before and after bathroom

I'm sure I'll continue making changes to the bathroom, as I will for every bit of my new home, but now that I'm actually living here, I figure it's high time I post some before and after pics. The bathroom received a couple coats of fresh glossy white paint, including on the radiator and a layer of almost-transparent, decorative paper to the window for privacy that still lets the natural light in.

I'm going to do something different with the hand towel on the right. The silver leaf hook is too big or too high or something... Below you can see close up photos of some of the new details, including a view of the kitchen/ bathroom divide...

5 days to official move-in

It's been a productive long weekend! I finally finished all the painting (those high bits in the hallway were nagging at me), installed curtain rods, installed bookshelves, completed the kitchenand moved more stuff over. My official move-in date is next saturday and I'm hoping that the only things left to move by then will be the furniture that I can't carry over on my own.

As you can see in the photo above and below, I put up some bookshelves above my radiator. They are $5 white shelves from IKEA and $2 wooden brackets also from IKEA. I painted the brackets white so that they'd blend in. I probably could have done the same thing even cheaper with plywood strips from Home Depot, but when you don't have a car and have limited time borrowing friends' cars (thanks C&E!), it's easier to get everything in one place.

I got the curtain rods from IKEA as well, but instead of buying IKEA curtains, I thought I'd look around for some cool fabric from somewhere else instead. So far I haven't had any luck so for awhile my curtains may be glorified bed sheets, but I'm on the look-out and hope to find something 'just right' sooner than later. I was going to go for gauzy white curtains that let in a lot of light, but living so close to the side walk means I need a bit more coverage than that. Anyone have any colour or pattern suggestions? It may be easier to choose something once all my furniture is in place.

Shots of my kitchen are below. I'm pretty happy with how it's come together. In the first shot you can see the wall opposite the counter, sink and oven (the kitchen is long and skinny). Next to the fridge is an IKEA cutting board table I've had for a few years. I painted in black awhile ago. The shelving unit on top of it is a $7.99 Value Village find. I picked it up last week. I think it was originally a homemade shoe rack and I was thinking that I would use it for the same thing in my hallway. However, I didn't like the look of it in my hallway and realized that it would sit perfectly atop on IKEA sideboard unit, so I painted it black with the rest of my chalkboard paint (it was originally beige) (the chalkboard wall is opposite the fridge so the black shelves balance the room well) and plan on using it to store my glassware. Perfect! And the canvasses on the wall were a quick black and white paint job. A more complete (as complete as I can get a shot of the kitchen anyways) photo of the kitchen is below.

And now I'm off to bring some more stuff over (the new apartment is two blocks from my current apartment so I keep wheeling suitcases of stuff over - I'm a modern vagabond). Enjoy the rest of your long weekend!

oops

I can't believe it took me a couples days to figure this out, but I've been wondering why IKEA changed the design of their spice rack...as you can see in my photo, the top rack doesn't provide enough space to put bottles on it and I couldn't figure out why the metal pieces at the bottom were so long (and thus aesthetically annoying) - especially because in other photos of said spice rack from other people's kitchens, I didn't see evidence of the same thing. It's kind of evidence of how incredibly observant I am and at the same time NOT observant at all that I noticed this difference, but didn't clue into the fact (until 5 days later) that it's because I installed the spice rack upside down. Right. Well, at least it's easily fixable and my spice rack space shortage will be remedied as soon as I make the switch.

Heading to IKEA tonight to get some more shelves and curtain rods for the main studio space and am hoping to use this weekend to move amost everything over and set things up (move in date is next saturday). More photos coming soon!

progress continues

I finished painting the bathroom and kitchen this weekend which meant I got to begin hanging shelves and 'decorating'. I didn't do a lot, but here's a little peak at what I did manage to do... The photo above is a detail from my bathroom. There were no shelves or closet so I put up a corner shelving unit that has 4 shelves on it for bathroom paraphenelia storage.

The photos below give you a glimpse at the progress of my kitchen. The 'before' shot comes first, followed by where I'm at with things so far. Now that the shelves are up, I'm going to start bringing over pots and pans and dishes to fill them up.

I actually had a lot of fun putting up these shelves because for the first time ever, I used a power drill. I have since developed a very enthusastic love for power drills. I can't wait to find more things to drill!

bit by bit

I've begun the transfer of goods from one apartment to another. I plan on finishing the painting this weekend and getting shelves up in the kitchen and bathroom so more photos to come soon of things other than the radiator wall ;)

PS - while painting the bathroom last night, I discovered a horrid, putrid smell rising from the floor? the walls? Not sure, but it's a little concerning. Hoping it's something fixable and not a sign of major wall rot...ugh.

getting back on track - before & after pics of the little corner that's causing all the fuss

Well...I sprayed what was left of the spray paint last night (which wasn't much). As you can see, I armed myself with a nose hair protector mask this time... You can see the before and after shots of the floor below - the difference is much less noticable now, however, a couple more shots of paint probably would have been perfect. I'm not sure if I'm going to bother buying any more. I think I might leave it for awhile and see if regular wear and tear will help even things out.

I also ran out of regular white paint last night. I'm done painting the studio and have done half of the kitchen and hallway and none of the bathroom. I've used three gallons already - this place is a sponge!

Before...

And after...

i have an idea...

So...some friends and I were swapping spray-paint-on-hardwood-floor cleaning ideas last night that included everything from cleaning solutions to resanding and polishing the floor to bit-by-bit scraping the paint off with a razor blade. The brainstorming session inspired me to stop by the apartment on my way home and take a closer look at my 'situation'.

There's absolutely no way that I can 'scrape' the paint off the floor. It's so finely dusted that there's really nothing to get a blade underneath of to scrape. That said, there are concerns about cleaning solutions taking the finish off the floor. And I was strongly encouraged not to attempt a sanding and refinishing project myself for fear of making things look worse.

So...upon closer inspection, I've decided to remove all objects from the room and blast a couple more sprays of paint into the air in an attempt to 'even out' the fine paint coating on the floor. The paint is so fine and so pale that if you weren't able to see the before and after difference next to the patch of flooring that was originally covered by drop cloth, you'd never know that there was paint on the floor at all. It just looks like a slightly paler shade of hardwood. So I think my 'paint it all' option is the best, easiest, safest and cheapest. Hey - if I could paint a huge wall (see photo above), I can surely handle a little itty bit of flooring...

Seriously. I swear I'm not crazy (I have yet to end up in a situation like the tykes in the photo below - and no, the fact that I'm 29 and they're under 5 doesn't make any difference ;).

Here's to hoping my landlord never reads my blog! To be continued (again)...

things were going so well...

So...I've been prepping and painting my new place and it's been going really smoothly. I've gotten a lot done. I even completed my chalkboard wall in the kitchen today. Somehow, all of that was momentarily eclipsed this evening when I set about spray painting the radiator in the main room. The paint dude at Home Hardware told me I could paint radiator paint on with a brush or spray paint it on. Spray painting seemed like the fastest and easiest option - especially because I didn't want to end up with obvious brush strokes all over the radiator. Ohhh...if only I could set the clocks back 36 hours...I'd forego the spray paint and deal with the brush strokes...

First of all, idiot that I am, I didn't wear a mask or protective gear of any kind. Secondly, I figured that a few feet of drop cloth would do the protection trick for the floor. Oh gah...how wrong I was.

I began spray painting and all seemed well until I realized that the room was filling up with fumes pretty darn quick and the open windows weren't doing quite the ventilating job I'd presumed they'd do. I got up from where I was crouching, spray paint can in hand, to take a few steps back to view the partially-completed job and try to get a sense of how 'fumey' the room really was. And that's when I realized that fumes weren't my only problem. My feet didn't move as quickly as I wanted them to because my flip flops were sticking to the floor. Turns out the airborne spray paint moved up then down, settling all over the room. Lifting up the drop cloth sheet revealed - to my horror - that I had, in the space of about 7 minutes - managed to coat the entire hard wood floor (except for the few feet covered by the cloth), in a fine, sticky coating of paint powder.

I ran to the bathroom to get some water on a cloth to see if I could somehow remedy the floor situation and that's when I noticed what my little adventure had done to me. Let me just say that you really have no idea how many nose hairs you have until each one of them is coated in white spray paint. I don't even want to think about how many brain cells I burned tonight. Golly - it's almost as bad as the time I covered my entire naked body with industrial paint for a university art project.

Needless to say, when I realized that I couldn't just wipe the paint powder off the floor, I packed up my things and ran for home to have a hot shower in an attempt to dislodge paint from my breathing tubes. I'll go back in the morning when the fumes have disappeared and survey the damage. Does anyone know if renting a hard wood floor polisher would rescue the floor (and me)?

To be continued...

the clean up

The Maids have arrived. Today is the first day I've ever paid for professional cleaning services (and I'm afraid it may become a guilty pleasure). My new apartment is being scrubbed and disinfected by four cleaners who have a very determined look in their eyes. I will feel so much better going in there knowing it's been thoroughly cleaned. And once they're done with it, I'll feel prepped to roll up my sleeves and let the real reno and decorating process begin - wohoo!

scary 'before' shots of my new studio

I wasn't sure if I should even bother posting these images yet because they're so scary (well, the kitchen and bathroom and hallway are - they look scarier in person than these do in these shots - believe me)...but I figure the worst that can happen is for you to feel really sorry for me (for leaving this - the apartment that has clearly ruined and spoiled me) and the best that can happen is for you to offer up refinishing and decorating suggestions for me (please!) as I roll up my sleeves and get to work on creating some 'after' images.

My new studio has decent bonework - albeit old bonework - that I'm pretty sure will make for an inviting home once I fix things up. My biggest concerns are related to the age of the building and some of the 'stuff' (read: bugs, toxins, etc) that may escape from cracks and holes in the walls as well as a lack of storage space (including a decent litter box spot for the cats). And the bathtub is disgusting. And the linoleum in the front entrance way is U-G-L-Y.

BUT...I have lots of ideas on how to improve upon the place, so we'll see what kind of polished diamond I can create out of this 'diamond in the rough' I've got at the moment.

The handy thing is that I have both this apartment and my current apartment for at least a month of overlap which means I can get into the new place and make it livable before moving my stuff and myself into it. In fact, I've already started. I've begun painting the main studio space and I've hired some hard core cleaners to come in and super-clean and super-disinfect the place next week. I don't trust myself to get into all the nooks and crannies - and frankly, the idea disgusts me (yes, it's that bad).

WHY am I moving again? Oh yeah - to save money. And, despite the renos, a lot will be saved. Right. Fun project. I keep reminding myself...

Anyways...without further ado, the scary 'before' photos of Ottawa apartment numero trois...

These shots are of the main studio space. It's decently sized and will pretty easily fit my bed, kitchen table and couch. It's got a nice big set of bay windows which let in a lot of light. I've already started painting the walls white (they're currently a pale lilac colour) and the window frames a soft, airy blue. Since my new place doesn't have a balcony or rooftop garden I'm hoping to get permission to hang window boxes outside these bay windows so that I can still have a little bit of a garden (although I think my big pot of tomato plants that D and I grew from seed will have to move to his balcony. Not sure that they'd do as well here or that I'd even have enough room for them).

This is my very scary looking (and small!) hallway and closet (the only closet in the place). Definitely need to downsize my wardrobe and look into alternative flooring options.

The bathroom...I've already removed the tall white shelving unit on the left which opened things up a lot. I'm hoping to hang shelves up on the wall that don't close the space in as much. **and take note of the nifty(what!) wooden poles that the sink is propped up on. Nice.

And lastly, the kitchen. Before taking these photos, I'd already started ripping the ugly (and crooked!) shelves off the wall. I also ended up removing the ledge along the left side because it was a space waster that I couldn't foresee as having any real and useful purpose.

So...there you have it. Take a good look because I'm hoping the final project will look VERY different and WAY better than this. Appealing even.

And thus it begins.