This will just be a quick update on the stairs. So far, there has only been one surprise besides my missing stringer: the treads of my stairs are attached to the riser behind them with nails. Didn't see that one coming, but does reinforce the idea that the third stringer may not actually be necessary. Update 1: The routed edge of my stairs. I'm not sure what bit I used as it was already attached to the router when I picked it up, but it worked perfectly for my stairs. I routed both the top and bottom of the tread for a semi-beveled look. On the first stair only, I routed the exposed left and right edges as well. Shout out to Carolyn and Garland for letting me borrow the router again! Update 2: New risers. Every tread that isn't curved is getting ripped out along with their attached riser. I decided to replace the existing risers with 3/4" sanded plywood, which I sanded down again, oil primed, and painted white. In order to complete this part of the project, I bought a 4'X8' piece of plywood, had the guys at Lowe's cut it into four 2'X4' pieces, sanded and painted each piece, then measured each riser individually. I then ripped the plywood using my Dewalt table saw to the dimensions I needed. Each riser is just slightly different, but should be relatively close to 7.5". The picture below shows the dry fit of the oil primed risers. Update 3: Fitting the first tread. You can see in the picture above that the bottom tread has a nice gap between the wall and the riser. This is because this tread overhangs on each side by 1.5", and thus hits the wall before hitting the riser. Today, I measured and cut little rectangles out of the sides to make it fit. You can see below that my first attempt was close, but not quite snug. I trimmed off a bit more and now it fits great.
0 Comments
So let's talk about pine real quick. Everything I have used in my house so far is made out of pine. When finishing the wood, however, pine is a real pain. You can read all about why pine is this way on Google, but in a nutshell, pine is a soft wood that absorbs stain differently from grain to grain. Take a look at the picture below as an example. Look at all those lines and the blotchiness! YUCK! The stain on the far left is Early American, which clearly looks like it has soaked into the pine the best. The other three are English Chestnut, Honey, and Dark Walnut (all Minwax). I'm in the process of testing stains for my stairs (yay!), but when I slapped these on the pine and saw the result... I cringed. Thus, we enter the pre-stain conditioner. This stuff is great. You just put it on with a rag, brush, or foam pad, let it soak in, and after 10-15 minutes, wipe off the extra. Then, put on the stain. Look at the difference! Lesson? Use pre-stain conditioner on your pine! It will make all the difference!!!!!!
If you haven't heard by now, I sent my flooring back to the manufacturer to be tested for formaldehyde. No, I did not get it from Lumber Liquidators, but another flooring store in town (which has been nothing but awesome through this process). Until I get word that the laminate is good-to-go (the manufacturer has been dodging my flooring store's calls and emails for the past month), I can't work on my poor floor. In the meantime, I have decided to tackle my stairs. I've been wanting to start the project for a while, but honestly have been a bit intimidated by the idea. The other day, however, I was bored and had the urge to tear shit up, so I started hammering at my stairs. FYI - stairs are a bitch, but soon they will be my bitch. I've learned that there have been a lot of strange building techniques that went into my house (and by strange I mean wrong), including the stairs. Quick lesson - the things that your stairs sit on are called stringers. You're supposed to have three (one going down the middle and one next to each wall), however you can clearly see I'm missing my middle stringer. Fabulous. I'm not worrying too much about it because, honestly, if my old stairs worked fine without it, then so should the new stairs. I'm going simple on the stairs for now, which I know will get complicated soon enough with the curved stairs in the middle. I'm replacing what is there with the exact same thing - 2"X10" pine, and new plywood risers. Simple. The pine you can buy at any big box store. I bought 2"X12"X12' pine, had the guys at Lowe's cut it into three 48" pieces, sanded them down, ripped and cut them to size. Mmmmm.... look how pretty! I won't go into huge detail now, but I also decided to router the edges for a semi-beveled look (both on the top and bottom of the tread). I think it gives it a more professional look for something that is oh so cheap.
My front door looked terrible. There are no if's, and's, or but's about it. There was a gap at the bottom because the door sweep had fallen off (it was stapled to the bottom of the door), the handle was brass and ugly, I'm pretty sure it had been kicked-in previously, the peep hole was painted over, and the threshold was cracked - it was bad. So I wandered over to Lowe's to get a quote for a new door (and apparently sidelights) and I just about fell off my seat when they told me - $1200!!!!! WHHHAAATT???? I decided that I'll go ahead and fix it as best as I can myself. I started by changing out the locks and handle with a Kwikset entry door set, which can be found here. I decided to go with a satin nickel finish (even though I will have oil rubbed bronze in the rest of the house) simply because I wanted the hardware on my black door to pop. I took some sand paper and rubbed the paint off of my peep hole. Although sand paper probably isn't best to use on finished metal, I am OK with the brass finish lightening up to look more like the satin nickel hardware. I am probably most excited about the new door sweep, which required the door to be taken off the hinges and screwed onto the bottom of the door. It closed the 1/2" gap between the threshold and the door bottom, which will make the house more energy efficient and help keep the bugs out! Unfortunately, I am unable to replace the cracked threshold without removing the entire unit (sidelights and all). This is just above and beyond my DIY capabilities, so it will be something I will have to live with.
The cat box for my kitties is in the basement, and I've been looking for a cat door (for easier access) since I moved in. I initially bought one from Lowe's, however it had a swinging door on it and I was afraid Boots would be too scared of it and not use it. Then, I searched Ebay and found the most amazing cat door ever: The Kitty Pass. How frickin' cute!!! It came today and I immediately installed it on the basement door. So far, so good! Even Mr. Boots is loving it!
There's a fat man on my mantle, and for the time being, I'm OK with it - because it means I actually have a mantle! One of my first projects in this house was building my own mantle. I haven't written about it, but I've had the mantle for about a year now (yikes) and it has been sitting in my basement collecting dust... until this weekend! Before we begin, let me recap how (and why) I built my own mantle. I had a major dilemma with two of my fireplaces (master bedroom and the living room). They are stone, obviously, and when they were installed, the owner never thought to have a couple pieces of the stone protrude out for a mantle to sit on. Or maybe they just never thought, "Hey! It would be a good idea to split this GIANT PIECE OF STONE up with a mantle so that it's not just a GIANT PIECE OF STONE! Let me make sure in my design I incorporate some flat pieces for my mantle to attach to!" Yeah, that never happened. The stone is uneven, thick, and very few places are actually flat enough to attach any sort of anchor. So what to do? Make my own! I really wanted a wooden, rustic, reclaimed look for my mantle without the price of reclaimed barn wood. To get around this, I bought a piece of 2" x 8" x 12' piece of new lumber, cut it into two 6 foot sections, glued and drilled the two pieces together, and sanded the edges down so they were flat (which was a LOT of sanding. A table saw would have made this much easier). What I got was an approximately 3" x 7" x 6' mantle! Brian and I then beat the mantle with nuts, screws, hammers, saw blades... basically anything that was sharp and could cause destruction... and stained it for our finished product. It's awesome (and cheap!!!). The question then became, "How do I attach this to the fireplace?" Great question, which is why I then turned to my trusty friend, Pinterest. I was first inspired by the picture below, and actually went as far as making the attachments, spray painting them black, and attempting to attach them to the fireplace (with the advise from the guys at the Depot). The problem arose when we tried drilling through the stone to attach masonry anchors. Brian and I tried a hammer drill, then we tried a different hammer drill. We drilled about a quarter inch into the stone in about 20 minutes. Simply stated, it wasn't working so we abandoned the project for a year. This weekend, for whatever reason, we were inspired again to attempt what seemed to be our futile project. Brian did some more research of hammer drills, and he stumbled across this YouTube video about the differences between a hammer drill and a rotary hammer. Needless to say, we decided to make a trip to the Depot and rent a rotary hammer and attempt the project again. It was like drilling through butter. Yeeessssssss!!!! I also ended up changing my design with the attachments. I decided to go with a simpler design which would allow me to change the mantle easily in the future if I should ever choose. My inspiration picture is below. Basically, the wood just sits on the plumbing nipple instead of being attached to a flange. With a few more trips back to the store to stock up on more things we needed, we were finally able to securely attach both flanges and hang our mantle. Although I think it might be a little high (we were hoping to put the TV on top of it - not anymore) this is a real wood-burning fireplace and I'd rather err on the side of caution and not worry about my mantle catching on fire.
I've been moved in for about a month now, so I figure it's about time that I update the blog again. This weekend's project wasn't a planned one. Brian and I went all over town today just looking for random stuff (nothing in particular), and we ended up back at Lowe's where we stocked up on plants for my front and back porch. Needless to say, I went from a bland entry to a colorful, cheerful, and inviting entrance to my new home! UPDATE: We had to move around my hanging baskets and move one into a pot because they weren't getting enough sun. Here's the new look!
Yesterday, after 10 long months, carpet was finally installed upstairs! No, this does not mean that the entire upstairs is finished yet (sad face), however it does mean that I can move in! Yippie!
Take a look at these before and after pictures! The deck has needed a power washing since I bought the house, however it was never a real priority. Even now, it doesn't top my to-do list, but since I am planning on actually moving in soon (eek!) I thought it would be nice to have it cleaned up. So today, Brian cut down a rotten tree next to my house (no pictures though), while I took care of the deck. Take a look at the before. Yikes. ... and during.... ahhh... and after. How relaxing! My deck looks brand new!
Great news! The master bathroom is getting a floor! Right now there is a big rush to get the entire upstairs as ready as possible for carpet to be installed, which includes any flooring that will be adjacent to the carpet. Although the master bath is nowhere near being ready, we had to push forward with the floor anyways. This summer, I bought a lot of extra LVT (luxury vinyl tile) from Lowe's, which is what I installed in both guest baths. I loved the stuff so much, I figured I could also install it in the master bath as well. However, after long nights of scouring Pinterest, I wasn't so sure the LVT was the way to go. Master baths should be elegant and luxurious, and if I was going to invest some money, the master bath is probably a good place to put it. Yet, with the current rush on the carpet, we had very little time to think about the master bath's floor, pick out tile, put down concrete board, and grout - on top of everything else we have to get done before the carpet installation. So, Brian and I made the executive decision on Friday night to cut each LVT (originally 12" x 24") into 4" x 12" and run a herringbone pattern in the bathroom (to give it that elegance I was looking for). Without further ado, here is the initial dry-fit of the tile: What was supposed to be a relatively short weekend project turned into the longest project I've tackled on my own so far. Cutting the tile alone took nearly 4 hours. I dry-fit them, did some more research, and then decided to run the herringbone longways (to make it look more like a pathway to the closet area). Below are two pictures of this week's progress (which also took hours and hours). Last tile laid! Now I just need to grout!
|
about meHi! I'm Lauren! I'm a twenty-something teacher and homeowner in North Carolina. I love math, decorating, and getting down and dirty learning new things about home renovation and repair. Categories
All
Archives
December 2018
|