by Glidden. It is a very light and cool blue that works well with all the white molding and in the space. I repainted all the trim, molding and chair rail. It needed it BAD and it was well worth it too because the room looked and smelled so clean and new. I was so happy we went ahead and painted it. A little warning though… I took these pictures back in December so my Christmas decor is still up. I could have taken new pictures, but they looked so puuuurrrrdy I had to share! I kept the mirror and clock since they went well with the deep rich color of the table. I put up curtain rods that I found at Ross for $11.99 each. SCORE! The curtains are from IKEA. They are the Lenda tie back curtains for $19.99/pair, I chose the khaki color. [Read more…] about Dining Room Reveal

September 23, 2014 By Yami Leave a Comment

Breakfast Area and Living Room Progress

I know it has been long past due, but here are a few pictures of the progress so far of the living room and the breakfast area. I owe you pictures of the kitchen and I will post those soon (promise).

In case you have not seen the before pictures, you can click here.

So far this is what the breakfast area looks like.

I removed the bookcase from the right and as you can see the new paint, Pediment, by Sherwin Williams, really lightens the place up. It is the perfect greige. No more green bean walls! The dresser to the left was my first Craigslist makeover (you can read about its transformation here). It has since been moved to the guest bedroom and a new one has taken its place. I will write a post on that one soon too.

August 4, 2014 By Yami 4 Comments

D.I.Y. Soft Closing Cabinets

Let’s face it, no one likes cabinet doors that slam loudly. But you can only get soft-closing cabinets in a new kitchen, right? WRONG!!!! I am here to tell you that you can get soft-closing cabinets a-la-cheap in your very own kitchen and I will show you how with this quick little tutorial….

Materials for this project:

Cabinet Dampers – comes with screws already
A Compact Drill – we prefer this one

July 25, 2014 By Yami Leave a Comment

Natalia’s Bedroom Update and New Bookshelves

Since the last post on my daughter’s bedroom, we have made a couple of additions to her room. She is fond of reading, so we decided we needed to add a place to hold all her books. Unfortunately, there is not much space left for a bookcase so we had to find an alternative and ~~cheap~~ inexpensive solution. I was looking through Pinterest for ideas and I came across an Ikea solution – using spice racks as bookshelves.. DUH!!!!! So knowing me, I hauled my butt over there and got 3 of these….

The best part is that they are only $3.99 each. We put them together and I sprayed them down with Rustoleum’s spray primer for multi-surfaces. I then painted them 2 colors to match her bedroom theme. I used Ceramcoat’s acrylic paint in Think Pink and Magnolia White (I already had both on hand). I used an artist brush and gave them 2 coats. Once I was done I used the clear enamel below to seal them (since I figured they would get beat up).

The shelf below is what it looked like completed and with the enamel.

July 16, 2014 By Yami Leave a Comment

Living Room, Kitchen and Breakfast Nook…. A Hot Mess

Ever since we moved into our new home, I have been wanting to make some changes to the living room, kitchen and breakfast nook – primarily the wall colors. The kitchen and breakfast nook are this horrible green bean color and the living room is a builder’s grade dark taupe. Not fond of either. I wanted to bring the two rooms together by painting them all one color. It took a while, but I finally settled on a paint color I liked. These rooms were particularly time consuming because not only did we have a TON of walls to paint, we also had to paint all the base molding and window and door frames as they had never been touched up before. Here are all the before pictures at different angles. Since we were going to paint a ton of walls we decided to get paint samples first. Did you know that the 30% and 40% off paint coupons for Sherwin Williams also apply to paint samples? You can get them as low as $5 each for a quart! Score! It was our first time doing this and we are so glad we did. I wanted a grey neutral for everything in order to brighten things up. But I also wanted a hint of beige. I ended up going with Pediment. It is a perfect “greige”.

April 25, 2014 By Yami 4 Comments

Master Bedroom…. Progress

Hi there! As promised, here is where we are at with the master bedroom. The furniture is completely assembled (more on that later), the walls are painted, the curtains are up and the room has been de-cluttered.

April 22, 2014 By Yami 5 Comments

Master Bedroom BEFORE

I am finally at a point where I feel comfortable taking pictures (and showing you all) the progress we have made in the master bedroom. We are lucky to have found a home with such a large master bedroom, with lots of natural light, good architectural features and something I never thought I would have…. 3 closets! First, I would like to show you what the bedroom looked like when we moved in.

The walls were bare and never had been painted (other than what the builder did). Below is the view from the entrance facing into the master bedroom. Our queen bed looks so small in this huge space.