The next project

The next project we're going to tackle is the half bath/main floor bath. Mike would love to replace the vanity, counter top and sink, but we may need to pace ourselves here. I'm not a big fan of the counter top myself and it would be nice if the counter was taller, but we do have a limited budget.

Mike used the logic that we should do a small slab of soapstone in here to see how we truly like it before investing in kitchen counter tops. Which makes sense, but my wallet has felt bruised lately. We'll see. If we can find a good deal on a remnant piece, I think I'm game. But then we'll probably want to replace the sink ...

So, for now, we'll do a phase one update:

• Remove wallpaper
• Prime and paint
• Update hardware
• Paint cabinet?

The wallpaper portion has been done in stages, the main event during our Super Bowl party.

Mike's been periodically removing the adhesive backing and plans to finish it by the end of the week, so we can prime this weekend and pic out some paint swatches. We've got a hardware set of brushed nickel from CostCo that we'll split between the half bath and upstairs bath (it's a 6 piece set, how many towel rods do you need?), and we can spray paint the cabinet pulls and light fixture until we decide whether or not to replace the entire vanity.

As a hold over, we have some options. Paint the vanity (white, gray, chocolate?) or gel stain it (as seen below).

I keep feeling green for the half bath, though we'll try some different swatches. I think something soft, like in the picture below, would be nice and play well against the hardwood. And there was green in the wallpaper before we ripped it off and it worked. The question is: Do we paint the trim or let it be? Decisions, decisions.

Rugged

This is a picture of a young couple problem solving. And proving the two-story foyers can be very practical tools for flattening rugs.

We'd finally (finally!) found a rug for the kitchen table. The trouble with rugs is that retailers seem to think they need to save on storage space and roll these puppies up tight. So the rug came to us with rolling waves that needed to be flattened out. A quick internet search recommended that we warm a damp towel in the dryer, lay a dry towel on the rug, the damp towel over it, and then put something flat and heavy on top of that.

We sort of did that. Mike looked at the rug, looked at the balcony, and thought it was time to play tug of war. I was on top at first, but Mike nearly pulled me over the balcony. So we flipped, with Mike on top, me on the bottom, and it became a game. I'd tug to see if I could pull him over the banister (no, I really would never do that), and Mike would see if he could lift me off my feet. He succeeded once.

It seemed to help a bit, but now we enlisted some objects.

First, we flipped the table, but of course that wasn't going to be enough.

It became a game of how much heavy stuff could we pile in the middle of our kitchen. I knew those Norton Anthologies from college were going to be useful later in life! Our kitchen stayed like this for over a week. It's amazing how easily you can ignore a big mess in the heart of the house.

But now everything is back in order and we're pretty pleased. However, we're still vexed with the light placement. If you center the table with the space, it's drastically off-center from the light. And if you center it with the light, it's off-center from the space. Hence the angled picture. ;-)

Oh yes, and we raised the curtains so they're no longer touching the floor. And because we are traditionalists and don't want to freak everyone out ... we didn't get to scrubbing the main floor trim. We can't hit all of our to-do list, can we? Oh yes, and we still haven't managed to pick up a bed frame and box spring for the master. We went estate sale hunting yesterday, which does write off most of the day.

kitchen inspiration

There are many things to love about our kitchen. The layout, storage, openness to the family room. The cabinet stain and counter tops? Not so much. Along with the textured, dingy white wallpaper.

Upper peninsula cabinets - GONE! So much better. But now we have the awkward faux header.

The kitchen is coming along, and we've mentioned some of our plans for it, but I thought it'd be fun to share some of my kitchen inspiration and some of the plans we have, aside from removing the upper cabinets. When we were house hunting and purposely looking at outdated houses (so many of the new ones just didn't click), we figured painting the cabinets would be a relatively easy and inexpensive (I did say relatively) fix for outdated kitchens.

For awhile we were gungho on painting the cabinets, then started to back off. Now we're back on the paintin' train. Some of this has to do with the soapstone and butcher block combo Mike's been dreaming about (and I also like, we agree for once!), which does not work with stained wood. It's also a great way to brighten up the space. And we just keep getting drawn to kitchens with painted cabinets, even though we love a good wood grain.

So first, a round of soapstone and butcher block ...

ohsolovely

decorpad

We've seen the block as an island top, but some people do their whole counters in butcher. However, Mike and I "discovered" soapstone while visiting a local bakery and fell in love. It was of the dark, veined gray variety, and unlike black granite, it had a warmth to the touch and eye. We immediately started thinking about putting it into our "first house" (Mike's first house was on the market at that point). Soapstone ranges from light to dark gray (almost black), but you can also find green varieties. I think we lean more to the darker end (but not black), but we haven't really gone shopping yet (you won't find it at Lowe's or Home Depot). The one we saw was a mid to dark gray with lots of white veins and flecks. It was a much-used counter and wore the patina well.

People either love or hate these two counter top choices. Yes, butcher block can scratch and stain, but you can sand that down or just use a cutting board like you do on every other counter top. Most block lovers think of scratches as part of its patina and charm. Some people just do mineral oil treatments, others use sealants like Waterlox (especially if they install it around a sink). Soapstone also lends itself well to periodic mineral oil treatments. They're both also friendlier for DIY installation, as opposed to granite.

On a granite note, I've found maybe two granite slabs that made me go "WANT!" I understand it's been a longstanding thing for people, and that's totally fine. But I found the high polish/easy smudging of granite fussy and most patterns haven't interested me. 

As for the cabinets, we could do classic white, but we are also considering a subtle gray. I even looked at some soft green-gray options. We won't be re-doing the kitchen backsplash anytime soon, but I do love the green tile in this bottom picture and the broad planks of the island. The gray-and-white beamed ceiling also keeps this kitchen from being too cold.

There's also the option of restaining the cabinets, including using gel stain (to darken), and we considered that route, but we were concerned about darkening the kitchen. Of course, now that the peninsula cabinets are gone, the area is so much brighter and happy that we could probably get away with darkly stained cabinets. I've just never gravitated to them, and Mike said the kitchen he keeps seeing in his head has painted cabinets. Plus, you don't want dark soapstone with dark cabinets. Or maybe you do, Batman, that's cool.

There's oodles more inspiration kitchens on my Pinterest board. 



Green might be too bold for us here, but I do love this combo. Maybe a softer green?

Aside from counter tops, we have to think about color. Originally, I was leaning more toward a subtle green on the walls, but since we have the blue couch in the living room and our slightly green hay colored carpet, we went blue on the kitchen curtains and a subtle, neutral silver/blue/beige on table rug. It does help the couch not look like a random choice. We don't want a super blue house, so we might be leaning gray. Of course, the curtains cost us all of $13, so we could always switch down the road. 

Flattening the new rug. Pay no attention to the counter mess.

When we do choose our color, then I can re-paint those beige tiles on our back splash. I bought some cheapo tiles at ReStore to practice on, so if it looks awful, I haven't hurt anything.

And since we do not intend to paint the trim on the main level (Mike even dreams of replacing all of it), we'll have to choose wisely.

Speaking of trim, dusting and cleaning all of the main floor trim is big on our to-do list today. We party hard on the weekends!

Grouted

Behold, missing and old grout. Not waterproof.

Last weekend I had a grand grout plan. Optimistically, I hoped to clean and score the grout Friday night, grout it Saturday, and paint the floor and seal the walls Sunday. Some of that happened.

Friday went fine, more or less. I scored the wall grout and scrubbed and “brightened” the floor grout. The brightener didn’t really seem to do anything except stink up the room (I wore a ventilator), but we had anticipated painting it white again, anyway. But it was worth a shot, and it needed a good cleaning.

Saturday morning came and I merrily got around to mixing the grout around 9 a.m. The mix seemed a little too runny, so I added more powder and got to work. Although I had a float, I found it easier to push the grout in with my gloves fingers and used the float more was a scoop and scraper. This wasn't too bad. Not exactly a frolicky Saturday morning, but I could think of worse things to do. It’s the timing of things that trips me up.

I had written the timing of steps down. At first, I found that I was wiping too soon with the rinse sponge after finishing a small area. So then I would go a little longer and bigger with the next section. But then it felt like I was playing catch-up by the time I was wiping down the tile. And as time went by, the mix in the bucket was thickening up. My first wall was pretty decent for a rookie, but the third wall was definitely not my best work, plus I was getting tired. Looking back, I should've sucked it up and made a fresh batch of grout instead of trying to use up what was in the bucket.

Left wall untouched, right wall in progress.

Just as all the grouters before me, I had two buckets of water on hand for my grout rinsing sponge. One would be the clean bucket, the other the “dirty bucket.” Of course, each got dirty fast, so there were many trips to the sink. I think Half my time was spent doing that. Just when I thought I’d gotten all the haze, it’d come back … and back … and back. At this point, I was worried that we were hurting the grout that was supposed to be drying.

Along with that, our tile is beveled, so we do not have a sharp, clear edge while wiping off excess grout. When Mike got home, he took a plastic putty knife to the bevel, scraping off the overly thick areas of grout. Sometimes more than the excess stuff came off. Not a fun way to spend your Saturday.

On Sunday, I grabbed haze remover and grout paint for the shower floor. Originally, it looked like the floor grout just needed a good scrubbing and touch up with paint (since the cleaner didn't brighten like it claimed it would). But as I set to painting the grid, my stomach sank. Much of the grout had eroded away, so my paint brush was disappearing between the tile.

“Honey, I've got bad news …”

So, I walked away for a couple of days. Once I'd cooled off, I used painter's tape over the drain to make sure I didn't send wet grout down the drain. When I mixed the new grout, yet another thing went wrong. I added too much water off the bat. The next hour was basically spent adding some more powder, stirring, letting it sit … then adding some more, repeat, repeat, repeat. The mixture I finally started spreading around was definitely more watery than the original batch, but I was getting fed up. So, I let it sit longer between scrapes and rinses, and it seemed to work. As soon as I thought I was done laying grout, I pulled up the tape.

Hazy, grouted shower floor. 

Then I caulked the corners and painted some lines that didn't need re-grouting, just some sprucing. In the photo, you can see the ick on the right that has been resistant to anything we throw at it. Looks like the next option is simply taking a blade to it. Fun!

So here I sit, exactly one week from when I started. The first coat of sealer is on, the window open and fan running (and furnace running, since it hasn't warmed up yet). The second coat is waiting in the wings. I got lazy and bought the spray sealer, which is very stinky and comes with big warning labels about using a ventilator when applying. Which I did! I'm very anti-nasty chemicals, which drives Mike nuts, but in this case, I took the simple route and proper precautions.

What's next? Oh, spray painting some cabinet pulls!

Getting ready to grout

Whelp. There was a project we should’ve done right off the bat but didn’t, because there were plenty of prettier things do, like paint the master suite. It involves the master shower. Who’s going to re-grout it this weekend? This girl! Yeah, you better be jealous. I party down like it’s nobody’s business.

You see, we didn’t get our faces pressed up against the shower tile when we did our pre-purchase walks. Mainly because one of the owners was still living there and all of her stuff was in the stall and it felt weird. And we expected the home inspection to catch issues like that, since it's visible. Shame on us. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the grout was gross and needed a deep cleaning (normal), but then I realized while taking my first shower that some of the grout on the side tiles is, well, missing.

We should’ve stopped everything there, but we’d just moved into the master bath after removing wallpaper and painting, and I think we were just reluctant to haul it all back. And we had to do some research. We took our sweet time about it.

Quick note: You should seal your grout every 6-12 months. Grout is porous, yo. Then you add in cracks from wear and tear or house shifting, and you’re dripping into the shower pan. I’m terrified that our grout was never sealed, or only once. Hope we’ve got an excellent membrane and mud floor. Eeek.

Originally, we thought we could scrub the grout and refinish it with grout paint, then seal it. That was before I realized there were gaps in the wall grout. So THEN we thought we could caulk between the tiles, because caulk is the duct tape of DIY. Plus, I’m pretty good at it (with the help of painter’s tape) and the stuff formulated for tub and tile is waterproof, so we could skip that step. Genius, yes?

Nope.

Here’s what I learned on whether to caulk or not:

• People do it, but they are in the minority
• Caulk should be used wherever there’s a plane change (corners, seams around tub, etc) so it can flex as the house shifts. Grout will just crack.
• Caulk will wear down faster than grout, and people complain that it gets mildewy faster (even if it’s supposedly resistant)
• I’d be using a lot of painter’s tape, which might not be worth the time and money if I just have to re-do the job in a year or two
• Caulk can be used to patch small areas of missing grout, but it’s not recommended for whole shower walls

It could be that grout companies and their associates have launched a misinformation campaign against caulk, because if people knew how awesome it was as a grout replacement, grout would go out of business. But … probably not. Although I used to fancy myself an individualistic rebel back in the day, I have to say, I’m going to side with majority opinion on this. Grout it is!

Honestly, I’m both excited and fearful of this enterprise. I’ve never grouted before. But we wanted to DIY update the house, so … what’s the point if I cower at some wet cement mixtures? I’m also fretting that the shower has leaked for years and we have a rotting, moldy frame we can’t see until it’s done 5-digits worth of damage. But I’m a worst case scenario girl.

The game plan:

- Tonight - Go to Lowe’s to pick up a rug we ordered (hopefully it’ll be The One); grab grout mix, grout saw, sponge, sealer, etc.; scrub the shower down, dry it, then score out the remaining wall grout, vacuum up dust

- Tomorrow - Grout it! Raise kitchen curtains! Have a drink and watch some TV that night.

- Sunday - Seal it! Get my spray paint on with the cabinet hardware. Pick up box spring and basic frame to complete the "new" four poster bed we scored on Craigslist (post to come).

I SHOULD be working on a presentation and article for my association’s spring meeting later this month, but I feel like this is a much better use of my time. ;-) Oh, and I realize some of you may be wondering where my husband is in this grout scenario ... Well, he's got some other business to attend to ... this house ain't gonna fix itself, you know.

Cabinet Takedown 2014

We're getting a bad reputation. Somehow, when we invite friends over, something winds up coming down. Like wallpaper.

Or kitchen cabinets.

Yesterday morning, Mike got a bee in his bum and took the trim off the top of the peninsula cabinets, along with some doors. I guess scrubbing the grout and grime around the shower door lost its luster and he wanted to see more impressive results? The cabinets were slotted for a spring project, but maybe the snow dancing outside our windows gave him cabin(et) fever.

Mike looked at me with his eager "It's Christmas!" grin and said, "What if the boys get bored tonight and want to take down the cabinets? Is that okay?"

Now, we definitely didn't invite our friends over with the intention of putting them to work, and I think this would be the last "enticing" project, unless someone has a hankering for tiling floors in the master bath. But I'd rather have a couple more people with us when we did pull the cabinets down, so I smiled and said sure, if that's what people wanted to do. Caveat be careful.

So here's a last look at the upper peninsula cabinets.

Photos shot on closing and walk through.

And now let's watch them go bye-bye.

At some point in taking the doors off, the men decided it'd be a good idea to label where each one went.

We had everything down save for a bent screw that just didn't want to come loose. It took some wiggling and cranking with a crowbar, and all women and men on deck, but then she came down in a nice easy piece.

Faces blurred.

We were concerned at one point, with a third of the screws still in, that construction adhesive had also been used. Thankfully that wasn't the case, though we still have some issues to contend with.

Since we plan on painting, this shouldn't be a problem,
but Mike's thinking of using some stain to blend it for the time being.

Cut across to even it out, or replace these last two with new tile?

The moment these cabinets came down, the kitchen completely changed. Light flooded everywhere, it felt huge and open, and we were pretty much giddy but off kilter, like when you step off a boat and now the ground feels like it's moving.

Um, yes, please! The bulkhead looks a little awkward right now, but we'll either put pendent lights up (and smooth out the bottom, or we'll cut it out. We'll need to drill a hole and use the camera to peek inside. Some people find insulation or ductwork, others find it's just boxed in frame with air. Cutting out the bulkhead will be a more intensive project, unfortunately. Decisions, decisions.

So, how about some before and afters?

Check that off the list. And to our friends out there, we won't make this a habit ... unless you want us to ;-)