Moving on up....

No no, we are not moving. But we are getting pretty classy in these parts! Here is a quick update of the projects we have completed this summer. We have delayed all large renovation projects until fall (or winter), and have decided to focus on the outside of the house.

Front Door

Our house is all white...and I thought it was too boring. After spending two weeks begging Ben to let me paint to front door yellow, we compromised on blue and I really like it. I thought it would take about 2 coats to cover the door but it really required 6, and I only got 3 coats done before it decided to rain for 2 weeks straight. I am sure our neighbors loved looking at a half painted door.

The before...BORING!

Half way done...

The finished product...don't worry we did take the sticker off the glass of the door. 

My lovely aunt and uncle also scored us a free storm door!! Huge win and pretty easy to install except for the 900 mosquito bites we got, and the fact that we finished the install in the dark....

Landscaping

The planters along the garage have been neglected for a while but I decided it was time to fix these up. Luckily for me, my brother moved into a new house decided to redo his landscaping and got rid of day lilies, peonies and hostas. He was going to throw them in the garbage but my Dad rescued them for me. Thanks Dad!

It took about 6 weeks of on and off work but finally yesterday I finished this project. I think it is a huge improvement.

The beginning....

All done!

Another view

 My dad also came and trimmed trees (one of his favorite activities), I didn't take any before and after pictures of this but it has made a huge difference.

Garage Door

And now for the grand finale, the garage door. Ben and I referred to our garage door as our security system. Who would steal from anyone who has a garage door like this?

I personally think the plywood adds character to the place!

But finally after 3 more panels fell off this summer we decided it was time to buy a new garage door. We contemplated installing this ourselves for about 5 minutes (until I looked at the manual and decided it wasn't going to happen). Luckily we found a company to install this beauty for a reasonable price.

I am feeling pretty classy now.  I think our neighbors might send us a thank you note! :)

We have done a few other updates inside the house but I will save those for another day.

Hope you are having a great summer!!

Cheers,
A

House Series: Bathroom Project Part 5

The previous post is about a week late....life got a little busy. So where to begin on the updates on the bathroom. Exactly 30 days after we started this project we have a functioning shower, toilet, and sink! But lets not get ahead of ourselves the last week has been ridiculous.

So we finished mudding, taping, sanding and finally started painting. Let's just say having a small bathroom is somewhat of a blessing because we can paint the whole room in 30 minutes!  So last Thursday Ben and I painted the first coat of paint, went out to dinner, came home and painted a second coat. I was feeling good about our progress but we still had a ton to do.

On Friday night I worked and Ben kept texting updates of what was happening at the house. He installed both the toilet and the vanity/sink. Score! I felt like we were in the home stretch....wrong- we hit major speed bumps after this.

1. We went to install the sink we had bought for the vanity but the hot/cold water hook ups on the sink wouldn't fit through the holes on the vanity. Fail. We discovered this after Home Depot and Menards were closed for the night so that delayed us. I put my trust in Ben to pick out a new sink on his own that would fit the vanity. Luckily we have spent way too much time in the faucet aisles so he easily picked out our second choice faucet and installed it, no problem.

2. LOWES!! Oh yes, in the continued awesome customer service experience that Lowe's provides, I called on Monday for an update on our still missing tub faucet/shower head. Talking to customer service was PAINFUL!
Me: I am looking for an update on our order status.
Lowe's awesome customer service: It is on back-order.
Me: Any idea of when it will ship?
Lowe's awesome customer service: No.
Me: I would like to cancel the order then.
Lowe's awesome customer service: Well Ma'am, I could first connect you with our sales team to see if they can locate the product at a store near you.
Me: (First thought why would a store near me have it, and it hasn't shipped to me) No, I have already had them search the stores in MN and they don't have it in stock.
Lowe's awesome customer service: Well they could search all the US stores and have it shipped to you.
Me: Please explain to me why it would be at a store in the US, but has not shipped to me in 20 days.
Lowe's awesome customer service: I don't know.
Me: Cancel my order. I am going to the Home Depot or Menards and going to buy one off the shelf.
Lowe's awesome customer service: Ma'am are your sure you don't want me to connect you with the sales team?
Me: Yes, I have given you 21 days to get me the product and you haven't. Cancel my order.
Lowe's awesome customer service: I need to figure out how to cancel the order.
Me: Ok. (In my head....how does someone who works for customer service not know how to cancel an order?!?!?!?!?)

After being on hold for 7 minutes my order was finally cancelled. I seriously do not know how this store stays in business. They definitely need a re-vamp of their online ordering process and they need to retrain their customer service people.

3. Shower handle, tub faucet, etc.: Ben and I discovered that the shower handle we ended up buying at Menards didn't fit our existing plumbing. I started freaking out because it looked like our only option was to take out tile....which was NOT happening. Instead after a major freak out by both Ben and myself, the two crabbiest people you have ever met went back to Menards to see if we could find one to fit our existing plumbing.

The customer service guy at Menards asked me how my day was going while I was returning the faucet set that didn't fit.....bad idea...but at least I had the decency to sensor myself and only say "oh, I am on day 30 of a bathroom remodel so...I am exhausted". His response: "Wow. 30 days? I have never heard of it taking so long". I smiled politely and walked away. :)

Ben went straight to plumbing to see what he could find and we discovered that there was 1 Delta faucet that we thought might fit the plumbing. We bought it. I love the we agonized over faucet sets for 2 weeks, ordered one from Lowes, cancelled the order, picked out a new one, returned that and bought a new one after looking at it for 10 seconds.

Last night Ben installed it. We did have to chip out a teeny corner of the tile so we could screw in the shower handle plate thing. We had to make a few minor modifications and be a little creative in installation but it is functional and I will even go as far to say as it looks nice.

We rewarded ourselves with hot fudge shakes....this has become a bad habit.

And here are some pictures....

Our new toilet, and you can see the new floor:

The 'cubbies" with the new baskets! I am so pumped about this new storage space! 

The functioning shower (and please notice how shiny and clean the tub is)! 

So we are actually wrapping up our project. I work tonight and Ben has a list of about 15 things to get done tonight before his Mom comes to visit tomorrow. Thank goodness we have a functioning bathroom again. :)

I will post final pictures soon, once we finish all the little things.

Cheers,

A

House Series: Bathroom Part 4

I have the day off today and I was supposed to be painting the bathroom but as usual...we are behind schedule. When I started this project my mom told me to expect it to take twice as long and cost twice as much. Well...as usual she was right. We honestly thought we could get most of this done in a week to 2 weeks. We are now into week 4. I could give you all of our excuses, work being the main one but also we have taken a few nights off...you can only go to Home Depot so many times in one week. As for the budget...who knows, I haven't totaled the receipts and I am not going to- it is better that way, trust me.

Awesome point of last week: We ordered a new shower head/faucet set shower from Lowe's after the one we wanted they didn't have in store (even though they had it displayed). We had to call them to order the faucet because their website wouldn't let us order it (annoying) but the lady on the phone said we would have it by last Wednesday. On Thursday we still hadn't received it so I called Lowe's. After looking up the order they informed me that my item was back ordered.....
Me: "Where you planning on informing us of that"
Lowe's awesome customer service: No.
Me: "Ok....well when is it supposed to ship"
Lowe's awesome customer service: "You should get it by the end of March."
Me: "Will we receive an email or notification when it is shipped?"
Lowe's awesome customer service: "No, we will just send it to you".

Lowe's is not impressing me with their customer service at all. Let's just say it was a good thing that I was the one on the phone and not Ben (surprisingly he has less patience for these people than I do...and I didn't think that possible...as I always say I can't stand incompetence..ha).

Beyond that, Ben installed the floor last weekend. We opted for vinyl tile and I think it looks great!

We also had the tub professionally resurfaced...and it looks awesome! They did a great job and the tub looks brand new. I was so excited when the guy showed it to me that I almost cried (sad I know but it has been years since I have had a clean bathtub, that I can take a bubble bath in).


We are currently in the process of finishing the drywalling, mudding, taping, painting project. New pictures next week!

Cheers,

A

House Series: Bathroom Part 3

Sunday, Sunday, a much better day!! :)

We started off with a 45 minute drive to the Buffalo Menards to get the tile. The whole way there I was so nervous that they wouldn't have the tiles. I jumped for joy in the tile aisle when I found the tiles and we bought a whole box so we would for sure have enough tile. We got to Ben's house around 10 and started tiling. Things went so much smoother and we laid the last tile at 2:14pm (the goal was 2pm)- woo hoo!!!

We cleaned up, ran to my apartment to shower, and went to my parents for a home cooked dinner and much needed break from the bathroom.


Monday: The plan was to grout. We were both tired, we didn't get out to the house until 6:45pm to grout and determined that we had to scrap a bunch of thinset from between the tiles before we could grout. Well....one of the tiles fell of the wall and I wanted to die. Ben and I were so annoyed. At this point I really just wanted to go to bed but instead Ben ran to the hardware store to get more thinset while I chizeled the thinset from the wall where the tile was missing. About 30 minutes later I knocked 2 tiles down from the wall and then I wanted to sit down and cry. Luckily it was only those 3 tiles that fell. We put them back up, made sure they were secure, finished cleaning between the tiles and left for the night.


Tuesday: Took a much needed night off.

Wednesday: We grouted! YAY!! Ben started the grouting but I took it over quickly I decided I have a 'knack' for grouting (not really but I liked my grout job better) and Ben got the awesome job of cleaning the tiles about 6000 times. After we finished we had to clean the tiles every 20-30 minutes for 2 hours. We sat on the couch for the first time in weeks, watched Top Chef on demand, and took breaks to clean the tiles.

We are pretty excited with how it looks.....

Next up we have to finish the floors before the bathtub guy comes to refinish it! :)

Cheers,

A

House Series: Bathroom Part 2

Well friends, as I mentioned previously Ben and I had different opinions on how fun the tiling was going to be. We attended a 'how-to' class at the Home Depot, watched numerous YouTube videos and completed a decent amount of research.

We selected 9"x12" subway tiles to install as neither Ben nor I had the patience for little tiles and because the bathroom is so small we wanted something simple and clean. (I make it sound like this was an easy decision this actually entailed about 8 trips to Home Depot, Menards and Lowes, and a lot of convincing). The tiles we finally selected were from Menards and low and behold they were on sale (I think we saved like 5 cents a tile- hahaha).

Now the key to laying good tile is.... I have absolutely no idea. Ben and I seriously winged it. This is not going to be a tutorial at all....more like a record of disasters from last Saturday:

8am: Stop at Home Depot to get some supplies (our 4th trip in 2 days, we saw 2 of the same tile guys from the day before- sad but true).

9am - 11am: Finish prepping for tiling (you would think 5 days would have been enough, and you would be wrong). At this point I am already annoyed because I thought we would start and finish tiling on Friday.

** A little note, so as all renovations can be stressful Ben and I agreed that we would have fun and be nice to each other. Whenever the fun stopped we took a break (which I lovingly referred to as an "unpaid break"), ran and errand, or went to the bar (in our work clothes no less).  This was key to surviving the weekend!!!

12pm: Ben mixed up the first set of thinset, which we now know was a little to thick, and we get to work. After laying the third tile, and having the god awful spacers fall out again we both agree that we are never ever doing this again.

2pm: Lunch break -My favorite part.

2:30: Mixing up the next batch of thinset, which we now know was too runny..... We were finally hitting our grove. We are all about finishing all the tiling today and going out to celebrate tonight.

4pm: Moving way slower than anticipated....I start to worry about the reality of actually going out with friends later in the evening.

5:45pm: Time to mix up another batch of thinset, we realize we don't have enough bullnose tiles to finish so we decide to run to Menards to pick some more up. We also sadly cancel dinner plans because we are determined to finish tiling tonight.

6:15pm The most frusterating night with Menards begin. At the Menards in Eden Prairie they don't have the tile we need. The guy claims the bullnose tiles we need are special order only. I politely (or not so politely)  inform the man that I have already purchased them from 2 different Menards stores and I highly doubt that special order tile would randomly appear in two stores. After great length of me describing the simplest tile (3"x9" while bullnose tile) they are located on the computer. This Menards doesn't carry them but the Menards in Broolyn Center/Park carries them. Ben and I make the decision to drive to the Menards (about a 35 minute drive).

7:15 We arrive at the Menards in Brooklyn Center/Park only to discover that they don't have the tiles either. At this point I have no idea how Ben or I didn't absolutely loose our minds. We didn't take it out on the nice man that worked at Menards because it really it isn't his fault but when we got in the car we had a few choice words to say.

7:45 We are both starving, angry and now driving back home (another 30 minutes). I decide to call the Menards in Buffalo to see if they have the tiles. The 12 year old who works in the Menards tile department really needs to learn his inventory...ha. First he tells me they don't carry them, I tell them they are a new tile and not in their standard inventory program on the computer but if he could just go look for them he should find them (I figured this out at the Eden Praire Store). Then he tells me he found them they are the Caberera (or something like that) tile. And I tell him, no these are black and while tiles and I only want the white tile. At this point I beg him to walk into the tile aisle find the 9"x12" subway tiles on shelf, look above them and see if they have the 3"x9" bullnose tiles. By some miracle he replies with "Yes, we have a ton".

*** It makes me a little sad that I have the tile department layout at Menards memorized. :)

At this point we are tired, crabby, and are not about to drive to Buffalo to get tile tonight but we decide to go home, start drinking and finish tiling with the tiles we do have.

9pm: Dinner. Ben mixes up the next batch of thinset...which was mixed just right. We start tiling, finish the big wall and start the front wall of the tub with all of the plumbing.

11:30pm I am drunk and tired. I don't care what the tile looks like, we are both crabby, and decide it is time to call it a night. On the way back to my apartment we keep repeating " We are never, ever doing this again".......

Pictures from the end of day one--- no judgments on tile placement allowed. It might not be perfect but it is definitely good enough! :)

Cheers,

Ali

House Series: Bathroom Part 1

Well, it has been god knows how long since I have last posted. In September/October I was in the middle of writing a post when I saw a mouse out of the corner of my eye, freaked out (as I am deathly afraid of them), started crying and needless to say, I lost my writing juices for that day.

I really have no excuse for not updating the blog other than the fact that I have not been in the mood to do crafts lately. The sewing bug has completely left me for now...but not forever. :) So the big news is that this girl is about to move in with her boyfriend (in 7 weeks). The boy (Ben) owns a house that is a fixer upper so I am going to try to blog about our experiences in renovation and as usual there are disasters.

A week and a half ago we decided it was finally time to gut the bathroom and start from scratch. Ben and I have been discussing, debating (arguing-ha), planning, re-planning the bathroom remodel for the past 3 months. Finally with a absolute deadline ahead of us (May 1) we decided it was time to start the demolition. There is only 1 bathroom in his house and we wanted to get this done while we still had my apartment to shower at. :)

Ben had recently returned home from a business trip and I had Monday off so he decided to take it off so we could spend it together. This instead turned into demoing the bathroom, going to the dump and home depot. Not quite the date day we had in mind but it was productive.

Here are the before pictures (they are cell phone pics, not the best quality)... while they may not look that bad, here are the problems with the space:
1. The 'tile' in the bathroom is actually vinyl tile on cardboard backing, not meant for showers and it is showing signs of water damage.
2. The tub is stained from being 50+ years old, I promise I have bleached that thing within an inch of it's life and it still looks that gross.
3. No counter space/storage space.

Here is our only storage a dinky little cabinet above the toilet.......

Our awesome tile and dirty tub, if you look close you can see the water damage......

We were originally going to only demo the shower first and then continue with the bathroom "section by section", but then we decided to just demo the whole thing.


In progress pictures.....

Then we insulated, and put up cement board. Installing cement board was a process in itself. We discovered one of the walls was not even close to straight and had to deal with that mess.  We taped and put thinset on the the seems of the cement board. At this point in the process the house was a mess and  we had worked on the bathroom all day Monday, and after work  Tuesday- Friday but were really not even close to being done.

Check back for bathroom part 2 soon....

Cheers,

Ali