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?

Did you know that approximately 14-15 million people rely on a private household well for their drinking water each year, and more than 90,000 new wells are drilled throughout the US each year? (source).  Our house water supply comes from private well water. Whilst that means we have no maintenance costs (yippee for no monthly water bill!), it also means that we need to periodically check the water for contaminants to ensure our health and safety. After all, we don’t want to be drinking this…

Ewww. Testing the well water is simple to do.  We got one of these water test kits from our local Lowes:

It contains enough strips to test for 11 different contaminants  (bacteria, lead, pesticide, chlorine, copper, iron, hardness, alkalinity, pH, nitrates, and nitrites).  You simply swirl the little test strip in a small glass of water for the length of time outlined on the instructions (each test requires a slightly different time).  You then compare your color swatches to the guide provided for you…

All of our water tests showed up as being within the normal range, which is reassuring to know we’re not being slowly poisoned by our drinking water.  The only thing we might need to keep an eye on .. well, actually keep our noses on … is sometimes we get a foul smell when we turn on our faucets.

A quick Googley indicates that hydrogen sulphide might be the culprit. Hydrogen sulphide is a dissolved gas that gives water a characteristic “rotten egg” taste and odor. In addition to the smell, it can corrode piping and turns water black. We’ve mainly noticed the eggy smell and haven’t had any black water come out of the taps.  However, we have seen that the inside of one of the toilet tanks upstairs (the only remaining toilet that is original with the house when we bought it) had a black slime quality.  Not the water itself, but the build up of limescale on the tank walls – probably developed over many, many years.

So, what’s the treatment? Hydrogen sulphide occurs naturally in well water, or it can be caused by the presence of sulphate-reducing bacteria in a well or water system. Since bacteria are the most common cause, treatment to control them should be tried first. Shock chlorination is the standard treatment for control of sulphate reducing and iron bacteria in a well.  We know that the previous owner chlorinated the well right before we moved in, so it shouldn’t be necessary for us to do it again anytime soon.  But it is definitely something we need to keep an eye a nose on.

Stuck for some innovative ideas for your bathroom tile? How about this for an alternative floor covering?

Nickels!

Very cool. Not the cheapest flooring option around  though.  If you guesstimate 144 coins in a 12 x 12 “tile”, that comes to $7.20 a square foot.

If that’s too expensive for your tastes, how about using pennies?

I’m not usually drawn to coppery hues, but I think this floor could be a showstopper! And at $1.44 a square foot, you can’t beat the price-to-uniqueness ratio.

Now here’s a way that you can literally spend a penny in the bathroom! Have you, or anyone you know, used innovative materials in the bathroom? Or elsewhere in your house?

Images via Apartment Therapy

I’ve already mentioned that I am a crazy person for wanting to redo our recently done downstairs bathroom.  Not a complete (re)overhaul, but just changing out the vanity/sink and maybe changing the walls to board-and-batten.  There’s also a small element that’s been irking me.  The little bin that holds magazines for people to read while they .. well, you know.

Firstly, in terms of design and style, it won’t really go with the (2nd) makeover I have in mind.  Secondly, it annoys me that the magazines don’t really stand up properly.  They kind of list over to one side, meaning that when you do eventually pick up a magazine to read, the bottom edges are all curled over.  Lastly, it is difficult to see the full range of magazines that are on offer in this delectable hotel hole home.  So, I started looking for a replacement that would be sleek in design, store the magazines without damaging them, and let people see the full array on offer. Hello my beauty…

I spied this one from Crate & Barrel.  It ticks all the boxes.  ‘Cept it’s a little to pricey for me.  As lovely as it is, almost 50 bucks for a magazine rack seems a little steep.  For me, anyway. 

I then stumbled across a slightly less expensive version from Umbra…

I love how this one is wall-mounted, which can save valuable space in a small downstairs bathroom.  You can see all the magazines on offer, and when all the racks are being used, it appears as though the magazines are free-floating. And at 33 bucks, it’s a slightly less wallet-stretching price.

Which of the magazine racks do you prefer? Do you have other unique or fun ways to display magazines in your home?

Linking this post up to Show and Tell Saturday:

I have very much enjoyed my time visiting family and friends during my extended stay in the UK.  But now that time is at an end.  At the end of last week, I flew across the pond back into the arms/paws of my beloveds.

Over the past few days as I become adjusted to my new time zone, I have spent some time perusing the Interwebs searching for some design inspiration.  I like to think of it as a way to kick-start my motivation to get working on our massive house renovation project again.

But my dear blog readers, searching the Internet can be a very dangerous thing.  The endless sources of design and inspiration offer a vast array of possibilities for creating (and recreating) our living spaces. So even when you think you have finished a space, you might get the proverbial itch to change it all over again. The saying goes, it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind (along with a few other things).  But it takes a strong husband not to murder his wife when she says she has “a few small ideas to change things” in their recently renovated bathroom.  Yes, I’m that woman. 

After posting about our newly madeover bathroom, I realized that there were two things that I wasn’t feeling anymore. 

The tile.  And the vanity.  Oh, and not to mention that the glass vessel sink and faucet have to go because they have impossible-to-remove water stains. But that was from before.  It’s not a new thing.  So it doesn’t count.

It’s not that I dislike the tile and the vanity.  It’s just that after perusing the Interwebs, I have found design elements that I like better.  For example, I much prefer the style of these open-base vanities (with a white-and-much-easier-to-keep-clean vessel sink):

And I also seem to be gravitating towards the simple lines of the board and batten look:

While the tile on the walls could easily be covered with the board and batten, the tile on the bathroom floor would be replaced with the wood floors we will be installing (eventually), giving it a seamless look between the living rooms and the bathroom.

So, help a girl out here…. I am not usually so fickle when it comes to design choices.  I am entering new territory wanting to change things up. What do you think?  Am I crazy to want to redo our recently madeover bathroom?  Are you feeling the potential new looks or do you prefer it the way it is now?

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?

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?

As part of our vanity makeover in the downstairs bathroom, we installed this fountain faucet over the glass vessel sink:

However, over the months of use, we’ve ran into one problem.  Water stains.  After we turn the tap off, the few remaining drips have left an indelible stain on the glass. We’ve tried a bunch of things to remove the offending marks, but to little avail (glass cleaner, lime-away, magic eraser). So recently, I’ve been looking into alternatives. I really like the waterfall effect of the existing faucet, so I wanted to find one that mimicked that effect  Just minus the glass.

I’m lovin’ this trough faucet by Pfister.

The open faucet creates this cool waterfall effect.  At 8.25 inches, the spout is high enough to sit above the raised vessel sink.  Plus, it is a single-hole configuration which matches the existing faucet, so swapping them out would be a breeze.  The faucet comes in a range of finishes – chrome and brushed nickel being the most popular. So, unless I can find a way to get rid of the water stains on the existing faucet, this baby might be coming home with me. 

Have you guys got any fab tips for getting rid of water stains?

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions.  Don’t get me wrong – the ideas and motivations behind resolutions are good. After all, no-one plans to gain more weight, smoke more cigarettes or be a crappy friend in the upcoming year.  I dislike resolutions simply because if I don’t follow through with them, I feel like a failure the rest of the year.  Usually, that’s about 11 months. I guess I am not alone in this – research shows that anywhere between 78% to 97% of New Year’s resolutions are broken. 

According to this psychological study, you will be more successful at keeping your New Year’s resolutions if you do these three things:

1) tell someone about your goals
2) focus on the benefits of success
3) keep a diary of your progress. 

So, my blog friends, I want to share with you our goals for completing renovation projects around the house in 2010.  Sharing of goals - check.  Outlining our resolutions is a good way to help plan projects for the upcoming year.  And come the end of twenty-ten, we will be able to look back and evaluate how well we’ve done in tackling the projects.  Optimism – check. And of course my dear blog readers (all three of you), I will keep you updated of  every step of the way. Progress documented – check. 

So here’s how our DIY resolutions for 2010 stack up.

The majority of our projects will be done on the first floor; namely in the foyer, the bathroom, the dining room, the office, the garage and finally, the yard. We only have one main project in the works to be tackled upstairs, and that’s in the bedroom-turned-library.

Let’s break it down in more detail.

1. Foyer

When we moved into the house last year, one of the first projects we tackled is taking down the walls between the two front rooms and the foyer.  The walls came down, the headers went up …. but we never really finished putting the drywall back.

One of our goals this year is to finish off the drywall and get those studs covered up and painted. After all, the stud look is sooooo 2009.

2. Downstairs Bathroom

It’s taken a while but we’ve almost finished the downstairs bathroom renovation.  Almost.  The bathroom started off looking like this:

Since then, we’ve tiled, grouted, painted and made-over the vanity.  What’s left?  We have just a tiny amount of grouting to do and the crown moulding to finish.  Then we can make the big reveal!

3. Dining room

We swapped the inherited deep-red paint for a more sophisticated, modern color palette:

To finish things off in the dining room, we are planning on installing chair rail and trim boxes on the lower part of the wall. Flooring would be a nice touch, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to get to that this year – let’s keep our fingers crossed.

4. Office

The office / living room is where we have spent most of our time in 2009.  On the first day we moved in, we set up all the essentials in this room – you know, the TV, the computer and some comfy chairs. And that is pretty much where they have stayed as we renovate the rest of the house.  We’ve accumulated more and more junk necessary items over the year, piling them on top of each other, so that the office now looks something like this:

Don’t judge. Something drastic needs to be done in this space for 2010.  Notice the half painted wall?  Another “let’s try and see what this paint color looks like” moment, waiting to be finished.  So, the plans for this space is to finish painting the walls and ceiling, and make this space more functional as an office.  That will mean moving our living room furniture into one of the front rooms.

5. Garage

The immediate plan for this space is quite straightforward: get the garage doors working!

Rick has already spent sometime taking down one of the dilapidated garage doors and replacing the rails and opener.  One down, two more to go.

6. Yard

The very first project we tackled in the first week of moving in was to fence in a small portion of the back yard so that the dogs had a safe, contained space to play in and do …well, what it is dogs do in yards.  At some point this year, we’d like to get the rest of the yard fenced in:

We also plan on clearing out that dense brush between the trees before summertime kicks in.

7. Bedroom-turned-library

The last thing on our 2010 to-do list is to finish off the headers and railing in our bedroom-turned-library project upstairs.

 

Most of the studs have come down, the header is in place – we just need to remove the remaining studs.  Then we plan on installing a new rail along that wall to meet up with the handrail going to the bedroom.  Eventually, all the wooden spindles will be replaced with wrought iron ones, and the wood will be stained a darker brown. Oh, and finishing painting the walls might also be a good idea

So, that’s our renovation goals for 2010.  I’m not sure how many of these projects will get done, but here’s hoping it will be a productive year. At the very least, at the end of the year, we can look back at this post and laugh at how optimistically ambitious we were at the start of 2010.

Ever have one of those days where you seem to be working all the time and not getting anything accomplished?  That’s how it’s been here for the past few weeks. We seem to be working around the house every spare minute we get (when we’re not working for our regular jobs, both in the day time and in the evenings).  However, we still really haven’t finished many projects around the house just recently.  We’ve got several on the go.  For instance, Rick has been working in the garage, trying to organize some of the boxes of stuff we still have left over from moving.  He’s also been working hard replacing the garage door opener (and fixing the banged up garage doors), so that when Winter rolls in, we might actually be able to put the cars in the garage.  The previous owners only installed one garage opener, despite having three working doors, so eventually Rick will be installing two other openers so we can use the full extent of the three-car garage. 

Back in the house, we’ve also been working on getting a few rooms finished.  When Rick first installed the dining room chandelier, it was obvious that it needed lowering over the dining room table.  The light didn’t come with any extension rods, so we’ve been coming up with some creative ways to lower that sucker (more details coming soon).  I’ve also been playing around with paint ideas for changing the Gothic red to something more airy and contemporary.  The wall going into the kitchen (opposite our one replaced window) is currently decorated with about 7 different color patches as we try several different looks for the room.

We’re still working on hanging the header in our upstairs bedroom-turned-library.  The header is up, but we still need to make a few adjustments to some supports before we remove the middle studs.  And lastly, we’re thisclose to finishing (and revealing) our downstairs bathroom makeover.  All that’s left is a few finishing touches – some caulking, some crown moulding, hanging some pictures and so forth.

Maybe it would be easier to focus in one project, rather than tackle several at one time.  I keep telling myself that we are saving time by multi-tasking – every time we go to the DIY store, we can get items for several projects rather than make many trips for individual projects.  That’s the theory anyway.  Do you guys multitask and work on several projects at once, or do you prefer to work on one thing at a time?  Do tell.

I have a good feeling that we will get at least one these projects finished this week.  Stay tuned for details!