I think a lot of people know that a good trick to saving money when they want to remodel their kitchen or bathrooms is to keep the cabinets and either paint or stain them. Well, I just wanted to show you proof that this is true.

In my old condo we wanted to redo our guest bathroom because it looked gross. Seriously it was bad. People would come out with their nose wrinkled, and I just knew they were thinking their body was probably infected with some horrible fungus just by stepping in there. However, we didn’t have a big budget. After finding a beautiful black-framed mirror for cheap ($17.77 in the clearance section at Furniture Warehouse on Redwood Road!) we decided to paint the water-warped cabinets to match. We had tried to stain the cabinets a few months earlier, but it just brought out the flaws even more. I was very pleased with the outcome of our paint job.

Here are my tips if you decide to paint your cabinets:

• Make sure to take the hinges off the doors and frames when painting. Nothing says tacky more than half painted hardware.
• Sand and wash each piece so there isn’t any gunk and so the paint will stick.
• Prime your cabinets and doors. Don’t skip this step just to save money. It always helps the finished product look better and stay nicer longer.
• Choose either semi- or high-gloss paint. Why? Because your cabinets are going to be around water and food. These finishes clean up real nice and won’t stain. (PS I hate flat paint in all it’s forms. I painted a front room with it once…big mistake.)
• If you want to do this to your kitchen but are a bit nervous, try it in your bathroom first, just to make sure you like the outcome. A lot of houses have the same type of cabinets in the bathrooms, so once you paint or stain them you will know exactlywhat to do differently if you don’t like it. I’m so glad we did this in our condo. We were going to stain all our kitchen cabinets, but once we saw the outcome on the cabinets in the bathroom we knew it would have been an ugly mess in the kitchen.

Enjoy the before and after pictures!

Here are a few things I would have done to this room if I had stayed in this condo a bit longer: bought some sweet handles for the cabinet doors, replaced the faucet, and actually have bought a toilet paper holder. Those seem to work well in bathrooms for some reason.

Tags: Advice, DIY, Home Decorating in Utah--Tips!, Interior Design Ideas, Uncategorized by Tricia
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When you are looking for new living room furniture, try not to fall into the trap of going into R.C. Willey and picking out a "nine-piece set." You know the ones: sofa with matching love seat, two matching lamps, matching side and end tables, and matching pillows–but only two matching pillows so if you want four you have to buy two more. (No offense to those out there that have done this. I know there are many, many of you out there. In fact a few years ago I’m sure I would have done it, if I had the cash on hand. That dang RC Willey is just so enticing!)

You see the problem with this is that anyone can come into your house and see that you felt the need to redecorate, and you did. In one fell swoop. Poof, new front room. And if anything gets broken, or spilled on (stupid rubber cement! yes, mom it was me that spilled it) then you need to throw the whole set out and start over again because, dang it!, it doesn’t match.

The most well put together homes are the ones that look like it has taken a lifetime, where it seems every piece has a story to tell. And thank goodness we have KSL.com and Craigslist so it won’t really take us a lifetime to put together a front room that has some character. I suggest starting with a couch from a store (if you must have something new), and then fill in the rest of the house with finds from the classifieds, thrift stores, or garage sales. It is amazing how nice a home can look on a small budget without buying the "nine-piece set."

Tags: Advice, Home Decorating in Utah--Tips! by Tricia
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