Closet Door Makeover.... in progress!

With the winter season winding down, quite slowly but very surely, I have begun to transition my closet over from Winter to Spring.  As I was going through this process, I realized I don't like my closet very much.  So, I have decided to do something about it.  It hasn't happened as quickly as I would like, but hopefully by the end of Spring Break, I will have a reveal to share.

I have decided to start with a project I can finish rather quickly - the dreaded closet door.  It is a plain, unattractive, faux woodgrain hollow core door.  I am in the process of changing out all the dark, plain ranch moldings to bright white colonial trim and this is just one more project I can scratch off that list.  Here is my progress so far..

Since I have already emptied the majority of the closet to paint it, it was wonderful to be able to work on the door IN the closet instead of lugging it downstairs and out the door to the garage.  I removed the door knob which is being moved to another door in the house and the antique brass hinges.

Normally, the next step would be to use a light stripper to remove varnish and roughen up the surface.  That is until I found this on clearnace at WalMart.  YAY!  I simply put it on a rag and applied it in a circular motion and walah!  It definitely de-glossed the surface and provided a smooth surface which held paint.  AWESOME!  I elected to add one coat of Krylon white primer to give me a neutral surface to paint.

All ready for the final coat!  

These are the totally random items and supplies I am going to use for the door makeover.  The bow, which I LOVE, was from a thrift store and cost me 25 cents.  It is made from a very thin wood and was from the Walmart Christmas collection.  I bought it knowing I would use it somewhere, someday - I love bows!  And they are trending for Spring 2013.  Lucky me!  :-)

 I primed it white and it is also ready for its final coat of paint!  That is all I am revealing so far -  I hope it turns out as adorable as I imagine it to be.

I Bought A $1,000 Toilet Today! For $60 bucks!

I can't believe I am writing this post - that I am actually admitting I bought a used toilet today.  A big part of me is really excited and a little part of me is still grossed out a little bit.  Please don't freak out, please don't unfollow me, please don't look at me that way.  LOL  It's gonna be ok.

I was in South Bend this weekend for Notre Dame playoff hockey - by the way they swept Bowling Green to advance to the next round (whoo hoo) - and I always go to the Habitat ReStore here in town.

Nice looking place, huh?  And it is SO clean and organized.  Like a Home Depot!  :-)

This summer, I am going to re-model the downstairs bathroom because it is just icky.  I have been accumulating the tile, faucets, etc. over the past few years at unbelievable prices and the only things big left to purchase are a vanity and toilet.  Strolling through the ReStore I passed a toilet.  But it just wasn't any toilet, it was the Kohler Revival toilet.  The snazzy looking one with the pull flush knob on the top.

I looked at it and for a minute I thought it was new and then I took the tank lid off and it definitely was not new.  It wasn't gross, it just had water deposits around the tank.  I thought about it for a split second and then walked away.  But it was gnawing at me - you know how that is.  When you see something and you are like, "meh" but once you think about it or come up with the perfect place for it, etc, YOU MUST HAVE IT!  Lol - I do it all the time!

So when I got home, of course I Googled it.  (I Google everything!)  And there it was, on the Lowe's website for ...

KOHLER Revival Biscuit Elongated Toilet

Item #: 89230 |  Model #: 3555-US-96

$1,001.44

WHAT?  A $1,000 toilet?  You have got to be kidding me?  

So I then Googled, "Buying a used toilet",  "Is it gross to buy a used toilet?", etc.  And you know what?  It isn't.  After reading so many posts from people who have done this, it really is ok.  

We use the bathroom at our friends' houses, we buy a house and we don't replace the toilets, we use public toilets every day.  So why not a used toilet from a thrift store?  :-)  

I texted my sister for her opinion and she told me of cleaners and such which remove EVERYTHING - germs, viruses, and crud of any kind!    I can also power wash it to remove any lingering micro gross.

So they opened at 9:00 on Monday morning and of course it was sleeting and raining.  But I threw on jeans, a hoodie, and brushed my teeth.  That is the wonderful thing about second hand store shopping, the effort to be presentable is about 1/3 that of a retail store.  It was about 9:10 when I reached the store and my pulse was quickening as I imagined a contractor loading it into his truck.  So here I went from being totally grossed out to being obsessed with this used toilet.  SERIOUSLY???  

I entered the store, exchanged pleasantries with the workers and made a bee line for the plumbing department and there it was.  In all of its wonderful grossness.  :-)  So I took the tank lid off and checked for cracks.  I crawled underneath - yeah that was icky - to check for cracks in the base and under the tank and negatory.  SO I grabbed the lid and proceeded to walk around the store so no one could swoop in and grab it away from me.  I also found a NEW - yes NEW in package - Kwik Set polished chrome (SO hard to find) doorknob set for a door project I am hoping to finish in a few weeks.

So the price was $75 for the toilet and I had - wait for it - a COUPON!  25% off!  I KNOW!!  So my total for the toilet and the door knob came to $66.20.  So now I have gone from being at the top of the heebie-jeebies scale to being really excited about my bathroom remodel.  

And the seat has chrome hinges and is $160 to replace.  YIKES!  I may have to Google around for a way lower price than that.  

So, now, when it comes to thrift shopping, second hand stores, re-sale shoppes, etc., my NO WAY, NOT EVER NO MATTER HOW CUTE list of banned items is one item smaller - TOILET has now been removed.  After considering all aspects, it really is OK - and because Google said so.