Master Bath Tub Before and After

 

I think my favorite “cheat” on this before and after is the surround around the tub.  The original plan was to rip out the tile, but it was too difficult.  Solution: Black grout paint—cheap and easy.  I also love that we added the Sprayer.  Although it was a bit scary to drill a hole in the tub, it was a very simple process.

Laundry Room Redo

 

We finished redoing the Laundry Room!

This is the before.  What you can’t see here is the blue countertop, the scratched up sink, the damaged walls or the stained, peeling, disgusting linoleum floors.  You also can’t see inside the cabinet where previous homeowners scrawled

BLOCKBUSTER 785-4652

and

BANK OF AMERICA 800-468-5000 #1850-68775499

in Black Sharpie marker. No kidding.

It was amazing to me what the simple addition of the molding on the cabinets made.

There was this wasted space between the door to the room and the washing machine—like a closet with no door.  There was a clothes rod that hung on the bottom portion of the white framing below.  (I failed to get a before picture)  We use the rod for drying clothes, and wanted to raise it up to allow for hanging clothes space after we added built in shelves.  We talked about ripping out the wood support, but then would have to contend with patching the walls.  Ryan had the great idea to just “beef” up the framing.  He added a 2x10 and then a 2x4 and attached decorative trim. 

It gives it a cabinetry feel and it also made a great place to display this 1916 Singer sewing machine that belonged to my grandmother.

the space below the rod was empty.  We kept a laundry hamper here.

Based on this inspiration, http://pinterest.com/pin/37999190575828656/, we built this.

Ryan says it’s working great!

We also replaced the countertop, sink and faucet and tiled the backsplash.  We tiled the floor, did wall repair and added bead board to each side of the room and added molding to the top of the cabinets.

The tile was a great find. Costco for $5.55 a square foot.  It has travertine, glass and emperador dark marble.  The SAME marble that we used as an accent in the kitchen backsplash and to tile the fireplace in the Hearth Room: the areas that adjoin the Laundry! 

And the countertop?  $40 at Sutherlands! It was the last piece they had.  We use the galvanized bucket on the counter to keep our dust rags in.

We are super pleased with the end result. 

I love my kitchen….Cook Top

When we redid the kitchen, we moved the cook top from the Center Island that was there to the perimeter.  We wanted it on the most visible wall when you entered the room, and we wanted it to be pretty.

The BEFORE


And the AFTER


The BEFORE



And the AFTER



I love the lighted glass cabinets above, the fantastic job the cabinet makers did on the curved cabinetry, which is hiding my Zephyr Twister Power Pack for ventilation and light (HIGHLY recommend), my Pot Filler Faucet, and the tile work back splash, with four different sizes of tile, which I designed myself. And I got to help the tile guy, too.  He may have not thought I was being helpful, but I had fun. 

We swapped out to a gas cook top, which I love. And then underneath that are these huge drawers to hold our pots and pans.



I love my kitchen cook top!

Linked to Remodelaholics Anonymous.

My most favorite...about the bar

We redid the Family Room Bar this Winter/Spring.  Here are the Before and Afters and pictures of the "wine cellar" and oven HERE.

We are using this space much more than we imagined. We've even used the oven a ton. Here are some of my favorite things about it right now. 

First, the glass tile we chose as the back splash.  Can you see how it catches the light.  It's really lovely. I also love these corbels.  They were reclaimed from my Mother-in-Law's house when she pulled them out of a bathroom.  They sat in her flower shed for several years and were headed for the dumpster. They were dirty and had spider sacks on them.  We cleaned them up and held on to them for the perfect project.  Here, they simply got a new paint job and then were installed.

Now, one might argue that this is Ryan's favorite part. We built this for wine storage and to display different whiskeys and bourbons. ( I still don't know the difference between the two.)  It turned out just as we designed it. Below this is a cabinet and wine chiller.  This area is functional and attractive.

This is inside the bar area. It's the tiled area between the counter top and the bar bump-up.  We knew we wanted to tile it and had these really cool hand-made art tiles from Cuba. (Another hand-me-down from my MIL.)  She had these in a garage sale, but I snagged them.  I'd been looking for some neat way to use them and when we started this tile job--inspiration hit.  We used the black pencil liner tile on the bottom to eliminate the need to cut the glass tiles lengthwise, and it provides a neat accent.  And the 1x1 brown tiles are Emprador Dark Marble leftover from our kitchen and hearth room fireplace remodels. The addition of those tiles was a last minute decision as I was waiting for Ryan to cut some glass tiles for me with the saw.

I like this so much because it's such a neat surprise.  You won't ever see it unless you come behind the counter and look for it.

It's turned out to be such a great and useable space. I'm REALLLY glad we redid this one!  

If you didn't already, don't forget to check out the Before and Afters and pictures of the "wine cellar" and oven HERE.

Linked to Remodelaholic Friday.

The Office and a Major Award

Okay. First things first.

I won a Major Award! I think it may be our shared secretive geekiness, but Bub at I'd Like To Hold a Tarantula (who, BTW, cracks me up) awarded me this.

Thanks!

There are some rules involved in my acceptance of this Major Award, which I fully intend to follow, but I have to share the Office NOW! Thus, I will devote my next post to my Major Award. (also allowing me to discuss my Major Award again.)

For today, on to the OFFICE!

Remember, we had unfinished basement that became this.



And now THIS!



and THIS!



and THIS!



and THIS!



After we replace Ryan's chair in the Family Room, his chair will move to the Guest Room and replace a Wing Back Chair, which will fill this corner along with a side table. But, that will have to wait.

We also made this



There were four separate metal squares from Old Time Pottery - $4.99 each. I brought them home and Ryan riveted them together. I couldn't find any cute magnets, so made these out of magnet tape and doodads I had around. It works great, and I really like it!

And now, instead of looking at a furnace, I get to look at this!



Much nicer.

Ryan finished tiling and grouting the hall extension today, so we can call the carpet guy to finish all that up. Then we just need to hang doors and trim and get a few more accessories for the office and then this project will be complete.

It's so nice to have the office clean and functional. oh....and I do still need to organize....well, it might happen - right?

Linked to MetMon at Between Naps on the Porch
and
FIF!

Nine Lives of a Fireplace

***UPDATE BELOW***

The Hearth Room Fireplace is really cool. It has some lovely shapes and architecture. It also has gas logs, and during the Winter, we use it nearly every weekend morning, as well as many evenings. It has gone through multiple transformations in three short years.

This is the Fireplace before we moved in, during the initial cleaning. My mother, always prepared, has her water bottles lined up as she took on the cleaning of this room, which includes the kitchen. (I'll have to ask her to guest blog about that adventure one day soon!) Also, notice that the floors have not been redone yet. One thing you can't see is that the metal trim around the fireplace glass was painted with fleck stone paint over brass and it was flaking off in huge chunks.

Here, the floors have been redone, but we haven't moved in. (Wow! I almost forgot how many nights and weekends we spent at the house prior to the move. We got the house on August 15th, and moved in on November 28th.) Notice the light above the fireplace. It was supposed to point to the fireplace, shining light on it, but my mom broke it cleaning it! That still makes me laugh. At this time I had also taken the glass doors off, scraped off the fleck stone and repainted with high heat black paint--like you would use for a BBQ grill.

Next, we decide to paint the wall and the trim around the fireplace. The mantle was enameled wood, but, aside from the tile, everything else was wall. I sanded the mantle, primed everything and then painted it all Bulldog Black. I struggled with whether or not I should paint the baseboard and crown moldings black, or leave them white. In the first go round, I left them white, knowing I could always paint them later. We also replaced the floor's plain vent covers with some decorative and sturdier ones from Lowe's.

When we redid the kitchen and added the Bar/Entertainment Center, we also had the fireplace re tiled. We used 1x1 polished Emperador Dark tile, which matches the mosaic work behind the cook top. The polished catches the light in the most interesting ways--so sparkly! I also went back and did the baseboards and the crown in black...MUCH better.

We chose to have the floor tile replaced with hardwood. (Not a big deal, as we had moved the appliances, which caused some necessary repatching in the kitchen proper.) ***UPDATE*** The decision to put the wood in on the diagonal was RYAN'S! Thanks, mom! the Hardwood Floor Guys did an excellent job executing, but the idea goes to Ryan***Our Hardwood Floor Guys suggested putting the wood in at a diagonal into the already existing square surround. This simple change also makes the space feel bigger. When pushing your chair out from the table, you don't 'bump' onto the tile, but the hearth is still implied.

We replaced the white wood blinds with 2" stained wood that matches some of our kitchen cabinets from justblinds.com and purchased and hung a different light over the table. We discussed moving the box to center it, but ultimately decided that swagging the chain was acceptable. (I don't even notice it any more.)

We thought we were done. Then summer came.

The rear of our house faces Southwest and during the hot summer months, the sun came BLARING through the transoms, especially that one over the door to the deck. We tried heat film on it, which did help, but the kitchen could be as much as 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house during the evening.

So, as much as I hated to cover up the windows, we purchased another set of blinds. After hanging them, you could immediately feel the difference. And I am pleased with the way they look.

Now, I just need some curtains, and this one room might actually be done. GASP!! However, that will be a very long time, as I have NO idea what kind of curtains would look good here. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Linked to Metamorphosis Monday @betweennapsontheporch