We all see it BEFORE and AFTER. We all say WOW! But can you ever imagine doing it yourself. That is the question!
Our brain wants but our action sometimes is so different from what we want and do.
I was raised by my father who build his house, which allowed my mind to go above and beyond any expectation from any renovation you can do.
Then you move out of the nest and you want to create something unique, something different, and something elegant. Knowing the cost of seeing your parent’s spending money you tried to find way to be at the same level with creativity through the process.
I always rented, always move either by choice of life or relationship that is growing. One thing I can tell you even when I was renting from apartment to houses I make it unique, different and elegant. Always in agreement with the landlord I found way to make it achievable.
They certainly regrets to see me leave since the place always look in a better state then it was prior my arrival.
That is the thing, we rent yes it’s a rental place but how far you would go to make it your place.
It never stops me – if you don’t ask you won’t get anything. Most of us when we rent we always asked if we could paint the walls. That is probably the first question renters ask. Then if the carpet will be replace or clean; if the lock will be change.
See with me I go further – If I am going to lives here for 5 years why would I keep it the same way. Yes, it’s not profitable in my pocket. I get it – it’s not my place I don’t own it, it’s money down the drain. Lots of us have that perception. Most of us want to save to buy our own place, travel more, and go out more.
But guys…Life is too short and yes I can save, travels buy anything I want and go out more…
However - One thing I always say and will say it to this day. Your place is the cores; your place will get your vibes. Do you want to lives in 4 whites canvass wall with not much around? We have eyes to see, we have minds to power up and boots up our energy. This core of our place is what is helping you to be YOU and feed your energy to get ahead of the game.
I am not saying for those who are renting to turn this into a Trump Gold tower but make it achievable in respect of your personality.
When I used to rent, yes I was painting walls, lock was change, carpet was clean but in most case I would refresh the place my way
Whatever you do MAKE SURE your landlord or the owner is in agreement. Because you are going to make their place better sometimes they will pay for the supply and will come see it after. So it’s a win win. In my case they always pay for the supply and with great appreciation they just love my creativity.
If you are not sure how and where to start; – go to a craft store like Michael or even Home depot. Search it, Google it and then make your plan. Put your budget in plan before you doing it.
Like any contractor they will always tell you measure twice cut once. It’s the same thing about any concept you do in life. Think and rethink then do it.
Here are some ideas;
KITCHEN
In your kitchen paint the cabinet, change the knobs; Do something different but elegant.
Use those floor tiles as backslash – they stick and it’s an easy job. Look great and you have various color or design you can choose.
It’s about detail that makes your place so different!
When I walked into a kitchen I see the vision. That my friend; is a gift and I can turn a place into no time. I just see it. I know; not everyone has the privilege to see it after but look around let your minds browse to it’s full potential. You would be surprise.
I could write and write about so many ideas but that is just the way my brain go with unlimited option in every space I’ve encounter. The main key however is; don’t loose the effect that looks pricey not cheap. Sometimes we do something and it’s still look cheap and not worth it. Choose wisely and do your research.
BATHROOM
Most of us in a rental place we would have one main bathroom maybe two depending on the space we have.
It doesn’t have to cost you lots of money. Think outside of the box. Most bathrooms are ugly from weird color. I get it…
But don’t let it stop you – use these color to emphasis the beauty of what could be.
Remember take your time to choose a color. Dark color will bring the room or the space smaller. If you don’t have a big window in your bathroom or none like me in the past, your color has to be light not vibrant but lighter and maybe think of the ceiling light to change it. It will give away so much deep in the room.
Not that expensive but sink tap can be change easily, knobs –
If you are still not sure; sit down on your toilet seat and during the time you have your coffee look around. Let the room absorb you through your minds and vibe.
I know it’s funny but it’s almost like a meditation that you will have to learn to develop into any room.
One thing I’ve learned over the years. It doesn’t mean because a store is selling this into this department that you have to use it for that purpose. That is the beauty – turn anything to a better use.
This is what we call in our world “THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX”
AND if you have a cat like me where the litter box was in the bathroom – Find way to make it pretty, neat and nice. That way you are not walking yourself in a litter box and your cat will be grateful for their privacy.
Yes it’s take away the storage you could have but you know what! I rather have something elegant where the litter box is hidden then walking around it or even having the floor cover of litter, which I have to clean anyway every day.
Like I say – this is your place, your core where you make this very unique and pleasant in every angle.
You probably have watch it.. TINY HOUSE well.. Think that way. Find way of every single scare foot you live.
MASTER BEDROOM
Well.. That is the place you need to have the way you want. Beside the kitchen and obviously the bathroom, this room is probably the most important room in all. We love, we laugh, we rest, we sleep…so on so on…
It’s a big element to your core of your place. After I finished travelling, I bought this cute little house. I am at my 3rd house as an owner and it’s a lot of work but I love it. Ready to take and put creativity into my core. This time, I don’t have to ask anyone permission. This is my house my way.
In my room I did everything from top to bottom. Don’t take me wrong I am not done yet because I am also working on the walking closet, which is connected, to the room which is connected to the master bathroom so there is certain thing that needs to take in place before I wrap the last piece of the puzzle of this room.
I did my research, my plan, my budget and plunge. It was hard work but it was worth it. Everything I bought was on sales and the rest was from my hard labor.
Let me show you what I did.
I merge 2 bedrooms together to make it bigger since I already have 2 other rooms. But that room was very important for me.
Here is the BEFORE and AFTER of my own master bedroom. It took me about 3 months to do it but that it’s because I did everything by myself. No help except the electrical and the plumber and contractor for the low bearing wall. Lots of work but I feel sleeping in a hotel room every night and THAT is so important.
It was not cheap but it was worth it – so worth it. Before I continue – I just want to remind people – when you buy a house – just don’t destroy everything and anything because you have a VISION
There is few rules prior to do so if you do buy a house
- 1 - Have an inspection on the house prior you buy it. If there is good bones and it’s only minor repairs go for it
- 2 – Hire a company who can inspect your new house from Asbestos. My house is 1960 so it was imperative. I do have Asbestos but it’s only in one room in the basement which is not a big deal for now.
- 3 – Then you can start but if you don’t know anything about construction – Hire a contractor to give you an idea what is a low bearing wall or which wall you can destroy. I knew which wall was my low bearing and therefore I hire them to help me to support that.
If you don’t do it and just remove everything – you might have a free skylight without no roof. lol so be very careful.
This was very dusty – Ho! Boy…so make sure you put plastic that will protect the rest of the house. It’s always get worse before it get better…
Don’t be messy – always clean after yourself. Be organized and think before doing the next thing. It will pay off.
If you have a plan and you can see your vision – go for it. My contractor though I was way out of the box; but they certainly like the end results. As you can see they did help me to do the low bearing wall.
Yes there was a closest. I merge 2 bedrooms but I knew I was going to create a walking closest on the other end of the room. I also knew I wanted to put 2 French door. Everything was in my head and on the plan.
Now I wanted something so different that I don’t think anyone ever did that. I didn’t want a doll ceiling. I wanted something WOW factor. Yikes! My electrician gives me the look but at the end – he was happy with himself.
The ceiling is from basement drop ceiling tiles, which I glue, one by one and nails it and adds a little design to it. Without knowing where the 2X4 was from the addict, I wanted pot lights but as I work with the electrician I had to modify some of the location of the pot lights, which is fine.
I hide the nail with those little round caps with glue. It’s a consuming time but the results are magnificent.
Talk with your electrician. Plan ahead because electrical can cause major issue into your house and you want to make sure it’s done well.
So the walls are painted, the ceiling is done now it was the floor. It’s very easy. However what I didn’t know even if you let it sit for 3 days so the wood floor adjust to the temperature of the house I guess 3 days was not long enough which cause some slab to shrink. Now in some area I will need to re-do it.
For those who don’t know – if you don’t let the wood rest from the temperature of your house, it will shrink.
Don’t go with something you don’t know. It was not my first choice from this type of floor. I love the color that is what I was going for but the store didn’t have the one I want so I choose the cheapest and available on site. Big mistake. Never go for the cheapest and now it will cost me to re-do the whole floor again.
It’s ok – live and learns but this time I will do it right. No big deal that is an easy fix.
Now one thing I have to point out. Remember when I told you about asbestos well – the floor I had prior before putting a sub floor was asbestos laminated – not confirmed though but I was not about to find out. The cost of removing asbestos is so expensive. So I ditch the bullet by adding sub floor and then the wood floor on top of it.
When I’ll be 10 feet down the ground and whoever want to spend that money doing this – be my guess. For now it work for me.
When you are doing a room think about the functionality. Do you like to read, do you like to watch TV. I don’t need to expand about the bed. Lol but what you do in that room to make you feel so relax.
I never had a TV that was not my first intention but since I am single I told myself why not. At the same time I didn’t want to obstruct my beautiful picture from Maui so I had to go back to the drying board and plans.
Originally it was supposed to be a fake fireplace. I am not a craftswoman but I like the result and still need to finish the top by choosing a TV Lift Cabinet instead of the fake fireplace.
Before you change your path make sure you have a plan and you can do it. Otherwise it will be more money wasted and you will feel so disappointed and frustrated.
This is huge project but I pull it off. I could have spent $3,000 for someone to do it but I was not about to do this. Is it perfect – no but it’s work for me and that is what counts! At the end of the day – this project cost me only $1,600 that includes the supply, the bookshelf, the TV Lift.
Not a lot of people heard about this but it’s so worth it. It is very easy to install. Make sure you measure again and again so you don’t run short on space for your TV.
This is what the look I was going for but mine I wanted bigger, wider. Lol These guys do that for living and they are very good at what they do. However at the end of the day I really like the way mine turn as well.
There is so many ways you can have an open panel so you can access the electrical at the bottom but I just did a 2 open door with a latch inside. Yes the top is not done yet but I am still figuring the opening so it doesn’t touch my painting and solid enough it’s not going to damage my TV.
Now the next project was the door
I always dream to have French open door. I didn’t want slide pocket door. It was taken too much space and the opening was not wide enough for me to get what I wanted. So I went for this style and I really love it.
You have to remember. I merge 2 bedrooms together. It’s a great space but it’s not that big. Big enough for me but I wanted to have THE LOOK.
When you go shopping for this type of bracket. Make sure it can support double door. There is a lot in the market but most are single. I shop online all the time. Sometimes it’s cheaper and the result is the same.
The problem I came across as I realized after was the knob. I couldn’t find any knob that would be Vertical and not horizontal. Is it bothering me? No! I still love the look of it and put drapes make it so romantic and elegant. I know I am still single but who cares. I love it.
At the end of the day, I achieve the result I wanted. Even when I open the door which takes away couple inches because of the knob, it’s still a beauty to reflect my dream room the way I wanted.
When you do everything on your own, take the time to look around and vision what you want to look like. Yes there are details. Good lord! Sometimes details make us cranky because it never ends but don’t worry. You’ll get around it. If you are like me on a budget and have to do it yourself; it’s ok – time is fine. It’s not how you start but it’s how you finish that count.
I really enjoy sleeping in that room. I feel like I am in a resort every day. The work I put around is so worth it. That is my dream master bedroom. Now yes from the above picture you will refer as non-finish but that is because I am working on the walking closet, master bathroom, which I have to reconfigure.
Later on I will show you what I did but take my word – it’s going to be one of a hell of a closest and a queen bathroom spa you never though it would be.
So never let your mind stops you for what you want and do the DIY yourself. Its so much fun that way
Remember – your place is THE CORES and it’s important you make it the way you want.
Love you All
Julie Kenk
