It's Been A Year! - We've Done 17 Our Home Renovation Projects

Friday, July 14, 2017

It's Been A Year! - We've Done 17 Our Home Renovation Projects

It's been a year since my husband and I purchased our home. We have been renovating our outdated home for a year! He asked me, "Do you think we can finish our renovation this year?" I said to him, "I don't think so." I think it will take one more year... :( Even though we haven't finished our renovation yet, we have done a lot. We have been able to improve our renovation skill especially him. :) Today, I decided to share what we did for our home in a year with you.

1. All Cabinets (July to August, 2016)

As soon as we received our home key, we removed all cabinet doors and painted cabinets including 29 cabinet doors and 12 drawers white and installed new hinges and door pulls. It took us a month to finish it.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/08/before-after-painting-all-cabinets.html

2. Install Laminate Flooring in Second Bedroom (August to September, 2016)
We removed wall-to-wall carpet flooring and installed laminate flooring in our second bedroom. It took us a month to finish it.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/09/finally-finshed-installing-laminate.html

3. Outlet Cover Plates (September, 2016)
We didn't like the almond colored outlets which were cracked and painted on. I installed new cover plates. It took me only a few minutes to replace each one. It was affordable and super easy project. :)

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-install-new-outlet-cover-plate.html

4. Spring Door Stops (September, 2016)
I didn't like the old tired door stops. I installed the new door stops! It took me a few minutes to replace it with new one. :) This was also affordable and super easy project. :)

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/09/how-to-install-spring-door-stop.html

5. Kitchen Flooring (September and October, 2016)
We installed peel-and-stick vinyl flooring in our narrow kitchen in September. At first, we were really happy that our kitchen had modern new look. However, later I noticed that some vinyl tiles moved a little. We redid this kitchen flooring project with using Gorilla Glue in October eventually. However, installing peel-and-stick vinyl flooring was easy. It took us about 2 to 3 hours to finish it. :)

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/12/redone-peel-and-stick-vinyl-flooring-in.html

6. Door Knobs (October, 2016)
The old ugly door knobs had some paint on them. He removed ugly old door knobs and installed new door levers. It took him about 20 minutes.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/10/before-and-after-door-hardware-from.html

7. Built-in Trash Cans (October, 2016)
There was a vintage trash compactor in the left side of the cabinet. We thought we wouldn't use this ugly trash compactor, so we took it out. He installed built-in trash cans and painted the door white. Then, installed the cabinet door knob. It took him two weeks.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/11/built-in-trash-cans-before-and-after.html

8. Refrigerator (November and December, 2016)
We didn't like the old 18-cu ft refrigerator, which was too small and looked dated. We purchased new one during Black Friday Sale, and it was finally installed in December.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/12/black-friday-haul-whirlpool-counter.html

9. Dimmer Switch and Light Switch (December, 2016)
We had already replaced many of outlet cover plates in our home because it was very easy to replace them. However, we thought replacing dimmer switch and GFCI outlet was not that simple at all, and it requires understanding electrical wiring. I don't know how he did it, but he replaced it with new one in an hour!

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/12/before-and-after-replacing-dimmer.html

10. Small Knobs on Bi-Fold Laundry Room Door (December, 2016)
There were ugly door knobs used to be on the laundry room doors. I installed new ones. It was super easy! It took me minutes to finish this project.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2016/12/replaced-small-knobs-on-bi-fold-laundry.html

11. Vanity Lighting (January, 2017)
Originally, it had traditional vanity lighting. I ordered new modern ones from Wayfair.

12. GFCI Receptacles (January, 2017)
I replaced the old GFCI receptacles with new ones in our bathrooms. It took me about an hour.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2017/01/replaced-old-gfci-receptacles.html

13. Bathroom Ventilation Fans (February, 2017)
The old bathroom fans were very noisy. We purchased two new Panasonic fans, FV-08VQCL6, which is a bathroom fan with light and has a motion and humidity sensor, but we finally returned them because they are very hard to install. The, we purchased other Panasonic fans, FV-08VQC5, which has a motion and humidity sensor. Our bathroom ventilation fans are very quiet and work great. :) It took him weeks to install two fans.

14. Kitchen Lighting (February, 2017)

Our kitchen originally had the dated fluorescent lights which didn't work properly. The old light took minutes to light after the switch was turned on. He finally installed new recessed lights. It took him two weeks to finish this project. However, he hasn't repaired drywall and painted the ceiling yet.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2017/02/my-kitchen-lights-3500k-downlights.html

15. Shower Tile and Bathtub Paints (February, 2017)
We didn't like the old pink beige tiles in shower room. In addition, the glass shower doors didn't look very clean. He finally removed the shower doors. We hired professional painters to have the tiles painted and have old bathtubs refinished. It took four days to finish this project.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2017/02/shower-tile-and-bathtub-paints.html

16. Shower Handles, Tub Spout And Shower Heads (February and March, 2017)
After we had shower tiles and bathtubs painted white, he installed new shower handles, tub spouts and shower heads. It was very difficult to decide which ones we should purchase, and it actually took us a month or so. He installed them in weeks.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2017/03/before-and-after-master-bathroom-new.html

17. Wet Bar (April and May, 2017)
Our wet bar wasn't functional because of lack of storage. We removed mirror walls and installed the wall cabinets, new recessed lights, under cabinet lights and backsplash tiles. The outdated 80s look wet bar turned into modern and functional one. It took us a month to finish this project.

http://itisapieceofcake2011.blogspot.com/2017/05/before-and-after-wet-bar-renovation.html

Now... Guest bathroom Vanitytop and Flooring (still working on now)
It's been two months since we started removing guest bathroom tiles (vanitytop and flooring). When we finish our guest bathroom renovation, I'll share it with you. :)