Okay so we have a massive entertainment center. If you know me then you've heard me complain about it. Now David built it so I absolutely adore it. But David built it for the house on base, which was a bigger home with bigger rooms. Since we've moved to this house it has become overwhelming. It takes up a lot of room and has also become too big for the room. The space could be utilized in other ways.
Sitting there one night thinking I told David that I was tempted to remove the entertainment center and just put the TV (we now own a flat screen) up on the wall. We luckily have a wall mount already so that wouldn't be a problem. He said okay where are we going to put all of the stuff. Well I didn't have an answer for that. :(
The next day I was telling Walter about David and I's conversation and I told him I just don't know what to do with the stuff. Because where as the entertainment is too big it does have a lot of storage. Walter said we could do what his friend's parents did. Get an old antique dresser and put the electronics and movies into that. Well I loved the idea. I ran the idea past David who was skeptical but willing to talk about it. With all of our movies a regular dresser would just not be enough. Not to mention the amount of books I own or the other crap I keep on the entertainment center. So this past weekend Walter and I went to Barn Treasures and Antiques. We found a few dressers and stands. Most of them were just too small. The antique dresser we found would not be able to hold all we own plus the veneer was badly damaged and would have been too much work to fix it. Then we found the ugliest thing you've ever seen in furniture. It's at least 5 feet long has a cabinet, 4 small drawers and 4 very large drawers. It's as if someone has white washed it and then used a blow torch to burn the surface. It is truly hideous and I absolutely fell in love with it. I sent a text pic to David and he automatically said no. Of course he did. Well I finally talked our three options over with him and then took him there on Monday after he got home from work. I showed him the other two and then showed him the one I wanted. He hemmed and hawed but finally said okay. Apparently it's quite heavy but Walter and David were able to manage it.
David and I started working on it today. I've gotten it 90% sanded today. All the drawers and the surface of the cabinet. David removed all the nails and screws from it and will finish sanding it tomorrow. He's going to route the edge of the top of it and add new molding to it. We've chosen a stain for it.
Now from what David and I have surmised someone had burned it to age it. If you burn the surface of the furniture and then sand it the burned spots look like age areas. Where it's been damaged from wear and age and also stains from the same thing. If you stain it correctly it comes out really nice. I try to incorporate this idea with most of the furniture I refinish but mostly by leaving some of the stain on when I sand it down.
So far it looks great and I can't wait to start staining it and getting the hardware for it. I'll post before and after photos when I'm done with it.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Work Continues
So just out of the blue I decided we could start laying down some sub flooring in the basement. I'm tired of walking on cold concrete in the winter and I'd like to start working on that part of the house to make it feel more homey. The floor is uneven and like I said cold. So I gave David the okay and budgeted some money for wood to get it started.
Now we're dealing with that unevenness of the floor. Plus the dogs are have issues with peeing on the floor downstairs so I cleaned up some of it with ammonia and a wash cloth. So we had to put things on hold the rest of the day due to letting the floor dry all the way. We don't want mold now do we? In this area we're laying down a plastic layer and insulation beneath the subfloor to help with the cold in that area. I want to lay down carpet but I highly doubt that's what David will do. He has free rein in that area so it's up to him.
I'm currently thinking of putting up all of my scrap booking stuff up until Walter leaves for boot camp and I'm able to start working on the bed room and the craft room. It will probably be close to a year before we're able to get to that point but by then I'll be able to get all I want done. I'm also considering getting rid of my desktop and the current work table I have now. I'm thinking of looking into a different desk and getting rid of our old kitchen table. I'm not sure on what to do though. It would take convincing David of this same idea. Well I guess we'll see what happens.
Now we're dealing with that unevenness of the floor. Plus the dogs are have issues with peeing on the floor downstairs so I cleaned up some of it with ammonia and a wash cloth. So we had to put things on hold the rest of the day due to letting the floor dry all the way. We don't want mold now do we? In this area we're laying down a plastic layer and insulation beneath the subfloor to help with the cold in that area. I want to lay down carpet but I highly doubt that's what David will do. He has free rein in that area so it's up to him.
I'm currently thinking of putting up all of my scrap booking stuff up until Walter leaves for boot camp and I'm able to start working on the bed room and the craft room. It will probably be close to a year before we're able to get to that point but by then I'll be able to get all I want done. I'm also considering getting rid of my desktop and the current work table I have now. I'm thinking of looking into a different desk and getting rid of our old kitchen table. I'm not sure on what to do though. It would take convincing David of this same idea. Well I guess we'll see what happens.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Another Problem
So whilst taking a shower last night we are told by our son, William, that there's a leak downstairs. Well David runs down stairs to find it freely flowing from one of the pipes. Oh did I mention the spraying part!? Well he shuts off the water (thank God I was done!) and finds the leak. It's coming from the top of the pipe where the shower head is. So back upstairs. Move all of the crap from Edward's closet (I found all of his dirty laundry!) and go into the area where you can access the pipes for the shower through the wall and find the leak. I'm not sure how bad it is David was seriously too pissed off to talk at that point. Who wouldn't be, right?
He says he can go one of two ways. One he can fix it quickly and now and cheaply be done until a later date or he can do it right spend a little bit of money and be done with it forever. I'm saying number 2. Mine as well get it over and done with. Luckily he can access it all from Edward's side of the wall. He'll have to cut it all out and fix it. But replacing dry wall is a lot easier than replacing tile. And God only knows how old the white subway tile is in my bathroom. Plus I really like it and want to keep it! So guess what David will be doing today? He wanted a project! LOL. Luckily we have the funds to do this right now and it's not going to hurt us too much. It's more of an inconvenience at the moment.
Funny thing is David came upstairs from the basement and yelled, "Well consider this the official start of your bathroom remodel!" We need to redo the bathroom from the shoddy work done prior to our moving in to Nana's break down and freak out which tore up the one wall. But we were going to wait since remodeling a bathroom is no easy feat and is expensive. Personally if I had my choice we'd completely gut and reposition the fixtures. But since we really don't have money for that we'll deal with new drywall, tile on the floor and paint.
Another project has started itself for us. How nice of the house to start thinking for itself!
He says he can go one of two ways. One he can fix it quickly and now and cheaply be done until a later date or he can do it right spend a little bit of money and be done with it forever. I'm saying number 2. Mine as well get it over and done with. Luckily he can access it all from Edward's side of the wall. He'll have to cut it all out and fix it. But replacing dry wall is a lot easier than replacing tile. And God only knows how old the white subway tile is in my bathroom. Plus I really like it and want to keep it! So guess what David will be doing today? He wanted a project! LOL. Luckily we have the funds to do this right now and it's not going to hurt us too much. It's more of an inconvenience at the moment.
Funny thing is David came upstairs from the basement and yelled, "Well consider this the official start of your bathroom remodel!" We need to redo the bathroom from the shoddy work done prior to our moving in to Nana's break down and freak out which tore up the one wall. But we were going to wait since remodeling a bathroom is no easy feat and is expensive. Personally if I had my choice we'd completely gut and reposition the fixtures. But since we really don't have money for that we'll deal with new drywall, tile on the floor and paint.
Another project has started itself for us. How nice of the house to start thinking for itself!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Moving On
So with winter coming upon us we're starting to make plans for our next big project. We have two bigger projects we want to start but one will have to wait until after winter is over with. The other one is one that has to wait until after Walter moves out.
The 1st project is the front porch. The current porch is falling apart. The stairs are bowing as you walk up them. The balistraude is falling apart with the rails coming out of the porch all together. In a couple of spots I'm afraid to step because I'm afraid I'm going to fall through the porch. The porch isn't the best in design and it's not big enough. Unfortunately all David and I have agreed upon is that it needs to be made out of red wood and pressure treated wood. UGH! I came up with a design idea that would block off the side yard from the dogs and from prying eyes from the sidewalk in the front of the house (we want privacy when we put in our hot tub), and it would give us more room. David said flat out that he doesn't want to redo the sprinkler system. I'd really like it if we would but what do I know. I'm sure eventually he'll come around to thinking about it but I'm wondering how long that will take.
The 2nd project is our bedroom. I want to get that room done. What I want to do though is wait until Walter goes off to boot camp, then we can clean his stuff out of his room and get it into the attic. Then move our larger stuff into that room and then we can gut that room and start from stratch and cleaning it up. We need new dry wall, ceiling, electrical, flooring, sub flooring, painting, and trim. Then we can move our stuff back into our bedroom and then start on Walter's bedroom. His room will become my craft room. It will be gutted as well. The closets will be removed and we'll build shelves. Redo the drywall, sub floor, ceiling, and electrical. His room will be open as well. The wall next to the stairs will be taken out as will the door. Our room will be the only closed area in the basement. Once again this will have to wait.
We need to finish the den area. I want to start working on the sub floor in that room and we're going to laying down the same flooring that we have in the laundry room. We really like that color and it's so damn easy to lay! I can't wait to get to work on this!!!!!
I wanted to start working on the porch during the fall but I think it's going to be easier to just wait with it. I just want to get started on something! I feel like we're standing still. I'm excited about how things are going to look when we're done!
The 1st project is the front porch. The current porch is falling apart. The stairs are bowing as you walk up them. The balistraude is falling apart with the rails coming out of the porch all together. In a couple of spots I'm afraid to step because I'm afraid I'm going to fall through the porch. The porch isn't the best in design and it's not big enough. Unfortunately all David and I have agreed upon is that it needs to be made out of red wood and pressure treated wood. UGH! I came up with a design idea that would block off the side yard from the dogs and from prying eyes from the sidewalk in the front of the house (we want privacy when we put in our hot tub), and it would give us more room. David said flat out that he doesn't want to redo the sprinkler system. I'd really like it if we would but what do I know. I'm sure eventually he'll come around to thinking about it but I'm wondering how long that will take.
The 2nd project is our bedroom. I want to get that room done. What I want to do though is wait until Walter goes off to boot camp, then we can clean his stuff out of his room and get it into the attic. Then move our larger stuff into that room and then we can gut that room and start from stratch and cleaning it up. We need new dry wall, ceiling, electrical, flooring, sub flooring, painting, and trim. Then we can move our stuff back into our bedroom and then start on Walter's bedroom. His room will become my craft room. It will be gutted as well. The closets will be removed and we'll build shelves. Redo the drywall, sub floor, ceiling, and electrical. His room will be open as well. The wall next to the stairs will be taken out as will the door. Our room will be the only closed area in the basement. Once again this will have to wait.
We need to finish the den area. I want to start working on the sub floor in that room and we're going to laying down the same flooring that we have in the laundry room. We really like that color and it's so damn easy to lay! I can't wait to get to work on this!!!!!
I wanted to start working on the porch during the fall but I think it's going to be easier to just wait with it. I just want to get started on something! I feel like we're standing still. I'm excited about how things are going to look when we're done!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Follow Up
Okay so it's been a while since the laundry room was mostly done. The cabinet is being built as we speak but it's slow going. David is taking his time to get things done which I understand because he's a bit burnt out on the remodel we just finished. He has gotten the main part of the cabinet built and installed. He's had to notch the top in a couple of spots. In the back part of it for the water lines and such. Then in the front for the washer and dryer controls to be exposed so we can use them. It does turn out that we don't have enough left over flooring to cover the top of the cabinet. So we'll have to buy another box of it. Which isn't too much.
We still have not decided on which room to start on next. Plus there's still the fact of making the plans for the room. So it will be a while. Right now our priorities have moved to the outside of the house. We have plans for a larger garden, things that can't be planted in our hydroponic garden (you're not able to plant root vegetables in a hydroponic garden). We want to plant some more grass seed to expand the yard a little bit more. David wants to build a fire pit and he's making plans for buying a hot tub. Not sure how that's going to work. It all depends how the year goes. Then we have dethatched the yard (as usual it looks like crap) and Nana's little spots have the backyard look like crap. But that's something else we've moved on to fix up.
I have currently bought 3 packets of seeds for chamomile, creeping thyme, and lavendar. I plan on putting this in areas around the garden for color. Plus I want to learn how to make tea from the chamomile and I've been told that planting lavendar is good luck.
Not sure when I'll post again since we've kind of taken some time off. Thanks for reading and keeping up with us!
We still have not decided on which room to start on next. Plus there's still the fact of making the plans for the room. So it will be a while. Right now our priorities have moved to the outside of the house. We have plans for a larger garden, things that can't be planted in our hydroponic garden (you're not able to plant root vegetables in a hydroponic garden). We want to plant some more grass seed to expand the yard a little bit more. David wants to build a fire pit and he's making plans for buying a hot tub. Not sure how that's going to work. It all depends how the year goes. Then we have dethatched the yard (as usual it looks like crap) and Nana's little spots have the backyard look like crap. But that's something else we've moved on to fix up.
I have currently bought 3 packets of seeds for chamomile, creeping thyme, and lavendar. I plan on putting this in areas around the garden for color. Plus I want to learn how to make tea from the chamomile and I've been told that planting lavendar is good luck.
Not sure when I'll post again since we've kind of taken some time off. Thanks for reading and keeping up with us!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
OMG! It's finished
Well not totally. We still have some trim to do, we need to paint the ceiling and we have to put in the overhead light. We also have a cabinet to build. And David has plans for under the stairs. But that's all mostly asthetic. Right now all of the structural stuff is finished! Today we painted the walls and laid the flooring.
I wanted to talk about some of the products we used.
First off, Kilz! Holy crap how much do I love this stuff! I've only used it over painted walls but this time it was used over freshly sanded drywall. With the type of roller we used it added a slight texture to the wall. After both coats were put onto the walls it felt like a wall that had been previously painted with a flat paint. It was nice and so much easier painting with color after putting up the Kilz. I highly recommend this product!
Second, Behr Premium Plus Ultra. I was skeptical of this paint. It's the one you hear about on the TV about how you only need one coat instead of two to fully cover your walls. It....is.....AWESOME! To be fair there are a couple of spots where it got a bit thin but if you're careful on how you paint then you seriously only need one coat of paint! It saved us a ton of time and a lot of extra work to use this paint. David bought two cans of it just to be safe but it went on so well that we now have extra paint. David is still warming up to the color that I chose but if it he likes it then it will also become the kitchen color as well. I highly recommend this product.
Third, Allure Flooring! First off it's water proof. It has edges on it that stick together. It is a completely floating floor that requires no glue what so ever. You press the edges together and that's it! It looks good, has texture, and I love the color. It has a coppery color to it which goes awesome with the green color we put on the walls. They have several different types and styles to choose from. It's a most awesome product and I highly recommend it.
We bought everything from the Home Depot. No this is not because David works there. He doesn't get an employee discount at all but the Allure flooring was told to us by the flooring guys over at the store. Then we also found the Pex tubing which we also were very happy with. The plumbing guys at the store recommended this us as well. The type of insulation we used we were recommended by the guys at the store.
I have to say I've never really utilized the employees at the store but David has found those who know what they're talking about and those who don't. He is utilizing those people and they are all very good at what they do. They actually made this renovation easier by giving us advice on products and problems. I highly recommend the store.
Onto the next project!
I wanted to talk about some of the products we used.
First off, Kilz! Holy crap how much do I love this stuff! I've only used it over painted walls but this time it was used over freshly sanded drywall. With the type of roller we used it added a slight texture to the wall. After both coats were put onto the walls it felt like a wall that had been previously painted with a flat paint. It was nice and so much easier painting with color after putting up the Kilz. I highly recommend this product!
Second, Behr Premium Plus Ultra. I was skeptical of this paint. It's the one you hear about on the TV about how you only need one coat instead of two to fully cover your walls. It....is.....AWESOME! To be fair there are a couple of spots where it got a bit thin but if you're careful on how you paint then you seriously only need one coat of paint! It saved us a ton of time and a lot of extra work to use this paint. David bought two cans of it just to be safe but it went on so well that we now have extra paint. David is still warming up to the color that I chose but if it he likes it then it will also become the kitchen color as well. I highly recommend this product.
Third, Allure Flooring! First off it's water proof. It has edges on it that stick together. It is a completely floating floor that requires no glue what so ever. You press the edges together and that's it! It looks good, has texture, and I love the color. It has a coppery color to it which goes awesome with the green color we put on the walls. They have several different types and styles to choose from. It's a most awesome product and I highly recommend it.
We bought everything from the Home Depot. No this is not because David works there. He doesn't get an employee discount at all but the Allure flooring was told to us by the flooring guys over at the store. Then we also found the Pex tubing which we also were very happy with. The plumbing guys at the store recommended this us as well. The type of insulation we used we were recommended by the guys at the store.
I have to say I've never really utilized the employees at the store but David has found those who know what they're talking about and those who don't. He is utilizing those people and they are all very good at what they do. They actually made this renovation easier by giving us advice on products and problems. I highly recommend the store.
Onto the next project!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Painting!
Finally! When we started this project 3 months ago we thought it would take forever to get to this point. Looking back at it I think that we could have done it in a week had we had the money to buy all of our supplies at one time. Unfortunately we didn't. I still think it was a good idea to go slow with this project though.
David is unhappy with the joints in the room. I told him it was a learning process. Nothing is ever going to look perfect doing this ourselves. The only way we'd get it perfect is having a professional come in and do it.
I started painting Kilz on the walls Wednesday. I was very happy! With so much of the work being done by David alone lately I was feeling a bit left out. Sad I know but still. I guess I hated more that he was working so much on his own. He's so tired between the work at work and the work at home. Anyhoo, David complained about the first layer being too thin but I told him the second one would be a thicker layer. Then when I looked back at it after it had started to dry you can still see spots where I painted it too thin. UGH! Oh well once the color is up on the walls you won't be able to tell the difference.
I was seriously surprised to see David agree to a color that I wanted. He's been surprising me a lot lately. I think he'll enjoy it though. If he does then this will probably be the kitchen color as well. I could have started painting today but David needs to remove the overhead light and sand down one spot that is a pain to get to. Then I'll be able to start taping and putting up color! So tomorrow will be our best bet. If I can get that done early enough then maybe the second coat by the afternoon (that's what I like about Behr paint it dries decently quickly!). Then if we're lucky by Sunday we'll be laying down flooring and putting on outlet covers and putting up our lighting!
David did find a draw back. We were going to put a folding table over the washer and dryer. We had picked out a nice counter top and we were going to build a cabinet for it. Well David started doing some measuring and found out that the counter top we'd picked out is too narrow for the width of our washer and dryer. So then after some thinking David said we could still build the cabinet around the washer and dryer and then use the left over flooring for the counter top! What an awesome idea!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it! This is why I married the man! We'll definitely have left over flooring so I think it's going to work out perfectly!
All in all it's looking great! I'll post more pic on Facebook when I get a chance.
David is unhappy with the joints in the room. I told him it was a learning process. Nothing is ever going to look perfect doing this ourselves. The only way we'd get it perfect is having a professional come in and do it.
I started painting Kilz on the walls Wednesday. I was very happy! With so much of the work being done by David alone lately I was feeling a bit left out. Sad I know but still. I guess I hated more that he was working so much on his own. He's so tired between the work at work and the work at home. Anyhoo, David complained about the first layer being too thin but I told him the second one would be a thicker layer. Then when I looked back at it after it had started to dry you can still see spots where I painted it too thin. UGH! Oh well once the color is up on the walls you won't be able to tell the difference.
I was seriously surprised to see David agree to a color that I wanted. He's been surprising me a lot lately. I think he'll enjoy it though. If he does then this will probably be the kitchen color as well. I could have started painting today but David needs to remove the overhead light and sand down one spot that is a pain to get to. Then I'll be able to start taping and putting up color! So tomorrow will be our best bet. If I can get that done early enough then maybe the second coat by the afternoon (that's what I like about Behr paint it dries decently quickly!). Then if we're lucky by Sunday we'll be laying down flooring and putting on outlet covers and putting up our lighting!
David did find a draw back. We were going to put a folding table over the washer and dryer. We had picked out a nice counter top and we were going to build a cabinet for it. Well David started doing some measuring and found out that the counter top we'd picked out is too narrow for the width of our washer and dryer. So then after some thinking David said we could still build the cabinet around the washer and dryer and then use the left over flooring for the counter top! What an awesome idea!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it! This is why I married the man! We'll definitely have left over flooring so I think it's going to work out perfectly!
All in all it's looking great! I'll post more pic on Facebook when I get a chance.
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