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Bathroom Remodel Complete!

First a little "before" so you all know what we were dealing with:

You get the idea -- classic 50's.

Now for the after:

A view into the bathroom -- the vanity is black and the top is carrera marble.  The marble top was so much less expensive because they have them in stock at Lowes, but it took us four tries to get one that wasn't cracked.  I have to say that Lowe's had really excellent customer service through it all.

You know you wanted to see the fancy new toilet  :)

This is the marble floor and I'm so glad we went with marble.  We got it at Lowe's and it was just as cheap (cheaper actually) than a lot of the ceramic tile we saw.  If you get marble tiles though, make sure you buy extra!  Our remodeling guy said that 3 of them crumbled in his hands as he went to cut them.  Just the nature of natural stone, I guess.

Here's the tub that we had painted -- yes, painted.  It's non standard at 5 1/2 feet so painting it was out best option.  The professional tub painter used a super durable epoxy finish that took 7 days to dry but looks so nice and is really durable.  I have to say that going without a tub/shower for 7 days was a challenge -- thank goodness my Mom only lives a few blocks away!

Here I was trying to get a better photo of the tile in the tub area.  We went with the subway tile look and used 3" X 6" tiles in a staggered pattern.  I love how it turned out.  (And these are stock tiles that are really cheap!)

The only thing left to complete in the bathroom is the built-in linen closet.  The doors are on order and are due to arrive in about a week. 

Tom, who did the work for us, was great.  He's a perfectionist like me, so it worked out perfectly.  I have to say though, I'm really glad it's over.  Living with only a tiny powder room (and our powder room is tiny!) for about 5 weeks was a challenge.  I'm very glad that it is done.

Bathroom Remodel -- Before Photos

Well, we are remodeling the bathroom -- bringing it into the 21st century.  

As you can see -- the old color scheme is pure 50's.  Turquoise and a color I can't even name -- tan?  peach?  peachy, pinky, tan?  Ugh.  The sink and toilet (already removed) were both turquoise.

This was a wooden cabinet with an antique 50's style glass & metal medicine cabinet on top.  It's going to be completely ripped out and a linen closet will replace it..

And here's something interesting -- newspaper as building materials.  There is a double layer of newspaper between the tile and wall.  The only date I could see said 1956 -- so I guess that's the last time this bathroom was updated!

I have a vision for the finished room.  We'll see how close my vision comes to reality.  More photos as things progress!

Shelter from the cold

Each morning when I make my coffee, I look out the window at the birds. We have several bird feeders and thus are very popular with them this time of year. In addition, we have some thick evergreens which they love to take shelter in.

 

This morning it was extremely cold -- especially for out part of the world in mid-December.  The temp was in the single digits and the windchill made it about 10 below zero.  Brrrrr.  So the birds were huddled on the ledge of the porch which is south facing and probably radiates at least a little bit of heat on a sunny morning like this morning.

 

There were *many* visitors today, including one that hopped right up on the ledged of the kitchen window -- gone before I could snap a photo -- who seemed to be watching me make my latte. 

The Pergo Nearly Did Me In!

Remember last week when I mentioned the demolition?  Well, I spent a good portion of the week in that little room -- scraping, sanding, painting, painting, painting, cleaning and finally installing Pergo.  I thought I would get all of this done myself, but the painting took a lot out of me, so I waited until the weekend so that Pete could help me with the Pergo.

As a result of this project, I now own a saw!  Pete knew how excited I was to get it and let me make the cuts with it -- it was fun at first, but by the end the novelty was gone. 

Pete & I actually worked well together (somewhat surprising after the gas grill assembly debacle of 1999) and somehow finished the floor over the weekend.  We could have knocked this thing out in no time at all if it wasn't for that radiator.  Fitting the flooring around the 4 legs and 2 pipes was a nightmare. 

All that's left is some (more) paint touch up and the quarter round.  I'm feeling exhausted, but proud.

Who paints like this?

This past weekend was a soggy one.  In fact, there was a lot of flooding around where we live as it rained for three days straight -- by this I mean that it rained without stopping.  Being cooped up obviously drove me insane because I decided on the spur of the moment on Sunday morning that I was going to demo the "little eating room" as we refer to it.

I was a little late getting some "before" shots, but this is near the beginning of the demo.  The previous owner had built some rough benches around the perimeter of the room which covered this old green paint, the radiator and the floor where the linoleum is showing.  This bench was useless -- not comfortable for sitting and pretty ugly (it was fiberboard covered in wall paper and the top was composed of pieces of scrap wood and melamine.)  And since this isn't a large room to begin with, it alwyas felt cramped and those benches were part of the reason.

The bench was taken apart, old flooring was removed and the ugly, weird shelf above the windows was demo-ed.  After that  it was off to Home Depot for some paint, Pergo and I even purchased a saw!!  (More on that soon!)  Pete was very helpful with the demo and heavy lifting, but now I am left on my own this week to put back together what I have decided to destroy -- sometimes I think I've lost my mind!

Today has been about scraping and sanding in preparation for the paint.  Can you believe how sloppy the previous owners were when they painted? 

Backyard Project -- Done!

Well, after 5 days of destruction and construction, the backyard transformation is complete.  (If you want to see the before, I posted photos a couple weeks ago.)

View as you enter backyard.

To the left is the finished patio.

Including the rebuilt wall.

Looking out into the backyard you see the cedar, raised bed.

And in the back corner is the former koi pond -- now filled and planted.

The side path leading to the front yard.  New hemlocks block view of road.

The grass still needs to grow in, but I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  It is like we have a completely different yard -- it feels much larger, open and more useful for our family.

Excavation Has Begun

Well, a good portion of the backyard is now dirt and mud, but surprisingly it wasn't very noisy having all that concrete removed.

In fact, it was rather interesting watching them unearth the layers below the concrete.  There were patios below patios and walls built on top of walls.  You find crazy stuff when you start poking around in an old house.

This pile of sawdust is all that remains of the tree -- and those ugly yews were meant to go.  The entrance into the backyard is really opened up now.

Now instead of a stone path to the backyard, we have a tractor path.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this all comes together, because at this point it's really just a terrible mess!

Backyard Overhaul

So the tree removal was just step one in a major backyard overhaul.  After last fall and our big indoor remodeling project, I thought it would be a while before we started on something else, but our house had a different idea.  This Spring when the rains came water started coming into the basement.  Seeing little rivers on the basement floor freaked me out a bit and led to the next project.

No surprise here, one place where water was entering the basement was below this broken up sidewalk.  Which will be ripped out and replaced with pavers.

Quite a bit of water collects against the foundation here because the sidewalk has really dropped, as you can see in this photo.

There is a lot of concrete in this backyard -- a lot -- which is one reason this will be such a major project.  This is the patio -- which will be replaced with pavers and in the background you can see the collapsed wall.

Water is a major problem here again where two major drainpipes come together.  The water collapsed a retaining wall here which will be replaced.

Did I mention concrete?  Here is a big uneven and stained area smack dab in the middle of the yard which will be removed and replaced with a stepping stone walkway to the back gate and a raised bed made of cedar for my vegetable garden.  (yeah!)

 

There is an stained & broken fence that separates the driveway from the backyard which will be removed.  This will give the big, old lilacs more light which should help them to fill out and be a natural screen.

And we can't forget the ancient, cracked, half filled in koi pond which now holds broken branches and weeds.  It will be partially removed and filled in with dirt. 

And since we'll already have the work crew here, I'm having them remove this yew and the broken mailbox and flag pole which will have to be replaced.

Whew!

Not everything in the backyard is a loss though.  My flower garden, which I see from the window in the kitchen, is looking quite nice!  We planted it a few years ago after moving to this house and it has finally filled out.  In fact, I think this fall will see us splitting some of the perennials and moving them to other parts of the yard.

Next week is going to be noisy, dusty and crazy around here, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

Poor Tree

Phase one of the major backyard update has begun.  We have been losing large portions of what used to be a beautiful, huge maple tree during bad storms and we decided it was time to have the whole thing cut down before part of it fell on the house. 

Poor tree. . .

Pretty Much Finished

Whew!  The home remodeling stuff for this year is pretty much finished.  The painters left yesterday afternoon and by bedtime the tree was up.  What do you think of the new wall color?  Here is what it used to look like:

Quite a change, huh?  I guess it's pretty dramatic -- I think it looks like chocolate and was joking Pete that I wanted to lick the walls.  I think it works since the room is so big -- and is connected to the sun room, which makes it even bigger.

Speaking of the sun room. . . it's painted the same color. 

And here's a view from the family room, into the hallway and then the dining room.  The hallway used to be gold:

And the dining room used to be red -- now it's a sage-y green/grey:

Now for a few final photos of the office:

My awesome painter painted my wooden IKEA magazine holders to match the room color.  Now my built in looks so fancy!

And speaking of IKEA -- we got some amazing straw ornaments and I decorated my office with some of them:

And a close-up:

I just looped the ornament string around the string holding up one of the slats and then back around the tip of the ornament.  Kinda festive -- which I like since I usually reserve all my holiday decorating for the main part of the house (family room, dining room, hallway).

I'm so glad that this is finished (well, except for window treatments for almost all the first floor windows -- ugh!)  I feel like I have my house back after three weeks of having workers in and out.  It was so worth it though!

Back in the office

Well, the house remodeling is still underway, with the painters here through the weekend, but the office is pretty much complete.  The office furniture arrived yesterday evening and I started moving back in right away.

My goal is to keep a clean desk policy (although I know that is probably unattainable) and to make sure that there is a place for everything.  My project for the upcoming week is organization as I start to bring everything back into this room. 

It's good to be back!  And the simple new furniture -- that all matches I might add -- is very calming.  Here's one last look at the old room so you can get an idea of the change:

Whew -- glad that mess is gone!

Oh no!

It's 3:05 and the painters aren't here yet.  (They never did make it here last week, but said they would begin the job today.)  Okay, so they were supposed to be here at 3:00 -- they aren't really *late* yet -- but I worry.  I want the painting finished so I can put up my holiday decorations. 

Maybe I'll go start a game of online Scrabble.  They are sure to arrive the moment I begin a match.  right?

*Update*  Woo-hoo!  They are here!!

Progress

We are back at home after being driven out by the fumes for 3 days.  No one mentioned the toxic fumes when we ordered the flooring job.  Luckily my mom lives a few blocks away and has a few spare rooms.  Here is the office floor, sanded and refinished.  It looks so much better than it did!

And here's a view of the 80 year old floor in the front foyer, which butts up to the new floor in the living room.  (New floor upper right side -- old floor on the lower left.) 

And here's a view of the corner of the room showing the new floor and old paint.  The painters arrive tomorrow -- hopefully. 

As if I didn't have enough going on . . .

The tree service has come to remove a huge dead tree from our yard.  This stealth photo was taken from the window in my temporary office. 

Great -- noise coming at me from all sides.

Destruction

End of day one looked like this.  Now, I've never had any work that was this extensive done in my house before and I must say -- the dust!  It's driving me crazy!  And they haven't even started sanding yet, which is the dusty part, right? 

And look at this lino that was under the tile in the sun room.  Removing the radiator covers revealed that the room was also painted bright aqua at one time -- can't you visualize the combo in it's heyday?  (Oh there was a pink bathroom in this house too -- and the little eating room as we call it was once a shocking jade green!)

Speaking of paint colors -- I'm going insane trying to pick them out.  Finally when Pete came home I snapped at him about the colors and he helped me pick them out -- in the dark -- while climbing over all the furniture crammed in the dining room.  Thank goodness for him! 

Office Remodel Scrapbook

The flooring guys are here and are very nice.  Noisy, but nice.  I mean, they are ripping up a floor and subfloor today, so I expected pounding.  What I did not expect was that I would only get about three hours of sleep last night.  Oooof!

So, in order to cheer myself up and see the bigger picture, I am putting together a "scrapbook" of office design items that will help me to visualize the end result.  Here goes!

Ah -- refinished floors!  Looking forward to that.  The current floor had almost no finish at all left -- and there were paint splatters here and there.  They are sanding the existing floor and refinishing the two steps that lead up to the office which are currently painted dark brown (although the paint is terribly chipped and nicked up!)  You can see those steps here.

New desk(s).  These modular desks from Pottery Barn will be along two walls -- two of them will be across the long wall at the back of the room (the side with the three huge windows) and there will be a corner desk to match in the south east corner.  I'm getting the black just like you see in the photo, but I don't plan on getting that little hutch thingy.

Next is white wood blinds.  I tried to find a simple photo on the web, but didn't have much luck.  So picture plain white wooden blinds -- no tapes, but I do plan on getting the routeless ladders (slats without holes in them).  I'm thinking they will give me the look of shutters on the cheap.

Wall color -- I'm thinking Krypton from Sherwin-Williams, although it may be a bit cold with the black and white.  The wood floors will warm things up a bit though.  So here's the basic color scheme:

On the back (north) wall, I need some bookshelves/cabinets to hold all my work stuff.  I'd also like to have room for my craft books, fabric and other craft supplies.  I absolutely love the Windham Cabinets from Crate & Barrel, but I don't think they will hold enough stuff.  I'm thinking maybe the Liatorp:

from IKEA.  You can get doors on the bottom half which is nice.  And they seem a bit more substantial than the other option -- the Billy:

Also from IKEA.  We already have 5 Billy bookcases in the house, so I'm familiar with these -- they are basic and hold up well -- we've moved twice with one of them and once with the others.  But I think I want something more stylish this time around.

Well, that's the plan so far.  You should hear the noise here -- it's unnerving!

Renovation

Okay, so I mentioned an impending office remodel a while back -- but what ever happened?  Well, after *much* contemplation, and some difficulties finding reliable floor refinishers -- things are finally coming along!

After two days of hard labor, the office is now completely empty (except for the modem and router which must remain in there if my internet connection is to continue) and the spare room is ridiculously full.  I have an idea for the new paint color, but I am at a loss for new window treatments.  Any suggestions?

Oh, but this is not the only room getting a makeover -- the family room and sunroom are getting brand new hardwood floors!  Right now the floor looks like this:

Yeah -- shiny white tile.  Ewwwwwwww!  Not sure what the last owner was thinking when she had this installed.  This is one project I've wanted to do since we bought the house 3 1/2 years ago.  I'll also need new window treatments for the sun room which is currently sporting some lovely synthetic shears (completely with tears and frayed edges) on some windows and some dirty and dusty lace panels on the others.  Also need suggestions for these windows -- there are *a lot* of them, so I need something that isn't too expensive and preferably something adjustable since these windows face west and the sun shines right into your face as you sit on the couch later in the day.

Well, the next two weeks are going to be trying, with workers in here and so much destruction and construction.  I'm looking forward to having this done before the holidays, but I'm dreading the part that is about to come.  Wish me luck & a working internet connection!

Office Remodel

It's time for a big house project.  I'm completely remodeling my office and I'm chronicling it here for all to see.  Let's start with the before:

We have an old 2 story colonial revival house that was built in the 20's (photo here.)  And at the top of the stairs from the first to second floor is a landing -- if you turn around 180 degrees you go up three steps to the upstairs hall and if you go straight and go up 3 step, you are in my office.

There are big windows on three sides (nice light -- difficult because you can't have any tall furniture).  this is a shot looking to the west.  You can see a built in right next to the doorway.

The room is long and somewhat narrow (about 7' X 17') and this is the view looking south.  The room serves many functions.  I run both of my businesses out of here, do crafty things and homeschool my daughter.  Speaking of homeschooling. . .

Here's the view to the east.  Maddie is sitting and doing her schoolwork at her desk.  You can see the other built in as well as the shelves that hold all my craft books and rubber stamps (inventory for Stamping Online.)

Here are the plans:

• Refinish the floors
• Replace the windows
• Paint
• Install cabinetry
• Get new window treatments
• Have more electrical outlets installed

Phase one is floors.  I had the flooring company that I think we will use out to take a look.  More on that in the next installment!

No Photo of the Keepsake Shawl

I wanted to take a photo of the Keepsake shawl today because I made it to the 12th skein of Koigu last night.  I still have a long way to go -- probably a bit less than 1/4 of the shawl -- but the 12th skein is the last one, so it's downhill from here in my opinion.  It already feels as if the rows are getting much shorter.  It's another grey day though (as was yesterday) so I know that I'm not going to get a decent photo.  I guess it will have to wait for another day.

In other news, I've been re-organizing lately -- kind of a spring cleaning in autumn.  And I now have pretty much all of my craft books in one big bookcase in my office.  It's very exciting!  They were scattered throughout the house in piles and crammed in various bookshelves.  It's nice to have them all in one place.  Next I need to organize them by craft.  Then I tackle the fiber/sewing room (oh, yeah and writing room -- sorry BoogaP!)

So, no photos today.  Hopefully we'll get some sun around here soon!

Waiting for the plumber to call

Old houses. . . gotta love 'em. I was up at 5am because I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about the pipe in the basement that was flooding everytime we used the bathroom upstairs. Now technically this house has 2 1/2 bathrooms, but that's kind of a joke. It has one bathroom and a closet that was converted to a powder room as some point. Then there's this scary "bathroom" in the basement (which is tied in to the same pipe and thus rendered useless, anyway.)

So, last night after Maddie had her bath, Pete went down to the basement to clean the litter boxes and found a flood of bubbly water (hmmm. . . Maddie just had a bubble bath). It was almost 11pm by then -- too late to do anything but get a bad night's sleep :)

So I woke up bright and early (although it isn't very bright here -- it's quite rainy) and put in a call to my Mom's cousins who run the plumbing business that my grandfather used to run. Now I wait. I hope they check their answering machine soon. . .

More on organizing (the contest)

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!  I'm getting good ideas and I've already done a bit of re-arranging and tidying up! 

There is still time to send me your tips!  After reading and responding to many of your emails and comments I have discovered a few things:

• My room is already pretty much organized, but it is not "pretty".  Any tips on hiding the stuff I need, but making it accessible?
• I don't really have much to purge.  I purge constantly.  So I need tips for making things neat and organized.  But the stuff that is there is pretty much necessary for the businesses and school.  Here are the thing I have that must stay:  computers (2), printers (2) (although could I get rid of a printer if I had a wireless router? ), scanner (although could I get rid of the printers and get one all-in-one printer w/ a scanner?  The more I type the more ideas I get!), all stamps on the shelves --  which are for my online rubber stamp business (and while they look empty, that will change drastically in a couple of weeks when they will be overflowing with the 2006 stamps!), a place for patterns --  which are for my knitting pattern business  -- in various stages of completion (back from the printer, folded, photo attached), Maddie's school stuff.
• My furniture is so mis-matched!  Do I have to buy all new?  Is there a way to integrate some of what I have?  I've looked at IKEA, Pottery Barn, filing cabinets (topped by doors? counter tops?). 

So maybe by organization I meant hiding or camouflaging  :)  Or just making things match! 

Please keep sending me those ideas!  I especially like links to sites / items / photos!

Organizational Dilemna (or a contest!)

As this year comes to a close and I start to think about 2006 my mind settles on one major goal -- organization!  As least in my office. 

I run two businesses and homeschool Maddie in this office and it's a mess.  Maddie uses an old cardboard Kinko's box as her school desk (well, it is kind of good because the box holds all of her school "stuff" too) and she's getting a little big for that.  Then there's the fact that I have two computers set up right now, but one isn't on a computer desk, so it's pretty much unusable.  And there are piles of things everywhere!  It's a mess.  See for yourself. . .

Western View of the Office of Shame


Southern View of the Office of Shame


Eastern View of the Office of Shame


Northern View of the Office of Shame

So, as you can see, it is a total mess.  I spend a majority of each day in this office and I would love to have it look like a spread from Martha Stewart Living, know what I mean? 

Here are the major issues:

• I have patterns (currently in the plastic drawer thingies on the "shipping" table on southern wall) and rubber stamps (currently on two shelving units on the northern wall) that need to stay here and be near me for work.
• I need a packing area where all of my packing supplies are easily within reach (the big table along the southern wall serves this purpose now, but often gets covered with non-shipping stuff.)
• Two computers -- I want to set up the old one (which is currently not really usable due to its location) for Maddie.  The second computer desk in the room is on the southern wall and is covered with my paper cutter, postal scale (which I use a lot and should have with the "shipping" stuff) and sizzix (which I don't use very often anymore).
• I have built-ins at each end of the room which you can see in the photos, but they need better organization. But how?
• Three walls are mostly windows, so I can't really put anything on them.  This is good (natural light abounds!) & bad (only short things can be on these three walls).
• The eastern and western walls are metal below the windows -- they are actually radiator covers (yep, we have an old house with radiant heat).
• I have lots of files, but no filing cabinet.  If I had a filing cabinet, where would I put it?  Ugh!
• I don't know where to start.  This is my biggest issue.  I think if I start I'll do something totally wrong and have to start again and again.  Is there a method I should be following?  Help me!

Here's where you come in.  Send me links!  Send me ideas!  Send me photos!  Help me out here!

I'll pick a random name from the list of idea senders.  And I will post a list of the best ideas (otherwise known as the ideas that I end up using or learning something new from) on the blog.

You can post ideas in the comments, or email them to me!

Antique Fireplace Thingy

When we moved into our old house last year, there was a big, heavy thing attached to the master bedroom fireplace.  We didn't know what it was really, so Pete sent in a picture to the Chicago Antiques Guide.  Today they featured it!  You can see the article, including a picture of what turned out to be a gas heater, here.