Making things suck less

This is such an embarrassing photo of my pantry but it is the beginning of what we affectionately call "making things suck less" or getting our house ready to sell.

None of these things are showstoppers. They are the fixes that just make the house not suck.

In defense of the pantry, we have an 18 month old and must overstuff all of the high shelves to keep most of it out of her reach. In a few weeks the bulk of it will be moving with me, leaving only the best looking items in nice and neat rows.

I'll continue the humiliation with these kitchen renovation pics.

This is the early part of the $3000 update.

The plans are simple because we are not staying.

The walls originally had this wall paper (before the orange which was my biggest color mistake ever)

We've removed lots of dated wallpaper in this house. 

The cabinets went from this...

to this...

$300 for paint and hardware (and my husband's one week vacation in time invested)

$ 1700 for new solid surface counters and sink

$ 400 for new faucet and an additional cabinet to replace the peninsula in the photo above.

$40 for fabric and boards to make three custom valances.

The valances were super easy. I got 1 1/2 yards of fabric on sale and used lining I had left from other window projects.

I cut 18 inch pieces, this worked on my window width with 54 inch fabric, and sewed three sides with right sides facing each other. Turned it right side out to iron flat and then iron in the center pleat. It is then stapled to a fabric covered 1x3 board and mounted using "L" brackets.

I have done this in several rooms where I never got around to dressing the windows. I like the custom look and its cheap and easy.

We did not remove the goofy cabinet valance because it woulld expose an unsightly light fixture.

This week instead of decking the halls and stuffing the turkey my talented and patient husband is taking our kitchen floor from this crime...

to this, in progress $400 improvement.

Making things suck less has involved bunches of boring stuff like painting the underside of the gutters and  the fascia around the screened porch along with replacing 45 year-old plastic swichplates with new plastic ones.

It won't make anyone say, "Wow" but they won't say ,"Ewwww" either.