washing our hands of the bathroom

why hello there!

even though our little bathroom upgrade was scheduled to be next on the list to discuss, i’ve been hearing some grumblings about the lack of a proper nursery reveal.  but there are just enough significant finishing touches left that i can’t bring myself to pull the trigger on that post quite yet.  but i hope to very soon!

so onto the loo:

this little makeover happened to our vanity, but i’ll back up for a quick sec to reveal the change that happened during the parents’ weekend o’rama.  remember this item from my dad’s to-do list?

well, bada bing:

bada boom.  much better, right?

continuing on…

this is really the issue at hand

phase I, if you recall,  of the bathroom makeover took place last spring and included a new paint job, installing an exhaust vent, replacing the ceiling fan for a vintagey light, and putting up some really cool retro tin ceiling tiles.

we had hoped to finish the rest of the project “a little later that summer” but we all know how that goes.

it’s hard to tell from the picture, but our sink looked like it belonged in a cheesy beach house somewhere:  the sink was scalloped like a shell and the built in soap dish (which is hidden under a more attractive soap dish) had its own special shell/scalloped design as well.  not attractive.   not our style.

enter the new sink.  a modern rectangular shape, classic white, undermount sink we scored off of overstock for a great price.

the plan was to take a leftover piece of the countertop from our desk project and use it for the bathroom sink vanity.  here’s ross cutting out the template for the sink.

and then it was out to the “workshop” to try out our first project not involving a borrowed power tool:  cutting out the sink hole with our brand new jig saw

finally it was done, and we were on to the job of staining/polying the wood and then mounting the sink underneath

yay, it fits!

now for the installation.

first, the old sink and counter had to come out.  we made the executive decision to keep the existing faucet because it matched all the other hardware in the room.

the caulk around the sink had been pretty disgusting for a very long time, but  knowing that we would eventually change out the sink, it seemed pointless to recaulk.

so when we finally got to remove this bad boy, i was very very happy.

with a quick tug, off comes the sink

yum, this looks delish

we had also decided not to reinstall a backsplash, so this area got mudded, sanded, and repainted to blend seamlessly in with the rest of the wall

it appears that i don’t have pictures of it, but sink installation went very well.

refitting the plumbing went “seemingly” well, and then sprung a leak and then caused ross to pitch a 5-alarm temper tantrum and then take everything apart and redo the whole thing, and finally…be functioning and leak free.

ross used his most excellent caulking skills to caulk around the sink once it was in place

and then the caulk got painted to blend into the wall as well.  it may be hard to see in this picture, but the back left corner of the vanity doesn’t sit flush with the wall, because, as example 2,984,829, our house is crooked!  so the extra wide band of caulk stood out, which was the biggest reason for painting it.

so one more time, the WAY before…

the middle before…

and the after!

we’re really happy we were able to slip this last project in before baby.  it’s been on the to-do list for a very long time, so aside from hanging a picture on the bare walls, changing out the blinds for something that picks up on the wood tones in the countertop, and on the long-term replacing the toilet, this room is finito.

pulling it all together

the day had finally arrived to cross our fingers, toes, and eyes, and hope that all the many measurements were right and that the desk as we envisioned it would actually come together.

- we had purchased the ikea butcher block and managed to stuff it into the car to get it home

- ross had cut two identical halves and stained/polyed them

- ross and danny had made our shelving sketch into reality

- dad had primed and painted every nook and cranny of the shelves

- ross and i picked out drawer hardware, a decorative table leg to act as a support, and some metal brackets to join the two pieces together

now we just had to put it all together.

first, the room had to be almost completely cleared

and then it got a nice thorough scrubbing

just to keep it real:  the house pretty much looked like this the entire weekend, but we all dealt with it, knowing it would all come together in the end

finally, the shelving gets to move into its forever home.

enter the first two roadblocks:  addressing the floor vent on the right that got halfway obstructed by the shelf…

and then shimming up the unlevelness of the shelf created by our ever so quaint, yet ever so crooked house.  it was off by half an inch, yikes!

but finally, it was time to bring in the desk top

it fits!!

then dad and ross started strategizing about how to join the two slabs together and mount the leg support in the center

which turned into a lengthy process of drilling, screwing, brackets, sawdust, and a few broken screws

but finally!  she’s in and set up.

enter 3rd roadblock of the day:  there’s only one plug in the room.  thankfully, both of our surge protectors had cords long enough to plug into the wall and then be strategically placed in front of each of our workstations (ross is on the left and i’m on the right).  it was overwhelming the amount of cords we have!

and a few days later after we got some artwork up on the walls:

we’re so proud of this project – it was by no means an easy one, but after lots and lots of planning and lots and lots of help, we gotter done.  as you can see, it gives us plenty of “office” space while leaving a lot of the room open for our posh air mattress to be brought in and convert the whole room into a guest bedroom at a moment’s notice.  the next time we have guests over, i’ll try to document how everything gets set up and the few little hidden tweaks i’ve made to create a nice bedroomy feel.  at the mother’s insistence, we’re also considering a nice area rug to go into this space too, but that will come later.

thanks for following the evolution of our latest house project.  next up, the domino effect that started in our one full bathroom.  and then:  the nursery reveal!!

 

the rest of the office transformation story: 1, and 2

as easy as…

hibernating

without planning it, january is always our unofficial hibernation month.  we don’t go out of town.  we don’t make elaborate plans.  we just exist.

but not in a zoned-out, dead sort of way.  we just use the time to recoup from all the holiday madness, take deep breaths, begrudingly take down the christmas decorations and return the house to a more simplistic state, catch up on life, and perhaps excessively organize and purge.  in a small house, you have to.  or you start to realize you’re living in four walls of piled clutter.

so if i’m not too vocal around here for a little while, that’s why.  i’m hibernating for a bit.

but have no fear, there’s a project that we’ve been trying to finish for about six months that will finally be done next week!  and a finished project is always reason to briefly come out of hibernation.

source::here & here::

bitten

so it seems like it’s been forever since we’ve tackled a full blown “house project” lately (as in, last year! gasp).  as apparent by my blog content for the past 4 months,  all my time is going towards the hunk of dirt in the backyard.  but i think i’ve gotten bitten by the project bug again, because i’ve been seriously craving some demo and reno lately.

at the top of my list right now:

- redoing the back porch.  as in, ripping off the current one and starting from scratch.  i salivate sometimes when i think about it.

- installing new kitchen countertops.  even though our kitchen was a huge selling point when we bought the house, it was only inevitable that the tiled countertops would become the bane of my existence over time.  the color and the material i don’t mind at all – its the little pieces of everything that get stuck in the grout that is driving me insane.

- redoing the front walkway/stoop.  relaying the wobbly flagstone, and continuing it up to the stoop instead of the weird, massive slab of painted concrete we have right now.

things on my “we can actually afford this right now” list:

- redoing our tiny half bath.  most specifically, removing the wallpaper (the last room in the house to have it!) and painting.  putting up curtains.  possibly retiling the floor.  eventually getting a new dual-flush toilet.

and here’s my confession:  on a whim this morning, moments before i left for work,  i picked at a tiny little seam in the wallpaper and ripped off a massive chunk.

now there’s no way i can put it off any longer.  voila. instant motivation.  and we’re back in the home renovation game.

mr. (and mrs.) fixit

Here are some before, during, and after shots of our cozy master bedroom beadboard project of 2K8.  When we painted the room back in the fall of last year, we knew we wanted to tackle this project as soon as the bank account would allow.  And around the middle of last month it finally did.

This project was the biggest we’d attempted yet and included jigsaws, circular saws, levels, lots of adhesive and caulk, lots and lots of measurements, and a really fun (and loud) nail gun.  A huge shout out goes to Matt Jacobs – without whose power tools and infinite wisdom we’d still be looking wandering aimlessly around in the land of Attempted Home Improvement.