All posts tagged: design on a budget

kitchen floor – a condo remodel on a budget

Like the home remodeling shows on television ( HGTV in our case), I must repeat my opening statement just in case someone just tuned in. I have embarked on a condo remodel with a friend of mine and it has truly been a learning process but a fun one as well. The benefit of a d.i.y. project on a place that is not your own is easy to do with a tight budget. Because although your main goal is to make it a functional and safe environment for the future owners, it is also easy to opt for a low-end product, which still gives you the warranty, functionality and the look  you want without feeling too attached to the place once personalized. The kitchen floor of the condo is a 6×9 galley style space.  Currently the flooring is self stick linoleum tiles that are stuck together with no gap in between. Although it was a fairly new flooring, I knew we needed a fresh look to compliment the freshly painted cabinets and newly purchased appliances. …

never mix paint with pleasure

Just in case you are scratching your head with the title, I must explain why I chose it. You see, I have a weird appreciation for painting various areas of a home and feel painting should be a pleasure rather than a chore. I love discussing the options, I enjoy chosing the paint color, the brushes and various other gadgets to handle the project and most of all I truly enjoy rolling up my sleeves and diving right into it. However, when the actual project begins, the fun can sometimes turn into a sad occassion, especially when you realize the outcome isn’t  as wonderful as you had hoped. Take for example our attempts to paint the kitchen cabinets. Although we spend several hours consulting with the paint experts at Home Depot (in this case) and followed their suggestions on how to proceed, the mid-way result has been a bit worrysome to say the least. We were told to prime the cabinets and then paint over them. Which made sense. We were also told that High Gloss looks the …