The Home Renovation Thread

[Smallville]

I took pics of every step, and it took about a month to do everything! I'll photobucket a bunch and then post later. I have two appointments tonite so it will probably be tomorrow.

Off the top of my head, in 2007:

• We ripped up ALL of the carpet and put in new carpet in the LR, Hallway, steps and all three bedrooms.
• Pulled up the linoleum in both bathrooms and replaced with 18" tile
• Made the main bathroom tub into a shower, moved the toilet so you didn't see it when you looked in, and moved the sink where the toilet was. All new of everything I mentioned. Put in a sliding glass door for the shower/tub. Put 18" tile in shower, with cubbies for soap and shampoo. 18" tile on floor.
• In the Master Bath, we put in a new sink, new toilet and used 18" tile in the shower. Cubbies for soap and shampoo. Four inch tile on the shower floor. 18" tile on bathroom floor.
• Painted all three bedrooms. Significant because we painted the wood paneling.
• In the kitchen and dining room, 18" tile on the floor. The kitchen got a 25 cubic foot French Door refrigerator, new gas stove, we installed a dishwasher and put in an island. The dining room got a new back door, metal with a full length glass with blinds inside. We built a China cabinet/buffet with a dog door in the third section, in the corner. New dining room table light, hanging from the ceiling.
• Kitchen got 5 can lights(over the sink and in the four corners of the room) and a large light in the middle. New counter tops.
• We knocked a hole in the wall between the kitchen and living room (about 4' high and 8' long) that is like a breakfast bar. We sit there with our laptops a lot.
• In the living room, the big thing was we put in a bay window. Also four can lights in the four corners of the room.
• Can light over stairs to downstairs, took out wrought iron railing and had a bookcase built around the stairs opening. New light in upstairs hallway.
• Ceiling fans in living room, 3 bedrooms and the office downstairs.
• New lights in downstairs hallway, 18" tile in entryway and hallway. Bew metal front door and new light outside the door.
• We changed the family room into a home office. 18" tile, four can lights and the previously mentioned ceiling fan.
• Our yard is kinda slopy so we had a big deck built. Something like 12 x 24. Five foot wide steps because we need a way to move things in and out since it's hard to get things down the stairs inside. Dog door from china cabinet comes out on the deck.
• A new back light by the new back door.
• Replaced all windows with double pane glass, in addition to the bay window. Something like 13 windows plus the bay.
• New central air and central heat. Just replaced the units, didn't have to run new ductwork. we did move the air unit from the back of the house to the side of the house so it would be in the shade all day.
• New motion activated floodlights for the driveway.
• We landscaped and moved the fence from the back of the house to the front of the house to make the backyard bigger and because we moved the air unit.

Then last week,

• We extended the deck, a 6 x 16 addition to go all the way to past the bedroom window, which we took out and replaced with the same kind of door we put in for the back door. Basically a fire escape route. We put a motion activated light outside that new door.
• Put the same model light by the old new back door.
• Put an outside outlet underneath the new back door light and one on the opposite side of the house, but still in the back/side yard.
• Ran a natural gas line to the BBQ grill so we wouldn't need propane anymore. We failed to realize that a lot of times they aren't compatible, so we need to get a natural gas grill! OOOPS!

I believe that's it. I'll think about it more and add anything I forgot.

Oh yeah. Got a riding mower last month.

 

[Kmac]

Last summer I did this to the hall way bath. Tore it all out down to the wood sub floor. It was all builder cheap crap so it all got tore out. Pics for your enjoyment.

The most pimpiness sink ever!

 

[Dirt_Guy]

Btw, good idea by Smallville moving this over.

For sure. This is probably the only time I've seen posts yanked out of the banter thread for its own purpose. Most of the time posts are moved to the banter thread.

Hopefully y'all will give me some ideas for the day I take the plunge into home ownership.

 

[Hawk]

Holy crap, Smallie! I'm very interested in making a breakfast bar like you did. We are thinking of getting rid of a hallway to make the kitchen bigger and then knocking down a portion of the wall perpendicular for it.

*my wallet gently sobs*

 

[Hawk]

Can't see your pics here, Kev, but I'm interested to see them when I get home!

 

[bogey_russ]

One thing that has made our projects interesting is that the Chief Inspector for our city lives three houses away. Not that we are doing anything against code, but our city makes you get a permit for everything. Literally, they want a permit if you change the faucet in the kitchen sink. It costs something like 30.00! Lol, we had the plumber come in his personal truck and park in the garage.

you gotta be kidding... thats just plain evil... the reason i did everything on my own was to save bank but if they charge you for everything... uggggh

all i know is home depot knows me by name... im talking every dept from lumber to paint to garden... lolz

 

[TC]

nice OEM....i'm grabbing the camera gonna take some shots, but i'm not cleaning up for the pics so you're gonna see it how it is.

 

[Hawk]

nice OEM....i'm grabbing the camera gonna take some shots, but i'm not cleaning up for the pics so you're gonna see it how it is.

As long as you have a shirt on, brother. I keeeed, I keeeed.

 

[Kmac]

nice OEM....i'm grabbing the camera gonna take some shots, but i'm not cleaning up for the pics so you're gonna see it how it is.

Thanks! That was my first one. It hurt but it was worth it and in the end, I liked it. The bathroom was so ugly I didnt even take before pics. But that was the finished product. Were very happy with it and now just need to do our bathroom.

 

[Hawk]

I have very few, if any, before pics as well. It was straight 1950's swag. Oooogly. I guess I forgot to mention that I'm working on our bathroom too. It's not going to be nearly as difficult.

 

[TC]

ok, here's some pics:

kitchen cabinets, built, pickled, poly'd, and hung by yours truly:

a little shot of the backsplash:

kitchen ceiling (tongue and groove, beaded side down, stained and poly'd):

hardwood floor (hand scraped, hand finished floors, 5 1/4'' width planks):

here's my tile work in the shower (erin wanted a window so she got one, don't worry, frosted glass):

here's a shot of the headboard i made, then we stapled foam to it and covered it with fabric:

 

[clam fist]

Cool thread. Nice work guys! I love remodel work. I currently have two houses I am working on. I stripped 'em down to the studs and started all new. They are about 85% finished and I can't wait till the off season to finish 'em up.

 

[jdjanda]

ok, here's some pics:

kitchen cabinets, built, pickled, poly'd, and hung by yours truly:

Great looking cabinets.
What type of wood are the cabinets? My wife hates our Oak cabinets, but maybe she would be OK with a different finish.

 

[White Rhino]

man, i would love to be able to come up and help you do some work. i think after the outing i'm going to go up to OEM kevin HQ and help him put in some new doors.

i use to work for this company, check out their gallery and you can see some of the houses we built:

http://www.brightwaterconstruction.com/

the best part was that there was only 3 of us who did all the work. we'd have the foundations poured, then we'd come in and get going from the sill plates up! it was an awesome experience and i'd still be doing it but the economy had it's way with the amount of work we had lined up.

Those are some beautiful homes tc, very impressive!!!

 

[Hawk]

OEM, that tile looks great! Looks like a bunch of work with all them little things.

TC, I freaking love the ceiling, dude. The backsplash is sweet too. *Peeks in bathroom window*

 

[Kmac]

Thanks Hawk. It turned out nice but I'll never do little tile like that again. When I do our bathroom Im going with the bigger ones.

TC that back splash looks great! Nice work bro!

 

[TC]

Great looking cabinets.
What type of wood are the cabinets? My wife hates our Oak cabinets, but maybe she would be OK with a different finish.

they are oak. i let erin pick out a color she wanted them, had the paint made up in oil base product. cut it with paint thinner on a 4-1 ratio (4 parts thinner), then just brushed it on. once dry i went over it with an acrylic poly, sanding between coats. super durable finish and pretty cool looking if you ask me.

 

[TC]

Thanks Hawk. It turned out nice but I'll never do little tile like that again. When I do our bathroom Im going with the bigger ones.

TC that back splash looks great! Nice work bro!

thanks man, i'll have to take a pic of erin's dad and stepmom's backsplash i did. it has a cool glass tile mosaic in it.

 

[Kmac]

thanks man, i'll have to take a pic of erin's dad and stepmom's backsplash i did. it has a cool glass tile mosaic in it.

I think a nice backsplash makes the kitchen.

 

[TC]

I think a nice backsplash makes the kitchen.

i'd have to disagree, i think a good woman makes the kitchen.....hehe

 

[One-T]

Here is my mountain cabin...we re painted everything. Renovated both bathrooms and the entire kitchen. ENJOY!!

dining room after reno

Bathroom after reno

slate tile in bathroom, before finished with base boards

Kitchen after reno

guest bath after reno

 

[TC]

no pics of the closet? haha

 

[clam fist]

Nice place One-t.

 

[One-T]

Nice place One-t.

thanks buddy, its a small place but its perfect for my wife and I....I was having a real problem with posting the pics

 

[clam fist]

thanks buddy, its a small place but its perfect for my wife and I....I was having a real problem with posting the pics

I use photobucket. I forget which code to generate each time I put up a pic.