Saturday, July 26, 2008

HGTV - More Than Addictive

For a month or so, I've had a particular phrase show up on my gmail chat tagline. It says: HGTV is either going to be my home's decorating savior, or Kelly and my demise. For those that have been around our house lately, it's not hard to see what I mean and it'll become more apparent as the months go on.

So far we've completed two major projects, and one minor. Project #1: The backyard deck. We pressure washed our back deck. Kelly repaired the side of the deck, and we stained it. Project #2: we got a new sink installed. Deeper sink, and no divider. It's been great. Project #3: The front yard. We had 1/2 of our front yard landscaped with a new flower bed... the rest is to come at a later date. Thanks to our buddy Brian Carper.


So, as my title states - HGTV is totally addictive. I love it. From House Hunters, to Hidden Potential, to What is my house worth?, to Flip That House, to Deserving Design, etc... I get hooked. I sit down to watch one show, and end up watching 3+. It's crazy. 95% of the time our TV is turned on, it's either on ESPN or HGTV.

I guess what's so intriguing about it all is the fact that Kelly and I have great hopes for our house. We own a great home with plenty of room for what we need and tons of potential. When watching HGTV, we gain more ideas, and see different ways of going about changes. It probably doesn't help that in the last few months my parents have totally redone two bedrooms, and our friends Brian and Dana have renovated and done totally cool home changes this summer on their new house. From tearing down walls, to new paint, to creating an entire new back deck, it's been impressive to be at Brian & Dana's house. It definitely gives me a fever to do the same at our home. I just have to remember, ONE project at a time!

The newest project has to do with our kitchen cabinets. This will be the mother load of all projects for me, to date. Currently the cabinets are white with big and bulky black handles. I have taken one small cabinet door down and put some paint remover on it. I've only done the back of the cabinet so far, just in case we didn't find what I was hoping. What I found is a great surprise... once fully stripped down there is a very light and pure wood. It's going to be a VERY large undertaking but my goal is to strip all the cabinets and get it to the natural wood color. A blank slate to stain. Also we'll get new hardware for the cabinets, which is a much needed update.

I started this project about three weeks ago. It has been postponed for awhile because I wanted to spend time with my in-laws while they were in town, and I also knew it would get messy. So, I have no excuse to not start again this week... we're home alone again - so time to jump back into the project. I'll keep you posted as more progress is done.

Wish me luck. And Kelly too. :)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally, someone said it. HGTV is totally addictive and even worse the more I watch it the greater my inferiority complex grows.

Anonymous said...

You and your Aunt Terri could get along great in front of HGTV. I sometimes think she is sorry we are in a new house because it is hard to justify new projects for me.
And a tip on your cabinets.. RUN!!! Everyone has at least one example of when they thought it would be a great savings to strip paint from old wood. It never works out that easy. You will by more paint stripper that you can imagine. Actually, there is a way. Hire a professional paint stripper. There are usually some businesses that will take your cabinet doors and dip them in comercial stripper. That will leave you only the cabinet boxes to strip.

Let me know how it works for you.

Kelly said...

The yard looks great!

babynicole77 said...

good luck.

babynicole77 said...

can someone get carper to invent a water irrigation system that turns off if it's raining. do they already have one of those??

soccernut said...

I second my dad's comment, "RUN!" I tried stripping our bedroom trip and after the 4th coat gave up and we bought new. :-( It starts out exciting, but no fun in the end. I hate to damper your ideas and plans, but with the horrible trouble I had, I felt on passing along the info. Our trim also had lots of grooves and that was the main issue. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Mrs. McGoo said...

What if my cabinets are the most simple things you've EVER SEEEN. Because they are - Just wood boxes thrown up there. No curves, no ridges, just tons of white paint all over them that I want gone? :) Thank you for your warnings. I appreciate them. Just looking for more verification because we cannot buy new cabinets currently.

Mr. McGoo said...

Your husband should have done a better job of picking out cabinet color when he bough the house. Shame on him