The Great Fireplace Remodel: Planked walls, Beam mantels, Built-out surrounds, and all that jazz.

Who's ready for some eye candy?  I finally pulled it together and cleaned up well-enough to snap some photos of the finished fireplace!  Well, it's not completely finished.  I still need to caulk some seams, but it looks done enough for now.  And here it is!

Isn't she lovely?  Before I show you any more, let's take a walk down memory lane.  This is what the house looked like when we signed our offer papers.  Peach.  Green marble.  Shiny fake yellow brass. But that light!  We knew it had potential.

Phase 1 was getting rid of that peach paint and ripping out the carpet.  It was brand new and pretty when we moved in, but the dogs trashed it very, very quickly.

Phase 2 ... we have a new laminate floor!  And curtains!  Those two things alone were a huge improvement, but when I pulled out the fireplace insert to paint over the brass, and then painted over the green marble, the room sky-rocketed out of 1990s and into 2015.  The mirror removal was an interesting process, and made me happy that we were planking above the fireplace instead of trying to perfectly repair all of that drywall.

I took measurements and meshed them with the vision I had stored in my brain in order to draw up the plans.  Brian made a few adjustments that would make the build more practical for himself along the way.

Brian worked so hard on this project.  I am kinda picky about things being just how I planned, and was such a trooper throughout the process.  For example, the mantel.  I wanted it to look like a beam from the front and sides, and he did a beautiful job!  

Eventually I'll share photos and descriptions of the process, but for now, let's all just look at pretty pictures.

I think Brian would say that his hardest task was running all of the wires behind the walls and through the fireplace surround.  I think I'm going to paint this old nightstand from Brian's Grandma that will house the electronics.  It needs a hole cut in the back so that we can actually put the electronics inside, but that'll happen eventually.  

Speaking of things that will happen eventually, we still have some caulking and paint touch-ups to do, but I can live with those for now.  Especially because when you stand back, you notice nothing but the beauty of the overall situation.  

Having the TV mounted on the wall frees up some floor space.  Seating arrangements in this room can sometimes feel tunnel-ish, but with the fireplace finished, the TV above it, and the couch and chairs facing each other, it feels like a cozy place to gather.  

It feels lovely.  And bright.  And cozy.  All of the good things!  It's so nice to have a space in the house that feels like "us".  

Painted Sink & Countertop {One Year Update!}.

Well, it's officially been one year since we originally painted our integral sink and countertop, and we're still thrilled with the results!  I still get lots of compliments on it, along with questions about how it's holding up, so I thought I'd write an update and share some photos.

As I said in the original post, this bathroom gets a lot of foot traffic, so I was originally a bit worried about wear and tear.  But I could not be more pleased with the condition of the countertop and sink.  It honestly looks just as good as it did on the day we finished!  

  

There is not a single scratch or spot of peeling paint on the entire countertop and sink.  The only "flaw" is a small, very faint orange circle from water sitting under the orange candle jar.  I tried to photograph it, but it was too faint to capture.  I've been too chicken to try scrubbing it with a Magic Eraser or anything like that, as I'd rather live with a barely noticeable ring than mess up the smooth finish!

On the topic of cleaning, I use a gentle bathroom cleaner, like Seventh Generation, for weekly cleaning.  But with 3 little boys, Clorox wipes also get used on the regular.  I was worried at first that Clorox wipes might be too harsh, but a couple each week for the last year have been just fine!

The faucet is still in perfect condition.  I was a little worried about the candles being hard to keep clean, but they're very easy to wipe up.  The fact that the C is sideways when the faucet is off drives me a little batty, but that is at the very bottom of Brian's to-do list.

In the above photo, you can see a little part where I couldn't get rid of the texture of the roller in the paint.  It's the only spot on the counter that isn't smooth, it's only noticeable from a certain angle, and it's been that way since the beginning, so it doesn't bother me!  Also, let's talk about the fact that we ran out of soap and only had ugly bottles left, so I decided to leave it out of the photos.  Fear not, we do, in fact, keep soap in the bathroom!

Are you thinking of painting your integral sink and countertop?  I have a few words of wisdom for you!

First, I definitely recommend it for sinks and counters, but I would be hesitant to do a shower or tub.  Most of the negative reviews of Rustoleum Tub & Tile paint that I've seen are from people who have painted tubs or showers.  I'm just not sure if the paint is designed to withstand the amount of water in a tub or shower.  We tried something similar in the boys' bathroom shower, but that is a completely different post for another day!  

Second, I cannot stress this enough ... follow the directions!!  I get it, they seem insanely redundant.  But I have to believe that they're there for a reason.  We sanded and Comet-ed and Lime-Away-ed til our heads were about to explode.  Here we are though, one year later with a fantastic looking countertop, so the work paid off!

I'm super insanely happy that we undertook this project.  The entire look of the bathroom, and makes it not only livable, but actually enjoyable until we have the cash flow to do a bigger remodel!  

Evolution of a Family Room.

It's kind of amazing to me how far the family room has come in the last year and a half.  Shortly after we closed on the house, when we at the house working, we would lay on the floor while we took breaks from various projects.  We would dream and hash out our plans for our new home while laying on that floor, soaking up the sunshine.

Our plans have changed and grown with time.  And while it feels slow, we've made so much progress.  The first step was a coat of paint.  After living for 2 months with a bunch of paint swatches on the wall, I chose S-W Aqua-Sphere, tinted at 50%.  Next, we ripped up the carpet because our dogs trashed it very, very quickly.  

That fireplace was screamin' for a remodel.  New tile wasn't in the budget, so a little paint fixed it right up. It was plain white for awhile before I painted a little marble effect onto it.  I'll post a tutorial about that too.  

The curtains softened the room immensely.  I was worried about blocking out too much light, so I made sure to hang them high and wide.  

The flooring went down in February and we are still loving it.  I had a really pretty sisal rug in here for awhile ... and then the dogs peed on it.  Sisal + dog pee = rug death.  For now, we're living with just the smaller rug, which I actually kinda like because it allows us to enjoy more of our beautiful floor!

 I wrote about installing the baseboards in this post.  I love how the finish the room!  

The giant mirror came down last weekend, so now we're planning our remodel.  We're planking the wall, mounting the TV, building out a fireplace surround, and building a mantle.  To say I'm excited would be an understatement.  Here's a little preview of what we have planned...

EEEEEKKK!!!  So pretty.  So, so pretty.  I'll post more specific details soon!

Happy July!!

Happy July!!  We have been busy, busy bees lately!  I was lamenting to Brian the other day about the fact that we've been so busy with fun stuff that we haven't had time to do anything productive.  I guess it's worth it, but I've been itching to tackle some things around here.  Some are things that I just can't do without Brian, others are things that I'm just lacking inspiration for, and others are thing that I can't justify spending the money on just yet.

We finally had a Saturday free of sports, parties, and such, so we buckled down and got to work!  Brian focused on the boys' bathroom.  Things on his list were to finish the light fixture, frame out the mirror, and replace the shower fixtures.  After all of those things are finished, I just have 2 tiny spots of paint to touch up, a towel holder to DIY, and a few art pieces to hang, and we can call that room done.  But it drove me a bit crazy to work on those things without light in the room, so Brian's jobs were first on the list.  I'll write up a post on the light fixture, but for now, I'm loving the fact that I can see when I turn on the light in that room!

While Brian was working in the boys' bathroom, I was working in the laundry room.  This room has made me crazy for awhile now.  It's ugly.  It's dysfunctional.  And it's completely torn up by the dogs.  I spent Friday cleaning everything out of the cabinets and scrubbing all surfaces, and then Saturday I got to work.  I painted almost every surface in the room.  Is it putting lipstick on a pig?  Absolutely.  But that lipstick sure makes the pig easier to live with.  Still on the to-do list in there is a valance, cabinet door refresher, replacing the floor, and figuring out a space to store a laundry basket.  

And then, there's our room.  You may remember that I painted the room (Naval by Sherwin-Williams).  I painted the nightstands too, but then stalled out.  I was just out of ideas for awhile, so it has just sat as is and continued to accumulate Brian's dirty clothes all over the floor.  But ... I finally have a plan!!   We made a promise to ourselves that we will "finish" one room before starting another.  While that doesn't 100% work because, for instance, we can't both work in the boys' bathroom or the laundry room, we agreed that we'll work on 2 rooms at a time.  So once either of those rooms are done, I'm moving on to the master!

While I work on our room, Brian will be busy in the family room.  I've done almost everything that I can do in this room, but he has a ton of things to finish.  The list includes installing baseboards, removing the mirror above the fireplace and replacing it with planks, building a fireplace surround, building/installing a mantle, and mounting the TV above the mantle.  Whew.  I'm tired and depressed over my bank account just talking about it.  Luckily, because this summer will be so busy, the work will be stretched out, so hopefully not so stressful on the budget or our time!

Anyway, that's the latest around here.  I suppose this means that I'll have lots and lots to write about in the coming months, amidst all of the summer fun of course!

Coat closet remodel.

A little coat closet remodel has been in the cards since about the minute we closed on the house.  Both entrances to our house are through the foyer - the front door and also the laundry room, which leads to the garage, our main point of entry.  The laundry room is too narrow to function as a mudroom, so all of our shoes, coats, and bags land in the closet in the foyer.  

I tucked a little set of bookshelves into the closet to catch shoes, but there was no place to store bags and the boys couldn't reach their own coats.  A massive lack of practical storage led to the foyer always looking like a disaster zone.

And I can't even blame the little boys.  Brian and I are insanely terrible at maintaining an orderly space if it's not practical.  We need it to be easy to keep clean, and this space was anything but easy!

I mean honestly, why is there a random pool cue and other crap taking up space?  Because it was shoved in there at some point and that space wasn't practical for anything else, so the pool cue stayed.  Until one day, when I tried to take the art supplies out of the closet for the boys and the pool cue fell on my head.  

When I stopped seeing stars, I pulled everything out of the closet and decided to start from scratch.  At first, I thought I would add some shoe storage outside of the closet, turn the bookshelf sideways, and find another home for pool cues and Halloween costumes.  

I grabbed a Bissa shoe cabinet from Ikea to help, but that wire shelf.  It was taunting me.  My kids cannot reach it.  And they're at the age where they actually can put their coats on and off by themselves.  But if they cannot reach them, it defeats the purpose.  So the wire had to go.  And the bookshelf went to live in the garage.  

I decided that hooks at the kids' level was the way to go.  I researched the cost of hooks, hooks and rails, and all kinds of other options.  The cheapest way to go was the Leksvik rack from Ikea (it's listed for $12.99 now, but was only $6.99 when I got them).  

Next up, I needed more shoe storage.  The boys' shoes fit into the Bissa shoe rack, but I needed something for Brian & I as well.  I grabbed 12 shelf brackets from Lowes and Brian used some plywood we had leftover from the basement shelves to make shelves for the closet.  

The shelves were already stained, but some of the edges were raw wood from Brian cutting the shelves.  I thought about painting the edges, but went the lazy route and used washi tape instead.  Spoiler alert - washi tape does not stick well to raw wood.  Not even with double stick tape, super glue, or a variety of other things that I tried. There is paint in the future for these shelf edges!

 I'm in love with the end result.  It's pretty, and more importantly it works.  The little blue cube holds hats and gloves, as it still gets a bit chilly here in the mornings and evenings.  Once the warm weather hits, it'll be a landing spot for flip flops.  And it's also a great stool for me to sit on while I tie shoes.  The white bin on the top shelf holds adult hats and gloves now, but will be swapped out for sunscreen once warm weather really hits.  

I also love that we have a little drop zone for the boys' sunglasses.  They looooove sunglasses and we have a million pair, but we could never find them.  Problem solved!

Nice smelling flowers are a must in the foyer, to create a welcoming smell and to cover boy-shoe-stink.  Hyacinths fit the bill!  Also, we like to keep a pencil on the floor next to the shoe cabinet, just in case anyone might need to write something down in that exact spot.  (<<< sarcasm).  Come on, be honest.  Did you spot it before I mentioned it? 

Snow boots have been swapped out for rain boots, and they sit on the lowest shelf for the shortest people to be able to reach.   The boys can get their own shoes and coats and put them away when they're done!  Independence is a big step for 3 year olds, and mine are becoming fiercely independent when it comes to coats and shoes.  The 5 year old, on the other hand, leaves a trail of his stuff from the door into the kitchen.  We're working on it.  

It try to keep the closet clear of too many coats and bags.  Only what we're currently using belongs in there; spare bags are in upstairs closets and out-of-season coats are in basement storage.  

Brian and I only keep our most used shoes down here. Anything that isn't getting much use goes upstairs into our bedroom.  Wanna know a secret?  Those heels are my fave, but they get much less use than my running shoes.  They're prettier than my running shoes though, so they got to steal the spot for the photos.  Keepin' it real folks.

To say that I love this makeover is an understatement.  It helps make our foyer a bit more welcoming and a bit less of a disaster zone.  It proves that a space just needs to function well in order to keep clean.  And it was very budget friendly!  The  Leksvik hook & rail were a killer price when I got them, making it extra affordable.  

Budget Breakdown:

Ikea Leksvik hook & rail - $6.99 x4 = $27.96

Shelf Brackets - $1.68 x12 = $20.16

Wood for shelves = already had!

Ikea Bissa shoe cabinet = $24.99

Grand total = $73.11

Some kind of camouflage for that 90s-tastic doorbell is in the works, as is adding another family photo or two to that wall.  But I'm sure that will happen some random Wednesday afternoon when I walk past it for the 982734238472nd time and decide that I've had enough and it's time to do something about it.  Because that's how I roll!




Linking up at Link Party Palooza @ Tatertots & Jello, Creative Collection Link Party @ Classy Clutter, The Inspiration Gallery at Chronicles of Home, Handmade Hangout @ A Glimpse Inside

Where the wild things play.

I realized the other day that while I've shared photos of several parts of our home, but not many of the basement, which is undoubtedly the most transformed space in the house!  

When we bought our home, transforming the basement into a playroom for the boys was at the top of the priority list.  It was very much an unfinished basement, and we wanted to make it into a bright, warm, and cozy place to play without messing with drywall or carpet.  

The first thing we decided to tackle was the "bright" part, which started at top and worked it's way down.  After weighing a bunch of options, we decided to paint the ceiling.  I like the "industrial" look of a painted ceiling, but most that I've seen are painted black.  That look was just too dark for my taste.  Instead, we settled on painting the ceiling with a very light gray primer; primer because we were hoping it would stick to all of the different surfaces in the ceiling, which it did beautifully!  We invested in a paint sprayer for the job - the Graco Truecoat Plus - which we love.  The light gray brightened up the room so well, and Brian added a few more lights down there to help even more.  

Next job was to get the insulation secured and the walls framed in.  At this point we still weren't sure what kind of walls we were going to put up, but we knew it was going to be something, so Brian busted this job out really quickly.  

Next, the floor.  I really didn't want to put any kind of actual flooring down, so I started to research painting the concrete.  It was cheap, easy, and durable, which is all I was after at the time!  The prep includes sanding.  Lots of sanding.  Then cleaning.  Then?  Painting.  If you've never painted a floor, you're missing out.  Seriously.  It's.SO.MUCH.FUN.  You literally just dump some paint on the floor and push it around with the roller on a pole.  Floor painting is the best kind of painting ever!!  We decided to use the same light gray primer as we did for the ceiling.  Don't do this.  Use porch and floor paint.  Ours is already chipping :(  It's only chipping in spots that had some standing water after the Raining in the Basement debacle of 2014, so maybe it would have chipped even if we had used porch and floor paint, but I've heard that that stuff is pretty durable.  Who knows!

So while the primer was drying, I was brainstorming designs.  I knew I wanted to paint the floor a light color, but I wanted it to be kinda fun.  So while browsing Pinterest I landed on this pin (which apparently leads to some weird link now and Pinterest is blocking it, but you can still see the photo).  Sold.  I knew the boys would love "driving" their cars on it and I chose to paint over the gray with white paint to further brighten the space.  The taping process took a reallllllllllllllllly long time.  But it's worth it cuz it's super freakin' cool.  When the paint was dry, I sealed it with this wet look concrete sealer from Sherwin-Williams.  

After the floor was done, we moved onto the walls.  We both loved the idea of a pallet wall, so Brian split some pallets and assembled this gorgeous wall.  Keeping with a rustic-industrial look, and avoid the pain-in-the-bum of drywall, we decided to try a faux-brick wall like the lovely Katie did over on Bower Power.  

Once the faux brick panels were up, I got to work white-washing them.  I did mine a bit differently than Katie did her wall, but the basics were the same.  Mix paint with some water (I did roughly a 1:1 ratio), paint it on the brick, let it set for a minute or 2, and then wipe it off.  Repeat as needed until you get the finish you're aiming for. 

Eventually, we caulked the seams in the brick, but they're fairly conspicuous.  And the white-wash finish furthers the "bright", the "warm", and the "cozy" that I was aiming for.  Since this was going to be the boys' play space, we also needed toy storage.  Industrial pipe shelving is very popular in blogland lately, my 2 favorites being the pantry shelves over at DIY Showoff and the boys' room shelves over at Beneath My Heart.  To keep costs down, we used pvc pipe that we spray painted withe some ORB spray paint.  For the shelves, Brian ripped a few sheets of plywood and stained it a pretty, dark brown.  

So for approximately 20 minutes we had a beautiful basement.  And then, the toys moved in.  We didn't organize the toys right away, instead focusing on the rest of the house. For a little less than a year, it has just been a pit of scattered toys, occasionally getting picked up, only to be trashed again.  Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided that I'd had enough and started the organization process.   

If you're waiting for beautiful photos of a perfectly organized space, don't hold your breath :)  My kids are insanely spoiled (not by their parents!) and have about a million toys.  The organization process is happening, but it's happening slowly.  My goal is to have it all finished by next week and have beautiful photos to show you!