My Weekend of Before's & After's: Successes, Failures, and Debateables

This past weekend I was really trying to get stuff done. I kept looking at our house and I noticed so many things that needed some attention. Most of them were paint projects, so I got out what I needed and got to work. 

First I started on the bathroom trim. It was a yellow tint, dirty, the paint was chipped in areas, and it just looked sad. I cleaned it up with a Magic Eraser and then got a sample of Benjamin Moore's Simply White, which is a color I've been wanting to try out for some time now. Here are the BEFORE'S:

AFTER'S:

(sorry for the bad lighting, ours is really old and half of it doesn't work, hence the yellowed lighting)

I had Stephen working on installing the kitchen cabinet hardware, since I'm no good at that. 

BEFORE:

                                         

AFTER:

(side note: Those streaks are from the pencil marks I tried to erase-I will be touching those spots up with fresh paint)

We are doing things on a tight budget right now and I have some ideas for the vanity in the middle bathroom, but until we can fully upgrade, I decided to just paint it the same color as the kitchen base cabinets.

BEFORE:

(it's been primed for months, so this was not original)

AFTER:

This is the trim in the kitchen. BEFORE (with primer):

AFTER:

This next one might disgust you, but let me explain. When we moved in (almost 3 years ago) this is what the shower looked like. I tried so many different cleaners and couldn't get the stains out. Eventually, I gave up and we just put a bath mat over the shower floor. Well, I tried out Bartender's Friend in the sink and it worked like magic, so I thought, "hey why not try it in the tub?" I scrubbed til my back and arms and neck were sore, but it worked!!

BEFORE: 

(PLEASE don't judge me!)

EWWWWWW!! Believe me, it wreaked coming out!

AFTER:

SO MUCH BETTER!

I did try out something I saw on Pinterest. It was a vinegar, baking soda, water and lemon mixture that is supposed to clean your grout. I just assumed ours was dirty instead of just plain...dark grout. :) So I did what the directions said and let it soak for an hour. Behold, the before and after. 

Yes, that is the same picture. Absolutely no difference, what a shock!

Stupid dark grout, you make my tile look dirty. :(

My "debate-able" would be peel and stick tile over the existing real tile. I just don't like the tile. You can't tell from the above picture, but around the toilet, the previous owner left all kinds of paint stains and stuff on the floor. Right now it's either rip up the old tile and replace (which isn't in our budget for now) ore replace with the cheap peel and stick. I wouldn't really mind keeping it in the long run, but Stephen's afraid it would hurt us when we re-sell. I don't think it would, but what do you all think? 

This is a (bad) picture of the tile piece I'm considering. 

Love it or leave it?

I'm off now to finish up some other house projects, but I would love to hear feedback on the tile issue. Hope you all have a great week!

-Tara