A couple of DIY Projects

 I am definitely a DIY person, I actually enjoy doing home improvement projects and you can save a lot of money while still sprucing up your house. Now having said that, I also know my limitations and I definitely will not take on a project that I know is out of my league because it usually turns into a DIY disaster and ends up costing more than hiring a professional in the first place. So I found 2 DIY projects on Pinterest that I wanted to try 1 was very successful and the other...not so much. So I thought I'd share my experience.

The first project was painting those shiny brass doorknobs and hinges. I've hated those things since we moved into this house 12 years ago. So, I found a couple of DIY bloggers who had spray painted the hinges and doorknobs, so I thought I'd give it a try. I bought the spray paint and got started. Well the spray paint is not cheap around $8/can if I remember correctly which sounds cheap, but then there's the nightmare of taking doorknobs and hinges off, painting waiting for them to dry etc. I only took one hinge off at a time which was good as far as not having to take the door all the way down but bad because doors don't shut properly with one door. That wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't have a 1 year old which requires us to keep doors shut. It started out okay and then it just turned into a headache. The 2nd nozzle on the 2nd can of spray paint broke after about 1/2 way through so now I'm 3 cans in which is $24 and I wasn't even done. After a week, I finally gave up and bought door knobs. I did finish the hinges, but in the end I bought doorknobs from Lowes for $8-$10 each (locks cost more) and it was worth every dime of the extra cash. The 1 door that Idid not replace is now chipping off after about 5 months. So, I personally did not find it to be cost effective. If you're going to do it, my advice is paint the hinges buy the knobs.

You can see the chipping on this door knob.

 

This is the store bought knob.

 So much better than that brass stuff even with the cheapie doors!

Now for the success story. I was so tired of those honey oak cabinets I could hardly stand it plus I got hair tint on the bathroom cabinet so I had to do something! I found this tutorial and followed it to the T and my cabinets look AWESOME! If I was staying in this house I would have done the kitchen, but I did the 2 bathrooms and it has held up great! It has been almost a year and lots of abuse from the kids and they still look great. Like any good DIY project it took time, but was really simple really the majority of time was just waiting for each coat of stain to dry. I highly recommend this project and be sure to follow the instructions.
  This is the before color of the cabinets

This is the after. Sorry for the horrible photography. Not my strong suit!