DIY FAIL: Staining cabinets

This is part one of a two part epic tale.

Ok, it's not that epic.

So, my kitchen cabinets were nice, but plain.  And that awkward in-between color. 

So I was watching some morning HGTV on my February vacation and thought, "hmmm, I have nothing to do... why not stain my cabinets?! It looks easy!"

It is, actually.

If you have untreated wood.

I, however, do not.

I did some quick research on what to do and swiftly went to the hardware store, where I bought stain, cleaner ("mineral spirits"... sounds like a vegan cocktail), sandpaper, brushes, rags and tacky cloth.

I had everything I needed.  I even called my friend Caitlin over to help out.  She's always a good voice of reason and experience (see the entry on "Chrissy vs. Grout"). 

We started off with the backs of some cabinet doors.  Cleaned, sanded, applied stain.  The stain looked so good! So dark, reddish, and warm.  Waited 15 minutes. Wiped it off. NO CHANGE.

Womp.  I didn't get the hint.  We proceeded to do 6 doors, and after Cait left, I decided to sand and stain all the boxes and drawers.  Made a huge mess. 

In the end, I stained the boxes and the backs of those 6 cabinet doors three times.  The boxes took the stain PRETTY well.  The doors... not so much.  Just a slightly darker, sticky mess. 

I took the advice from Christina (well, her mom) to go to the paint store with a cabinet door and ask if they could even be stained... and they can't.  Too dense/pressurized.  Too much staining/polyurethane already.  Womp.

However, when I stained the backs, I dribbled stain allllllllll over the fronts.  Conveniently, it stuck there.

CHOICE WORD.

I was left with a few options:

1. Admit defeat, and put doors back up with slightly unmatching boxes and spots.
2. Paint them dark brown and say goodbye to nice grain.
3. Go a little wild with color.

After several panic attacks and a visit from momma dukes, here is a preview of my solution. 

I'm not done yet.  I'm either about to make the funkiest/coolest kitchen ever... or make the f-ing ugliest kitchen ever and destroyed some decent wood cabinets. Time will tell!

WHAT A CLIFFHANGER.

Wallpaper accent wall!

So Christmas was good to me AGAIN. In addition to curtains from Mom and Dad, my darling sibling, Ronnie, got me wallpaper for my accent wall in my bedroom. 

I knew I wanted a Damask pattern, similar to my old bedspread:

I found some reasonably priced wallpaper from www.stevesblindsandwallpaper.com.

Since my mom is the wallpaper master, I needed her help for this task.  I'm not gonna lie, she did most of the work.  Why mess with perfection?

Regardless, you need some shit to wallpaper:

-long brush with short bristles (to get out bubbles)
-wooden roller (to seal edges)
-tons of razor blades
-scissors
-patience

The paper was pre-pasted, so all we had to do was get it wet.  Even though Mom did most of the work (as I politely assisted), doing only one wall is pretty simple.  I had a large pattern, so there was a lot of wasted paper, so keep that in mind.  But other than that, there were no corners or anything to make life difficult.  Here is the end product:

My room feels so elegant!!

Things I learned:

1. Don't "wing it" in figuring out how much you need.  I was so lucky! 
2. Wallpaper rips! So be careful!
3. Mom is awesome.  

Fun with chalkboard paint!

I am a child and therefore I like to draw on things. So when I saw chalkboard paint a while back, I knew I would have to get some and put it on the small wall between my kitchen and living room.

Well, I finally did.

I was actually at Lowe's to get some other ishhh, but I happened to pass by chalkboard paint and impulsively bought some.

First off, when I first moved in, there was a big hole in the wall where the previous owner had a phone line.  I knew that I was going to put my mirror from Puerto Rico on that spot, so I did a really shitty job of patching the hole. But nobody knew!

Muahahahahahahahaha.

So I guess I had to actually patch the damn hole.  Fortunately, they sell HOLE PATCHING KITS! #winning.

Very simple. Put on mesh. Add spackle. Let dry. Sand. On a scale of one to Kim Kardashian, definitely a KK.

Step two: Paint!!

Again, pretty simple.  However, the paint is rather watery, so I had to do four coats.  

Step three: DRAW!

Here is my Nemo-themed wall:

And here is my Presidents' Day themed wall!

Things I learned:

1. Chalkboard paint is awesome.
2. Chalkboard paint takes more coats than I thought.
3. Chalkboard paint is awesome. 

Window Treatments!

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME, CHRISSY.  I had these TERRIBLE vertical blinds in all of my rooms:

Ew ew ew.

So I wrote a lovely letter to Santa/Sue Gill and asked for some curtains.  Apparently I'm not the big asshole I think I am, because I didn't get coal and I got my curtains! WOOHOO.

I obviously put them up the very next day. DUHH.

I had to go to Hell (Walmart) first to get rods and liners.  All together the additional supplies were only about $50... not bad! I also invested in an electric screwdriver.  SO CLUTCH.

So here's my re-vamped living room:

And my bedroom:

And my second bedroom:

Things I learned:

1. Curtains are expensive.  Ask Santa for them.
2. Electric screwdrivers are awesome.
3. Electric screwdrivers are not drills :-(
4. Sometimes you need to use a nail to start a hole (see #3)
5. Curtain liners make all the difference in the world!