Elliptical Workout Routines

Just a quick post today! Chris and I recently joined our local athletic center - It's an awesome facility and I totally wish we had done it sooner! Anyways, we start with 30 minutes of cardio and work on arms after. It's been very motivating getting healthy together.

Anytime I go to the gym, I get on the elliptical and go for 30 minutes on whatever setting 'quick start' gets me...I don't even think I knew the resistance and incline buttons existed until a few weeks ago. That's when I found a great little elliptical workout routine on one of my favorite blogs, Carolina Charm. I've been following this routine for about 2 weeks and let me tell you, I can feel the results! Check it out!

Source: Carolina Charm

Are there any other great elliptical workouts? Now that I know the elliptical has all these great features, I need more routines! Perhaps I'll scour Pinterest and share what I find. :)

DIY Painted Chevron Curtains

After taking down the gross curtains left behind by the previous homeowners (see below) and putting a fresh coat of paint on the game room, Chris and I couldn't agree on new curtains for the room. I scoured the internet and we searched our old standby, IKEA - still we couldn't agree on just the right style.

Chris is an awesome husband and has an opinion on most of our house updates but this can get frustrating when we're trying to make decor decisions (he knows this :) ). Plus, I'm cheap - my price meter is stuck in 1990, really. So fearing we may never have curtains for our game room, I turned to Pinterest, where I found this post:

Ombre Painted Chevron Curtains Tutorial

I showed it to Chris and he trusted my vision. :) Allons-y! 

She's basically taken plain white curtains and prettied them up by painting (yes, painting!) chevron stripes on them. Genius! She painted the entire curtains in varying shades to create an ombré effect, which looks gorgeous, but I had six panels to do and I am not that patient! So, I adapted her plans to meet my own needs and I think it worked perfectly! 

I bought white curtains from IKEA @ $9.99 for two wide panels. I cut them in half since our windows are not that wide, so I was able to get 4 panels from one package! Hemming the curtains and sewing the cut edges did require more work but it saved me some money.

The curtains and Frog Tape (highly recommend, it's the best painters tape especially for designs like chevron) was all I needed since I had grey paint on hand from previous projects. Total cost for all six panels? Under $30!

Below are my photos but definitely check out remodelaholic's blog for great visual instructions. I couldn't have pulled this off without those instructions!

Taping the pattern out was definitely the most tedious and time consuming part.

The finished product! 

They are definitely not perfect but I got the custom look I was going for on a 90's budget and I think they look great!

Lesson learned: It may take me and Chris a while to agree on something we both like but we always seem to come up with the perfect solution in the end!

Here is our game room transformation so far:

Now it's time to decide on some furniture. ;)

Quick Door Update

I've hated the door leading from our kitchen to our garage since we bought the place. It's poorly painted and impossible to keep clean. I thought about replacing it but quickly learned that doors are expensive! So, I decided to buy a little molding and some paint and see what I could do to make this door work.

I bought a quart of a lovely Navy color to match our soon to be new kitchen wall color and some glossy painted molding. 

I cleaned the door and sanded away the bubbles and brush marks from the previous paint job. Then I rolled on a couple coats of my fancy new paint! 

After the paint dried, I measured out the molding and used my miter saw to cut the pieces at a 45 degree angle (You can also use a miter box). I used construction glue (like calk) to glue my framing to the door, calked any gaps, and voila! I now have a fancy new door and I don't have to be grumpy every time I see it!

DIY Door Knob Makeover

Chris and I bought our first house last August and have spent the last 10 months making it our own. The floor plan and location were perfect but the decor, gold/brown walls and 90's hardware were not. In my first official blog post, I'll be showing you how I saved $$ by revamping those old ugly door knobs instead of buying new ones.

Behold, the classic 90's brass door knob - painted over and losing it's lovely brass sheen.

I had read a lot about spray painting hardware before we attempted it and I have to stay I was skeptical but what did we have to lose? We hated the knobs and they needed to be replaced regardless - so we went for it! 

Here's what you'll need:

*Old boxes for painting

*Sanding block

*Screwdriver for hardware removal

*Rust-oleum Automotive Primer

*Rust-oleum Universal Metallic Spray Paint in your color choice (I used Brushed Nickel)

Step 1: Remove all the knobs and set up your work area. (*Chris came up with this make-shift table - it was perfect!)

Step 2: Lightly sand the knobs to rid them of any paint, dust or oils, then prime with automotive primer. You'll want to use a primer color similar to your final color choice - since my final color is Brushed Nickel, I'm using a light gray primer.

We used an old brick and some cardboard packing (from our many IKEA purchases) to protect the mechanics of the knobs and screws while spray painting.

Step 3: After the primer dries, it's time to add your final metallic color. Use sweeping motions and spray in short spurts to achieve good coverage and minimize drips! You may have to go over the knob several times to cover it evenly.

Hey, handsome!

Step 4: Let the knobs dry and cure for at least 24 hours, then install your knobs and enjoy!

We finished this project back in September and have been enjoying our new knobs for 10 months now. The paint still looks just as good as it did on day one!

We had 3 locking door knobs, 12 regular knobs and one fancy front door handle - replacing all of those adds up quickly! Instead it cost us a just little time and about $25 in spray paint. WIN!

**Rustoleum Spray Paint was my personal preference for this project but I am in no way paid to use it or endorse it. Use whatever spray paint works best for you!