re:locate

2012 brought some changes! i was accepted into the american film institute conservatory to study and practice production design for film! so that means i was going to move to los angeles, and we would have to finish the major renovations to the house as quickly and budget-minded as possible!

we decided to rent the house instead of sell it, because the market was down and we'd recently refinanced again to get a 3.99% fixed rate. it's hard to turn it over to renters after we've put so much blood, sweat and tears into it, but we have hope they'll take care of our baby... and anthony is still in charleston to keep an eye on it!

the big things that were left to finish were the loft and stair railings...

 

... and the master bathroom.  we got an ikea vanity and mirror, and selected white subway tile that we laid ourselves - which was extremely challenging and time-consuming and i will never DIY again. promise! 

sorry, i don't have any finished pics - we were in that much of a hurry to finish and move out! it was a whirlwind of final baseboards installed and last door hung, painting, tiling, grouting, caulking, plumbing hookup, cleanup and move out!

wish me luck in l.a.!

re:master

A couple weeks ago we tiled the master bath with some Vermont black slate that we ordered through Dal-Tile.

First we dry-fit and laid a mortar bed for the cement backerboard.


And then screwed it down with cement screws -


Then we used a wet saw to cut and dry-fit the tile using tile spacers -



Then mixed some more mortar and laid the tile...
(This is Anthony putting mesh tape over the joints in the backerboard.)


Next up was grouting the joints, after the tile had set up for a couple of days...


And sponging off the excess grout -


I'll post a final picture later - we still need to add another application of grout to the joints, since the slate isn't as smooth and flat as other tile.

And then a hand-me-down light fixture turned into a bigger project...

Some friends gave us a pretty capiz shell chandelier, which we thought would be perfect for our living room, which has had an empty junction box since we moved in. But before we could hang the fixture, we had to paint the ceiling in the living room, so we moved all the furniture out of the room and into the dining room...


But then, since we had all the furniture out of the room, we decided we might as well finish the rest of the room, so we finished caulking all the baseboards and then painted all the windows, trim and fireplace...






So now we've decided to take one room at a time, and finish everything in the room. It's less daunting to have smaller milestones...

re:pose

the wood floors in the family room / office / powder room are finished! we are conveniently going out of town for the weekend, so they'll have a few days to cure and then we can finally move into the family room! yay!



[i love that you can't even tell we had to infill some flooring]




the floor guys also prefinished our stair treads for us, so anthony and i are going to attempt to install them ourselves (along with the risers, trim, etc). this is no easy DIY task - so wish us luck!

re:morse

i picked sherwin williams 'wheat grass' for the powder room downstairs and adjacent office, and fairly immediately regretted the color choice once it went up on the wall. the paint chip looked so neutral compared to all the colors around it in the paint fan, but with the sunlight and the overhead light at night it ends up looking a little too electric-chartreuse for my tastes.

these pictures actually look nice - but that's the dim indirect morning light (or maybe it's growing on me?)




i'll try to update with bad-lighting pics. the color is actually similar to the 'lemongrass' we put in our laundry room and upstairs [guest] bathroom, but the lemongrass has less gold so the light affects it differently.

now i'm trying to decide if we suck it up and paint the adjacent office the same color, or pick yet another color. we also painted the family room this weekend - sherwin williams 'tony taupe.' pics to come later.

re:semble

i found the perfect vanity for our master bathroom -


it's 48" wide (the max we have room for) and has tons of storage. i love the walnut and i love the white rectangular vessel sink on top (not included). it would go so well with the rest of my vision for the master bathroom. what i don't love is the $3k price tag. the 36"er is nice too (and would give our toilet more ample room) but it's still $2400. hmm... i guess i'll just have to keep looking for something similar. 42" would be ideal.

re:inspire

i've picked out the tile for the master bath shower! it's so fresh & clean, i love it!










this is called china blend by a glass tile company called hakatai - and it's actually very reasonably priced at $5.29 per sheet (1 sheet is 1.15 square feet - so that's $4.60 per square foot!). i love the top pictures and would like to go with coloring along those lines - walnut, slate, teak - but our bathroom is more like the size of the bottom pic. not quite that small - we will be able to have a 4' wide vanity. we will have a frameless glass shower door, and i'm looking at lacava for vanities but am trying to find a similar source that's a little less expensive. any recs? i'm going for the spa-like master bath. dreamy!

re:visit

we had our first overnight guests this weekend for easter (anthony's parents), so we worked to make the house as comfortable as a house can be without any interior doors...

using some of our construction paraphernalia for decor -




some of our recent ikea purchases -




the new kitchen was in full effect for easter dinner (setting off the smoke detectors on preheating the oven for the first time - that was fun).




love this view through the dining room -


we got the pantry functional just in time for the first big meal too -


anthony's parents brought down this very cool vintage radio that was in their attic -


love it! as far as house projects go, anthony framed the deck last weekend, so next up are decking and stairs...


and we put up yet another paint sample - renwick olive - bottom center of the window.


and the close up - renwick olive above the avocado. i'll have to try another photo at a different time of day, maybe. what do all you avocado lovers think of renwick olive? its more earthy, i think. not as punchy. avocado on the entire house might be too much green.


i'm happy to hear any comments or recommendations you may have!

re:frigerator

we received our refrigerator last night! what an ordeal it was for the whirlpool delivery guys to get the semi-truck down our street; i think it took them 30 minutes to travel the last block to the front of our house, having to navigate around low-hanging tree limbs and cable lines crossing the street.

anyway, here it is...alone in the middle of our future kitchen -


and now that we're living in this construction zone, it's hard to get away from working on something, so we've begun the sucky task of priming every single wall and ceiling in the house. this is going to be a long process...






anthony has the fun and instantly-gratifying job of rolling, while i have the boring and tedious job of brushing in the corners and around fixtures. and i'll admit i don't know what the goal of the primer coat is - what sort of coverage should we be going for? should it be a solid white coat, or is a thinner/translucent coat sufficient? are we talking granny's-cotton-panties coverage or sheer-bikini coverage? if you know, help me out here.

re:quisite

clawfoot tub reglazing: $395
kohler pinoir pedestal sink: $100 on craigslist
kohler cimarron toilet: $200 at lowe's
chrome bath & shower hardware: $599 on overstock.com
windmill tile: appx $5/sf at daltile (w/ trade discount)

having a functioning bathroom so you can move into your house:
$1,525 + tax & labor.