Replacing the Deck and Handrails

August 25, 2022
When I moved into my current house, I knew that there would be many projects I needed to undertake. Some required immediate attention, others could wait, and some I needed to wait until it was in the budget. The deck and stairs were one of the projects that needed immediate attention.

It seemed unsafe to me, and I was starting to buckle and fall apart—time to replace it. 

Buckling on the deck

The previous owner’s dog chewed rails.

I would have loved to use trek decking, but it wasn’t in the budget, so I used cedarwood for the deck and vinyl for the handrails.

I had to wait a year before I could stain the deck. The wood needs to dry; otherwise, it could have a patchy area since the wood may not absorb the stain thoroughly. I used TWP wood stain in Cape Cod Grey. (It has since been banned in NY!!). I’m going to have to find another stain when it’s time.

 

 

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Updating my Coffee Table

August 11, 2022
I’ve had my coffee table for a few years. There’s nothing wrong with it, I still liked it, but I wanted to update it. I’ve seen those beautiful mirrored tables, and I decided to redo my coffee table. As a designer, I like to change things up a bit. One of the drawbacks of being a designer, we want to change things constantly.

It was a process redoing the table but worth it. The results are stunning.

This was what it looked like before I redid the table. It’s a traditional coffee table. 

The first thing I had to do was sand it down. I took off the legs to better sand them. It was a process!! I used Krylon spray paint.

The result was not too bad! I love the small vertical mirror. It adds so much more to the design. 

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Painting my Door BLACK!

July 28, 2022
As we all know, black and white color themes are trending right now. We see black windows as the hot new trend. But how about black interior doors? I have seen them, and I love them. So I decided I was going to paint all my interior doors black. Now that is a commitment because changing them back into white would be a bit of a nightmare. But like I always tell my clients, trust the process. 

It started with my front door. It was black, and I thought, why not paint them all black? 


Entryway

 Master bedroom

Office

Spare Bedroom

Basement

Kitchen

Hallway

So glad I did. I love the way it turned out; so elegant and classy.

Entryway

Master Bedroom

Spare Bedroom

Office

Kitchen

I even did the bathroom!

Hallway

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Painting my Office Desk

July 14, 2022
I purchased my office desk a few years ago. It served me very well, but it was starting to wear out in certain areas. I thought about replacing it, but the cost of an executive desk is a bit pricey. And since there was nothing wrong with this desk other than a worn-out area, I decided to paint it instead.

The area I speak of is right where I lean in to write. I guess I wore it out! 


I decided to paint it black, to coordinate with the other desk. I primed it first then painted two coats and sealed it with varnish. It came out great. I love the results. It’s like a brand new desk and the cost was just a gallon of paint!

 

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Entryway – Painting the Grout and Door

June 30, 2022
The entryway in my house has seen better days. The grout was so dirty. This was not the first impression I wanted my family or guest to have when they visited. I’m not a fan of slate tiles but replacing them was not in the budget just yet. I had to do something. It was looking so shabby. I did some research and decided I could paint the grout. This would clean it up. 

I also wanted to paint the door since it had never been painted. I thought black would be lovely since I just painted the handrail black. There was also the issue of missing cement by the door. This was allowing a lot of cold air to penetrate thru the cracks. I had to fix that as well.

I used paint from Sherwin William. I also used liquid cement from Home Depot. It fills up the cracks nicely. Unfortunately, I wind up using the entire tube! That is how bad the gaps were.

I taped the area and primed the door. I also cleaned the tiles to remove all the dirt.

This is the finished product. It turned out well. Now I won’t be embarrassed to have guests over!
I even painted the cement so you wouldn’t see it. Instead, it blended well with the grout.


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Adding a Countertop in my Kitchen

June 16, 2022

Until I can remodel my kitchen, I’m on a mission to create beautiful spaces using what I have. My kitchen had an area that was not usable. At the time, I had the cat litter, water dispenser, and recycle bin in that space. I was not thrilled. I wanted to create a place to use, so I decided to add a countertop.

The first thing I had to do was locate a wood countertop. Thank goodness Home Depot had them. I measure to see what would fit in that space. Then I had to measure the height and ensure all the brackets were leveled. Perfection!

 

 I had to make sure the stools would fit under the countertop.

 

Once the countertop came in, I stained it a beautiful rich color. Love it!

 

 

The final step before was sealing the countertop to protect the wood. I use EZ-DO since it’s food-safe.
It was time to install the countertop and anchor them in. I had some help with that since it was a bit heavy. I loved the result, and I now had a place to eat and an extra countertop workspace.

 

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Painting my Handrails

June 2, 2022

Painting my Handrails

When I moved into my current home, one of the first things that I tackled was the handrails. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like the stain color at all. It was so outdated. I wanted something that would pop when you came into my home. So I decided to go with a black and white color theme.

This is what it looked like before I went to work. 

It wasn’t easy to paint due to the height. So I had to come up with a way to reach it so I could paint it. Ok, perhaps not the safest way but definitely, the cleverest! Putting the stirs on a 50-gallon storage box!

What a difference. I love the way it came out

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Lisa’s New Living Room

May 19, 2022
Lisa is a client I have been working with for a few years. It started with her children’s bedroom, basement den, master bedroom, kitchen, and dining room. So it’s safe to say we work well together. But, of course, after doing all those rooms, the living room was looking a bit old and shabby—time to update.

Here are some before pictures. As you can see, it’s outdated. We removed the heavy drapery that was obsolete. The sofa has seen better days. There wasn’t anything that we wanted to keep. 




As you can see, the design mixes rustic with traditional and contemporary. It’s lighter, brighter, and a lot more appealing design. 

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Doreen’s Living Room Renovations

May 5, 2022
I recently did an update on a very outdated living room. The sofas were old and not too scale. The layout wasn’t working, and the floor color was a bit dark and obsolete.

I decided that I was not too fond of the layout. It seemed to me, too, everything was on one side of the space. The balance was off. And since my client no longer wanted the piano, I thought that would be an ideal place for the TV fireplace console. This way, we would be utilizing the entire space.

Here are the before pictures.

I am not fond of walking into a space and seeing the back of a sofa, much less a recliner!

The piano was being removed so we could utilize the entire space. We were making the living room area much more extensive.

As you can see, it completely changed the look of the space. The living room was more extensive and more open concept than before.

It often happens with my clients. Once they see how beautiful the space is, they wind up remodeling. In this case, we updated the dining room. I kept the tables but purchased new chairs and a new credenza.


 

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Melanie & Harry’s Kitchen

April 21, 2022

One of my latest projects was a major kitchen renovation. It was a small kitchen, not enough counters old appliances, and it was not functional. Overall it was not a well-designed kitchen.

Here are some before pictures of the kitchen.

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We took down the wall of pantry. This way, they would have an open concept. We also eliminated the windows by the table to extend the cabinets. Giving her much-needed cabinets.

We went shopping for all the items we would need. If you’ve ever done a kitchen reno, you know that’s a lot of shopping!! This is what was chosen.

The construction part of the project was done, and the items were all in. Some things took a while due to covid. But the end result is spectacular. Delighted clients!!



 

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