Half Bath - Complete!

Our half bath ended up being quite the project.

We started with this:

Note the beautiful lights surrounding the mirror (there was always a solid 5 seconds between the time you flipped the switch and when the light actually came on). In the first photo, you can see the large cabinet that sat right inside the doorway. It was so large that the knees of J's very short legs touched the side of the cabinet. Not good.

We pulled out the large cabinet, followed by the vanity cabinet. Once those cabinets were out, we tore out all the laminate.

We followed by removing the lights and the vanity cabinet and patching the hole where it once sat.

The next morning, we uninstalled the sink and as we were trying to remove one last pipe to replace it, it ripped in half and dropped a big bomb on our plans to renovate this half bathroom in one weekend.

 The old sink.

 Hmm... no wonder it practically fell off when we tried to uninstall it. Talk about corrosion...

 After the paint job, but prior to the new light installation.

 One of J's big contributions for the half bath - painting the trim.

 Not sure if there was more paint on J's hands or on the trim.

M, with the help of a friend, fills in tile backer.

 Installing the new light fixture.

 Definitely an improvement!

Installing the bead board to cover up the textured wall after we chipped off the pink plastic tiles.

 Installing the vanity.

Getting the new toilet ready to be installed - wonder how many people laughed as they drove by and looked into our open garage!?!

 Putting together the new toilet and getting it ready to install.

And we ended with this - the finished product! It was definitely a big project, but we're glad to have a new room that is complete, clean and has a modern look.

According to Urban Legend... #2

The urban legends of M&J's house continue when we discuss their (former) back door.

 

The back door had been an issue even before M&J purchased the house. Back in January of 2010, on the first day they went looking for their future home, M&J walked into this house and (J more than M) said "No way. Absolutely not. I will NOT buy this house." Oops. Never has J eaten words like she did in April when they purchased it...

 

They walked in to this house and they could not help the fact that they were fixated on that back door and how small it was:

 

We removed this home from our list of options for many reasons but, a few short months later, found ourselves purchasing this home and deciding to gut the kitchen and start over. After gutting the kitchen, we not only found a way to get rid of the door, but found out why there was such a little door there.

 The Last Photo of the Old Back Door

Number one:

The cabinets obviously took up so much space on that wall that the only door that would fit had to be 18" or smaller. So, when a former owner went to put in a door, they had two choices - tear out cabinets for a bigger door, or just buy a door that fits in the spot. Guessing they chose the option resulting in less work... and now, who's suffering?!?

Number two: 

That door had not always been there - after pulling out the stove and dishwasher, we found washer and dryer hook-ups. Obviously they had not always been located downstairs in the utility room, for whatever reason. This would explain why there was never a back door on the back of our house until it became the "cool" thing to do and everyone built decks on the back of the their homes and (obviously) needed a way to get outside.

Number three:

After lining up a local company to remove the old door, cut the brick on the outside of our home to create a larger opening, and install the new door, we found out how old that "hideous, ancient camper/trailer-house door" actually was - a whopping 6 years old. The purchase sticker, found on the outside of the door frame, showed that it was purchased in 2004. Sure showed more age than 6 years to us, but the proof is in the purchase sticker...

 Inside View of the New Back Door

Outside View of the New Back Door

Now, M&J are much happier with their new back door. The shades are a wonderful addition and it really comes in handy to have 36" to move through rather than 18" - especially when you're moving in modern appliances like a 35" refrigerator.

 

M even loves CLEANING the new back door...

According to Urban Legend... #1

We've been told many things about the house we purchased since we bought it.

 

We've been fondly referring to them as "urban legends". Some things we hear are very believable, but others we feel may have grown to legends as time goes on. Numbers get larger, the ideas get crazier, etc. However, at this point, we really would not be surprised by anything that has to do with our house - we've seen it all. As our friends Clark and Eddie would say:

Eddie: "You surprised to see us, Clark?"

Clark: "Surprised, Eddie? If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."

 Unfortunately, we've thought this many times throughout the renovation process.

 

Example #1:

Why was the dining room light off-center to the room?

 

While some have been odd, but fixable, problems, others have caused chaos and result in an interesting story. The light in the dining room was off-center to the room and we had no idea why. Eventually, we came up with something that we believed - they wanted the light there to transition from the entryway to the kitchen.

 

WRONG. Come to find out, part of the front porch became the sub-floor in the dining room of our house. When the first family moved into our home, the wife had a dining table that would not fit in the dining room. Rather than find a new dining set, they bumped the front of the house out and what was once the cement front porch became the "foundation" for the new dining room floor. This was not a problem for them as, at the time, they could cover the cement with a plywood board so the floor would be level to place their carpet on. 

 

 Before - Carpet

After - The Hardwood Floors

 

Now, you're thinking M&J are idiots - how could they not have checked to make sure that there was wood floor under all the carpet?!? Well, in fact, we actually did - M&J pulled up the carpet it two opposite corners in the living room to make sure the wood floors ran the entire length of the room. Since the answer was yes, they started rolling the carpet back (of course, planning ahead to make sure they rolled it towards the door to get this carpet out as easily as possible). When they got about 7 feet from the door, they realized there was a patch of plywood along the outer wall of the home, but it was too late - this carpet and padding was not going back down on this floor. After all the debris was hauled out, the lifted the plywood board and found... CEMENT!

"The Floor" 

 Where the Foundation of Our Home Meets the Inside of Our Home

After a few choice words were silently spoken, (no tears could be shed over this) we packed up our things and left for the day. It sat like that for two weeks before we even began to think about what to do - we had other more important things to do, like pack up our old house and get everything moved into this one. And now, nine months later, we're finally solving that huge problem by adding self-leveling cement, thin boards and weaving in and out with old and new hardwood. Once this project is done, we'll feel as if we've witnessed a miracle!

 After Wood was Removed to Re-Weave New Hardwood In

The Removed Wood

So what have we learned from this lesson?

- The OBVIOUS one is to lift up all four corners of carpet in your room before you decide it's a great idea to tear up your carpet - M&J we halfway there...

- Don't assume or make up a story as to why something is the way it is - just ask or do some more research. We all know what assuming does "Ass - U - Me"

- After three flooring experts say they won't touch your project, turn to your friends and relatives that have assured you that this is no big deal and can easily be fixed. We are now converted and believe we will (someday) have beautiful hardwood floors in our living and dining rooms and it will be all worth it.

"Just a Swingin'..."

As soon as we bought our house, we knew our home needed some TLC outdoors - gutters had been neglected, yard was patchy with grass, flower beds were filled with many years of leaves and grass clippings, bushes and trees needed trimmed back, we were hosting the county's largest kitty litter box along with a ginormous swing set that two twenty-somethings would probably not be using. Not to mention the longest clothesline we'd ever seen in our lives.

 

 Front of House - Before

 Back of House - Before

Back Deck - Before

 

We got started by mowing the yard and overseeding to try to fill the patches in our yard. With the help of M's mom, we trimmed bushes and attempted to clean up as much debris from the flower beds as possible. These things made a HUGE difference, but there was still work to be done. M, along with a friend, cleaned up the gutters and cleaned debris off the roof. M painted the support poles on the roof and cleaned up some shingles after a small hail storm came through town.

 

Before Bushes were Trimmed

 

Next up was to plant some flowers to add some color and get some chairs and decor on the front porch - we wanted to have a welcoming home, even if it wasn't very pretty.

Front Porch - After Some Flowers were Planted

 

All this time, we were trying to find a new home for the swing set in the back yard. 

 

 Our Swing Set

 

It was in decent shape, but it wasn't going to make it until we had kids that would be old enough to use it, so a new home was a must. This fall, we found it a new home with some grandparents that were going to clean it up for their grandkids to play on when they came to visit. We went out and had one last swinging session and then sent it on it's way.

 

The backyard looks a little bare now, but someday that spot will be filled again - now to just get rid of that clothesline and litter box...

 

Paint (Peynt) - verb

Paint - (Peynt) - verb - to coat, cover, or decorate (something) with paint.

Alright, people. It's time to get serious and talk about something that is CHEAP and makes a world of difference - PAINT. J already shared her experience on painting closets and how her world was forever changed made bettter by a little can of paint.

Paint was a must for our new place. Not only does it change the smell of the entire house to a fresh and clean scent, it also adds character and your personal style. M & J knew that this would be done throughout every room before things would be hung on the walls and rooms would be considered "complete". While waiting to close on our house, we had been to Lowes and Home Depot thousands many of times and browsed the paint color swatches. In fact, they had done such a good job of picking up so many swatches that the man working the paint department finally just asked if we wanted a book! (Why, of course! Why didn't you mention that 30 minutes ago when you first noticed us picking up five thousand swatches? moving on...) "That'd be great!" was the response, and we were immediately handed the paint bible:

We kept the swatches we had collected (Are you kidding? Who's going to put all those back?) and walked out the door with the swatches, little books of ideas and our new paint bible. We thought all our problems were solved - we'd just look through the entire thing, pick out the colors each of us liked, and then decide which room they would look best in. We'd already agreed that we wanted a brown that would be our base/main color throughout the house. We wanted a darker, almost chocolate color for our master bedroom, and a purple accent wall in our office. J loves red, so she requested a red accent wall in the combined living/dining room. Simple enough, right?

WRONG. M loved the paint bible and J hated it. M thought it offered tons of options and was an easy way to choose colors. J became frustrated because as soon as she'd pick a color in the "mid-tones" section, she'd swear she had found the same color in the "warm colors" section and the issues began.

After multiple test paints were purchased...

...and attempted on various walls throughout our new home...

...we landed on these colors for the different rooms on the main level in our new place:

 Main Brown - Soft Chamois

 Red in Living Room and Entryway - Apple Polish

 Purple for accent wall in Office - Darkest Grape

 Brown in Master Bedroom - Mocha Latte

 Half Bath - Pelican Beach (Valspar)

Kitchen - Eddie Bauer's Grove (Valspar)

We love all of them for different reasons and think they really fit our vision of how our home will (someday) look.