Category: home improvement

happenings, home improvement, shiny stuff

bathroom remodel take 2: the 3 years later edition

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It’s been a little over 3 and a half years since we took our first stab at remodeling our basic and bland main bathroom. In that project (some pictures), we took out the ugly tiles and put in beautiful natural slate tiles, and added a new vanity and mirror. This project went well, but was labor intensive. However, it was never meant to be the end; we always wanted to redo the shower, and put in a custom tiled shower with glass doors.

Well, the time has come to finish our spa bathroom. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this project. I HATE the pre-fab shower stalls that we have in both of our bathrooms, and I have wanted a walk in shower with the luxury of glass tiles and an upgraded shower nozzle. I also can’t wait to have glass doors; that will undoubtedly only make our bathing experience that much better.

So the construction will kick back into high gear over the next couple of weeks (I’m hoping it won’t take weeks, though); as God as my witness, we will finish this bathroom!! Here are stock photos of the tile we are planning to use:
For the walls, we want to use this beautiful aqua glass tile:

and for the floor, we want to use this gorgeous pebble tile; which according to the design shows, is all the rage:

Needless to say, there will be stories about the process as we begin demolition later this week, and definitely expect lots of pictures. I am VERY excited, because if it looks anything like the image I have in my mind, our bathroom is going to be AMAZING. Stay tuned for more.

home improvement

with the flick of a switch…

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Our not so fantastic kitchen overhead light cut out a couple of weeks ago, and after buying some new bulbs for it, we discovered that the lamp had crapped out, and needed to be replaced. So, we headed to Lowes this weekend to just get a replacement, when we started to think about options… why not get something better? Why not get something more interesting? So here’s what we came up with:
new lighting, we have it.
It is one of those track kits that you can “easily” bend into “any shape”, and you just add the bulbs that you want. Well, I figured it would probably take about a half an hour to install, but it ended up taking close to 3 hours, and I cursed through most of it. The attachment point was out of whack, and I had to “adjust it” (meaning, screw long ass screws in it), and it took forever just to get the housing up in the ceiling. Then, I had to bend the “easy to bend” track into what I considered to be a bright idea; a swirl. Well, it looks “alright”, but there are parts where it isn’t perfect. Fuck it. It’s up there now. We also had a hell of a time with the dangling bulb in the middle; it just didn’t want to work, and we had to exchange it for another one (which also didn’t want to work, but I twisted its arm, and now it works).

Overall, I am still on the fence about it, mainly because it is so different from our other fixture, but partly because of the fact that the swirl isn’t perfectly bent. It was close to impossible to get it perfect, but I am a perfectionist, so there. What do you think? Do you like it??

It definitely makes the kitchen bright… in fact, it is so bright that I may install a dimmer switch this weekend.

happenings, home improvement, shiny stuff

the reveal

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Well, the new counter tops are in, and they look AMAZING. It is incredible how much of an improvement they make on our kitchen. First of all, the original counters were not only a cheap imitation granite, but they were installed improperly; meaning the dishwasher couldn’t be shut properly without LIFTING UP ON THE COUNTER!!! AHHHH!! Needless to say, I have wanted new counters for a LONG time.

It is funny though, they seem to highlight how plain and frankly, quite dirty our cabinets are!! Oh well… I LOVE these counter tops, and I am glad that we were finally able to get them (after talking about them for FOUR years!).

First, I give you the gritty truth that was the before, boring counter tops:
before
before

Now, I give you the dazzling, amazingly beautiful new counter tops!
after
after

See the vast improvement?? I love ’em! I also love the new sink, faucet, and dishwasher that came along with this remodel. I feel like an HGTV remodel gone incredibly right!!!

all about me, happenings, home improvement, near and dear

ATL-nado 2008

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Wow.

It is midnight, and as I sit here writing this, I cannot even begin to express how amazingly lucky I feel. I have been looking at pictures of the devastation that occurred throughout Cabbagetown and some of the other areas near us in Atlanta, and I feel fucking blessed. I also want to make sure and say a huge and amazing thank you, for every text message, email, and phone call I got. It was really truly amazing to know so many people cared. Thank you so much.

storm damage
Well, here’s how it went down for us. Last night, we were over at Joey’s for a Smash Bros party, and around midnight, we got word that there were some pretty nasty storms going on downtown. The word tornado was even used. Coming from a place in NC where we have had MAJOR destruction from tornadoes in my life, I instantly got scared. I never thought it would happen here; why? I don’t know, but I just didn’t. Instantly, James and I felt the need to get home, and make sure everything and everyone (i.e., Sydney) were okay. Riding down the freeway was almost surreal; they had whole exits blocked off due to tornado damage… right at the heart of the city.

Finally, we got home, and a couple of our neighbors had called us to let us know that our house was okay, but that the fence behind our house didn’t fare so well. Basically, the storm took out two major trees in the back of our property, splitting them right at the ground, and sending them toppling over our fence, shed, and into our neighbor’s yard. The entire fence wasn’t taken out, but major chunks are going to need to be replaced. We had a little tin shed in the back yard that was full to the brim with our power tools and home improvement equipment, and as of right now, it looks like a crumpled up tin can. It was completely smashed. The funny thing, is that the new table saw that we bought to do the hardwoods took the brunt of the tree, and managed to save every thing shorter than it, including the much more expensive lawnmower, leaf blower, and weed eater. It might not be salvageable, but it definitely did its duty to protect its fellow shed-mates.

Early in the morning, we had a guy come out to remove the trees, and they chainsawed the hell out of that wood all day, managing to remove almost all of it. It is unreal how big that tree was, and even more unreal was how close it got to our house. It was literally within about 4 feet from the back of our house; which is where our bedroom is. There were also two shattered javelin-like off shoots from the tree that were hurled into the ground so deep that they couldn’t even pull one of them out. Those were much closer to the house, but still managed to miss us by a couple of feet.

For those wondering about the waverunner, for whatever reason, James decided yesterday that the place it was at (the right side of the shed) was getting poor grass growth because of the waverunner being there, and as such, he moved it to the left side, between the shed and the fence. Whatever made him do that completely saved the boat. It wasn’t even touched, with the tree landing totally on the shed and the spot where it had been sitting all of this time. That was some intense luck on his part!!

Other than the damage to our fence and shed, and the damage to our neighbor’s fences and their car (which was just the windsheild and hood), I have to say, that we got out of this thing amazingly lucky. A few houses down the street have trees right through the middle of their houses, and as I mentioned before, the devastation in Cabbagetown is just awful. My heart goes out to everyone that received damage in this storm. It was unexpected, and I just feel blessed that we got out with only a little damage. My car has a few dings in it from the golf ball sized hail from earlier today as well, but luckily I got some blankets on it before it really started coming down.

All in all, I have to say, thank God for our house being missed, and I am truly thankful that we are with power, and okay after these storms. It could have been a lot worse, and I am thankful that it wasn’t for us. Now… the process of rebuilding begins… we have an insurance person coming out this week; wish us luck!

Check out the photos on flickr.

all about me, home improvement

updates are interesting… aren’t they?

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It seems like everything and nothing happens these days in my life. There is waking up, driving to work, work, driving home from work, watching TV/passing time until bedtime, sleep, and then repeat. However, these past few weeks, we have been dealing with the house being in total upheaval over the floors in the office being replaced, and I have nearly broken my back to get things back in order.

First was installing the hardwood floors. This is something that is, in theory, easy to do. Easy to follow instructions, and relatively inexpensive if you do it yourself ($700 for a 12×10 room). Yet, the manual labor… whoa. It is on a level of it’s own. It isn’t enough that you have to hammer and things like that, but you have to be bent over unnaturally to do so. That just KILLS a back; and given my history with major back trauma, it has done me in.

To top all of that off, we decided, “hey, now is a good time to paint the office, since nothing is in there, right?”. So we painted two walls a chocolate brown, and the two other walls a baby blue-ish color. The result is an amazing looking room, if I do say so myself. I am in love with the results, but I hated the process.

As if that wasn’t enough, I also decided that it was the perfect time to build a new bookcase/shelving unit for our electronic components and video games. That was a chore too. But, like everything else, it is finished!! I am going to try and get some pictures up in the next little while, so check flickr for those. Aren’t home projects so much fun? Yeah… when they are DONE.

home improvement

installing hardwoods in the office

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putting in hardwood floors in the officeWell, as I mentioned earlier, we had the floors torn out of our office, and had the joists completely rebuilt, with a new subfloor to boot. James and I talked about getting carpet in there, since we didn’t think we could afford hardwood floors; especially after the $3500 it cost to have the floors fixed. Well, after I met with the carpet installers, James felt that we could install the hardwoods ourself, and save a bundle of money. Initially, I was VERY skeptical, but after we talked about it, I agreed to give it a go.

So, earlier last week, we started installing the hardwoods in the office. We bought these really beautiful pre-finished oak hardwoods, which ran us about $700 total for all of the wood. It is a “lock and tap” system, where you lock it in place, and then use this wicked looking nailer to permanently hold the wood in place. James started out doing it by himself, but I agreed to help out yesterday.

We started about 2 o’clock, and worked right up until 9:30. We finished just in time to return that wicked nailer back to Home Depot, and by the end of the day, we were exhausted. I don’t know how people do that for a living; intensive labor doesn’t even begin to cover what we did. Today, my back is incredibly sore, as are my legs and my arms. We worked our asses off, but the end result, is a beautiful new hardwood floor in our office for a fraction of the price we would have payed someone else to do it. I am glad that it is over, but like MUCH of our other home improvement projects, I really don’t think that I would do it again. Now, I have to paint the office, and James is going to install the baseboards and quarter round, and we will have our office looking better than ever! AND, it will have a STABLE floor for once.

Seriously, though, I took some pictures of the joists that were “holding up” the floor when they pulled the subfloor off, and I cannot believe that we didn’t fall through before now. It was insane. I am so glad we did it, and I am so glad that the hard parts are over. Now, to do the little parts, clean up, and REST. I am wiped out! It is time to take off my weekend warrior hat, and get some rest; my back deserves it! I’ll get some pictures of the office once it is painted and everything truly is done… until then, the above picture gives you an idea of what we had to do!

all about me, happenings, home improvement

flooring update and plans

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So I mentioned it, but didn’t really elaborate on it, but our floors are now fixed. We have had issues with our floors since we bought this house, mostly due to crooked contractors and a not-so-truthful home inspector. Well, we had re-supported them in the past, but the office was just getting worse and worse, so we decided to rip up the floors and start from scratch.

This week, they came in, and built new joists in all of the affected rooms under the existing floor, but the office was so bad, that they had to literally start over. The floors were ripped out, and new joists were built and a new subfloor was laid. Needless to say, it has been a very stressful experience. What’s interesting, is just how bad the floor was… the joists that were holding up the floor were not even attached in some parts, and were literally a ticking time bomb; it was only a matter of time before someone fell through. I am glad that we took care of it sooner rather than later.

We have been talking about what kind of floor we want to do in the office, and James seems to think that we can put in hardwoods ourself, so reluctantly, I am going along for the ride. I am excited, however, that we are going to paint the office a new, more interesting color, and that we will be getting hardwoods in a room to add value to our house. Let’s hope that it is as “easy” to install as the directions indicate (seriously though, they make it sound easier that tile installation; which we have done successfully in the past).

I have been without my desktop since they tore out the floor in the office earlier this week, so I haven’t been able to get any of the pictures of the devastation up on flickr, but I am going to try and rectify that soon; since we we be having a subfloor and nothing else, I might as well set up my computer so I can use it.

Oh well… home renovation can be very stressful, but the end result is always welcome!!! Stay tuned for more updates, and hopefully, some pictures to see the progress!!! Wish us luck… and PATIENCE. We are going to need it!

home improvement

beadboard: what’s been done so far…

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So, I said this weekend that we were going to finished caulking and painting, but we didn’t schedule our time right, and as a result, we just decided to clean up, and leave things as is for right now. After all, our house was a MESS, and we literally couldn’t stand it any longer. It does look great as is though, so perhaps that is why we weren’t so antsy to break out the paint brushes to give it the finishing touches. Trust me though, those are on the way in the very near future. But, in the mean time, here is the progress that has been accomplished thus far: (with a little slideshow from the beginning of the project up until now)

Here’s were it begins…

James starts by trying to find a stud in the wall. Needless to say, it beeped the entire time he was holding it; perhaps it had already found a stud:

Sydney works hard by laying on the couch and being cute. This will only continue throughout the project.

So after the first day, we have made some real progress. Two walls are almost completely beadboarded.

The next day, I was home sick from work, and our friend Daniel came over to help James. They made a ton of progress, and actually got all of the beadboard up for the rest of the room.

Sydney continued his stint on the couch, still looking extremely cute.

James put up the trim and the chair rail the next day while I was at work. Then Saturday morning, we were supposed to caulk and paint, but all that was accomplished was James puttying up the big cracks and we ended up cleaning up and moving the furniture back.

Even though it isn’t painted, I still think it looks great. It definitely gives a different feel to the room. Even though I think it looks great as is, I will still be very glad when it is all done and painted. Hopefully, that will happen in the near future, and when it finally does happen, you should expect an update right here. Well, that’s about all! Let me know what you think of our hard work!

home improvement

caulk it baby one more time

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Today we are putting the finishing touches on our mini-remodel; we decided the living room would look better if it had beadboard and a chair rail. I am going to be doing the caulking because that is not one of James’ strong areas, and then the painting and clean up should commence. After living in a whirlwind the past full week, I will just be glad to see everything get semi back to normal.

There is at least one picture on flickr, but I promise to post a bunch of the finished product… trust me, it looks beautiful. It truly changes the look of not only the whole room, but the feel of the whole house. It is weird how something less than $500 can truly make your house more craftsman, and in essence, more valuable and aesthetic. I know you are on the edge of your seats for the unveiling, but you will have to wait; pretend this is one of those HGTV make over shows… we will bring you the final product after the commercial break!

home improvement

to paint or not to paint?

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James and I are in the process of beginning to prime the new front porch for painting and staining. We spent the entire day today priming the columns and tomorrow, we begin on the railings. There really is only one problem that I see here: I don’t think that we will be able to do a good enough job on the final coats of paint, to make the porch look as good as it should. I don’t think that we can do a professional job, and that concerns me. All day, we were stopping, in order to get rogue paint splashes up off of the places where it was not supposed to be, i.e. the deck floor. So now, I sit here, sore from painting, and wonder, what should we do?

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