Projects 2 & 3 - Bathrooms

While the kitchen left much to be desired, we were looking to update the bathrooms, as well.  We have a 2.5 bathroom house. The hallway bath (middle bathroom) is a little outdated, but looked as if it's hardly been used, so we left that one as is.  The master bath and the half bath are what we tackled.  We basically just gutted and replaced everything, but no major renovations like the kitchen.

Half bath before pictures:

Half bath after pictures.

 New tile from Maxsam, http://www.maxsamtile.com/
Vanity, toilet and faucet from Lowe's

The mirror is from Ikea:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70204942/

I can't seem to swing this thing around, so sorry if you're hurting your neck checking out this picture.  The light and bulb hanging from the ceiling above the mirror are from West Elm.  And this bulb better last, because I don't normally spend crazy dough on bulbs, but it was cool looking.

Light:

http://www.westelm.com/products/industrial-pendant-mercury-w683/?pkey=e%7Clight%7C32%7Cbest%7C4294967159%7C1%7C24%7C%252Flight%252Flighting-chandeliers-pendants%7C7&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||Category%7CCategory-_-Lighting%7CChandeliers%20%2B%20Pendants-_-NoMerchRules-_-

Bulb:

http://www.westelm.com/products/plumen-bulb-w685/?pkey=e%7Cbulb%7C5%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C4&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_-

Jury's still out on this.  I like the corner shelf, but will guests get angry if the toilet paper's not hanging for a quick scroll?

Master bathroom before picture 

(sorry for not taking more, but it wasn't very interesting anyway)

Master bath after:

We opened up the wall by the toilet.

 I'm pretty sure we went with the Grigio Stella color for granite.  Wasn't too happy with the place we got it from...

The sink is Kohler Caxton undermount from Lowes.

The faucet is from Lowe's as well. We had to put it in without the pulley (to close the drain) since it was too close to the backsplash.

The cabinets are Kraftmaid from Lowe's.

The door knobs and pulls are Michael Aram pebble from Lowe's.

Toilet's from Lowe's too.

Originally wanted a yellow theme, but loving the Lacoste orange towels and floor mat we found at Macy's on sale.

Of course the bathroom floor tiles, wall tiles and shower floor tiles are all from Maxsam.  We had two granite shelves built into the wall.

Shower floor tiles

Shower head from Lowe's.  

DELTA Chrome Madison 4-Spray Convertible Shower Massager

We built a medicine cabinet into the wall behind the bathroom door.  It's from Lowe's.  Since the regular mirror (which we still haven't found/bought) will be across, I want to find a decal to cover up the mirror.

Dining room table update

In the last dining room post, I showed you how I measured out the space to ensure the table would fit, as well as the picture I took in the Raymour and Flanigan showroom.

Below is the actual set in my dining room.  We decided not to go with benches, to ensure all of our guests are more comfortable.  That means we can only push 4 chairs all the way in and the other 4 have to stick out a bit, but it's fine. I don't think anyone else notices.

Also, since we are going to be redoing the flooring, we have not yet put in the pretty rocks and glass that goes in the center of the table.

Kitchen Update - December 2012

I have determined that I am a terrible blogger.  In my defense, the kitchen redo ended up being a six month incredibly slow process.  Waiting for the city building permits was a month in itself, while absolutely nothing was done.  None of that matters anymore, because it's basically complete now!  I have been cooking in it and made my first complete meal for myself and 6 others this past weekend, which went well.  Here are the updated pictures (finally!).  Beautiful, right?!


Where the oven and microwave are used to be a doorway.  Where the opening on the right is, that used to be closed off.

A closer look at the backsplash.  They are from Soho Studio (bought at Maxsam Tile in East Brunswick).
Soho:
http://www.sohostudiocorp.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=Hickory-Wood-Plank
Maxsam (ask for Maria):
http://www.maxsamtile.com/

The corner cabinets.  We did glass on the top corners and lazy susans on the bottoms.

The granite goes into the den so we could have a nice workspace to prep food, and seats for visitors while we're cooking.

This is the view from the den into the kitchen into the dining room.

The stools are from Pier 1.
http://www.pier1.com/Lawson-Backless-Counterstool---Black/2576238,default,pd.html

Here is the view into the dining room.  There used to be a wall here, but we wanted to open up the space even more.  Now it's perfect as a buffet to put food on when we are eating in the dining room.

We are still looking to purchase a hightop table for the left side here with two bar stools with backs.

Kitchen Tile Update

The kitchen tiles went in today with the spacers.  

We decided to have the lines run longways and the tiles to be in a straight line vs in a more brick-like pattern.

It's a little dark and I can't walk in there yet, but here are some pics.

Kitchen Update 3 Months Later

Back on 5/13/12, I posted a kitchen update.  Now it's been almost three months and we are finally getting somewhere!

The walls are closed up.  Remember when there was a door opening straight ahead?

And now the two doorways in from the den are the same height!  The one on the left used to be higher.  And notice the two walls we have opened up.  You can now see the dining room from the den and the house seems so much more open.

Linen closet project

I decided an easy project to take on that would keep me busy while the kitchen work continues is the linen closet. I feel it's important sometimes to choose to do something that you know you can finish quickly, easily and without much stress.

First I went to Lowe's and purchased some materials:
-new hinges (the old ones were gold)
-paint (white semi-gloss, the cheapest one on the shelf)
-sandpaper
-paintbrushes
-cut shelves (I went to the lumber section and picked the white-covered wood, they will cut them for you)

I also went stopped by Anthropologie since they have the best-known collection I know of for door handles. (see below)

I took the doors off the hinges, sanded them down, painted, put the new hinges on, new knobs on and out the door back up.

The shelves were stuck in and I went and purchased some electrical tape to cover the edges. I'm still tryin to igure out the best way of it staying put and I will try blow drying it next. Stay tuned.

Dining Room Table

I haven't consistently been looking for a dining room table, but I browse furniture stores and keep searching for one that catches my eye.  While I assumed I was going to end up having to buy a regular rectangular table, my mind was set on finding a round or square one that would seat at least 8.  Problems being 1) will it fit in the room, and 2) does a square one exist that isn't bar-height requiring tall bar stools.

Yesterday at a Raymour & Flanigan in Fairfield, NJ (as opposed to the one by my house), I finally found one!  The plan is to go with 8 chairs, as opposed to the benches.  The middle of the table has a cut-out, and comes with white rocks to put under the glass (very Zen).  But, I figure it's a creative space to put anything, or maybe just a lazy susan inside or over the glass instead of a decorative piece.  We shall see.

But, before the purchase is final, I needed to 1) make sure it fits, and 2) convince Randy.

The measuring part was easy, as I repurposed a pinterest idea and used painters tape to map it out.  I put our current dining chairs surrounding to make sure the proper 24 inches on each side were wide enough for someone to pull out their seat and stand up.  It fits!  And doesn't really block the doorway into the kitchen.  Especially when the chairs are tucked under the table we are good to go.

Now back to the store tomorrow to hopefully purchase!  And hopefully purchase with zero percent down... I'll see what I can negotiate.

19 days later...

I haven't written since moving day, as it's been quite a whirlwind at my full-time job, followed by house craziness.

Project #1, aka the kitchen, which was started way before moving day is still going on.  Contractors suck!  Permit this, permit office that, all I know is I'm still without a kitchen, which means no gas, which means no hot water, so I am living with my in-laws...  Plan of attack, according to said contractors:  get permits, have electrical and plumbing inspections, close up walls, put down tile, put up cabinets, put in appliances.  We'll see how long that takes.

In the meantime, I have my own projects going on.  Current one being tackled are the master closets.  We don't have fancy walk-ins, but we are still trying to go a little fancier than we've had in the past.  Bought some closet kits at Lowe's, and they were fairly easy to put together (damn cam locks, whatever these things are).

I just didn't realize what a pain in the a** attaching them to the wall would be.  So, the fam came over to help, and 5 hours later, and 3 extra trips to Lowe's later, one closet is majority finished.  Still need to saw a couple poles down to size, but otherwise ready to add clothes, which I'm hoping to do tomorrow.

Here's a crappy picture with a promise to take a better one soon.  And ignore the ugly shoe rack from our old apartment that we set on the ground inside.

That's all for tonight folks!
BEL

Moving day

I know I haven't posted in a bit. Bear with me through my busy season at work.

Saturday was moving day. We hired movers, so I did none of the "heavy lifting," yet it was an exhausting day!

Randy, the hubby, decided to do laundry the night before, and by midnight it wasn't dry yet, so I went to bed. It is much easier to throw dirty clothes in a trash bag for transport. I was fresh out of suitcases.

8am the movers show up, earlier than we thought and I'm folding laundry. Just how I wanted to start my day.

Took them about 3 hours to get everything in the truck. And we beat them to the house with just enough time to grab a go wrap in the Wendy's drive-thru.

We had them put all of the furniture in the living room, the clothes in one bedroom and the remaining boxes in another.

And now I didn't know where to start unpacking because we still need to redo the bathroom in the master before we move in. Yes, that means we have an apartment in Jersey City (for 2 more days) and a house in the burbs, and we are living at a bed and breakfast (aka my in-laws).

The roller coaster ride has begun. The anticipation of what lies ahead, some nerves, some excitement, but still fun, for the time being.

Mirror Mirror Off the Wall

It's a little hard to tell, but on the wall in the middle of the two doorways below is a mirror....with a light on top. There are many things I love about the '80s...but, this house came with 4 too many mirrors on the walls.  Don't get me wrong, I own mirrors, but not the kind that are glued on for-ev-er.  

So, the contractors have now taken down the mirrors, you can see the holes from the super glue.  Hope to have that patched up soon!  And if a mirror wasn't enough, there's a light on top of this one.  Why? No idea.  That'll be the next thing to come down.

Maybe put a china cabinet there for all of my bridal shower gifts?  Or a bench with a picture on top?  The options are limitless....

Before:

After:

8/6/12 Revision:

The contractors came back and re-sheetrocked the wall.  It's good as new!  At least until the painters sand it down and paint the wall.  (I'll take a better shot when I can.)

Kitchen update - Tiles

Alright people, the kitchen tiles have officially been ordered!  They're a sort of brown-grey.

Albarracín Pizarra
(scroll down on the link below, it's...I think... the tile on the right, PC-70)
http://www.cristalceramicas.com/ing/detalleproductos.asp?cod=76&codigo=226&tip=1

The tiles were the most difficult choice for some reason.  Loved these tiles, but found it hard to not match the granite with the tile.  They won't be touching each other, and if you look at any countertop, and then look at the floor, they NEVER go together.  So, I'm not sure what I was thinking.

Kitchen - Work in Progress

Man do I wish Pinterest existed when I was planning my wedding.  It is giving me ideas for everything in this house!  Check out my boards on www.pinterest.com/bel417

So, here's where we're at:

Opened up the wall between the kitchen and the den (front part of picture), and opened up the wall between the eat-in and dining room area.

Ripped out all of the cabinets and building a wall where entrance 3 existed.  Won't need to access the garage door from there since the granite will hang over to the den and you can swing around that way.

Picked out some cabinets at Lowe's. Raised panel Princeton model.  Color-espresso (not shown below). The top cabinets will have an arch, bottoms will be square.  Two corner cabinets will have glass.

Picked out granite and tiles, now just have to order those.  Granite color is below: Giallo Ornamental.

Project 1 - Kitchen

Since the kitchen is the biggest undertaking and the place where we spend a lot of time cooking and entertaining, we hired a contractor and are trying to get a bit of it done before we move.

The layout how it was didn't seem to be working, so we've opened up two walls and are closing one of the three entrances (who needs 3 ways into the kitchen?!).

Here are some pictures of what came with the house.

Eat-in kitchen, ancient appliances, ginormous window

 Closed-off galley-style kitchen with entrances wherever you turn, and cabinets that do not go up to the ceiling.  No pantry, nada.

Where to Start

There is so much to share, I decided to test out a blog as a means of communicating.  In between late nights at the office, I am packing up my urban Jersey City apartment and moving out to the 'burbs.  And in the process, trying to make our starter home everything we want it to be.

The house was built in 1988, not quite as old as me, but it definitely needs some TLC and remodeling.  Sure, we could just move in, replace the appliances, and be done.  But we decided to spend the money now to be able to enjoy everything we want for our home throughout the years.