And so the basement story continues...

For a reference on our previous progress renovating our basement, go here.

A few things have happened since I have written last.  One, we had a daughter!  Isn't she cute????!??

She is now 3 months!!  My my, how time does march on.

Little miss has slowed down basement progress some.  Juggling new baby and creating a room for said baby to live in at the same time is no joke!  I don't recommend it.  We intended to have it done before she came but it just didn't turn out that way!  Finding time to do (loud) basement projects in-between the naps of a toddler and infant (a sensitive, colicky one at that!) has proved to be quite tricky.  We couldn't have done this without the help of my generous parents!!

At this point, the space is really taking shape!  There was a lot that took place behind the scenes down there...so many details to think about before closing in the space!  Here's a recap on plumbing work we have done: Gabe re-routed/replaced almost all the in-efficient copper plumbing with PEX, we moved the water heater from one end of the house to another, and added a bigger water pump.  And Gabe did it all--minus the initial pipes that were added underground for septic.  I was very impressed with his thoughtfulness, planning and ingenuity in the whole process.  We now have better water pressure and a quieter, more updated system thanks to Gabe's research and dedication.  Here's Gabe in action with a blow torch:

Here he is moving the water heater:

And then installing the new, bigger water pump a week later:

Mind you, this work was going on the week we decided to try and potty train our toddler boy.  THAT was an interesting week!!!

So many pipes!

Gabe was forever adding things to the list for what needed to be done before we could schedule the drywall guys to come and work their magic.  On top of the plumbing work, Gabe also did most of the electrical himself, with me being consulted on location of boxes, type and size.  He put in all the vents and we added an exhaust fan in the bathroom--that will be nice, there isn't one in the upstairs bathroom, so we have to open the window in the middle of winter ;) We had to cut into the exterior wall, through brick to fully vent.  That was a noisy day!  Also, I must add, our 2 1/2 year old son is pretty sensitive to loud sounds--he doesn't yet love the sound of his daddy's drill.  It seemed like there was always one more spot to frame (having something on which the drywall would attach!  Just another thing I wouldn't think of!!)

For a good 6 months from the time we started framing in February, there wasn't a whole lot to see--minus minor details only a specialist would notice!!  At the end of August, Gabe and my dad worked on insulating the space.  This was an exciting step since it starts to feel like an enclosed space.  The sound started to deaden a little bit--in a 1960's home with squeaky wooden floors this will be much appreciated!!  The insulation was placed around the exterior wall and in the ceiling, upon my request.  I'm so glad we did!  Here are a few pictures:

After installation, we needed to have one more inspection before we could drywall.  Almost there!!

The night before the drywall guys came, Gabe was rushing around finishing last minute things.  It will be easier to add a light fixture to the stairwell before the drywall goes up, so he took the opportunity to go up to the attic crawl space (yuck!) and do a little guess work on where the fixture would be dropped.  He got it right on the first try!  That's ma man!  :D  Our son was so excited daddy was going up the ladder to an unknown, un-explored space--he wanted to come too (he couldn't--too messy with insulation).  I was rushing to make room for all the little things that were in the room outside of the room.  Gotta be organized or it gets chaotic real quick!

Pics the night before d-day:

Just to note--we have no general contractor.  Gabe and I source and gather materials before the guys come and make sure they will be as efficient as possible.  In this case, we bought 38 sheets of drywall and buckets of mud.  I'm sure there are more details, and we have additional help from my mom and dad too.  My mommy brain spins at times!

Three weeks ago is when we were able to schedule a couple days for the drywall guys to come out and get the job done.  It ended up being a 3 day process stretched over a week timeline.  He came on a Tuesday, with a buddy, and hung the drywall, taped and mudded.  He was here another time over the weekend to sand and mud again and then one final time the next Monday after that to do one more mud and sand.

We had 2 sheets of drywall left.  Better too many than not enough when you are paying someone else for their time and labor.  There was just enough time to take back the last few sheets in Gabe's pick up truck before we sold it to fund more of the project :)

Pics of drywall!

in the mud room from the basement door

from the bathroom

looking into the bathroom

The bulkhead looks a little rough because the guys didn't put drywall there.  Gabe wanted to clad it with something different so he could access the pipes in this trunk line.  So he put 1/4" primed plywood in it's place and we will do some sort of trim piece to hide the cracks showing at the top.  Not my favorite idea, but I guess it's a necessary thing.

Since I didn't get pictures of every. single. step. you can see that it has been primed (with a spray gun) and ceiling paint is already done on top of that.  It is Sherwin Williams "High Reflective White" in a flat finish.

We have since moved the freezer out into the "mud" room where the water heater used to be.  It just fits!  Although it is not in its final location--there will be some switching around of utilities to come.  Just not a priority right now like having a bigger bedroom so we aren't all tripping over one another and all our furniture in our current bedroom!

Freezer's new location:

Basement bedroom without the freezer in the middle:

Now for an especially fun part.  Finishes and fixtures!

Last weekend, we had another subcontractor come out (thanks for the reference Dad!) to tile the bathroom.  Know this, it kills my husband to have to hire someone out to do this.  He wants to do EVERYTHING!!  :P (i love you Gabey)

They came on Saturday, completing most of the shower/tub surround and flooring.  They were there until after 10pm that evening! And they came the next day around 8:30 until around 1pm and laid the rest and grouted.

I'm very pleased with my tile design:

The pink that can be seen around the edge of the tub is part of the waterproofing membrane and can be scraped off easily.

Here is a detail shot:

And the wood look flooring + vanity (uninstalled):

Few more shots:

You can see the paint color options I'm mulling over on the above picture.  I'm looking at some variation (lighter) of Behr "Dolphin fin", "Rhino" and "Sage Gray".  "Rhino" was used in the bathrooms in our first house flip.

Here are the color samples:

Dolphin fin

Rhino 

Sage Gray

Here is the tile on the floor in the bathroom:

I had them lay it in a wood staggered pattern with 3/16" grout joints.  The grout color is "Truffle" from Home Depot.

Here is where we ended up sourcing our wall tile since it went discontinued at Home Depot during our project and I had only bought one box as a sample!  It is a 4 1/2" X 10" matte white tile.  There was one box total out of 11 boxes (120 square feet) of breakage and they were kind enough to send us that replacement free.  This is laid in a brick pattern with a 1/8" grout joints.

This is the accent tile:

I had them cut it down to 4" wide for the band.  We had to do some planning in order to make it fall neatly where we wanted it in relation to the niche.

We haven't installed this yet, but here it is:

Here is the laminate (not my first choice!) flooring we ordered for the bedroom.  I guess hardwood and/or carpet isn't a good idea for a basement.

I made a mock up of the vanity mirror to see how it will fit.  It was tricky to find a mirror that will fit between the sconces.  It's up high because I have a tall husband :) and also because we are putting in a "chair rail" of tile on the north wall to act as the backsplash.

Here is the mirror we bought:

Here is a pic of the vanity sconces:

Here is a pic of the lighting fixture in the hallway of the bathroom, in front of the linen closet:

This weekend, we are hoping to install the doors and some trim.  Gabe bought them a couple days ago:

The floor trim we have ordered in keeping with the rest of the house:

We are also hoping to install the flooring in the bedroom.

Here's hoping it's done soon!!  We sure are ready.

I'll be in touch for the conclusion of the matter!

2nd house Updates! Kitchen projects

Onward to the kitchen.

Last summer when I wrote, we had painted the kitchen cabinets, stripped & resprayed the handles and were working to lay a black and white checkered vinyl flooring tile.

Check out the upstairs floor plan from the last blog on the house here to find your way around.

A reminder of where things started for us:

Where we left off last time:

This was all before we moved in last July.  We were scrambling to "finish" the kitchen before moving in.  It was already functional, but we had gotten a dishwasher for free from a friend that we wanted to install next to the refrigerator on the opposite wall.  Also, the space had no existing pantry and I wanted to add a bit more storage too.  When all was said and done, we added a butcher block countertop, more cabinets, dishwasher, microwave cabinet, and pantry.

Here we go!  This is our process.

Some of the parts of the puzzle:

dishwasher laying on floor, 24" upright pantry and 24" base cabinet

Before beginning, Gabe had to do some creative work with electrical.  The existing outlet above where the counter was going to go was connected to the refrigerator, so adding a microwave to that wasn't going to be able to bear the load, so Gabe added another outlet/circuit nearby (ended up being hidden behind the microwave).  So before we could put the fridge back in it's spot, Gabe had to get all the electrical squared away.

Then Gabe moved the refrigerator back into its place in the corner:

Then a dry fit of the base cabinet and dishwasher in place next to the fridge:

And then dry fitting the butcher block countertop and pantry:

This really was a puzzle that just so happened to work really well.  The low profile pantry we already had, the countertop we bought was 4' long which worked with a standard 24" base cabinet and a 24" standard dishwasher.  The cool thing is that we had about an inch or two to spare along that whole wall :)

The butcher block was originally a table top that Gabe removed the legs from and gave it a good sanding and reinforcing of the individual slats.

The upper cabinets worked out too, because we already had the wall cabinet box from the first house project--we just needed to buy a door-so I decided to go with a glass door :)  And since we don't have as much countertop space to begin with, we decided to buy a microwave cabinet shelf, which fit nicely above the base cabinet.

Upper cabinets installed:

Then, Gabe worked to install and hook up the water line for the dishwasher that was going in.

Shown below, Gabe is almost done with the installation of the base cabinet and countertop support installation:

Also, the original outlet has been patched over because it fell right where the countertop was going and had to be moved up a few inches to be accessible once the countertop was secured in place.

Nearly finished, the kitchen, even though it isn't as much of an eat in kitchen still has an open feel to it.  A bistro table will eventually go under the window as an attempt at a partial eat in kitchen.  Around the corner from the pantry is the basement door, so there must be enough clearance to pass through comfortably.

Lastly, I bought handles like the ones we already had and spray painted them to match to bring cohesion from the old to the new.

It was at this point that we could move into the home because this was the last thing that needed to be done before we could do so.



Much later (months later) we were able to take the time to work on the backsplash.  This was a winter activity, since it would be solely an indoor job--not taking up valuable warm weather projects time.  I believe we tackled this around Thanksgiving break.

I had bought these a while back:

I somehow don't have too many in process pictures, but here is one:

The hardest part for Gabe was all the cuts he had to make with a utility knife around the cabinetry, outlets and exhaust fan:

And ta da!  I present to you the finished backsplash.  I like it!

I especially like this paired with the vintage stainless steel edged laminate countertops!  :)

And a detail shot:

we bought stainless steel outlet covers too

And, I don't know how I forgot to get a good before shot of the awful condition this exhaust fan was in before we spruced it up!

It was caked in many layers of paint and grime, so Gabe stripped the paint and sprayed it with a fresh new coat of paint and added new screen behind it as well.

I think this is a mighty fine transformation if I do say so!!

Additional shots of the fan:

And a view of the other side of the kitchen with the same backsplash tile to pull it all together:

And you can see that the countertop is all oiled up and ready to go with a walnut oil/butcher block oil to keep it from getting dried out.

The last update we made to the kitchen is the light fixture.  What we had was a ceiling flush mount fluorescent light.  This is the only picture I could find as a "before" pic of it:

This is what we came up with--a semi-flush mount light fixture with diffused ambient light for the kitchen:

Now to share a pic of the bistro table I bought for under the window in the kitchen:

The succulent plant stand is temporarily taking up space in the kitchen during the winter (so it doesn't die).  The table fits very well into this space--a perfect place to park and eat a quick meal in front of the window :)

Here is another view of the table, showing a little bit more context:

A corner of the pantry can be seen on the right as well as a door leading to the back yard.

The curtains on this window (and over the kitchen sink) I adapted from scarves that I bought at Pier 1 Imports.  For this one, I had a wide sheer curtain that I cut in half, hemmed one side, and attached the scarf at the top.  The only problem (that I still need to fix) is that even though I did both of the sheer pieces (seen behind the scarf) the same length, when they were both done and hung up on the window, I noticed that the scarves were different lengths...something I didn't consider as a possible problem initially, so I'm still scratching my head about how I might fix it.  Or I might just leave it because it's barely noticeable!!!! (but I notice..) :D

Moving around the corner for a closer look at the back door, you can see the curtains I made:

From the basement stairwell looking up:

This photo was taken from the top of the basement stairs looking into the kitchen:

You can see the profile of the bistro table from this vantage point.

For the curtain swag over the kitchen sink window I used the same scarf idea from the other window and had a sheer checkered (gingham-esque) curtain that I got that pairs up with the scarf swag quite nicely.  It is literally just draped over the curtain rod--nothin' fancy :)

Here are a couple more detail pics of the kitchen space--a few fresh herbs stayin' alive: basil and rosemary along with some beautiful roses from my sweet husband ;-)

Here's a pretty cactus flower by my sink that I got from a large community yard sale last spring along with some succulents chillin' on the sill:

Notice the condensation on the windows.  This is what single paned windows do.  Who knew?  It's absolutely gorgeous when it crystallizes in freezing temperatures and the morning sun hits it.  Yes.

And that is a wrap for the kitchen space!