The Reality of What's Doable

So, I have actually been in my apartment for about 6 months now. Interestingly enough I threw a lot of my ideas out the window. Working a full time job and going to school keeps me very busy and the cost of home improvement stuff is not cheap, especially when projects turn out less (a lot less) than perfect.

So here is what I did to improve the look of my apartment

Utilize rugs.
While they do not cover up 100% of the dated, ugly laminate, they spruce things up a bit. I believe the two smaller rugs were about $10 at Wal-Mart and the bigger rug was around $40. Wal-Mart does offer some stylish options. Much cheaper and easier than trying to lay down new laminate.
These work great for adding a pop to the room. And in the cold winters make for a nice place for the dog to lie. 
 Here are my chalkboard doors, which I did do. The project was fairly easy. I did have to prime the doors, which is what you see in white. I think overall it cost about $40 for the supplies. I accidentally bought metal primer instead of normal primer, but it seemed to work just fine....although it was oil based. NEVER EVER EVER, use an oil based paint unless one, you know what you are doing and two, you really have to. Upon writing about this I am recalling I had to use mineral spirits to clean all the brushes, so between each coat of primer, and it took 2 coats, I had to wash the brush with mineral spirits. I am satisfied with the overall look, except it doesn't erase perfectly and I don't utilize it as much as I would have thought but it makes the room look neat. I also don't know how many landlords would allow something like this, but it CAN be painted over and back to its original white.
Sometimes my houseguests like to leave me creepy messages
I experimented with painting my entryway with a lighter color but it actually turned out not being much different than the original color that was on the walls. And my painter did a little bit of a sloppy job. You can see in the first collage there are bits of paint all over the baseboard near the door. Paint should come off with rubbing alcohol, I just haven't done that yet.

Photos courtesy of C. Scharton

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 23, 2014 at 5:31 PM

    I absolutely love the chalkboard on your doors! That seems to be fairly easy to do and I creates a unique look to your apartment. I'm glad that you mentioned that you got the wrong primer. Now I know exactly what to get if I decide to ever do this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 24, 2014 at 8:08 PM

    I was allowed to use chalkboard paint in my classroom and its a lot of fun, did you consider making it into a shape? We painted several large stars on the wall but of course we had a little more creative freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  3. cschartonJuly 25, 2014 at 4:05 PM

    I did not think about making it into a shape! I just mainly wanted those ugly white doors covered!

    ReplyDelete

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