master bedroom; the big show

Sorry about the hiatus.

First. A few things about the show. We'd do it all over again. Seeing the house looking fantastic on TV was quite rewarding after all the work we've done. Also, watching ourselves was surprisingly not as painful as expected. We are good looking dudes.

I can't say I agree with the results (dead last). Although, trailing behind Leigh and Corey is fine with me - they're place is beautiful. While much of the show pointed out valid points, I would have liked more credit for actually building a kitchen in a space that did not have one. Conversely, we spent less than half the budget to which we were compared... that aspect wasn't discussed on the show and ultimately feels pretty damn good.

I can say we had a wonderful viewing party. The house was jam-packed with amazing people and much fun was had.

If you missed it, the folks at HGTV can't seem to get enough of us and it's been in rotation. Additional airings:
December 30, 2009 - 11:30 AM e/p
January 15, 2010 - 9:00 AM e/p
February 16, 2010 - 5:30 PM e/p

Now, about this master bedroom.

Before:






How about those beams? We tried to work with them. Ultimately, they darkened the room substantially and the lack of ceiling material allowed entirely too much noise transfer between the master bedroom and the one above on the third floor. You do not want to hear the noises coming from the master bedroom.

What's new? Covered the ceiling; added crown moulding; installed recessed lights and a new fan; refinished the floors; wallpapered a wall; FINALLY used those doors we spent so much time on a year ago; and have started putting it back together.

We love the king sized bed - which is resting on top of a frame from West Elm.

The side tables are an Ikea hack we saw on Apartment Therapy - $39 each (plus materials).

We think the wallpaper is stunning and give credit to Kay Ayres for helping find this. Kay is a close friend's designer Mom with a great eye. It's from Lee Jofa and installation was a breeze.











Merry Christmas from Baltimore!! Look at all this snow:



Of course - a dog picture. Here's Kanga looking sexy:

wood floor refinishing; cabinet installation

We got some exciting work done this weekend! 

Wood floors: Firstly, I can’t believe I ever considered replacing the original floors, and here’s a thanks to those of you who openly considered my sanity.  They turned out great!  The floors had been refinished in the past and we liked the aged color and look.  They had potential.  Our goal was a super shiny, smooth floor that will stay that way - despite the canine parade.  We came up with a process that worked and we love the way they turned out.

The first step is to clean and prepare the floors.  We used the shop vac, brooms, swiffers, etc.  You’ll also need to remove the baseboards - be careful if you want to keep and reuse them as they break easily.  If you have nail heads popping up or loose boards, this is the time to fix that too.

Before:

After thoroughly removing the debris, we sanded the entire floor with an orbital sander (rented from Home Depot) using a 150 grit sanding screen.  The edges and corners were done manually with a hand sander.  We were careful not to sand too deep in order to keep enough of the current finish and color (the orbital sander is simple to use and more forgiving than a belt sander).  After sanding, you should see a powdery white dust over the floor. 

Next, we dusted thoroughly with swiffer pads and followed up with mineral spirits using a lambswool applicator.  This step was imperative in our case due to the waxy buildup over the years.  If the wax is not completely removed it can affect the finish at the end.  The mineral spirits also cleans up any dusty layer that might be left and leaves the floors free of residue.  We went over the entire floor twice to ensure that it was clean and ready for the first coat of polyurethane. 

We used an oil based, gloss by Minwax – I’ve used water-based poly before and while I know it can be argued that it’s a better choice, I feel like the oil-based was easier to use.  One big difference is that there were no wet edge problems.  This is partly due to it’s slow drying time (18-24 hours before the second coat can be started).  Even though it took longer, we're much happier with the results here than in our previous house. 

We allowed the floors to dry and lightly sanded them again with the orbital sander (150 grit).  You’ll get the white powdery residue again (swiffer, then more mineral spirits with the applicator) – let the mineral spirits completely dry and hit it again with the same poly I mentioned above. 

We love them – so much – I think they might be pregnant. 

You can also see that we started the cabinet installation!  I think that needs one more exclamation point.    !

They’re Ikea Akurum in Adel.  The finish is called Medium Brown.  Medium Brown is a rare species of tree only found in the forests of Sweden.  Couldn’t Ikea come up with a name involving more than just adjectives? 

Ta-Dah!

decision making :: floors, backsplash, wallpaper

I'd prefer to be posting things like, "hey guys, check out the new counter tops" but for now we are still waiting for these darned contractors to get moving on the quote process to get rid of this wall. There are quite a few issues, let alone the fact that it's a load-bearing wall. There is plumbing, HVAC ductwork and electrical lines that will need to be reconfigured. Each contractor that has come through ends up having to schedule a second appointment with other people to give an accurate quote. So - it's taking longer than expected.

Fortunately, while we complain about not living on the first floor, we do have a fairly comfortable, efficiency'esque 'apartment' in the basement.

As the process goes on, decisions are constantly being made - and then changed - and then changed back - and then thrown out the window completely. Here are some considerations:

Wood floors - the ones in the house are pretty amazing. The planks are all slightly different widths, the color is warm and they are some seriously solid, thick floors. Original to the house, I imagine they could have been hand-scraped, according to this article, wood floors weren't mass produced in factories until the 1900's. Although, we were told by the previous owner that at some point in the '80s they were pulled up, cleaned and relaid - this is probably why they are in as good as shape as they are - not much squeaking or moving at all. Anyhow, they're in need of a refinishing. The options are:

--- a typical sanding/refinish to expose a new, very clean surface to then finish with polyurethane of some sort (we probably won't stain them, which will leave them a very light color) or;

--- buff them with a light sanding, leaving them the current color, but giving them a very shiny, hopefully nice look with multiple coats of poly. We like this option, because it will retain the rustic look that we really like - I love the dark line in between each board and would hate to lose that to a deep sanding;

--- any thoughts? like that window in the middle of the house? That's the wall that needs to be taken out - it used to be the rear of the home, hence the window.

Backsplash - this is so far down the line that I have time to change my mind at least 37 times. We are considering a few materials. One being stainless steel tiles. We saw this in a house and it looked great. I've read a few things about people having problems with it looking dirty and/or scratching - which makes me nervous. Especially when considering the fact that it'll probably cost twice as much as other materials. We went ahead and ordered some samples from Modwalls, just to see how they look. They look pretty great - the subway tile (second below) is my top choice (it's about .75"x1.5", to put it in perspective):





Wallpaper for the bedroom - Despite the fact that we sort of hate it after removing as much as we did (and still have more to do) - we love the stuff over at Ferm Living. This is only going to be on one wall in the bedroom, behind the headboard (which I'll post about later, we're making it out of the huge doors that were on the first floor - s'gonna be nice). We don't agree on this decision at all right now.

Craig is fighting for this:


But I like this one:


I'd actually pick this one right now - but it does not seem to be within Craig's compromise-able range: