What''s Your Home Renovation/Remodel Project?

[Loves Vintage]

Gardengloves - Your reno's are amazing! Thanks for sharing all of the pics. Where are your chandeliers from? You have a great design eye. I do not, sadly. Do you have a design background?

This weekend we sanded our three season porch, with the intention of re-painting it, only to find the same lovely oak hardwood floors that are in the rest of our house. We are not sure why anyone would have ever painted over them, so now we are planning to poly the floors, though we are slightly concerned about water getting in during heavy storms. We didn't take pictures of the floor before, though now, I wish we had.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

We did lots of projects in our old house, finished the basement, tiled the foyer, redid the main bathroom and updated the kitchen. We love home improvement work. Now that we''re in a rental we''re pretty limited in what we can do, but our landlord (is awesome) is cool with cosmetic updates. We can do anything that''s not structural or what he''d consider a capital investment (tile, carpet, etc.). Since moving in we''ve painted the entire place and updated the kitchen by way of stamped tin-looking panels as back splash, and can light conversion pendants. Our next project is to get the nursery pulled together. All we''ve done so far is paint. The rest is just the decorating. Here are some pictures of the kitchen work we did.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

You can see the ugly yellow color the walls were in the background of this pic.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Here''s a few pictures of the bathroom we remodeled in our old house. Picture a before with 60s white and golf flecked formica everywhere.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

shower remodel. Replacing or refinishing the tub wasn''t in our budget so we used colors that would tie in the odd pinkish brown color. The multi-colored slate accent border really did the trick.

 

[Steel]

Well done to all the DIY''ers! Great jobs.

 

[October2008bride]

Date: 4/13/2010 8:55:02 PM
Author:gardengloves
So many on PS are buying homes, building homes, remodeling, renovating, DIY or having others do it. What''s your great design project?


I just love design and working on a project. My husband has construction skills so we do the work ourselves, our main costs are the materials. I''m an apprentice in training. DH is chief contractor!


We bought a 15 year old home two years ago and have been through every room remodeling. This is our love and hobby. We tore out carpets, replaced with wood, redid the kitchen, the master bath, powder room, and of course, my favorite- the garden. There have been so many great threads on homes and remodels , that I thought I''d share a few of my own pictures, and hope others will share your projects.


So to start.. the master bath remodel...this one went on from September through New Year''s- a lot more work with plumbing, tiling than we ever imagined We replaced everything, with marble tile floors and shower, tub, vanities... before... demo was half the work, carting away debris the other half... here is the before photo

GG - I''d LOVE to see more photos of your mater bath renovation. We are just about to start one of our own!!

We haven''t done much ''renovation'' - just painting/furniture etc. Not sure if that fits into this thread

We are building a garage this summer and doing the bathroom. It will be hard since we only have one bathroom so to go without will be a challenge (and probably illegal!).

 

[gardengloves]

Wow ladies - such great photos and projects underway - thanks so much for sharing and thanks for the comments.

Janine -that''s quite a project list, I''m sure it''s going to be fabulous, and hope you will post pics and keep us updated. I love this stuff. I read you mentioned two walk-in closets or one big one- I ''d do two if you can- its such a great feature and I swear, that was the main selling point when we found this house.

Diva, you''ve got a real punch list too... pictures please. Keep us posted on the basement, we did one in the old house, pulled permits, got inspections, the whole nine yards and I am telling you it was a real selling feature when we put the house on the market. We did sheetrock ceilings, recessed light, floating laminate floors, and it added another dimension to the house.

Freke, I love your sun/garden room and I love what you did to the vanities in the bathroom. Such a great antique white creamy color and the hardware looks very sharp. Your tile floors look great too - what are they?

Loves Vintage - OK, the chandeliers..... . I found these at great discount prices from a site called greatchandeliers.com. They have a HUGE range of chandeliers in all price ranges and finishes, from murano to the rustic wrought iron I picked. They also sell loose crystals and shades. You have to assemble them yourself, but come with instructions and it is so much fun to dress a chandelier. I bought three from them with no problem, great price, great shipping and great service- these guys are the real deal, discount chandelier center. Check it out!

Hudson Hawk - the stamped tin panel backsplash is to die for. Gorgeous. I love your kitchen and the bath photos.

Irishgrrl - a powder room half bath is a great project. I''ll post ours soon. Please post pics

October2008bride- Thanks for the comments and I will post more pics. We picked up the tiles on sale at Home Depot and got everything else on Ebay including the tub and fixtures, and glass shower doors. The master bath project was the biggest, most difficult time consuming project of all our forays, and thats saying a lot for my DH. He was wiped out after this one. The plumbing was a huge challenge, the ordering and arrival of materials was like a military campaign,- we kept the footprint but moved stuff slightly - every fixture we ordered was a challenge, there were massive piles of debris from the demo, there was dust galore- we went without a bath for months while this was underway, mainly because we worked weekends-- My husband found it to be the most challenging project of anything we did to date- we had another bath that we used for the duration. There were many surprises along the way.


thanks again everyone, I''m just overwhelmed with the response and love looking at your pictures and the projects underway. Isn''t it just great to do this stuff?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I''m going to be making many posts here soon enough! Luckily, DH and I are in no rush to move into the house so we can tear it up without also having to live in it.

We are probably going to start with the bathrooms since they''re the oldest of rooms. Oof...

 

[packrat]

Ohh I love projects! Our biggies this year are expanding the driveway, finishing the bricking in the backyard and redoing the upstairs bathroom. Also on the list are, an egress window in the basement, adding some trellises so we can put some climbing vines along the fence and working on building a bed for London and a bed/clothing cabinets for our room. We''d planned on siding the back patio to make a sun room but that will have to wait until next year probably. The kitchen cabinets will be replaced to match the computer area they put in a couple years ago. He''s to build me a sliding spice rack to go on the other side of the dishwasher where there is just dead space by the wall and I can NOT abide dead space. Oh, and tearing out a wall in the basement. I want to set the front garage up w/heat etc so the washer and dryer can be there instead of the basement.

We''ve also got little projects, like finishing the shutters, painting the stock tank, painting the brackets where we hang the hanging baskets, and the baskets themselves, painting the metal on the table on the back deck, staining the concrete driveway, replacing the front deck concrete pad w/blocks..

It''s project central here and I love it. Oh, the roof is getting replaced too.

No before/after pics..I have before/right now pics from the blah that it was when we bought it to what it is now tho, I could do those.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

OH yeah, we need to get central AC going! Not a very exciting before/after scenario, but DH will melt in the summer otherwise! Right now there are just wall units in the house cause it''s older.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 4/14/2010 10:07:36 AM
Author: Loves Vintage
Gardengloves - Your reno''s are amazing! Thanks for sharing all of the pics. Where are your chandeliers from? You have a great design eye. I do not, sadly. Do you have a design background?


This weekend we sanded our three season porch, with the intention of re-painting it, only to find the same lovely oak hardwood floors that are in the rest of our house. We are not sure why anyone would have ever painted over them, so now we are planning to poly the floors, though we are slightly concerned about water getting in during heavy storms. We didn''t take pictures of the floor before, though now, I wish we had.

Greatchandeliers.com. discount prices, great shipping, french cut pendants.... check it out

 

[April20]

GG, your reno looks amazing. What a great transformation!

Dh and I bought a 1940 bungaloesque home in foreclosure 18 months ago and redid almost the entire interior. Some of it was systems upgrades and some of it was undoing really ugly stuff that had been done over the years. We gutted one bathroom to the studs (was part of an addition and poorly, poorly constructed) and redid every ceiling throughout the house along with a ton of other stuff. We still need to replace the interior doors and hardware. It''s probably only $1k of work, but I want two panel inverted doors, so a little harder to find and we have to find the ever elusive TIME.

The big project for us now is the yard. It''s awful. Awful. No landscaping at all and a scraggly yard. We had grass seeded last fall, but it still needs help. The only bright side is that it''s not the worst yard on the block. Not the worst at all! It''s our saving grace.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 4/14/2010 3:13:50 PM
Author: october2008bride

Date: 4/13/2010 8:55:02 PM

Author:gardengloves

So many on PS are buying homes, building homes, remodeling, renovating, DIY or having others do it. What's your great design project?



I just love design and working on a project. My husband has construction skills so we do the work ourselves, our main costs are the materials. I'm an apprentice in training. DH is chief contractor!



We bought a 15 year old home two years ago and have been through every room remodeling. This is our love and hobby. We tore out carpets, replaced with wood, redid the kitchen, the master bath, powder room, and of course, my favorite- the garden. There have been so many great threads on homes and remodels , that I thought I'd share a few of my own pictures, and hope others will share your projects.





So to start.. the master bath remodel...this one went on from September through New Year's- a lot more work with plumbing, tiling than we ever imagined We replaced everything, with marble tile floors and shower, tub, vanities... before... demo was half the work, carting away debris the other half... here is the before photo

GG - I'd LOVE to see more photos of your mater bath renovation. We are just about to start one of our own!!


We haven't done much 'renovation' - just painting/furniture etc. Not sure if that fits into this thread


We are building a garage this summer and doing the bathroom. It will be hard since we only have one bathroom so to go without will be a challenge (and probably illegal!).

here;s another of the bath project.. still not done- we are going to do some marble up the walls, and crown molding, but we are taking a break...

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 4/14/2010 7:39:55 PM
Author: gardengloves
Freke, I love your sun/garden room and I love what you did to the vanities in the bathroom. Such a great antique white creamy color and the hardware looks very sharp. Your tile floors look great too - what are they?

thanks again everyone, I''m just overwhelmed with the response and love looking at your pictures and the projects underway. Isn''t it just great to do this stuff?

Thanks! They are some kind of Italian ceramic tile. They are throughout the entire house. We actually ended up changing them from saltillo tile at the very last minute before the order was placed. I''m really glad we made the change, the saltillo was the cheaper option, but less durable, smaller tile (10x10 I think, ours are 16x16), and I like the colors of ours instead of the saltillo''s reds and oranges. These have some blue/green and pink/orange instead of red.

I love it too. My mom and I completely gutted and renovated our condo that we''re renting out now. Very different styling though! More modern with stainless and cool tones. This house is more French Country...

 

[cnspotts]

I love this thread and will be adding some pictures this summer.

We''re moving into another house we just bought (2 streets away) so that we can completely gut and renovate the house we currently live in. We love the View/yard/bones of the current house but it was built in 1940 has had a neglected life ever since. The house sits on 3 lots which is hard to come by within the city limits so it''s worth it to us to do this huge project. We''ll be adding a 3 car + workshop garage, and redoing everthing on the inside plus new roof & windows all around. Some of it we''ll do ourselves, the rest we''ll hire a builder. Meanwhile we had to solve the problem of where to live and what to do with our stuff then I happened to find an adorable all brick cottage home a few streets away that had been a foreclosure in ''08. We''ve bought it for so little that it just makes sense for our renovation.

DH & have teased each other about having his and her houses that we might just keep it when we''re done with it. lol

 

[gardengloves]

the basement reno... permits pulled, the framing goes up. 8 foot ceilings, so we had a lot to work with

 

[gardengloves]

dry wall, pass the first inspections,.. ready to move on... hang on guys, this is a process...

 

[gardengloves]

lights, walls, colors and fixtures.. almost there...

 

[gardengloves]

floating laminate wood floors... this was the old house.. I think we paid around $4,000 for materials, husband did all the work, I painted and helped out- lots of inspections every step of the way, but what a cool space it turned out to be.

 

[gardengloves]

another DYI, in the old house, we needed to add built in book shelves to frame the fire place. Dh ripped out the tools and did the job, this photo is putting finishing touches on the job.

 

[gardengloves]

the custom bookshelves we framed fire place with.. After this project we sold quickly, but I think the detail helped set the house apart and move our sale forward

 

[Clairitek]

Not sure how I just saw this thread! I have a thread on my bathroom renovation over in Hangout.

DIY Bathroom Renovation

We took out everything except for the ceiling (though part of it is new) and the bathtub and absorbed two hallway-sized closets from an adjacent bedroom to make it larger. Lots more details in the thread I linked.

Love all of your renovation work gardengloves! DH and I are looking forward to being renters for the next 3 years but I know we will own a home after that and will most likely have a hard time keeping our hands off of the house!

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Date: 4/14/2010 7:55:11 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
I''m going to be making many posts here soon enough! Luckily, DH and I are in no rush to move into the house so we can tear it up without also having to live in it.

We are probably going to start with the bathrooms since they''re the oldest of rooms. Oof...

That''s the fun part - you can tear stuff up then go somewhere dust and rubble free to sleep and eat!

DH has come up with a plan for our house. Just shoot me now.

It involves demolising a modern extension, landscaping the ground and replacing it with an attic conversion in the oldest part of the house. This was always on the cards, but I thought he''d forgotten about it. He is a truly gifted architect and the drawings look stunning. However, he is a) not a builder and b) only one man, so this is going to be rough. I cannot make him believe that you can hire people to do work. So this will be our biggest DIY renovation project so far and I am still mildly hopeful that we won''t get planning consent, since it''s a conservation area.

DH is the ultimate perfectionist when it comes to buildings. The construction style in the extension he wants to burn down and plough over is too modern for the house and therefore offends him. I can''t get my head round doing all this work for a net gain of around 4 square metres.

I''ve been left with all the legal stuff to do- getting consents, building warrant, planning, liaising with Historic Scotland and so on. I''m tempted to screw up at least some of the paperwork.

My fastest and most successful rennovation project was our master bathroom. I plotted it meticulously, arranged contractors (it involved building work) and suppliers and project managed it down the the last half hour. The contractors were just leaving out the front door when DH was arriving back from a three week business trip through the back door. Surprise, honey... It was the only way I could cope! I''ll take some pics later.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 4/15/2010 8:52:49 AM
Author: cnspotts
I love this thread and will be adding some pictures this summer.


We''re moving into another house we just bought (2 streets away) so that we can completely gut and renovate the house we currently live in. We love the View/yard/bones of the current house but it was built in 1940 has had a neglected life ever since. The house sits on 3 lots which is hard to come by within the city limits so it''s worth it to us to do this huge project. We''ll be adding a 3 car + workshop garage, and redoing everthing on the inside plus new roof & windows all around. Some of it we''ll do ourselves, the rest we''ll hire a builder. Meanwhile we had to solve the problem of where to live and what to do with our stuff then I happened to find an adorable all brick cottage home a few streets away that had been a foreclosure in ''08. We''ve bought it for so little that it just makes sense for our renovation.


DH & have teased each other about having his and her houses that we might just keep it when we''re done with it. lol

Cnspotts,

When does work begin? Please post pics throughout the project. 3 car garage is very handy. This new house has one, and its totally great. My husband uses one of the bays for his workshop. We have to do the windows too at some point, but right we are doing "cosmetic" stuff, but windows are coming.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 4/16/2010 6:31:57 AM
Author: Mrs Mitchell

Date: 4/14/2010 7:55:11 PM

Author: MakingTheGrade

I'm going to be making many posts here soon enough! Luckily, DH and I are in no rush to move into the house so we can tear it up without also having to live in it.


We are probably going to start with the bathrooms since they're the oldest of rooms. Oof...

That's the fun part - you can tear stuff up then go somewhere dust and rubble free to sleep and eat!


DH has come up with a plan for our house. Just shoot me now.


It involves demolising a modern extension, landscaping the ground and replacing it with an attic conversion in the oldest part of the house. This was always on the cards, but I thought he'd forgotten about it. He is a truly gifted architect and the drawings look stunning. However, he is a) not a builder and b) only one man, so this is going to be rough. I cannot make him believe that you can hire people to do work. So this will be our biggest DIY renovation project so far and I am still mildly hopeful that we won't get planning consent, since it's a conservation area.


DH is the ultimate perfectionist when it comes to buildings. The construction style in the extension he wants to burn down and plough over is too modern for the house and therefore offends him. I can't get my head round doing all this work for a net gain of around 4 square metres.


I've been left with all the legal stuff to do- getting consents, building warrant, planning, liaising with Historic Scotland and so on. I'm tempted to screw up at least some of the paperwork.

My fastest and most successful rennovation project was our master bathroom. I plotted it meticulously, arranged contractors (it involved building work) and suppliers and project managed it down the the last half hour. The contractors were just leaving out the front door when DH was arriving back from a three week business trip through the back door. Surprise, honey... It was the only way I could cope! I'll take some pics later.

Mrs. Mitchell, you make me laugh, often I have come home from work and found a delivery of materials sitting in the driveway and said , uh-oh, what on earth are you up too, and a new project is afoot. yes he says, "game on", and I am thinking, please shoot me now

We have never undertaken a project as massive as yours, but my husband built homes in his youth, has an engineering degree, loves the challenges, and considers renovation recreational fun. Yes, the arrival of materials, permits, inspections is indeed a huge undertaking, but your hubby sounds great, so brace up and get ready for to post plenty of pictures. My ultimate dream would be a true English style conservatory, an inner garden room extending off the the back of the house. Now that would be a project!

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Ah, there''s nothing like the sight of building materials to strike dread into the heart of a woman married to a serial remodeller.

A proper conservatory would be delightful. We do have a little lean-to conservatory, but I put the washing machine and tumble dryer in there, so it''s not exactly relaxing space. My plan is to move them and have a proper timber frame conservatory with seating space and orange trees. One day. Like, next time DH goes on an overseas trip.

My main worry with the current plan is that DH adores the demolition phase. Striking masonry with a sledge hammer fills his heart with joy. Rebuilding, apparently not so much... Things take a long, long time to be finished.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 4/18/2010 12:31:59 PM
Author: Mrs Mitchell
Ah, there''s nothing like the sight of building materials to strike dread into the heart of a woman married to a serial remodeller.

A proper conservatory would be delightful. We do have a little lean-to conservatory, but I put the washing machine and tumble dryer in there, so it''s not exactly relaxing space. My plan is to move them and have a proper timber frame conservatory with seating space and orange trees. One day. Like, next time DH goes on an overseas trip.

My main worry with the current plan is that DH adores the demolition phase. Striking masonry with a sledge hammer fills his heart with joy. Rebuilding, apparently not so much... Things take a long, long time to be finished.

Oh dear, you and my husband would get on great. I am a terrible procrastinator and take for ever with the plans. That said, living with the plans for a few months before summoning builders has been great in the sense of suddenly spotting vital changes.

I''ve done all but a few finishing bits to the kitchen which was a huge project with complete rip-out, new floors, everything basically.

Next is the sitting room - repaint, build in cupboards and bookcasing, new lights and electrics.
Then, new wardrobe in our room, followed by cupboard and bookcasing in Daisy''s room plus total repaint. The cupboard in her room is for the tumble-drier and so needs plumbing/venting... which since it''s next door to the bathroom and will mean taking the plumbing through and a certain amount of dismantling it seems a good time to completely re-do the bathroom...

Oh, and I''m completely redesigning the terrace...

 

[Steel]

Date: 4/16/2010 6:31:57 AM
Author: Mrs Mitchell

Date: 4/14/2010 7:55:11 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
I''m going to be making many posts here soon enough! Luckily, DH and I are in no rush to move into the house so we can tear it up without also having to live in it.

We are probably going to start with the bathrooms since they''re the oldest of rooms. Oof...

That''s the fun part - you can tear stuff up then go somewhere dust and rubble free to sleep and eat!

DH has come up with a plan for our house. Just shoot me now.

It involves demolising a modern extension, landscaping the ground and replacing it with an attic conversion in the oldest part of the house. This was always on the cards, but I thought he''d forgotten about it. He is a truly gifted architect and the drawings look stunning. However, he is a) not a builder and b) only one man, so this is going to be rough. I cannot make him believe that you can hire people to do work. So this will be our biggest DIY renovation project so far and I am still mildly hopeful that we won''t get planning consent, since it''s a conservation area.

DH is the ultimate perfectionist when it comes to buildings. The construction style in the extension he wants to burn down and plough over is too modern for the house and therefore offends him. I can''t get my head round doing all this work for a net gain of around 4 square metres.

I''ve been left with all the legal stuff to do- getting consents, building warrant, planning, liaising with Historic Scotland and so on. I''m tempted to screw up at least some of the paperwork.

My fastest and most successful rennovation project was our master bathroom. I plotted it meticulously, arranged contractors (it involved building work) and suppliers and project managed it down the the last half hour. The contractors were just leaving out the front door when DH was arriving back from a three week business trip through the back door. Surprise, honey... It was the only way I could cope! I''ll take some pics later.

Now I would like to see that! Please take some pictures.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

I will do, but in the meantime, it''s all from this catalogue:
http://www.thomas-crapper.com/

The whole Crapper thing just made me smile. I don''t get out much.

Pandora, good luck with that! I can send you DH if that''s any help? Might put him off tearing down half of my house for a while...