Just about done for 2009 (and it's only February!)

Okay, so installed crown in the guest room, office, and Alaina's room. Installed recessed lighting in the office. Just need to paint Alaina's crown and the crown is all done in the house. Woo-freakin'-hoo!!! "If you wanna crown 'em, then crown their a$$!" I still love that Denny Green outburst. One of the best of all time.

Will probably do just a teeny bit of baseboard upstairs in the hallway and change out the nasty chandelier upstairs and I will be done for 2009! Well, at least I think. Need to save some money with things tightening up some and the 401K now a 201K... :(

Paid jobs though might still happen... ;)

Fireplace Complete!!!

Well, not really 100% but close enough. Couple of small details left (caulk and install wood to hide TV underneath mantle). But here is the new finish of the mantle (Ralph Lauren Suede finish):



Oh and a big shout out to my friend Spiccoli for the help on the crown. Turned out great - you da man!!!

And I found a before shot for comparison purposes. Note the big ol' subwoofer box was actually hidden in the corner behind a large entertainment center:

Family Room Fireplace Neary Complete!!!

Well, after many delays, CX season, etc., I decided to get my butt in gear on this project. Oh, and maybe hosting Christmas at the house was some motivation too. But after many different thoughts on design and finishes, I'm at about 95% complete. Just a few small details to wrap up. Thanks to Bill B. for his thoughts on construction and my two colorists (Bonny and Jen) for helping me confirm that I will paint the mantle a different color... again. So without further adieu, here it is:

Travertine was my choice of stone for this fireplace. I will paint the mantle with a Ralph Lauren suede textured paint.

Side detail

Fire burning in the fireplace... or is it?

If you followed this blog, you will recall I was going to put the TV above the fireplace and drop it down via a lift...

Some of the initial framing and the TV on lift in place

Framing complete and plywood in place

So yes, a bit over the top, but I really like it and love the fact that I can hide the TV when not in use. I'm really pleased with how this turned out - this will be my last major remodel project for awhile so it was a nice one to end on (that is of course unless someone pays me a bunch of money to do something... ;) )

Neighbor's Fireplace

Here are some shots of the fireplace I did for my neighbor. I can't take credit for the painting - I let her do that. Turned out really nicely, makes me want to tear my fireplace down in my master bedroom. Oh wait, I still have to finish the fireplace up in the family room first...

BEFORE

AFTER

Mantle Detail

Surround and hearth detail

Chalk up another one in the books!

Yay! The outdoor kitchen/BBQ is done. Well, a tiny bit of touch up paint and maybe a teeny bit of caulking is left. But I fired it up and burned off all the mfg. oil off of it and it is ready to use. Will get a chance to use it this weekend with family over. Dang thing burns freakin' hot.

With rotisserie attachment in place.

Cool lighting for those late night BBQ sessions.

Sans rotisserie.

I would say overall this project took about 30 hours to complete. I sucko at stucco. It looks okay, but not quite what I envisioned. But overall I'm pleased with the project.

So just the family room fireplace and about 300' of crown and I will be taking a long break from remodeling projects... Although I am going to add some stuff to the garage gym... :)

Long overdue BBQ project update

Well, seems to be no sense of urgency with any of my projects lately. So I've been the turtle when it comes to remodeling. But I'm starting to enjoy riding a bike again so that has distracted me some. So really, stucco, electrical, and paint and this baby is done. Shouldn't be too bad really. A few more hours of work and it will be time to fire this bad boy up! Couldn't be at a better time since my current BBQ is dying a fast death.

LP drawer on the left, access door (not installed) below BBQ, and bonding cement applied to the Hardibacker so that the stucco will stick. Check out the galvanized LP extension pipe I installed inside.

Better shot of the tile counter. I'm guessing it took me maybe another 13 hours to get to this point. Easy math so now I'm at 20 hours. Seems like too much but amazing how time adds up.

BBQ Underway!!!

So it took me about 7 hours to get to this point. Seems like a lot, but this is my first BBQ. Really a design build - I didn't have plans laid out, just had the rough measurements. Turned out pretty good. A couple of more hours and I finished with the Hardibacker. Ready for tile and stucco.

Oh wait, the door I ordered turned out to be not what I expected. Apparently, I didn't realize it, but "stainless steel finish" = "steel crappily painted with silver spray paint". Fortunately it was damaged in shipment and after threatening the BBB, I get to return it for a full refund. I ordered a new door. But of course, it isn't the same size so will have to remove some Hardibacker and re-frame the door opening. Figures.

And I need to extend the LP line to the left side of the BBQ. So I'm going to hard pipe it with galvanized 1/2" pipe. And need to run the electrical still - about a 25' trench one foot deep.

More schtuff...

Okay, so my mind is getting all sidetracked. I tore down the fireplace in the family room and was getting ready to start rolling on it when I saw a photo in Home Theater magazine of a plasma lift that dropped a TV from a cavity behind the fireplace mantle/hearth. Total coolness factor. Checked out the lift and it was only $3,500. 2.5 times the cost of the TV!!! Lame. So I did some more searching and found a much more affordable alternative - $495 shipped. That's tolerable. So I think I'm going to go for it. Here is the mockup:


Perty cool. We'll see if it turns out as I hope. Oh, and this is sidetracking me some as well:

This obsession never ends... Oh, and I forgot my neighbor wants to start his downstairs bath too - full gut, changing bathtub/shower to a shower only. Thankfully I'm just doing the tile. I did finish up his upstairs bath tile work so hopefully some photos of that soon.

Recent additions to the tool collection:


[Insert Tim Allen Tool Time grunt here]

Finally some laundry room pics

Floor pattern - diamond pinwheel pattern. Yay.


Stacked washer and dryer with dividing wall. Note the cool little door - for accessing the water and gas lines.


Counter and backsplash (faucet since replaced. Also, undercab light not pictured)


Finished mud room like area. Note that the bench was an old round dining room table we recycled.


Good stuff. Spent quite a bit of time on this, but it sure turned out nicely. Best laundry room on the block. I didn't do it all, as I put off all the painting/staining. There were a few other areas that I didn't do also. But only where there are mistakes... :)

Hopefully some photos of their fireplace I'm working on soon too. I did get the in-ceiling speakers installed in my family room. Now starts the big crown project. Oh wait, still need to finish the bathroom up the street...

Next in the queue...

Since the old family room fireplace looks like crap compared to the new living room fireplace, I have been asked to replace it. I'm actually okay with white painted brick. However, I really love this design. The main difference will be the lack of the elevated hearth. Mine will be on the ground. I really dig the tiles that go up to the ceiling.

But first need to finish up projects in the hood (did a laundry room full remodel - hopefully photos soon, and tiled a bathroom floor and shower enclosure). Oh and gotta get the AV done in the family room too.

Done Done

Now I'm onto helping the neighbor with her laundry room. A change of scenery will be so nice. Oh and the surround sound stuff in my family room. Gotta do something fun for myself, right?

99.5%

Faucets installed. Of course, don't have the hoses to connect the faucets to the water supply. Doh!

99%

Okay, need to do some minor touch up and install the faucets and this project is OVER!!! I'm so happy. I was thinking I might try to make it one year for this project, but the actual thought of how long it took kinda made me sick. Oh well, lots of down time. This hopefully will be the last glass mosaic project I ever do. That stuff is not fun to work with. Far from perfect but overall I'm very pleased with the way things turned out.

Compare the above shots to my mockup:

Not too bad if I do say so myself...

Counters are in!!!

Finally! So excited to get the counters in. I owe Nick big time for his help on this. Unfortunately the wall blends with the counter so it really doesn't stand out. But now I will get working on that mosaic wall tile and all will be good in the universe. I really like the counter - it is definitely unique, particularly with the little raised platform.


I can see a little light... almost time to put this baby to bed... Thank goodness.

Model "B" and Model "G" - stoopid foks

Okay, so see the sink below? Yeah great. It is the wrong sink. I was sent two different sinks. Of course, I ordered them back in July, so I had to contact the mfg. to write a letter to approve a return since it was their fault. Now I have to ship it back before I can get a replacement. And I have to pay for return shipping. Nice. Going to give them a call to get this thing taken care of otherwise I'll have to post my poor experience with them. So far not good as my e-mails weren't returned gol dang it!

The countertop is finished! Big props to Nick for finishing it up for me. Unfortunately can't do anything until the new sink arrives... :(

Sink Test

That's a good sign - the sink fits the cutout in the plywood. Now hopefully I lined up the sink opening on the counter with the opening in the plywood. We'll find out soon enough. That is one large sink BTW - I would expect there to be no toothpaste on the counter with a target that big... :)

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Just need to spray texture the ceiling in the shower and paint it and it is done. Yippee. The door really dresses up the shower and it actually looks pretty darn nice if I do say so myself.

Poured the countertop this past weekend so hopefully that'll be ready to go soon...

Got a little sidetracked...

Decided my daughter's room needed some lighting (thanks Spiccoli for the inspiration although I don't need anymore freakin' projects ya bastage).

Actually, a pretty easy job - I'll probably do the same in the office too. Now getting rid of the rat(s) in the attic may be a bigger project.

And I think I've been talked into tiling the ceiling of the shower too. Sheesh. It never ends...

Just a measly 5.5 months later...

And the shower tile is D-U-N. Sweet mother of pearl, that took awhile. I just need to silicone the corner joints and at the bottom and then install the door and the shower is complete. Oh wait, forgot, the ceiling was out of whack by 1/4" over a 42" span so I'll need to float that and texture. Then paint and then done.

So nice to see the hardware in there. Now it looks like a real shower!

In the home stretch...

Well, at least for the shower tile. I have to install the 4" squares at the top and the tile will be D-U-N. Oh wait, I still have some glass mosaic to do for the niche. Then the tile will be D-U-N. Don't forget the grout too. Definitely excited though to see some good progress. This project is moving SO slowly. Lots o' down time. Oh well. Not as much urgency since there are two other bathrooms.




Mosaic tile is not a very forgiving tile. I tried the technique where you pre-grout the tile (under the paper face) and then set it in thinset. Worked okay, super messy. Didn't have that thinset push through problem with this technique. Still need to do some grout touch up, but overall I would say that method is pretty good. I'll probably do the same with the vanity wall. That's going to be oh so fun. Can't wait... :(

Happy Holidays!!! Be safe.

Okay, faith restored some...

I guess I did the toughest section of tile first. I was able to tile most of the other walls reasonably quickly. Still couldn't make a living doing this, but at least some significant progress was made. Even the wife said, "Wow, you got a lot done." That happens every full moon that occurs on a Tuesday during an odd numbered Leap Year.



I have to build up the section at the top of the tile (hence the thinset there). The mosaic glass tile is about 1/2 the thickness of the white tile. So I'm actually thinking a little bit now. Amazing to actually use the brain periodically.

Just waiting now for the package to arrive that has that little trim detail I posted below so I can finish up the field tile. I'll then move onto the mosaic that will be 6" tall and extend all the way around the shower. I need to install the bullnose finished trim pieces as well at the front of the shower. And then the 4-1/4" square tiles at the top. Can't wait for those - the easiest part of the job!!!

You think you know, but you don't. And you never will...*

Well, here is what 5 hours of tiling looks like for someone who thought they knew how to do tile. That's all folks. Whoever gave me the idea to diagonal tile will be hunted down and properly addressed. Holy crap. I used to think I liked doing tile. Can I choose a more challenging tile project? Diagonal tile for the first time and a bunch of glass mosaic tile. That cultured marble is looking pretty appealing right about now...

In the end it will look fantastic, but I still have to question my sanity (should do that on a regular basis really). Oh and you won't be able to tell by the photo, but the tiles creating the border around the niche are actually slightly lower than the diagonal tile. Gawd dammit. I didn't account for there being a slight bow in the tile due to the curing/baking process. So I will have to get a little creative with grout. It's really too bad - all I needed to do was to build up that border tile slightly and all woulda been good. I need to stop doing small chunks of tile where there may be differences in height - after setting some of those border tiles, I shoulda set some diagonals - before the thinset setup. Oh well, ain't changing now.

Oh and I'm about 3/8" too high at the bottom now. Just perfect. So much for spending all that time laying things out. Fortunately my butt will be saved - I'll just need to order this product:

* Quote courtesy of one of the all-time great quote machines, Jim Mora.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Okay, making more progress... still not as fast as I'd like, but I have to remember that I haven't done this stuff for awhile so it is slower going.

Shower area completely waterproofed. Goofed up and forgot to seal the niche so had to take down the waterproofing and redo. And of course I didn't have enough of the stuff so had to add an additional overlap seam with the scrap I had. Lame

Tiled up border on the niche. Amazing coincidence? All the miter cut pieces are exactly the same size. What are the odds of that happening?

Yeah baby! Finally, some of that spendy mosaic tile in place. Will have to cut a teeny bit on the shelf. Hopefully that is the only cutting I do on this entire project. Keep your fingers crossed.

More progress...

Sheetrock is in, the shower is ready for some Kerdi action (waterproofing membrane). Should have it all by this Wednesday. I think I'll be ready to tile this weekend!

Here is a shot of the niche (very rough):

I'll miter cut the border tile. The color of the mosaic tile isn't even close as you're seeing the tan colored paper through the glass vs. white thinset (and that is the back of the tile). I have been dying to do this mosaic tile so you can see just how beautiful it really is. Do you see the shelf that will be in the niche? It will match the mosaic tile so will blend nicely (note the photo is sideways).

My oh my what can this be?

Is this a bathtub installed I see? (You late 30's/early 40's folks might remember this line from the School House Rocks era - what did the original line say? Answer below.)

More thanks to the Spiccoli man. Let's just hope it doesn't leak. A few screws to secure it in place and it should be good to go.

Also, I either bought or ordered everything I need to start tiling the shower. So hopefully in a week or so I'll be ready to do that. I'm going with a larger niche than originally planned - this one has two compartments - see below. Looks like based on the measurements the mosaic tile will fit perfectly. Keeping my fingers crossed though.


Need to install the sheetrock and do a quick dry layout to find the exact spot for the niche. Then onto the waterproofing membrane and then the tile!!!

* Instead of "Is this a bathtub installed I see?" the line went, "For goodness sake a cavity." I know, I've lost it.

Some progress but not a lot...

Okay, so I haven't done much of anything lately, but hope to get the bathtub in this weekend. Spiccoli will help me out Sunday. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos of work recently done:

New Plumbing (thanks Spiccoli for your help)

Mirrors installed! It's actually starting to look like my mockup...
Will probably get back in the queue this month for the counter. Nick's bidness is kicking arse so squeezing me in is not easy. His stuff is even better now so check out his gallery in the links to the right. After the tub is in I can start tiling the shower though so that will take some time. Plus I have a laundry list of things to do for neighbors - I gotta get those done too. I feel bad for committing to them but not following through...

I think it moved...

That's because I recently picked up this bad boy (insert Tim Allen Tooltime grunt here):

Wow, what a piece of machinery!!! I'm so excited - almost as excited as getting a new bike. No more flipping over pieces to cut angles, etc. This thing swivels in every direction imaginable. Plus apparently it can cut up to a 4"x12", so it should be all the saw I ever need.

I think I'm going to cut some wood just for the halibut.

Still circling...

Here are some recent photos.

Bathtub removed.

And some more hack work, this time by the plumber - jeeze, use enough flux? What a mess. The likely cause of the infamous "blue water" to this day people still bring up in home sales (and these places were built almost 20 years ago).

Now what?

Okay, the tub has a 3-4 week lead time... Sheesh. So basically I'm in limboland at this point. Did finish up the painting.

Onto the neighbor's laundry room?

Progress...

Okay, counter is on hold for a bit until we figure out something cool for the seam. Starting to think I like this:


But until things get finalized, there are no worries, plenty of other schtuff to do:

Demo'd the shower enclosure and then determined that the tub wasn't really designed for an alcove. The builder simply glued on a flange around the perimeter. Indeed a nice touch. The old tub is a bit dinged up too, including about a 1.5" crack at the front edge (doesn't impact water containment). So it looks like I will install a new tub:

The integral skirt is an added plus. Might have to cut some tile though that is already installed - yay.

Oh and I swapped out the door hardware - leverset, hinges, door stop. All polished chrome on the inside and the outside door lever is gold to match everywhere else. Also, did the same thing downstairs in the guest bath so that project is done-done. Cool!

Small Setback

Well, unfortunately my countertop experienced a few cracks - we were pushing the envelope a bit by going seamless. Oh well, things happen for a reason. We cut the piece in half for a display piece - a nice 4' counter with undermount sink. So during the polishing, the glass we hoped to see in the surface was nearly all gone. Apparently the vibrating vibrated it upwards and into the concrete. Still looked good but not as I had pictured. So like the concrete tile that I dropped for the fireplace, this will give me an opportunity to redo the counter and make sure it is done so it turns out as planned and suh-weet looking. Still have the mold so re-making it wont' be tough. This time though it will be seamed. Just trying to come up with a cool looking seam...

So I'm going to start tearing out the shower now...

Speaking of caulk...

SNL CAULK SKIT | Funny Jokes at JibJab