Found: one car garage and kitchen hardware for $5

After a few weeks of catch up after being away on our honeymoon, we set off the weekend to work on our 'list' of projects. That list isn't just a list in our heads. We have an actual list of projects on our refrigerator. Projects that range from replacing missing mortar in brick, fixing the hole in dining room ceiling and cleaning the garage, among many others. Our first project this weekend: clean the garage. Since Greg moved in a little over two years ago, the garage has been a storage facility, not a garage for the car. We are expecting a fun surprise this week (we'll share what it is once it arrives) but we agreed that we had to have the garage cleaned before it arrived. Hence, we set out to clean the garage. Take a look at what we had to clean:

As you can see, we have an assortment of bikes, old table and chairs, old cabinets from the beauty shop that used to be in our basement and various garage sale items. We had talked about having a garage sale since we moved in, but never found the time or motivation to do it. I kept threatening to donate it all at the local goodwill store, but again, never did it. On Saturday, we opened the garage door and began to set out anything we didn't want or need in the yard along the street. I painted a 'free' sign to set against our junk, other peoples treasure, and two hours later it was all gone, except for the two large beauty shop cabinets. Some items went to a woman who had just moved to Washington 3 weeks ago, other stuff to some guys who were opening a new bar and various sinks went to a man who does maintenance work here in town. While we grabbed some lunch, someone took the old ten-speed bike and the railing that once enclosed "The Corner". Each asked if they could give us something for the items they were taking. Nope. Payment to us was having a clean, usable garage. We were just happy that the items were able to be used because they were dormant in our garage. Greg broke down the remaining two cabinets to put out with the trash. I'm not too upset about their destruction. While I was helping Greg work on some countertops, the wind knocked over one of the cabinets and it fell on me. Yes, thank you for asking, it did hurt! My head and back ached all day and into the night. I'm happy to report that it's now a distant memory. Now take a look at our pleasant surprise: the car and hanging bikes fit in the garage at the same time.

A project that I started a couple weeks ago was updating our kitchen cabinet drawers and door knobs. New door knobs can range anywhere from $1 - $10 each. It may not sound bad but when we have 50+ knobs to buy to redo our kitchen, it gets costly. After reading a home renovation magazine, I was inspired to spray paint our current brass hardware. I went to Walmart, bought a $5 can of Metallic Charcoal spraypaint. I finished them this weekend. I was looking for a project with instant gratification. This definitely met my wishes. The rest of the kitchen isn't on 'the list' to be done anytime soon. But it's nice to think that it has started.



Brass hardware before


Metallic Charcoal after

Last weekend we purchased a base cabinet from a local cabinet sale for our newly remodeled laundry room because we want some extra storage. We looked for a white cabinet but they were sold out. Instead we bought one with a brown wood finish and decided to paint it to go with the rest of the room. The cabinet is almost done. I'll share pictures of it when it is complete...hopefully later this week. While I was painting the cabinet, Greg was busy planting flowers. Our tulips have bloomed and wilted away. I bought some freesia bulbs to put in some new green pots we bought on sale last year. On Earth Day, National gave each us at work a package of seeds. I received Cosmos. I've never heard of this flower, but the package says the flowers grow 3-4 feet tall. We are starting them in some pots. Let's see what happens. I don't have a green thumb...let's home Greg's touch is just what they need.





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