Little Changes and Fixes

Sometimes I do a project and it works for awhile but then as time goes by, I realize it needs a bit of tweaking. I might have been in too much of a hurry the first time or it just didn't turn out the way I thought or our needs changed. Over the past few weeks, I've fixed and updated a couple things around the house.

The first thing I tackled was the kitchen sink cupboard. I had cleaned it out and put down contact paper when we first moved in and it was fine but after almost 3 years, it wasn't holding up as well as I liked. I roped Bass into taking some left-over kitchen flooring and laying it down in the bottom. It's now much sturdier and easy to clean.
Before:

After:

 

Next project was to rehang the gallery in our master bedroom. I did it in a hurry and didn't measure... I just eyeballed where to hang all the pictures and of course, they never looked right to me. Every mornng I'd wake up and be annoyed that all the frames were too far apart. So with a hammer and a few minutes, I scootched 'em all closer together. It looks so much better to me now. Although I'm wondering if I should add a few pieces. Maybe if I come across something that fits. Part 2 of this project is to go back and fix all of the holes that are now hiding behind the frames.

Before:

 

After:

Another project that I loved (but never blogged about) was making a Mason jar soap dispenser for our powder room. Bass drilled a hole into a solid canning lid and I used Gorilla glue to attach a soap pump from a used store-brand hand soap bottle. It turned out cute and fits perfectly in the half bath.
However, the lid has started to rust out. Ick! To fix it, I wrapped the spout with painter's tape and gave it a couple coats of Rustoleum ORB. I sprayed it on both sides to help stop the rusting. I'm hoping it will extend the life of the lid.

No before... oops. But here's the After:

One other fix that needed to happen was our 'coffee table' in our basement family room. It's a heavy trunk that Bass brought with him after we got married. It's one of the few things that we kept from his bachelor days. LOL It's a great piece because it offers us some storage that we wouldn't have otherwise. I keep all of our guest linens (in space bags) in it as well as a travel alarm clock and mirror for overnight guests. It's downside... it's heavy. Wicked heavy. Which wouldn't be a problem except that I exercise in our family room and have to move it aside every day (or every other day). The kids would have the same trouble, they'd move it to play but then not put it back when they were done because it's so heavy. After running it over my toes one too many times, I enlisted Bass once again. We got 4 rolling castors from the Habitat Re-Store near us. Now we can roll it out of the way to exercise or play and easily roll it back.
Before:

You can't really see the wheels poking out on the bottom but here's the After:

Nothing terribly exciting... just little changes to make life a little nicer 'round the homestead. Have you tackled any quick fixes lately?