Second Bath Demo

We are making a mess. A big, big mess. I guess we love to have multiple projects going on at once because demo has begun on our second bath. It's a huge project with a huge visual impact. 

Here are a few photos of our very purple bathroom on move in day. 

The tile is in great condition, if only it weren't so purple.

Original tub. Bulky storage shelving.
The posts are about eight inches thick for no structural reason.

A view standing at the window and looking towards the hall.
The toilet actually sits behind that oak door- the door stopper is the toilet bowl.
Very awkward. The boys end up standing to the side of the
toilet so they don't get hit by the door. It's very messy.

Even though the purple tile is in great condition, we won't be saving it. We're removing too much of the closet to even consider re-glazing the tile in another color. The closet posts are quite thick and we'll be gaining several feet of space once it's removed. 

We'll be removing the vanity (cheaply made) and replacing it with a more European style- longer in width and more narrow in depth. This will give us more floor space and better clearance between the vanity and the tub. Drywall will be removed and more insulation added. 

Flooring will be replaced with an easy to clean tile.

The long mirror was removed early in the process. It was heavy as heck and not securely attached to the wall. Thank goodness no one was hurt. 

Tile down, vanity removed.

We've decided to remove the tub instead of having it repaired and re-glazed. This will give us a chance to inspect the plumbing and make repairs to the subfloor if needed. As it turns out, the tub was never secured to the frame.

Closet is removed.

New insulation going in. Tub removed, closet removed.
The bathroom feels huge!

Vanity assembly in the loft. Gray floating cabinet with white sink.

New insulation. The room is warmer already.

Another part of the project was moving the door frame to the right. It's not much but it will buy us some space around the toilet area. We can't change the plumbing of the bathroom but it will hopefully be enough space to add a half-wall privacy nook around the toilet. D and his Dad put in the new frame and added the six panel door. 

Better already!

Plastic on our stairs.
 It feels like we're living in a model house.

Demolition continues to move along. Repairs and updates are being made to the insulation and the subfloor. The toilet is on order. The tub base is installed and the shower walls are ready to go. Tile is picked out but still needs to be purchased. Cement board and drywall will be installed shortly. I hope to stay on top of photos so check back!

Adding A Closet In An Open Space

Our house was built in 1965 and has a very traditional layout. From the front door you enter into a "living room" or formal sitting area. This was one of the things that I didn't love about the house. What exactly do you do with a "living room?" In most homes it becomes unused space. I've worked hard to keep this area casual and hope that we'll continue to use it as much as we use the family room. We even refer to it as the "front room." It currently has a TV and a Wii, as well as a craft area and place for large toys like Hot Wheels tracks and marble towers. 

The front room has the main entrance to our house. I hope to change out the front door this spring and we have a replacement door sitting in the basement. I dislike the large glass cut-out in the current door. I hate that people standing on the front porch can see me. I prefer to know who is on the other side of the door via peephole and then decide if I want to open it. Having people looking through the door freaks me out and I've had a well-meaning neighbor scare me more than once. 

One major thing lacking from our entryway is a hall closet! It has been very inconvenient at Christmas and birthday parties to run guest's coats upstairs. So we decided to just add one. How awesome is that?!!  

The space "below" the stairs happened to the perfect depth for a closet. Plus it was set just outside of the walkway so it would always be unused space. As it was, we had toys and junk piled in the corner- too large to have empty but too small to fit furniture. 

Front room on move in day

D was lucky to have help on this addition so the installation went fairly quickly. I didn't take as many photos as I wanted to and totally missed the framing phase.

My Handyman working on the closet drywall.
Notice the kiddos are playing Mario Cart. 

The closet fits perfectly in the unused space and
does not block the doorway or walkway.

Right now the closet is functional and worked perfectly to hold coats at the recent Super Mario Birthday party. The trim is up and has a first coat of paint. The door is primed. We still need to add the permanent hardware, re-install the crown molding and finish the second coat of paint on the walls and trim. Long term goals are to add a long built in bench instead of the short one so it feels more complete.

Another recent project involved the hallway from the powder room area into the family room/kitchen/dining. This is the addition component of the house and the structure was previously the old garage. Most likely a cost saving decision, the owners kept the doorway frame in the original size. It worked just fine, but when you sat at the dining table you always felt as if the room was sectioned off from the rest of the house. It didn't have good flow. The house felt like it was in two portions. And the doorway was tight if you had your hands full, which made for nicked up drywall.

On move in day I took photos of every square inch of this house. I cannot believe I do not have a "before" photo to share. I guess I just wasn't anticipating doing anything with such a short hallway.    

If you look at the carpet area, you can see the amount that we removed. It doesn't seem like much but it makes a world of difference. This project took a while since that wall is load bearing which meant extra lumber support plus the usual drywall and paint work. We were happy to have extra hands on this one- thank you to our awesome family!

The door on the right is the powder room. We'll replace
the flat oak when we replace the floors. 

I think when we tackle the floors you'll never notice the doorway....and that's exactly what we want.

Powder Room Final Reveal

It feels great to be able to check a project off as complete! Well, I'm calling it complete at least because we still need to replace the door but we'll have to wait until the hallway floors are done. There's no point in trying to level and trim the new door until we've got everything in the hallway leveled and installed. 

We gained a lot of visual space in the powder room by installing a new sink and toilet that better fit the scale of the bathroom. We gained physical height by removing the dropped drywall ceiling and adding regular sized crown molding (vs the "mini" molding that was originally installed). We took down the old drywall in order to remove the textured finish (on the blue paint), added more insulation, then put up new drywall. D replaced the pergo flooring with an easier-to-clean tile. The final project is clean, simple and bright....just what I think a powder room should be. 

BEFORE

AFTER
(even more bright during the day,
but I only thought to take pictures at night)

Brushed silver mirror

Pedestal sink

Ocean artwork and clear shelving

I am very pleased with the final product. It feels like a brand new house.

What's next??? Possible options are the boys bathroom or the mudroom. Or perhaps painting the master bedroom or the front room. Decisions, decisions!

Boys' bathroom currently...wowza.
It will be a total overhaul down to the studs and some re-working of the layout.
A very large project but with a big functional impact. 

Boys' bathroom inspiration

Mudroom at move in.
We've already replaced the floors and the closet doors. We've removed the
door in the left of the photo, which separated the kitchen from the mudroom
(too many doors!) We currently use hooks on the wall to the left
which work great for backpacks and snowpants. This would be a
smaller project and *maybe* a fast one.  

Mudroom Inspiration

Check back to see what we decide...and we'll see you in 2016!! Cheers! 

Powder Room Update: 75% Done

The powder room project is humming along. D has done the majority of the work on this one. Frankly the space is much too small to have two adults working in there at once.

Let's refresh your memory about what we were working with. If you know anything about us, you know it's not our style at all.

Move In Day

The powder room was cramped. When I removed the medicine cabinet it immediately felt a little better. We had tossed around the idea of expanding the bathroom out into the adjoining area, or even "turning" the bathroom around- opening the wall, making the bathroom to the right, and then making this area into a closet- but we ultimately decided to try to gain as much space as possible in the footprint that we had. Our long term goal will be to have a bathroom/changing area in the basement where guests will be able to change and shower after using the lake.

D removed the lowered ceiling and recessed lighting. The drywall was removed because of the faux plaster finish on the walls (there was no way to completely sand that smooth). The toilet and the sink were removed and replaced. D removed the Pergo flooring and leveled the subfloor.

The residual glue reminded me of reeds in the bottom
of a lake. All we needed were fish to complete the theme. 

We were lucky enough to have D's dad come over to help with the installation of the tile. While he had an assistant, we added tiling the mud room to the project list.

My "tile guy"

Powder room awaiting grout

We chose a smaller tank toilet with a dual flush feature. I believe this should be a standard feature- toilets waste a lot of water per flush.

Finished tile. It's reading a little "busy" in this photo.

We chose the same paint color as in the main family room (Sherwin Williams Versatile Gray). It's a nice neutral greige although in some photos here it looks a little brown. I have painters tape up to help me visualize the location of the artwork and mirror. The mirror is not a standard size so I'm looking into custom options. We added a smaller depth pedestal sink in white that doesn't block the doorway (the old one stuck out into the walkway and was a weird gray color).

New lights and sink

Finished floor and trim

We just need to finish up a few things like the final trim on the door and floor. We need to purchase the mirror, select new linens and add the art work. We'll wait to swap out the door when we finish the flooring in the hallway. I'll post a "final" photo when we get all the remaining pieces done.

75% done

Move In Day

Proof that I work on these projects too! 

Fireplace Renovation: Final

It's been a while since I last posted and I realized I never showed off the final version of our fireplace make-over. We got the majority of the paint done except for the areas where we'll be modifying the doorway. The crown molding is painted and up...it sure is beautiful.

But before I post the "final" version of the fireplace, let's take a look back at move in day.

Yep, still hate that yellow paint.

Christmas 2014- wood burning fireplace was just converted to gas.

Stones being placed

 Without further delay, here is the finished product....

It's hard for me to articulate how much I love looking at this fireplace now. I'm just so proud of our vision and our ability to complete such a large project. The boys and I joke that Santa is going to be surprised when he comes this year. 

A shot of the crown molding trim

Shelving and trim.
I'm currently working on a stacked photo arrangement. 

A honest photo of how it looks day-to-day. I was going to clear the toys and clutter but decided against it.