Room Makeovers

Four Year Home Tour: Part One

Published on April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 by Our Humble Abode18 Comments

In some ways, it’s hard to believe, but today marks four years since getting the keys to this house. Often, I have to think hard to remember just how (bad some) things were when we moved in. Others are fresh in my memory since we’ve only recently made changes. Either way, it’s always fun and satisfying to take a walk down memory lane, if for no other reason than to appreciate how far we’ve come.

Four years feels fast, considering we’ve tackled every room (or are in the process of reworking, as is the case of the basement). Four years also feels slow, chugging away, waiting for the right time to start projects, or finishing another before moving to the next. Home is a constant creation, finding each perfect piece and putting it into place. Overall, we’re both so happy with the progress and love living here, enjoying the views, and are excited to continue our progress.

Okay, enough of the sapiness, on with the then and now tour, starting in the entry. In the past, I’ve done these tours in one long post, but this one is especially picture heavy so I’m splitting it into two parts; today you’ll see the living areas.

Before felt dark, dated, and dingy. Those peach walls always looked dirty, the dark wood door and side lights overwhelmed, and an overly intricate Tiffany style light felt stuffy and too traditional. And the railings, oh the sheer amount of orange toned oak.

Swapping the standard height door for a double wide, 8 foot tall one (taken from the dining room) and shorter, transom style window above dramatically brighten and update this small space.

To add interest to the large wall (and cover up the heavy knock down texture), we added tongue and groove planks, painted white, to lighten up and add the good kind of texture. The stained beige marble floors days are numbered, to be replaced with Montauk black slate.

Replacing the traditional spindle railing for a sleek horizontal design made a huge difference. A modern, multi arm light juxtaposes with the more rustic elements, like the horns.

Once at the top of the stairs, the living and dining rooms are to the left. Before, the traditional windows with grids and the eight foot tall door were dark and broke up the beautiful views out front.

New windows, light trim and paint, and bold doses of green add vibrancy to the south-facing rooms. Ignore the sofa backing the window, it’s here until the basement theater room is ready for it.

Those ornate fixtures, both hanging and the pair of sconces were poorly placed, neither centered on anything. With the open flow of rooms, the arch separating the entry and living room didn’t make sense.

Knowing we planned to use this room daily, for tv watching, relaxing, and toy playing, we built a large entertainment center with drawers for ample storage. Nearly all the boys’ toys are stored in those nine drawers, so it certainly has served its purpose.

Dual mismatched sofas, one leather, the other a slim wood and linen design, face one another, offering plenty of seating. This arrangement still allows a full view of the mountain and city scene out the windows.

Positioning the leather sofa parallel to the dining room offers a bit of separation of the open floor plan without a formal divide.

Ugh, every time I see this light I remember how many times I smashed my head on that dang thing. Why the previous owner placed an eight foot tall door in a room with eight foot ceilings, I’ll never know. Not only does it look awkward, it didn’t allow for a proper header and wasn’t stable. The bay window sagged over time, making it non functional.

After pulling the door out and installing it in the entry, we swapped the arrangement of window and door, extending the deck over to make a more usable arrangement both inside and out. A large mission style dining set, centered on the window and door, fills the space.

To further open the floor plan, we knocked out the majority of the wall between the dining and kitchen. The twelve-foot wide door makes entertaining and daily living even more enjoyable.

Opening the wall also floods the north facing kitchen with natural light. Dark oak cabinets, 80’s country blue wall paper, and an over sized flourescent light didn’t help this kitchen. However, it was a large, open size.

Swapping the dated, broken cabinets for sleek white DIY ones really changes the look and function. A full wall of white Carrara marble brings in natural tones and subtle texture variation. Dark slate floors are used throughout the house, for continuity and, well, we love the material.

Two more bay windows that couldn’t open properly, yet another gaudy light, and heavy knock down texture on the ceilings were primary offenders.

For the most part, the new layout is very similar to the original. All drawer lowers keep everything organized and completely accessible. As much as I adore white kitchens, I like the balance of warm wood tones, so we created a custom walnut island. As with the slate floors, we’ve used white tongue and groove boards in designs around the house. The ceiling here was textured, cracked, and had several holes from lighting. Rather than painstakingly skim coating the ceiling and hoping it didn’t crack again, we put up our favorite material to hide the flaws.

A wall of floor to ceiling cabinets made a main walkway even smaller, and made a not so fun Ring Around the Rosie game to get pantry staples out.

After opening up the wall, we still had about seven feet of space off to the side. For added function, we built a bar/hutch in this space.

Vases, extra dishes, and overstock liquor are stored below, leaving the upper for pretty dishes and a fully stocked bar.

At the back of the house is our family room, previously seen with a dirt covered moss rock fireplace, an unused nook, and broken windows. For reference, the arched doorway to the right leads straight down the stairs.

Covering the fireplace, adding a wood burning insert, and shelves in the nook, are all changes we love. We also replaced the old, broken windows with energy-efficient functioning ones. It’s nice to be able to open windows in here to get some air movement.

Another open layout, the family room backs up to the kitchen and breakfast nook. Yet another arched divider that didn’t fit the style of the house.

Landing on the most useful, functional furniture arrangement in this room surrounded by walkways wasn’t easy. After trial and error, testing, and rearranging, this layout has proven to work. Sofa backing the room, large stump coffee table centered, with two modern chairs flanking the fireplace still leaves walk space.

Bedrooms and bathrooms will come tomorrow, so stay tuned to see those changes. To see the progression of these spaces over the years, check out the first year, second, and last year.

It hasn’t been an overnight transformation, but I’d say each room is at least 90% finished. Most of the changes I want to make are simply waiting to find the right furniture or accessory to finish it off. A larger rug for the living room. Perhaps a different set of chairs around the breakfast table. A bench at the foot of our bed, but nothing major. Nope, the main level is feeling like home. The basement now, that’s a different story. Don’t even get me started on the pool house situation-haha.

Building a Sleek Railing

Published on February 12, 2016March 9, 2016 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

A few weekends back, we took the plunge and replaced our stair railings.

It was our first venture, with a few small things to figure out, but overall went smoothly. To get started, we of course had to remove the old set, loosening the bolts from the underside first.

With the flat side out, we determined our new post placement. Since the old railing was too close to the front door trim, we shifted the posts over an inch.

Ben cut the 4 by 4 inch post to size (38 inches above the floor with 11 inches below), set it in the hole, and cut another post in half length wise and to height for the wall side. Neither were fastened in place so we could first attach the horizontal planks. We purchased 2 by 6 boards, but ran the sides through the table saw to cut them down to 5 inches wide and take away the dimensional lumber look. To save some time sanding, we also ran each plank through the planer for an ultra smooth finish. Once all the boards were cut and prepped, we cut 4 inch spacers to make sure spacing between was even.

While I held the boards in place on the full post end, Ben worked on the half post side. He screwed through the backside of the post, into each board three times to secure it in place without visible holes. Then we shimmied it into place on the wall and fastened it to the wall.

The full post end was only slightly different since we used longer screws. Ben pre-drilled through the post, creating a recess for the screw head, then drove the screws into place while I kept the each board in place.

Working on the flat side was easy enough and went quickly, but the angled side was a bit tricky. Again, removing the old was step number one.

Another 38 inch tall 4 by 4 post was set into the hole at the top of the stairs.

To keep the spacing between the boards even with the flat areas, the post at the bottom had to be taller since the angled cuts make the planks taller. This post had to be notched out to cut around the stair wall before screwing it in at the base.

Then time for the straight meets angled cut to follow the stair angle. Once the angles fit perfectly, Ben applied glue on the angle and drove screws in from the top and bottom to keep everything rigid and in place until the glue dried.

Like the other side, Ben put two screws into each plank.

In that corner, where the stairs meet the small section terminated to the wall, we had to stagger the screws so they didn’t cross. Since the wall section is shorter, one screw in the center held firmly.

After everything was securely fastened on the upper sections, Ben drove 6 inch long screws through the posts and into the wall studs below for maximum rigidity.

For a seamless finish, I filled each screw hole, knot hole, and hairline crack with putty and sanded smooth.

Caulking along the seams and walls was the last step before painting.

When painting over raw wood like pine, sap bleed through can be an issue. For greatest durability and stain blocking, I applied one coat of the same stain I used on our bedroom wall: Sherwin Williams Exterior Oil-Based Wood Primer. It’s stinky, so I built a fire and opened the windows to air the room out.

Knowing white will show any dirt, grubby hand marks, and well, everything else, I needed a paint that could withstand a good scrub. After a chat with my favorite paint guy at our local Ace Hardware, he suggested Benjamin Moore’s Ben Exterior paint in the low lustre finish to avoid a glossy finish. Three coats later and it’s a wrap.

With this checked off the to do list, we can start hanging sheet rock in the basement.

A Sleek Stair Railing

Published on February 5, 2016March 9, 2016 by Our Humble Abode32 Comments

Back on closing day, nearly four years ago now, our living room had a lovely variety of honey toned oak. Floors, doors, trim, and the railing. The light fixtures, red accent wall, and arch over the railing were high points, too.

We’ve since added new trim, painted the doors and walls, replaced the lighting. Basically changed everything except the floors (which will remain the same) and until recently, the railing.

With the basement completely gutted and free of drywall, we finally had access to the underside of the railings.

Over the weekend we removed the old oak railings and built a new, sleeker design. Two years or so ago I started planning what would eventually replace the oak and thought a horizontal layout would look best. A few months ago I spotted this railing by Milk and Honey Home and knew it would work for our home, too.

To build our railing we used four by four posts and two by six boards for the rails. It took a day to build and install, and even before primer and paint, it looked light years better.

One coat of primer and three coats of white paint later and here we are today:

Be prepared for photo overload.

The simple design doesn’t attract unnecessary attention and is sturdier than the old design.

Getting the straight section by the living room done was pretty straight forward, but the angled section was trickier.

I’ve got a post in the works covering the building process, so I’ll save the specifics for then.

It’s much more modern and more in keeping with the straight lines of the house.

I may regret my decision to paint it white after the millionth round of washing dirty hand prints off, but I love the way it blends with the tongue and groove wall.

The post tops are simply a 45 degree angle and rise 2.5 inches above the top rails.

To give the boards a defined termination into the wall, we cut a post in half for a seamless look.

Every new change is so exciting to see when walking past, and this one has been a long time coming.

The way it brightens up the entry and living room is my favorite.

Once we’ve replaced the tile, our entry checklist will be complete.

And with the railing complete, we can continue work in the basement and should be ready for sheet rock soon. Then the fun can begin! I’m already gathering paint samples, measuring for furniture, and we’ve purchased a couch for the theater room.

Basement Rebuilding & Plans

Published on January 6, 2016January 5, 2016 by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

With basement demo completely out of our way, we’ve spent the remainder of holiday break cleaning and rebuilding. None of the exterior walls had insulation, so we’ve added a layer of 2 inch rigid foam, then built new 2 by 4 walls to run wiring through. Before sheet rock, we’ll add fiberglass batting.

Along with new exterior walls, we’ve made a few changes to the floor plan. To give an idea of where everything was, as well as our plans, here’s a set of handy-dandy floor plans. Let’s start with the before:

And here are the changes we’ve started and are planning to tackle.

Some things are staying the same/very similar, while we’re making some other major changes, so how about a rundown of plans? Okay, here we go:

The door to the garage (which is to the right of these plans) is at the base of the stairs, which can make things crowded at times. More often than not, we enter and exit through the garage, so getting organization and order in this space is crucial. Having a door to the under stair storage open into the hallway wasn’t the best use of space and further clogged a main artery. Instead of accessing the under stair area from the hall, we’re creating what I’m calling a ‘mud nook.’ It’ll have a bench with shoe storage below and hooks above for a great drop zone that will keep the mess of life tucked aside. Here’s the current view with my back to the garage door; mud nook on the left (where the bins of junk are) and the soon to be bedroom door straight ahead.

Again, a shot of the future storage space, with a glimpse of the stairs to the left. The opening of the nook is just under six and a half feet wide by 18 inches deep, so it’s a generous size for backpacks, winter gear, and shoe storage. I measured over and over, considering taking it back a little deeper, but because this is tucked partly under the stairs, the deeper the bench, the shorter the ceilings get. This seemed to be the sweet spot, and we just may have room for a shelf at the top, but we’ll see how everything feels when we get sheet rock up.

2. We’re dividing the large front room into two different spaces. The smaller will become a bedroom, possibly for one of the boys when they’re old enough to want separate rooms. Until then, we’ll use it as another guest space. After debating the pros and cons of door placement, we agreed to keep the door at the end of the shorter hall, but pivot it to make a 90 degree corner. Rotating it around to enter from the other hall stretch would have given a little more privacy, but wasn’t worth the effort to make it work in the load bearing wall.

3. Along the stair wall, we’ve added a deep closet with access to the under stair storage through the back. Under the stairs, the plan is to finish it off with walls, carpet, and lights to create a cozy little play area that we can use for storage when the boys are too big/old to care about it.

4. In smaller changes, we’re shifting the laundry door over about 18 inches and eliminating the door swing by putting in a pocket door.

Before, the door was 24 inches from the left, where the deeper washer/dryer sit, while the shallower cabinet side had 54 inches between the wall and door. With the machines toward the back of the room, the units never stuck out per se, but it always felt off centered. Basically, we’re swapping the proportions by moving the door and centering the door on the space open space between the appliances and cabinetry for better flow. Here’s the start of the process, with the wider door framed and ready for pocket door install:

It’s a heck of a lot easier to move the door than the plumbing and electrical. Stacking the washer and dryer will make space for our bulk storage in the upright freezer, which will sit where our dryer once did. I know, it’s an unconventional placement, but there really isn’t a better place for it, upstairs or down. And if we ever decide to do away with the freezer, we can unstack the washer and dryer with room to spare. We’ll still have a wall of cabinets on the other side, but the cabinets will be counter height for a folding station as well as an open ‘desk’ spot for Ben to work on his reloading.

While tearing apart the laundry room, we found something interesting. At some point, there was a small fire in here. Everything has been fixed, including two replaced joists.

That cleared up our questions about why one joist bay in the future bedroom was darker, it’s smoke discoloration.

5. With the freezer relocated to the laundry room, we’ll have space to install heavy-duty shelves in the unfinished utility/mechanical room for tools/paint cans/messy storage items.

6. We’ve already opened up the end of the hall to create a door to enter the theater room. Due to the lowered ceilings, we’re still trying to figure out if we can put a pocket door in here as well. It might shorten the opening too much, but we’re hoping to make it work. Oh, and the box on the left is my test for sconce placement thanks to a lack of overhead lighting options where the duct runs.

7. Once we’ve finished, the theater room can technically be considered a fifth bedroom because we’re adding an oversized closet at the back. Directly left of the window (this was the end of the house before the pool house addition) is the start of our closet wall. The window leads into an unfinished crawl space, so we do need to keep access to that, but it’ll be hidden inside the closet.

8. Another fun demo discovery! The shower drain isn’t actually a to code shower drain, just a floor drain. Luckily, we planned to widen the shower, which required moving the drain, so replacing it isn’t an added task.

The remaining fixtures will stay where they were.

So that’s the basic overview of what we’ve done and where we’re headed with this basement. As usual, the renovation saga will continue and I’ll share more details as we make progress, including the exciting parts that come after sheet rock has been finished.

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!