The old [dog] couch has gone.  R.I.P.

It has breathed its last breath … and ate Arriba for the last time

After getting gradually stinkier and stinkier (it was primarily used as our basset hound’s bed during the day – do you know how much bassets smell?), it has finally been laid to rest at the dump. Now we have a blank canvas…

In case you’re wondering where the rest of the furniture has gone to (from the first photo) …. the little glass crescent table is currently being used in our DVD nook until we find a more suitable replacement; the small TV was initially moved to the other side of the living room before being replaced with this beauty (it is now living in the game room upstairs); the keyboard is currently situated in the office.

For now, we’re putting one of the leather sofas over there until we figure our the final furniture configuration.  You know, when we get floors, a rug, side tables, curtains, redo the fireplace, install crown molding and baseboards, replace the windows, did I mention floors?

We’re still a long way from finishing this space, but hey at least it is now 100% less stinky (and probably at least 80% less ugly).

Last summer, I scored these two free Queen Anne chairs off Craigslist. They had seen better days, but screamed “potential!” and “makeover!” at me.  Yes, I hear the voices of furniture in my head.

They have sat in our office ever since, patiently waiting for their ugly-duckling-to-swan makeover.  During that time, the dogs have claimed these chairs as their own.  They spend a significant amount of time sitting on these chairs whenever Rick or I are working in the office.  And that’s a lot.

It’s a dogs life, isn’t it? Both of our chihuahuas and our wiener dog use Beegee the basset hound as their own personal pillow.  Check out Beegee’s buzz cut on her belly – a left over from the emergency surgery she had on Thanksgiving last year.

We love our dogs and have no issues with them getting up on the furniture.  However, as you can see above, the fabric is looking decidedly more dingy than when we originally got the chair – a side effect of the clay soil and puppy paws on the material. So, we’ve come to the decision that we need to reupholster the chair in a wipe-able, non-porous fabric, such as vinyl or faux-leather. That way, when the dogs dirty up the chair, we won’t have to worry about them getting the pristine material dirty.  One swipe of a damp cloth and the clay stains will be no more.

There are a number of cool choices for faux-leather out there.  We’ve found that some of the local fabric shops have limited selections in store, so I turned to the Internet for some inspiration.  How about these faux-leather animal prints? (from left to right: ostrich, snake, alligator, gecko).

Or these interesting textural choices?

Or maybe just something a little different?

As lovely as some of these choices are, most are out of my price range. Online fabric yardage guestimators suggest that I might need up to 7 yards of fabric per chair. At up to 30 bucks a yard, that can get expensive really quickly.  I’m going to be keeping my eye out for a budget-based yet unique  fabric to use on these chairs.  Color is not really a deciding factor – just as long as it has some wow factor (I am trying to be less conservative in our decor choices!). No matter what we end up choosing, for us, faux is definitely the way to go.

All fabric swatches from here.

Here’s a pic of our upstairs guest bathroom when we moved in.  Jealous much?  Yeah, I know you’re coveting the fake blue marble vanity with shell shaped sinks…

and let’s take a closer look at the loo.  Check out that matching blue *padded* toilet seat.  Nice.

We recently noticed that this little gem had sprung a leak. There was a crack on the bottom of the tank, which was causing a slow leak of water (the blue color comes from the cleaning block we have in the tank). So, it was high time we replaced this sucker.

Once the tank was removed, it was evident that this thing hadn’t been replaced since it was installed when the house was built back in 1993.  Check out the grime behind the tank. It’s more dirty than Christina Aguilera in her bondage leather chaps days.

Rick had quite a time removing the bowl as it was caulked to the tile floor (current DIY thinking says you shouldn’t caulk around the toilet bowl because if you have a leak in the future, the moisture could be trapped under the base of the toilet and your plywood subflooring could very well rot out.  Better to see the leak and deal with it, rather than the alternative). So, to remove the toilet bowl, Rick had to break it into pieces with a hammer…

Another problem that was causing the bowl to stick was the rusted screws that hold the toilet to the flange.  I guess the rust is courtesy of the leak that has been going on for many years.

A bit of elbow grease and the loo was gone. You can really see how much the water has been leaking under the toilet bowl.

I mentioned previously about the lovely dark sludge that we found in the toilet tank (which led us to test our well water).  You can also see that we live in a clay soil area, as evidenced by the clay particles found in our tank.

We bought a water-efficient complete toilet kit from our local DIY store.  In addition to a new tank and bowl, it comes complete with new flange, bolt, bolt caps and wax seal – everything you need to install a new loo. The steps for installing a toilet are really very simple – check out this short tutorial from Home Depot (note: they do caulk around the bowl base.  hmmm).

So nice to have a spanking new toilet tank that’s free of sludge and clay…

Here’s our brand new loo.  Ain’t she a beauty?

And just in case you haven’t seen enough photos of toilets, here is a gratuitous before and after shot.

A quick fix that makes a world of difference to the guest bathroom.  I can’t say how happy I am to get rid of that horrible padded blue toilet seat.  I am sure our house guests will be thankful for the updated facilities.  Next up is changing the blue faux-marble sea-shell monstrosity of a vanity. What decor faux-pas did you inherit with your house?

So now we have moved our DVD and electronics to the newly-named “DVD nook”

we had to move the DVD case we had originally (but temporarily) hung in this location.  Check out this old photo from before we had painted the walls and removed the brown trim…

The question was – where do we move it to?  We spend 95% of the time watching TV in the living room (the smaller TV has been moved to the game room – more on that later).  Plus, seeing as we play DVD’s through the PS3 (rather than a dedicated DVD player) and the PS3 lives in the DVD nook with the other electronics, we needed to keep the DVD storage somewhere close.  Somewhere in the living room.  Makes sense – it’s not neuroscience, you say. Yes, but there was no obvious place to hang this rather large DVD case (what can I say, we have a lot of DVD’s).  One of the great things about open plan living rooms is all the space.  One of the drawbacks about open plan living rooms … is all the space.  As in, very few walls to hang stuff.

You can see the floorplan of our first floor below.  The stairs divides the two open-plan living rooms.  The living room on the right is where we spend our time watching TV. The sofa goes along the entryway wall, the adjacent wall has windows, the fireplace is at an angle leading to the doorway to the dining room.  Hmmm.

Then it came to me.  Let’s use some of the unused storage space … under the stairs.  Lemme explain…

We have this nice staircase in the middle of our entry way (that separates the two living rooms downstairs).  At the top, one staircase goes to the master suite (to the right), the other stairs lead to the other bedrooms/games/laundry. We therefore have a very long walk-in closet under the stairs and I figured we could maximize some of this space for the DVD cases.  Yep, we have two (although we only originally hung one of them).

After a little measuring and some drywall removal, we are able to recess the media cabinets into the wall…

We didn’t lose too much space in the walk-in closet behind.  The DVD cabinets are only slightly wider than the width of the wall, so we still have plenty of storage space.

Here’s a pic of both storage cabinets, one either side of the stairs (please ignore the half completed stair railing and stain job we started before Christmas)

So far, these media cabinets are in the perfect location.  Near enough to be near the TV when we want to watch a movie, but stashed away enough and not taking up any floor or cabinet space.  All in all, we’re starting to get this place looking the way we want it.  I think the biggest makeover will come when we remove the last of the old wood floor an install darker hardwoods to match the stairs.  Lush.  Can’t wait.

At the end of last year, I lamented about the size of our television in relation to the fireplace.  Don’t even get me started on all those electronics and wires showing…

The fireplace is a whopping 85 inches across, and the 32″ television we bought several years ago was just not right for the space.  Plus,  the fireplace wall is on an angle to the rest of the room, so there really is no place near for the electronics equipment to be stashed. So we’ve been living with this less-than-ideal TV setup  for a few months now.  Sexy.

As part of Rick’s birthday present, we decided to break down and buy a larger TV.  A 55 inch one no less. We had to get a new bracket to support the larger TV – a few screws later and it was easily installed.

Rick also removed a little bit of the drywall behind the TV to set the plugs into the wall.  And voila!

Much better.  The TV is a better proportion to the fireplace.  Not to mention that extra viewing space in HD   I havent completely figured out how to correctly dress the mantle … hence the measly looking small blue vases from Ikea (which I love).  I think we might eventually install light sconces either side of the television, but nothing is set in stone.

Next, we had to figure out a plan for moving all those pesky DVD/DVR cables away from the fireplace to the nook by the dining room…

The wires will be routed through the walls, so we won’t have any of those ugly cables showing again.  Stay tuned for the those details, coming Wednesday.

Rick is making fantastic progress sanding the stairs, gradually removing the old pine color from the treads and railing (eventually we’ll be replacing it with a darker stain).  It’s been a huge job to tackle on his own.  But given the amount of dust that this project has generated, maybe it is best that I have been away for this part (we don’t want a replay of the asthma attack following the carpet removal when we first moved in).

Here are a few pics taken by Rick to document the progress he is making.  The one dark stair tread was a test run on a replacement stain color. Check out those doggy footprints in the dust!

In this pic, Rick has totally removed the stair railing and all the spindles in order to finish the sanding.  It looks so open and airy without stair railing – it’s a shame it’s such a death trap!

I love that there is so much dust in the air that even the camera has little specks of dust in the lens.

You can really see the difference between the sanded stair treads and the original orangey color of the floor.  I think that using a rich chocolate brown on the stairs will add depth and sophistication, and hopefully the “wow-factor”, to the entryway.

The next decision we have to make is what to do with the stair risers.  Keep them white as a nice contrast to the darker stain on the treads?  Or stain them for a cohesive look?  Or do something daring such as paint them a different color, add wallpaper, or even tiles?  What do you think?

If all goes according to plan, we should have family from the UK coming to stay for the Thanksgiving holiday.   Although it’s not on our list of renovation goals for 2010, we really need to make a start at getting at least one of our spare bedrooms more visitor friendly by November. 

 Until recently, the spare bedrooms have been empty shells… well, apart from a few boxes of junk that we’ve never sorted through since our move in 2009:

A couple of weeks ago, I worked up a inspiration moodboard for this room.

It involves repainting the walls a lovely duck-egg blue color, and bringing in some sumptuous chocolate furniture, with touches of turquoise and silver and contrasting red accessories.  I also talked about having a dark bedspread, but funking it up with some graphic black and white sheets and punchy pillows.  Throw in some modern sleek lined furniture and an architectural light, and we had an initial plan for transforming this blah space.

Well, phase 1 of the bedroom makeover is currently underway. We’ve yet to paint the walls – I think this will make the biggest transformation in the room.  When I return to the States at the end of this month, the search will be on for the perfect duck-egg hue (any suggestions?). We have moved some furniture in to the room, making it decidedly less storage-room and much more bedroom.

A brand new queen sized mattress and box springs has been topped with a simple black bedding set and a few cute pillows.  The bed is flanked by two glossy nightstands (that were bought on clearance, score!).  The generic drawer handles were replaced with some funky crystal topped ones, which I think tie in nicely with the brushed nickel finish of the lamps.  The black bedding is only temporary until I can find a more exciting set like one of these.  I do like the graphic pop of the black-and-white sheets and pillow that peek from behind the more subdued cover.

Opposite the bed, an Ikea Hopen dresser (another Craigslist bargain) is topped by three mirrors found at Target, which are great for bouncing light around the room.  The dresser is actually quite large and so has plenty of space for guests to place their foldable items (the door to the left of the dresser is a small walk-in closet).

A few small red accessories have been placed on the dresser, including the very first photo taken of Rick and I when we began dating (10 years ago – eek!).

So, we’re starting to make progress transforming this room in a more liveable space.  There are many things left to do in this room: paint the walls, lay some flooring, change the bedding, bring in some artwork and figure out some cool lighting.

Eventually, I’d like to think about installing a built-in bookcase in that wall where the roof line comes down (instead of that small door).  It might also be cool to install some window seats under those two windows.  That would add a little extra storage and create a nice relaxing space for our guests to chill with a book or to look out the window at the scenery.

I am still looking for design inspiration for this room.  Do you have perfect duck-egg blue paint on your walls?  How about a great architectural light fixture?  Have you built a fab window seat? Help a girl out here and spill the beans!

I’ve been promising to reveal our downstairs bathroom makeover for months weeks, and now the time is upon us!  The actual bathroom has been complete for a while, but I’ve just procrastinated in writing a post about it (on account of the millions of photos you’re about to see).  So, before I reveal what the bathroom currently looks like, let’s see how it used to look…

 

Yowza.  This is exactly what we saw on the day we first visited the house.  It’s amazing we didn’t run away screaming, don’t you think?  Fast forward to the day we moved in, with all the clutter removed, the bathroom revealed more of its potential…

Check out the sea-foam green wall paint, shell-shaped cultured marble vanity and green floral themed plastic mirror.  This bathroom was calling out for an update.

Just over a month after we moved in, Rick had demo-ed the bathroom, ripping out the vanity and toilet (which we offered for free on Craigslist and were snapped up within hours).  The wood floors had to come up as well because of the underlying rot…

The plumbing under the toilet was fixed, the missing floor joists were put back in and the sub flooring was reinstalled.  This gave us the basic canvas to start tiling with these large 18″ neutral-colored porcelain tiles… 

Whilst we were working on the walls, we decided to move the light switch closer the the door. 

For some reason, the previous owners had placed the light switch about 20 inches in from the door frame.  Meaning that short people like me had difficulty reaching the switch when entering the bathroom.  Rick removed some drywall and moved the switch much closer to the door.  As an added bonus, he changed the switch so it is now motion activated.  Whenever you enter the bathroom, the light automatically turns on.  After you leave the bathroom, it automatically turns off after about 1 minute.  Now we don’t have to worry about accidentally leaving the light on. Plus, we don’t have to worry about what kinds of germs might be on the light switch from unwashed hands.  So, this switch helps cleanliness and our electricity bill – score!

Next, we transformed a vanity we got for free on Craigslist…

… by painting it brown and installing new brushed chrome hardware, adding a new granite countertop, vessel sink and waterfall faucet.

Then we hit a snag.  A couple of the tiles developed small cracks running along the joint where the cement backerboard pieces met below the tile.  Although all the tiling was finished, we didn’t want to grout before this problem was solved. Solution?  To pull those tiles back up. It was a little disheartening to see all our hardwork being demo-ed again, but knowing that the tile would be set properly sans cracks made it worth it.

Once we tiled, again, we were ready to grout…

…and paint.  We also installed contemporary track lighting and ceiling molding to finish off the space.

A few decorative accessories and the bathroom was ready. And so here we are.  Finally. Here it is. The bathroom reveal…

The photo above shows the view as you enter the bathroom.  Below is a photo showing the opposite corner of the bathroom.

A shot of the madeover vanity:

Let’s see a close-up of that vessel sink and waterfall faucet.  As I mentioned previously, the faucet might eventually be changed to this one on account of the impossible-to-remove water stains on the glass.

Above the toilet are three photos depicting lighthouses on the North Carolina coast…

Opposite the facilities is a small magazine bin, so you can catch up with all your essential reading while you are … cogitating.

And here’s a close-up photo of the painting that adorns that wall.  It was the first gift I bought Rick on my very first trip to the USA.  The image ties in nicely with the lighthouse photos on the opposite wall and the color really pops against the gray-blue walls.

This is the new track lighting we installed to give the bathroom a more contemporary feel – gotta love that we found this on clearance at Lowes a couple of years ago for 10 bucks!  I also really like how the molding gives the whole bathroom a polished look.

So there you have it.  Our bathroom makeover. 

Let’s check out the before and after photos…

Rick and I are thrilled about this bathroom makeover.  The space seems a lot bigger and more contemporary after removing the large outdated vanity, installing tile and updating the paint and accessories. What do you think?  Do you like the transformation?  What’s your favorite part?

We’ve been making good headway with our renovation goals for 2010 (read about the goals here and how we are progressing here).  Lately, I noticed that the photo header that sits at the top of the blog is a little outdated and no longer reflects the changes we’ve been making throughout the house.  Here is the original header from when we bought the house and started the blog last year:

In the 3rd photo above we no longer have the outdated brass chandelier in the foyer, having swapped it  for a more modern chrome one last summer.  Similarly, in the 2nd photo above the fireplace in the front room is no longer brown, as it was primed and painted to within an inch of its life during one of our paint partays.  Plus, all that brown chair rail has been removed from the premises.

In short, it’s time for a header makeover.

The new photo banner shows a few of the changes we’ve been making round here lately.  The first photo gives a more comprehensive view of the entire house (taken on a blisteringly hot and stunningly clear blue-sky day).  The 2nd photo gives a view from below of the new foyer chandelier. The third photo shows our most recent acquisition – a steal of a deal found at Home Goods – this mirrored clock currently sits atop of the formerly brown fireplace in the front room.  And lastly, the vessel sink and waterfall faucet are an integral part of our downstairs bathroom makeover. The bathroom reveal will be made shortly – I promise (I know, I know.  I’ve been saying that for months, but I promise it’s coming s.o.o.n).

So there you have it.  A little blog makeover to represent our renovation progress.  I’ll be back with more posts next week. I’m back in the UK again visiting family, so although I am not at the house in the midst of projects, I’ve got a bunch of reveals to show you: the long awaited downstairs bathroom makeover, the dining room and its new trim boxes and the office reorganization. It’s going to be a before-and-after extravaganza.

Back at the turn of twenty-ten, I set out our  renovation goals for the coming year.  Three months later, let’s take a look at how we’re progressing.  We have seven spaces on the to-do list this year: foyer, downstairs bathroom, dining room, office, garage, yard and library.  Some projects are smaller whilst others are more time (and budget) consuming. Let’s break it down one by one.

Goal 1: Foyer

• Finish drywall on headers – put up sheetrock, then mud, sand, dust, mud, sand, dust [ad infinitum]
• Prime and paint drywall
• Paint other walls 2^nd coat
• Install narrow shelving units in wall cavity

Progress: PARTIAL

We have started putting up sheetrock and mudding in some areas, like the header in the left-side living room.  We’ve still got to finish putting up the sheetrock on the right-side header, then mud+sand til our hearts’ discontent.

When we removed the the foyer walls and replaced them with headers to open up the space, we were left with two small partial walls either side of the entryway.  These are helpful in visually delineating the two living spaces without taking up too much room.  But we’re going to be adding more functionality to these puppies in the form of shelving.  In each cavity, we’re installing tall, narrow bookshelves for a built-in cabinetry look.  The shelves are built and have been placed in the space:

Now we have to sheetrock them in, then eventually trim around the outside for the custom built-in look. Once all the sheetrock has been mudded and sanded, we can prime and paint … well, everything. 

Goal 2: Downstairs bathroom

• Finish grouting, molding and decorating

Progress: COMPLETE!

Another one down (ok, the first one down), the first one bites the dust! Sing it, Freddie!  Tiling, grouting and molding have all been finished.  The decor has been … well … decorated.  This transformation is so jaw dropping that it needs a separate post.  Ok, maybe its more like I took way too many pictures to post here. So, watch this space, the big reveal is coming soon! But for now, here is a teaser photo…

Goal 3: Dining room

• Install trim boxes and chair rail
• Paint walls 2^nd coat, paint ceiling

Progress: PARTIAL

Twenty three boxes have been measured, cut and nailed to the wall. That’s 167 feet of trim, and approximately 980 brads nailed in and filled with putty.

Next up?  We’ll caulk around the boxes and paint the trim to make them seamlessly blend in with the wall.  We’ll paint another coat of the charcoal grey on the upper walls and then finally remove all the painter’s tape (as long as it has been up, it feels like a design feature).  The last step will be to put up the chair rail running around the room.  Add a few finishing touches (artwork, decorative knick-knacks … oh yeah, floors and replacement windows) and this room will be finished!

Goal 4: Office

• Finish painting walls
• Get  new office furniture to make office space more efficient (and less ugly)
• Move living room furniture to front living spaces

Progress: ALMOST COMPLETE!

This room has had a total makeover.  The walls have been painted (thanks Alyssa!), gone is the makeshift desk, the book cases have been replaced, and all the junk necessary office items seen in the picture above have been organized and housed in more efficient and appealing furniture.  The big reveal is coming soon, but for now here’s a teaser pic…

Goal 5: Garage

• Replace door, rails and opener on remaining two garage doors
• Tidy up and organize garage

Progress: NOT STARTED

This is one of two projects we haven’t made a start on yet.  With all the renovation projects going on in the house, the garage serves mainly as our storage space/work area and unfortunately will probably be one the last spaces to receive attention.

Goal 6: Yard

• Clear brush from back section
• Fence in rest of yard

Progress: PARTIAL

Rick has made some progress clearing out that dense brush area at the back of the yard.  He has cut down several small trees and piled the wood into neat piles:

We still need to work on clearing some of the bigger trees before we can clear out the smaller greenery and brush.  But we’re getting there!

Goal 7: Bedroom-turned-library

• Finish header – install last supports, remove studs
• Finish drywall – put up sheetrock, then mud, sand, dust, mud, sand, dust [ad infinitum]
• Prime and paint drywall
• Paint other walls 2^nd coat
• Remove existing railing – replace with new wrought iron railing

Progress: NOT STARTED

This is the second project that we are yet to start working on. We really need to finish the sheetrocking of the foyer walls below before we can install the new railing.  With our pack of dogs running around, we need to have some kind of partial boundary in place (whether it is the current stud wall or the new railing) to prevent them from going ker-splat over the edge.  So, for now, this project is on the back burner whilst we finish downstairs.

All in all, I think we are making good progress with our renovation goals for 2010.  Two projects are complete – the bathroom and office reveals will be posted soon.  Three projects are in the works – the foyer, dining room and yard will hopefully be finished shortly.  Only two out of the original seven projects are yet to be started, which I think is normal given that our priorities are elsewhere in the house for now.  How are you coming along with your resolutions?  Are you making good progress or have the goals bit the dust?