Stretching the Dollar & Decorating.

I am feeling better (FINALLY). Some of the pregnancy symptoms are subsiding (I only threw up once in the past week and that is my biggest success, to date) but I still don't feel like being pregnant has any redeeming qualities. My thyroid medicine seems to be helping. The return of some of my normal energy, combined with the "2nd trimester energy" have helped put in to action: plans that had once only been in my head.

Nick and I made a list of priorities. Items I thought would have topped the list actually came out somewhere in the middle (remember my previous blogging about wanting to redecorate my kitchen, and the need for gas heat in our basement?).

We decided to use our income tax return for other purposes. We paid off the Acura (yay, we now own two of our three vehicles free and clear).

We purchased a 6 month food storage supply. For those of you contemplating food storage, Daily Bread tastes delicious and only takes water to reconsitute it. The major selling point on this product, for me, was that they featured it on Good Things Utah and the hosts tried some Daily Bread Beef Stew that was 47 years old. The overwhelming concensus was that it still tasted delicious. So, not only is it easy to make... it retains a good taste and has a shelf life- of AT LEAST 25 years. Awesome.

Next, we had a state-of-the-art alarm system put on our house (even though we live in a nice neighborhood we wanted to do something for "safety's sake"). Nick's solution was to get a dog. Not a thrilling prospect to me. And I had brought up the subject of buying a gun- although, neither of us were keen about doing this. So, we met in the middle and had an alarm system installed. It is amazing.

We will be having our garage door replaced, AND getting new windows for our basement. Those two items ended up being the number one priority for us, when it came to home improvements we will do this year.

Gas heat in the basement will have to wait until next year. And I was begining to think that my kitchen remodel was going to end up happening a decade from now. Sigh.

My spirits were lifted, however, when I saw an awe-inspiring episode of Oprah that talked about quality design-on-a-dime products! I researched some of the products featured, and then went to work.

I started things off by doing a little remodel on my bedroom (the weekend Nick was in Las Vegas for his Mini Cooper convention). I purchased the Aura paint from Benjamin Moore. Everything I read and saw about this paint gave it rave reviews. It truly is a one-coat paint. My little brother's (don't know why I even mention him, since he doesn't read my blog) birthday gift to me was helping me paint the bedroom. Thanks Brian. And yes, I checked with my OB prior to painting. She said it was OK as long as the room was well-ventilated.

My Master Bedroom went from this dog-awful color:

To this (in one coat!):

A day-and-a-half later, Heather and I installed Easy Crown Molding. This stuff already has 3M adhesive on it. You cannot even tell that it isn't wood. It is made of a durable plactic that you can cut with scissors! AND it comes with pre-made corners. Literally, you pull the wax paper off of the back, adhere it to your ceiling and VOILA- you are done! No need to nail it to your wall, and this means no need to fill nail holes with putty. No Caulking either. The best thing was the price- it was very affordable (ie- I paid under $60 for enough crown molding to do a 21ft. X 21ft. room- I purchased it off of their easycrownmolding website). Heather and I did my entire master bedroom in about an hour (there are still some spots that I need to "finish" with loctite, but that shouldn't take up too much time).
Like I said, I don't think you can tell it isn't wood; but I'll let you be the judge:

Heather and I put a vinyl decal over my bed (I love etsy.com for affordable home decor!).

And I did what I could to update our light fixture without having to put an entirely new one in, by painting over the shiny gold trim with dark brown paint.

The next project I am tackling will be the kitchen (I think).

One of the products on the Oprah show was wallpaper beadboard. Everything I have seen about this stuff (you can buy it at home depot- 56 sq. feet for $22) relates that people fall in love with it. It is a textured, foam-like wallpaper that looks exactly like beadboard. Again, you are supposed to be able to cut it with scissors. You wet the back of the wallpaper with water, let it sit for 5 minutes, and then hang it on your wall. But the uses for it go BEYOND applying it to your wall as a wainscoat. I saw it used as a kitchen backsplash (did I mention that it is paintable?! Hallelujah!), and also used to update cabinets.

I am already sold on using this to update the backsplash in my kitchen. I have purchased it, and it is sitting in the box just waiting to work it's magic.

My biggest dilemma is whether I ought to use it on my kitchen cabinets???

If I do put it on my kitchen cabinets, I will have to go from having the natural, albeit OUTDATED, wood finish to: painting the cabinets white. In your opinion which option will do more for the resale value of my house? Natural cabinets (that I plan on having N-Hance change to a cherry finish- but who knows when I'll have the money in the budget to do this???), or putting white beadboard around the edges of the cabinets and painting the cabinet doors/faces white (I can afford this option right now)?

Another question: has anyone had any experience with the Modern Masters Countertop Transformation products? I saw this product and thought it looked cool. For $250 I can get a kit that will take my existing laminant countertops from their current boring vanilla state, to countertops that look like solid surface material. Until I can afford Granite countertops, this product looks like it will do a nice update- BUT I want to make sure that it hasn't been a horror story for anyone. I don't mind being a guinea-pig and being the first to try new things, but I do belive in doing a little "looking before I leap".

If I can make some decisions, and get Nick to re-tile my kitchen floor- my kitchen update may become a reality sooner than I had thought it would! :)

Last question I have. And it's not related to anything house-project-y. Does anyone know of a good & AFFORDABLE seamstress (preferably located in UT.)?

I can sew adequately, but this job involves my wedding dress and I don't trust myself enough to start hacking at my own wedding dress.

I am thinking (since I will be having another girl) that I want the top/bodice part of my wedding dress made in to a simple blessing dress for my new little one. That way: Reagan will be able to have her own blessing dress as a keepsake, and new baby will be able to have her own blessing dress as a keepsake. To make things entirely even... I want to have the skirt of my wedding dress made in to a decorative little blanket/quilt to give to Reagan. That way both girls will have a piece of my wedding dress; and both will have their own blessing dress. So, does anyone know somebody who could help me out with this?

Ah, I feel like I accomplished so much in one post. I just want to reiterate, again, how much I love having the blogging world at my fingertips!