My Kitchen Counter DIY Disaster

February 4, 2016 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

The title is a a little misleading as my kitchen counter DIY was not a total and complete disaster. In fact, everyone that enters my kitchen say they love it! But I think they are straight up lying to my face.

Before we even bought this house I knew the counters had to go. I don’t totally hate laminate, but our counters were this terrible blue laminate that I wasn’t feeling. After reading countless blog posts talking about using Ardex concrete feather finish to give your counters a concrete look, I was totally confident my kitchen could look amazing.

Here is what my kitchen looked like before:

I decided to jump headfirst into the project one Friday afternoon and as soon as I put the first goop of concrete on the counter, I knew I had made a terrible mistake. It was really hard to spread out and get it even on my counters. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get it to look right on that little lip on the wall. I kept going hoping it would get easier and it did get a little better after I was more used to it.

After putting the first layer on and letting it dry you have to sand it down. That process is when I realized I had gotten myself into a lot more than I could handle. The mess was insane and I was having a giant panic attack. I didn’t take a whole lot of pics of the process, but here are a few.

So after three day’s of layering and then sanding, I decided to call it quits on just half the counters. After I sealed it, it actually didn’t look half bad and I thought I would finish the rest of the counters one day when I could handle the mess again.

I used a super food safe sealer, which looking back was silly. We don’t ever cut directly on the counter, so I could have gone with something less food safe. About three days after our project we started getting huge stains on the counter. Three months later here is what it looks like.

NOT GOOD. If you have the patience and get the right sealer, I would really recommend this project for a cheap way to update the counters. I am not patient so that was my first mistake going into the project. I also hate create giant messes, and having everything in my kitchen covered in dust was not good for my sanity.

So whats next? We are getting poured concrete counters made right now! The actual stuff, not this fake powder stuff. I’m really excited about it, even though it is not cheap. I’ll keep you updated!

Current Living Room

January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

So more than half of the stuff in my current living room is for sale, so I wanted to take a few pulled back snaps of what it looks like now. Fleastyle took some great pics and did a home tour including my dining room and a few kitchen pictures, so please be sure to read her article!

My 2015

December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

2015 was a crazy, crazy year. So much happened in such a short amount of time it seemed silly not to reflect.

I started 2015 feeling a little lost. The winter brought about an unhappiness in my career that I was used to feeling. I was on my third accounting job, and while I enjoy accounting, I still found myself waking up and dreading the day. It had nothing to do with my coworkers, or the company, it had to do with me. Functioning, never mind excelling, at an office job while dealing with my panic disorder and anxiety disorder was getting to be difficult. I don’t openly shout about my panic attacks or anxiety, but I don’t shy away from them either. Sitting in a cubicle all day was torture. I felt trapped and to get through every day required medication and taking it one day at a time. It was impossible to look to the future as I felt like I would never get there. I thought about finding a new job, but I knew the same problems would creep up.

Real estate had always been in the back of my mind. Whenever I was feeling anxious in my job, I would always start back up researching “how to be a real estate agent.” I would do a little reading and then realize it was too scary and too many unknowns. I don’t remember when I finally decided just to go for it, I don’t think I had an “aha” moment, just this thought that began to take over all my other thoughts. A lot of people thought I just pulled real estate agent out of my back pocket, but since I was a little kid I have had an obsession with houses. I used to make my mom bring me to open houses and beg her to buy them so we could move. When taking a graduate real state class, I thought about it again, but I was about to get a masters in tax. A friend left the accounting world for real estate, and after having drinks with her and seeing her happiness, I was determined.

I started to study for the real estate exam and came up with a goal to quit my job in August. The real estate exam was actually super easy, and I got through it much faster than I thought I would. I stayed at my job for as long as a could. I actually decided to turn in notice the night before I actually did, I just couldn’t wait another day. I had my last day of work the first week in April, and I can’t believe I actually went through with it.

I’m so thankful my husband, family and friends were so supportive. I only had a few people tell me to my face I was crazy and making a mistake. It was crazy. I was giving up on six years of school, a masters degree, and a CPA to go after something that had no guarantee of success. I was giving up a pretty good salary for a 25 year old to go into the world of commissions.

Luckily, I have been successfully and I really owe it to mostly luck, then hard work. I’m so much happier and healthier in this new career. I love the work and I love being able to help people. It can get even more stressful than my previous careers, but I control the stress. My mental health has improved so much, with much less panic attacks. I still experience a lot of anxiety, but that has more to do with everyday life than my career.

We bought a house this year, which was a long journey. I have no regrets on buying a house, even though it’s cost a lot more money than I ever thought. I love our neighborhood, neighbors and can’t imagine how we lived in a tiny apartment before.

My vintage furniture business also saw a lot of growth this year. I think we have finally found our voice and direction. I’m really excited to continue to work on MM Vintage in the new year, and I’m hoping we can get a booth before spring time so we can get our stuff out there on a more permanent basis.

I got to do a fair amount of traveling, which is something that I always put a priority on every year. At the beginning of 2015 I got to nerd out at Harry Potter World. In the summer we spent a week in Mexico, which wile fun, I doubt I’ll ever go back. In September we went to Montreal, which ended up being my favorite place I have ever been.

I’m hoping 2016 can improve on 2015, but I think 2016 will be more about settling. Settling into my real estate career, settling into our house and finding a “normal.” We have a few house projects lined up, including new counter tops. I sold 10 houses in 2015 and hope to sell at least 20 in 2016. We have a few travel plans in the works including a week in Asia, and some time for a wedding in LA. I’m really just hoping for no more shakeups in 2016 as 2015 was the year of new things!

Cheers to 2015!

Picking Wood Look Tile

December 21, 2015December 21, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

When we bought our house the floors were not really a selling point. The main living space has laminate, which luckily is not super ugly laminate. The bedrooms have carpet, which I HATE. I am not on the carpet train. Sure your feet have something warm and fluffy to walk on, but its typically ugly and just waiting to be stained.

We planned to eventually replace the carpet, but our plans got moved from the future to the present after the introduction of a new kitten.

She make look cute, but she is a little monster and decided she didn’t like the carpet one bit. I’ll spare you the gross details, but our bedroom carpet had to be removed immediately.

We considered hard wood for about 3 seconds, but with four cats, tile is a way better option. Tile is wayyyy more durable than hardwood. You can spill liquids and don’t have to worry as much about scratches. With the wood look tile we could get the best of both worlds.

I didn’t want to spend more than $2 a sq foot, so we headed to Floor and Decor to see what options they had. Floor and Decor has some pretty good options, but there are ENDLESS wood tile options at other retailers as well. You can end up spending a lot of money getting really quality wood look tile.

I knew I wanted something not too dark and something with a lot of pattern variation. I bought samples of these three to see how the looked in my home.

The one on the left was the most expensive at $2.29 a sq foot, but it had the most pattern variation and grey undertones. Even though it was over our budget, we decided to “splurge” since it would only end up being about $200 extra in total to go with this one and we liked it so much more than the others.

We got a few quotes on getting the tile professionally installed, but tile laying is expensive. It would have doubled the cost of the project to get it professionally done. My Dad has some previous tile experience, so we decided to do it ourselves.

Up next: Carpet Removal!

3 Stupid Easy Christmas Decor DIY’s

December 16, 2015December 17, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

I just wanted to share a quick post in which I brag about my three stupid easy and cheap Christmas decor DIY’s. You can easily spend butt loads of money making your house ooze Christmas cheer, but I don’t have butt loads of money. I have the opposite this year owed to the whole buying a house three months ago so I looked for a few cheap ways to help my house get into the Christmas spirit. Continue reading →

Dining Room Update

December 2, 2015December 2, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

I know you all have been waiting with baited breath to take peek into my dining room! Well maybe not, but it is always fun to see how other people have decorated a space.

My dining room started as a blank space. The first thing we did when we bought the house was paint the living space white. After we painted it white I realized our trim and ceiling are not white, so that was fun surprise that will get fixed eventually. Here are some before pics for your viewing pleasure.

And now for some afters!!!!!

The dining table and matching chairs, china hutch, and wicker chair are all things I had before. The china hutch was previously a bright teal. I painted it black to make it a little more neutral.

I think I need to paint the inside of the cabinet to make all my pretty plates pop out a little more, i’m just not sure what color yet. I just stacked all that art up there to make it look a little taller since the ceilings are so high, but I probably should curate it a little more. I also now spot that one of the drawers is missing some hardware. My bad….

I am aware that my dining table has a large stripe on it. The table is old, and the leaf was obviously not used as much. I plan on refinishing the table to bring it back to it’s glory days. We usually don’t have the leaf in all the time, so it’s really on the bottom of my list.

I got that bar cart a few weeks ago at a vintage show and it only cost me $50! It really classes up my drinking habits. Please try and ignore the tiny tiny art, I just put that there for now as a place holder. I am on the lookout for something amazing and bigger for that corner.

I got that cowhide rug in Round Top and it is #bestrugever! One of our cats straight up peed on it the other day and it just wiped right off. I love an indestructible AND pretty rug.

All my chairs are mismatched because of my desperate need for more chairs for the holidays, but i’m starting to really get into the mismatched look.

I am planning on making a plant bench for this window so all my plants can feel like something special instead of just cast off’s on the floor. I already have the legs for the bench, I just need to get my butt to the salvage yard to pick up some wood.

That wall hanging was made by yours truly and it took me 20 hours. My cat tried to “help” me make it, so it took twice as long as it should have.

So there you have it! What is still left? My house is in desperate need of some art. The ceiling and trim needs to be painted white. Table needs to be refinished. I also have a chandelier that is going where that ceiling fan is, and a plant bench to make so stay tuned!

My Haunted Side Table and Favorite Vintage Stores

November 19, 2015November 20, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

Filling your house with vintage furniture is never the easy way to go, it is much easier to pop into Ikea and get a new chair. While buying something new is easier and cheaper, going vintage just adds so much character to your house. It might take months or even years to find the perfect piece, but it is SO worth it.

Last weekend my mom and I took a trip to Dallas Market Center for a vintage show. I really wasn’t expecting to find anything for myself as I thought the prices would be high, but right away I found an amazing deal on a bar cart and then when we were about to head out my eye caught a pretty unique side table. I asked the dealer how much he wanted and he said “first I have to tell you the story.” Continue reading →

A Bathroom Refresh

November 18, 2015November 18, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

An old friend of mine contacted me after seeing a few of my blog and Facebook posts and asked if I could help give her guest bathroom a refresh. Even though I have no experience in design and absolutely zero training, I thought about it for about ten seconds then promptly said YES. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to tell another person what to buy? DREAM SITUATION.

She didn’t want to do any major construction, just give it some new life with paint, new lighting, and some styling. Here are a few before pictures of the bathroom.

The bathroom certainly is not terrible. It’s probably what most of our bathrooms look like. For someone who doesn’t want to gut a bathroom, there are a ton of simple changes you can make to make it feel brand new.`

My plan is pretty simple: update light fixtures, paint walls, paint cabinets, new hardware, style with some accessories. There is a faux brick floor, so I had to keep that color in mind when deciding on paint colors for the wall and cabinets. The walls have a VERY heavy texture. It’s the heaviest texture I have ever seen and removing the texture wasn’t in the budget for now so I suggested a bright white to hopefully camouflage the texture as much as possible. I also recommended a light grey for the cabinets to give the bathroom some color.

Here is some of my inspiration pictures that show the feel we are going for.

We are in the early stages for this bathroom refresh…pulling products and accessories. I’ll give y’all an update soon when paint goes on the walls!

Kitchen Update: Black and White Cabinets

November 10, 2015November 11, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

When we bought our house, the kitchen was a HUGE selling point. To catch up on our home buying story read up here. It was large, had lots of light, plenty of cabinet space, the list goes on. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the prettiest, but it wasn’t incredibly ugly either. It looked like a grandma kitchen with the all white cabinets, blue counter tops, stone back splash, and stained glass. There is a pretty big kitchen renovation in our future, like take down some walls renovation. See that microwave below? Yeah, I want to take out that whole wall. This girl wants to watch her Scandal AND cook at the same time.

See, not terrible, but ain’t nothing special about that kitchen except for the ridiculous amount of cabinets. Many of our cabinets literally have one thing in them. Like that one above the microwave, it has the teapot in it. Just a teapot.

Everyone asks me how I like the stained glass. I still don’t know how to feel about it. I like stained glass in general, but these colors/pattern are not my favorite.The glass is bringing in some serious Granny vibes. I basically feel meh about it, so one day it will be taken out, but today is not that day.

I wanted to tackle painting the cabinets first because that seemed the least scary compared to counter tops and back splash. My original design plan for the house was to go in a modern farmhouse direction. I saw this kitchen and freaking fell in love. Continue reading →

Don’t Settle For Bad Lighting: My Art Deco Entryway Chandelier

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 ~ mollymathias89 ~ Leave a comment

Let me show you why sometimes hoarding is a good thing. You may have noticed in my entryway makeover post, which you can catch up on here, that I did a little lighting update. The flippers made some “interesting” choices in lighting, by “interesting” I mean they went to Home Depot and bought the cheapest lights available. This meant there was a cowboy light in my entryway.

Now i’m not completely against bringing in some more western influences into my home decor. In fact, I have a cowhide rug that is one of my most favorite things, butI really wasn’t feeling my cowboy light. Luckily, past me thought ahead. Continue reading →