Guest Blogger: Snazzy Little Things

Happy Valentine's Day everyone, and greetings from a DIY'er in Ohio! 

 Thanks so much Denyse for asking me to guest post today, and I hope you had the happiest of birthdays and that I am able to entertain your readers who take time out of their day to visit "Glitter, Glue & Paint" I am Jeanette, and I have been a very casual blogger but serious DIY'er at Snazzy Little Things for the last year. Denyse also encouraged me to start a Facebook page as well, so it's now six days old!! Thank you for the polite "push" Denyse! I would be so happy to meet you there, and also don't forget to find Glitter, Glue & Paint on Facebook, too! Extreme budgets are not something that I dabble in.

For me, being cheap frugal has become way of life, and since I've been a single parent of two kids for many years, it was often a matter of survival. But having said that, I also have expensive tastes, and even though I am now in a wonderful relationship with a man that I am crazy about and he contributes immensely, my cheapskate habits still govern my thoughts and most of our project plans. In the old days, I learned to simply "go without" which is why my home remained outdated for so long.

 NOW? I stalk products until they are on sale -- and I know a good deal when I see it. So just for a few minutes, block ALL of what you've read about $40,000 kitchen remodels out of your mind--you simply won't find that type of remodel in my home. My goal is to entertain, and maybe enlighten you with some eye candy while I reveal my humble budget. For a mere $1600, my kitchen was completely transformed. Here is my kitchen, "before". When I moved in, I added the hardware, the light over the sink, and an awful looking valance. It sat this way from 2005 until January 2012.

    And now...after one year of "dabbling" when I could afford to fix it:

I've written so much about this kitchen, so feel free to visit Snazzy Little Things, and look under "My Projects" for a full breakdown of project costs and where to buy items.

Here are various photos showing you "phases" of my year long kitchen DIY:

Images from other projects

Kitchen before, all oak

Rustoleum Transformation, this was an exciting step! and only $149!

Cabinets done...now onto the backsplash. What to do that looks nice...but inexpensive?

Tore down fake tile wallpaper backsplash...here is the Gorilla Glue (a present I left for myself).

So I spackled it! Perfect solution for my IMPERFECT wall!

Testing out color combinations for the backsplash. The winner is? 

The dark backsplash...thanks my Pinterest followers!

New Stenciled Backsplash with $100 stencil from Royal Design Studio + leftover paint.

Before - kitchen island 

(no one sat there, too high & shallow counter top extension made it very uncomfortable).

Before: Kitchen island=junk collector

Before: Another view of the kitchen island. 

See how shallow the counter top is? Had to turn sideways to sit there.

  

Updated: Island with the Rustoleum treatment...but more demolition is coming :)

Demolished Island, testing out our cardboard template before applying butcher block

After - the current state. More projects happen as we can afford it. I hope you enjoyed our tour :)

   I hope you're all having a wonderful Valentine's Day (I know I am!) ...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Denyse! 

It was so kind of you to ask me to guest blog here for you today, and can I just tell you? I was honored and so excited. I am loving your new blog name, and I can recall reading your first blog headline, "My Crazy, Beautiful Life" and thinking to myself, "I bet that girl is fun to hang out with". I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you in blogland. 

Best of luck with your move!

  

All the best!!

Jeanette

http://www.snazzylittlethings.com