Work in progress

Chad is kicking ass on this project so that we have a working bathroom up and running soon. He is taking time off from working at the furniture shop, which is his winter job, so that this project gets done before landscaping starts off.

Bringing in the new tub:


The new tub resting on it's legs:



The new built in shelves behind the tub for shampoo, etc. You can also see the new glass block window. Can you believe that Chad did all this so fast?

Framing in the tub:


After a long day of drywalling.
The cut out for the medicine cabinet:
The built in shelves all drywalled:
The built in tub:
The view from the hallway:

Whew! That was a lot of work!

The tub has arrived

We had a hard time finding a tub that would fit in a 30 x 66 inch opening. Most tubs today are 32 inches wide atleast. Our old tub was 30 x 60 x 14, which is very shallow. The new tub is roughly 30 x 66 x 18 -- giving us 24 more cubic inches of soaking room. It is a European tub made by Duravit and designed by Phillipe Stark, which we bought from tubz.com. Luckily it was in stock somewhere in the U.S. so it did not have to be shipped from Germany, where it is made.

Rrrrr! Sassy! Hold on there!
Here is our old tub, for comparison. Of course, there was not usually a toilet in it, but you get the gist. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the new tub is a lot more roomy.

This is actually the thing I am most excited to have with the new bathroom. The old tub was so small, we never took baths in it. The new tub will afford us bathing luxuries!

We were considering going with a jacuzzi tub.. but I read that on average, people use them 4 times a year. And all and all, it was not worth the extra cost for me. I am however ecstatic over our newly acquired 24 cubic inches.

But Emily, you have a one bathroom house. What are you doing while you remodel the bathroom?

Luckily, the original residents of our house installed very makeshift plumbing facilities in the unfinished basement. We think that a teenager lived in the basement at one point. We never had any reason to use said facilities until the day we accidentily began remodeling the bathroom. All it took was about $30 worth of plumbing to get it up and running.

It is not pretty. And it is cold. But if we didn't have it, I would be living with my parents while Chad could just step out into the backyard. Entertaining at our house is now limited to events where minimal beverages are served, and which last two hours or less. See what I mean?




Another hazard of remodeling is that you might kick your foot on a toolbox that is accidentily left in the hallway, and then have to hobble around and bail out on cross country skiing because your toe hurts. Right third toe, the bruise is halfway down my foot:

We are accidentily remodeling the bathroom

One little leaky faucet led to all this...

Another Break....

We're on home remodeling vacation again, but this time, it's because Chad is going to be featured on the HGTV show Landscape Smart. Read about it on Chad's web site. We are super excited!

Now that the landscaping season is almost over and the TV episodes are wrapping up filming, I am hoping that we can focus back on our house. Our projects to finish include:

Kitchen:
-baseboards
-frame out back doorway
-stain and refinish door
-new light for over the sink
-pulls on cabinets
-install IKEA rails on backsplash

Finish Back Entry Way

Living Room
-replace trim
-crown moulding
-replace trim on floor

Porch
-refinish floors
-new trim


A lot, but we are ready.

The Front Yard: Year two

We re-did our front yard in August, 2005. So this is the second year for the plants. Here is how everything is doing:



We are having a major squirrel problem, note the sumac in the front which is dying from being chewed apart by a squirrel. We have sworn revenge.

Remodeling Vacation.

Ahh, vacation from remodeling. Hanging out with friends. Enjoying the last bits of summer. Booze cruises on the pontoon boat. A blow out 30th party for Chad. August has been great! Soon enough, it will be back to work for us. There are a number of items left with the kitchen, but we are close. Here are the latest pics:

The Great Armwrestling Competition

Chad Freedom Fest 2006

You are invited: To the Chad Freedom Fest 2006. Join us to celebrate Chad's freedom from:
-Our kitchen remodeling project (see the finished product)
-His 20s (It's his thirtieth birthday!)
-And from his credit card debt of ten years!

Hope you can make it!
BBQ starting at 4pm
We're hoping to line up live music, if we can get our neighbors to agree
If you are so inclined, bring something to share (food or drink). Otherwise, just bring yourselves.
Please invite anyone I missed.

Please let me know if you can make it.

The Wall Color Debate

We debated about what color to paint the wall looking into the kitchen. I wanted orange. Chad wanted green. We could not decide. I told him it was his choice, but when we went to the paint store, I said, what color would you pick if you didn't pick green? He gave in. We picked blue. I painted the wall blue. We both hated it. I told him he had to pick the next color, and I would paint. He picked yellow, the color of the mustard at McDonalds. I painted.



We both hated the yellow. What were we thinking? I came home one day and Chad had painted a dark gray, a color we had in the basement. It looks lovely.

We are starting to tile:
And we have a few of the cabinet pulls on:
The microwave is in, but not vented, and there is no electicity.

We are getting close. To celebrate, we will be holding the Chad Freedom Festival 2006 at our house on July 29. The party is to celebrate chad's freedom from his 20s (it's his 30th birthday), freedom from the kitchen (we hope) and freedom from his credit card debt. Woo hoo! Hope you can make it.

Update: We have a functioning kitchen

Counters are in, sink is in, dishwasher is in. The kitchen is working!


New dishwasher is nice & quiet:

This little pull out holds the trash & recycling out of sight:

View into the living room. Chalkboard paint on the top. The dust in the air is from Chad sanding the basement with plastic walls up. He did not believe that dust was getting everywhere in the house until I showed him these pictures. He says who cares, it's got to get done. I say take it outside buddy.

The sink is a holy grail of kitchen remodeling when you have been without a sink for 6 months. Sweet victory. The sink was a lot of work to install, especially since it was 90 degrees and Memorial day weekend. Chad cracked a corner of the soapstone counter off in the process and had to epoxy it back on. That was temporary defeat. He then sanded it back out. It is nearly imperceptible now.

View in from the living room. Fridge on right. Chad is working on the maple finish work around the bar area now. Backsplash tiles are set up against the wall for temporary judgement and any last ditch attempts to change our minds regarding design choices. Doesn't the old stove look out of place now? Hopefully that can be replaced as soon as our bank account is replenished.

Happy Birthday Mica! The teeth fell out of a green pinata.

DIY Soapstone Countertops

The Quest for DIY soapstone has been quite an ordeal, but we picked up the soapstone this weekend, and have started installing the countertops. As a little background to y'all, and also to document this quest for other like minded folks in search of soapstone countertops, the story goes something like this:

We learned about soapstone via a whisper of information available online by searching DIY soapstone. We read that it was a high quality material that regular, ambitious people could perhaps cut and install themselves, to save some dough. We also liked the look of the material, the fact that it is matte & natural stone.

So, we began to look for a place locally who would sell us the stone. The distributors who have the huge warehouses of stone do not sell to the public, and for good reason, as the stone is so heavy we could not move or transport it without heavy equipment. SO then we started to realize that we needed someone to cut the stone to the rought sizes for us, and we would do the finishing and the installation. We found a place via an ad in the phonebook, and we went out to look at thier showroom. They tried to sell us the one piece of soapstone they had, and told us that was the only kind available (the piece they had in stock had HUGE variations in it). They then referred us to the stone distributor, where we could go and pick our our very own slab.

Meanwhile, we learned that our friend knew someone who owned a stone countertop fabricator. Score! Distinctive Stone Interiors in St. Paul, MN gave us a quote, which was very reasonable. We ended up paying about $50/square foot for the stone, and to have them cut the pieces to the right size, but not install or finish sand them. The installed price is between $80-$120. The other quote we got locally was for $75/sq foot, for the stone and to have them cut the pieces to size, not installed. We were about ready to go with M Teixeira Soapstone, who will ship the stone to you, for a hefty shipping fee of $500. This would be a good option if you can't find anyone locally to sell you the stone cut, but not installed.

So, on Saturday, Chad when and picked up the countertops from the stone place. They even built a little carrying thing so he could pick it up in his truck:


Each of the pieces needed to be sanded -- both on the top and on the edges. Apparently the factory finish that comes on the stone is not good enough. The stone people lent Chad the tools to do the sanding (a wet sander), here is him sanding:


Two of the six pieces took about two hours to sand.


Keeping some water on there really helped to get the finish smooth:


Taa-daa! Here is the first of the countertops. The counters just get glued on with silicone epoxy. I added some mineral oil to give the stone the dark finish.



This piece had a little more variation that I originally wanted, but I think I will learn to like it.

Here is the second piece that we installed:

I love the soapstone, it really makes the kitchen look great. We are getting very close to finishing.