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The $100 Room Challenge is wrapping up today! Unfortunately, I can’t quite call this a “reveal” since I still have some work to do. Most of the delay was due to rebuilding the gutted pantry and kitchen at the same time.

But here’s the room this morning, and then a month ago!

Let’s just pretend the fireplace surround is painted charcoal already.

DIY Mantle

We removed the giant floating mantle and the Hubs built the new fireplace surround from scratch (we’ll do a post about it in the future). It still needs to be primed and painted, it will be a darker gray when it’s finished.

All it took to build was 5 boards, fasteners we already had on-hand, and the French cleat that we stole from the back of the old mantle to secure it to the wall.

DIY Art

This was one of those projects you’ve seen on most DIY blogs: a “blueprint” or “engineering print” from Staples. You can get a photograph printed in giant format for really cheap. Of course, it’s not meant for photographs, so it comes out looking grainy, but that look was fine with me for what I had in mind. I was hoping for something that looked old and modern at the same time, and the graininess did the trick.

For the frame, we used 2 1x2s, miter cut and fastened together.

I have lots to say about this project (including when we were getting ready to hang it and our dog stepped right through the picture and put a giant hole in it), so a post about it will be coming.

Rug

The rug is one we’ve had for many years. Unfortunately, even though it was a pretty pricey piece from a higher-end store, the ends started fraying pretty quickly.

If any of you have dogs or robot vacuum cleaners, you know both are drawn to anything fraying like magnets and make it their mission for the day to help in the unravelling process.

So the rug had to go away before it was completely torn apart.

Getting it repaired properly and officially would be in the many hundreds, and honestly that’s just not something we’re interested in spending hundreds on. So I bought an upholstery needle and wool yarn that matched and started stitching the ends.

It’s going well, but it’s time-consuming, so I still have A LOT to do. In the meantime, the really bad end is tucked under itself.

Dog gate

We wanted something more modern and more user-friendly than the big metal baby gate, so we built one out of a crib railing that we got for free from Facebook Marketplace.

There’s a post with the details here.

Here’s today’s visiting dog showing off how the new gate works.

Accessories

Curtains were also from Facebook, just $10.

Plants were collected from other parts of the house.

We removed the Craftsman style sconces, and replaced the light fixture with one we purchased for our office area, but didn’t end up using, so it’s been sitting in a closet forever.

Item	Cost	Details
Light fixture	$0	Purchased for another room, but it didn’t work
Curtains	$10	From Facebook Marketplace
Rug	$10	Rug we already had, but weren’t using because the ends were frayed. Purchased wool ($8.50) and upholstery needle ($1.27) to fix.
Art	$9	Photo from Unsplash, printed at Staples for $6.02; framed with 2 1x2s for another $3.08; already had the spray paint.
Dog gate	$4	DIY from a free crib; $3.75 to add two hinges and a lock; paint we already had
Paint	$27	1 gallon of black paint for the walls ($26.55)
Mantle	$34	2 1x3s for $11.32; 3 1x4s for $22.65; we already have the fasteners, wood filler, sand paper, and paint from other projects.

So the official total was $93.14!

Here’s my wish list from the beginning:

~~Repair the black and white rug that’s supposed to be in this room, and swap the tan one out for it~~
~~Paint the walls~~
Paint the trim (decided not to–still debating)
~~Remove mantle~~
~~Build new mantle that actually surrounds stove (still art deco style)~~
~~Replace light fixture(s)~~
~~Custom doggy gate at the front door~~
~~Complete curtain and blinds set on the window, hung properly~~ (curtains, still keeping an eye out for blinds to go underneath)
Custom radiator cover to replace metal one (under the window) (removed the cover and like it much better, still hope to build a simple, modern cover eventually)
New bar stools for island (honestly probably won’t happen this month–and definitely not within the $100 budget) (was hoping to makeover the ones we had for a few dollars, but didn’t have time)

So we got 2/3rds of the wish list done!

Now go check out the huge differences the other ladies made with just $100 too:

DIY dog gate for cheap ($3.75)

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100-dollar-room-challenge-dining-room, Crafty, Decor, DIY, Homekeeping, Interior Decorating, Pets

One of the projects we wanted to tackle for our dining room in the $100 Room Challenge was an upgraded dog gate. It wasn’t super high on the list of priorities, but it all just came together for only $3.75 so I couldn’t resist.

We have a nice little entryway at the front door, but with the dog boarding business, we need a way to keep dogs back and safely inside when the front door is opened.

We have a really nice, fancy baby gate set up, but there are three annoyances with it:

A lot of people trip over it coming or going because it has a bottom piece that you don’t really notice, which is terrible and the most important one.
Guests also always have to ask how to get out, which is also silly to have to do, and unfortunately, they often get a little embarrassed.
It’s not pretty.
I actually didn’t even notice how unattractive it was until I was taking the “before” picture for the challenge.

Here is the previous one:

And now:

As I like to do when I need to decorate on a budget, I started the project by browsing Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for free items. Usually I’m looking for things that could be given a cheap makeover, or taken apart for parts to build something else.

Knowing we wanted to DIY a gate, all I saw when I came across a free crib were tons of free gate parts.

This was the crib:

We picked up it, and were super excited when we got home to find out that the side pieces were the perfect size for our doorways! We actually didn’t even have to take it apart for parts, just add hinges and a door latch. (I did trim down the two side pieces on top because they were too tall.)

So project breakdown for the new gate:

Crib (FREE)
If we needed to at this point, we would have cut down the parts to fit the doorway, or built it from scratch using the parts.
Spray paint (FREE)
We had white spray paint on hand. It wasn’t necessarily needed, it was a nice color, but this one had stickers that just would not come off cleanly, so it needed to be re-finished.
Two hinges ($2.75 at Home Depot–similar here)
One door latch ($1 at Home Depot —similar here)

A bonus of getting the whole crib is that we now also have a (free!) headboard for our guest bed, another side piece that we’ll eventually use to add another matching gate to the hallway, and the whole front panel, which we’re not sure how we’ll use yet, but we’ll figure something out!

Oh, and if you happen to find a free or cheap crib online, many of them come with mattresses included, which make perfect large dog beds.

Here is a picture with the other side of the crib for reference. The left is the part “before.” So we just turned it on it’s side, trimmed the new “top” down and removed the drawer slide.

Another unexpected bonus is that the Roomba can now also vacuum the entryway. Which is very exciting for me.

Other updates we’ve made to the room so far are actual curtains(!) (also from FB Marketplace for $10), and we swapped out the light fixture.

The light fixture we had purchased a year-and-a-half ago for the family room and didn’t end up using it because the light it gave off wasn’t enough for the room, so it’s been sitting in a closet for all that time. (It’s this one from IKEA.)

Check out everyone else’s progress in the $100 Room Challenge too!

Hover over the image to Pin it for later.

Mini Dining Room Makeover Before

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100-dollar-room-challenge-dining-room, Interior Decorating, MC Cape Cod, Our houses

We are still mid-kitchen remodel (thanks to 2020–update coming soon). But since the kitchen is now open to the dining room and it’s pretty much one space, we wanted to fix it up a little too.

$100 Room Challenge time is MY FAVORITE time to do that. Because, it clearly only costs $100 and it’s so much fun to see what you can do with just that much money.

So here are the “Befores!”

Not long after moving in, I broke the mini blinds that were on the window when I tried to close them…apparently too enthusiastically. And the temporary curtain we put up is STILL there.

You can see we have a couple cabinets hanging out in the room. Those will be going into the soon-to-be butler’s pantry.

We have an art deco mantle just hanging out mid-wall. And art deco/craftsman ceiling light and sconces.

The sconces are tricky. I love sconces in a dining room, but it’s way overkill with overhead lights there as well. Plus they are way too high up the wall. So I’d like to remove one set, either the overhead or the sconces. This is a tough one for me!

And teal walls.

The color is actually nice. But I just don’t personally do teal walls, just not “our thing”. You can see the black and gray I’ve been testing.

My wish list is huge for the room. Not expensive stuff, just big projects, so I doubt we’ll be able to get to them all, but hopefully at least a few for this challenge:

Repair the black and white rug that’s supposed to be in this room, and swap the tan one out for it
Paint the walls
Paint the trim
Remove mantle
Build new mantle that actually surrounds stove (still art deco style)
Replace light fixture(s)
Custom doggy gate at the front door
Complete curtain and blinds set on the window, hung properly
Custom radiator cover to replace metal one (under the window)
New bar stools for island (honestly probably won’t happen this month–and definitely not within the $100 budget)

Here’s a sample of my Pinterest inspiration board for the room (a soft black/charcoal and white, as usual for me):

The $100 Room Challenge is a challenge that anyone can join, just makeover a room for $100 and share your progress on your blog. Everyone that joins can link their posts together so we can all hop from blog to blog getting really fun inspiration (and be amazed at what you can accomplish with $100).

Here are the rest of the participants for this challenge:

Kitchen demo

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MC Cape Cod, Our houses

Last week I posted about remodeling the kitchen (we’re attempting the One Room Challenge). Here’s the story on why this all started.

Back in November (yes, it’s MAY), we were going to host Thanksgiving. Days before, the main sewer pipe in our house rotted through.

I was downstairs doing laundry when water came down from upstairs and rocketed out the back side of the pipe and onto the wall of the basement. Not good.

Our current house has only one bathroom, and it’s on the other side of the kitchen, so the main pipe runs down the wall between the two rooms.

The bathroom is still vintage tile wall that we don’t have any interest in ripping out. The kitchen however, we wanted to gut. (At some point…later down the road…many months or even a year from this point…) But one of the walls had to go.

Kitchen it was. Days before Thanksgiving for 10.

We patched the pipe up enough to give us a few days to demolish cabinets so we could get to the wall.

The dresser posing as cabinets came out first, then the breakfast bar.

After that, we removed 5 layers of drywall and paneling (!) to get down to the studs so we would have a lot more room to move around in there.

And the wall was going to go anyway.

Then the stove came out along with the cabinet that was up against the back wall and we finally got to the offending pipe so it could be replaced.

The uppers are also down now, the fake brick and the drywall are also gone, and that’s where we are right now!

Next is removing the studs and putting a header in (the wall is load-bearing), then putting drywall back up on the back wall.

After that, we’ll put in the new cabinets (still have to wait until we can actually purchase some), countertops, new sink, and appliances.

1940s Kitchen Remodel Before

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MC Cape Cod, Our houses

It’s time for the One Room Challenge and we’ve decided to try to makeover our kitchen.

You guys haven’t even been introduced to our “new” house yet, hopefully that will come soon, but you’ll meet our kitchen today.

It’s T-I-N-Y.

Tiny 1940s galley kitchen.

Here’s the kitchen from the dining room minutes after we signed the papers for the house (we showed up with bubbly and the pups to celebrate, and found that the sweet previous owners left us bar stools, wine and dog toys-so sweet!).

The house is a complete mish-mash of styles, the cabinets are colonial, the backsplash is fake brick, while the walls are cape-code style paneling. Light fixtures are a mix of 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

The kitchen is so tiny that the previous owners very inventively put a dresser in it for some extra cabinet space. But it’s just too tiny to be functional in the way we like to use a kitchen (together and a lot).

Here’s after we moved our things in and replaced the teeny-weeny fridge:

Of course, I promptly covered the “merlot” laminate countertops with contact paper (which you totally need to try if you need a quick, cheap and pretty sturdy makeover $5 guys. Five dollars.). They’ve been in place for a year and I love them just as much as I ever did.

Look at the FIVE DOLLAR DIFFERENCE:

Anyway, it’s all going away. 😀

So, so excited for the extended special-COVID-edition of the One Room Challenge this year.

Plans are:

No more wall between kitchen and dining room
New appliances
Swap places with fridge and stove
Island with storage and seating where divider wall is
New cabinets

Design plans:

Black, white, and wood tones. Like so:

(Click on picture to see everything on Pinterest.)

More details forth-coming, but we’re planning on doing a lot as we go as so much (like cabinets and countertops…) is unavailable at the moment.

Let the games begin!

How to figure out what your decorating style is

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How to decorate, Interior Decorating

This post is updated from 2013 with a lot more details and tips on how to figure out what your decorating style is.

I didn’t want to give you a cutesy quiz (even though those are fun!), because I want this to be REAL for you. Not knowing what your style is when decorating can really be a big frustration, and can lead to a lot of wasted money and guilt…all while sitting in a room you still don’t feel good in.

So sorry, no quiz, because I really want to help you–once and for all–figure out your style when decorating your home, not just play a fun little game.

Here are 4 tips for how to figure out what your decorating style is when you don’t know where to start:

1. Look for clues in your wardrobe

When I originally wrote this post, this was my one and only tip. I was designing a room for someone (a blank canvas–the best kind!), but she didn’t have a clear vision of her own style when it came to decor.

The rest of her house was all over the place–things were purchased because she liked them at the time, but nothing really went together or made sense.

To start pinning down her taste, we looked to her clothing. She has a very definite style when it comes to clothes, so we examined the elements of her wardrobe that helped us define her style.

For her, she had a very classic, classy style. Her clothes were structured and tailored. She loved black and white, and then pops of clear, bright colors like teal and red.

Have you ever looked in your closet for decor inspiration? It can be pretty enlightening!

2. Start a Pinterest board

But be careful!

Most Pinterest accounts I see are as all-over-the-place as you can get, with ultra modern and luxurious homes saved as “Dream Home” next to pictures of burlap sack craft ideas. Those don’t go together.

Start yourself a new board, and fill it up with rooms you love. Really fill it.

Then leave it alone for a week or so.

Then come back to it and ruthlessly edit it. Picture yourself living in the rooms. Do you still really love it? If not, delete it. Delete everything that’s just “nice” and only keep what you’re crazy about.

You should start to see some pretty good threads of your current style taking shape.

Here’s an example of a board with a very clear style coming through:

3. Think about your favorite activities

If you have a totally free evening at home, what would you do with it? (🙅🏻 TV and internet are not options on the table here.) Read a book in a cozy corner? Build a blanket fort with kids?

Would you rather spend a vacation laying on the beach, exploring Manhattan, adventure traveling in South America, etc?

Be careful with this step too. You don’t want a “theme” house, you want a style.

If travel makes your heart sing, don’t put up artwork of the Eiffel Tower, take a couple days looking into Parisian interior design. You’ll start to see the big difference between kitsch and cutesy “themes”, and actual style.

4. Photograph your home as it is right now

I’ve written before about how this gives you a totally new perspective on your space.

Go through a couple rooms in your house and photograph them from several angles. (Waist-height actually gives you the best perspective for interior photos.) Open up the pictures on your computer, not just on your phone.

Pinpoint what you don’t like, AND what you do like.

Do you notice the painting over the sofa MAKES the living room, but the rug totally clashes with it? Do your curtains make your windows look small? (Hint: hang them higher and wider!)

Also, is your house way more cluttered than you thought it was now that you’re seeing it in pictures? 🙈 Doesn’t seeing it through photos put everything in a whole new light?!

The answer to most of these questions really gets to who you are and how you are happiest and most comfortable as a person.

how to figure out what your decorating style is

Helpful? Yay! Pin it to come back.

Hover over the image –> and click the PIN button.

How much money can you make on Rover?

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Making Money From Home, Personal Development and Making Money From Home

Over 3 years ago, we started offering dog sitting and daycare in our home, as well as dog walking and drop-ins for feeding/playing with dogs and cats using Rover.com. We started it because we love dogs and hate kennels, and the extra money was a bonus.

The extra money soon became a necessity when the Hubs was laid off. In the first year, it was paying for our mortgage and groceries every month. (That was back in the midwest–it wouldn’t have quite paid the mortgage here in New England).

So how much money can you make on Rover?

We don’t like to take on so many dogs that it distracts us from work, so aside from our regular daycare dogs, we usually only take on one family at a time.

Last month, we made $1,058.80.

Around $1,000 a month is average for us. That’s after Rover’s fees too.

Last month, we had 7 different dogs, but 3 sets of siblings.

$752.80 was for overnight boardings. $266 was for 7 days of daycare for a set of siblings that we keep every Monday and Thursday. We had no walks or drop-ins last month.

Our dogs with their newest friend staying with us for the week.

How can you make just $300 extra month on Rover:

If you only wanted an extra $300 a month, you could just have:

one week-long overnight stay, plus
3 days of daycare.

That would be $300 after fees if your rates are average. And you didn’t even have to leave the house for it.

You can read our recommendations for getting started here.

Sign up to become a sitter and make some extra money using this link and you’ll also get a $20 credit to use the service yourself.

BECOME A ROVER SITTER

They will run a background check on you to make sure everyone will be safe, and then you’ll be able to start sitting dogs and making money pretty quickly!

how much money can you make on rover dog sitting per month

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Dog sitting FAQs:

Can you make a lot of money on Rover?

Yes! You could easily make $3,500 to $4,00 a month if you wanted it to be a full-time job.
If you don’t want quite that much work, you can take in just a few dogs a month and still earn about $1,000.

Is it worth working for Rover?

Definitely, Rover brings in the customers for you. This is especially important when you’re just getting started. We never would have gotten all the business we have now without them.

What percentage does Rover take?

They keep 20%. With Rover, you set your own prices, and you take home 80% of it.

How much does Rover pay per walk?

Whatever you would like to charge, minus the 20% they keep. We currently charge $20 for a 30 minute walk, so we take home $16.
Sometimes it seems like it’s not worth it to me, until I remember it forces me to get out of the house AND get exercise and I get paid for it. Without that, I might end up wandering around a store and spending money instead.

How much should I charge to dog sit for a week?

We charge $280 for one adult dog for 7 days. One puppy for 7 days is $350. Two dogs from the same family for 7 days are $350. For you, it depends on the average rate of the market you’re in, so do some research. But if you’re offering very personal, high quality service, charge more than average to match.

How do you get clients on Rover?

First, make sure you have a professional, but friendly profile. Use a high quality photo of yourself, and essentially don’t sound like a crazy person in your profile. Let people you know you love dogs, but you take their care seriously.
Rover gives you a code to give people $20 off their first stay. Give that code to EVERYONE and tell them they can use it for a free, or nearly free first walk or day of daycare. The more stays and reviews you get on Rover, the more clients they’ll send to you.

Our Mid Century Modern tour

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Before and after, Mid Century Modern, Our houses

Our MCM (the Prairie house as we call it), was our dream house. We even considered getting the blueprints from the original owner’s son so we could re-build it when we moved. (But with our mobile lifestyle, there wouldn’t be enough time for that!)

The Story

To recap our MCM story: we purchased it for a STEAL back in the mid-west. (The local real estate office literally didn’t know what a mid-century modern was and just called it a “unique” property. They thought the real selling point was the view of the farm across the street.)

We intended to start restoring it right away, but 6 months after moving in, the job that moved us out there very unexpectedly ended. After 3 years of job struggles in our dream house, we were only able to get small (to us) projects done.

When the Hubs job offer came through from New England, we had ONE MONTH to pack, start and finish projects like replacing laminate flooring, a minor kitchen reno, bathroom reno, and then put it on the market and move.

The MCM Living Room

The Dining Room

The movers had already come and packed up most of our stuff by the time I took the listing photos of the dining room, office, and kitchen, so it was a little prettier with our own stuff, but you get the idea here:

The MCM Kitchen

The house still had the original wall oven and stove top, and we still used them until our last month in the house. We wanted to replace them individually, but time and money didn’t allow.

So we turned the spot next to the fridge where the wall oven was into another cupboard and put our very nice KitchenAid range (that I miss very much) in.

We purchased the matching dishwasher and fridge when we moved to the area. (In case you’d like to know, we liked the range–though it could have been better, loved the fridge, h-a-t-e-d the dishwasher.)

They all sure looked good though.

The oven, cupboards and cabinets in the kitchen.

This was a built-in desk with peg board off the kitchen that we turned into our coffee bar and recycle center. Perfect height for a shorty like me. 🙂

The Office Area

This was at the end of the dining room. (You can see it was before we put the new floors down!)

The MCM Master Bedroom and bath

You can read more about that here.

The Guest Room

Unfortunately, we did nothing to the guest room, not even paint.

And the Main Bathroom

You can read more about that here–the before was CRAZY.

Some “Before” Pictures

You can read my first post about this house here.

Affordable bathroom reno (the after)

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Before and after, Interior Decorating, Mid Century Modern, Our houses

Waaay back in week 3 of the fall 2018 One Room Challenge we were making over our bathroom. I had a post written about our progress, but before I could publish it, we got big news: we were moving across the country again.

There was no time to hit publish. There was no time for anything but a mad rush to finish our renovations at the highest quality could, pack the house, get the MCM on the market, and move to New England. In one month. Our usual fashion…

So here is the original post I had written back in the fall at the half-way mark of the One Room Challenge:

Once we pulled out all the rotten drywall and built a wall between the tub and the powder room, it was time to finish it.

What we WANTED were mother-of-pearl tiles. Because that’s what was originally there (though in plastic form), and because it’s gorgeous. However that would have cost us well over $1,000 just for the tub. Definitely something we would have saved for if this were our forever home.

But it isn’t.

2019 edit: Ha! Good timing to think like that.

And while keeping the home close to original is very important to us, we can’t go overboard in over-improving. The fact is, this is still, and always will be a two bedroom house, and number of bedrooms, baths, and location trumps any improvements you make no matter what “they” say. We’ve lived through it twice…

So…well over $1,000 or $144 for a shiny new, fast, and easy plastic tub surround that will be covered by a curtain anyway?

Yay for plastic tub surrounds!

We got it up and caulked in just a few hours. I didn’t get pictures of the process because it took both of us to put the panels up. But it’s just putting adhesive on the backs of the panels and pressing them onto the wall.

We weren’t able to replace the vanity like I was hoping, but we did replace the counter top with a nice one from IKEA.

Sorry again for the low-quality photos…as mentioned, we were in a mad rush.