Garden work and more

So I reformed last years garden into a new tiered style garden. I included a picture below, but the complete details of the process are available over at Instructables.

I also added the details of my kitchen renovation to another Instrucable. Make sure you go vote for me in the contest they're running.

And it's done

Perhaps I was a little overly optimistic when I thought I could have everything done in around 5 days with a budget of about $500, but considering everything was wrapped up in two weeks for just shy of $900, I'm pretty excited with my performance. If anyone is interested, here's a rough breakdown of where the budget went:

-Sink and faucet, $100
-Garbage disposal, $100
-Tile (counter, backsplash, and floor), $150
-Grout, thinset, etc, $75
-Electric wire, outlets, accessories, $55
-3/4" Plywood and cement board, $90
-Wood trim (counter, windows, floor), $50
-Paint and caulk, $30
-Tile cutter, $70
-Table and stools, $90
-Misc decorations, $80

Now there's still a couple minor things to do like a few more decorations, a new curtain for above the sink, and so forth, but I'm fully prepared to call this thing done.





PS. Being the avid gamer I that am, I hid one of each Tetris piece in the pseudo-random design of the backsplash, you can see three of them in the pic above.

Kitchen Update News

So when I first got the house I did round 1 of kitchen updates to get it livable but I didn't have time to really do everything I wanted. For the past six months I've been planning what I wanted and the holidays provided a perfect opportunity to get things done. Over a little longer than the past week I've been working to: tear out the old formica counter, add to/extend the cabinetry, install a granite tile countertop, replace the stainless sink with a classic cast-iron sink, add a garbage disposal, fill some insulation, tile a back splash, tile the floor, and other various touch ups. Oh and the budget for all of this is around $500. Pictures are older as you scroll down.



Here's where it stands as of today. I still need to put back trim, seal all my tiles, add an oak border around the counter, and put in base molding. I'm playing with the idea of full size crown molding but we'll see where that goes. I thought I was going to have to paint but moving the curtains from the living room into the kitchen seem to pull everything together with the existing blue.


After the floor tile was all laid.


I also ran out of thinset and stores were again closed for new years day so I had to wait yet another day to finish the floor tile.


Start of the floor tile. I wasn't totally sure I wanted to deal with tiling the floor but after finding 130+ sq feet of tile on clearance to 10 cents a sq ft the choice was really out of my hands.


Finished putting in the 3/4" plywood for the counter along with hardibacker for the the counter and backsplash tile. You can see all the dust in the air from the camera flash. The sink is set on top of the backer but still needs much more work to get it properly installed.


I took the opportunity to fill the walls below the window with blown-in insulation. Most of the walls already have blown-in but it obviously couldn't reach below windows.

Laser kept getting in the way of the power tools so we reached a compromise where he was allowed to stay in the corner on his bed.


To start I had to take down the cabinets to remove the old counter. Then it was back to breaking out plaster down to the lathe. The additional cabinets on the right are set in place for the picture but not installed yet. I actually had to extend a wall vent that was going to be covered through the toe kick. Even though I was lucky enough to pickup cabinets that were identical to what I had, they were still slightly taller and I had to cut off a half inch from the bottom and reframe the base before they could be installed.


This is the kitchen before I started. Much better than it originally was but still a ways from what I would call ideal. The main problem was the awful counter/backsplash and a severe lack of counter space.

More curtains, closets, and doors.

I spent this past weekend getting a few more odds and ends done. I finished hanging the rest of the curtains. I installed a bifold door in the downstairs bathroom to make room for the a shower in the coming conversion to a fullbath. I took some extra whiteboard type material I had sitting around from another project and mounted to the full length of the door in the office. With the door closed I have a giant whiteboard to use with dry-erase markers for working out models and such. I also painted and updated the built in closet in the upstairs hallway. I painted it in the same style as the bathroom, added some new hardware, and picked up some fabric that my aunt was generous enough to sew into a curtain for me. I also included some new pictures of the living room having updated the style a bit. I figured with all the time spent on the hardwood floors it didn't really make sense to hide them under such a large rug. Enjoy.

Let there be trim

I finally finished all the trim that needed to go back up in the kitchen/dining room ever since we drywalled. With a table saw, compound miter saw, and bench top router down in my workshop now it was easy to fly through. I was even able to replicate the style of the existing trim spot on. I'm pretty happy with the results but see for yourself. Curtains soon.

Still alive

Okay so I haven't really updated in a LONG time. I've been beyond busy and it often comes down to 20 minutes of working on the house or 20 minutes of blogging at the end of the night. I think you can tell which route I've been opting for. Rather than try and recall everything that I've done here's a snapshot of how things look right now with some quick explanations.

Bathroom Furniture

This is the vanity and mirror from the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is going to be a white ceiling with gray walls so the red on white should look very sharp. Very New England.

Bedroom set

Heres the bedroom set that Tara and my mom picked up from an estate sale for $100. The thing on the other side of the beam is another dresser of similar size. Considering it came with a twin bed set (box spring, frame, mattress) it was a steal.

Cabinetry

These are about two thirds of the cabinet doors. My mom sanded them down, primed, and stained them. This is after the first coat of polyurethane. They need steel wool then another coat of poly and they'll be set. They're coming out way better than I thought.

Dining Room

Though it's a bit of a mess right now, the dining room is just about done. The walls have been painted along with the ceiling. All it needs is for the door trim to be finished/painted then of course the floors.

Electric Panel

God damn that's some sexy wiring. At least I know if the whole pharmaceutical sciences thing doesn't work out I can always take up electric contracting.

Kitchen

Alright so I didn't clean it up before taking a picture like I said, so sue me. At least the appliances are moved in. I need to hook up the dishwasher which will probably take a solid day and the oven is already going. The kitchen is painted like the dining room and after the cabinets go up it's just about done.

Living Room

What a difference a coat of paint makes. Under the pile of crap in the middle of the room you can sort of make out the new couch. The old one got the boot. It still needs another coat.

Master Bedroom

Paint is up and though it looks pretty awful with the green trim that's left, things will really turn around after a bit more painting.

Upper Bath

This is where my main focus has been the past few days. The tub is refinished. The tub surround is up and caulked. The window frame is painted and drying. The walls are primed. The ceiling is painted. The furniture is painted. There's a box of new fixtures waiting to go up. I need to paint the walls, cut the new linoleum for the floors, add some rubber molding around the base of the walls, paint the trim, and reinstall everything. Though it sounds like a lot it's moving along great.

Zomg a kitchen

So I haven't updated in a few days but trust me it's no so much a lack of work as a lack of teh internets. Without further adue...

7/5 Thursday – A better part of the day got sucked up by having to strip the front door I just painted. The paint had bubbles partially from the surface but I’m sure the rain didn’t help. I got a quart of metal primer for this go I just need to spend the hour and a half that was needed to get all of the old paint off. “Take the time to do it right” seems to be a reoccurring lesson. I need to get this finished soon so I can stop locking my house with a 2 x 4 at night. I was doing this while waiting for the contractor to show, but he never did. I’m not sure if I had the wrong day, or he got lost, or what. I only have his home number so I need to try and get back in touch with him.

Today was garbage day so after getting all of the carpet out to the curb I decided it was as good a day as any to tear out the cracked tub surround upstairs. I had priced them out at Lowes and a new one costs $62 or even cheaper if I go with tile board. A new surround, a refinished tub, and a coat of paint are all the bath needs aside from an outlet dropped in. Some of the green board and insulation are a little rotted so I can selectively replace those without much trouble. The only problem I ran into was when I unscrewed the collar to get off the last piece of surround I didn’t realize as I was unscrewing it that the whole faucet setting was turning too. Fast forward as soon as I get it off water starts to shoot straight out of the wall and I had to book to the basement and kill the water/electric. I go the electric back on but even after putting the handles back on the water comes full force out of the tub spout when I kick it back on. I’m sure I just have something hooked up wrong but the water in the house is off for the time being.

Again on the theme of garbage tomorrow I took the time to clean up a few of the more desperate areas of the house. The kitchen looks less like something you would find in an abandoned building. I moved the table and chairs to the basement so they don’t get totally destroyed during the renovations. I even cleaned up the rest of the basement and organized things for the first time ever. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed earlier during the day but a little cleaning does wonders for the state of mind. I didn’t get done until 10:30, making it the latest night I’ve had in a while. I’m really hoping that I can at least get the rest of the kitchen drywalled this weekend… hoping.

Looking, well, worse than ever

A bit cleaner

Ultralock 2x400, Patent Pending

Gross

7/6 Friday – Worked both jobs today so not much energy left by the time I got home. First priority was fixing the faucet so I could turn the water back on in the house. Spent some time with it before realizing there was a small rubber grommet missing from the cold water. It’s one of those thing that if you didn’t know you were missing it you’d never realize it was there. It must’ve shot out when I got blasted with water. I found a replacement and the water was all set. It’s a good thing too because the turtle tank pump must’ve gotten clogged at some point and their tank was ripe to the point the whole house was stinking up. I decided that the basement was a better place for them, at least while there’s lots of construction dust in the air. At least with the water on I was able to change the water in their tank and having them in the basement I can use the hose to fill it up. That was basically it for the day but big plans for tomorrow.

Turtle Vacation

7/7 Saturday – So I got to work a little before one and headed right for the kitchen. Vic had left some drywall on the porch the other day after he was unable to defeat my amazing new lock. I hung what I had but I would definitely need to go pickup some more to finish the kitchen. The Beastie Boys once said “ain’t no time like the present to work shit out” and since I already had the walls exposed this much I figured I’d put some insulation in under the windows where the blown in never reached. After I got back with the drywall I called Erik to see if he’d come help. I was having a little trouble getting them butted up against the ceiling on my own. He came over and we spent the rest of the night finishing off the kitchen. We didn’t finish until 10:30 but the kitchen is now completely walled and looking pretty sweet if I do say. Taping, sanding, painting, molding, and cabinet mounting then it’s done. This was just the sort of pick me up I needed.

A little work now means big savings in the winter

Zomg a kitchen

And another view

Who doesn't love demo?

7/3 Tuesday -- I took off a bit earlier today and met up with Erik in the afternoon. He took the task of tearing out the rest of the plaster in the dining room while I got cracking on some odds and ends. He really brought it to those walls and a small ~1ft x 4ft section of plaster over the counter is all that remains. The walls at some parts were full of literally garbage: beer cans, broken plaster, newspapers (dated 1979), god only knows what else. No wonder why I couldn't get the wire snake through to where I wanted to put the light switches. Anyway we got that all cleaned up while I had painted the front door, hit the steps with a second coat, caulked up the cabinet holes from the old hardware, and pulled up some of the floor in the bedroom closet where I want to raise the height of the staircase ceiling. I found finished hardwood floors under the carpet. If I took a picture of it you'd understand what a weird place this was for it. Anyway I pulled up those boards to use for replacing some of the more beat up boards else where and by the time I was ready to cut some flooring it was 9:30 and too late for power tools.

Looking good a coat later

The last day I'll have to look at this

7/4 Wednesday -- Today was a big day, no questions about it. I got started around 11 and Erik was over again by noon. Our main project was to raise and widen the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room. It'll give me a little extra head room and really add to the fluid feel of the house. I originally thought it wasn't a load bearing wall but after doing a little reading found the contrary. Not a big deal. It had two 2 x 4's for the old header which I upgraded to 2 x 6's and added two studs under each side of the header where there had only been one. We ran into a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to transition from cutting the existing studs to getting the new header in place while still supporting the wall. Luckily I had a hydraulic jack in the truck of my car. We were able to jack a 2 x 4 up to the ceiling to support the wall and still had enough room to squeeze in one of the 2 x 6's for the header. With that one in place we could drop the jack and put up the other side. The picture I posted was taken before we added an extra stud under each side for additional support. Not half bad job for a couple of guys who really didn't know what they were doing. After talking to Charles, the neighbor who works construction, the only thing we maybe should've done different was put a sheet of 1/2" plywood between the two header boards so they sat flush with the rest of the studs. Not the end of the world, we'll just have to shim out the trim that goes up later.

A couple of sandwiches later we were ready to tear up the carpet in the living room--the last of the carpet still haunting the house. It was a bit tedious to get through but with Erik pulling tack board up while I hit staples we really got a good rhythm going and banged it out. The floors really have some potential but will need a bit of help getting there. After Erik headed home around 7:30 I went to give the door another coat of paint. I was super disappointed to find that yesterdays coat was all bubbles and awful. Even sanding was no help. I'm going to need to strip it back down and use a primer first. The steps had looked good but with today's rain (last nights actually) they started to spot a little. We'll see how it looks when they dry. I hit the part of the floor that was in really bad shape with some ammonia and retired for what was left of the night.

Such an improvement

Carpet no more

It almost looks like a kitchen

6/25 Monday -- I spent today trying to finish straightening out the wiring so the last sheet of drywall can get hung. I decided to knock out the plaster behind the sink to not only make it easier to get the wires through but to put more drywall in it's place for a cleaner look. I got the wires through and brought home another sheet of drywall (10' sheet on the roof racks of a Neon, w00t). Daylight took it's leave and without those wires hooked up I couldn't turn the circuits back on to keep working. Tomorrow I'll finish up.

Think PAST the torn out wall

6/26 Tuesday -- I got to work around eleven or so. It was so hot just working on hooking up wires I was dripping sweat. When I say dripping I mean literally to the point where it was pouring onto the wires I was working with. Gross. I finished hooking up the switches before Tara's dad arrived. He helped me hang the last sheet in the kitchen and get the sheet up on the wall. He lent a hand with cleaning up while I ran to home depot to grab some pigtail lights. I just need something that will hold a bulb and give me a few more working hours each day, the light fixtures can actually get mounted later on. Finished the electric finally and everything worked without a hitch, score. I went to the basement with Mr. Sullivan and we finished drylocking the part that was still uncoated. Turns out there's another part of the basement wall that's a little hurting. My aunt mentioned a process called pilastering where you put up half blocks and fill them with concrete against the existing wall, it's something to look in to. At least the kitchen looks half way presentable. Once I figure out what to do with the rest of it I can really get somewhere.

We're cooking now

Do Work

6/22 Saturday – Today was prep for the upcoming drywall hanging. I spent a few hours tearing all the staples out of the two rooms, and the rest of the staples out of the dining room floor. Then I went over to Vic’s and we brought over seven sheets of 12’ drywall. The big sheets might be a little more work to hang but the tradeoff is we only have two or three seams to patch in the whole ceiling. It was late but I took a ride to Lowes to grab some flowers and perk up the front yard a little. $14 dollars worth of flowers went a long way. The root cellar has pretty much dried up but the one wall on the left is hurting. I'm going to have to jack up the trusses, smash out some blocks, and put in replacements. Tomorrow is a day of big work

6/23 Sunday – Had a bit of a late night last night so I arranged to meet up with Erik and Vic at 1:30. We came in and got started right away. The drywall hanger we rented from Home Depot was a great call. The $30 a day it costs to rent was well worth the headache it saved. I would help them get the drywall on the hanger then go work on straightening out the wiring situation in the kitchen while they screwed it up. The thing with the kitchen is that the ceiling fan that had been there was never wired into a wall switch, it just had a pull string. I don’t think the new fixture on the way has a pull string and I’d much rather have a wall switch regardless. After considering my options I decided to bridge the circuit from the ground fault outlet to the left of the sink to the ceiling fixture and the tract lighting for above the sink rather than using the existing wiring, it’ll be easier in the long run. I’ve got all the materials; I just need to do some more wall cutting to get feed the wires through. I may breakout the whole plaster wall where I’m wiring and put up more drywall and its place but I’ll have to wait and see what it comes to. After they had two panels up in the dining room I walked in and realized that we forgot to cut out the hole for the fixture in the dining room. We’ll have to go back for that. Anyway we got all but a single panel up where I need to finish the wiring so it was a big success and the ceilings already look a hundred times better. Progress feels good.

Someone cleans up well

Looks good, would look better with a hole for the light

Light years of difference