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Hi everyone! I wanted to share with you some small changes that we have been making around our apartment that have made me feel so much better about this little space we're in. While we hope to buy our first home within the next year or so, we know that it's important that we love the space we're in right now. When it comes to location, our apartment can't be beat. We live a 5 minute walk from the beach, the pier, several parks, and our lovely Main Street with tons of shopping and restaurants. I absolutely love WHERE we live. However, our apartment is old, extremely outdated, and of course, not ours. The changes we can make to this space are quite limited, but we just had to do something. We wanted to make most of our changes in the kitchen and bathroom. The other spaces don't feel as 'yuck' to me and I can live with them how they are.
Kitchen-
I decided to start with the kitchen, our most used space and also the space that needs the most work. I really want to strip the cabinets and repaint them, but that's overstepping and also a lot of work and more costly for a space that is very temporary. The problem with our cabinet is whoever painted them previously did a terrible and incorrect job. The paint peels every time I clean them and you'll see that reflected in these pictures... It looks awful but I remind myself daily, it's temporary!
We made a simple change by replacing the hardware. It didn't make a HUGE difference, but we definitely think it looks nicer and more modern. The hardware before was a mix of mismatch knobs and pulls. We ordered new handles and pulls to replace the knobs.
BEFORE:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
My little before and after. The paint on the cabinets is killing me though. Should I just repaint? Has anyone re-painted their cabinets themselves? How easy/difficult was it?
I took a picture of our other cabinets when we were halfway through installing the new hardware. The old pulls are on the left and were tarnished and gross. The new is on the right. Not a huge difference but I think it looks nicer overall and they were inexpensive too.
[Please ignore our kitchen mess- it was a hot wreck when I took this pic!]
We also installed the under the cabinet paper towel holder which is much better than the one that was there previously (the towel roll fell all the time) and it's 100% better than anything sitting on the counter and taking up space. We try to keep as much off the counter as we can. What you see for counter space is what we have... It's crazy.
Bathroom-
Our bathroom is tiny. Luckily we don't need a big fancy bathroom as long as it's cleanable and functional. Our shower has sliding glass doors, but they are old and don't look the nicest. I decided when we moved to install a tension rod and buy a shower curtain and it honestly looks so much nicer than those old and fuzzy glass doors. It hides the shower so I'm not always looking at the outdated tile and caulking that we really should replace.
The floors were absolutely disgusting. The grout is this dark gray color and I'm not sure if that's the natural color or if they were just dirty. We have bleached and deep cleaned the grout numerous times and have never been able to make a dent in the color. We decided to just go ahead and paint the grout white. First, I steamed cleaned the grout using my new steam mop (affiliate) and the grout brush. It helped me make sure we were working with a clean surface before painting. Next I used this grout paint pen and it was the EASIEST thing ever. It felt like I was painting with white-out or something... it was so easy. I just made sure to wipe the excess off with a warm cloth immediately.
We should have made this change years ago... It looks so much better! It looks lighter, brighter and cleaner.
If you have dark grout in your home that needs a refresh, I highly recommend this grout paint pen. For less than 12$, what a difference! (Affiliate link)
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Ahhh. I love the fresh white grout. Gray grout just doesn't look clean. Ever.
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While the changes we made aren't too big, they have certainly made me a bit happier. I look forward to our own home where we have more control over the changes we make. For now, I will be thankful to have a space that is safe. And let's be honest, this apartment will always be a special place for me because it's where we brought home our baby girl!
I added a link up so you can add some of your favorite home projects that you've done recently. I can't wait to see!
-Ashley
New hardware is always a good idea! I love the idea of painting the grout white! So smart!
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