10 Frugal Tips for Universal Studios {Travel & Leisure}

Morning everyone! I am so excited to write about this topic today because my husband and I adore Orlando.

Sure, while we are there we wonder why we choose to torture ourselves by walking our legs off in scorching heat, but much like childbirth (or so I hear) once it’s is over all I have is happy memories and an overpriced keychain.

Before I get into that, let me say that you all have me so busy with your e-mails and blog comments about some of my tutorials, mostly the espresso staining series. I so appreciate all the e-mails and comments, however, it’s sort of hard to reply to your comments if you do not have your e-mail set-up with your Google/Blogger account. What ends up happening is this:

I would love to reply to Lauren directly, but she doesn’t have her e-mail set-up. So I can’t reply. (But Lauren, the answer is eBay!)

How to Fix the Issue:

1.) Go to this link: http://www.blogger.com/edit-profile.g

2.) Check this box:

And then myself, as well as countless other bloggers, can directly reply to your comments. I’ve thought about going back and replying in the comments, but it’s hard to know where people plan on checking for an answer. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes to do this, so please do this now. :)

I’ll wait.

Done? Great!

Let’s talk Universal Studios.

Now these tips are tailored to Universal Studios, but some could apply to Disney.

1.) For Universal Studios Orlando, do not stay on property. Stay at the nearest off-site hotel you can stay at such as Holiday Inn (on Kirkman Rd is the one we stayed at), Doubletree, etc. at the entrance to Universal. Not only will you save money, but the hotels are a 15-20 minute walk or about a $4 cab ride to the park area. We took a cab to get back to the hotel usually. These off-site partner hotels have free shuttles in the AM and PM, but none in the middle of the day when you’re dying. So, we took the shuttle over to the parks for free, and spent about $6 to get back to the hotel if we didn’t feel like waiting until 7 pm for the first shuttle back. We were there for 3-days, so it was $20ish in cab fare. Way cheaper than staying on property, and just as fast. And the best perk? You get early park admission to enjoy the Harry Potter section. This proves to be invaluable because trust me, 99% of people head for that area when the parks open to everyone.

2.) From the airport to the hotel, if you’re a party of 3 or more, taking a taxi van will be the most economical way to get to the Universal Studios area. With Disney, if you’re staying onsite (which unlike Universal, I HIGHLY recommend because Disney has hotels for every budget), take advantage of their Magical Express service. My DH and I took a cab from MCO to the Holiday Inn, which cost us $55 with tip. Ouch! On the other hand, Super Shuttle to the hotel would have run about $38, but there’d be lots of stops, and we just wanted to get our hands on Butterbeer. We did take Super Shuttle going back, and didn’t mind the wait since we were pooped. I would say cab it over, and shuttle it back. Mears is another great shuttle service, FYI.

3.) If you have AMEX, use it. It got us perks such as $50 to spend in the parks, which we used to upgrade to park-to-park tickets rather than 1-park/day tickets. Plus, there’s an AMEX lounge at Islands of Adventure (IoA) that we totally forgot about once we were there. Apparently they have drinks and snacks, etc. I know our package was overall a better value because we have an AMEX card, and we booked directly on the Universal website.

4.) If you’re trying to get from Universal Studios to Disney, for the love of all things theme park, do not take a cab if you’re a party of about 2-4 people. It will be OUTRAGEOUS- about $60+ each way! Instead, call Mears about 1-2 days before you want to go to Disney, and schedule a round-trip to Disney from your hotel. The service is $19 per person for the round-trip ($9.50 each way). What a steal. They do pick up a few others along the way, but it honestly didn’t take longer than about 20 minutes to get from our hotel to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Pick-up is easy, too. You call them about 2 hours before you’re ready to go, tell them what park you’re at, they’ll tell you where to go and you’re set. So easy, great service, and cheap!

5.) You’re at the parks, what now? Well, we tried to do just about all the attractions at both parks.

I’m about to tell you which attractions sucked.

At Universal Studios: Terminator, Twister, MIB.

At IoA: Poseidon’s Fury.

Now for the cannot-miss-attractions.

At Universal Studios: The Simpsons Ride, Shrek 4-D, Rip Ride Rock-It, The Mummy Ride. (The Despicable Me attraction wasn’t yet open when we went)

At IoA: Harry Potter (all of it!), Spiderman, The Hulk

We didn’t do any of the water rides because I hate smelling like smelly water, so I can’t comment on those.

6.) Drink lots of Butterbeer. It’s frothy, sweet and SO GOOD. It might seem crazy to get it in a souvenir cup, but then you can get soda refills all over both parks for 92-cents. I thought I would love the frozen kind, but the fizzy kind was way better.

7.) Harry Potter merchandise is EXPENSIVE. Don’t fall under it’s spell. Okay, you can, but please know that the stuff is truly pricey. DH got a Hogwarts t-shirt for $22, and I opted for a $9 keychain that has my name on it. Something that is free and cool, is that outside the Owl Post under the covered pavilion stands an employee who will stamp your postcards with the official Hogsmeade postmark. Take some stamps with you, and mail off a postcard from there. They do sell Harry Potter stamps there, but they’re $$$. Take your own. The postcards were reasonable at $1 a piece.

8.) Go early, leave early. Go late, stay late. Our first day at the parks we got there at 4 pm. People with kids were leaving the park. YAY! This made it super easy for us to do both Universal Studios + WWoHP (Wizarding World of Harry Potter) in that afternoon and be back to our hotel at 8. The next day we went late, left early, which is a bad idea. We wore ourselves out just trying to get through all the crowds and waiting in line. The last day we went early, did everything, and came back early to rest for Disney.

9.) Take lots of pictures, but also give yourself time to just be. I always had my camera on me, and sometimes it was a little exhausting because I was constantly worried about it. You want great photos, but you also want to relax and have a great time. :)

10.) Rest, eat and hydrate. Luckily Universal parks close usually by 8 or 9, so staying super late isn’t an option. Make sure to rest, sleep, and eat. Twice we ate at Mythos at IoA, and it was such a lovely atmosphere, affordable and relaxing. Sure it took longer than just grabbing fast food from a booth, but it’s those moments that make it feel like a vacation. Plus, since we stayed at an off-site partner hotel, we got a discount card to use at Mythos, which made it cheaper than fast food. In City Walk, there’s a Pizza Amore that sells pizza slices for a few bucks, making it a great/quick/cheap lunch. At Margaritaville they have a to-go margarita window…don’t do it. We paid $20 for 2 weak drinks. Ugh. Same with Pat O’Brien’s- the hurricane I bought was terrible. We tried to avoid the City Walk restaurants and took advantage of the TGI Friday’s next to our hotel. They have meals for $5 and a fab late night happy hour.

Hope those tips help! If you have any tips, leave them for everyone to see in the comments section. If you have questions, as always feel free to e-mail me at monicawantsit@gmail.com

$500 Bathroom Makeover {DIY Plans}

Given that we spent a good amount of money on the dining/office makeover + our current bathroom reno, I need to keep any further updates relatively cheap. We still have a foyer, guest room, office, hallway and guest bathroom to vamp up. But, I truly think the next best room to makeover is our guest bathroom/hall bath.

Luckily, I’ve already re-stained the vanity a gorgeous espresso color, so that huge chunk of work is done. Unfortunately, there’s still oodles of work to be done, and not a lot of money to do it with.

I know $500 is sort of a lot of money in the day-to-day sense, but in the realm of bathroom makeovers, it’s almost nothing. Laughable maybe.

Let me show you what I am working with.

You walk in from the hallway, and you see the vanity/mirror/heinous bulb lighting that makes everything yellow.

Then on the left you have this wall:

Then you walk through another door to the toilet/shower area.

It all looks very, very yellow doesn’t it?

I know.

But here’s my $500 plan.

1.) Restain the oak linen cabinet to espresso and use the same hardware used on the cabinet doors of the vanity.

Cost= $10 ($3/pull + tax)

2.) Rip down all the wallpaper, apply texture, prime, paint.
Cost= $50 for paint, $30 for texture? $90 with tax.

3.) Replace all door trim/base boards + add a small backsplash accent.

Cost= $125 with tax

4.) Replace lighting.

Cost= $100 for both fixtures

5.) Replace mirror.

Cost= free! We’re going to use the free mirror that comes with the vanity from the other bathroom reno.

6.) Add accessories (rugs, towels, storage, curtain/blinds). I already have some bathroom accessories (towel bars, robe hooks, glass shelves) I bought years ago from Target (on clearance for DIRT cheap) in anticipation of having a house someday. I finally get to use them!

Cost= $50 max. Must use what I have or revamp!

7.) New shower curtain + curved shower rod.

Cost= $50

8.) New door knobs/doors/hinges.

Cost= $100

Total= $525 (I’ll hopefully make up the $25 overage somewhere…)

Basically, I am going to have to use a lot of what I may already have, but repurpose or upscale it a bit. Creativity is key to success in this challenge. And savvy shopping.

I’d love to replace the fan, but I think cost is going to be an issue because we’d need an electrician. The current fan/heater doesn’t actually vent into the attic, so that’s not something we want to DIY. Definitely something I’d love to do down the line. Maybe I can spray paint the current one with some high temp spray paint? I need to do some research on that.

You may be wondering what I want it all to look like. Well. Not gray. I am trying my damndest to not use gray. I always go to gray, and I am beginning to think I am one of those people who is afraid of color. Given that it’s a small, narrow space, I am leaning towards earthy, but bold colors. Sort of like you were in a fancy, boutique hotel. Like a Kimpton one.

I googled around for some color palette generators, and I fell in love with Kuler.

Here are some color palettes that piqued my interest:

1.-

2.-

3.-

4.-

5.-

6.-

Which color palette do you all like? I love the bright, bold ones, but don’t know if they’ll overwhelm a small, narrow space. And yes, some of the palettes have gray.

I simply couldn’t resist.

The tile in the shower is mustard yellow, the floor is a neutral stone looking faux-tile, so really I have a pretty neutral room once I take down all the Parisian wallpaper.

Ideas? Thoughts? Anything I haven’t thought of? I know I absolutely refuse to work on this bathroom until the other bathroom is done.

That means I have a few months or so.

Will this madness ever end?

Staining Oak Cabinets an Espresso Finish {FAQ’s}

I get many e-mails about my honey oak to espresso staining tutorial, and while I’d love to get back to every e-mail…I can’t/won’t anymore. I get a lot and most ask the SAME questions, so here’s an FAQ for you lovely people.

1.) Have you done your kitchen cabinets yet? I’d love to see them!

-Nope! We’ve been focusing all of our effort on finishing up the office/dining room and getting the darn bathroom renovation done. I am planning on tackling our beast of a kitchen sometime in 2013.

2.) What kind of sock? Really? Why? Are you sure? The white kind?

-Bottom line: men’s cotton athletic socks, Hanes or store brand doesn’t matter, and it’s because it simply works. If you want to use something else, that’s cool.

3.) Why General Finishes? Why can’t I use <insert other stain brand here>? Does it really matter?

-Well, this stain works well, is easy to work with, has excellent coverage and I love it. I haven’t had luck with other stains. If you have and want to use something else, that’s great. I only will recommend General Finishes for this specific project. Because it works. So yeah. :)

4.) Does the stain have bad odor or fumes?

-Not that I can recall. I did all my staining in a tiny bathroom space with no windows and am OK.

5.) What kind of poly did you use? How long did you wait between poly coats?

-General Finishes poly in satin. I wanted a non-high gloss finish. If you can’t find this poly, I would recommend any water based poly and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for drying time. I also applied it with a sock.

6.) Has the stain held up?

-Granted I don’t have kids, but the stain has held up to me scrubbing with a Lysol wipe and no issues.

7.) Should I stain my cabinets?

-Up to you! It’s easy. :)

8.) Does this work on bare wood? Why not? Wouldn’t it? Do you know how to make it work on bare wood?

-Personally, I tried this method on bare wood, and I hated the color it came out. However, if you’d like to give it a shot, be my guest, but I truly have no advice for you. Sorry! :-(

9.) Will this work on my white cabinets (or any other color)?

I think it'll work on white paint as long as you're ok with 2 things:

1- you likely won't see a ton of wood grain

2- it may take more coats

Other than that, the process is exactly the same. Again, I’ve never tried it, it’s just what I think. I make NO guarantees.

10.) Do you have any photos showing your vanity completely finished?

-See below:

11.) Amazon is sold out. Where else can I buy it? What if I live in Canada or the moon and can’t find it?

-www.woodcraft.com and of course, www.google.com

12.) How long did you wait to put on the hardware?

-1 full day after my final topcoat.

13.) Will this work on <insert other random piece of furniture here>?

-Why wouldn’t it? Yes, it would. Stair rails, dressers, beds. Stain away.

14.) What if it’s particle board/laminate?

-Treat it the same way. You’ll be fine.

15.) OMG I think I screwed up my cabinets.

-You likely put too much stain. The solution isn’t to put more, it’s to let it dry completely, put less next time, and move on. :)

16.) Are you SURE I don’t have to chemically strip my <insert piece of oak furniture here>?

-I’m positive. People, I am not lying. I see your pins on Pinterest, “I love this makeover! Wonder if it works…?” Um. Yes. It works. I just proved it did. Don’t over think it! :)

If you’d like to see the full tutorial on how to get these results, go here.

If you’d like to see my inspiration for doing this in the first place, go here.

Now, I will also add that as a blogger like myself…I do these tutorials to share knowledge, experience, etc. I don’t get paid to write them, some take me hours upon hours to do (plus take photos, edit photos, write the tutorial, edit, publish, promote) which I know is totally my choice. However, I’ve always been the type to want to share what I know and give my reviews/steps for projects, soooooo…

If you read my tutorial and like it/use it/pin it, please leave me a comment. Comments let me know that my content is being read, appreciated/valued, etc. Right now I am feeling like I just want to delete this entire blog because I am frustrated that my efforts aren’t producing readers. I don’t know if you all are just shy or if my content just sucks. I don’t know. But either way, please remember that bloggers everywhere work really hard to produce their content, so leave us some love. :)

And most of all, happy staining!

**NOTE: I will no longer answer emails about my staining tutorial unless it’s a question I’ve never gotten before or I am in a particulary cheery mood or you really, really kiss up to me via email. Why? Well, because after more than 2,000 emails that I’ve replied to (with very few thank you’s!), and countless hours spent on all three posts, I have said all I can say about it. Sorry guys! <3

Office & Dining Room Reveal {DIY Home Makeover}

Finally.

This office & dining room is about as done as it can possibly get. Sure, I could stuff more accessories into it, and I could put more stuff on the walls.

BUT, for now, it’s reached the point where it is done.

Let’s take a look down memory lane and start back at February 2011 when my husband and I first started working on this beast of a room. The dimensions are roughly 15x30, and it’s kind of divided into 2 rooms/areas.

This is what it looked like with the previous owners stuff still in here.

Then we moved in October 2010, and I basically just put my crap in the cabinets and lived with that dark, dark, DARK hot mess until February 2011.

We took down the cabinets, and removed the wood paneling.

Lived in total chaos for a bit.

Drilled holes in all the cabinets for shiny chrome hardware using this template.

Tried this terrible kit, stripped all that paint off and just painted them the old fashioned way.

Then we stripped off the accent wallpaper. WHY??? Why do people use ugly wallpaper?

Painted the walls. As you can see, we planned on installing crown and chair rail, which explains the haphazard paint job.

I went nuts and painted the accent wall urbane bronze. Hated it. Changed it.

Changed the paint color from urbanze bronze to morning fog, and we installed new countertops we bought on clearance.

Installed crown and chair rail.

Plus, we got rid of the fugly floors and installed wide plank, hand scraped, dark cherry laminate flooring.

Got rid of ugly fixtures.

AND WE ARE DONE!!

It took us 16 months, about $3000 in materials (flooring, countertops, chandeliers, moulding, compound miter saw, jigsaw, nail gun, paint, accessories, hardware, sofa, curtains, etc.)

I’ll do a source list at the end of the post, but for now enjoy LOTS of pictures.

Won’t you come into my fabulous office and dining room?

 

I put these vases here because the under cabinet lighting is on top of each vase, so when it’s dark, the vase bounces off all these pretty designs on the walls/counters.

For the story about this chair, check out this post.

Pee Wee has a corner all to himself in here. :)

That map is a $4 thrift store find, and the Paris print is from Walmart and was $9.88.

I framed Restoration Hardware ads in $1 store frames for my “art”. That’s as close as it’s gonna get for me to have that very expensive chandelier in my home.

A LED tealight is used in both sconces. Ya know, to prevent a house fire.

Behind the chandelier print is a AV box thingy, which means eventually there will be a TV there. :-D

My overall goal was to have a neutral, metallic glam, relaxing kind of room. Sort of like if ZGallerie and Pottery Barn were to have a one night stand and have a baby… I did incorporate pops of blue, but should I take those out and do pops of pink or teal, it’d all work. I feel I’ve created a lovely, neutral room that I can change at any whim with colorful accessories and it’d still look wonderful.

Plus it has to function as a dining room and office, and it does both beautifully. I love that the sofa area provides extra seating for dinner parties.

I love it.

Now, I got most, if not all of the accessories on sale/clearance, so some may not be available anymore. If I did find it, it is linked in the source list below.

I know $3000 seems like a lot of money, but the bulk of that was the flooring ($600) and the Chloe sofa ($1000 delivered/with tax), and we had to buy some expensive tools ($250 compound miter saw) to get the job done, so if you take those out of the equation, it’s more like a $1300 makeover.

We did all the work ourselves, except that my BFF’s hubby helped with installing the 2nd chandelier since we didn’t have a light source there previously and he helped a ton with the crown moulding. The chandeliers have blue bulbs in them, and I know it seems odd, but they are actually Reveal bulbs which give off bright white light rather than the harsh yellow light that some chandelier bulbs give.

This is a room I am always proud to show off when folks come over, and I love lounging around watching episodes of Big Love on my tufted couch. And I get to write on these pages to all of you in style.

It is so me.

In. Love.

Other things I am planning on doing include adding more photos/art to the bare walls in the dining area, applying a stencil pattern to my gray accent wall, and adding those moulding rectangles below the chair rail. Oh and adding that TV, for sure.

Source List:
Paint color (main walls): Sahara Desert Sand by Glidden at Walmart

Paint color (accent wall): Morning Fog by Sherwin Williams

Cabinet color: Bright white in SPRED paint by Glidden, primed using Kilz oil based primer

Trim Color: High gloss bright white paint by Glidden at Walmart

Flooring: Krono-Swiss handscraped laminate flooring in dark cherry.

Sofa, Chloe sofa from Macy’s; floor lamp, Marshall’s; Rug, Overstock; Bench, Marshall’s; Ghost Chair, Overstock; Chandelier Art Print above desk, Ross; Curtains, World Market; Plates, JCPenney; Chargers, Walmart, Table linens, Target; Mirrors, Kirkland’s; Sconces, Ross; Blue Pillows, West Elm; Gold Pillow, Cushion Source; Beige Pillow, Target; Peacock Pillow, Marshall’s; Hardware, eBay; Picture Frames, Dollar Tree; Wedding Photo Frame, Target; Mercury Glass Vase, Marshall’s; Quatrefoil tray, Target; Squirrel, Walgreens; Chandeliers, Home Depot; Countertops, McCoy’s, but they also carry them at Lowe’s; Under cabinet lighting, Lowe’s.

Feel free to leave me any questions, etc. in the comments section!