When The Boy and I moved into our place, the "needs to be repaired" list was more than two pages long. The owners of our 3 bedroom rental really didn't give a shit about out quality of living and we realized early on that we'd have to take most repairs and fix-up into our own hands. We were lucky to get new carpet (which may I add was replaced weeks after we were completely moved in) after I emailed the property management company multiple times, complaining that the cigarette burns were gross and old-cat residue was making me wheeze and the frequency of needing to use my inhaler wasn't good for my unborn child. In this case, using the pregnancy card was completely necessary.
The knobs in our kitchen were different colors and some of them were broken or missing. When we asked the repair man to replace them he brought white knobs to add to the blue ones, thus making our kitchen look even worse that it did before. Jory went to the local hardware store and purchased brand new wooden knobs and painted them himself (and then glazed). He used the paint we used on our walls, "Butter and Beans", which was color coordinated with the art hanging in the kitchen. Now all the knobs match and we are one step closer to having a pretty kitchen.
Old:
New:
While The Boy was busy making the house pretty, I headed to our local used bookstore and purchased a used book that was my absolute favorite as a child, "Oh, the Thinks You Can Think" by Dr. Seuss. The book was on sale for $1.50 and I left very happy. When I got home I ordered another copy off Amazon.com (for under $3.00), so I could rip apart the used copy and frame the pictures.
Book: $1.50 Frames: Under $10
Finished product:
In all we've had a pretty successful
DIY weekend. Tomorrow I plan to hunt for more
DIY opportunities. I have less than a few months to get the room together and have everything settled for when Baby Cooper arrives (or before I get to uncomfortable to do this stuff).
