Category: Our First House

Our first house, a 1960 ranch home.

Paint it Up, Paint it In

Published on by Our Humble Abode10 Comments

Let me begin.  I came to win.  Battle me that’s a sin.  I won’t tear the sack up.  Punk you’d better back up.

That’s right, I got some painting done in a few painting sessions last week and over the weekend.  I thought of House of Pain the entire time, especially when I told E he’d better back up.  He has a tendency to lean against the cabinets (or climb in them), getting wet paint on his hands.  That’s what we get for having an open floor plan.

Anyway, back to the painting.  The bar cabinets in the living got a coat of Behr’s Vermont Cream Two in One paint, the same paint we used for the upper cabinets in the kitchen.

True to my nature, I was in a hurry to get the cabinets painted and did a few things backwards.  Like painting before I had filled and sanded the screws in the sheet rock.  It wasn’t a big deal though, I just got a head start on the cabinet painting.

I decided on white because it matches the entertainment center cabinets and the white below the chair rail in the rest of the living room.  (And your votes pointed to white)  For better flow, we agreed to paint the wall part white to mimic the chair rail.  The real truth?  I’m the one painting and I was lazy and didn’t wait to dig out the gray paint and tape off the cabinets.  So everything got a nice coat of white.

If you’re wondering what the boys do during my painting sessions, see exhibit a:

While I’m talking to them, they play in the living room, make a giant mess.  The kitchen doesn’t get as much action, but you can see I’ve neglected put off cleaning until cabinet painting has come to a close.

After one coat of paint on the cabinets, I broke down and filled the screw holes.  I let everything dry, sanded smooth, filled any holes again.  Let it dry, sanded smooth, vacuumed up the dust and painted another coat of white paint on the cabinets and wall.  Then again.  And yet again.

I was so excited to pull up the tape.  And that’s where I got a little annoyed.  I used Frog Tape along the edges, which did limit paint seepage.  But the Behr paint is so thick and dried quickly (which can be good) which made it impossible to pull the tape up while the paint was wet.  So little chunks of paint peeled off the cabinet right along with the tape.  I guess I’ll have to remember that and peel the tape off one small section at a time.

Enough of my whining though.  Did you notice Ben installed the shelves in the cabinets?  And do you see how nicely the bar stools pop against the white wall?

But that’s not all the painting I finished.  No siree.  I painted the half wall and the white chair rail walls around the back door.

No more Frankenwall.

It’s nice to see that wall a solid color again.  No more nicks, nail holes, or mismatched trim.  Plenty more trim painting to do, but I’m waiting until Ben sands and paints the ceiling.  Then I’ll have the pleasure of painting what feels like miles of crown moulding and casement.  Sometimes painting in phases is annoying; cleaning up each time can get old, but it also has benefits.  By limiting myself to small areas, I can get painting done quickly (often during nap time) and I don’t have to keep the boys away from the entire house.

Do you like to get all your painting done in one go?  Or do you work in small sections like I do?  Did you do any painting this weekend?  Install any shelves?  Maybe you sat on the couch and watched the football games?  Cough Ben cough.  Okay, he didn’t watch the entire game, he did install the shelves and started sanding the ceiling and walls.

Oscar the Grout

Published on by Our Humble Abode44 Comments

We’re already shared our crown moulding progress.  Now that we’ve installed and grouted the marble subway tile kitchen back splash, we’re ready to share the details.  Ben likes to use pre-mixed mastic for small jobs like this.  Our tiles are relatively small (3 by 6 inches), so a 1/4 inch notch trowel worked perfectly.  For the most seamless look possible, we used 1/16 inch spacers.  Ben borrowed a wet saw from work to get the job done.  Before grouting the tile, we waited a week to give the tile adequate time to set up.

We had white unsanded grout left over from our bathrooms, so we used what we had.

Before mixing the grout, I taped off the cabinets and counters.  Grouting is a messy job and we wanted to protect everything as much as possible.  Then Ben mixed up some grout in a large stainless steel bowl.  Like nearly everything mixed material in home improvement, you want the grout to have the consistency of peanut butter.

Using a foam float, Ben applied the grout, smooshing it in the cracks and wiping the extra off quickly after.

Be careful not to wipe off too much, though.

For the tighter strips along the window, Ben used his fingers to push the grout in the cracks.  After finishing up the wall, Ben sponged most of the grout off the tile surfaces and the window trim.

Next up, the stove side tile.  Again, the float was too wide to get this tile, so Ben applied it with his hands.

And now waiting for the grout to set up.

Here she is, all grouted and lookin’ pretty.

Here’s my favorite shot, showing almost every kitchen detail:

Everything except the awful soap color.  Why does Palmolive make their soap glow in the dark green?

Any suggestions for pretty dish soap?  Hand soap is easy enough to find.  I like that this pump holds two different kinds, but I’d like something prettier.  But doesn’t the grout make everything look so much better?  And finished?  And preeeety?

Cap and Crown

Published on by Our Humble Abode20 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent most of our weekend relaxing, but we did slide a little kitchen work in there.  Ben installed the crown moulding in the kitchen on Saturday.  We didn’t want to pull the good crown from the dining room, so Ben cut a small piece to fill the gap between the old crown and the new cabinet.  Then he wrapped around to cover the cabinet:

Remember the gap above the marble back splash?  Before Ben could put crown up, he nailed a filler strip in place.

Then tacked the trim to the filler strip, keeping it flush with the ceiling while covering the gap and a little more of the marble tile.

See how nice that finishes the tile off and makes everything seamless?  Love it!  (And, that’s a peek at the grouted back splash).

To match the other cabinet, we wrapped the trim around the upper cabinets.

For some reason, the small back entrance and stairwell never got crown moulding.

Problem solved.  After a few coats of the same blue paint from the stairs and dining room, everything will flow together.

One of the reasons we chose the vent hood we have is because we wanted the rest of the kitchen to shine.  To make the fan as un-noticeable as possible, we agreed (after some debating) to carry the same trim around the vent hood.

I considered adding different trim and painting the box white, something kind of like this.

But Ben persisted that this was the best way to go.  I have to say, I agree.  White paint on the trim and blue in the middle will give this side a splash of color, too.

Now we need to caulk the cracks and joints, sand everything smooth and slap some primer/paint combo and we’re done.  With the trim.

What kind of vent hood do you have (or like)?  Sleek stainless?  Painted white?

P.S.  I used my new camera to take these pictures.  On my desktop, the pictures look fine, but on my laptop, a strange gradation/solarized thing happens.  Is anyone else seeing this?

P.P.S.  A few more readers took the survey (thank you!!) and I got a few requests to share some Photoshop action.  Consider a post in the works!  Oh, and to the surveyor(?) looking for bookshelf decorating, check out this post, or this one, this one, and this one.

Custom Cutting Board

Published on by Our Humble Abode8 Comments

To thank Ben for all of his hard work on our kitchen, I got him a custom cutting board from our newest sponsor, Joseph Thompson Woodworks.  Joseph Thompson Woodworks is a husband and wife team, so Katie actually made my cutting board.  And she did a wonderful job, I might add.

True to form, I am a pain in the butt, requesting custom items.  So, I asked Katie to make me a board with a cherry center, flanked by a maple strip, and the rest wenge wood.  Here she is:

The board has a smooth, sleek, durable finish.  I hate when cutting boards slide around, Katie fixes that problem with rubber feet.

It’s the prefect size for most of our cooking, too.

 

Different wood tones, but each looks lovely together and with our wood counter tops.

Speaking of our counters, we’ve changed our minds.  We’re painting them!  Ahh, just kidding.  But we did change our minds about the mineral oil finish.  While the oil is affordable and odorless, it didn’t protect the wood enough from water and left an oily residue on paper.  And with the cabinets extending to the counters, it’s too much of a pain to oil around everything once a week.  So we made the switch to natural colored (clear) Watco Danish Oil.

Basically, the Danish Oil is a cross between mineral oil and polyurethane.  It gets applied and wiped off like an oil, penetrates like an oil, but hardens like a polyurethane.  Recoat is the same as an oil, too.  Lightly sand, remove the dust, reapply, let it soak in.  Wipe if off after 30 minutes and leave it to sit over night.  Sure it’s a little more smelly than mineral oil, but we want to protect our counters and actually use them, so it’s totally worth it.  Thanks to an unseasonably warm winter, we were able to turn on the vent hood, crack a few windows and get working on the counters.  If there had been a drastic difference in the look, I would have included after pictures, but they still look the same.  Yay!

But back to the cutting boards from Joseph Thompson Woodworks.  Want to snag a cutting board for yourself?  Check out these beauties:

Natural Edge Black Walnut:

Striped Serving/Cutting Board:

And there are plenty more in the shop.  Or, talk to Katie about a custom design.

What do you think of the cutting boards?  Do you buy gifts to thank someone for their hard work?  What did you get for him/her?

P.S.  Use the code OHA2012 at check out to get a 5% discount from Joseph Thompson Woodworks.

The Big Splash

Published on by Our Humble Abode33 Comments

Warning!  This post is filled with over enthusiastic commentary and gratuitous tile pictures.

Along with installing most of the trim, we’ve finished another item on our long to do list.  Along with the drawer fronts, I think the marble backsplash has made the biggest difference in the kitchen, making it feel more finished.  I guess it kind of almost is finished.

First, take a look at our old back splash.  A four-inch tall piece of oak topped laminate.  Not. Pretty.  And, it didn’t function well protecting the wall from water.  In fact, the laminate covered a piece of particle board.  Particle board and water are not friends.  When wet, particle board swells more than my feet when I was pregnant.

So, we decided to make our new back splash pretty and functional in a wet area.  And that’s why we chose 3 inch by 6 inch marble subway tiles (from Home Depot), taking the tile up to the ceiling.

Before I get to the big back splash, lets take a look at the smaller one behind the stove.  We had to approach this one a little differently.  You see, our floors aren’t perfectly even, so the space between the counter top and the bar top varies about 1/2 inch from the far left side to the right end.  The wood tops are 3 1/2 inches apart.  If we had used the same 3 by 6 tiles, this difference would have been much more noticeable because the cut slivers would vary.  Luckily, Home Depot also carries four packs of 6 by 6 inch marble tiles.  The perfect solution to our uneven problem back splash.

Now for the install.  We started by measuring and marking the center of each wall space and the first tile.

Back butter the tile, line up the marks, and press firmly into place.

Because our first four tiles tuck behind the stove, we decided to leave them the full 6 by 6.  Then Ben measured each opening, cutting one tile per side, installing, then measuring for the next.

I’m guessing the marble tile cuts like a hot knife through butta because Ben made very nice detail cuts, like these around the outlets.

And he joked the he’ll start carving chess pieces from marble when we finish the house.  Here’s another shot of the tile behind the stove.  Once it’s pushed back in place, it won’t look any different.

Bright and pretty, just the way I like ’em.

Now that we’ve gotten the little ‘splash out of the way, let’s get to the main event; the back splash behind the sink.  Our starting process was similar, but Ben had some cutting to do first.  We agreed the first full row of tile should start at the counter, so Ben had to cut pieces to fit in the lower sink area.

Thanks old back splash for leaving so much ugly junk behind.  That’s why water and particle board are a bad combo.

With the sink row cut, things went up really quickly because Ben installed the full tiles, then moved to the smaller, detailed pieces.  Here’s a little space under the window sill.

And after, with the tiny pieces stuck forever.

Tons of one inch pieces on each side of the window and we made it to the top.

Instead of back buttering each tile for the part above the window, Ben spread the mastic on the wall.

Putting in some of the final cut pieces.

Because we’re putting crown moulding along the tops of the cabinets, we decided we’ll continue the crown across the front of the marble, covering the gap near the ceiling.

Before going to work the next morning, Ben pulled the spacers so I woke up to this pretty wall ‘o tile.

Pretend all the shelves are painted and we’ve got crown at the top, okay?  Oh, and pretend we’ve got doors on the upper cabinets, too.

Is it wrong that I want to stare at it all day?  Maybe I’m turning into a tile stalker.

The blue-gray works so well with the stainless, gray cabinets, and the warm wood counters.  Which is why I love this shot.

Just a detail shot of the cuts around the sink.

Now, a before and after for added drama.  Before:

After:

Ahh, the magic of the internet.

What do you think?  I’m in love.  Like seriously, in. love.  I’m just visualizing this shot with trim and doors and I have a dopey, just-fallen-in-love smile on my face.

Of course we still have to grout the tile, so we’ll be back to share more info on the install and pictures when we’re done.