Before & Afters

What! I'm updating this blog!? I know, it's hard to believe it myself, but I got a bee in my bonnet to start doing more updates on the house and I figured I should share with you lovely folks :)

My aunt Chris offered to get me a new front door as my housewarming gift, and now, over 2 years later, I've made good on her contribution :) It makes the HUGEST difference! Of course, with a new front door comes new locks (which I know Chris is excited about more than anything else, haha!) and for continuity's sake, I got new knobs for all the doors in the house!

New door from the exterior!

New door from the interior - such a big difference!

New knobs throughout (this is the bathroom door)

And speaking of the bathroom door - just adjacent to it is the spare bedroom door - which was a solid slab hollow core door, which did not match either the bathroom or "master" bedroom doors. Luckily, when my friends helped me knock down the wall between the kitchen and living room, we saved the door that used to be there. That door *did* match the other doors in the house, so I had the handyman install the saved kitchen door to the spare bedroom! Yay for matching doors!

Old vs. new - much better!

The spot where the kitchen door used to be had a hole in the hardwood flooring where the door frame used to come out of, so I also had that filled with wood and stained to try and match. Please ignore the missing base moulding....that's next on the list!

All patched up!

Another VERY exciting change for me was having the pony wall between the kitchen and living room capped off! You can kind of see in the top left photo the exposed 2x4 that has been there since we knocked down that part of the wall (I forgot to take a good before photo), but you can see the new decorative cap built up and then primed! I really love how it turned out!

Soooo polished looking!

Also, not pictured, but the handyman smoothed over the ceiling directly above the pony wall where we patched it up and put mud and tape on it...in which I did a very bad job and it was so sloppy looking haha. Now it's a smooth transition!

Okay, last but not least - the bars on the windows are GONE! They really made the house look ghetto haha. I think it makes the house seem more friendly and inviting!

No more jail bars!

I feel like I got quite a big chunk of stuff knocked off my to do list! And I really liked the company and in particular the handyman that did all this work. I'm definitely planning on hiring them again!

-Megan

House-aversary!

Well, well, it's been exactly a year since I closed on the house! It really doesn't seem like it's been a full year, but the calendar doesn't lie. There have been many many times when I feel like not a lot has been done, because there is still so much more to do, but then I'll sometimes peruse back into this blog's archives and realize how much has changed!

My top 5 projects from the past year:

1. The Kitchen
When I finally had a fully functioning kitchen, I felt like I had really accomplished a huge project. I was without a range and sink for a full 4 months, so I basically "cooked" with a microwave and used disposable dishes/cutlery whenever possible. I also ate out a ton, which wasn't too good for the wallet or the waistband! I'm still really enjoying the choices I made in regards to materials and specific appliances. I know that there is a bunch still left to do in the kitchen, but I'm most likely going to tackle other areas first. I still need to install a shelf on the sink side, install baseboard trim all around the room, replace the light above the sink, replace the window blinds, replace the windows themselves, and somehow close off the area next to the pantry which now (temporarily?) houses the cat litter box. Whew, that's a LOT! Maybe I'll have half that accomplished by next year...?

2. The Bathroom
I think living without a toilet for a full week (you don't wanna know how I did it...) really makes me appreciate how far my bathroom has come this past year! The paint color is probably the most noticeable change (from pee yellow - ceilings included! - to a calming grey), but having an unsoiled toilet, a sink that's not only pretty but actually attached to the wall (!!), and the removal of the black moldy caulk, really complete the image :) Again, still a LOT to do until I feel like the bathroom will be complete...replacing the plastic tub surround with tile, fixing the window frame, and installing a fan are the big ones. But I'd also like to replace the shower fixtures, the medicine cabinet, and the light above it, and replace that one strip of base trim that I royally screwed up with nails!

3. The Garage
Clearing the creepy "bonus room" out of the garage was a huge deal, and one I'm glad I got out of the way early on. I was willing to let this go for a while because I felt a lot of other projects were more pressing, but my friend Todd offered to knock down the room for me one day, and I'm so happy I took him up on that! Then, when I rented the drop box and a bunch of other friends came over to help clear out all the crap, I had a clean slate to work with. Admittedly, it looks like a typical garage full of "stuff" right now, but without that space (and the cool storage units from my grandma) the house would still be full of boxes, and I would still be doing laundry with barely any room to move. I have a ton of stuff in there that's slated for a yard sale, or donation, or recycling, so when I have time I'll sort that all out and the garage will be nice and roomy again!

4. The Floors
The very first project I did when I got the keys to the house was ripping up the carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors underneath. I did the refinishing myself, which accounts for the not-so-professional look to it, but whatever, I saved a good $1,500 by doing it that way! I've always been a fan of hardwood, and it immediately made the house look less "cheap". I also replaced the bathroom floor (oy, that was a nightmare) with vinyl tile...which I'll definitely want to redo one day. It didn't turn out quite that great, but again, super cheap! Like, $20 cheap. Woohoo! The vinyl tile I installed in the kitchen was another story...these tiles were more expensive, but sturdier, groutable (which I think was key to making it look like a nice floor), and because the tiles were rectangular instead of square, I think it gave it a more high end look. Still cheap though (compared to stone, wood, ceramic tile, etc)!

5. Paint
You all have heard me talk about it a bunch already, but every single interior surface of the house was covered in a grimy yellowish-white color when I first got the keys. Well, since then, I've primed pretty much everything, and have now painted most of the walls! It looks SO SO much better! It definitely changes the entire feel of the house and makes it feel much more welcoming. I don't know if I've chosen all of the right colors, but the cool thing is that painting is one of the cheapest (and kinda easiest) things you can do to change a room. I still need to paint the hallway and the spare bedroom (for which I have both cans of paint...just gotta get to it!), and I do need to someday paint all of the door and base trims around the entire house.

Now that I've compiled all of the big stuff in a list...wow! I guess I have done a lot over the past year! And by "I", I mean "my friends and I" because seriously, how in the hell could I have done all of this on my own?? I would probably still be sitting in a room with yellowed walls and dingy carpet if I hadn't had the help, encouragement, and support (physical and mental...and monetary!) from my friends and family. There are still times when I think I'm crazy for taking this on, but over the past year I've also had a lot of moments where I feel like I made a great investment and I get excited about the future.

And speaking of the future...here are the projects I hope to accomplish in the coming year (or two...)!
- Backyard - this one's a doozy
- Exterior paint - also of doozy caliber
- Roof - I think you know what I am going to say here

Some pictures for fun!

The house last year

This morning! Please ignore the Christmas light clips still
on the gutters...the lawn looks a lot better though!

Remember that little front yard project from back in March?

Blooms!! Lots of weeds also...but look at the pretty flowers!

Until next time!

-Megan

Grout!

Oy, am I exhausted! I finished grouting the kitchen floor tile last night, woohoo! I will say it was more work than I expected...it just looks so much easier on TV! :P My hand started to hurt because I had to really *push* the grout into the lines...I figured it would be smoother. Maybe it's because I used sanded grout? It was pre-mixed, so at least I didn't have to deal with that part of it! And also, rather than breaking out the kneepads, I crouched or bent over from standing to do most of it, so my legs are feeling it too. It wouldn't have been such a big deal but the kitchen is about 150 sq ft so it was a lot of ground to cover! After grouting, I used a grout sponge and some clean water to remove the excess, then removed the water with an old dry cotton shirt. I need to wait 24-48 hours and then I can remove the haze with some windex and paper towels, and then the floor will officially be finished! Well, not counting the little alcove that still needs some work :P

Pre-grouting...you can see the old vinyl between the new tiles

Post-grouting!

The whole enchilada!

I went with a grey grout because there was no way I was going to deal with cleaning white grout in a kitchen...haha! I think it turned out really great! I was afraid that the grout color would be too similar to the tile color, but it actually looks really nice (better in person!). Plus, I think with the grout in there, the tiles almost look like real stone! Anyways, I'm super glad that this is finished! I have the guys coming in to run a gas line for the range on Monday (it's a holiday, woo) and then I'm also taking Tuesday off so the inspector can come in, and then the guys will come back and actually hook up the range. So I could possibly be able to cook something on Tuesday night!! Maybe Stan will let me bring all my dirty dishes over to his place? :P Ugg, and can I just say that I'm sick of having sticky stuff on my hands! That grout stuff is *still* all over my hands today after scrubbing them last night, this morning, and again here at work...annoying!!

Annnnnyways, I also ordered my cabinets and countertop this past Tuesday night! I went with Ikea...kind of hard to beat for the price! I also set up the installation for the earliest date they had available...Nov 26th. I ultimately decided to go with their installation service because after doing research, it probably would have taken me a good 30 hours of assembly and installation, PLUS I don't really have all the tools to do that kind of work. I also didn't want to mess it up, so there's that too :P Oh and also this Tuesday I have an electrician coming to set up the electric for the dishwasher. I'm going to have to figure out how to plumb for the dishwasher too...initial internet searching makes me think it won't be *too* hard but I don't think I'll do it myself. Maybe one of my lovely friends has experience doing this and will help me? (looks at Justin)...I think what I'm most confused about is if the water needs to be plumbed behind the wall or just can be done through the cabinets? I really have no clue! Why is everything so confusing?!

Well I think that may be it for now! I'm going to try to do wall and ceiling prep on Sunday...fun times!

-Megan

Halloween & Kitchen Floor

Oh hi there! My first Halloween in my very first house was a success! All told, I only got about 25 trick-or-treaters, but I also got a surprise visit from Sarah, Brian and Brenden! I left work a little early to get the place ready...I wasn't sure how early the little kids would be coming by. I decided to rake the front lawn so no one slipped on all the wet leaves but about 60 seconds into it, my brand new rake snapped!

I guess I don't know my own strength!

I should probably splurge on a sturdier one anyways! Here's another pic of my front door decorations:

I think the spookiest thing is the gross screen door

I will say that I'm excited to get all these big projects out of the way so I can decorate a little better next year :) But I'm also VERY excited to decorate for Christmas! I'll need to decide if I want to go for white lights or multi-colored lights...so many decisions! :)

As per my kitchen renovation schedule, Stan helped me start laying down the vinyl tile on the kitchen floor yesterday! It started slow but we quickly got into a rhythm and got it almost all done:

Here we gooooo!

Mostly finished!

The most annoying part was that my fingers got sticky because of the strength of the adhesive on the backs of the tiles! It was hard to put down the spacers without them sticking to my hands, so Stan helped a lot with that part. He also pulled the backing off each tile for me because it was hard to do one-handed! I still need to finish all the tiles that need to be cut around the edges, plus a couple more rows on the other end of the kitchen (not pictured). I plan on doing that tonight & tomorrow night...hopefully all tonight but I know how frustrated I'll get :) And then at the very latest I'll grout the tiles on Wednesday night! I'm trying to set up the gas range conversion/hookup hopefully for late this week or early next week, and then I'll be cooking with gas! ;)

One last pic to share...Stan snapped this while Kahlua was keeping an eye on the neighbors:

Guard kitty!

Until next time!

-Megan

Finally Starting on the Kitchen Floor

With some much needed prodding and help from Stan, I started on the kitchen floor this weekend! After moving the refrigerator into the living room, this is what we had to work with:

Barfy!

After ripping up all the curled ends of the existing vinyl, we added some floor filler to even out the ragged edges:

Slightly less barfy?

There was one particularly nasty corner that we had to use putty on as well:

Now that just plain looks like barf.

I won't lie, I was having a hard time with this...I got very frustrated because it wasn't doing exactly what I wanted it to do...but I guess that's normal with stuff like this right!? Thanks to Travis though, I learned how to use a trowel properly, so it wasn't a complete disaster! That floor stuff had to cure for 24 hours before I could put the tile down, so we didn't go any farther than that this weekend. I may try to start laying down the tile this week (as opposed to waiting for the weekend) but I have a busy week ahead so we'll see how that goes :)

In other news, I'm really excited for Halloween!! This will be my first time ever living in a house during Halloween, which I hope means lots of trick-or-treaters will come knocking at my door! I'm all stocked up with candy, and I'm going to try to get off work early to make sure I'm home early enough for the tiny kids coming by. Yay!

-Megan

No Kitchen Floor Yet

Okay, unfortunately I didn't do anything with the kitchen floor this weekend :-/ Football, kickball, baby birthdays, and vacation prep took over! I did officially decide to grout the vinyl tile though. So I will need to get those supplies and set aside probably a whole weekend for that. I'm thinking the 20th/21st?

Not much else to say...I leave early Friday morning for Disneyland (yaaaay!) and will be back late Tuesday night, so don't expect a house update next week :) My new goal for completing the kitchen is now Thanksgiving...here's hoping!

-Megan

Not much to say...

Hey all! Nothing happened this week on the house...busy busy with other fun stuff. But I did order the vinyl tile that will soon be the kitchen floor! It will arrive on Friday, yippee! And also, I ordered a drop box for this weekend because I'm ripping out the kitchen cabinets! Well, I'm getting help with that from some of my awesome friends :) So, if anyone wants to come over and rip stuff out, that'll be happening on Saturday! I'll also be getting rid of all the wood from the "bonus room" that's still in the garage and that I have to step over and around to get to the washer/dryer...I will definitely be glad to see that go. That also means that I'll be able to move boxes into the garage to free up space in the spare bedroom. Things are happening!! :)

-Megan

Bathroom Floor - FINISHED!

Wow, this project took WAY too long for how simple it ended up being. I started putting the last tiles in on Tuesday night, got frustrated, but finished it up yesterday! The tool that Travis let me borrow was a huge help, but it was still slow going on those funky pieces...trying to fit it, cutting off a bit, trying to fit it, cutting off a bit, over and over until each piece finally fit!

All the tiles are finally down!

Next was installing the new baseboards to cover up that grossness that you see above.

Putting on the adhesive

I used a corner block in the only corner of the bathroom because I didn't want to deal with mitering the baseboards, but it's behind the toilet so it doesn't look too terrible (at least I think!)

Don't worry, I'll paint the corner block to match!

And now, we have the other side of the bathroom...where the wall (I think??) is crooked. The baseboard did NOT want to stick with only the adhesive. It kept bowing out in the middle so Stan and I would push on it and then the sides would bow out. I tried using these little nails that I had to keep it stuck but they weren't long enough, so I ended up pounding in these huge nails left over from when Matty and Travis fixed the rotted floor. End result: ugliness :( I was planning on just painting over it, but now I may just rip the whole thing out and install a new piece of baseboard...grr, it wasn't the cheapest though.

Totally awesome

Well, I don't know how I'm going to handle that just yet, but hopefully Matty will be able to help me install the sink sometime this week (yay!) and I may need to recruit Wendy and Adam for painting when they're in town this weekend :D It's coming together slowly but surely!

-Megan

Lazy Days

So, yes - I'm still alive. No - I haven't done anything house-related in the last week and a half :-/ Stan and I watched The Money Pit, which was unsettling haha. I've been very busy with all sorts of stuff, and I decided to take a fun day break Sunday because I feel like I haven't really done that in a long while, and it was great! I did get a nice visit from my real estate agent on Friday! Carl and Jeff came over and brought me a little housewarming gift of a book about raising chickens! That was so sweet of them :) Hopefully by next summer I'll be brave enough to tackle the back yard and build a chicken coop so I can have delicious fresh eggs and a few more cute pets :)

I got that flooring tool that Travis let me borrow, but haven't put it to use yet...soon though! My class this term just ended last night, and I've been very seriously considering taking a break this fall. I really feel like I need to put as much energy as possible toward getting at least the kitchen functional, and by freeing up an entire evening per week, plus the fact that I won't have to study or meet up with project partners or anything like that, will just be really beneficial. And anyways, the class I'm signed up for is "Intro to Building Systems", AKA, boring required class that doesn't have anything to do with being creative. I'm just waiting to hear back from my academic advisor to confirm that taking a break this term won't negatively affect me as a student.

I'm almost getting to the point where I want to start hiring some of this stuff out, just so it gets done in a timely manner. I'm still figuring out the cost/benefit analysis of doing things myself :P

Well, I have another busy weekend ahead so I'm not sure how much, if anything I'll get done on the house. I hope I have some updates to show you all soon!

-Megan

Bathroom floors...yet again!

Last Thursday, Matty was able to come in and put this floor leveler stuff over the plywood to make it even with the non-rotted plywood leftover from the original floor so it would be ready for the vinyl tile.

Smoooooooth

I then proceeded to lay out the tile in an acceptable pattern on the living room floor...

Dance floor!

And after measuring where I should start the tiles, I started to apply them to the bathroom floor:

I didn't get the whole thing done :( I went as far as the edges that needed straight cuts, but when I got to my first notched cut I screwed it up and then gave up :P I did put the tiles down that go underneath the toilet though, and Matty came back to install that for me! What a gem!

I have a toilet again!!

It's so pretty, and flushes so well! All told, I was without a toilet from last Sunday afternoon through this past Saturday afternoon. I dealt with it by being away from the house as much as possible, holding it through the night until I got to work in the morning, and then as a last resort...bucket. I'm not proud of that but what are you gonna do? :P

I got so frustrated with cutting the special notches out of some of those tiles that the floor is still unfinished, but I'm making it a point to finish that this week! Once the floor is fully finished, I still need to caulk around the toilet and where the tile meets the base of the tub, then I'll get some new base trim and install that. And hopefully Matty will be able to come back and install my new sink! For now, teeth brushing happens in the kitchen :P I was also able to take my first shower at home this morning, after 2 weeks of living in the place! I definitely need to replace the showerhead, and eventually the whole apparatus because turning the water on and off is really difficult. Oh yes, and I should finish priming/painting the walls...the pee yellow color is really getting to me!

-Megan

More Bathroom Floors

Wow! Matty and Travis were able to work on the bathroom floor yesterday and it looks a thousand times better!

Eerie shot of light coming up from under the crawlspace

All fixed up with new plywood!

It's all ready for the vinyl tile, which hopefully I'll be able to do myself after class tonight, then I'll be able to have a toilet again! Yippee! :P

-Megan

Bathtub

Not surprisingly, like most everything else in the house, the bathtub was incredibly disgusting when I started with it:

I just threw up

Yesterday, I took the day off because an electrician was coming in to re-route those wires in the wall I was knocking down. He also replaced all of the outlets in the entire house with 3-prong outlets, added at least one GFCI outlet in each room, and replaced all of the light switches so they're not all grody :) I took the opportunity to work on the bathtub since I had to wait for the electrician to be finished so I could start polyurethaning the floors! After hours of scrubbing with bleach, using a utility knife to scrape the old caulk out, scrubbing some more with bleach, and finally re-caulking, the tub looks a million times better! By the way, this was my first time using caulk and boy is it stinky and sticky! I was still pulling it off my hands hours later, but the result was totally worth it!

Like new!

Once the electrician left, I went and got the polyurethane and a stain pad that screws onto a telescoping pole. I also got a watering can...I had watched a tutorial online that suggested pouring some poly into the can, and using that to put a little on the floor at a time in a controlled manner, as opposed to dumping it out of the can it came in I guess! It worked super well, and I recommend it to anyone taking on a project like this! I got Minwax water-based poly in a clear semi-gloss finish, because it seemed the best choice based on online reviews and the result I wanted with my floor. I put on one coat, went and killed a couple of hours browsing at Lowe's (my new favorite store), and put on the second coat last night. I plan on putting the third and final coat on tonight so I'm able to start moving stuff in this weekend!

Sneak peek of the poly'd flooring:

Still wet!

I'm not sure if the finish will translate well in pictures, but it looks really cool in person...almost like an old barn floor. The differences in the wood grain and the variation in colors between each plank are really highlighted and it definitely has a rustic feel. I love it so far!!

This weekend Travis is coming back to knock out the studs in that wall so it will be super open which I'm very excited about! I think I'll also prime all of the walls and ceilings, well, at least I hope I'll get all of them done! I'll start moving in non-essential things from my apartment as well, just to cut the load down for the ultra-big moving weekend on the 28th/29th!

-Megan

Very Productive Weekend!

Okay, first thing's first: I got my lawnmower and mowed the lawn for the first time ever! My grandma offered to buy the lawnmower for me as a housewarming gift - awesome! I ended up going with a Greenworks corded electric lawnmower, and it took a little getting used to...I'm not sure if it was better to go the long way or the short way, and it was a little difficult to maneuver but I got it done! I also did what I could of the backyard, but there were a lot of obstacles so it still doesn't look that great!

Ain't she a beauty!

First mowed lawn!

The other big HUGE thing I tackled this weekend was sanding the floors! I rented an orbital floor sander from a local company and man, was it heavy! I think 115 lbs or so. The rental place put it in my trunk but it was an ordeal to get it out once I got to my house :P I had originally rented it through this morning, but it turned out I only needed it for about 5 hours, which saved some money! The sandpaper was actually more costly than the rental itself at ~$6 a sheet!

I used the big floor sander to sand the middle of the floor to about 3 inches from the baseboards and used 3 different, progressively finer grits to get it down to smooth. Then yesterday I used my new (refurbished) palm sander to do the edging right up to the baseboards, as well as go over any stubborn spots like right inside the front door, which wasn't covered with carpet, but was covered with disgusting grime! Trying to get the sander back into my car to go return it was the same comedy of errors as getting it out, but I did it and it's DONE! I also got a shopvac and tack cloths to pick up all the sanding dust which I will be doing shortly. This week, probably Wednesday, I will be putting on the first coat of polyurethane, then hopefully the second coat before the weekend so it has time to cure by Saturday and I'll be able to start moving things in!

Sander and "before" picture of the floors

It was so vibrate-y!

Palm sander for the edging and "after" picture of the sanded floors

Oh yeah, and the last BIG SUPER HUGE thing from this weekend...my friends Courtney and Travis from the gym came over to help knock out that wall between the kitchen and living room! Travis used to be a contractor and has done stuff like this a million times before, plus he has all the tools :) We unfortunately ran into electrical wires so the studs are still there, but I'm having an electrician come in this week to re-route them, and then Travis will come back over to knock out the studs and do finish work on the open parts.

Travis pulling off sheetrock

View from the living room

View from the kitchen (with annoying wires that need to be moved!)

It looks so open now! I can't wait until the studs are gone! Well, the plan for this week is to get the electrician in there, put the finish on the floors, and maybe start tackling the bathroom (did I mention I ordered a new toilet and vanity?) and hopefully be done enough with that other stuff so that this weekend Travis can come back in and knock out the studs, as well as move in all of my furniture!

Oh! I forgot to mention, another friend of mine from the gym, Todd, came over to look at the wiring since he has some experience but deemed it was a bit much for him, BUT he was able to switch out that dryer outlet so now I have a working dryer! Thanks Todd!

Until next time...

-Megan

Quick Update

I made my first big purchase today - a refrigerator! In case you don't know, all of the appliances in the house are....how do I put this nicely...pieces of shit! :) Like, you would want to wear rubber gloves if you had to touch any part of them. They're gross, old energy hogs and I can't wait to get rid of them! My boss' son is going to come over sometime in the next week or so and take them for scrap, and we'll split the money! Woo! I know that the kitchen in its entirety is going to take a long long time, and I can live without a range for a while (yay microwave) but I'll definitely need a refrigerator for the time being. I'm going to keep it in the garage until the cabinets are installed and I can move it into the kitchen.

In other news, the floor leveling is taking longer than planned...I guess that's normal with contracting out work like that, but it's still frustrating! I will be *really* glad when that's all over, especially because it's holding up some other projects.

On the menu for the weekend: finish pulling out all of the carpet staples and tack strips from the hardwoods, install the used washer and dryer I bought from my friends, and hopefully prime all the walls and ceilings! Wish me luck :)

-Megan

Floors (the pretty part!)

This past weekend, I finally started doing something productive with the house! I ripped up all the gross stinky carpet and underlayment, with some help from Stan. We rolled up all the remnants and put them in the "bonus room" in the garage (really just a plywood room that will be torn down shortly) for the time being until I'm ready to order a dropbox. 

It begins!

This is the very first time I've done anything remotely like this, so it was scary but very exciting at the same time! It was really easy tearing up the carpet and underlayment, but the hard part was just around the corner.


Living room, with the gross kitchen just beyond

See all those little chunks of stuff? Each one was a staple that I had to pull out with pliers. AND those tack strips around the perimeter were no picnic either. I went and bought a pry bar and a rubber mallet to pull up the tack strips. It went like this: pry bar, mallet mallet mallet, snap up small remnant of tack strip, remove nail with claw hammer, repeat. That went on for about 2.5 hours and I only got 3/4 of the living room done (including removing the staples). Man, my hands hurt after all that! Does that mean I'm getting old? The worst part was using the pliers on the staples.


Living room before

Living room after

So here's my progress so far! I also removed the curved brass edging from right next to the front door. I have tomorrow off, so I'm first going to go shopping for appliances and hopefully get some good Independence Day deals, then back to the floors!

-Megan