Finding Furniture

Moving into a place that is twice the size of our condo also means that we'll need twice as much furniture. Last night Jerry and I went to four different furniture stores (some of them twice!) to find the perfect pieces for our new abode. We measured all the rooms first, but of course forgot to bring the tape measure. Luckily the sales-sharks at the furiture stores saw dollar signs when we walked in and were more than happy to help us out.


Here's the pub table that will be going in the bonus room off the kitchen. We'll leave the leaf out, keep four chairs around it, and put the other two at the breakfast bar. I see lots of poker games in this table's future.

Finding the bedroom set was the hardest part. A king size bed is a must, we've been sharing our queen bed with the dog for far too long. Why is it that a 30 lb dog can double in size and weight while sleeping? Also, there is no linen closet upstairs, so I really wanted built in drawers under the bed to store our sheets and towels. I wanted a night stand with drawers and not an open shelf like so many have. That look always seems like such a good idea until you start storing stuff there, and before your know it, "Hoarders" is knocking on your door asking to film an episode. :)

Finally, we found this set. It met all of our criteria:

Media chest for Jerry:

Regular chest for me:

There isn't enough room on the wall for a full dresser, so I opted for this. It has really deep drawers, and should provide a good amount of storage.

Finally, onto sofas. Below is the one we finally picked out. It is REALLY comfortable.

After a long day of shopping, Jerry couldn't wait to take a nap. Hey! Stop drooling on my new sofa!

That's the latest and greatest. We hope to make over the half bathroom tonight, so if Jerry can figure out how to properly install a new vanity and sink, I'll post on that next.

Saturday and Sunday Sundries

Over the weekend, the contractors were off, so not a ton was accomplished on that end. The shower floor and tresses were fixed on Friday and the new subfloor and plumbing vaulves were put in so that we can use the fixtures that we picked out for the shower and tub.

Here's the new floor. The house smells a million times better already and doesn't give me raging headaches every time I enter any more. Yay for mold removal!

Here's the new shower vaulve:

Here's the new tub faucet. It matches the sink faucets that we picked out, here's hoping we can take photos of them installed, soon.

My father came over and replaced a toilet. The one in the guest bath rocked every time anyone sat on it. Apparently the floor under it wasn't very level . It also used to have a leak that sprayed violently every time it was flushed. For some reason, when we went to fix that, it was miraculously fine. I'm guessing one of the contractors made the mistake of trying to use it and fixed it out of shame (or necessity, who wants to go down a flight of stairs every time he has to use the restroom?) Here's the old toilet. It's waiting patiently for Jerry to carry it down the stairs.

Here is the brand-spanking-new toilet that is level, doesn't rock, and doesn't spit at people. Those are qualities I really look for in a toilet. We decided to get a new one instead of fixing the old for a variety of reasons: The parts to fix were $45+ and the cost of a new toilet was $98. Seemed like it was worth the extra money for something that was new. Also, the toilet we replaced was about 20 years old, which means that it was lower to the ground and didn't have the same tank efficiency. Wow, I hope that's the most I ever write about toilets again in my life, but probably not since there is still one more to install in the master bath when it's done.

In other random renovation news, here's a shot of the backsplash we picked out for the kitchen. Can't wait to see it with the dark granite (Uba Tuba - not to be confused with Mambo Jambo, the name I originally thought it was) and it is light enough to work with the existing floor, plus the browns will go with the paint colors... or so two non-interior designers let loose in Lowe's hope...

Speaking of paints, here are the colors we've selected. The blue (top, lightest one) will be going in the three bedrooms and master bath. The gray (middle, medium one) will be going in the living room, dining room, loft, and upstairs hallway. The guest bath will be one of those two colors, not sure which yet. I'm leaning towards gray since there is pinkish tile on the floor and I don't think the blue will really go with that. Finally, the brown (middle, medium one) will be in the kitchen, bonus room, half bath and laundry room.
For you paint nuts, here are the color names (from valspar, the paint brand our painter gets a discount with)

Lighthouse Shadows (blue)

Granite Dust (gray)

Cincinattian Hotel Carl Tan (brown).

That's it for now. Here's hoping for lots of progress to report this week because I'm sure you don't want to read about my adventures with the sprinkler timer and watering the sod.

Leaky Lavoratory

When we first decided to buy this house, we knew it needed a new kitchen since the appliances had all gone with the previous owners and the cabinets were dated. We planned that as our major renovation project and hoped to freshen up the rest of the house with paint and live with the rooms that we weren't crazy about until we could afford to redo them.


One of these rooms were were planning to live with for a while was the Master Bathroom.


It had a nice footprint with a stall shower,

A separate, spacious corner tub,

Dual vanities (No more sharing!)

And a cute little separate water closet.

It seemed like a coat of paint and some fresh towels would go a long way in here...

The best laid plans...

During the inspection, we discovered this:

Apparently the shower floor had been leaking, possibly for a long time. No one could really tell exactly how long or how bad the damage would be until they tore it up and took a look, which of course we couldn't do until we officially owned the place.

So, we had no choice but to also renovate the Master Bathroom.

Here's the state it was in when I left the house today.

We're going to save the tub, there are some wonderful refinishers out there that will coat this in a white laquer and it will look brand new. (Stop scowling, Mom! I swear it will look beautiful and we don't have $1000 for a new tub, especially now!)

Here is the vanity area now. We are going to have one vanity unit custom built so there isn't wasted space in the middle. We've selected our granite counter tops, vessel sinks, and beautiful fixtures. I can't wait to see it all installed!

Here's the water closet. My dad *volunteered* to help install a new toilet and some of the fixtures to save us some money. (The contractor is a friend of his and knows how handy he is and how budget concious we are)

Here's what's left of the shower area. When it was torn up, the contractor guessed that this leak had been going for 10 years or more. I'm so glad that we'll be fixing it before we move in.

The damage was extensive. It went into the adjacent closet. (The master closet is one of the only compromises to our wish list that we made on this house, we were hoping for his/hers closets and are not crazy about the fact that it's in the bathroom, but it's a decent size and Jerry plans to do some build-ins to make it work for us).

It also went into the joists and the exterior wall. I'm so glad we hired a pro for this one. Luckily, he specializes in mold removal and building cabinets, so he certainly is an expert in the areas we need it most.

Here's hoping this doesn't totally kill the extra money we built into the budget because I'd like some new furniture, please! We'll keep you posted on the bathroom as it gets fixed up and put back together again.

Backhoeing the Backyard

Once upon a time there was a family that lived in a little condo. Even though they loved each other very much, they were sad that they did not have a yard to play in, especially the dog.

So, they found a house with a yard so beautiful that the moment they laid eyes on it, they knew that it was worth all the waiting and house hunting because they had finally found the perfect home.

But soon they noticed that the yard was too overgrown to truly enjoy.

And the pool was too green to contemplate swimming in.

So they hired landscapers to clear out all the brush and make a fantastic yard for this family.

And they were happy.

ESPECIALLY the dog. :)

And then the landscapers laid sod.

And planted a tidy little hedge (which they swear will grow into a big hedge some day).

And the pool guy came, drained the pool, acid washed it, re-filled it, and made it blue and lovely again.

And the family was VERY happy.

Especially the dog.

" My name is Bowden and I approve this message."

Gutting the Galley

Remember the kitchen? You know, the one with no appliances and dated, warped moldy cabinets? Yes, THAT kitchen.

Well... the contractor said it had to go. As avid watchers of "Sweat Equity," we knew that with a screw driver, pry bar and a hammer, we could save ourselves some money so we decided to do all the kitchen demo ourselves.

We started by taking down all the cabinets. We tried to do this as neatly as possible, and were advised by everyone (especially my father, thanks Dad!) not to go crazy with sledge hammers. Apparently, despite how cool that looks on the home improvement shows, it makes a huge mess and usually leads to problems like inadvertently taking out plumbing and electical lines.

So, we played it safe and did it the not so flashy way and were surprised at how quickly the job went. It took a total of about 4 hours, split up over two days.

That's my big, strong husband. :) I *swear* I was helping too, but my job also included being the official photographer and historian.... and getting out of the way when Jerry was carrying heavy stuff like this.

Once the cabinets were gone, we felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

See all that icky mold? It's the result of a leak from the master bathroom above, which will also require a major overhaul that we'll chronical here. The leak probably went on for a year or more. The whole kitchen reaked of mold until we removed the drywall.

Proud of a job well done. That countertop was heavy. (Or so Jerry told me.)

Unfortunately, the action shots of us removing the drywall got lost in cyberspace, but insert cute photos of us wearing dust masks and goggles while lugging large chunks of moldy drywall off HERE. Below is a shot of the fruits of our labor.

The contractor has completed our cabinets, so now we just have to wait for him to come to the house to install them. In the meantime our appliances were delivered today and I'm dreaming of cooking with my new oven when it's all done...

And Jerry has BIG plans for this refrigerator. So spacious!

And a really impressive before and after:

Laundry room before...

Laudry room after! Mmmmm.... front loading washer and dryer.

Thanks for reading! The next post will show the fantastic transformation of our backyard.