our cosmetic fixer

the new side door (finally)

2009-01-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

after waiting for what seemed like eons for the custom side door to get made and then coordinate the installation, it's in and it matches the garden window like we hoped:

and a closeup (let's see the bandits kick this down):

arrrgh, thar be bandits!

2008-11-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

as we were getting close to the tail end of the office projects, we came home after work on a friday to find this:

the would-be bandits smashed the glass and were likely dismayed by finding a double cylinder lock in their way, so they tried to kick the door down. too bad for them, the door jambs are solid 1926 douglas fir:

the deadbolt gave its life to keep the house safe and the burglars never got in:

we had wanted to replace the door when we were redoing the kitchen, and now we have a reason. unfortunately, while we are waiting for the door to arrive, we must live like the zombie apocalypse is coming:

office round 1 - the closet

2008-07-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

the first project tackled in the office was the closet. first, demolition:

the plan for this closet is for it to also serve as the house networking hub, so all of the network cables will run to this closet and be handled by the router. to accommodate all of the wires, a big hole was drilled in the sill down to the crawlspace:

since routers need power, we also installed a new outlet next to the data outlet. a quick patch up job and it's as good as new:

the closet windows were also so heavily painted over they barely closed, so more stripping:

paint and installation of the new closet hardware and we're done:

the first of three bedrooms - the office

2008-06-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

the next project to tackle is the office. some current shots:

and the closet:

the plans for the room include new windows to replace the casement windows that open inward, new closet hardware, installing network ports, paint, and building a new desk.

we're famous...ok, not really

2008-03-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

the wonderful home decorating blog, Apartment Therapy, did a story on lori's door finishes, check it out!

finally, the linen closet

2007-11-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

with the tools living in their proper home (the garage), we could tackle the linen closet and the smells within. here's what the hall looked like when we started:

we're not sure why there was a deadbolt on the linen closet, but we took care of that along with re-installing mortise hardware (we even found a glass knob set hiding in the closet that matches the rest of the knobs in the house!). here's the stinky domain:

when we pulled out the old shelves, we realized that they were the source of the stink. while we could have just replaced these shelves to eradicate the stink, we were already set to turn it into a cedar closet, so we proceeded. here's after the cedar was installed with the new shelves, and the hall has been painted:

back to the closet door, we first made a hole plug to start the deadbolt fill:

filling the hole left from the new-school cylinder handle was trickier. this was the original door so digging out the filler used to fill the old mortise set wasn't a problem, but the hole was bored right where the mortise would have to live. to get around this, we made another hole plug, then attched the plug to a 2x4 and ran the plug through a table saw to cleanly remove material so the mortise would fit partially inside of the hole plug:

and here it is installed:

and here's the hallway with the refinished door installed (and with lori's lovely finish):

and a close-up of the linen closet finish:

here's an overall view of the completed hallway with four of lori's six doors visible:

tackling the garage

2007-09-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

for the past two years we've stored tools in the linen closet mostly because the linen closet smelled weird. no, the linen closet didn't smell weird due to the tools; the smell came before the tools though probably the tools didn't improve the odor. lori was approaching her limit living without a linen closet so another home for the tools had to be found -- the garage. but first, the garage had to be reorganized.

here's one side before we started. the shelves were sagging, the cabinet was falling apart, and our firewood was stacked on the floor of the garage:

to remedy the shortcomings, we installed new heavy-duty shelves, bought a bike rack to hold jason's bike, bought a log-holder to store the wood, and even included storage up high for spare construction supplies:

the garage came with a significant amount of storage already built, but we weren't using it that effectively. construction supplies were haphazardly leaning about and the shelves were disorganized:

once the paint and construction supplies were organized we were able to more effectively use the space we have, and we bought hooks to hang many of our garden tools:

the last section of the garage was identified as jason's future workbench area. there's only one word to describe the original state or this area - gross:

the final product made jason very excited. he built a work bench, got a tool rollaway, and installed peg board, a small cabinet, and an overhead work light:

the workbench surface was made from cheap solid oak flooring planks - it turned out pretty well:

another room done

2007-05-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

we installed the baseboards and then had to hunt around to find quarter round molding in white oak to go around the curio cabinets. now that everything is installed, we can finally call the dining room done.

see, baseboards:

looking towards the french doors to the front patio:

and one of the finishing touches (we were so happy to finally be rid of the unsightly gap we lived with for almost a year):

a long overdue project

2007-03-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

we hoped to refinish both the living and dining room floors before we moved in to get rid of the horrid finish called pickle. unfortunately, we were only able to accomplish the living room so we've been living with mismatched floors for almost two years. the time finally came to complete the dining room. here's the original pickle:

here's a close-up shot of the original pickle in the dining room next to the refinished living room floors:

and here's the completed floors (baseboards pending):

kitchen epilogue

2007-03-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

we rushed to tie up loose ends before thanksgiving, only to wind up with food poisoning forcing us to cancel our big debut. after the holidays we lounged around and enjoyed the kitchen and forgot all about blogging. now we're back (for a few posts anyway) and here are some pictures to close out kitchen-related posts.

here's the lounge with the light we ordered (and managed to install before thanksgiving):

and here are some shots of the final kitchen without tools and construction refuse:

door number 1, 2, or 3?

2006-11-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

we're so close to our self-imposed house-remodeling holiday! this past weekend we tended to much-neglected yardwork and finished up our last major projects.

lori finished the two door projects. you can't tell in the picture, but the laundry room door has metallic silver raised areas with a reddish background:

again, the picture doesn't do it justice, but the dining room closet has bronze raised areas with a reddish background:

finally, we finished refurbishing the side door to the kitchen. we had planned on replacing the door, but in the interest of time and $$$, we painted it and installed some trim. we have a roman shade on order to give us some privacy, but the door looks a lot better:

our lounge light arrives on tuesday, but you'll have to wait until we get back on the blogwagon after the holidays. we are officially on vacation! happy holidays...

we can cook now, but where are we to eat?

2006-11-05T20:00:00.000-08:00

sorry we've been negligent to our faithful viewers! two weeks ago we finally unpacked our boxes of dishes, pots, pans, silverware, etc. and started using the kitchen! we are still tying up loose ends (such as installing undercabinet lighting, caulking, organizing, etc.), but everything is now functional and we are eating, drinking, and cooking like normal people.

most importantly, we reopened the lounge. unfortunately, we are still waiting for our lounge overhead light to arrive, but you don't need light to sit and drink while someone else prepares dinner, right?

drinks, anyone?

since the kitchen is about 90% finished, we decided it was time to move on to the dining room. we painted and installed a chandelier and new sconces. we chose red for the ceiling molding, a dark brown accent wall, lighter brown main walls, and the orange-brown trim color in the kitchen for the door molding. in this picture you can see our color choices and the lighting:

a detailed shot of the antique spanish colonial revival sconces we bought over a year ago:

we also painted the foyer and installed a spanish overhead light (a mere reproduction) that we also bought over a year ago:

while the light is very pretty, it doesn't put out much light due to the mica. a detailed shot of the light:

we will likely make one more update before we break for the holiday. lori's famous door projects are in progress, so you'll not want to miss seeing the final products!

what's that drip?!

2006-10-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

this weekend we finally hooked up the kitchen sink, faucet, garbage disposal, and dishwasher! the kitchen is actually starting to look and feel like a kitchen. now, if we could just find the time to tie up the loose ends and clear out the construction refuse, we could cook something and eat on real plates and use real silverware...

we also installed the remaining hardware on the cabinets. here are some pictures which show the "completed" sink side, oven side, and dry bar:

we also finished painting the window trim and installed baseboards in the lounge:

stay tuned - we're not done yet! we still have to paint the dining room, side door, finish the baseboards...

what's that smell?!

2006-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

it's a functional oven!

we had to celebrate another step towards civilization by baking a frozen pizza. we connected the cooktop and installed the oven in its cabinet this weekend. it wasn't without trials though, as the gas regulator for the cooktop would have gotten in the way of the oven:

a little plumbing and it was easy-breezy:

after the cooktop and oven were in place, unbeknownst to us there was one final, crucial step; jason had to crawl under the house and pull the wire for the oven to the electric panel and install a new breaker and connect some loose electrical to power the cooktop ignitor.

here's the cooktop in action:

in addition, we grouted the backsplash:

all about the backsplash

2006-10-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

from the very beginning of the kitchen design, we knew that we wanted the focal point of the kitchen to be the backsplash. we purposely chose fairly mellow cabinets, countertop, and paint (with the exception of the faux finish in the lounge) so we could select a fun, bright backsplash.

friday we spent running around town getting supplies and familiarized ourselves with cutting tiles; tiny 3/4" glass tiles are much more fragile than the 12" slate floor tiles. by the end of the day, we laid the glass tile in the lounge window box:

on saturday we finished hanging the rest of the tile.

the stove side:

the sink side:

the dry bar:

a detail view of the bar tile:

we hoped to grout on sunday, but unfortunately, someone applied the thinset too thickly in some places so the whole day was lost to scraping the extra thinset out from between the tiles using a tiny screwdriver. it was not pleasant.

at the end of the weekend, the foreman christened our work:

the dawn of civilization

2006-10-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

we kicked off the weekend by applying an acid wash to the slate floor to remove the grout haze. that did wonders for the floor, but seeing the gold flecks in the slate catch the sun is a sight that cannot be seen in a photo. after sealing the floor, there was nothing stopping us from hooking up some appliances.

to install the refrigerator, jason had to crawl under the house to run the water line from the sink to refrigerator cabinet. once that was done, installing the fridge was a piece of cake. we now have an unlimited supply of cold water and ice cubes!

next up was the washer and dryer. when we moved into this house 14 months ago, we knew something would be done to the kitchen/laundry room so we decided to wait to buy a washer and dryer, which meant 14 months of going to the laundromat. this was an exciting day. after lori flexed her muscles and helped jason stack the dryer, all of the connections were made and we truly entered the civilized world.

here's the view from the laundry to the kitchen:

we also hung the last two pendants over the bar:

here's another close-up, the glass on these pendants is more interesting than those over the sink:

we also hung all of the curio doors:

here's the laundry sink base with doors and hardware (also note the faucet - it actually works now!):

a close-up of our hardware choice:

the floor is done

2006-09-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

well, almost. we finished grouting this weekend, but we have some final cleaning and sealing to do (that's the easy stuff).

we also received our backsplash, which hopefully will be installed in two weeks. here's the 50 lb box of tile:

and a finishing touch, we finally put the dangling wires over the sink to use and installed our pendants (we have another pair to go over the bar but they aren't installed yet):

and here's a close-up:

the floor takes shape

2006-09-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

we finished laying the tile this weekend, but we still have to grout and seal.

not much of an update - sorry.

labor

2006-09-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

is there a better way to celebrate labor day weekend than 3 days of labor? we think not, but we would relish the opportunity to partake in other options. the focus of this holiday weekend was installing the slate floor. after doing some research, we realized it's a good idea to wash slate before installing it. washing 250 12 in by 12 in tiles takes longer than you might expect. after washing and sorting through the tiles, we tackled the layout. the best way to arrange tiles in an odd shaped space takes longer than you might expect (in fact, we've learned that everything takes longer than you might expect). you have to consider how to avoid small cut pieces around the edges, how the tiles butt up against the cabinets, what is centered (a tile or grout line) in entry ways, etc. once we figured out the layout, we used chalk lines to mark the reference lines and hairspray to keep them from disappearing:

on sunday we began installing the floor. we were a bit disheartened that we only laid around 36 sq ft. we regrouped and determined how we could expedite the process, and we were able to lay about 60 sq ft. on monday. we are over half-way done!

the lounge:

the dining room entry to the kitchen:

and then there were counters

2006-08-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

the counters, caesarstone baja, were installed last tuesday, and then we went to vegas to finance this whole kitchen. the work gets done a lot faster when you pay someone else to do it, as we learned in this instance. an overall view:

from the dining room:

the kitchen sink:

the laundry sink:

the counters look like a solid color, but they have little granules and crystals which add some variation. we purposely chose a mellow surface color because we want the focal point of the kitchen to be the glass tile backsplash. in this picture, you can see the two sample sheets between which we were deciding:

we'll leave it as an exercise to the viewer to decide which sheet won and which one of us preferred which sheet...

a little trim goes a long way

2006-08-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

we originally planned to work on the tile floor layout, but instead we decided to take advantage of our miter saw rental from the aerospace tool club and finish some loose ends. on saturday we cut and installed window trim around the box window in the lounge. it still needs to be caulked and painted, but it definitely looks a lot cleaner around the edges:

next we prepared the trim for the garden window. of course, nothing is simple; to accommodate the irregular wall surface around the garden window, we had to build a frame upon which the trim would sit. after making the cuts, we stained the trim and framing. on sunday morning, we installed the framing and trim:

we also installed the microwave and finished the light rail on the oven side:

unfortunately, the microwave isn't functional yet; home depot seems to be in short supply of 3.25 x 10 x 6 ducting that connects the microwave vent to the roof vent.

and finally, as requested, here's a pic of the new toilet in the spare bathroom:

we are taking next weekend off and heading to vegas. we need to pay for this kitchen somehow!

which came first - the dart or the egg?

2006-08-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

we finally finished hanging the cabinets! the refrigerator cabinet and end panel went up with ease, now that we are cabinet installation experts. we attached the crown molding on the refrigerator side and then moved onto installing the light rail (a decorative molding which goes on the bottom of the upper cabinets to hide the under cabinet lighting). the coup de grace of the weekend was attaching our very pretty but very expensive egg & dart insert into the light rail.

other non-picture worthy activities of the weekend included applying the final coat of stucco to the garden window, painting the lounge window trim, fighting over the backsplash mosaic tile colors, finishing some electrical work, and organizing the remaining supplies in the garage.

vegas, baby!

2006-08-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

to make the lounge the drinking mecca it is meant to be, we decided to go with a new faux finish called "bellagio". we assume the finish is supposed to bring to mind the marbling and plaster of an old italian villa (or casino). first we used the dark orange trim paint:

next we applied a bright red over the orange:

it's intense! better to drink there at night than wake up there hung over in the morning:

a detailed pic:

we expect the brightness will get toned down when the window trim is painted deep orange and the slate floor is installed (or so we hope). besides the faux finish, we also hung the remaining oven-side cabinets:

on sunday we tackled the crown molding. here are shots of the crowned oven side and the dry bar (with the pretty camed glass doors):

only 1 cabinet over the fridge and end panel to hang and the cabinets are officially done!

odds and ends

2006-07-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

today was a light day. lori primed and applied the first coat of paint in the bathroom to cover the plumbing work while jason installed hardibacker on the back of the curio cabinets to extend the backsplash. the final cabinet on which the countertops are dependent, a shelving unit, was also installed. in this picture you can see the shelving unit near the exterior door:

we also put some drawers in - it's starting to look like a kitchen:

a deadline was met (for a change)

2006-07-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

rich started the day with the first coat of stucco around our new window to fix the gaping holes in the side of the house:

our half-ton of slate arrived today, so we opened a box to enjoy our selection (a brazilian multi-color slate called san rio rustic):

after cancelling our first appointment for the counters to be measured we were determined not to miss our second appointment. with rich's help, the remaining cabinets that are essential to the countertops were installed. this primarily consisted of the cabinets on the stove-side and the curio cabinets that will form a small bar facing the dining room:

we got our pantries in a bunch

2006-07-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

rich came down for his fourth and final weekend to apply some stucco, move the toilet to the spare bath so we can once again have a three bed/two bath house, and help us install the cabinets. rich started on the toilet before we had even had our coffee, and through the open trap door to the crawlspace, button slipped away. after some crying he decided it wasn't so bad down there after all and began to explore, much to our chagrin. he can walk faster than jason crawls on his belly under the house, but luckily he became interested in eating (and puking) grass near a crawlspace vent so lori was able to grab him, kicking and fighting.

after button's big adventure, lori and jason worked on prepping the cabinets for installation. here's the finished plumbing for the toilet:

lori started patching up the wall:

after a little struggle, the 5-feet wide, 2-feet deep, 90-inch tall pantries were attached to each other and installed as a unit. the tricky part was aligning the pantries with the wall upper cabinet to create a seamless face:

it was a long day for all:

slow progress

2006-07-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

after a fight with the base cabinets on wednesday, we left for san diego for a much needed break. part of our time was spent at comic-con, a huge comics/sci-fi convention. it was interesting, a lot of people take it seriously and dress up:

here's lori with something yellow:

of course our troubles with the base cabinets at home made us eager to return early sunday to finish the sink-side base cabinet installation. success! (with one part of the refrigerator end panel installed):

turning the corner

2006-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

thankfully the cabinet installation started to improve as we got the hang (pardon the pun) of it. today we managed to get 3 wall cabinets hung, the dishwasher end panel mounted, and started some base cabinet installation. the kitchen is actually starting to take shape.

some prep work:

we also installed the run of light rail in the dry bar and our method has now been established. the dry bar waiting for final molding touches, doors, shelves (little things):

tomorrow we hope to close out the refrigerator side of the kitchen and then in a week and a half we'll tackle the oven side and curio cabinets. on thursday we head to san diego for a much needed break! we had hoped our foreman would take care of the final coat of trim paint in the laundry room, but again he was asleep on the job:

remodeler's remorse

2006-07-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

it's been a long hard weekend. day after day of work has started to grate on both of us. it certainly doesn't help when nothing is going according to plan and everything is much harder than anticipated. on friday, the appliances arrived and we mapped out on the wall the locations of the base cabinet tops and the wall cabinet bottoms.

here are the piles of appliances (sans washer - on backorder):

and more appliances!

and our pretty new faucet:

we spent several hours determining a workaround for our molding. it turns out that some areas of the ceiling are a little bit higher than we anticipated; this height increase is a problem because we need the crown molding to hit the ceiling. we were able to figure out a way to extend our 3" stock molding (which is installed on top of the cabinet and the crown attaches to the top of the stock molding), and that tragedy was avoided.

after mapping the cabinet locations and more planning, we started creating the platform on which the laundry room utility cabinets would rest. we needed to raise the cabinets 2.5" so that again the stock/crown moldings would reach the ceiling. here's the platform:

on saturday we were able to get the 15" and 18" wide x 90" tall utility cabinets and filler together, though not without traveling a steep learning curve. by the end of the day the cabinets were in place. two cabinets installed in just two days! on sunday we installed the sink base, tested our extended stock / crown molding installation, and applied the first coat of trim paint in the laundry room. the finished products:

monday we tackled the dry bar. it took quite some time to deal with uneven walls, but our biggest dilemma was coming up with a solution to install the light rail below the cabinets. by the end of the day we had a proposed solution, but we would have to test it out on tuesday morning.

we were both feeling a bit low in terms of the lack of progress and one problem after another. unfortunately our foreman was asleep on the job:

oh. my. the. cardboard. make. it. stop.

2006-07-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

the day started with hopes of installing some cabinets. those hopes were dashed as we unpacked each box, checked our invoice to make sure nothing was forgotten, checked for damage, removed doors and drawers, organized the cabinets, and cut & folded the mountain of cardboard packing.

part of the mountain (the other half is around the back of the house):

we had the large pantry and utility cabinets moved into the kitchen when they were delivered so we wouldn't have to move them too far from their final destination. here they are waiting to be installed:

the highlight was unpacking the glass doors for the dry bar and the curio cabinets:

the cabinets arrive!

2006-07-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

we had a relatively easy day today (still exhausted from yesterday), starting by making room in the garage (cabinets take up a lot of space) and applying the second coat of wall paint before the cabinets were delivered. one of the pantry cabinets was too large to be brought into the house in its box, so we were able to enjoy a peek at our cabinet selection prior to unpacking all of the boxes:

here's what we have to look forward to unpacking tomorrow:

wanna socialize?

2006-07-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

we don't, we're tired. today was a long day, finally stopping work at 11:30pm. we finished the final coat of ceiling paint, and while lori applied the first coat of our wall paint, sherwin-williams 'sociable', jason started the hardibacker installation to serve as the base for the slate tile. besides the fact that the hardibacker needed to be installed with thinset mortar under it, it must also be screwed down. in total we went through almost 1,000 screws. our friend the impact driver saved our wrists.

from the dining room:

into the lounge:

toward the laundry room:

into the laundry room:

5 gallons of primer

2006-07-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

today was exciting: we got to take down the plastic wall that kept all of the construction dust out of the rest of the house. this affords better views of our new extended arch. we finished the plywood installation and got two coats of primer on the walls and ceiling. we also applied the first coat of ceiling paint. an additional bonus from applying the primer is that not only are the walls a uniform color, all of the horrid old yellow is gone!

our extended arch from the dining room:

the view toward the lounge:

toward the laundry room:

into the laundry room:

hardwood floors!

2006-07-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

ok, not really. after searching around on the internet, we learned that for our joist spacing it is recommended we beef up the floor to support the slate we're going to install. so, this morning required an emergency run to anawalt lumber to order plywood and have it delivered because 10 sheets of plywood wouldn't fit in lori's hatchback. we managed to get most of it installed today.

we also needed to level the subfloor from the main kitchen floor to the floor that was ripped out with the old hex tile in the new laundry room. to do that, we had to lay self-leveling concrete. isn't it spiffy?

25 gallons of mud on the walls

2006-07-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

we had 5 days off from work and we thought we'd be ahead of schedule by the end of the long weekend. how wrong we were! our independence day weekend involved the last of the dry wall hanging, 5 5-gallon buckets of mud (yes, 5!), 3 layers of linoleum, and 1 layer of particle board.

while one of the several coats of mud was still drying, we tackled the remaining floor. floor removal entailed using superbar and prying up the particle board which had 2 layers of linoleum glued to it. after those layers were gone, we had to remove the hundreds of staples that secured the particle board to the floor.

here's the pile of staples from half of the floor removal:

and the last layer of old linoleum or clay tiles to be removed:

to remove this final layer, we had to use a scraper and chisels.

by the end of the weekend we were almost done with mud application. some areas took 4 rounds to look good. the arches are starting to take shape. here is the extended arch between the kitchen and dining room:

here is the arch leading into the laundry room:

a close-up shot:

a highlight of the weekend was finding someone that paid us $40 to haul away our old oven, dishwasher, sink, and window. one less trip to the dump for us!

we finally set up the portable sink lent to us (thanks tee & hilda!) so dining now is a bit more civilized. who needs a new kitchen?!

let there be light

2006-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

it turns out that the plywood window does not provide a lot of light and removal of old lighting left us without overhead lights. this light-deficit situation did not deter us from spending every night of the work week staining and polyurethaning our new window. we took thursday and friday off to help finish off the window (ooo, working in daylight, what a concept) and take the garbage pile to the dump. it took 2 trips to the dump, and now we only have 2.5 garbage cans left!

on saturday rich was back to finish off his tasks. the first item of business was installing the new window. isn't it pretty?

jason wired the recessed lighting cans while rich finished wiring and doing other small items, like installing the microwave vent.

lori applied expanding foam for insulation around the window and then spent the next hour washing her hands to remove the drying foam. lesson learned: do NOT touch foam when it's wet! after the foam incident, lori started the mud application to smooth the dry wall and plaster seams.

we're sure our neighbors still hate us. rich had the saw going by 7 am on sunday morning. rich was busy strengthening one of the ceiling joists and helped with the drywall hanging. lori and jason finished off the day with more mudding and drywall prep. after 2 days of mudding and probably only 1/3 of the area complete, we've already used 5 gallons of mud! and that's applying only the first coat of mud.

the rooms are starting to take shape. our new laundry room:

the lounge where the old tile band was:

and the kitchen, including our cool new arched doorway to the laundry room:

at least we are starting to construct, rather than destruct.

our neighbors must hate us

2006-06-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

we don't have a lot of pictures from this weekend, but it doesn't mean we were sitting around drinking beer and eating chips (although that would be so nice right about now). every day we started by 7am and a power tool was in use by 8. we finished the new laundry room plumbing and started electrical work (laying the junction boxes, cutting holes for recessed lighting, installing recessed cans, pulling wire, etc.).

sunday morning we got our new window.

rich (our friend doing the heavy-lifting: electrical, plumbing, moving of load-bearing walls, kicking our butts, etc.) busted out the angle grinder at 8am and cut the stucco to remove the old window. we were expecting the cops to show up for a noise complaint but none did. yeehaw!

here's our new window getting prepped for staining and sealing.

we know all of you out in internet-land must wonder how much trash this kind of job generates. it's a lot. here's half (we already took half to the dump last weekend).

in this final picture you can see our old window. buh bye!

when a little demo isn't enough

2006-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

today was the day we dreaded - the day we demo the other side of the kitchen and lose the sink (our last hold on civilized living). we've spoken of our friends sawzall and superbar, so here's a picture (even with big boy superbar xl).

here are some pictures before we demolished the cabinets, counter, side wall next to the fridge, and the built-in.

and after sawzall and superbar had their filthy way.

we've accumulated a lot of materials for the job and it feels like we opened our own home depot in the garage.

a vision born

2006-06-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

today was a light day. bodies ache. tired. moved the gas lines for the new dryer and the new range (not exciting, no pictures). we also finished framing the new laundry room wall and installed the supports for the arches in the laundry doorway and the one to match the extended dining room opening. now we're getting somewhere.

let's build some walls!

2006-06-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

we kicked off the day with a 7am run to the dump to get rid of plaster, old cabinets, and the other assorted junk we collected from the past couple weeks of demo. no pics unfortunately, but the dump sure is an interesting place (and stinky).

before we could remove the wall between the old laundry room and the kitchen, we needed to transfer the load that was placed on it. a 14' 4x6 was hauled into the attic and extended the distance of the old support, thereby moving the load-bearing position from the wall we wanted to remove to the new wall we are building. isn't it pretty?

we also needed to deal with the wall that the kitchen shares with the dining room. the plan is to extend the arch doorway to open up the kitchen and to do so, we needed to extend the header.

4 inches of concrete

2006-06-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

apparently in the old days before cement board, construction of a tile floor involved putting planks under the floor joists and pouring in concrete to make a solid base for the tile. this means heavy demo. we've started in this first pic.

here's a close-up. keep in mind the concrete goes all the way down to the planks.

and we're done! easy access to the plumbing we need to move for the new laundry room.

we capped off this day by removing the old wall next to the small bathroom and starting the framing for the new wall.

appetite for destruction

2006-06-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

here's a quickie movie of some demo. we're still trying to figure out why the sound loses sync when we upload it to youtube, but just pretend the hammer swings are so fast it takes time for the sound wave to get out the speakers.

oh my. kitchen demo, phase 1

2006-06-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

this weekend started the official kitchen demo - removing the cabinets on the stove side of the kitchen. first, a before shot so you can appreciate the genius taste and style of the previous owner.

and the view from the dining room.

after one full day of labor.

and the dining room side.

while our love affair with superbar and sawzall has flourished these past weeks, we found a new lover: zipwall. sure helps contain the dust.

happy anniversary

2006-05-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

one year ago today, we walked through the open house held at what has now become our cosmetic fixer. ahhh memories. to commemorate this special weekend, we demo-ed the room formerly known as the laundry room. on saturday we pulled out the existing cabinets and built-in pantry.

here's the ~~lovely~~ skanky pantry in the laundry room (we never dared use).

here are the cabinets in the laundry room that would have resided over a washer and dryer.

a little muscle and our good friends superbar and sawzall got that pantry right out of there.

the laundry cabinets were cake for pros like us.

on sunday, with a little help from a friend, we took down the plaster and lathe from two walls.

after the friend exited, we tackled the laundry room floor - only 3 layers of linoleum, plus rotten particle board - yippee! and we still weren't done...

monday was a short day that entailed finishing laundry room floor removal and beginning powder room wall and floor removal. check out the original hex tile floor in the powder room:

of course, we only had several layers to dig through to find it.

we're tired.

bye bye band camp

2006-05-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

we spent the last couple of weeks shopping, shopping, and more shopping. that might sound like fun, but it's really a lot of running around, quote finding, and stress - especially when you are supposed to be making progress in demo-ing the old stuff. as one could predict, everything is costing twice as much as we expected.

after selecting the cabinets, it was finally time - demolition began! the first order of business (which was supposed to be simple) was to remove the tile band in the breakfast nook, the area we call the lounge - that's where lori sits and drinks while jason prepares dinner.

the lounge prior to demolition:

it turns out that the tile was applied directly to the plaster walls so removal of the tile meant removing the plaster. that was no simple matter - lots of chiseling and mess. isn't our house lovely?

our new kitchen - if only it were that simple

2006-04-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

after a four month hiatus which involved out of town guests, birthdays, parties, and rest, we're back on the remodel band wagon and tackling the biggest hurdle to date - the kitchen and laundry room. i know - it's hard to imagine that we want to replace the linoleum and white tile, but go with us.

we checked out lots of kitchen design software and ultimately settled into "home architect". we explored every possible configuration for the kitchen, including swapping the dining room with the kitchen, but ultimately we went with a design similar to what is already here.

check out our new kitchen:

ok - that's just the rendering from the program. now we have to actually pick the cabinets, counter, floor, lights, appliances, etc, etc.

homage to 4th street

2006-01-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

during our house hunt, we went into a house in our neighborhood of choice (which we couldn't afford), and lori fell in love with the painting and faux techniques applied to the built-in cabinets and doors. the cabinets and doors all had embossed wallpaper applied to the inner wood panel and a weathered metal faux finish applied to the wallpaper. the goal is for every door in our house to have this finish in colors that complement the room.

one down (spare bathroom), n to go:

bathing at tiffany's

2005-11-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

since the previous owner bought so much white tile, the tile place most have thrown in a few bonus tiles with color - dark teal. these were placed in a border in the shower of the spare bathroom - you know, the one without the toilet. to complement the one splash of color in the house, we chose a tiffany aqua for the walls and a dark teal for the trim and baseboards. we also did a stippling technique on the cabinets, previously awful, dime-a-dozen, white, laminate cabinets.

before & afters:

the fifth coat is the charm

2005-11-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

having done traditional faux finish techniques (ragging on/off, sponging on/off) at lori's condo, we thought we'd go for something new and exciting - a leather finish. we bought a special stippler and off we went. it turns out that the stippling technique is quite time-consuming and the paint dries once you finish the first strip. faux finishers out there know that dry paint and faux finishes do not mix. after several tries and an ill-fated frottage attempt, we discovered our new best friend, floetrol - a paint conditioner that extends dry time.

before & afters:

the faux finish wall (a picture cannot do 5 attempts justice):

to the dungeon!

2005-09-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

the home inspection indicated standing water was in the basement at some point so a sump pump was the solution.

what's under here?

the path to glory:

tools of the trade:

all installed, note rickety wood ladder was replaced by sturdy fiberglass ladder:

once you start stripping, you just can't stop

2005-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

we had so much fun stripping the beams, we couldn't stop. while jason worked on other projects, lori stripped the inside of the front door.

before & after shots:

beam me out of here

2005-09-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

we knew we would eventually strip the living room beams, but eventually came sooner than we thought. in a great example of remodeling for dummies, we went backward and decided to strip the beams after refinishing the floors. you are supposed to work your way from the ceiling down, but whatever. we meticulously covered our precious refinished floors and began the month long process of stripping, sanding, staining, and polyurethaning.

it begins:

there were only about 4 layers of white paint and a mysterious layer of green paint - i am sure it was completely nontoxic:

first beam is sanded, two in stripping process:

we love termites and their work:

the finished product:

master bathroom

2005-08-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

to offset the preponderance of white tile in the house without a full scale remodel, we used our favorite solution - paint.

before & after:

let's get this party started

2005-07-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

our first project was to refinish the living room and dining room floors prior to occupation. the previous owner chose a finish called "pickled" - that says enough, right? unfortunately, we had a polyurethane situation (don't believe everything you read on the varethane can in terms of drying time!) that prevented us from refinishing both rooms before our move-in date. in fact, the floors were not wholly finished until a month after we moved in.

pickle vs. our choice of stain:

the finished floors after poly:

we heard a rumor...

2005-07-15T19:00:00.000-07:00

at the open house we were told there were hardwood floors under the carpet in the three bedrooms and back hall. once we took possession, it was exploration time.

ahoy!

a room cleaned of carpet, pending staple removal:

the 4th house is the charm

2005-05-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

after a long house hunt (or it seemed long anyway) and 3 failed offers later, we walked through the house that would become our home in a month. the first impression was striking - a beautiful, private patio with a fireplace! walk through an original wood door to the living room with a beamed ceiling (albeit painted beams) and a view of century city to the west - not quite the view from lori's condo, but not bad. from the living room you walked through arched doorways to the dining room with a coved ceiling. the dining room had french doors which opened to the patio. the kitchen was pretty awful with an abundance of white tile and urine yellow walls, but we knew that could be fixed. the 3 bedrooms were sizeable, and two had giant walk-in closets - a rarity in 80 year old spanish homes. the rear bedroom had french doors which opened to a lush private backyard. apparently there was a sale on white tile 15 years ago b/c the same kitchen tile was found in the two bathrooms. the oddest part was that one bathroom had the toilet removed and only had a sink and shower, but whatever. we were home.

the house:

backyard view from rear br:

the front patio:

the front door into the living room: