This year of 2020 has definitely had its challenges for so many people. I was out of work for a few months and stayed home with our kiddos. Of course, being the busy bee I am, I needed something more to do with my time than sit and watch HGTV all day or doing craft projects with the kids. Which, don’t get me wrong, was super fun! But after watching all that HGTV, particularly Home Town and the Property Brothers – seriously how can you not fall in love with Ben and Erin: https://www.hgtv.com/shows/home-town– I decided I was going to take on some home projects of my own! (Obviously with my husband’s help.)

It all started with a bathroom

We had a thought to first start with our downstairs bathroom. It needed a little updating, though we didn’t want to rip all the tile out. That would have been way too big of a job for now. I thought we could just update a few things. My husband, Anthony, works in management at Sherwin Williams so paint was no problem! If you want to give a completely new look and feel to a room, paint can go a long way! I absolutely LOVE the bright and airy farmhouse style look, so I went with a light cream color for this bathroom. We then replaced the chunky medicine cabinet with a rustic mirror I found on Offer Up! Then we simply replaced the lights and the faucet and gave the vanity a facelift with some sanding and a new coat of paint! I then put on the finishing touches with new towel racks and shower curtain rod. Voila!

The upstairs bathroom

Then, of course, once I did one project and fell in LOVE with it I started to notice so many other things I wanted to tackle! Anyone else?? It’s the same as once I start cleaning something I then notice everything else that needs cleaned. Then what was supposed to be one chore that would only take a few minutes ends up with a cleaning spree of the whole house. Our upstairs bathroom needed some cosmetic updates as well. (I only noticed how much I hated this shower curtain after I started watching HGTV haha!) But using the leftover paint from the downstairs bathroom and some new lights and natural wood accents, this bathroom then changed into what felt like an at home spa oasis!

Splitting up the kids

Obviously being stuck at home for so long not only gave me all the project vibes, it can tend to drive the kids a little crazy. Our two youngest shared a room for quite some time and now that they are getting a bit older, we thought it best to separate them and give them their own rooms. I was on a roll with these projects so why not keep it going?! It was quite the chore though to accomplish this. The room we gave Jordan used to be an extra room for all of the random things we have no room for anywhere else. Let’s just say we donated quite a bit! We repainted both rooms and redecorated for them! Needless to say, they are loving their own space.

Onto the living room

Once our other projects were all said and done, I would flop onto my couch, thoroughly exhausted. But then I took more notice of this entertainment center we bought from IKEA years ago. It never truly felt like us. When we first purchased it I was going through a black phase. I thought black was classy and all my furniture had to be black or dark. I have since moved onto light, bright, and airy which feels so much more like me. So a while back we took our entertainment center, which you can piece together in all sorts of ways, and painted it this cream color. I still thought this area could be improved. For mother’s day this year I got this incredible stand alone electric fireplace! I envisioned giant built in looking bookcases to go along either side. So Anthony, being the amazing craftsman and handy man he is, built me bookcases!

Love this? Take a look at this amazing weekend getaway we were fortunate to take right before the COVID shutdowns took effect!

https://joniloraine.me/2020/10/02/our-san-francisco-getaway/