What''s Your Home Renovation/Remodel Project?

[gardengloves]

After, the jumping off point was finding marble and vanity on sale... the big splurge.. a venetian mirror.. the inspiration, modern hotel bathrooms

 

[gardengloves]

crown molding, white trim, brown paint, and the venetian mirror... the finished powder room

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 5/3/2010 5:55:59 AM
Author: gardengloves

Date: 5/2/2010 11:25:48 PM

Author: thing2of2

Date: 5/2/2010 10:44:36 PM

Author: gardengloves

the next season, we added another little bed attached to the big kidney shaped one. here is a picture of that one.

Looking back, I''d say make it bigger not smaller, proportional to the house and yard. Ours was too small at first.

Thanks for the additional pictures and info, gg! It''s seriously gorgeous and I think that with my dad''s help we can do it! We''ll probably do ours 10-12'' high around our whole little front yard area.

One more question for you-do you happen to know what type of stone you used? Is it slate?

Sounds like a great project. I love stone walls, its going to be gorgeous surrounding the whole front yard.

. OK, so just asked husband. He says it was around 10'' high, and flagstone- there was some method he used of stacking the stones so the wall stayed steady and secure. He did the wall, so not sure, but it had to be layered a certain way so it wouldn''t collapse. Ours had the top soil backing it, you can see behind the mounds of soil still going in and that''s the pellet the stones arrived on also in background. The whole project jumped off when we were wandering around the garden center and noticed the pellet of stone perfect for this project. So check out what your garden centers have.

Sorry for the late response, gg-just saw your last post to me. Thank you again for the info! I think the 10" height will be great for our yard. Our porch isn''t super high off the ground so it should be perfect. (And if not I guess we''ll keep building!) My dad is insanely handy and he''s going to help us. He''s familiar with dry stacking and is going to help us get started, so hopefully ours will look as good as yours!

I''m definitely going to check our local garden centers for flagstone and see if we can get a deal. There are several around here, and my dad also knows of a stone place that he''s going to check for us, too. It''s probably going to be a while before it''s done but I''ll post pictures once we finish up!

Also, I love your bathroom and that mirror is fantastic!

 

[Gailey]

What a gorgeous mirror GG, where did you find it? Actually everything you have done is fabulous.

We were just about to embark on a major reno to our 1981 built house and then learned we have to move to Ontario. My GF, the realtor says either do it all (C$200K) or don''t do any of it. I guess we are not going to do any of it now.

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 5/6/2010 1:43:02 PM
Author: Gailey
What a gorgeous mirror GG, where did you find it? Actually everything you have done is fabulous.


We were just about to embark on a major reno to our 1981 built house and then learned we have to move to Ontario. My GF, the realtor says either do it all (C$200K) or don''t do any of it. I guess we are not going to do any of it now.

Horchow. sale special.. shipped and arrived in good condition. Thanks Gailey

 

[MakingTheGrade]

We''re hopefully closing on our house at the end of this month, so excited!

I think our first orders of business will be paint, paint, paint. The outside needs paint...the inside needs paint..

Any general words of wisdom or tips for large scale painting or removing wallpaper?

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 5/8/2010 6:55:05 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
We''re hopefully closing on our house at the end of this month, so excited!

I think our first orders of business will be paint, paint, paint. The outside needs paint...the inside needs paint..

Any general words of wisdom or tips for large scale painting or removing wallpaper?

I''ve painted almost the entire interior of my house by myself (the hubs is a sloppy painter so he got fired early on and is the taping specialist

) so I have plenty of tips! Here''s what I''ve figured out along the way:

TAPE! If you do a good job taping you don''t have to worry about edging. I''m a very neat painter but not good at free-handing edges. Also, when you do paint right up against the tape, just lightly put on the first coat. That will help make the tape edge get stuck to the wall without allowing the extra paint to seep under, and then you can go thicker on your second coat. Hope that makes sense...just go light the first time around! And get the thicker type of tape. If you get the thicker kind you can also roll right up to the ceiling and the tape is wide enough to prevent you from getting paint on the ceiling or crown molding.

Make sure the walls are clean and free of pet hair, cobwebs, etc. You can vacuum them or just wipe them off with paper towels, depending on how bad they are.

Get several those clear plastic paint tray liners. Very convenient.

Also spring for several of the large, canvas drop cloths. They came in handy when I stepped in the paint tray and knocked it over-not a drop got on the wood floors!

And if you get several you can cover the whole floor so you don''t have to move them when you paint around the room.

I also preferred using a step stool type ladder instead of the real ladder. It''s lighter and less bulky and the steps are bigger so it''s more stable.

What else...oh, brushes and rollers. Depending on what shape the walls are in, it helps to get rollers with a longer nap. As for brushes, my favorite edging brush is a Purdy 2" angled brush.

Paint: I''ve heard raves about the Behr paint and primer in one paint. Sadly it was after I painted 2+ coats on pretty much the whole place with the regular ValSpar paint. Apparently with the Behr paint and primer you can really get away with just one coat.

If you want to do separate primer, I like Kilz a lot. And I really like flat enamel paint the best. It''s matte but you can still wipe it off. (Regular flat paint can''t be wiped off so if it gets a scuff you have to paint over it.)

Good luck!

 

[packrat]

The driveway was poured today, the rest of the bricking in back starts the end of the week and by mid June we think we might have the house shingled!!

 

[pennquaker09]

Date: 5/8/2010 7:46:51 PM
Author: thing2of2

Date: 5/8/2010 6:55:05 PM

Author: MakingTheGrade

Paint: I''ve heard raves about the Behr paint and primer in one paint. Sadly it was after I painted 2+ coats on pretty much the whole place with the regular ValSpar paint. Apparently with the Behr paint and primer you can really get away with just one coat.

If you want to do separate primer, I like Kilz a lot. And I really like flat enamel paint the best. It''s matte but you can still wipe it off. (Regular flat paint can''t be wiped off so if it gets a scuff you have to paint over it.)

Nothing beats Benjamin Moore Aura. Ben Moore paint is superior all around though.

However, I would take regular Valspar over any Behr any day. Among the big box brands, Valspar is better.

 

[partgypsy]

I just wanted to let you know that I posted pics of the kids'' room remodel under IKEA fun!

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Thanks for the great tips!

 

[Rae~]

We are renovating our unit at the moment. It's quite old and small (two 2 bedrooms, one bathroom), but it is in a nice location (beachfront) so we thought it worth putting the money into it.

We have completely gutted the whole unit, except for the shells of the built-in cupboard in each bedroom. We have redesigned the kitchen completely, moved the hot water system, will intall airconditioning, and will redo the built-in cupboard internals and put on new mirror doors.

The laundry/bathroom had approx 2" square, deep blue tiles on the floor and similar blue aluminium powder-coated frame on the bath screen and frame of the mirror. Other accessories (towel rack, robe hooks, loo roll holder, shelf, etc etc) were deep blue plastic. Ick! Oh, and the shower was over the bathtub, which I dislike.

Here are a few pics of "before"... it's already been gutted, retiled & repainted (finishing the ceiling today) and has a new vanity and laundry tub, but still needs a shower screen, mirror, towel rack and overhead cupboard, so I will post pics when they are done - hopefully by the end of the week.






Thing2of2 - I am envious of your taping skills, then! I've tried a couple of times and just made a mess, so I only free-hand my cutting in. I wish I *could* tape - I am sure it would make it quicker!

 

[Rae~]

Oops, that first pic was a bit bigger than I intended - sorry.

This is what the redone bathroom looks like so far:

 

[gardengloves]

Date: 5/8/2010 6:55:05 PM
Author: MakingTheGrade
We're hopefully closing on our house at the end of this month, so excited!


I think our first orders of business will be paint, paint, paint. The outside needs paint...the inside needs paint..


Any general words of wisdom or tips for large scale painting or removing wallpaper?

Great news on the house Making the Grade - Ditto everyone on the taping before painting- makes it so much easier.

I did the whole paint job too with husband. Saved a ton of money. Get a good quality paint, Benjamin Moore or the Ralph Lauren's go on like butter. Taking off wall paper is also do-able. I filled a sprayer with warm water and liquid soap, the wall paper came right off. It's very satisfying once you get a groove and see how great it looks. We had wall paper in the entire kitchen and halls, but got it off in one day. After you have to smooth and sand a bit, prep walls for paint.

 

[gardengloves]

Thing2of 2

here is the close up of the stacked stone bed I was looking for. I just visited a friend, they did the same thing with sand stone, much thicker, but it looked just awesome. Don''t be too fussy about the stone, just see what''s available.

 

[October2008bride]

Hi everyone! I know it has been ages since I've been active on PS but I've been busy renovating haha. My husband and I just finished (almost) a full gut reno of our bathroom and laundry and I wanted to 'give back' to this thread since I've stalked it so long.

Here are some befores:

​

The laundry room and the bathroom actually swapped locations in the reno, and here are the afters:

​

It was a LONG road with a few not so pretty moments, but I think it is a pretty awesome transformation!! We still need to do shower glass, mirror, window coverings, etc, but it is nice that the reno part is done. Phew.

 

[gardengloves]

HOLY COW ! Octoberbride that is one gorgeous bathroom, the dark wood vanity, that amazing light fixture, THAT TUB...the fixtures and the white walls, chair rail and box molding... OMG... this bathroom is seriously beautiful. You thought of everything. I am kicking myself I didn't go for white walls throughout the house....

I have no idea how this ancient thread got revived, but your pictures are an inspiration, and thanks for posting. what a job! I'm going to be dreaming of that tub of yours

I have one more bathroom reno in me and one guest bathroom to go... who makes that tub? and oh yes, that train style towel rack is gorgeous- very nice touch.

 

[October2008bride]

Thanks GG

The tub was purchased locally here, but you can get it in the states at Signature Hardware - the "Winnifred" 64" version. It is SO comfy.

Good luck with your renos!

 

[TooPatient]

We recently did some work in our kitchen. (finished (mostly) last week)

There has been no backsplash for a year (2 years?) since it got ripped out after the microhood died and we replaced with a hood and separate microwave. We bought the tiles then, but haven't had the time to do it ourselves (and, honestly, needed help from professionals to get the marble cut nicely). The original backsplash was the same tiles as on the counters.

The window is new (FI and I installed ourselves) and replaces a nasty garden-window that was letting in LOTS of cold air.

Original flooring was super thin Pergo laminate that was separating, peeling up at corners, warping, and chipping. The kitchen project finally got done because we HAD to rip the Pergo out to check the subfloor. (super soft spot that dipped badly any time you stepped near it )

We moved the refrigerator from the original location because it was just way too big for that spot. It is now on the other side of the kitchen in what was originally a "breakfast nook" (room for a table for 4 people or so).

New: paint (I did all painting), flooring (FI & I did all demo. and installation), backsplash (we did demo., prep work, and sealing but had our neighbor's construction company do the actual cutting/installation)

Still to do: window covering, window sill, custom-build spice rack, shelving for storage around refrigerator, baseboards


Before pictures:

 

[TooPatient]

Oops -- All new GFI outlets and wall-plates too.


After pictures:

 

[Skippy123]

October your bathroom is sooooo beautiful!!!!

Toopatient, love the kitchen remodel!!!

 

[packrat]

Beautiful bathroom and kitchen you two! I love seeing befores and afters!

Our current project is the entire basement. We had a nice flood down there brought on by a faulty water softener so now we get to renovate..however..it's been two months now and the walls aren't even done. I'm sick of it.

 

[Puppmom]

Holy crap! That is the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen! Our bathroom is about the size of my office cube at work.

TooPatient, love the kitchen redo. We've been considering a backsplash forever but I keep losing nerve and returning the tile I buy. Was it hard?

 

[October2008bride]

Thanks for the bathoorm comemnts, everyone. We used a designer by purchasing an e-design package online. I never met her in person - sent dimensions, info about us and our style and some inspiration pictures. She really nailed it!

It is a big room, but narrow, so the layout options were difficult. I'm super happy with how it turned out!

Now I just have to seal the marble so I can start using it

 

[Puppmom]

October, your first bath in that tub is going to be GLORIOUS!

 

[zoebartlett]

October -- I LOVE your style! Your bathroom is amazing!

 

[October2008bride]

Haha thanks I've actually had a few baths already - it and the toilet are the only things I can use right now because of the non-sealed marble. The tub is SO comfy and luxurious. I LOVE it

 

[jazzoboe]

So, my husband and I just bought our first house and we are so excited to get it fixed up and get moved in there and out of our one-bedroom apartment. Luckily there aren't too many things to be done, mostly just a lot of painting and little projects like replacing outlet covers and redoing shelving in closets. Our one major project, though, is the kitchen/dining room.

When we bought it, there was some wainscoting all around the room, and then two walls on the dining side had some odd texture on them, which we knew we wanted to remove. So we figured it would just be some sanding... a bit of a pain, but no biggie. Then we decided to remove the wainscot because it was pretty cheap/awful looking. We closed on the house Friday, DH and his brother removed all the baseboards/chair rail/wainscot Saturday morning. It came off super easily.

However... we found that however had put the stuff up had both nailed AND glued it to the wall, so the glue ripped up the wall pretty bad under it (excpet for the half of the glue which stayed on the wall. Goo gone won't make it budge. Sanding it caused the paint to chip off... so now the whole bottom of the wall is a mess of sanded off spots). Also there was a bit of wallpaper under there, but that came off easily.

Now, once that was off, we started to see that the top part of the wall was not just a normal texture put onto paint. It is some sort of rubbery feeling thick junk... someone at Home Depot tells us they suspect it's some sort of Venetian plaster that you paint on? Anyway, we found that sanding it wasn't going to work well at all, so we needed to peel it off more like wallpaper. Which would have been SO EASY... if whoever had put it up had bothered to at least prime the drywall first!! But they didn't. So, it ripped the crap out of the walls.
As of yesterday, we removed everything, sanded and cleaned the walls and got at least 75% of the spackling done. I should mention that the spackle probable covers 80-90% of the wall surfaces. It's pathetic.

Looks like today, while DH is at work, I'll be going to finish the first round of spackling and do touch ups, then hopefully start getting the bedrooms ready to paint. I'll try to post a couple of pictures of the dining room later. I can't wait until is resembles a normal wall again!!

 

[TooPatient]

Holy crap! That is the most beautiful bathroom I've ever seen! Our bathroom is about the size of my office cube at work.

TooPatient, love the kitchen redo. We've been considering a backsplash forever but I keep losing nerve and returning the tile I buy. Was it hard?

The tile sat in the garage for a year (2?). We bought the tile then ordered a tile saw that claimed to work for marble. Set up the saw, pulled out a tile to practice cutting and chipped the edge up badly. New blade to try again and managed to "only" get a couple of chips... and a broken off corner.

I found out that our neighbor who owns a construction company does the $$$$ homes and works with stuff like marble all the time. He gave us a quote, I handed him a house key, we went to work, when we got home the backsplash was done.
Cost $600 (after our neighbor discount), and well worth every bit of $$.

We took out the old backsplash (PITA, but saved lots of $$$ since it was time consuming), repaired damage to the wall, got the surface ready for tiling, and did all of the counter top clearing and appliance moving so that the guys could just do the tile. We also did all of the sealing after they were done.


If we used the stick on tile (DIY brand) or the sheets of small tiles, I wouldn't have hesitated to do the whole project. For that matter, any sort of tile that cut better we probably would have just done ourselves. The marble was miserable for us to work with and even the professional guys had a couple break.

 

[partgypsy]

Octoberbride had to post that is one gorgeous bathroom! I love the dark wood vanity and the chandelier! I keep thinking of having a chandelier in one of our rooms, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the style. Maybe I'll sneak one in my daughter's room at some point

Right now the only thing we are doing is remedial work on the foundation at the back of the house, and going to regrade some of the back yard. Our house is a bungalow which do not typically have gutters, but to better direct water away from the house we are compromising and putting them along the back of the house.

As part of all these changes, we decided to expand and enclose our back porch. I got all excited about having it done this fall, but the person who is going to do it won't be able to start until Jan or Feb. So maybe in early spring I'll have something to post.