more house projects.

Hey Blogspots.

I realize that I haven't posted in about a month, I'll bet you have been just dying wondering what I've been doing with my life!  Actually, a lot, but more about that in my next post.

For now, I just thought I would post some more house pics to update all y'all who haven't seen the house in awhile.  We were busy little bees in September. 

Before

Add hand-me-down medicine cabinet, add electrical box & light fixture...

Voila!  A place to look at yaself and hide ya medicinals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1: Cut a hole in the box the 1x4s to size

Steps 2 & 3: Sand & Stain the cut pieces (or get your friends to)

Step 4: Poly, sand, poly again

Dry.

Inside of Josh's room completed!

Bulletin Board transformed into jewelry hanger.

My closet.  Josh installed wooden dowel rods, Tim added the shelf

Josh's mini-shelves made from the leavins of bamboo flooring

A place to hang stuff.

A place to hang shiny metal stuff.

Shelves in the laundry room!

A place to hang our collection of brooms and mops.

Believe it or not, we are still working on the dang trim.  When you start from scratch and cut, sand, stain, and poly each little piece, you realize just how much trim there is in your house.  Look around.  It's everywhere.  Anyway, although using raw 1x4s is a lot more work than just buying finished "trim" with the smooth rounded or beveled edges, it is less than half the price!  I also love how substantial and rustic it looks in our little home.

More on life beyond house renovations coming up...

lovecare.

The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010

MOVE-IN WEEKEND: Aug. 13-15

Moving is always exhausting and draining, no matter when or how you do it.  However, this time felt especially daunting, given the five weeks of frantic house renovations that lead up to move-in weekend.

Luckily, we happen to have some really wonderful friends who drove far (and short) distances to help us.  When Seth, Julie, Nick, and Mark rolled in to town on Friday night, they found Tim, Josh, Will, Kevin, and I tired and weary, but they were eager and energetic - which was exactly what we needed.

Seth and Julie offered some much needed advice in the plumbing department, since they had done a lot of plumbing on their own house recently.  Nick is a git 'er done kind of worker, and started loading up the van almost immediately.  With the extra hands and the extra energy, we were able to get everything moved, the old house cleaned, and the toilets and sinks installed and leak-free by Sunday night!  We really couldn't have done it without our friends.

We did have a slight setback on Saturday when the electricity in half the house went out.  Nate Delong worked diligently to fix the problem, but it ended up being a problem with Duke (go figure).  So we finished moving and plumbing at the new house without air conditioning, which was....hot.  

A special thanks to: Seth & Julie Rowe, Mark Taracuk, Nick Cattin, Ellie Hansotte, Kristen Svenstrup, Whitney Dather, Nick Felton, Nate Delong, Travis Jeffords, Jessica Adams, Tim Street, and probably more that I've forgotten at this point...

I hope we can return the favor someday.

the bathroom sink crisis.

Before I tell you about The Great Moving Extravaganza of 2010, I thought I would tell you a little more about our wonderful IKEA bathroom sink.

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, Tim and I spent a good amount of time at IKEA debating various purchases.  In the bathroom section, we went back and forth between which sink/sink cabinet combinations we preferred.  My top choice was the simplistic and economical MOLGER sink frame for $45.  However, the only two sinks that fit this stand were a little to modern for Tim's taste.  Tim preffered the VITVIKEN sink which measured about 32" wide and 19" deep.  The MOLGER sink frame measured 19" deep, but the narrowest width available was 39".  After much debating, Tim convinced me that he could mount the VITVKEN sink on MOLGER frame and use the excess 6" to create a small shelf for toiletries.  We agreed on this compromise, but because I was still a little skeptical, Tim made me promise that if it turned out well that I would blog about it (hence, this blog post).  So....we placed our order for the mis-matched sink and frame and headed to the furniture pick-up where we picked up all the things we had ordered that day.

Late Thursday night (Move-Out Eve),  Kevin and Nick F. began assembling the MOLGER sink stand.  They were almost finished (and extremely pleased with themselves) when I noticed that some of the pieces looked extremely long.  I measured them and realized that the IKEA furniture pick-up dude had given us the 55" frame instead of the 39" frame.  This was extremely distressing because IKEA was 3 hours away and because we could not turn the water on to the house until all the sinks and faucets were installed. 

On Friday morning, Seth called to let us know what time they would be arriving in Bloomington later that night.  He asked how things were going and I told him about our sink dilemma.  Seth and Julie realized that they since the were driving through Cincinnati anyway to pick-up Nick C., they might be able to pick up a new sink frame for us!  After working out a few details, we had a plan - they would stop at IKEA on the way and purchase the correctly sized MOLGER and then return ours on the way home.  Phew - crisis averted!

So Friday night, Kevin and Nick F. were eager to assemble the correctly sized sink frame since they had done such and incredible job assembling the first one.  They put the whole thing together in record time, while Tim and some others had gone to Lowe's for some last minute supplies.  We excitedly placed the sink stand in its place in the bathroom and then lifted the VITVIKEN sink on top.  This is when we realized the VITVIKEN's dirty little secret!  While the front edge of the sink rested on the front edge of the MOLGER frame just as expected, the back edge of the sink jutted downward in two places so that it would not rest on the MOLGER frame at the same level.  When we placed the sink on the frame, the back of the sink was a about an inch higher than the front due to its irregular shape.  It resulted in a sink that was tilted forward like a pinball machine.

It was after 10:00 P.M. when Tim returned from Lowe's and I expected a frustrated and dejected response to our pinball machine bathroom sink.  But he really surprised me with his "Can-do" attitude and began brainstorming about ways to fix it.  He formulated a hypothesis and with the encouraging grunts of his dude bros, he carried the frame out the to saw, made a few cuts, and the problem was solved!

Kevin gave a few Tim Tayloresque celebratory grunts

The next day the girls took a trip to BB&B and I found the perfect little shelf to fit underneath the sink to store toiletries and some baskets for towels.  Notice that the sink is positioned all the way to the right on the frame and that the extra frame to the left is still missing a shelf (I stuck a little basket there for now, but it probably won't stay).  It's a work in progress, but we were just glad to have a bathroom sink.  Plus I think it looks pretty nice and fits the simple style we were going for.

Once it is completed maybe we'll send it in to IKEA Hacker!  Well, that's all for now more posts coming up very soon...

renovation, week 5

Week 5: Aug 7-13

Week 5 began with a trip to Cincinnati!  A friend from days of old got married and Will & Colleen, and Tim's parents were also there.  We had a wonderful time at the wedding, of course, but also took full advantage of our proximity to IKEA!  Since our kitchen cabinets had gotten damaged during the demolition, we were pricing new kitchen cabinets, countertops, and sinks.  After about 4 hours of winding, twisting paths of home furnishings, Tim and I had come to no decisions and were running low on both patience and time.  After we left IKEA, we decided to use our brother and sister-in-law's kitchen cabinets, since they are getting new ones (and they are FREE!).  

So when we returned to IKEA the next day, we settled on a kitchen countertop, kitchen sink, bathroom sink, bathroom sink stand and a pack of IKEA cinnamon rolls.  After some tetris-esque finagling of the countertop, we had packed our loot into the RAV and headed home.  (The countertop took up all the space in the passenger seat of the RAV, so I rode home with Tim's parents.  Luckily they had decided to come to Bloomington for a few days to help out on the house!)

Back in Bloomington, Josh, Kevin, and Rob had been working hard finishing up the painting.  They had bought the Million Dollar Red paint and pretty much had the kitchen finished by the time we got home on Sunday. 

So, Tim and his parents got started right away on installing the bamboo floors.  Mike came over to offer his expertise and brought Frank along too.  We all worked late into the night until Tim realized our neighbors may not enjoy the sound of the table saw at 11:00 pm.  However, thanks to a lot of help from Tim's parents, and other friends (like Nate and Laura below) the floors were finished just a few days!

Also, our good friend Mandy (of Schacht Farm fame - I blogged about them here) tiled our entire bathroom floor for us!  All I had to do was seal the grout.  I wish I had snapped a pic of her working on the tile, but she came while I was at work and knocked it out in just 2 days.  She is an amazing lady!  See Tim cutting the tile with the wet saw and the finished product below:

Guess how much all that tile cost?  $5 from the Restore - Booyah!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!

Tim's little brother, Nick, drove up from Louisville and helped a TON!  One of the many jobs he did was install the shower faucet and Jared put up our new tub surround:

 

Charlie installed our new door jams:

 

Also, Josh put dowel rods up in our closets so we could hang our clothes, and made some sweet mini shelves in his closet out of leftover floor pieces.  I will share some sweet pics after we finish the closets (we are going to add some shelves).

On Thursday, only three days from when we had to be out of our old house, there was still a lot to do, but things were looking hopeful.  Our friends, Seth, Julie, Mark, Nick, Ellie, and Kristen were all coming to town for the weekend to help out, and we were really looking forward to their help, expertise and positive attitudes.  However, we weren't out of the woods just yet.......

STAY TUNED for the Bathroom Sink Saga & Tim's IKEA Hack + the Move-out EXTRAVANZA!

renovation, week 4

Week 4: July 31-Aug 6

My dad, stepmother, and little brother came up for the weekend to kick off week 4!  We were going to work on tiling the bathroom, but the drywallers were still finishing, so instead Tim and my dad built a gate in the fence between our yard and the Roses backyard so we could walk easily back and forth.  Here is the fruit of their labors.

Someday, we might take the fence down and either leave both yards unfenced, or continue the picket fence around our yard too.  But for now, we are confining these lovable critters to one yard only.

We soon realized that we would need to start painting soon, and that meant MORE DECISIONS!  Josh and I went to Bloomington Paint and Wallpaper and picked a bajillion paint swatches and Tim and I spent many hours scrutinizing over the various shades.  Josh also discovered the Benjamin Moore Personal Color Viewer, which is kind of fun.  We chose lots of vibrant colors and are pleased with our colorful home!  Those with subtle tastes, be warned - it's like a rainbow exploded!

Sorry, I didn't snap any good photos during the painting phase!  Above is a picture of the kitchen and living room (plus some sweaty dudes) and our bedroom.  The photo quality isn't very good for viewing the colors, but at least you can get an idea.  Below are the names of the colors in case you want to try to imagine what they might look like...

Living Room: Pale Avacado
Kitchen: Million Dollar Red
Hallway: Prevence Creme
Bathroom & Spare room: Jamaican Aqua
Josh's Room: Cafe Royal
Tim & Carrie's Room: Passion Plum w/ Provence Creme accent wall

Lots of friends pitched in and helped us to prime the enter house, and apply 2 coats of paint on all the walls!  We couldn't have done it with out the extra hands!

Stay tuned for week 5, Tim's ikea hack, and the Moving Extravaganza....

renovation, week 3

Week 3: July 24-30

I forgot to mention an important part of week 2. After debating about flooring for a month, Tim and I drove to Lumber Liquidators to pick out floors once and for all.  We had narrowed it down to two options and we were very torn.

But we eventually decided!

We took a brief hiatus from working on the house to party down at Mike and Patty's wedding!

And luckily, the drywall guys were ready to come the next week!  Also, the new windows came in and Tim, Jared, and Charlie installed them all in one day!  Here are some pics post-drywall:

Hurray for drywall!

Stay tuned for weeks 4 and 5!

renovation, week 2

Week 2: July 17-23

Mom and Pop Felton came up to Bloomington to help us during our second weekend of renovation.  We had pulled up the carpet in the living room to discover cheap thin tile beneath.  We soon discovered that this tile was under the carpet in each of the bedrooms as well.  John and Maggie helped us pull up the tile in the living room and hallway, but Tim convinced me that it wasn't worth the time and effort to pull up the tile in the bedrooms since we could probably install our floor right over top of it.

The second day Tim's parents were here, Tim asked his dad to take down the wrap that goes around our bathtub.  We had originally planned on leaving it up and having the drywall guys hang drywall around it, but Tim said, let's take it down and have them drywall behind it.

 Boy was Tim's dad in for a treat when he removed that wrap.

So...I gave the wall a good bleach scrub down and Charlie replaced the rotting wood around the faucets.  The toiled was also broken, so we removed it, and since we found water damage behind the shower wrap, we pulled up the linoleum too.  I took a pic from outside the bathroom because it stunk so bad.

At our community dinner that week, Tim suggested that we write verses and prayers on the walls of our house to sort of dedicate the house to the community and to God.  We had heard of people doing this before in churches or Young Life buildings, but I had never done it before, and it was a really neat experience.  Buying and renovating this house had been a stressful and tiresome experience thus far, so it was good for us to remember that in the end, it will be more than just a house, it will be a home and an important part of our community here on Sunset Hill.

Stay tuned for updates on Weeks 3 and 4!

renovation, week 1

Hey guys, I have been procrastinating on writing this blog post, but here are some pics from the first week of working on our house.

Week 1: July 9-15

This is the view of our living room from standing at the front door. The original plan was to replace all the wood paneling with drywall.  So Tim, Will, Kevin, and Josh each picked a wall and started pulling it apart.

They quickly realized that the wood paneling was not only nailed to the studs, but glued and stapled as well.  It was extremely difficult to pull apart, and something just didn't seem right.  They consulted our friend, Charlie (who we have hired to help us out a little bit) and he confirmed their suspicions that all the walls in the entire house were prefabricated in a factory somewhere (Fort Wayne, to be exact).

Because of this, it was going to be a nightmare to pull down, so we decided just to hang the drywall on top of the paneling.  However, we still had to finish pulling the paneling off the walls they had started, and also take down all the trim, etc.  Colleen and I were really good at pulling out nails.

This is the BEFORE pic of the kitchen:

As you can see below, we knocked down a wall and built a new half-wall.  And when I say "we" I mean, Charlie.  We also took down the gross patterned paneling that the previous owner had lovingly chosen to cover the water damage above the side door.

 Well, that is all for week 1.  More pics to come!