Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Overwhelming task
This is a short one, but sometimes renovating your house while working and raising two kids - and being 6 + months pregnant is really, really overwhelming.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The dreaded bathroom
My master bathroom disaster....
I told my husband and myself this room is awful and should be the LAST thing we spend money on. My hope was eventually to rip it out and start from scratch. Well, after 6 months of storing our spare towels on the floor and anything else on the window sill, I changed my tune.
We aren't putting much into it, but enough to make it easier to use. As we put 1 thing in, something started to bloom. I don't HATE it as much anymore...
Here's a mental refresher from this side:
Not much done here, just shelves and some paint, but white trim versus natural oak and some new shelving and a brushed nickel toilet paper roll versus the oak and gold one. Still a lot of work to do - paint the rest of the bathroom trim and walls, paint the vanities and mirror brown, floors, etc etc. Either way, I already like looking in there better.
I told my husband and myself this room is awful and should be the LAST thing we spend money on. My hope was eventually to rip it out and start from scratch. Well, after 6 months of storing our spare towels on the floor and anything else on the window sill, I changed my tune.
We aren't putting much into it, but enough to make it easier to use. As we put 1 thing in, something started to bloom. I don't HATE it as much anymore...
Here's a mental refresher from this side:
Not much done here, just shelves and some paint, but white trim versus natural oak and some new shelving and a brushed nickel toilet paper roll versus the oak and gold one. Still a lot of work to do - paint the rest of the bathroom trim and walls, paint the vanities and mirror brown, floors, etc etc. Either way, I already like looking in there better.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Buying a showcase kitchen
In an attempt to save money and get more then we could afford, buying a showcase kitchen sounded AWESOME. When I happened upon a closing kitchen design studio and saw the sign "KITCHENS FOR SALE", I instantly thought - this could be a good idea. My parents put in a discounted floor kitchen into their lake house and it is gorgeous - granted the space and kitchen are small - its still great.
So when we took the plunge and bought 2 kitchens in order to make 1 big kitchen, I was confident and feeling like a million bucks. We have a good kitchen, granite, knobs, and its ready to go. What made me feel even better is that the kitchen layout of the main kitchen we bought was exactly like the kitchen in our blue prints.
But, here is my warning. Building new is a whole different ballgame then putting one of these floor kitchens in an already existing kitchen. Luckily for us, by taking out the wall and removing the door, we were able to get a pretty open concept space to work with. That said, our kitchen didn't have a dishwasher built in (because it was for show only). So right away, we knew we needed to account for that. Second, our room had a double hung window over the sink..... Our kitchen layout, did not. Our floor model kitchen came with an amazing stove hood, that really fits a 36 inch oven. The price of a 36 inch oven was enough to make me decide 3 inch spacers on each side were fine.
Now, when we put it all together, we ended up rearranging the cabinets and only had to put in 3 spacers - not bad. We were able to use all the cabinets and for the most part, I would say it looks designed for our space. My only exception is two doors that I think would look better swinging in the other direction.
The real problem was the granite. We had $2000 worth of granite and because of the slight tweaks, it too needed some slight tweaks. Here's my warning or something to think about. I recently called a granite person to come assess our situation. I had gone to Home Depot where the granite was purchased and they basically told me that any changes and alterations meant they would not guarantee the granite. So, I went to someone my Dad works with. He was very honest and said, almost every time tweaking doesn't work and after labor, its cheaper and/or more worth it to start from scratch.
I can see it, we have a super common granite, not expensive (Giallo Florito) easy to find.
But, the variation in granite is great. I really didn't quite get the difference until ours was pieced together. Plus, in order to tweak, you need to cut here, piece together there. All in all, we were fortunate to use all of ours!! Yay!! What this meant, is that there are 3 seams, which we were okay with. At each of the seams you can see the difference in the granite, one side is darker and it isn't the smoothest of transitions. But, once again, we didn't care. We were able to use our two big main pieces, seam in a 3 inch piece over the filler next to the stove, and use our last piece at the end.
Seam 1:
Seam 2:
Seam 3:
For me, this is worth it. I know we could have used the granite for something else, bathroom sinks, or an outdoor grill area, but honestly, we couldn't then afford an extra $3K+ to get new granite for the kitchen. So we'd have great bathroom vanity tops and a cheap kitchen counter.
In the end, the granite is going to cost us $1400, that is with all the labor to cut, and piece together the old as well as bring in a new slab for the island (which is over 6 feet with a 10 inch overhang on two sides) and a new piece for the cabinets to the right of the stove. But, we will have used all our $2000 worth of granite which makes the price of the kitchen we bought worth it. If we bought the eggshell kitchen for $5K with no counters, it is still a good deal, but definitely not as much.
So, if you want to replace your kitchen for the cheap, definitely look into it, but be aware that its not a one size fits all situation. If you can't use the countertops or all the cabinets, is it still a good deal? Would you get more bang for your buck designing a kitchen made for your existing space?
As it is, we aren't able to use the crown molding that came with our kitchen. But crown is a topic for another post... I'm just satisfied today to have half my granite installed!
So when we took the plunge and bought 2 kitchens in order to make 1 big kitchen, I was confident and feeling like a million bucks. We have a good kitchen, granite, knobs, and its ready to go. What made me feel even better is that the kitchen layout of the main kitchen we bought was exactly like the kitchen in our blue prints.
But, here is my warning. Building new is a whole different ballgame then putting one of these floor kitchens in an already existing kitchen. Luckily for us, by taking out the wall and removing the door, we were able to get a pretty open concept space to work with. That said, our kitchen didn't have a dishwasher built in (because it was for show only). So right away, we knew we needed to account for that. Second, our room had a double hung window over the sink..... Our kitchen layout, did not. Our floor model kitchen came with an amazing stove hood, that really fits a 36 inch oven. The price of a 36 inch oven was enough to make me decide 3 inch spacers on each side were fine.
Now, when we put it all together, we ended up rearranging the cabinets and only had to put in 3 spacers - not bad. We were able to use all the cabinets and for the most part, I would say it looks designed for our space. My only exception is two doors that I think would look better swinging in the other direction.
The real problem was the granite. We had $2000 worth of granite and because of the slight tweaks, it too needed some slight tweaks. Here's my warning or something to think about. I recently called a granite person to come assess our situation. I had gone to Home Depot where the granite was purchased and they basically told me that any changes and alterations meant they would not guarantee the granite. So, I went to someone my Dad works with. He was very honest and said, almost every time tweaking doesn't work and after labor, its cheaper and/or more worth it to start from scratch.
I can see it, we have a super common granite, not expensive (Giallo Florito) easy to find.
But, the variation in granite is great. I really didn't quite get the difference until ours was pieced together. Plus, in order to tweak, you need to cut here, piece together there. All in all, we were fortunate to use all of ours!! Yay!! What this meant, is that there are 3 seams, which we were okay with. At each of the seams you can see the difference in the granite, one side is darker and it isn't the smoothest of transitions. But, once again, we didn't care. We were able to use our two big main pieces, seam in a 3 inch piece over the filler next to the stove, and use our last piece at the end.
Seam 1:
Seam 2:
Seam 3:
For me, this is worth it. I know we could have used the granite for something else, bathroom sinks, or an outdoor grill area, but honestly, we couldn't then afford an extra $3K+ to get new granite for the kitchen. So we'd have great bathroom vanity tops and a cheap kitchen counter.
Finished piece using all old granite
In the end, the granite is going to cost us $1400, that is with all the labor to cut, and piece together the old as well as bring in a new slab for the island (which is over 6 feet with a 10 inch overhang on two sides) and a new piece for the cabinets to the right of the stove. But, we will have used all our $2000 worth of granite which makes the price of the kitchen we bought worth it. If we bought the eggshell kitchen for $5K with no counters, it is still a good deal, but definitely not as much.
So, if you want to replace your kitchen for the cheap, definitely look into it, but be aware that its not a one size fits all situation. If you can't use the countertops or all the cabinets, is it still a good deal? Would you get more bang for your buck designing a kitchen made for your existing space?
As it is, we aren't able to use the crown molding that came with our kitchen. But crown is a topic for another post... I'm just satisfied today to have half my granite installed!
Monday, April 1, 2013
Painting trim
Oh my Lord, I did not realize the gravity of this project. It's funny, its not something you really think twice about and yet, since we've moved into this house, it has definitely been one of those things that stick out to me.
Our house has 0 trim painted. The whole entire house has natural colored oak trim. Which was lovely to match the natural colored oak furniture that was in every room. At first, the nature lover in me decided it wasn't that bad. Now, 6 months later I could really care to see another oak colored surface. We moved out the majority of the oak furniture, but the trim and windows and vanities...
It started to become very obvious I wasn't into the trim when I began painting the house. The bright colors weren't popping like I would like next to the light brown oak. I thought for a while I just picked back colors. But, the reality is a pale blue contrasting with a light oak is much different then next to white.
So, I became determined to at least eliminate some of the natural trim in the house. That's when I learned painting trim SUCKS!!
Like this gem of a spot, how the hell do you paint the side of this? Literally a 1 inch (at most) gap from trim to corner of the wall.
I also learned why they say to paint the trim 1st before the walls. Ace hardware painters tape took the drywall right off. This is everywhere, the window, the door. I was able to paint over it in blue, but upon close inspection you can see it.
After a lot ofhell sanding I finally got all the trim and baseboard done. I still need the courage to do the doors. I figure I'll wait until summer, take them off and sand, prime, and paint in the garage.
Do you see the difference the white makes though? Now of course, I want to do my bedroom, and the downstairs bathroom.. oh and every other room in the house. But, since this amount of trim took 2 weeks of begging for time off of the kids to do and it only resulted in this much getting done, haha. The rest of the house will be done in, oh, 5 years :)
Our house has 0 trim painted. The whole entire house has natural colored oak trim. Which was lovely to match the natural colored oak furniture that was in every room. At first, the nature lover in me decided it wasn't that bad. Now, 6 months later I could really care to see another oak colored surface. We moved out the majority of the oak furniture, but the trim and windows and vanities...
It started to become very obvious I wasn't into the trim when I began painting the house. The bright colors weren't popping like I would like next to the light brown oak. I thought for a while I just picked back colors. But, the reality is a pale blue contrasting with a light oak is much different then next to white.
So, I became determined to at least eliminate some of the natural trim in the house. That's when I learned painting trim SUCKS!!
Like this gem of a spot, how the hell do you paint the side of this? Literally a 1 inch (at most) gap from trim to corner of the wall.
I also learned why they say to paint the trim 1st before the walls. Ace hardware painters tape took the drywall right off. This is everywhere, the window, the door. I was able to paint over it in blue, but upon close inspection you can see it.
After a lot of
Do you see the difference the white makes though? Now of course, I want to do my bedroom, and the downstairs bathroom.. oh and every other room in the house. But, since this amount of trim took 2 weeks of begging for time off of the kids to do and it only resulted in this much getting done, haha. The rest of the house will be done in, oh, 5 years :)
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