House Remodeling Thread (long)

[Irulan]

Here we go and in just 5 weeks, too. On time, on budget, no snafus or asshattery from the contractor...

Before:


after, taken from same spot.

[DebSP]

Gorgeous! It really is beautiful, so modern. Now back to my 60's kitchen to make dinner. Hahaha!

[Crankin]

Your original layout is what I have; sigh...
We did remodel, but didn't want to face the extra time and $ of a more total reconfiguration, so we we knocked down all the cheap crap (everything!) and got granite, stainless, new floors, and maple cabinets, but now I can see we should have done a center island. On the other hand, my kitchen looks very modern, and I don't mind having the eating area separated. Our dining room area is more open to the kitchen work area, which makes it not so formal. However, we don't use it too often. And I think the previous owners used the kitchen eating area on the other side of the cabinets as a small family room, despite having a whole lower level family room.
I am sure some future buyers may not like this, though, but it's going to take an open minded buyer to even look at my house, as it's very unusual for the area I live in.

[maillotpois]

That looks so nice!!!

[Blueberry]

Beautiful!!

[Trek420]

Wow!

[VeganBikeChick]

Gorgeous!

[roo4]

Irulan,

Oh, wow. That is gorgeous! The space just opened up there.

[smittykitty]

Just want to say that family room painting (leaky pipe in bath above) and rebuilding our pump house is a total interruption in our weekend cycling schedule! I hate being responsible. This was never a problem before I started cycling.

[ny biker]

Irulan, I don't think I saw the kitchen pics from last summer. It looks great! I hope you're enjoying the results.

So. I'm the first to admit to issues with procrastination. But this is not all my fault, really. I was literally about to call the contractor last April to say, I'm sending you the deposit, let's schedule the work. I was finally going to re-do the living room, hallway and bedroom -- fixing all the cracks in the walls, replacing woodwork and painting. Then the condo association notified us they were going to start the long, noisy, concrete-dust filled process of replacing our balconies. They literally gave us one business day to clear everything off the balcony before they brought in the jackhammers. There was no way I could handle having most of my home being worked on inside while the balconies were being destroyed and rebuilt was going on outside. Not to mention the balcony door, aka the window that brings most of the natural light into the living room, was covered with plywood.

When that finally ended, and after I had cleaned up the concrete dust and made the condo maintenance people come back to fix the things that the balcony replacement people messed up, my job was affected by some contract and funding issues that had me concerned that I might be laid off. I didn't want to spend the money on home renovations until they were resolved and I was sure of a steady paycheck. Unfortunately the situation lingered for a long time, through the fall (which otherwise would have been a perfect time to get the painting done) and into January and early February.

Now the issues at work are finally resolved. I emailed the contractor, explained the situation and asked him to update his estimate. I just signed the contract with him and mailed it off with the deposit. There are still a small few details to work out, but it looks like the work will finally begin in 2-3 weeks. Finally!!

In the meantime, I've begun planning the bathroom renovation. This week I'm testing paint colors, and hoping to get to the tile store this weekend.

I so hope the painting project goes well. This will be a huge change, and a huge step forward in making my home look good.

[ny biker]

The painters are coming TOMORROW.

Of course we have freezing rain today and tonight (if I allow myself to think about the weather I will start screaming -- enough already!!). But I don't think the weather will keep them from getting here on time tomorrow, and I just have to hope I will be able to get to my office since I can't work from home.

They said they would do one room at a time. I'm almost done getting the bedroom and hallway ready, so they can start there. By tomorrow night I should have the living-dining room ready, too.

Last weekend one of the curtain rods started to come out of the wall in the living room. I guess my insulated drapes are too heavy. But this is perfect timing! I bought new, slightly longer curtain rods for all three windows in the rooms being painted, will take down the old ones and have the painters patch the holes, then will have the new ones put up after the painting is done. I've also ordered white double-cell honeycomb shades for all 3 windows and the balcony door, for added insulation in winter that still allows light into the rooms.

Meanwhile I'm still looking for the right shade of pale pink paint for the bathroom.

[ny biker]

Has anyone completely remodeled a bathroom? I'm trying to plan a complete renovation of the small bathroom in my condo, getting rid of everything except the toilet, which I replaced a few years ago. This means buying a new vanity and bathtub. But I'm stumped as to where to buy them.

From research online, I know I don't want a cast iron tub. I'm on the second floor of a building with no elevator and the hallway outside the bathroom is narrow, so I don't want anything that heavy and hard to manouver. I think I also don't want acrylic, because I've read that it chips/scratches easily. Porcelain-covered steel seems a good choice. But when I look online to get a sense of price, it seems the only choices are acrylic or cast iron. I never take baths, the only reason I'm looking for a new tub is that I'm told every home has to have a tub for resale value. I just want a white tub in the same dimensions that I have now -- 60x30 and about 14" high on the the outside, and I want something reasonably durable. I'm starting to think I will have to choose between cheap crap and something heavier and more expensive than I want.

And then there's the vanity. I want a white one. Simple, shaker-design if possible, and white. The room is small so I'm looking for something 30 inches wide. From my research, it seems that real wood (not particle board or MDF) is better because it stands up to humidity better.

But some stores only sell white vanities that are cheap non-solid-wood. Others only sell expensive custom cabinets. There seems to be nothing in between. I think I will actually have to spend more than $1000 in order to get something that isn't plastic-looking veneer.

So yeah, I'm getting really frustrated. I cannot afford to let things get out of control with this project. But it must be done -- my current bathroom is a disaster with unkillable mold, and I've been living with it for too long.

On the positive side, I have found tile that I like for the floor and bath/shower walls. It's not the cheapest tile out there, but it's only ceramic so it's not crazy expensive and the room is small enough that I don't feel forced to go with something I like less just to get a lower cost per square foot. For the bath/shower walls, I want a white subway tile look, but with something larger than the traditional 3x6 tiles used for a subway pattern (which I have for my kitchen backsplash). I found a bright white 10x14 tile that I think will look nice. At first I worried that 9x12 or 10x14 would be too big, so I got some poster paper and a ruler and drew rectangles in different sizes in a brick/subway pattern and stuck them up on the wall. This helped me settle on a size and also decide that I didn't want something more rectangular, where the length of each tile is 2x the width (such as 4x8 or 12x24).

For the floor, I found a 12x12 ceramic tile that's white with silver veins. So it's got a marble look but for a much lower cost. What I really like is that the background is white, not gray, but it's not solid white. I'll use a grout that's similar to the color of the silver veins. I plan to have them laid out in a diamond pattern.

http://www.tileshop.com/product/carr...+12+x+12+in.do

One thing I haven't resolved yet is the paint choice for the walls. As mentioned before I want a pale pink. Some of my friends think this is crazy, but my thinking is: the room gets lots of sun, and pale pink walls will be cheerful; I don't want anything neutral (white, gray, beige); the other rooms in the condo have blue or green walls, so I need something different in the bathroom; yellow and orange would be different, but I don't look good in yellow or orange so I don't want it around me when I'm looking in the mirror. Originally I tried a deep ruby red, and it was beautiful when I painted a sample on poster paper, but it would make the room feel too dark and oppressive. I think even a lighter, brighter red would be too dark. But that's what made me think of pink.

But which pink?? I've looked at hundreds of paint chips from several different stores and brands. I've bought 4 or 5 sample cans and painted them on poster paper, only to find the colors are too cool/purple at night or they look Band-Aid colored in direct sun. I've searched home decorating forums and blogs and written down colors that people say they've used, only to find that they're all way too peachy. I've gone back and looked at the paint chips again, returned to the stores to get more of them, taped together 4-6 chips of the same shade in order to make a bigger paint chip, taped them up on a white door to look at them in different lighting conditions. I think I've decided on two more colors for sample cans. I hope one of them works, because this is getting expensive.

I bought this shower curtain -- http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-108...er-curtain.jsp -- if I can find the right shade of pink for the walls, I think the room will look really nice and cheerful, a nice place to be when you first wake up in the morning.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. And to think I haven't even started to look for faucets and towel bars yet. Or a lighting fixture. Oy.

[Trek420]

The CA condo that I sold came with a tiny bathroom that was divided into 3 tiny bits; laundry, sink, toilet. I bashed it open, took out the wall, installed a sliding door and converted it to a half bath, toilet and laundry. The utility sink was the sink.

The result since it was off the kitchen made the whole house and kitchen feel bigger, light and open.

Somewhere on TE are pictures, will try to find the link. We're thinking about a bath remodel here but just in planning, drawing stages. I'd like a step in shower, no tub, done with hand made tile. But just dreaming right now.

[khg]

ny biker, we did a remodel of a small bathroom a couple years ago. For a tub we went with one from Victoria and Albert Baths. They're made out of powdered limestone in resin--lighter than cast iron (though not feather-weight), but with good insulative properties, looks nice, and durable. If it scratches or chips, it can be sanded out (within reason). So far we haven't had to test this, so I'm just depending on the company info for that. At any rate, we've been happy with it. Here's the website: http://vandabaths.com/us/americas/ Since you don't want it for yourself to take baths, it may be more than you want to spend, but just thought I'd let you know about this other option.

I don't know your heat situation, but if you're doing a tile floor, especially in a smaller room, you should look into radiant floor heat. We got a system from SunTouch--it's basically an electric blanket-like web of wires that get laid down under the tile (and whose shape/density can be varied as you lay it down), and it wasn't nearly expensive as I expected--I hadn't thought that radiant floor heat would be something we could afford, even with the insane amount of money we were throwing at the remodel (some of the best money we ever spent, btw...) I can not even begin to express how wonderful it is to step onto a *warm* floor in the middle of winter. We got a programmable thermostat, and I have it set so that at peak times, the floor is deliciously warm, but even the rest of the day, it's never really cold. Tile retains heat well, so in a small bathroom, it doesn't use much energy at all. We don't use much electricity, since our heat is gas heat--even so, our power usage hasn't noticeably increased since installing the floor.

Good luck! Remodeling our full bath in a 1 1/2 bath house was a pretty miserable experience, but we went from a hideous and dysfunctional bathroom to one we absolutely love. I swear it's made me a better person, because I start each day with a happy experience... It was so worth the money and temporary misery!

[ny biker]

I strongly considered replacing the tub with a step-in shower, especially since my friend broke her femur and we've talked about how she manages to do things like get in and out of the shower. It reminded me of a recent discussion here about having a home you can grow old in and be able to live in if/when you have mobility problems. But I've heard from several people that you need a tub in your home for resale value. So I figure the second best option is to find a low tub rather than a deep soaking tub. I hope I'm able to find one. I was just reading about an American Standard tub that is the right size and is not cast iron, but the reviews are not good in terms of scratching, etc.

I realized yesterday that I really need to get moving on this in order to meet a deadline I'd set for myself -- I'd like the bathroom to be finished before my sister visits in early July. If I need to factor in the time to receive a custom cabinet, I'm running out of time. I already know that I want to hire the same contractor who renovated my kitchen a few years ago, so I'm going to call him this week (it's in writing now so I'm committed! No procrastinating!) so I can get on his schedule. He will probably also be able to recommend a source for the vanity and tub based on his experience.