Impulse project

As my parents' visit came to a close, we looked at any last, small projects we'd need to complete. I'd noticed the toilet in the full bathroom had cracked, and during our home inspection, the inspector had mentioned that the sink was rusting out.

Installing plumbing fixtures (especially standalone things like toilets) can be fairly easy-- you just remove the old one and put in the new one-- toilet "kits" that include rings, seats, and flush valves have instructions that can help, too.

Here's the bathroom in original condition:

It's not in terrible shape, but the fixtures had to be replaced. Note the awesome scalloped cabinet on the upper right. Also note the light fixture, which is one of those dressing room-style fixtures. I hate those.

After removal of the toilet and sink:

A plumber came in and fixed the sink pipe, which was recessed into the wall (and impossible to work on). He also worked on the sink in the kitchen, which we feared was similar... we were right.

So new toilet install: Put the wax ring on the toilet, set it on the bolts, fasten it down. Put on the tank, fasten it down. Test for water fastness, add seat and tank cover, and boom! Toilet.

We figured the pedestal sink was fine, but the bathroom would benefit from some more counter space. There's plenty of storage in the room, but nowhere to rest a hair dryer or keep a tooth brush. We picked up a vanity cabinet that came with a sink top on it. The vanity came assembled, but the top had to be connected and fastened down. Nice results on both:

The bathroom definitely feels less gross now.

We also decided to take down the scalloped cabinet on the wall and replace the mirror and light fixture. The cabinet was pretty gross and made the bathroom feel cramped, so we tore it out. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) the painters had painted the bathroom already, so we had to sand down, patch, and repaint the walls and ceiling behind the cabinet.

A new, larger mirror is much more updated, and the light fixture is so much better, too.

Sorry my photo of the fixture is terrible--  Let me try again:

The shades look like this:

They diffuse the light really well. The bulbs are 40W, and I'm thinking they should probably be a bit less bright.

I'm super excited with how the bathroom turned out. We also added a new shower head and curtain rod, because both were old and kind of crusty:

One of these days, we'll get around to painting the cabinet on the left. I should've had the painters do the door frame and cabinet, too. I just assumed at the time that we wouldn't have to do much to the bathroom. Ha! We've come a long way from this:

Things left to do in here: add curtains, paint trim, paint cabinet.

Operation: Hardwood

I'm so happy to announce that the flooring is done. After about a week of solid work, the entire house (minus a few spaces) is properly floored. Let's start with some photos:

This is our "den" room. Remember the carpeting here? Stained everywhere but under the couch. This was the first room we started in, and the flooring went in quickly on the first day. Eagle eyes may notice a very nice new light fixture. We bought two of them and installed them in place of a burned-out fixture on one end and a ceiling fan on the other. The fixtures just came from our local Home Depot, and were chosen for their minimal depth and neutral look:

It's my unfortunate luck that, after installing these lights, I'd go to Ikea and find some slightly more modern fixtures that I liked much, much better. For less money. Figures.

The challenge in this space was the closet at the far end of the room. When you install hardwood flooring and come to any type of doorway where the flooring continues into another space, you have to make sure the hardwoods align with each other, so the boards can continue through the doorway. This means striking guidelines to show where the floor needs to meet up, and almost-sort-of working backward to determine where to start the flooring in the next room. Not all rooms line up, so you end up with partial-width boards on the edges of the room.

At each doorway, you have to cut the jamb to allow the wood to pass under, as well. You also have to notch flooring (sometimes) to get it to fit properly. This is probably the most challenging part of the install.

Under the flooring, we used rolls of underlayment, which create a vapor barrier as well as some padding to make the flooring more comfortable and less noisy. That stuff is super easy to put down and self-adheres, so I don't have any real photos of that process.

Here's our dining room:

It went smoothly, as well. Notice anything in here? We have new curtain rods and curtains! Aaaand a new light fixture in here, too:

This one is from Ikea. I liked the industrial look and the adjustable height. It gives off a nice cone of light, but would definitely be better with some light cans above to fill in the space above the fixture.

The living room went along swimmingly, too. After the flooring was down, we applied the baseboard trim. We bought contractor packs of 16' long, primed MDF baseboards. After a coat of paint, they went  in quickly thanks to my dad's precision measuring and a little help from an air nailer.

The final room was the back bedroom, which we all finished together:

And let me tell you, there was much celebrating:


Stay tuned for plumbing woes, electrical issues, wildlife invasions, and what happens when you decide to do "just a little exploratory demolition"...

Demolition: Kitchen cabinet

There was a standalone lower kitchen cabinet beside the stove in our kitchen. You can see it in this photo, close to the center of the picture:

As we were laying flooring, we decided it'd be better to remove it and put flooring down instead. It's easy enough to get another cabinet to place there, or instead use that area for a large kitchen cart.

So off it came:

Boom! You can see some flooring boxes at the bottom left, and some of our flooring in the dining room, too.

Removing the cabinet was interesting, because we realized that whoever installed the cabinet did so in an atypical fashion. It was all built in, attached to the paneling, and the countertop tile was set on some concrete that was haphazardly poured into the top. The drawers in the kitchen don't even have sliding hardware, so it was pretty easy to get apart. I popped off all the trim, and we used a reciprocating saw to cut off the top... It wouldn't come off without a fight!

Now, we have a dirty and slightly discolored wall, which is fine, because we're hoping to paint it eventually. Onward!

Hiring a painter

The walls were in okay-not-great shape when we bought the house, and we wanted to make sure that everything looked neat and clean when we moved in. We set off to Angie's List to locate a good painter.

They say a decent rule of thumb is to interview/get quotes from three businesses when you're hiring someone to do work in your house:

The first one we chose was the highest rated painter on the list- no negative complaints at all and a decent number of good reviews (like 60). The guy came in, took a look at the spaces, and promised to give us a quote within a few days. He did tell us he could work within our short timeframe, so that was a plus. He seemed like a really nice guy, and he said his crew were all employees (not subcontractors).

The second guy came later that evening. He looked at everything slowly, writing down pertinent information as he went along, and was able to give us a quote on the spot. That was nice, because it was our first indication of cost for the job. He was really quiet, didn't say anything about his business or crew, but seemed confident he could handle the job and start immediately.

The final guy came a few days later. He looked through the house as well, and was able to give an on-the-spot quote, too, with a few options for added services. For instance, adding second coats to frames and doors would cost $160.

When we got all three quotes, painter #1 was most expensive, painter #3 was second, and painter #2 was the cheapest. We really liked painter #1, but his price was 33% higher than the next guy. It was a big difference. We liked painter #3 second best, and his price was a bit more do-able, so we hired him.

A job that he had estimated would take 4-5 days ended up taking a little over 2 1/2, which was awesome. We just checked out the job and are happy with the results. Check it out: