Deals We Found

I thought I would show a few of the deals we've found during the renovation process. Habitat Restore (http://www.habitat.org/) has become one of our favorite places for shop. We found an old set of french doors for $25 each (as opposed to $100 each). It took some work to sand and paint them but well worth it.

Another great find at the Restore is the kitchen sink. It's composite granite and was on our wish list but WAY out of price range. We couldn't believe it when we saw it for $150 (regularly $300-400). It was brand new so maybe a builder had it laying around and decided to donate it. Thank you!!And last but not least is the desk for $100. I wish I had taken a before picture so you could see how old it looked. All I did was roughly sand it then painted it black using the oil based paint I used in the kitchen. It's amazing how much paint can change a piece of furniture.

Master Bathroom Demolition

Who knew demolition could be so much fun? Here I am with a sledge hammer. I would recommend wearing better shoes though. That tile can hurt! We took everything out and started the rebuilding process. The first step was to build a new tub deck. Jason did most of the work himself.

I won't even pretend to understand all that went into building the tub deck. All is can say is "YAY Jason!" He did a great job! Once the deck was built we covered the floor and walls with hardiebacker. The next step was to paint on Redguard which is a waterproofing membrane. It's bright pink at first then dries red.

We chose granite as our tub surround. It's actually two pieces seamed together from the bone yard (much cheaper this way). Unless you know there's a seam you can't see it. Once the granite was installed the plumber came and installed the faucet and shower fixtures. Then the tub was dropped into place.

We have finally chosen tile and that will be installed next week. I'll post more pictures when that's completed.

Completed Kitchen

I've been posting updates as we make progress in the kitchen, but I don't think I ever posted the finished version. If you remember we painted the cabinets and island. The appliances are all new. We had granite installed on the countertops and decided to extend the island to make a bar area. We've been so pleased with the way it turned out. Instead of having a separate table we can all eat at the bar and the stools push right under the bar. The final thing we plan on changing are the lights. We'll replace the flourescent with recessed lights and pendant lights over the bar.

Just in case you forgot, here's what it looked like before the changes.

Painting a Chair

Oh how I wish I had taken a picture of this chair before I painted it!! I found it at the Habitat Restore for $6. It was dirty and ugly but I thought the lines were good so I decided to try my hand at painting it. Why not since I've painted everything else in the house?! All I had to do was lightly sand it. I used the same SW oil-based black paint that I used for the kitchen island.

The seat cover gives you some indication of how bad the chair looked overall. And here's the finished product! The fabric is a reminant I found for $10 and still have some left over for another project. I plan to use the chair in the kitchen at the built in desk.

More on the Flood

Another benefit to the flood, if you can even say that, is our master bathroom renovation. The tile in the bathroom had to be replaced so we decided to redo the entire bathroom. It was one of our long-term projects anyway. So far we have removed everything but the tub. The plan is to install new tile on the floor, shower and tub surround, replace the white vanity and install a new tub. This is what we have done so far...

Completed 1/2 Bathroom

In the 1/2 bathroom we added crown molding, beadboard, a new vanity and mirror. The vanity and mirror we purchased on clearance at Home Depot for - are you ready for this? - $75!! We are always looking for deals and this one was a steal. The granite countertop came from the boneyard so we were able to use an exotic piece. This is a shot of the bathroom before.

The Flood

For those of you who actually read this-wondering why I haven't blogged in a while? Well we went out of town for the weekend and came home to a flood. Crazy huh?! There's this little plastic piece on the supply line to the toilet and it cracked, causing water to spew the entire weekend. Needless to say the master bathroom and closet were flooded, the laundry room and garage below, as well as the room in the basement below that. All I could do was cry. Jason started rushing around cleaning up the mess. Servpro was here for two weeks with 28 fans. This is the mess we came home to!

The laundry room ceiling that fell in. Who knew paint would peel when wet?

The silver lining is that we got new tile in the laundry room (we hated the old white tile) and the garage ceiling and walls are now painted. Since the master bathroom tile had to be replaced we decide to go ahead and renovate the entire bathroom. This was one of our long-term projects but what the heck!