Caitlin – Page 12 – Cait's Way

June 25, 2015June 25, 2015

Monday Blues

“Oh my gosh, it’s Monday! I’ve been waiting for this day all weekend. So excited!!”
-said no one EVER.

Here are some tips to help you get through some Monday Blues.

1. Meal prep your breakfast the night before. I use Herbalife meal replacement for my breakfasts. So the night before I meal prep my powder(s) into a snack size baggie. That way when I wake up on Monday morning and can’t help but hit snooze 1 (or 6) times, I have piece of mind that all I have to do is throw my meal replacement in the blender and go!

2. Put your gym clothes in the car… in the front seat… so that you don’t have any excuse to go home after work and plop on the couch and somehow forget all about the gym! Having a visual for me is huge and having my clothes right there staring at me in the face helps me remember it’s worth it and my body will love me for hitting the gym.

3. Have your dinner planned out. I am lucky enough to use Pinterest during the day and I simply get an idea in my head and roll with it for dinner. This (usually) prevents me from staring into the fridge wondering what I should eat.

June 14, 2015July 1, 2015

Crafting 4th of July!

Fourth of July

noun

a National Holiday celbrating the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of 
Independence in 1776

I’ve never been a big fan for the festivities of the 4th of July simply because I’m terrified of fireworks. But when you get down to the true meaning of the day, as an American, why wouldn’t I embrace the 4th of July? I’m so thankful for the freedom that I have in this country! The older I get the more I realize how blessed I am to be a citizen and am lucky to have been able to grow up in the U.S.A.

All that being said, I really wanted to get crafty this year and make something awesome for the Fourth of July. And I did! Out here in Utah, we have a pretty awesome store called the Wood Connection. They sell wood crafts that you can take home and make your own. A few weeks ago I was browsing the store and came across a super cute door hang for only $11! I love a steal of a deal. You can view the product Here.

Supplies Used

Wood Connection Heart Cut Out
2 Pieces Red & White Stripped Cardstock
Blue & White Paint
Dollar Store Twine
Wood Glue

Let’s Craft!

Paint left side of the heart with blue paint and the stars with white paint. I did about 2 coats on the heart and 3 coats on the stars. Set aside to dry.
Painted right side of heart – just the sides – in blue. Let dry.
Use wood glue to attach paper to right side of heart. *I used wood glue b/c it was readily available in my craft room. Use a sponge brush to get all around the area. While placing paper into place make sure to remove any air bubbles. I place a heavy book on top of paper to keep from bubbling and so adhere glue fully.
String twine through holes – I made x’s so that it looked like a stitch.
Attach stars with wood glue and let dry completely.
Attach hanger to back of project & I added a giant bow to complete it!

April 20, 2015April 5, 2016

Guest Bathroom Makeover: Decor

This is my favorite part of a make over!!! The decor! I love searching for good deals and pulling all my finds together to make a beautiful room. I got lucky and ended up finding all my finds at TJMaxx and spent a total of $55 for the entire bathroom decor.

Once the paint had fully dried and the bathtub was finally done, I wanted to tackle that old and out dated mirror. I don’t really like medicine cabinet mirrors as they tend to store junk. We are lucky enough to have a small closet outside the bathroom that we use as a medicine cabinet and towel holder. Therefore, I opted for a statement mirror ($24 at TJMaxx).

Mirror before & after

Then came the hard yet fun part of finding a rug, towels, and accents to pull the whole bathroom together. I wanted to go with a navy blue to add something pretty against the stark white walls. Here’s what I found all for under $30.

March 20, 2015April 5, 2016

Guest Bathroom Makeover: Painting

All of Josh’s bachelor pad bathrooms were painted a poop green color. I’m not sure if the idea was to remind you to poop or if someone just really, really liked that color but I wasn’t going to stand for it! Also, all of Josh’s bathrooms are on the small side. So my first thought was, the bathroom colors need to be bright to open up the space.

See ya’ll, I wasn’t kidding about the color!

Guest Bathroom Before Paint

Paint 1

As you will notice, I am a lazy painter and don’t like to prime and then paint. So instead I always go with Behr Paint & Primer. I went with a pure white and painted the entire bathroom and ceiling to give it a nice open feel.

*Before Painting, I took down the dated mirror, all of the towel & toilet paper holders, and patched any holes.

I’m going to say that the walls look a TON better! – this was mid painting.

After Paint

Next on the to-do list, let paint dry and add decor….

March 14, 2015April 5, 2016

Guest Bathroom Makeover: Bathtub

The first thing on the do to list? BATHTUB! It’s the only bathtub Josh’s home has and I kinda, sorta really like my baths! Josh and I are on a tight budget and no matter how we crunched the numbers, we just couldn’t justify purchasing a new bathtub. So after a lot of searching, I found a product that we agreed we should try. It is called Rust-Oleum, Tub & Tile Finishing. Basically we were just hoping to give the old and moldy bathtub a new sheen.

We purchased the Rust-Oleum product via Amazon for about $25. Correct me if I’m wrong, but $25 is A LOT cheaper than a brand spankin’ new bathtub!! The product arrived and we were super excited to get to work. Ok, ok… So Josh did all the bathtub work and I really can’t take any credit for it!

Before

I won’t be offended if you gag a little

Josh had read a lot of information about the Rust-Oleum product and wanted to do everything by the book. In order to get started, he needed to do the prep work. He stripped all the moldy caulking up. He then scrubbed the tub with bleach, then with comet, then with lime away and finally sanded with 80 grit up to 400 grit. He did this process about 2-3 times. *Our tub was really disgusting..I mean seriously, did you see the picture above?!* Next he taped around the entire tub so that none of the finish would get on the floor, walls, etc.

Josh had read a lot of articles that described the Rust-Oleum product as being very STINKY. He bought a respirator mask, similar to this Paint Project Respirator. *Although he looked scary in the mask, it was worth the purchase as this product is stinky times 100!* Once all masked up, he began to “paint” the tub with roller brushes. Once done, we opened all the top story windows and let it dry. *A lot of reviews say that although it may look clumpy to let it dry and it will smooth out as it drys. *

After being fully dried – we waited about 2 days – we noticed there were a lot of imperfections. Granted the bathtub looked sooo much better alredy, we still weren’t super satisfied. So, as the perfectionists that we are, bought another round of Rust-Oleum to do a 2nd coat. THIS time, Josh bought a Paint Spray Gun – wow, what a difference this made! He used this gun, Paint Spray Gun, by Harbor Freight which was on sale for $17.99!! Before spraying on the 2nd coat he sanded down the problem areas and then simply went to “Paint Spray Gun” town. This time we noticed a much better coverage of paint and LOVED the result!

After

The very last step that only took a few minutes was the caulking. Make sure to buy Silicone Caulking. We purchased something similar to this, Bathroom Caulking.

All in all, we spent a little over $100 with all products and supplies. We spaced the tub project out over about 2 weeks as we didn’t have company and didn’t need to use that bathroom. Technically you could do this project in 1 day with a 1-2 day drying time. If you just can’t afford to purchase a whole new tub, then this is the way to go!