Category: finishing touches

Adventures in backsplashes

We ripped out the old backsplash ages ago because we wanted to get all the major demo out of the way before we really moved in. So we’ve been living with the innards of the walls exposed since early October. Marc couldn’t start the new backsplash until the counter was in so… we just waited.

I had a plan a long time ago to do marble subway tile – I had even purchased the tile and stored it at mom’s house (I’m still not quite sure how to thank her for all that she has done for us…oh wait…maybe we could just get all of our crap out of her house? Actually, we don’t have room for that yet…maybe just a really nice card.)

With all the waiting, came doubting.

Should we just go with white subway tile? It’s so classic yet at the same time so cool right now.

I went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

I also hacked in the colors that someday I’d like to paint the cabinets and that that might give me clarity.

I was perfectly decisive for every decision on the house… except THIS ONE.

And so it wasn’t until the morning that Marc was going to start the install that we decided. Or rather, went back to our original plan.

The marble is scary because while it’s pricier than plain white subway tile, it is made of the stuff that doesn’t get made into stunning slab marble. So you get a lot of variation in color and pattern. I decided that to do this right I would need to lay out every tile into a design that put similar marble pieces together and subtly transitioned from one to the other, rather than just letting Marc open up boxes willy-nilly and pop the tiles up on the wall. It was an awesomely excruciating puzzle. But, I’m happy that I did. I was able to find pieces that actually fit together to create larger striations and patterns in the wall.
I was apprehensive and asked for a lot of folks’ advice, but, I’m really happy that we stuck to our guns. This will be unique but, still classic; interesting but, subtle. And I’m pretty sure that when we redo the bathroom that it will be floor to ceiling white subway tile. Which feels like a better fit for that tile and this house to me.

(Note: the backsplash isn’t even close to done. Marc still needs to do the wall behind the sink and stove and grout it all. But, we do what we can when we can.)

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18/11/2014
New stuff…form and function

The bamboo floor that we inherited in this house is good enough. There was a big part of me that wanted to rip it out and put in real hardwood rather than matching existing and just patching in the new areas… but, the budget and the desire to move-in sooner rather than later persuaded Marc and me to stick with the bamboo. Harrison loves it because he can slide on his socks. But twice I slipped and fell. FELL! On my butt and bruised by elbow and hip. It hurt and was needless to say super embarrassing. So I found an awesome sisal runner for the hallway from Overstock.

Also – we got a new fridge! That actually fits all of our food!

Good stuff.

18/11/2014
Toilet

So you figure after all that Marc would want to sit back and relax a little, but, why go join the rest of Austin to enjoy the last warm weekend of the year when you could instead, rip out the toilet!?

Ugh.

The old toilet was really small and Marc hated it. The flushing system stopped working for a day or two and Marc was in charge of manually flushing for all of us by sticking his hand into the back to pull the broken plug. So the first chance he got – without warning – he ripped it out and threw it into the front yard. Which was a bit shocking. And slightly annoying ’cause some of us may have needed to use it. But, LITERALLY as I was taking the photo of the toilet in our front yard…lamenting over the fact that as soon as this new house gets one thing fixed it’s on to the next…feeling like we were never going to be done…

No joke – a butterfly came and landed on it. Right in front of me.

I took this as a sign that everything was going to work out. This little creature had brought me the hope I needed to continue on the path of home renovation, to trust that this wasn’t the biggest mistake of our lives. I just knew that the butterfly was a symbol of better days to come.
When I showed Marc the photo of the miracle that had just occurred in our yard, he replied – still pissed off about the toilet – with a curt, “Well, butterflies do eat poop.”
So it goes.

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One post script to the story. While we figured it was old, we didn’t think it would have been original. Or older than original to the house. The date in the middle there reads 1937. OOPS – maybe Marc shouldn’t have heaved it onto the lawn and then let his son crack it into a hundred pieces with a sledge hammer? I bet some yuppy-hipster would have paid us good money to put that old piece of crap in their fancy modern farmhouse. Oh well.
So it goes.

18/11/2014
H’s room

While Marc was busy making a mess I worked on some finishing touches for H’s room.

I kinda love it in there. And so does he. In fact, after being apprehensive about this whole moving thing for a while, he came in to see his room and informed Marc and me that he was going to live in this room forever… or at least until he’s twenty… or thirty. (We’ll see about that, kid.)

And since that last photo, we’ve done even more:

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18/11/2014
Let there be vintage, future-space-inspired light

This old Sputnik chandelier was purchased before the kid was born from Uncommon Objects for his nursery.

I couldn’t find a photo of the whole thing, but, it’s reflected in this one:

I KNOW RIGHT!? That much cute should be illegal.

We loved it but, when he got his loft bed there was no space for it. It took a concession from the pantry to get this to work… we will have to have only half-doors on the upper part of one of the pantry units (as soon as IKEA gets those doors in anyway!), but, that’s worth it for the extra light not to mention super-fun addition.

The thing was pretty badly tarnished after being stored away for years. Marc and I polished it for a couple nights – as long as we could stand the smell, then we stopped and decided that the dark spots gave it character.

18/11/2014
Move-In Weekend

We did it. We moved in. I can’t really believe it. We’re far from done, but, it is amazing to be living in the home that we bought over a month ago.

This last weekend we completed some pretty big items, most importantly the removal of the gigantic oak branch / bug highway that was laying on the roof. Good riddance:

So many overgrown trees on the front and back. We trimmed and moved it all out to the street for brush pickup.

Mom’s still painting…and still amazing.

We got a PANTRY (doors still to come)! With fancy notched baseboards:

And Harrison got his bed! And found a few more boxes of toys.

And after a long day Harrison really needed some relaxation time:

We did purchase a new stove, but, of course – nothing is easy around here, before we can use it Marc will need to do some electrical work so we’re making do with our camp stove… not too shabby.

We were also able to put on a few other finishing touches, like baseboards in some of the hall:

And thanks to the help of Tony – we have a bed!

So, here we are – Monday the 20th of October – by no means are we done, but, we are living here – in our new home – we even had time to put a few pieces of art up on the mantel. A reminder of what we’re doing all of this for. For our little family.

I mean right!?

20/10/2014
Week 6

We only worked a couple of nights during this week as we had BlaseDesign work and family to attend to. However, they were a couple of exciting evenings!

Marc replaced the jenky back door with one that we bought at the Re-store.

We got Ikea Billy bookcases to make the pantry – I only started setting these up because Marc wanted to get all fancy and notch the backs to fit the trim perfectly. And we got the awesome Stenstorp island from Ikea.

And Marc installed the dining table chandelier that we’ve had in storage since we lived in the loft.

Mom installed blinds!

And we started to move in FURNITURE!!!

20/10/2014
Weekend 5

What a weekend. Thanks to Mr. Columbus we had 3 days to work.
FLOOR! WALLS! And that weird gas pipe that was sticking out in the middle of the floor…
First thing’s first. More demo – the kitchen had tile that was installed on top of 60 year old linoleum – Kylie and I had attempted to remove some of the floor previously by hand which was an excruciating endeavor. Marc finally admitted that renting a demolition-hammer would make it easier – which it was even though he sustained an injury by flying tile shards.

Once the mudding from the sheetrock guys was dry, Marc textured the walls and ceiling.
Such a momentous occasion calls for celebration – good thing some friends stopped by that night to help us.

The next morning – ACK! – I discovered that we forgot a section of floor under the fridge and because we had already returned the demo-hammer so me and my brute strength removed it by hand.

So the floor was ready for install… almost.

There was an old pipe sticking out from the old pantry wall that we knew we’d need to remove. This was a daunting task because it meant digging up the cement foundation, it was likely gas, and we had no idea how deep the connection would be. We figured worse case we couldn’t reach the connection, he would have to cut the pipe and re-thread it in order to put a cap on it. Fearless and determined Marc set out to cut a hole around the pipe – first with a diamond blade around three sides – and don’t worry I was there to hold the vacuum – we wouldn’t want to make a mess. Don’t mind the sparks. And yes, we are aware that these photos reveal some of our less proud moments – but, whatever – this is a record of it all so that when we’re old and gray we can look back with pride and laughter.

Then with the demo-hammer – just a bit scary – I had visions of extreme worst case scenarios running through my head, but, Marc handled it like a pro.

Next a cold chisel and wire brush:

And And as we vacuumed away the debris…

We realized that we FINALLY CAUGHT A BREAK!

The connection was just a few inches down so he cold chiseled out around the pipe and was able to remove the offending pipe and plug it. Then cover it with cement… turns out the box of cement wasn’t quite enough to fill – mom and I at the exact same time suggested rocks from the backyard to fill it in – to which Marc scoffed. However, non-carpenter ingenuity prevailed.

No one will ever know.

It’s important to note that while the work is happening inside that the little sir is also very busy:

Now we were ready for the floor – which is the last step before move-in and the last step to removing all memories of a poorly-designed entryway. Marc of course did it right and not fast – which is tough to do when you want to JUST GET IT DONE AND MOVE IN ALREADY! He pulled out alternating boards to feather in the new boards and had to router out new tongues and grooves so that the new pieces would join correctly. RAD I tell you.

That was a heck of a way to finish out your Sunday work day. And though it was still light outside we left for mom’s house for a home cooked meal and some down time with the kid.

But, Monday morning we were back at it – mom was on painting duty – covering the walls and ceilings like a champ:

While Marc and I laid the floor late into the night – Marc cut and I glued and installed. And no – I cannot fully endorse installing glue-down-floor barefoot unless you are willing to live with blackened feet for 4-6 days after:

Fueled by junkfood, sauvignon blanc for me and beer for him, we finished about midnight.

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20/10/2014
Week 3

We worked Monday at BlaseDesign then finished the floor of the master that night. We are matching the existing solid bamboo that is in the rest of the house to save money as well as to save on more demo. The previous bamboo was glued down and we knew without even trying that pulling it up would be horrendous.

Installing was pretty back-breaking – I glued and placed boards on my derby-padded-knees or hunched over trying to tiptoe around glue drops on the cement floor behind me while Marc measured and cut boards. To be frank, the glue sucked. (The second time around – installing the kitchen floor was WAY easier thanks to learning what not to do in the master.)
But, we did it — completed just after midnight. To celebrate I laid my ex-derby, almost-forty year old body down in the middle of the room… I literally could have slept right there.

But, after Monday night I lost some steam. The master floor was nice finish work, but, it needed to be shuttered closed to hide it from the dust from the rest of the house. I was getting a little down… doubting that we’d ever be done. And starting to doubt my vision for this house… The tedium of the repairs, the holes remaining gaped open, the insulation floating down on us randomly – tauntingly. What if the house didn’t have the bones I thought it did? What if I’m not an interior designer… oh wait — I’m not.

I have no idea what I’m doing!

This is crazy!

We are crazy!

And as if my thoughts needed another exclamation point…Tuesday night, while fixing some stuff in the attic, Marc’s posterior found it’s way through the ceiling.

After the unexpected hole in the ceiling we took a few days break to eat dinner with Harrison and watch mindless TV in preparation for the next weekend which involved making more messes.

16/10/2014
The End of the Hall

Sometimes you’ve just got to take a break from the dirty stuff and do something pretty… something that reassures you that one day this will be a house that is A. clean and safe and B. a place that you will actually WANT to live in.

Most of the whole house is painted in Toasty Gray but, one one wall in the master and at the end of the hall I wanted a bit of a darker color, so we painted those two walls with the color that was two shades darker on the paint chip from Home Depot, the name of which escapes me.

Then I got all DIY-Pinterest-y on the end of the hall wall – using this tutorial (thanks internets):
I found this idea before we closed on the house and so just as soon as I could I wanted to try it.

I ended up doing the work pretty late at night with very little light, since earlier in the week we had removed the hall light so that mom could paint. But, I persevered in the name of craftiness. Over the dark wall I measured and marked the dots, then drew lines with a metallic silver sharpie. It took a while and there are two spots that my straight edge wouldn’t reach leaving us with a couple of wiggly lines which we will lovingly refer to as areas that prove that it was handmade rather than errors – but, really it came out pretty great.

And this concludes our small detour into anything fun. In all seriousness this little project recharged me so that I could go back to the tedium of the repair/rebuild projects.

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10/10/2014