Home Improvement

It’s Demolition Day!

Published on December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

We have two big projects remaining on the to do list: gut and remodel the basement and pool house. With all of our big construction materials currently stored in the warehou-I mean-pool house, we’ve decided to start work on the basement, saving the pool house for last.

Here are pictures from closing day:

Along the front, there’s a long room that makes an L shape around the corner:

Looking back toward the entry from that same point, there’s a set of four-foot wide French doors. The painted door on the left side went into a 2 foot by three-foot closet that was added after the basement was finished.

The bathroom boasts a lovely mustard yellow suite of fixtures, and previously had carpeted floors. Literally right after getting the keys, we drove here and ripped out the pet stained carpet and have lived with Flor tiles to cover since then. It’s been gross.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of the hall, but the door on the right goes into the laundry room, with the bathroom the next door down. The same carpet extended from the bathroom through the hall and laundry room, hence the glue on concrete floors. Did I mention gross?

Oh, please note the mirror at the end of the hall, too. Rather than finishing the walls to the small closet they added, the previous owner ‘patched’ the wall with a large mirror. Basically, the perfect way to scare the crap out of people who don’t know there’s a mirror there.

Over the weekend, we decided to get going on the project, starting with demo! Demo day is always exciting, because it’s the first step of a renovation. Ben took the first whack, pulling the double layer of sheet rock off the concrete foundation wall.

I know basements are typically colder, and that’s expected when this is all that finishes the walls. No insulation = cold!

At least the upper section of the outer wall had fiberglass batting.

After tearing apart the concrete wall coverings, we moved on to the small closet at the end of the hall.

With low ceilings (thanks to duct work above) and no windows (or the option of adding any down the road), this hall was always suuuper dark. That lone sconce didn’t help much, but punching a hole at the end lets in so much natural light and will also be the entrance to the future theater space.

Ripping out sheet rock is messy, but fun because it’s easy to break through and gives plenty of opportunities for ‘Heeeere’s Johnny!’ moments. Cleaning up, not as fun. We hauled big pieces directly to the truck and loaded up garbage cans with smaller pieces as we went. You know what they say, “Keep your friends close and your garbage cans closer” or something like that.

However, a wall full of dead mice puts a slight damper on the fun. The wall seen above and below is load bearing, but I’ve dubbed it the mouse wall because there were no fewer than 20 in that space alone. As Ron White would say, “Things that make you go bleeahhh.” Here’s to hoping the little varmint won’t be able to get in once we’re done.

It was right around this point that we started making up lyrics for demolition songs. To the tune of For the First Time in Forever from Frozen, here’s our winner:

That wall is now open, so’s that door! We don’t have sheet rock in here anymore. So now we have a thousand nails to puuuuull.

(Brief intermission: speaking of pulling nails, here’s a quick tip. Use a long-handled pry bar to remove sheet rock nails from the ceiling without shuffling a ladder around. Okay, continue singing.)

For years I’ve hated these ugly halls. Who wants a basement with cold, dark walls? Finally we’re heating up this plaaaace.

We’ve found actual real dead mouse bones. Which isn’t totally strange. At least that’s an easy thing to chaaange.

‘Cause for the first time in forever, We’ll have bedrooms, we’ll have floors. For the first time in forever, We won’t freeze our feet anymooore.

Don’t know if I’m exhausted or hungry, But I’m somewhere in that zone. ‘Cause for the first time in forever, This basement will feel like home.

I can’t wait to get everything done! (gasp!) What happens…when we get it all done?

Today imagine a finished hall, Complete with slate floors and finished walls. The perfect spruce up for this tiny space.

Ooh! A functional mud nook over there, With a wall of hooks for all our gear. A way to organize this side entry plaaaace.

But we’ll clean and scrape all evening. Until it’s all packed in the car. After more of the same we’ve done so faaarrr.

For the first time in forever, There’ll be movies, there’ll be sun. For the first time in forever, We’ll use the basement for some fuuun.

And I know it’s totally crazy, To dream of hanging pants. But for the first time in forever, At least we’ll have the chance.

I’m sure that Weird Al-esque ditty will be a chart topper in no time. In the picture below, my back is to the garage entrance, the door on the left goes into the unfinished under stair storage.

Did you catch the mud nook reference in my song? Well, we’re going to do a little reconfiguring, stealing 18 inches or so of space from the stair storage to create a recessed area complete with a bench, shoe storage and hooks.

I’m absolutely giddy over this addition because as it is, the stairs come down right next to the garage door. When we come in, shoes (and backpacks, jackets, snow pants, and other junk) get piled up, creating an obstacle course just to get in and out or down to do a load of laundry.

I’ll draw up a legit plan, until then, to get a better idea of the layout, feast your eyes on my scrap trim mock-up.

Along the long stair section, we’ll create a bedroom closet with access to the under stair section through it.

This is another little thing that I’m stupidly excited about, because we’re going to finish the walls, add carpet, and a few lights. Do you see where I’m headed with this? While our boys are still young, I think they’ll love that area as a hidden play space. Once they’re older, we can use it for storage again.

Now that the ceiling and walls are open, we also have access to the upstairs railing posts that are bolted in place to joists.

Before we put sheet rock back in, we’ll be able to replace the orange oak spindles and railing.

Even though the basement is looking even worse, we’re both excited to start putting everything back together.

Of course, no remodel is complete without small challenges to deal with, like ducts running over the hall, making overhead lights impossible to add.

Soon, we’ll demo the bathroom and laundry, too. Until then, I’m measuring, drawing up plans, and searching for finishes. At least we know how we’ll spend our holiday vacation, much the same way we did last year while we gutted the kitchen. Consider us the captains of the cool kids. Enjoy your holidays and have a safe and happy New Year!

Built in Hutch

Published on December 16, 2015February 5, 2016 by Our Humble Abode3 Comments

If we hop into the way back machine, it shows a kitchen closed off by a wall of dark oak cabinetry. Ignore the boxes, this was right around moving in.

Not only did those cabinets make the kitchen feel isolated, it made a fun game of ring around the island to get anything ready to cook. When we remodeled the kitchen, we pulled those out.

To open the kitchen to the dining and living rooms on the other side, we knocked down most of that wall, leaving us with the glorious open floor plan we love.

Across from the breakfast table, there’s about six feet of wall to work with. Initially, we considered hanging art or a tv above a base cabinet, like so:

The base cabinet became our bar area, which has quickly expanded from a few bottles to a variety.

To accommodate bottles, bar ware, extra serving platters, and dishes, we agreed a built-in hutch above the base cabinet was the best use of space.

My plan included one open shelf for easy access for drinks in addition to three shelves closed off by glass doors. Ben surprised me by including under cabinet lights to illuminate the glasses.

To easily store serving platters, dishes, and anything else, we wanted adjustable shelves. Tucking the tracks between 1/4 inch thick MDF gives a smooth inside.

And here it is, done.

Kidding, only the building was complete there. Primer and paint to the rescue!

This was after paint, but before shelves went in, but take a look at the way the lights make the glasses sparkle.

I’m sure the placement of everything inside will change many times, but I’m calling the hutch complete.

On the counter, the bottles are super easy to get to, along with glasses right within reach.

Glass front cabinets are one of my favorite elements in kitchens, striking the perfect balance between solid doors and open shelving.

Taking the cabinet sides down to the counter grounds the upper cabinet, making it one piece and gives this small side definition.

Platters, large bowls, and other special smaller pieces are safely on display in the above cabinet, but can easily be pulled out to use.

Before, those pantries took over that side of the kitchen.

Wow, that feels like a million miles ago, but a year ago, we had that view. Now, it’s bright and open, while still making that corner functional.

Wrapping up small projects is on the list before we gut the basement, and it feels amazing to cross this off the list. Using it is pretty great, and having a drink station came in so handy on Thanksgiving.

Box Cushion Tutorial

Published on December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 by Our Humble AbodeLeave a comment

Quite often, I have a hard time passing up a good deal. Even though I didn’t need another set of chairs, the shape, style, lines, and potential these lovelies had made it impossible for me to pass up. As if I needed more encouragement to just get the dang chairs, the $4.99 price tag did me in.

Clearly, their better days were behind with dings, stains, missing cushions and atrocious fabric. With a dozen or more full refinishing projects under my belt, I knew the wood would come right back to life with a thorough sand and new stain color. What I hadn’t done before was sew box cushions.

Measuring and math are seriously the worst in my opinion, and sewing precise covers almost made me lose my marbles. To get started, I dug three yards of a heavy small herringbone patterned upholstery fabric from my stash. Let me tell you, that was the most stressful part, knowing I had only three yards, without a possibility of getting more fabric since I’ve had this for a few years. So, I carefully measured each section of my cushions and marked it on the fabric, leaving as little waste as possible.

The outer black shows the cut lines, while the inner gray shows where I’ll actually stitch. For every piece, I added 1 inch to my measurement, leaving me with a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides. This is just a little wiggle room to work.

As the chairs originally were, a stretched, worn out vinyl web was the support for the seat cushion. This system offered zero support and sagged like a weeping willow. Not going to work, so I decided a plywood base would offer the lacking support, but could easily be wrapped with fabric for a seamless look.

Starting with the seat cushion, I measured from front to back and side to side and cut out one 21 inch deep by 20.5 inch wide top panel for each chair. The foam was only 3 inches thick, but I cut 5 inch pieces to wrap the sides, leaving extra to staple to the wooden base. One option to make the side wrap is to cut one long, skinny strip to go around all sides. With my patterned fabric, even a small, subtle pattern, I wanted to keep the design going the same direction. When I cut the left and right panels, I cut in line with the design to match the top piece.

Once my pieces were marked and cut, I broke out the sewing machine. Warning, don’t do exactly as I have pictured here. This was my first round and while it worked, I did make one small adjustment to my method for the remaining three cushions. First, pin everything right sides together, but don’t sew a single stitch.

Pretend that right side hadn’t already been sewn and there are only pins in place, because that stitched area adjusted my corner seam. See how it doesn’t meet up? Do as I say and not as I show!

On my remaining three covers, I pinned all the pieces together before stitching anything.

Typically, the side pieces would be stitched together first to create that single long, skinny wrap ‘belt’ piece. I found it was easier to sew the side panels to the top section first, staying an inch or so away from the corner. Then, I stitched the short box corners, going end to end and reversing to lock in the stitching.

With the sides sewn to the front and the box corners stitched, this is when the corners meet. I found it easiest to first pin the pieces together like this:

Then to flatten out the seam for a tight corner.

To close the gap, line up the needle where the corner stitching (the brown thread in the above photo) left off. Start sewing, reverse to lock it in, then continue until the corner where you’ll need to turn. Leave the needle down, then pivot to continue until you’ve overlapped the side stitching, reverse and one corner is complete.

After sewing two base cushions, I set the foam on my wood base, then covered the top with the sewn box. I followed the same upholstery process at that point, pulling tightly and making sure the seams fall in place.

To create double-sided, removable covers with a zipper, the process isn’t much different, just a few small changes. First, rather than cutting four side panels, cut five: left, front, right, top of zipper, and bottom of zipper. For the ease of it, I cut my zipper sections the same width, leaving extra to cut off before stitching it in place. Secondly, the sides will be the thickness of the foam plus the seam allowance on either side. For a two-inch cushion with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, you’ll need to cut a three-inch wide piece.

To create the zipper panel, start by marking where your zipper starts and stops on each piece, centering the zipper on the width. Then, at a half-inch allowance, sew right sides together on a short stitch (between a 1 and 2) for the areas at the first end, until you hit the mark. Without removing the fabric or lifting the presser foot, change the stitch length to the longest stitch possible and cruise along until you hit the other zipper end mark. Change back to the original close stitch and finish down to the end. Always reverse a few stitches at a starting a stop point of close stitches to create a ‘knot’ and lock everything in place.

Iron the seam flat before sewing the zipper in place for a smooth finished piece. Center the zipper face down on the underside of that sewn strip and stitch into place as usual.

Once the zipper is in place, turn the panel over and carefully cut out the long stitch in front of the zipper. This creates a tiny pocket/flap to hide the zipper under.

But the ends are tightly sewn shut still, thanks to the shorter stitch.

Trim off an excess on the sides of the zipper, making it match the width of the other side sections.

Then, follow the first steps, sewing sides to the top, followed by the corners until you’re ready for the back panel. Open the zipper-this is crucial, or you won’t be able to turn the cover right side out. Pin the back piece in place and carefully stitch along, working slowly around the corners.

Before turning right side out, snip away any bulky areas, but still leave enough fabric so it won’t tear with use. If you’re feeling up to it, iron all the seams for really straight, tight seams and corners and then stuff the foam in. Give yourself a big pat on the back and your favorite treat (chocolate, wine, beer, a nap!) for not giving up/throwing it in the trash/creating something that is a pain in the butt.

Helpful tips:

Use the longest stitch for the first corners, just to make sure it all lines up and looks good. If it doesn’t, it’s easy to pull out and try again. If it does look good, go back over that stitching with a shorter stitch to secure everything in place.
If you’re cutting foam, wait to cut until the covers are sewn. It’s better to have a tighter fit than to find out you have to stitch with a wider seam allowance to shrink the covers down. I left my foam an inch wider and taller than my back cushions for a fuller look.
Have extra needles on hand. I broke one, then had to wait until morning to get extras and it was stupidly annoying to me.

As daunting as the covers seemed, after the first one, I had worked out the kinks and felt much more confident in what I was doing.

The subtle pattern of the fabric is noticeable up close, but looks like a nice neutral from across the room.

If, okay, more likely when I feel up to it, I still need to iron the seams for a straighter, clean fit. Hashtag OCD problems-ha!

Honestly, sewing the covers went easier with each one. It seems like a lot of steps and work, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really not so bad. As long as you have extra needles. And a good seam ripper. Have you entered the Minted giveaway yet?

Another $5 Chair Pair

Published on December 1, 2015December 1, 2015 by Our Humble Abode4 Comments

Around a year and a half ago, while searching for thrifted treasures in need of some love, I found a pair of chairs, each priced at only five bucks. Of course, at that price, the chairs weren’t perfect. Far from it, in fact with torn orange vinyl seats and dark stained wood. Basically, all 70’s glory.

After a few hours of sanding, several yards of fabric, and elbow grease, the chairs were much more sturdy and neutral.

Rewind two weeks ago and I had a similar experience, stumbling on a pair of mid-century chairs in need of help, for a mere five dollars each.

The size and shape are exactly what I wanted, offering a more relaxed, reclined seat. The wood wasn’t in terrible (or excellent) condition, but each came with only bottom cushions that had been quickly recovered in a two-tone damask fabric. After removing the outer fabric, I found the original mustard fabric lurking beneath. Ugly, but in good shape.

Following my usual refinishing process, I backed out the screws, disassembled the chairs, and started sanding with 220 grit paper. Sanding is a little tedious and time-consuming, but in my opinion, the easiest and most effective way to get a clean slate. Paint strippers leave behind a residue that’s tough to clean off and gums up sanding pads after. For hard to reach, detailed, or delicate areas, strippers are okay, but for all flat parts, stick with sanding. Whew, got out the pent-up feelings on paint strippers and now I’m carrying on.

With the similar style wood and linen sofa in the neighboring living room, I wanted the new chairs to coördinate. A coat of Special Walnut stain warmed up the wood beautifully, followed with a teak oil protective coat. As long as the sanding process can seem, that was the easy part. I took my first crack at sewing box cushions. I’m pleased to report, after a few trials, moments of frusteration, and a broken sewing needle, the box cushions didn’t get the best of me. Full tutorial for the cushion covers coming at you soon. We now have beautiful, updated chairs in the family room.

Even though I liked the previous chairs, the upright, smaller seat was comfortable, but not inviting or especially conducive to relaxing. This low-slung style and deep base are comfy and stylish.

Just look at the old versus the new.

A slightly darker wood tone offers a better contrast against the stump turned coffee table, too.

Applying a lighter toned and thinner stain also lets the pretty grain shine through. Before, it wasn’t obvious.

Now, look at that great detail!

For a small dose of my favorite color, I used leftover fabric from our headboard to create lumbar pillows to jazz up the neutral fabric.

Because I’m a fabric hoarder, I mean lover, I was able to use an upholstery fabric I already had. Reusing the base cushion foam, sturdy metal zippers, and stain I had on hand means the only purchase made (besides the chairs themselves) was two-inch foam to create the back cushions. Total monetary investment per chair: a whopping $14. Total time invested: countless hours. Outcome: priceless, and worth it.

Window Seat Planning: Step 2

Published on November 13, 2015February 5, 2016 by Our Humble Abode5 Comments

In every plan we create for a new project or built-in, there are many options, with changes, tweaks, and revisions along the way. It’s fun to think and/or draw up different ideas and other possibilities, even if they aren’t used in the end. Planning the living room window seat is no different; I’ve drawn up several designs of seat and shelf combos, all with variations on measurements. I’ll share more about the evolution later, including my drawings to show the process.

Depending on the window seat plan and dimensions, the furniture arrangement needs change, too. Initially, I was torn between a 24 inch and 30 inch seat depth. Twenty four inches isn’t a tiny seat, but it also isn’t the wide, curl up and relax oversized area a 30 inch deep seat would be. Adding another 6 inches would cramp a furniture plan with the couch directly in front of the tv, fortunately, we have other options.

Sometimes, a simple furniture reconfiguring can open a world of possibilities. To leave adequate walking room between the furniture and soon to be built-in, I placed the leather sofa and the smaller linen couch parallel to each other, but perpendicular to the window and tv.

This allows for the deeper built-in, while adding emphasis to the window wall and the views beyond. The chair is our stand in for a window seat, but at 36 inches, we know a built-in that deep won’t work. A thirty inch depth seems to be the Goldilocks of the seat, not too narrow or too wide.

Way back when we first looked at this house and considered buying it, the views were one of the top selling points. Creating a beautiful, but still comfortable, livable, room to play up the views is priority for this built-in. Up until now, with the sofa squarely in front of the tv, the views haven’t been the focus, rather the tv.

We’ve lived with this arrangement since Monday, and sure, the old sofa placement was more comfortable for tv/movie watching. With basement plans in the works and a remodel nearing, we’ll have room to create a designated theater space in the darker basement. At that point, I think this living area would be a secondary tv space, in which case, the tv doesn’t have to be the main functional focal point.