Especially now that my bedroom set from Vintage Rust has been delivered. I really got this set for a steal. Erica and Molly did an awesome job painting and distressing this set. They worked with me to help select the color, finish, and hardware. I can hardly believe that it looked like this before:
However, there was one problem. While I was painting, I managed to do this to an outlet coming off the ladder...
At first I panicked as sparks came flying out, and then all the lights went out. Tried flipping the switch again, but it kept shutting it off. After some guidance to NOT try to activate that circuit again. So I scheduled an electrician to come out, but was really irritated I was going to have to pay this guy for something that seemed very simple, and that he would finish in two minutes. So, I checked out my trusty friends Pinterest and Youtube, and came across this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCA4-XwXFg
He made it look so easy. So comforted by his confidence, I decided that I could totally do it on my own. I decided to give it a try the night before the electrician, so that I had him in case this didn't work out. I went to Home Depot and spent about 20 minutes in the aisle debating between 15 and 20amps, Pro vs. Preferred, and so many other choices! I finally purchased a 15 and a 20 and decided that I'd figure it out when I got home. The circuit was already off, so I got started right away. The wires did NOT pop out as easily as the video made it appear. After fumbling with it for a while, I got the old outlet disconnected, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there was a number written on it to tell me what amps- 15. So I knew which to use. Connecting the new one was pretty simple- everything just popped right in! I spent a little bit of time making sure the wires were as shoved in as possible, but then the whole thing just screwed right in. Got so excited, I ran downstairs to turn the circuit back on- and then ran back upstairs as quickly as possible to make sure that there was no fire starting to burn in my room!
Problem was, now this outlet looked so fresh and clean:
But even with fresh new covers, most of the outlets are an almond color, covered in paint, or just really dirty...
I decided to just leave the outlets as they were since they were now all operating properly. So I was off to the next room. This room is one that I'm planning on renting out. It's a good size room, and fairly cute, but it needed to just be cleaned up a bit. Everything is just dirty and grimy. It just made the room feel darker.
One real quick fix was the ceiling fan. The previous owners had a cute little ceiling fan, but the blades were a faux wood grain. I knew from a previous fan that I installed, that many of these fans are reversible. I unscrewed the blades and found this to be true. So I flipped all the blades to the white side just to make it look a little fresher. That was already a huge difference!
I had a gallon of paint still left over from my master, so I decided that I would just be using this on those walls. It would help create some uniformity upstairs in the bedrooms, and it would save me from having to buy any more paint. The paint color in there wasn't awful, it was kind of a greenish aqua, but it needed to be freshened up. The original color really complimented the hunter green blinds!
As I was painting, all I could focus on was how bad the outlets were (well, and the carpet, but that will come later). So I decided I was going to replace all the outlets now that I knew how. For about $1 a piece, I was going to go for it. I had already bought new plates, so I went back and bought the outlets. It's amazing how much crisper it made this 30 year old room.
I replaced the doorknobs on the closet (which were also painted for some reason). Making the doors look much cleaner.
And cleaned up the mess.
I eventually took down the green blinds and dirty sheers. Opted for some white black out curtains (after buying a set that was too much of a cream color) and hung a new rod. Once the carpet gets ripped up, they should just barely brush the ground.
Amazing how cheaply this room was freshened up! The curtains cost $20, I used a rod from my old condo, used paint from my master, change of outlets and covers, and just flipped the fan blades. Total cost- under $50.
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