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!
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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!
Brian and I are working really hard to finish the upstairs (painting, bathrooms, etc) so that the carpet can be installed by March 1. This may be a long shot, but here's hoping. So some weekend updates - while I now know why it is so important to wear a mask when spray painting (I suddenly feel like an 80 year old man with emphysema), I am happy to report that we have almost completed two major projects (that could and should have been completed a long, long time ago). First, we finished oil priming the master bedroom and tested out our handy new Homeright Finishing Spray Painter with our first coat of latex paint. Brian says he has found a new love (and that we should have been spraying the walls since the beginning). While I agree with him, I also think I'm going to take my mom's advice and buy some heavy duty masks for the next round. Pictures to come. Next, we are in the process of finishing up the second guest bathroom. I wanted to add some pizazz to this bathroom that the one of the first floor lacks, so I used this inspiration picture from Pinterest to help: Although my floors aren't wood, I don't have a pedestal sink, and my walls sure as hell won't be this dark, I enjoyed the wainscoting and the tile backsplash. I thought they added elegance and some spice to an otherwise boring bathroom. We started with the wainscoting, and used the same technique that we did in the entry. The difference - we went with pine this time instead of MDF. Then it was time to pick out a paint color. I suppose I didn't really care about the color, as long as it was light and bright (the bathroom has no windows, and it's attached to the dark blue room). Brian had a gallon of light blue semi-gloss laying around, so we went ahead and tried it out. Needless to say, it got painted over the next day with some Sherwin Williams Sea Salt. You can see in the above photograph that we are also testing out that tile backsplash I enjoyed so much from the inspiration photo. While my budget doesn't allow me to spend $10 a square foot on mosaic tile, it did allow me to buy 14 square feet of elongated subway tile (a whopping $15 total). Apparently I bought about twice as much as I needed because after installing we still had almost a full case left over! Don't worry, my frugal friends! I didn't spend $407 on that vanity! Between the one I bought in-store and the exact same one I found on Craig's List (both now in the guest bathrooms), I spent a whopping $400 on the two of them. Nice. Now all that is left is to:
So apparently I never wrote a post about how we framed up the master bathroom. Well, to recap, this summer we ripped down the ceiling in the kitchen when we tore down the kitchen wall. When we removed the ceiling, it exposed the plumbing to the master bathroom. Not like this mattered one way or the other, except that I wanted to gut the bathroom - so this was the time to do it. Pressure was on because we really, really wanted to finish the kitchen, but that could not be complete until the master bath was replumbed. First on the list was to remove the old garden tub. Thanks to my awesome students, that was easily accomplished. Check! Next, we had to figure out some sort of layout. I went back and forth on this for a while, but finally decided to move the toilet across from where it was originally (and now behind the door), install a double vanity, have a smaller stand-up shower, and a relatively large closet (where the tub used to be). My dad was really the one who convinced me to go with a double vanity. He said, poignantly, it was better for resale. On a plus side, it could actually work in this space. The downside - the toilet is behind the door when it opens. Hopefully, however, no one is opening the door on you when you are using the golden throne! Since we gutted the bath, it was time to put it all back together. We now had my makeshift frame, so Brian and I put Terry to work to help us get the framing done. I was skeptical about putting the closet in the bathroom, however I'm really happy we decided to because it helped support the ceiling in the space. For real - framing up that wall alone raised the ceiling by about 2 inches! Yikes! We were originally going to go with a pocket door (I bought the kit and framed the walls accordingly), however after some chats with my pops and his insistence on the walls being perfectly level (or else it is the worst experience in the world), I've decided that a barn door might work better. The bathroom stayed like this for about 2 months until the shower pan came in the mail. Tim-the-plumber then came in and replumbed the entire space. He moved the toilet from one side of the room to the other, and plumbed the right wall for my double sinks. (Tim also "forced" me to make my DIY double vanity so that he could get the measurements right.) Once he was satisfied that nothing would leak, Brian and I continued framing in the shower. Below is a view from the toilet area, looking at my almost finished DIY double-vanities. My only regret in the entire bathroom experience is that we stupidly didn't lay luan down before framing up the walls. Oh well. You live and you learn!
Happy Veteran's Day to all of our military service members! Thank you for your sacrifice and all of the work you do to keep our country safe! Here's a nod to my brother Brian, a Navy veteran, on his graduation from boot camp back in 2006: Well, as a school teacher, I also received Veteran's Day off, so I put my time to good use building things for my kitchen. First on the list was the small box for above the too-short-pantry. Next, I decided to build some bookshelves for underneath the countertop, to be placed at either end of my 11.5-foot long peninsula. This will create an enclosed overhang area for a breakfast bar which will be able to hold anywhere from 3-4 stools. The bookshelves are 12.25" deep and 24" wide. When building, I first measured for one shelf in the middle of the bookshelf... ...but after seeing how large the opening was, it looked more like an Ikea piece of furniture than a custom under-counter built in. I took the middle piece out, re-positioned it, and added an extra shelf near the top. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I think it will look fine when complete.
Just like everything else in this house, the design for the Master Bathroom has gone through some changes - basically everyday. I have ordered and reordered shower pans. I have laid out and then redesigned the layout about six times. Through it all, I have finally decided to stick with my final plan, which includes a double vanity with makeup station, a relocation of the toilet (next to the shower), and a 32" X 48" shower. See blurry picture below: To his credit, my dad really helped me design the bathroom (thanks dad!). The biggest hiccup, though, with this design is the amazing neverthoughtidbesolucky double vanity. One word: Expensive. Now, most people know I am a pretty frugal person, so when I started researching double vanities, I was blown away at home much they cost! Anywhere from $1500 to upwards of $3000 - for basically cabinets and a countertop! Yikes! It took me all of about five minutes to realize that I was going to have to build this one on my own. I actually feel like this is the better way of doing this particular vanity anyways, given the odd size of the space (87.5"). After Pinteresting and Googling and searching odd blogs, I found a vanity look that I really like. I even found some plans on Ana White's amazing building blog, as well as many inspirational pieces that helped me design my particular vanity. The picture below really set me on my journey that I could, in fact, do this. Remember - I am not a carpenter, nor have I really even built anything before (unless Ikea counts). I've honestly never been a huge fan of vessel sinks, mostly because I think they just get in the way and can collect dirt and dust around the edges of the sink, however I do love their look here, Bonus - the only holes I would have to drill for the sink are for the plumbing. So, after finding my inspiration, I started drawing. I do like the simplicity of one table, as with my inspiration picture, however after sending multiple plans to my family (and talking to my dad about resale), they all said to go with this one. Double vanities in general get potential homebuyers excited, but throw in a makeup station and they'll get even more giddy. I designed my vanity to be roughly 31" tall, however in reality it will be about 30.75". I know my mom is having a heart attack right now about the height (we are a very tall family), however to create a makeup station (i.e. a table that you sit at), the vanity had to be slightly shorter that the average tall person would prefer. To make up for the lacking inches (see what I did there...????), the vessel sinks I have researched range anywhere from 5-6" tall. This should make the total height roughly 36". So, after searching the "brag posts" on Ana White's website for the DIY Farmhouse Vanity, I stumbled upon Anthony's version of the plans, posted on Wholesteading's blog. I can honestly say that without these detailed plans, I'm not sure if the build would have gone as well as it did! Anthony's vanity is below: I took Anthony's idea of a single vanity, resized it to fit my needs, and then created two. I started by going to Lowe's and searching for my lumber. Unfortunately, I had the same issue arise as Anthony, in that Lowe's did not carry 4X4 pine posts, only cedar. (Needless to say, my house was smelling great.) I had also intended to go to Lowe's and buy everything except for the countertop, something I assumed I would deal with later, however, on clearance for $33, I found a 20" X 8' piece of spruce, almost exactly the size countertop I would need! Yippie! In total, with my Lowe's 10% off moving coupon, purchase of my new Kreg Jig (complete with a free box of 500 count 1.25" pocket hole screws), and all the lumber I could possibly need, my grand total came out to just about $300. Much nicer than that original $1500 vanity! I started building around 4:00 pm and didn't finish for the night until around 10. Brian ventured over after work and helped a bit, too! I started back up again the next day and finished the project. The project, not including staining or polyurethane, took about 2 days, but if I had started earlier in the day on Saturday, I definitely could have completed both vanities in one day. Make sure to look at each post and determine which side you want facing the front. There are definitely good sides and bad sides to each piece of lumber, so be very careful to choose the best side! I even labeled each post on the bottom as "Right Front V1" (for Vanity 1) or "Left Back V2" (for vanity two). I made sure to pair my Right V1s, Left V1s, Right V2s, and Left V2s together so I attached the blocking at the correct spot! The vanity looks more like a workbench at this point, but it's getting there! (Remember, the top will not be attached until the vanities are installed - probably sometime in 2018). The start of Day 2 began with me adding braces to the outside of each vanity, were I will attach another 1X6 across the top of the makeup station (for unity of the piece and to attach the two vanities to each other). I then attached 1X4s to frame the lower shelf, and then attached 1X3s to the inside of those with a nail gun. The 1X3s will act as mini shelves for the 1X2 slats to sit on. Finally, I added lots of pocket holes to the top 1X6 so I have something to attach the countertop to. That was really the last piece of "building" I had to do (at least for now). Next, it was on to staining! Brian picked out the stain - Minwax English Chestnut. So beautiful! I stained the 1X2 slats while they were still one long 6' piece. I read in the comments section on Ana White's blog that it would go much faster this way - and I agree. I did not, however, apply the top coat while it was still one piece.... I was just too excited to see what the bottom shelf looked like and I had to cut it into little pieces! At this point, I still needed to buy one more 6' piece of 1X2s. Each vanity uses 2 - 6' pieces, but I originally only bought 3 instead of 4. Whoops! The vanities aren't actually attached (the middle 1X6 is just lodged in between them), and obviously the top isn't stained yet.... and the second vanity is still missing its bottom shelf, but I'm almost there! Where the measuring tape stops is exactly 82", or the actual length of my countertop! I've now taken the top back to Lowe's and had them cut it to size. From there, I stained the top..... but it did NOT come out how I expected it to. It. Was. Terrible. The top originally turned out very red. This is not how I imagined my "rustic-y" vanity. The picture below really doesn't do it justice. Since you can layer stain, I went ahead and added a second coat, which turned out dark red-brown. YUCK. Thank the lord I did not stain the underside, because my tabletop was looking like a disaster. I decided to flip it over and try again, and I am so happy I did. The end result is below. Much better! Now, I need to polyurethane the entire vanity, buy some vessel sinks, and maybe install a floor in the master and I'll be ready to actually use these things! Whew!
I've been Pinteresting a lot for this house (duh) and stumbled across a lot of DIY forums on building a board-and-batten entry. I loved the look, and honestly, my entry is a bit boring. Brian liked the idea as well, so I gave the project to him to tackle. The image above is what the entry basically looks like. Unfortunately, the wall you can't see (to the left) is the wall where the board and batten is going, but you can get the idea. It's a long space - almost 12 feet - that you can't do too much with, so adding some sort of POP right when you walk in the door will just be extra nice. Plus, you have to remember that my whole idea for the house is "beachy-rustic," so this is that beachy element. Below is Brian's "inspiration" picture. This blog also had a great DIY tutorial that helped guide Brian in his measuring decisions. I love the hooks and the fact that you can put pictures on the mantle, however I didn't like how skinny the middle pieces were, so I asked Brian to increase the middles to four inches instead of three. It took a few trips to the Home Depot, some executive decision on what "product" to use (pine or MDF), but in the end, ours turned out a little patchy but looking good. I'm getting a little ahead of myself (we still need to paint and caulk), but I was just too excited to wait on this! I think it's looking great!
While I always wanted to have an entire house to design and make my own, I have quickly realized that it is in fact more overwhelming than it looks. Who knew that there are SO MANY SHADES OF GREEN to choose from (or any other color for that matter). Woof. Well, while I am trying to tackle the whole house at once, keeping it basic has helped calm my nerves. So.... I have some (small) design updates I would like to share! First, the master bath. I was originally going to demo the entire master bath. My porn tub has got-to-go. And I still believe that way, however with everything else going on, I have scaled back my design and am going to keep the porn tub (at least for now). Since I still have future plans to gut the bathroom, my updates are going to be simple and cost-effective. The blue-grey tile surround is going to get a nice coat of white paint, and instead of spending a lot of money on tile which would then have to be ripped up in a few years, I am going to install the most beautiful grey hexagon sheet vinyl I could find (via pinterest). Unfortunately, I have spent weeks trying to track this sheet vinyl down, and they apparently only sell it in Canada (of course). For all of my North Carolina followers out there... this is great news for me. Since I am heading back to The Mitten in a week or so, I can make a pitstop at the Lowe's in Windsor, Ontario and pick it up! Yay! Top that off with "Sea Salt" paint and a new vanity (still need to pick one out), and I'd say we are good to go! Next, my Craigslist kitchen cabinets. My Aunt Laurie made a comment a few posts ago about how she was confused because I said I was buying new cabinets, so why would I have to paint them? The reason is simple - Laurie, you know me all too well. I found a frugal find on Craigslist but the *NEW* all-wood cabinets do not come in white. The cost savings are too great for me to pass this one up, so I am going to paint them myself. The total cost for my kitchen cabinets are well under $2,000. (For those of you who are familiar with kitchen remodels, I know you just choked on your morning coffee - please breathe). I may in fact splurge again and have these professionally painted, but even still - the cost savings are great! I also threw out the open-shelving pipe idea (even though I still dream of those nightly), mostly because we would have to reconfigure the studs in the kitchen to actually attach the pipes. This process just sounds like a giant headache, so basic cabinet uppers it is. I'm still undecided on countertops and flooring for the kitchen, but those are low priority right now (in the meantime, I hear plywood makes a great counter). Flooring Update.
Finally, I *think* I have decided on a flooring. I have been back and forth and back and forth (first with laminate, then bamboo, then back to laminate, then to pine planks, then to bamboo.... the cycle continues), but I think realistically, if Brian and I are going to install the floor ourselves, laminate is the only viable option. I have taken home about a million floor samples from the Depot, but I recently traveled up the street to a flooring store near my apartment. Here, I found a very beautiful wide plank laminate floor (12mm thick) that I WANT WANT WANT! Thoughts? First off, I have never used a sawzall before, but I quickly discovered that this tool has become my new favorite toy. IT GOES THROUGH EVERYTHING, AND IS AWESOME. Brian always told me how much he loved this little gadget, and now I'm a believer. I started my project by tackling the soffit. I grabbed my handy sawzall and started drilling through the soffit supports one section at a time (sorry - no pictures. I was having too much fun). I would then take my hammer and pull apart each section until it dropped onto the kitchen counter. The process was relatively simple and quick - I think the entire soffit removal took about 45 minutes to an hour to complete. BTW, the kitchen feels so much bigger and taller now that the soffit is gone. Yay! I'd like to officially name yesterday "Terrific Tuesday!" I scheduled my electrician to come by today (Yippie!), I took a quick nap, babysat my favorite dog Briggs, and of course demolished the kitchen some more. I should note that Brian was recovering from a 24 hour bug (101.7 temp), so he was MIA during demo. The plumber that came by the other day gave me all good news, tips on doing some of the bathroom plumbing myself (without having to move the pipes for my new, taller, and off-center sink/vanity), how easy it would be for him to move the washer and dryer, but then was a little stumped about the pipe in the kitchen. He's 90% sure it's just a vent pipe, however he asked me to remove more of the drywall and the soffit so he could have a better view of where the pipe goes. Ask, and you shall receive. To top off the night, I ripped down the rest of the drywall in the kitchen (tile was attached to it) and brought it down to countertop level. I took my handy razor blade and scored the drywall on the living room side as well, and pulled it off in small sections (trying not to go too far so I could reuse the drywall below). The room is really starting to look big, which I never thought could happen in this tiny space! Woot Woot! Next, since I had more time on my hands, I decided to remove the crown molding around the soffit in the living room and in the kitchen. Easy enough, but I did end up splitting one end of an 11 foot piece of molding. Oh well. Such is life. By this point, since I was feeling so good about myself, I continued by removing the molding around the kitchen door, which then exposed to door frame. No one wants to see an ugly door frame by itself - so that went away too. Okay, so now I really need some input and advice on the kitchen design. All of the cabinets are being replaced with new, shaker style cabinets. Currently, the cabinets are a brown color, but I'm going to paint them white for a more open feel. The uppers, however, are not going to exist. The current plan is to have open shelving using pipes and wood (see below). This is not me trying to be cheap (as I think this will actually cost me more than buying uppers), this is me trying to add some sort of rustic design to the kitchen. The issue that I am running into is what to do about storage. Right now, I have a pantry in the kitchen - which I could reinstall with the new cabinets, I'm just not sure how it will look with the open shelving. The other idea is to move the pantry "outside" the kitchen, by placing it on the other side of the wall where it is now (to the right of the current kitchen doorway). Would it be weird to have the pantry here? Thoughts please!
Last Thursday, I finally purchased my very first house in North Carolina. So very exciting! After what seemed like a thousand little hiccups in the buying process, everything worked out in my favor and I now own a 1700 square foot, three-story townhouse. The house is HUGE (especially in comparison to my current apartment), has three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, three fireplaces (even one in the master bedroom), and a completely unfinished walk-out basement.
What the house doesn't have are floors. Or a kitchen from the last two decades. Or paint. Or a front door that opens easily. Or bathroom vanities that come up past my mid-thigh. Or a lot of things.... all of which make this house exactly what I like because I can mold it into exactly what I want. Of course, apparently what I want are the expensive things from the Home Depot (cough, $5/square foot hardwood floors), which, if you haven't figured out yet, I realistically cannot afford. If you can believe this or not, teachers are still broke in the state of North Carolina. All of this leads me to my new blog - Twenty-Something's Design. The blog is for friends and family who want to follow me on my house renovation journey, laugh at all of my mistakes along the way, and smile at the (hopefully) amazing transformation of my home (on a dime). With lots of tips from my mom and contractor dad, help from friends and students (yes, I said students are helping me), and maybe even a few visits from my brothers (hint - hint), I have a feeling this summer is going to be a lot of fun. I hope you stick around for the ride. :) |
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
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