home remodel - part 4

Here are previous Home Remodel posts – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

After I decided to take the big plunge and do a lot more remodeling then just my guest bathroom, it didn’t take me long to get the ball rolling. As you will recall the last decision I make was to pipe in gas into my kitchen and go with an oven wall unit. Here is what else I was to be doing:

~To make room for the oven/microwave oven wall unit I would need to demolish my pantry. I hated losing the space but necessary if I wanted the combo microwave/oven unit.

~I was going to have the track lighting replaced with cans and have accent lighting added. Electrical outlets added, capped, or moved. Several dimmer switches added within the kitchen and house, gives you the ability to create a ‘mood’.

~Paint the entire inside of the house along with faux painting the kitchen.

~Replace all the baseboards in the entire house due to they weren’t installed very well originally.

~New faucets in kitchen and bathrooms and a big splurge of putting in a pot filler in the wall behind the stovetop. Love it! I hadn’t originally planned that but when my handyman was setting up the electrical, etc. for the cooktop/oven unit he said it wouldn’t cost much more to do this. It didn’t cost much for the plumbing to be installed but have you even priced pot filler hardware? Wow, talk about expensive, but well worth it. I only had 6 hours to look, choose, and purchase the hardware, given more time this is something that would be well worth purchasing over the internet. You get more choices and better pricing.

The Pot Filler

~Engineered stone countertops with an angled edge, no bull nose, angle, bull nose…. Bull Nose Edge – final answer. Cambria Nottingham engineered stone for kitchen and bathrooms and hutch. Black granite composite under mount sink in the kitchen. White porcelain under mount bowl sinks in bathrooms.

Countertop & Cabinet Samples

~Appliances – GE Profile 5-burner gas cooktop; Kitchen Aid Microwave/Convection Oven Wall Unit; Kenmore refrigerator, french doors with water and ice dispenser and a bottom drawer freezer with tilt out door; GE Titan dishwasher (only appliance I already had).

GE Profile Cooktop

~Furniture – of course you can’t redo your home without getting furniture to match. That country blue and white couch would just not do nor would the recliners. My timing on my home remodel was around Thanksgiving time and they were many sales going on. I purchased a couch, loveseat, end table, and a leather coffee table/ottoman for the living room. A small rectangular table with lamp for the entryway and a countertop height dining room table with six chairs.

Of course there were many little decisions and expenditures to be made like handles and knobs for the cabinets. I found the ones I wanted on the internet, don’t you just love the internet. They were 50% less then what I was finding retail and that adds up to a lot of savings when you’re talking a total of 80 knobs and handles.

Photo - A&H Turf & Specialties, Inc.

Side Note: I can not tell you the difference adding handles and knobs to the cabinets made. Honestly the new cabinets were gorgeous before adding them but they popped afterwards. If you have a kitchen and you want to make a change go the inexpensive route and add or change your door hardware, you won’t be disappointed.

Let the changes begin.

home remodel - part 3

Here are previous Home Remodel posts – Part 1 and Part 2.

As you may remember at the end of Home Remodel – Part 2 I had decided on putting tile in the whole house, new carpet in the bedrooms, new cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom and adding a hutch and cabinets in the laundry room. A new gas stove and an oven wall unit was also added to the list along with having gas piped into my kitchen. Pretty scary when you consider that I started this project to remodel the guest bathroom.

At this point in the planning of the remodel I needed to step back and look at the direction things were going. The proposed cost had already exceeded what I had initially had planned to spend and I needed to decide whether to scale back or proceed. You could say I was at the proverbial fork in the road. You see as I continue to move forward there are very justifiable reasons why I should make additional changes, it’s kind of a chain reaction that in the end has a hefty price tag connected to it.

There are many things to consider when making these types of changes. Are you planning on staying in the house long term or move within the next 3-5 years. Fortunately there’s no question on what I will do, I'm staying put. I was fortunate when I purchased the house it was in a new development and I bought at a good price. As you know the housing market has sky rocketed over the past 13 years and I had built up a good amount of equity in the house but still with the economy the way it is you need to give these big steps a lot of consideration, ask yourself if the timing is right. I do plan on keeping this house even if I was to move away someday. Not sure if I could rent it out or not but some day I wouldn’t mind being a ‘snow bird’ and winter in sunny Arizona. But unfortunaely retirement is is still a long way off unless I stike it rich and win the lottery. Well, here I was standing on that high dive platform looking way down into a small pool of water asking myself if I was going to take the big plunge or chicken out.

I’ve been thinking, planning, day dreaming about redoing my house for quite a while and it was time to take that dream and turn it into a reality, I deserved it. On the practical side it would only add to the resale value of the house if I was ever to sell one day. Ok, let's do it.

Since I’ve decided to go for the ‘whole enchilada’ I would have to do as much as I can myself to keep labor down, get quotes to compare, and be my own project coordinator. I was the one who was going to be dealing directly with the contractor’s and coordinating the install and timing of each step along the way. As someone who is a planner, list maker, and scheduler this seemed like something I could handle.

I’ve spent a lot of time at those big box stores and I’ve done a lot of fixing things around my house. I know how to caulk a bathroom even though I hated it. I’ve put in my lawn sprinkler system laying the pipe, gluing the joints, and fixing a broken sprinkler when needed. Laid Pergo flooring, painted walls, wallpapered, installed ceiling fans (with only a little shock), removed a toilet and helped put it back together, install shelving, etc. Now, do I like doing all those things? No, if I had my druthers I’d rather have one of those cute guys on HGTV be doing the work and sell tickets to watch them to all my girlfriends and neighbors. Now there's a way to fund this remodel. Boy if that isn't a dream.

First step, shop for a home equity loan ~ done. The best rate was at a credit union and I did everything online, can you believe it, online. Gotta love the internet. Within 1 week papers were signed, notorized, shipped, and loan funded. Wahoo. Now all I had to do was get the work done within my budget. So, I bet you want to know what else I’m planning to in my house; I hate to tease you but check for Home Remodel -- Part 4.

home remodel saga continues...

home remodel - part 2

Catch the first post of my remodel project at home remodel - part 1.

I decided to stop procrastinating and get the guest bathroom redone, honestly Linda it’s been years. As I mentioned earlier that I wanted to have tile flooring but with the bathroom off the hallway I had to make the decision of 1) tile in bathroom only to rip it out when I redo the whole house, or 2) bite the bullet and put tile in the whole house. After several visits to the tile store and discussions on what I can and can’t do it was a done deal – I was going to put tile in the whole house. It makes since to do it all at once, get it over with as they say. Bringing home tiles samples had started. I decided on porcelain and wanted a textured look without it actually be textured so no dirt can get into any grooves. I also wanted it to be multi-colored in a neutral tone that would not show the dirt nor force me into a certain color scheme for decorating.

I placed the tile samples around the house to see what they looked like in the different light of day. As I would sit in my kitchen, again drinking a mocha coffee, looking at the tiles in the kitchen I thought - if I wanted to change the footprint of the cabinets in my kitchen it would be easier to do it before laying the tile. Hmmm, that’s a thought. There really was a need to replace one of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen as I believed there was moisture behind it and potentially some mold. Hmmm, I wondered how much that would cost.

dining area

If you’ve ever done any redecorating or remodeling and you start thinking about more changes then was first planned it’s hard to go back to the original plan. Just putting new tile in the floor would be great but why not take advantage and put in new cabinets first. Ok, done, new cabinets. Oh there's that recessed area in the dining area that I've always wanted to put a hutch in, hmmm, would look really nice and pull the dining and kitchen areas together. Ok, done, a hutch too. Of course I have to put new cabinets in both bathrooms too so they match the kitchen, for resale purposes the cabinet guy says and I agree. Oh, I’ve always wanted to have cabinets in the laundry room instead of the shelf where everyone can see everything stacked upon everything. Done, cabinets will be added in the laundry room.

So I get recommendations from friends who’ve recently put in new cabinets and started getting quotes. After many hours a cabinet guy was chosen and then the real decisions were to be made. Walnut, pine, cherry. Stains, painted, distressed, not to mention if you want a glaze. Solid doors, raised panels, no panel, drawers, doors, pullouts, inserts, dovetail corners, quiet close, on and on and on. I was in cabinet hell. Yes, in the beginning it’s fun because it’s exciting and you have an idea of what you’re wanting. Then you realize what you want is in the custom line and is really pricy so you have to decide whether you want to pay the price or compromise…. I compromised. Raised panel – yes; quiet close – no; stain with glaze – absolutely yes; crown molding – custom in some areas and standard in others; drawers not doors – yes; dove tail – no; plain glass with no wood dividers on hutch doors. I’m sure there are others but I can’t remember them.

kitchen area

Ok, so I’m now putting in new tile and cabinets. Ok, I’m good with that. Well, actually there’s the small issue with that country blue carpet, you did see the picture in the first post, if not check it out here. I can't put in new tile next to that carpet, so I'll need new carpet in the bedrooms. Well, not originally planned but what can you do. It is what it is.

As I sit in my kitchen and work on the new cabinet layout in regards to drawer widths, etc. I now have to get a new stove. Since I’m getting new cabinets I doubt I will redo anything for a LONG time to come so if I was going to get the stove I wanted then now’s the time. Well, now the stove I wanted was actually a stovetop, a 5-burner gas stovetop with a lot of BTus to be exact. That’s fine and dandy but I don’t have gas piped into my kitchen. I have a gas water heater in the garage but currently no gas to the kitchen. Ok, so I have to have gas piped, shouldn't be a big deal, then I can get the 5-burner stovetop that I’ve always wanted. Oh to cook with gas, a dream come true. Now I guess I need to find a contractor. Since I was going to have gas brought in that also meant I would have the option of moving the location of where my current stove is located, there was something else I needed to think about, what about an oven?

After spending many a lunch hour and weekend online or in appliance stores I couldn’t find the double oven/microwave combination that I wanted that would fit under the gas stovetop. Hmmm, ok so now I needed to figure out where to put wall ovens which I really did not want. They took up valuable cupboard space. Once you see the pictures you will notice that my kitchen is galley style so I did not have too many options as to where they could go. So my choices were - give up my gas stovetop and get a gas stove/electric oven that slides between the cabinets or keep the gas stovetop and put in a bulky space hogging wall oven unit. Aargh, why can’t they make what I want…. I’m the consumer it shouldn’t be too much to ask for should it? For the amount these items cost can’t I find what I want? Well, I guess not so a decision must be made. Again the need to compromise but this wasn’t a hard decision, I was not giving up my gas stovetop no way, no how, over my dead body.

Ok, let’s recap:

Original Project - Guest Bathroom:

~tile floor

~paint

~decorations

Current Project:

~tile entire house

~carpet in bedrooms

~replace cabinets in kitchen & bathrooms

~add a hutch in dining area & cabinets in laundry room

~new stovetop & oven wall unit

~pipe in gas

home remodel saga continues...

home remodel - part 1

I promised I would write about my home remodel in August. Obviously I did not meet the self imposed deadline, sorry blog readers for the delay. Here’s a little background information: I bought my house 13 years ago brand spankin new. It’s not a big house, ~1300 sq. ft. but it was just the right size for my son and I. Yes, it would have been nice to have a little more room but knowing me I would have filled it with ‘stuff’ that I did not need nor want to dust. My son moved out several years ago so now it’s just me and Oreo so I’m very happy to not have a lot of rooms to ramble around.

When I bought the house I upgraded the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and of course the carpet padding but tile and stone countertops were just not in the budget. When I picked out the carpeting and furniture I was in the ‘country’ mode so as you can imagine it was only a matter of time the ‘country blue’ lost it’s charm. Not known for my decorating skills I could never finish the country theme nor had the money to totally convert to a different look. So what I had was a miss mash of… ugh.

check out the country blue and Oreo

I’ve wanted to redecorate for 8+ years and thinking and rethinking what I would do if I could. I peppered those who were remodeling a kitchen on what they did, who did the work, what they recommend or not recommend. Discussions of laminate wood vs. tile flooring, blinds vs. shutters, gas vs. electric, etc., etc. I would file this information away in my brain and then sit in my kitchen on Sunday mornings while enjoying my mocha coffee envisioning what I would do. At times I would even go as far as sketching this onto paper or talking to the sales help at several of our big box home stores.

oh those mauve matching recliners

This was not an all consuming process but rather wanting to decorate would come and go throughout the years. I would really get the bug when I would have friends over for dinner, people coming to visit, or around the holidays. Unfortunately it came down to the almighty dollar and not wanting to part with it.

Around five years ago the guest bathroom flooded which in turn ruined the laminate flooring. This was ripped out and I just kept it with the original linoleum, no base boards, and some of the wall paper pulled off at the bottom of one wall. This was not the prettiest of rooms but it my sons bathroom so I wasn’t in any hurry to fix it up because we all know boys have cooties and why fix a bathroom that a teenager was not going to take care of.

guest bathroom after wallpaper & decor removed

I also didn’t want to remove the wallpaper that I had put up on all the walls in the bathroom. It wasn’t a huge room but putting up wallpaper is a pain, removing it is a bigger pain. So I procrastinated. By this time I had decided on putting tile into the bathroom and because this bathroom opens up to the hallway if I was going to tile the bathroom I would have to tile the hallway, which leads to the living room, which would lead to the kitchen. In other words if I tiled the guest bathroom floor I’d have to tile the whole house at once or tear out the tile put in the guest bathroom when I was ready to tile the rest of the house. Either way it wasn’t a pleasant thought. So I procrastinated some more.

About 3 plus years ago the bible study group that I’m in started meeting at my house due to my vision and not being able to drive at night. With them meeting at my house it would mean that they would have to use the guest bathroom in all its ugly glory. Yes, it was clean but not in the best decorative state. Still I didn’t know where to start so procrastinating was just easier.

As I saved money to begin fixing up the guest bathroom I found when I had save a good chunk of change I would travel abroad. In 2004 I spent 3 ½ weeks in my first trip to Italy. Fell in love with the country, people, food, culture and knew I had to return. Two years later in 2006 I spent 4 weeks in Italy with my parents and son joining me for parts of that trip. Everyone asked me on my return if I’d gotten Italy ‘out of my system’ but unfortunately this trip only confirmed that I wanted to have Italy as part of my life in some way. But I also was trying to be realistic and knew I could not afford to be jetting off to Italy every two years unless I won the lottery or found myself a ‘sugar daddy’, both an unlikely happening.

Duomo, Orvieto

In the beginning of 2007 I started seriously thinking of starting those projects in my house, specifically the guest bathroom. My son had moved out so all those boy cooties did too, I had no excuses. Started spending more time in the flooring and cabinet area of the big box home stores rather then the garden area. Did I want ceramic or porcelain, oh the many styles of carpet, enough to make the mind swirl.

Trevi Fountain, Rome

Then in April 2007 a friend who works for an airline called and offered me a buddy pass that was going to expire the first of June so it needed to be used, would I be interested. Would I be interested? A buddy pass to… anywhere? Anywhere? Oh, but where would I go? Would I be able to get the time off work on such short notice? Of course I did not hesitate in saying ‘yes’ I would LOVE to use the ticket. Where I would go, no question there I was returning to Italy. Because the time was of the essence I called my manager on a Saturday evening asking if it was okay if I took the time, there was no issue there. Yahoo, I couldn’t believe I was returning to this beautiful country just 6 months after I left. Folks, this is the reason why everyone should have a current passport, having the ability to leave at a moment’s notice.

Tuscany countryside

Yes, this is a blog of my home remodel but these trips delayed my remodel in several ways. The spell that Italy had on me was something that I couldn’t explain when people asked why I love it so much. It’s not just one particular thing but everything it did and didn’t offer, a place where I could and wanted to see myself being a part of either on a regular or semi-permanent basis. After reading about others who feel the same as I do I don’t feel the need to explain it anymore, all I do is highly encourage them to visit this country. After I returned from my 3rd trip to Italy I felt I had gotten Italy somewhat out of my system and could focus on my home. The adventure begins….

home remodel saga continues...