Has A Place

Soooo I know I was supposed to have this done a while ago... but its summer :)


Lets all take a look at the before. Not to bad but my tastes have evolved...

I am so honored to be featured on Remodelaholic as a before and after winner!!! What an AWESOME Birthday Gift!! (It was August 18th) Please go here to read it!!!






However, this stems from a very important cause that One Project Closer/The Better Half does in their annual summer-long Before & After series, to benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Here's the details from OCP's site:

How it Works

If you’re not familiar with the series, here’s the basics: you submit pictures and a story from a home improvement project you worked (no contracted jobs) sometime over the past year. Every week of the summer (June 20 – September 21), a winner is selected and their story is published online. Each winner gets a $50 gift card to either Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon, and we make a donation of $100 to Habitat for Humanity in their honor! At the end of the Summer, the best submission, as voted on by readers, wins a bonus $150 gift card to one of the three stores above.

How to Enter

If you want to submit a before and after story, email us your submission at beforeandafter@oneprojectcloser.com. Your entry can be in the email itself or attached as a Word document. Make sure to number pictures in order so it’s easy for us to reconstruct the story, and please attach the pictures as JPEGs even if you also embed them inside the Word document.

Or you can go directly here to add your submission.






Please join the fun and add your submission and thanks again Remodelaholic!!!

My worst project ever?  I don't know about that much but I certainly think its taken me the longest.  Its the small cuts they are overwhelming and the mastic is just messy. I hate it, I can't wait for it to be over :(

Pain is beauty right?  Yea right...

Anyway, this post is a tutorial, I am famous for these, but hey, I figure if your going to attempt a DIY project let some other schmuck do it first!! Let them screw it all up, face the challenges and learn from them. Then try it out.

We we are the schmucks...

I was so happy with my choice of tile, it was a great price, great looking and 12x12 so it will go up fast right?  Like in 2 days fast, right?? Wrong!  more like 2 months... well that's us procrastinating a bit, ok A LOT. Whatever...

I did turn out great :)
 This is how we started, with thinset  and tape. The part that took the longest was the cutting.
 On the other side of the kitchen I picked up a SimpleMat from Home Depot. I wanted to try it out.
 Very easy to use, not messy at all.

 They are 18x9? I think, which was good, because a typical back splash is 18 inches from counter to bottom of upper cabinet.

 This stuff was super sticky, but it went up really fast and without a mess.

 No the reviews say that once a tile is on you cant get it off, not true they pop back off. However, because they pop back off, some may fall off. They tended to sag a bit as well. But, they were easily adjustable.


After the tile was grouted, I did notice that these tiles can still move, so, before it dries don't push on them or move them at all. I had to place a small board behind the stove to temporally keep them from sagging out of alignment.



All in all I would use the mat again, a lot less messy, just takes care.

Have a great week!!

Well hey there...

Its been a long time coming, I have been waiting for this day for over 3 years now!!!  My tiny kitchen shines like a bran new penny...

Lets get straight to it:



 crown moulding...

Hey, I have been getting quite a few questions about the kitchen remodel. Sorry I have been MIA. Its just taking a little longer than expected...

A few hiccups, but everything is pretty much done, all I have left is to install the back-splash which WILL be done this weekend!

I'm not leaving my house until it is DONE!

But I wanted to post some pictures of the before (terrible, terrible, terrible)  bad photos, but I'm afraid it would have broken my new camera ;)


Here is the before:


 My epic fail of trying to paint them, horrible horrible, complete with the boob light in the ceiling :) Dishes in the sink and dinner in the crock pot :) Hey, I'm keepin it real...

View from the other side, the painting went so bad, I stopped :) But after a while the man in brown starting bringing me presents and there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel :)

 I went to Lowe's for my back splash

 Then this began after the demolition finished. My husband did that in all of a couple hours so I don't have any photos of that. It was a messssss, and the dust was the worst. I am neurotic about dust anyway (its my only enemy!). I swear I would clean it all up and turn around it would be back. Not FUN at all!


These are real grainy and ugly but trust me, it was a beautiful site!!

Here is the last picture I took before the counter was installed, before the molding and painting. Again an excellent view (compared to the before ;) )

After the back splash is done, I will do a bunch of tutorials, like converting from a double sink to a single HUGE sink... 10 Things to expect, like possible divorce, lol JUST KIDDING, but seriously fighting happens, which should be warned before attempting to remodel your own kitchen.

Stay tuned the most amazing photos I could every take through a camera will be coming shortly!!!

Any questions please ASK, it was a huge job, I have documented most of the process in my head and I'm sure there is some good advice in there somewhere!!

Happy Almost Weekend!  I'm so glad it is finally here. Although I have a ton of work to do around my house I am still excited to not be WORKING.

I have been changing up the family room alot. I just can't seem to make it "work" for me. I spend alot of time in there so it always seems to change with my moods, interests, or just plain craziness.

I am finally honing in on a "style" I think the red has been throwing me off. I am not a red person, never have been, so why would I ever want a "red" room.

It's ironic because the reason the room has red accents in the first place is because of the antique TV cabinet I purchased on craigslist a few years ago. It's red.  So I have been trying to make it work for me for a long time.

I like to check out craig and his list every now and again to see what he has to offer. Just recently I came across this little beauty:

Hi All,

I have been up to my ears in kitchen remodel things the last week. More like kitchen remodel dust, I swear the more I clean up the worse it gets.  Let me tell you it gets EVERYWHERE!  I wanna scream, lol.


Anyway, I wanted to show you the process I went through picking the materials and finishes. Now, as a reminder this is NOT our forever home, so budget was tight with this project. I am not going top of the line on anything.

I wasn't going to reveal the "budget" but I guess I can. It is $5000 dollars, not alot at all. That includes new cabinets, counters, floor, faucet, sink, hardware and paint. I already have new appliances.

Right now we are on budget, hopefully it will stay that way.

Here is the design board:

Hello Hello, not much going on over in the Nesbitt house the last few weeks. Not sure whats going on. I have tons of things running through my head just don't know where to begin I guess :)

We are going to be remodeling our kitchen (FINALLY!) so maybe that's it. But anyway, I have been looking for inspiration for that on Pintrest.

With that comes the inspiration for many many other things. My office, for starters.  This room has been our dumping ground since we moved in our house.  I've been itching to do something with it for a while.

My first (small) project is subway art. It's very popular right now, I see it everywhere. And whats better in an "office" than some motivational posters on the wall!