Master Bath Reveal

It's finally done.

The bathroom we've waited for for 2 1/2 years.

We live in a different state than all of our extended family. Which means, when anyone comes to visit they are staying in our home. And with one [you read that right] bathroom, it just wasn't as "hospitable" around here as we would have hoped.

Throw in the fact that the current bathroom is pretty much caving in, but a remodel would mean showering at friends' houses and running to the nearest convenient store for a toilet... It was time for a master bath!

Boy did I have fun designing this room! It used to be our "cloffice" (Closet/Office) so we were literally starting with nothing! I loved dreaming up anything and everything, while working with the challenge of 2 fully windowed walls. 

That's right. Windows in the bathroom. 90% of the reason I loved this house when we bought it was the huge, beautifully trimmed, original windows. And I just couldn't bear the thought of REMOVING any of them. So, we made it work!

Here are some pictures of the "cloffice" after clearing things out for our biggest Demo Day yet.
 

After taking out the floors and drywall behind the shower we had the plumbing roughed in, then  started with the tile. I knew we wanted to do white hex floors because we have the original white hex in our existing bathroom and I wanted this one to fit the period of the rest of the house.

For the shower, I wanted to match the muted tones and compliment the antique white walls and greige trim that has become the color palate for the bedrooms. But, because of the size of the room I wanted it to have a little more dimension than the popular white subway. So, Carerra Marble Subway it was! [Also: Please check out the cherubs on that wallpaper. I resisted the urge to pull some off and from them.]

So, while this was going on in the bathroom, I was scouring Craigs List for a vanity...

Which I then painted navy, removed the top, rebuilt the supports, and had a countertop installed. (All while A was out of town. That's right. I mastered the Sawzall.) 

Now, we had to paint and have the fixtures installed. I couldn't resist pairing some brushed gold (or champagne bronze, or 100 other  names because every company is so creative) with that navy, despite the risk of looking a little "80's reno". WOW am I glad we made the choice to go with gold!!!

Next, we installed blinds, mirrors, and cut the drawers to fit around the plumbing. Originally I wanted mirrors that hung from the ceiling, but our sinks sit back on the vanity because of the lip at the front and we didn't want the mirror to block space over the sink. A ended up engineering a bracket system, and they turned out amazing!

Then the shower door got here, the hardware showed up... and we can finally say it's FINISHED*!!!!

(*Is any project really ever "done"?)

Drumroll please....

Until the next one...

Old Light Love

There's no denying we have a thing for old lights over here. I don't know what made me fall in love with them, but after scouring our options nothing quite measured up to a period-appropriate fixture (Just say NO to can lights!). Unfortunately that meant searching high and low in every estate sale, vintage shop, and dumpster I could find. It hasn't come easy but it has been one of my very favorite things to look for now! And thanks to my new best friends at the cutest little hardware shop down the street, they are all working like new, and doing a great job lighting up our old wood floors and thick crown moulding that I have become so obsessed with.

Fast forward 9 months of two holes in the ceiling with no light fixtures decided upon, and I stumbled upon these beauties at a house down the street. One of our neighbors apparently used to own an antique store, which the remains of now reside in his basement. Once a year he opens it up to the public and I did a happy dance when I saw this matching set hanging in his carport. You read that right. 

Onto the dining room. This one needed to make a statement, but because it is open to the living room and the two lights on the west end of the house would be in line, they needed to coordinate. I found this one at an estate sale for a local architect who was selling from his warehouse and lucky for me, he collected LIGHTS (and chairs...) This beauty was a no-brainer.

Now we move into the kitchen. Which, this light will eventually hang in the mudroom but when you find something this great you put it wherever is available! This one was hanging in the littlest antique mall, and had a tag on it for $20. The woman at the register was SURE it was supposed to say $200, but she couldn't get a hold of the booth owner so 20 bucks and it was mine for the taking. All the praise hands for that little misprint! I also have a thing for cow paintings, and this little copper lantern goes perfect with Bessie. 

This sweet light is the one that started it all. We found him and his matching friend in the garage of an old oil tycoon mansion. They were both in pretty rough shape, so we used the more broken one for parts and put together this little gem. He floated around as a place holder for a while in other rooms, but now resides in the basement until the master bath is completed where he can one again shine in all his glory. 

(PS- does anyone know what those little bell-shapes are called on each socket? I would love nothing more than to repair the matching one but they seem impossible to find!)

These schoolhouse lights are ones I had my eye on for a while, so when the cutest little shop had their twice-a-year sale I jumped on them. They will go in the kitchen, which seems like it will never be finished, but I couldn't take the chance of waiting on such an awesome find! Have I mentioned how impossible it is to find 2 matching lights?

Finally, I didn't "find" this one, but it was already in our house when we got here and I love it. A couple of Edison bulbs and moved to a more appropriate sized space and this fixture gives the perfect little bit of charm to our hallway. 

We want to see your best finds!! Link up in the comments, or tag us on Instagram! @oldhouse_newhome

Happy hunting!

"Wood" Floor Install

One of the unique and awesome things about our old house is the back house. Most of the homes in our area have one, and they are unique in the fact that they can actually be utilized as rental property. Our area has these spaces grandfathered in, rather than if you were to build a new home with a back house in which case it would be considered a "Mother-in-Law suite".
Now, considering the large amount of DIY we are rocking over here, a little extra income from a rental property was pretty inciting. However, allow me to warn you, doing work on a house that you are not living in is so. much. harder. When you're working on your own house, you lay in bed every night or wake up every morning and see your labor paying off! Every time you sit on the couch and watch the TV over your built-in shelves, you think about how GREAT it feels to finish a project. Not the case with the back house. You will lock the door, go back inside your own house, and 6 months later remember the dusty mess you left back there. Don't say I didn't warn you.

But every once and a while you will turn on some good tunes (this part is important) and knock out a project or two. Which is how we ended up with this mess...

Oh, how I wish we had a "before" picture. Let me just summarize it for you: uneven, mismatched, pink and white terra-cotta. Pretty. (I hope you sensed the sarcasm). So, we invited over our best friends, offered them a delicious dinner, and told them to bring their sledge hammer and crowbar. 

These tools were the KEY here.  You need the big one (Masons Chisel) to get the whole tile, the little one to get the stubborn pieces that get left behind (Cold Chisel), and the pry bar to get the things that are stuck and need more leverage. *You also need ear protection! This was the loudest project we have done to date!*

masons chisel, cold chisel, pry bar

Now, the tile was off but we were stuck with thin set on the floor (see all of those ridges?)

Then we rented an electric jack hammer to remove the thin set so that the floors were smooth again. 

*Disclaimer: Wear a mask and ear protection when using this tool! 

(we're talking gray boogers for days, people)

Once the floor was void of all thin set, we wiped it down with a large sponge to remove any residual dust. Let it dry at least overnight before applying an adhesive flooring.

Now, the fun part!

We knew we wanted flooring that was easy to install, easy to clean, easy to replace, and affordable... BUT that gave the space a nice, clean, and updated look. [Link to floor here]. We started by laying the flooring out so we had our pattern, and knew how many pieces we would need in each row. The teacher in me was so excited to find a use to buy a paper cutter-- which now happily resides in my classroom. That is how easy it was to cut these things! Mark it, line it up, and chop. 

We began laying the tiles in the corner closest to the door so that, should we make a mistake the room not be perfectly square, it would be covered by furniture.

The paper backing had arrows, marking which direction to remove the paper to reveal the adhesive side. 

Then, we moved across the room starting on the wall every time Push the new piece up against the already attached neighboring piece as close as it will go without lifting the edge. 

*Do not get a row too long before moving across the room. If you start to get crooked, you will throw the whole room off. It is best to do a couple across, and move up.*

You might need to apply pressure while waiting for the adhesive to fully take effect. Don't worry, your back/neck will welcome the break.

The picture on the left is after we completed the living space, before moving into the kitchen.
We were seriously surprised at how simple it was to lay these floors! We don't have a tenant yet, but they seem so durable and look amazing. 

Have you ever laid adhesive flooring? What did you think? We want to see your pictures! Link up in the comments section.

Built-In Valentine's

Ever since we moved in I have wished for built in shelving to flank our fireplace. Every craftsman style home that we have seen has these lovely built-ins, and I knew they would have been the perfect storage solution to the cable box fiasco we had going on as well as a great way to frame the fireplace and windows and draw the attention of the room in the right direction (long skinny room with doorways in the middle = design challenge).

So, the Friday before Valentine's Day I decided that I was tired of just talking about the built ins and wanted to take matters into my own hands. I googled for quite some time before discovering I would be following a combination of photos rather than "how to's". When Mr. went to the garage I grabbed the tape measure and got to work. Once the planning was done, I went for the crowbar option. The baseboards had to go first, so I started hammering away. Luckily this is the point where Mr. came back inside and decided to help. Because those baseboards had to be saved and they were held on the wall with 100 year old, handmade nails. Those babies were in there! I am not too proud to admit, I needed some man-strength.

As soon as the baseboards were off, we used 2x4s to create a base. This was all going to be inside the shelves in the end so it didn't have to look great, but it did have to be level. This was simply a piece that ran from corner to corner along the back wall-- we used a finish nailer to attach it directly to the wall-- and three more pieces to complete the rectangle. I wanted the baseboard to be flush with the fireplace, so we left a half inch gap to account for the width of the baseboard. When this was complete, the frame only reached about halfway up the baseboard, so we added vertical braces with more 2x4s across the frame to give it more height.

Because we were going for a finished look, planned to paint, and wanted something cost effective, we used MDF for this project (1/2 inch for the shelving, 1/4 inch for the framing). And I would do it again in a heartbeat! Cutting MDF was so simple-- sometimes when I (rather than Mr.) use the saw I take little chunks out. Amateur, I know, but this didn't happen at all with the MDF! It was so smooth and could not have made the project more simple. 

The next step was to put a top (or, the bottom shelf) on the frame. We simply cut the MDF to fit the shape of the frame (still leaving the 1/2 inch gap for the baseboard). The shelf in this photo was slightly longer than the other side, so we filled in the gap between the wall and the base when attaching the bottom shelf. This meant that we didn't have to nail into the 100 year old baseboards that we love so much... the shelves weren't finished yet, and we didn't want to destroy anything we couldn't reverse if things didn't go as planned. A little noncommittal over here. 

Next step was the sides. I knew that I wanted the final shelves to hit at the same height of the bottom tier of the fireplace. Because the MDF was 1/2 inch thick and I planned on having double layers on the top, the sides needed to be 1 inch short of the intended height. We cut the wall-sides and nailed them straight into the wall. We then used liquid nails to attach the fireplace side. Mr. so cleverly wedged a spare 2x4 scrap into both sides to hold the brick-side while it adhered. 

Now, onto the top! I was so excited for this part, because I knew it would start to look like it was all coming together. We cut the first piece the same size as the bottom shelf, plus 1/2 an inch in depth so that it would stick out slightly farther. I used an adjustable combination square to measure exactly 1/2 an inch (because our walls were made by a man with a hammer and a bucket of plaster so they are not very straight, and I knew I could fill any imperfections with caulking later). We also made small triangles from scrap MDF to support the shelves and give us more to nail into. 

*When attaching the triangles, turn the power down to about 2/3rds on the compressor or the triangle will break!

Now, I repeated the step one more time, but with another 1/2 inch in depth (now 1 inch more than the total depth of the base shelf). 

I promise the shelf is straight, it's my photography skills that are very off!

When cutting the shelves we subtracted 1 inch from the width of the base to account for the 1/2 inch on each side, as well as 1/2 inch from the depth. I knew I wanted to frame them later (which would add 1/2 inch thickness) and I did not want the shelves to come all the way to the outside edge, but to be slightly inset. They slid in pretty easily, and then we used a level and marked along the bottom of each side. We then repeated the process that we used on the top-- staple triangles at each line, and insert the shelf on top. We did not, however, attach the shelves to the triangles. Now that they have been painted they are probably pretty permanent. But, if ever we need to get a shelf out for some reason they are unattached, which I liked because... noncommittal again. 

The final part was my favorite because this is when they no longer looked like an after thought but really became part of the house! We used 1/4 inch MDF to frame around the whole unit. You can actually see in the photo above that I had already attached the frame piece to the top (the 1 inch drop on the front) because I get a little ahead of myself sometimes...

After framing across the top, I framed across each side. The frame was made of 1 inch strips, cut to length and stapled along the outside edge of the shelves. So, if you reached your hand inside of our finished shelves there is a slight (1/2 inch) lip at the top and sides. It gives it such a finished look and mad them flow so seamlessly between the fireplace and the lovely thick moulding. 

I also did the same for the shelves. Because they were inset, the framing fit perfectly between the shelf and the framing that had already been done to the outside. The important part with the shelves was making sure the top matched with the top of the shelf. I wanted the shelves to look like one, 1 inch piece rather than have a lip at the end. I tried to get a photo of this... look carefully for the line between the two pieces!

And FINALLY, we got to reattach those beloved baseboards. Mr. only had to make 2 cuts to get everything to fit back together. And let me tell you, we were not trying to replace these awesome pieces. He measured about 12 times, and cut once! 

Now that the shelves were built, it was time to caulk. This is a bit of a preference thing... I chose to follow the seam between the shelves and the wall to make it seamless (like would be done between a door frame or baseboard and the wall). I also ran along the interior side/wall seam but skipped the shelf/wall seam because of the concern about having to remove them at some point. (I still can't think of a reason to do this. But should it arise, we are ready). 

*I have strategically taken a picture of the specific type of caulk we used because after this one ran out I used a different brand and almost had my very first panic attack. It was SO sticky and got EVERYWHERE. I am not exaggerating when I say I panicked. The paper towel I was using fell on the floor and there was caulk on the floor. The scraper I was using was so covered and it would not come off. My hands were covered, my wedding ring was covered. The worst part was when I started SCRUBBING with an old toothbrush and citrus, scrubbing hand cleaner it did not get better... oh no... it SPREAD! Thankfully Mr. came to my rescue with a calm spirit and a little elbow grease.*

(Pictured: THE GOOD BRAND OF CAULK THAT DOESN'T STICK TO EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER OWNED!)

It was time for bed after that fiasco.

The next day (Valentine's Day) we so romantically spent our afternoon spackling, taking a break to let the spackle dry so we could go to some open houses, and then sanding said spackle. We used the spackle to cover every nail hole and seam.

When everything had been spackled, we primed. Three times-- because MDF is like a sponge. And I would much rather it soak up my $20 gallon of primer than my $60 gallon of paint. Still Valentine's y'all. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

I kid. This really is my favorite thing to do, and there's no one else in the world that would find me ripping baseboards off with a crowbar and decide to join me. Getting these long awaited shelves done was the most romantic gesture Mr. could have made, and I wouldn't have wanted to spend our weekend any other way.

*Project tip: Giant Mimosas make home improvement better*

I sure hope my step-by-step helps some lost homeowner like myself who can't understand everyone else's number-filled gibberish. And, if nothing else, helps our extended family know what we've been up to over here!

 

 

Have you put in shelving? Are you going to try this method out? We want to see it! Link to your post in the comments section!

Until the next project,