O-Me-G

That's what's been in my head about every thirty minutes for the past week. Our to-do list is a bit outrageous. Ever bite off more than you can chew? That's what it feels like. If I don't have time to blog about it, too much is happening at once. At least that's my theory. So let me introduce you to pure, unadulterated chaos. Are you ready for forever change your opinion of us?

While working on our mini-kitchen renovation, we had to bring a bunch of stuff out to the dining room. It's been weeks since we have eaten at the dining room table. 

This is the breakfast-nook as we turn it into a formal storage/pantry area. Not looking too fancy yet.

This is the kitchen as Joey repaints (not matte white this time!), and refinishes the cabinets. Notice the pizza box? Yep pizza and Chinese food. All week.

And that, my friends, is the guestroom #2. Yep. I haven't seen Joey in days. While he is downstairs in the kitchen, I am upstairs pounding the pavement on this room. We have a guest this week. Maybe that's why a lot of this has been going on...

Flattering, eh?

So the gem in all this madness is a little trick Joey came up with while working in the kitchen. He took a "break" from the painting and cabinets to work on something else. Let me pass you over to him so he can explain.

Greetings again friends. Lana and I are going through a relatively large DIY kitchen remodel right now and I want to share a little slice of what we're doing to help save some cheddar during the process.

We have these gold door knobs that came with the doors in our kitchen. Lana and I looked into changing them to brushed aluminum, or steel, or whatever people make door knobs out of these days, and for the model we have Home Depot wants a bit over 200 bucks plus a few weeks to order and ship. So during a moment of clarity I decided to see if I could just refurbish the existing ones. After all, they aren't made of gold or I'd have sold them already.

Turns out, my theory was correct. Not made of gold. I just removed the face plates and door knobs and busted out the trusty Dremel.

With a coarse sanding attachment for removing the apparently micron thick layer of faux gold and the steel brush attachment to polish the rough bits, this is what you get.

Be sure to do two things while attempting this project. 1. Wear a face mask and eye protection. Little metal bits are not good for your respiratory or ocular systems. 2. Tell your significant other what you are planning on doing. Little gold bits look like glitter. And you are going to be covered in it, and we all know how that conversation goes.

Have fun. Save some bacon. And make an old tired part of your space feel new.

4th Times a Charm

I have been trying to stop sneezing long enough to write a post! Seriously! I am officially allergic to the morning. Hello world, here is your memo! For 3-4 hours every morning you will get nothing but sneezes out of me! Now back to our regularly scheduled post....

Hope you aren't all sneezy! So when Joey was working on the Pinterest Challenge in the Kitchen, I was in the weird-o breakfast nook, which by the say is way too claustrophobic to be a breakfast nook. What was I doing in the breakfast nook? Beautifying!

Pulling colors from the newly modified wall space above the cabinets, we chose a warm grey to cover one wall in the nook. So far we have invested $15 in wood and $10 in chalkboard spray paint. Compared to those rockstar prices, this $26 gallon of paint has been the luxury purchase so far.

So the plan was to simply paint the wall and add some $3.50 decals I found at Home Goods.

That was the plan. Then the plan changed. We have a bev-fridge that lives where the fork is, and has to live there because there are no outlets on this room. Behind that wall we have an outlet at the perfect height, hence the bev-fridge must live in that very place.

Down came the fork and the spoon. Out the window went the vision.

Perhaps I was distracted because at that very moment Joey was working on the chalkboard fridge two feet away from me. Being the nosey Nelly that I am, I kept peeking in and "helping".

So I carefully restuck the fork and spoon on the swing door which leads into the dining room to give them a safe and temporary home. Then I problem solved that darn wall. It seems like a waste of space, so I wanted to give it purpose. 

Soooo I came up with the idea of rustic built-in's. Reclaimed wood, like in the kitchen, to house the massive amount of kitchen goods we have.  Plus give an attractive place for little miss bev-fridge to live. 

So I took a very simple idea to plot out how the shelves would be best utilized based on how Joey hung the deer head, and went to work. Goodness, we love our Scotch Blue Tape! I looked at the items we had, and measured them, then started taping and labeling on the wall.

This was exactly the guide we needed for when we put the shelving up. We are still on a hunt for salvaged wood, but so far we are excited about the vision of this wall. And why is 4th time a charm you ask?...

We had to paint the wall four times before it stuck! It kept peeling and nicking. We almost gave up on it all together! Weirdness.

Any tips on where get to reclaimed wood around NYC? We are on the craigslist.org hunt, and of course checking out Build it Green in Queens....Secret places anyone wants to share?

Pinterest Challenge Anyone?....

Huh? The Pinterest Challenge? What the heck is that? Oh...I bet you want to know. I bet you

want to know really bad!

Clue numbro uno. It involves myself along with these lovely ladies above. Clue numbro duce....

check out the video below for an entertaining explanation...

I laughed so hard I cried the first time I watched the video! In case you have a choppy connection or are at the work place (I won't tell your reading blogs!) I will break it down for you. Sherry from YoungHouseLove.com, Katie (who had the brilliant idea!) from BowerPowerBlog.com, and Emily Henderson (yea, that Emily Henderson!) from StyleByEmilyHenderson.com (and HGTV Design Star Winner and Host of Secrets from a Stylist, in case you live under a rock) along with me from JoeyandLana.com (you are here, duh!)  have self issued a challenge to knock a project off of our Pinterest "to-do" list. 

Our project?! We won't tell. At least not yet. We will provide some clues for ya though.....

1. It's super quick and easy!
2. It was scary to do!
3. It was totally worth it!
4. It involved a spray can
5. We did it in the kitchen
6. If I give you too much detail now, there would be no surprise for next week!

Maybe, just maybe you can guess what we are doing by sneeking a peek at my pinterest? Hrrrmmm Nacy Drew, what do you think it is?

Want to join in? Pick a Pinterest project you have wanted to get done, and meet us all back here, and here, and here and here next Tuesday (August 2nd) to share what you did. It could be anything! Quick and easy, tried and true, or totally massive. Just make sure to include a link to the original pin and post it was pinned from. Grab the banner on the top of this post and use it for yourself when you join us!

By the way, none of us were paid or asked to do this! Katie had a great idea, and we were all game. Pinterest has no idea what's going on. We just really love it, and think this is a fun way to knock a project off the list. We hope you join us!