Master Bath Renovation
The master bathroom was anything but “Master” when we bought our home, so as you suspected, it became project #2 after the wall tear down between the two bedrooms. The original master bath (our house was built in 1964) only contained one toilet and a very small vanity and that was unacceptable to us modern folk. The vinyl flooring was yellow (i think). I really don’t remember much of that bathroom because we gutted it so fast. I told you we bought our home in January 2006 but we didn’t actually move into it until April 2006 due to the major master bedroom/bathroom renovations. When we moved into the house our “Master Project” wasn’t actually finished. We were forced to set up our bedroom in our basement family room. So there we slept for several weeks and used our 1960’s pepto-pink basement bathroom…it was almost as bad as camping!!
When we bought this home the master (half ) bath wasn’t much to look at. It’s a good thing Ryan and I have vision.
We removed the ugly vanity and the laminate flooring before we delved into the shower project.
We ended up taking the walk-in-closet, which was directly to the right of the bathroom and made that our new shower. Our course we hired a plumber to run the water lines, etc…one of the few things we actually hired out.
We studded out the frame and dura-rocked it in.
Who knew picking out tile would be such a hard task? not us… Of course every tile we like was ridiculously expensive. We finally settled on a really cool dark grey 16×16 tile for the floor and a subway tile for the 6×8 walk in shower. We spent bit more than we had budgeted, but because the space was small we didn’t need too much so we gave it the green light. The people at the local tile store told us (at the time) that we would be the only house in Charleston with that really cool grey tile!
Lucky for us, Ryan’s dad has a woodworking hobby. He very graciously built this extra tall vanity that I designed. We stained it black and added some hardware and granite countertop. We love the design of the vessel sink (although not very kid friendly, if you have them) so after the vanity and tile were set I set out to research them online. I was able to find a good deal so I had the sink and faucet shipped.
It took considerably longer to complete this bath than we anticipated, but we are thrilled with the results. Here are the “afters”…what a big difference compared to what we started with!
If you look carefully in the above picture you can also see a second built-in that Ryan’s dad made for us to match the vanity. That closet stores our linens, etc and houses the TV so we can catch up on some GMA in the shower every morning (Ryan’s idea, of course)!
We learned SO much on this project. Michelle learned how to use a tile saw and grout and Ryan learned the ins and outs of durarock. That knowledge became very useful later when we completely renovated the hallway bath. More on that to come….
A Console that Needed a Consult.
This weekend I was shopping the motherland, aka Homegoods, and I stumbled upon a table that was very similar to one that exists in my foyer. It was painted a beautiful grey and I fell in love. Obviously I did not need a new table so I didn’t buy it. Instead, I ventured next door to Lowes. I thumbed through the paint swatches, picked out a beautiful grey and had it mixed. My plan: paint my existing console table in the foyer a similar grey to the one I found at Homegoods.
This is the console table as I bought it.
After a quick spray paint prime I immediate set out to paint my piece. It took about 3 coats of paint to cover over the existing black, but it turned out beautifully! I was extremely happy with the results and couldn’t wait for it to dry and set to move it back upstairs.
Sunday morning after I knew everything was dry I made the move with my piece (and of course made 2 scratches in the hallway). Unfortunately, I decided the shade of grey I picked out didn’t really pop great against white brick…major boo! I went to my paint shelves (yes I said shelves, not shelf…I am a paint addict after all) and choose a slightly darker grey paint that I already owned. I tested this paint out on one drawer to see if I would like it better. The result…another BOO! So after talking it through with my design consultant (my mother!) we decided that this table was definitely meant to be black against that bright white brick wall. I was a little (understatement of the year) ticked at myself. I can’t believed I didn’t call my mother before I began the project to get her input. I spent the next few hours re-painting 3 coats of black on top of the grey that was on top of the original black. So needless to say this before and after project went back to the before. I promised I would share the good and the bad of our home renovations, and this definitely goes in the ‘bad’ category.
Because I have about six coats of paint on the console table I haven’t put it back together yet. It really needs to sit for a few days in order to properly cure.
Sometimes things are better left as is….
Timber!
This technically has nothing to do with our home renovations, but our good friends who live next door (yes, we had something to do with that) had their own outdoor ‘before and after’ this weekend. I stood in my yard and watched it all very nervously. Two ridiculously fearless men (Matt and Daniel Vaughan) monkeyed their way up three 60-75 foot trees in the yard and swung branch to branch to cut them down! For you this is probably old news, but I had never witnessed such a thing. There were several points that I just couldn’t watch because I am such a nervous-nelly. Of course my camera was by my side and in-between closing my eyes. I wiped the sweat off my palms and took a few shots with the Nikon.
In the backyard this 75 foot tree was on it’s way down. See the little man at the very top in between the two limbs?!
As I grow older I have become increasingly more afraid of heights, so that is just crazy to me.
going….
going…
GONE!!
After the Matt and Daniel finished, my neighbors were left with quite a mess to clean up. We offered to help but they declined our assistance. So instead we drank a beer, shot some photos, and watched…hahaha!
This tree out front wasn’t completely cut down, it just got a major branch-cut.
The leftover mess from the front yard tree was dragged to the curb. It’s adjacent to our yard so of course t he dogs want to sniff the heck out of it! The city will be by to pick up the trimmings in the next few days with their mulcher.
Ten year old Ivy supervised this entire six hour project, so I couldn’t end this post without a picture of her!
Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a productive weekend. I had a not-quite-so productive weekend project. I plan to share this week. Stay tuned!
Master-ful!
The master bedroom was the most important project of our renovations, so it was very important to pick a color that we found inspiring and soothing. Somehow I got set on the paint hue of “sea green” when i picked up swatches. I didn’t realize what color I actually chose until my good friends Dave and Eddie stopped by. As soon as Eddie walked into my room he said “TIFFANY BLUE!”. Yes, Tiffany Blue is my favorite color, but I didn’t realize that I subconsciously choose the color of that little blue box. (That color would once again show itself again at our wedding). What girl doesn’t love to pull that white ribbon and watch it magically fall off that little blue box?
Before (during renovation)
Progress after paint:
The next step was to figure out some window coverings (I love me some cornice boards on low ceilings to make windows look taller) and what the heck to do with that awfully placed window behind our bed. We finally decided to mock-up a “headboard” since Ryan didn’t want to build in anything to completely close off that window (against my wishes). I went to Lowes and bought a bamboo window shade in the same dark brown as our bedding and drapes and we jimmy-rigged and stained a board so we could hang it. whhaaalaaa! it works for now.
Knowing I wanted some cornice boards, I put Ryan to work to build me some (they are so easy). I found a quilted white fabric at Jo Ann’s and Stapled it to the boards. I wasn’t feeling any sewing on these, so the brown ribbon in the middle is what covers the seams on the fabric. Call me lazy, I call myself genius!
Lucky for us Ryan’s dad has a wood working hobby! This built-in takes up part of the area where bedroom #3’s closet was. His dad built it as a gift, all we had to do was stain it and install. The install was not exactly easy, it barely wedged into it’s little home so we had a little touch up to do on the back end…but all in all, not too shabby!
The beautiful piece of art on the wall was something we picked up a year or so ago at an art auction. It is actually a really cool original piece. The artist painted it backwards on a heavy beveled piece of glass. The colors and style matched our personality perfectly so of course we couldn’t leave the art auction without bidding on it! At first we were really nervous the weight of the piece wouldn’t hold well with the molly, but after being hung for so long, it’s obviously a perfect fit!
Needless to say we are very pleased with the progress of this room. My next step is to find new bedding. I’m so picky. I’ve been looking for over 2 years now to find exactly what I want. I figure that one day it will become another sewing project once I find the ‘perfect’ fabric. …obviously I can’t find the perfect duvet or comforter!!
Happy Friday!
…off to DIY!
p.s. in case you are wondering what the sign above the “red dress dancing in the rain” oil painting (on the pic with the built-in)…it was something my mother picked up for us that reads “”One shoe can change your life” – Cinderella” more on that to come!
Charter Bus w/ Friends + Shopping + Wine = Love
One of my best friends works for an awesome company that decided to charter a lovely bus to the Jeffersonville, OH Tanger Outlets (about 2 and a half hour away) for it’s employees. So Wednesday morning three friends and myself packed our cooler with veggies, dip, and wine and started out on a shopping adventure at 645am. We hopped on the charter bus in the dark a rode a peaceful few hours to one of the nearest outlet malls in the area! We found some great deals and some great Christmas gifts on our 14 hour adventure. On the way back we were lucky enough to share many laughs and a few glasses of wine with some wonderful co-workers and friends. I was actually given some great interior design advice from some very experienced realtors.
After 7 hours of shopping it was inevitable that our feet were hurting so during the last 10 minutes before the charter bus left we decided it necessary to run into “Hanes” to find some slippers for the ride home….you guessed it, we found them!!!
It was a great day, great shopping, and great friendship…it always pays to sit in the back of the bus…hahahaha!!!!
Ninker the Stinker is One!
Birthday wishes are in order! It’s hard to believe that a year in my little puppies life has already passed. You guessed it, today is Ninka’s first birthday which means this post is dedicated to her! Because Ninka is no longer a puppy, I suppose I will have to find an alternative to blame any bad behavior on. Ninker the Stinker (as we refer to her) is finally on adult food which will make shopping at Petsmart a little less expensive since we only have to buy one bag of food now…can I say, YEAH!
We picked Ninka up at the Huntington airport after a few flight cancellations and freight issues on January 4, 2011. In true Before and After DIY fashion I must take a look back at Ninka’s before and afters!
Ninka with her mother. She is the fawn pup on the front left.
A close-up from the breeder at 11 days after she opened her eyes.
After an hour long drive home from the Huntington airport we got Ninka settled into her new home and introduced her to her big sister, Tulipai.
Why put forth the effort to get the toys out of the basket when you can just hop into it and play with them all at once?
The cutest thing Ninka did in her first days of puppy-hood at out home was sleeping by her food bowl. I couldn’t help but to take a picture of it, but then again, what don’t I take a picture of??
A few weeks ago we went out with our photographer, Mandi White and she was able to capture some amazing shots of the girls. I have only seen a few images so far, but this one completely captures my little stinker!
And because it would be a post with out Ninka next to her sort-of name sake…this split screen is a must!
Yep, it’s obvious, Ninka is waaaay cuter than Minka Kelly…brahhhaaaahhhaaa! Happy Birthday Ninka.
First Things First
The first and most important project on our new home was taking the wall out between the master bedroom and bedroom #3. We started this project the 2nd day we owned the home! Give me a hammer and some protective eye wear and i was ready to go!! Our plan was to take out the wall to extend the master bedroom. It turned out to be a much more involved project than anticipated, but it was so worth it in the end!
This is what (part of) the master looked liked when we bought the house:
Bedroom #3 was by far was the ugliest of all 4 rooms. The green carpet and tacky border had to go.
Day two of owning the house Ryan and I started demolition. Taking out the drywall between bedroom #3 and the Master was actually easier that i thought…just had to be careful of wiring.
Once we got the drywall removed from both sides of the wall this was our view.
The next day, after removing the wiring, we enlisted Ryan’s dad to help us take out some studs….
Soon after we were able to build a new wall and slap on some drywall to form a new walk-in-closet. Don’t mind all the spots in the picture…we had an awful mess of dust and i think its still floats around to this day!
There was a small-ish existing walk-in-closet, but for the amount of clothes I own, it would never do. In true Bauer style we drew up plans to convert it to a 5×8 shower which conveniently butts up the the existing half bath. The ‘jut-out’ below is the newly created shower….more on that later.
The doorway was dry-walled-in and the new entry became the existing door from bedroom#3. After renting a floor sander, staining, and finishing the existing hardwoods this 10 week project was on it’s way to complete! I forgot to mention that in the time renovation was going on we were lucky enough NOT to live in the mess for the first 6 weeks. We sucked it up on week 7 and created a make-shift bedroom in our basement rec room…definitely not ideal, but it worked. We setup camp for three weeks like that!
Paint, window treatments, furniture, etc…follow.
Eat, Drink and Be Spooky!
In honor of Halloween I deemed it appropriate to post some pictures from my good friend Misty’s Halloween party this past Saturday! For weeks I worked on perfecting our Pirate and Parrot costumes. My best friend Addy suggested this theme and i took it to the extreme after much internet research and Pinterest pinning! I found this parrot costume online but but in true Michelle fashion, I decided it was something i could totally DIY…who would have guessed??!
I really liked this costume as well, but knew it was WAY beyond my abilities:
Ryan, my pirate, was Jack Sparrow (I know, so not original). This was the inspiration for his costume:
I found some really cool eye makeup photos online for inspiration as well…
Unfortunately Ryan ended up getting really ill this past week and wasn’t able to attend the party…Boo. Luckily, my partner in crime, Addy, was my date. It actually worked out pretty well because she DIY’d a peacock costume, so our costumes morphed into “Two Birds of a Feather’. Even though Ryan wasn’t able to wear his costume I’m still going to post it.
“Two Birds of a Feather”
Ryan’s Pirate
Feathers floated everywhere in Misty’s house and I am still vacuuming them out of mine, but all in all it was a great costume and we had a wonderful time! Who knows what next year will bring….
Anyone else attend a Halloween party this weekend? Did you DIY your costume? What are some clever costumes that you saw this year? The most creative i saw was ” The Heisman Trophy”!
Before and After DIY
Everything in my life seems to have a before and after. Why clutter facebook with my split screen photos when I can put them on a site for those who actually want to see them?! My husband Ryan and I have lived in our first home in Charleston, West Virginia for almost 5 years now and it’s amazing how much it’s changed. This home was our second love and we have worked so diligently putting it together to make it our own. Let’s face it, we have virtually gutted this thing! Our goal in buying our first home was to purchase the ugliest house on the block. We basically did that in our neighborhood and now everyone who drives by stops us to tell us what a wonderful job we have done on making this house a home. I will be the first to tell you that those comments make my heart flutter and make all the hard work SO worthwhile!
We bought this home when it was on the market for “zero” days according to the real estate hot sheet and after our offer was accepted 3 contingent offers followed! It’s amazing what a little TLC and sweat equity can do…
SOLD! January, 2006
Present: October 2011
obviously we have added a lot to the exterior, landscaping, and lawn…more of that to follow!
anyone else just now starting a blog after DIY’ing your house for many years? anyone recently buy a home and have tons of projects planned? Are we the only ones who take the “sold” photo in the front yard with the realtor? i would love to hear about it all!
Michelle
beforeandafterdiy.com 