remodeling Archives - Prodigal Pieces

In DIY / Tutorials, Giveaways, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling

Painted Fireplace Insert ~ Step-by-Step Tutorial

We may have a sloth’s pace when working on our home, but not by any decision of our own. The key is we get it done. Folks, we are so close to wrapping up our family room remodel that I’m brimming with excitement. For one, it will feel good to be done. Two, I need my house back! haha. Stuffing the contents of the biggest room into the other rooms of your home is not so fun. However, we are appreciating the home we do have. With that, I’m sharing how to update your fireplace insert with a painted fireplace tutorial. Here is said fireplace in question…

That beauty and this room has come a long way from where it started 15 years ago. Read more

Larissa

124 Comments

In Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling

Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel Reveal

Do you hear that? The proverbial angels are singing because we have come to the day that I can finally show you our farmhouse kitchen remodel reveal. It’s been a long time coming and this post definitely won’t be short and will have MANY pictures (no apologies, ahem). So, come along as I take back to our beginning and fill you in on our DIY adventure.

First, let me say a HUGE thank you to my awesome family. JC worked wonders in all aspects of this project. For instance, he took on things he’s never worked on before, all while working many jobs. To our six wonderful kids for being patient as we worked when we could, and for coming along and helping us complete our dream. We couldn’t do it without you! And, for my Lord as I know we couldn’t have done it without Him.

Why the drama you say? It’s just a kitchen, right? Well, to us it’s much more than that. About 3 years ago (2.833 years ago to be exact). While we didn’t work 24/7 on it for that length of time, it still took up much of our free time. And if you know what it’s like being a homeschooling family of 8, that “free time” really doesn’t exist. Also, because of the seasons here, we had to take breaks from it in the summer and work on outdoor projects. In addition, when a vehicle went bad, or overtime at day jobs comes up, we have to stop. So frustrating.

However, we decided it was time to fix a few bugs that were still existing in our home after a quick remodel we did after we moved in. You can see our first post back in 2016 HERE, but I’ll update here as well.

Here is what you would have seen when we bought our home in 2003.

As I mentioned in my first post, Read more

Larissa

64 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling, Repurposed, Woodworking

DIY Coffered Ceiling with Antique Barn Roof Shingles

The time has come for me to share with you the beginning of our family room remodel and the continuation of how we are making our house our home. There is not doubt that owning a home is an adventure and such a blessing. Never did I think we would be here for 15 years, but happily here we are. My goal today is to share with you yet another journey, update you on our past projects, and invite you to learn how to create your own DIY coffered ceiling. (so many have asked!) Let the fun begin…

Truthfully, I hadn’t intended to post much about our next room adventure until our kitchen was complete. If you are new around here, we are wrapping our our 2.5 year kitchen/dining/laundry remodel that began HERE. We did take last summer off to work on numerous outdoor projects too. Since what I am able to help with in the kitchen completion has been on pause, I decided it was time to jump-start our other room – the family room.

The story of our journey really began in 2003 when we bought this house and began the first remodel. Here is peek at the family room we saw when we moved in.

Pine paneling, old Berber carpet, and open fireplace with built-in bookshelves unseen. You can even still see the drop ceiling just above us. Boy, hard to believe my oldest was a toddler and I was expecting our second baby.

God moved mountains for us to be able to purchase this much of a home in the first place. Never in my wildest dreams would I think we could own a home in Read more

Larissa

36 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling

DIY Faux Brick Tutorial ~ Budget Decor

Today’s the day!! I’ve been telling you that I was working hard to not only get some major steps done in our kitchen remodel, but also create a video tutorial so you can do it too. {{applause}} I’m all about brick – old brick, new brick, brick on the walls, brick on the floors…I love it! So, without further adieu, here is my DIY faux brick tutorial and an update to my kitchen.

*post sponsored by Dixie Belle Paint Company and includes affiliate links so you can find the products I love to use too. (see full disclosure)

You are not going to believe how EASY this is. Seriously. When you take over 2 years to remodel your kitchen, laundry, and dining, and you’re like me, you tend to…ummm…keep adding to the project. ahem. Did we plan to cut open our doorway in the beginning? NO. Read more

Larissa

192 Comments

In Family, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling

Remodeling Stress ~ How to Cope During DIY Projects

Numerous shows are on television demonstrating how “easy” it can be to take a home and turn it into something fabulous. Knock out a wall (or two), put down new flooring, and even add-on…all in one episode. It all seems so glorious and begs you to give DIY a try, doesn’t it? Somehow though, it doesn’t quite prepare you for real life DIY and the reality of remodeling stress. Yep, I’m talking about that smack-in-the-face kind of “What is going on?” feeling. To aid in that journey to get that euphoric accomplishment feeling, I am going to share 5 ways to prepare and cope during your remodel.

Being a homeowner is one of the purest joys that be found. It’s responsibility and freedom that can’t be found elsewhere. I liken it to a roller-coaster ride, full of Read more

Larissa

19 Comments

In Crafts, DIY / Tutorials, Furniture, Home Decor, Project Gallery, Remodeling, Repurposed, Upholstery

Top 10 Makeovers of 2015

As this past year flashes by and we are already a few days into 2016, I wanted to take a minute to look at my year in review and share my Top 10 Makeovers of 2015. Fun, right? It is amazing to see God working in my life and of my family. I want to share the blessings with you and offer you a surprise for helping me out with a little something later on.

Let’s get this party started!!

Crazy as this sounds, my #1 top viewed post of 2015 was not a makeover, but a tip. Yep, a last-minute, grab-my-camera, and why-not-share-my-quirky-habit type of post. My “Natural Ant Control with Grits” post blew up and was by far number one. I guess I’m not the only one with the pesky little critters each spring.

A bit of controversy arose about my post and several naysayers appeared, but I tell ya, it works. Whether it kills them or just feeds them so they don’t come in…I don’t care. I like ants, just not in my home, right?

The #2 post was none other than Read more

Larissa

42 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Project Gallery, Remodeling, Woodworking

Patio Reveal ~ Our DIY adventure

The time has finally come. Are you ready for a tour of our patio makoever? We are!! First, I want to give a huge shout-out to my hubby and kids. Without them this massive undertaking would not have happened. We’ve poured countless hours outside of our normal workload building and creating a family space we can now all enjoy. Second, I would to thank my sponsors, DFO Home and HomeRight. Their awesome products (see previous post for details) have made this makeover even better than imagined.

Let the tour begin! It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t take you back to where it all started…with the hand-me-down patio set my parents gave me. You can read more on the before here.

Here’s what we started with…

…and the after…

Quite the difference eh? I can’t tell how much more we are using this space now that it’s inviting and family centered. Read more

Larissa

64 Comments

In DIY / Tutorials, Family, Home Decor, Kids, Project Gallery, Remodeling

Boys Bedroom Makeover ~ Vintage Industrial Teen

I think we are crazy, at least I know I am. tsk. We have been working our hind ends off, and we can’t stop yet. One of our recent projects for the home is our boys bedroom, where our oldest and next to youngest get to live together. We’re calling this our teen room makeover because our new look will suit both, giving a chance for the younger one to feel “grown up”.

They love living together, even though it takes some work to keep things sane, but I know they wouldn’t have it any other way. When we first bought our home back in ’03, their room had brown Berber carpet, peach painted walls, and a giant funky plug-in light fixture on a brass chain. How’s that for retro for you? Honestly, with a little fixing up, it would fit right in to today’s modern decor and I’m sort of kicking myself for not keeping the fixture. Ah well.

Here’s where we were at the beginning. This room has been that peach then followed by this current beige color with pink carpet for our daughters. It wasn’t long ago that my hubby finally let me rip out the carpet to expose the gorgeous wood floors (thank you, Lord!). We’ve flip-flopped this room so many times, but now it will stay for our boys because the girls outnumber them and need the larger room.

This is a nice sized space, approximately 8′ x 12′ with closet. One mistake I have done, was to keep adding storage space in every inch I could. You may be wondering why that’s a mistake because storage space is good, right? Well, it tends to cause a person to keep more than they normally would. I created a monster by giving my kids too many places to store things and then we have repeated interactions about keeping it clean and how to maintain the “junk”.

In this makeover, I’m REMOVING some of that storage Read more

Larissa

12 Comments

In Home Decor, Remodeling, Repurposed, Woodworking

Farmhouse Bathroom Remodel Reveal

Today’s the day! WAHOO! Yes, I’m excited and yes, I can show you the final product of all our work in our one and only bathroom.

Now, for those of you just stopping in, I’d like to take a minute to catch you up to speed. My family and I are remodeling our house (again) and our latest project was our master bedroom, and sort of at the same time our soon-to-be farmhouse bathroom over the last year (while also having babies and a grand ol’ time).

When we bought our home in 2003, this is what the bathroom looked like. In case you’re wondering, this is a scanned and uploaded photo, so you could get the full effect. Now I am really dating myself. ahem.

Cast iron green bathtub with matching green commode, glass shower doors, 3″ creamy white square tiles on the bottom and 1″ white with gold square tiles on top. Berber carpet on the floor, clear corrugated plexiglass type drop ceiling, an indoor/outdoor light complete with outlet attached, and a single mirrored medicine cabinet. Oh yeah, total room for improvement.

First makeover included painting upper tiles dark maroon and the ceiling panels and grids white, added green floor tile, plus mirror and light fixtures, and took out the shower doors.

Second makeover, yanked out the tub and toilet for new fiberglass tub with surround, and put in new floor tile. (another uber old scanned picture)

It wasn’t until a couple years later I painted the upper tile a soft green and changed up the decor. This picture shows after we already tore down the ceiling and getting into gutting it from top to bottom.

Third times a charm, right? tsk.

Well, this time was for good because we needed to replace that window and we wanted a clean start, a GIGANTIC do over. All the details about the start of our project, including how we got a massively heavy tub in there are here, and the latest upgrades are all here. Take a minute and catch up…it’s a good read.

Are you ready? We are!!

Larissa

122 Comments

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