renovationbloviation

How to Construct a Poor Woman's Green Roof

2012-01-26T08:15:00.003+09:00

If you live in a condo so it's worth the investment to install a real green-roof gardening system, go for it. But if you're in an apartment, that changes the equation a bit. I came up with this system to give my terrace the look and feel of a green-roof perimeter, but still keep the cost and hassle manageable. I thought I had posted this a long time ago, but when I went back through all 3 posts I have added since I made this container garden, it wasn't among them. It goes like this:

Shopping list includes potting soil, gravel, plants, and concrete mixing tubs. A drill with a large bit is helpful. If you don't have a drill, you might be able to make holes with a biggass nail and a hammer, but these pans are pretty rugged for plastic. The medium tub at Home Depot is a good size for this project, but use whatever size works for your space. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202086173/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Medium Concrete Mixing Tub

Drill at least one hole into the end of the tub, about 1-2 inches up from the bottom. I made 4 in mine, but that might be overkill. This will allow excess water to drain, but also gives it a reservoir that will reduce the amount of watering you will have to do.

Pour about 1-2 inches of gravel into the bottom of the pan. I used Home Depot's 40 pound bags of pea gravel. One bag will be enough for 3 or 4 tubs.

Spread some of the potting soil over the gravel, and then arrange your plants in the tub. Pack more soil around the plants and water generously.

These succulents are all hardy to -20 F degrees and need very infrequent watering.

Because these pans are shallow, and because you are a seriously urban apartment dweller who has better things to do than water the garden daily, I highly recommend sticking to plants that have a very low water requirement. Also, if you want them to grow back in the spring, they need to be very cold-tolerant, since it is a pretty good bet that the soil and roots will freeze solid at least a few times over the winter. In general this will mean those of the variety known as succulents. There is a huge variety of plants that will meet these criteria. I went for having lots of variety, but I could also envision picking out just one and going for a monoculture. (If you do that, look for one that says it will grow quickly so you don't have to haul home as many plants.) I can get by with watering these "green-roof" plants once a week (if it doesn't rain), although I water the non-succulent plants every other day, and daily when the heat is really brutal.

More drought and cold tolerant succulents.

Here are some of the pictures I took while I was putting them together, plus a few that show how nicely the plants grew and filled out the containers. About 85% of what I planted Year 1 came back even more robustly in Year 2, and I could fill in the holes by splitting and transplanting the ones that made the cut for "survival of the fittest".

Mixing pan, pea gravel,
soil, and plants.

That spot on the leftish side
shows the position for one
of the 4 drainage holes I
drilled with a 3/4" drill bit.

Spread 1-2 inches of gravel.
This allows for drainage from the soil
and creates a reservoir for water.

Spread some soil over the gravel, arrange the plants in the container and fill with more soil around the plants. I started out with about 6 one-quart plants per container.

By the end of the summer all the containers were overflowing, and in the second year I could split them and transplant them into other containers.

One of my green-roof containers in between some other larger planters

Some succulents have a nice flower, but most are various
shades of yellow, green, or red foliage.

The one on the right has plants my cats like to nibble.

Cat grass from PetSmart is in the back corner,

This is what happens when I can't tile bathrooms or kitchens . . . .

2010-11-17T01:02:00.000+09:00

It would be idiotic to lay tile in an apartment. No matter how great it might look, the management would probably make me remove it when we moved out - if we ever move out. So I just "laid" it on the top of the this two-sided fireplace area that was crying out for tile. This is tile left over from my kitchen project last year. Looks SO much better than flat white paint.

Must . . . not . . . get out . . . mortar and grout . . . tools. . . .

Now THAT is a renovation project!

2010-11-17T00:53:00.000+09:00

The view from the dining room window on the day
the yellow crane assembled the black one.

There is a new addition to the view from our apartment windows and terrace: the crane for a nearby construction project has been set up. It's for a 10-story building that will include underground parking, a church on 1-3, topped by 7 stories of apartments. The new building will go up between the red brick community building and the steeple, which was preserved when the original structure was demolished, so this will be an interesting process.

The rainy day view from outside on the terrace.

Enjoying the fruits of my labors

2010-08-02T08:23:00.000+09:00

It was such a beautiful evening, I had to go outside on the terrace, and then I was compelled to take some pictures. So nice!

If the building weren't there, we would probably see the Washington Monument.

Facing Westish, with Ballston in the background

facing Northeast, with National Cathedral on the horizon

looking at the terrace doors

our fountain, and the materials for my next project - a cat tree

It was fortunate that I was nutty and dragged these rocks from Michigan to Cincinnati to Blacksburg and now to Arlington. Without them, I would have lost this crepe myrtle tree in one of several violent storms we have had this summer. When the sun goes down, the entire terrace is bathed in light from these copper solar lights.

The fence is MARVELOUS!

2010-06-14T07:30:00.005+09:00

It has taken a while for this project to get to the top of the priority list for a variety of boring reasons - not least of which has been the STINKING HOT weather alternating with rain. Also, my original plan had "legs" that were 36" and a trial run immediately demonstrated that it was waaaay too top-heavy and unstable, especially when the wind was blowing. (by the way, the wind is almost always blowing on the 11th floor).

So last week I decided it was a priority and I got busy on it. But first I had to find a way to cut iron (or are they steel?) rods to shorten the legs. The way I originally designed it was with "off the rack" rods of some metal that was rusty so I know it has a high iron content ( I am not sure what the intended use is for these) from Lowe's. Fortuitously, I talked with a real estate agent who knew of an ironworks in Mannassas - about 17 miles outside of the metro DC area. [Shout-out to Steve Wydler: thanks for the tip; I owe you one!] So I drove out there and they were extremely helpful. A guy promptly cut my 36" rods into 18" pieces.

Got home ready to assemble, but then realized I now had to cut down all the copper tubing, too. That took another day or two because I couldn't find my cutting tool. Broke down and bought a new one at Cherrydale Hardware and did that (Tom helped - thank you, Tom).

Finally, I was able to try assembling it and find out if my design was going to be functional:

1. Rod goes into premade base.

2. Copper tubing goes over rod and plastic tube in base.

3. Figure out where the bases go, and figure out which end to start with since the fence panels need to link and make a 90ish degree turn. (Had to start over after putting up the first 6 panels.)

4. Put one side of a fence panel onto the leg by threading it down inside the copper tube and onto the rod. Then connect the other side to the adjacent panel.

It only took about 4 hours! Slightly longer than expected. Just one problem - I needed two more panels!! At first I was freaking out because Lowe's website was showing that this was unavailable at any Lowe's on the planet. But I finally talked to someone and we figured out that the website actually has the wrong item number (320832) where it should be 0320834. Turns out they had 45 in stock! So we made the trek to the Alexandria Lowe's on Saturday, and NOW it is complete. I have to say, it looks fantastic and seems to be very stable. And it helps enormously having these beautiful potted plants. There are a few spots where we will use some black cable ties to make sure the panels stay together, but that is really just preventive, not a structural defect.
We finally let the cats outside over the weekend, and they loved it just as much as we did - maybe even more.
p.s.: while we were at Lowe's, Tom decided he wants another tree, so we bought a big pot there. We found a tree we liked, but they were quite surly about delivering a tree and managed to talk us out of buying it there. (Another local nursery (whose initials coincidentally are "MF") also responded with a big "HUH?" when I inquired about planning and installing a rooftop garden.) So I will take that pot out to Cravens Nursery where they did the other plants for me. They happily helped me plan the plants, potted and delivered them via the freight elevator and put them out on the terrace, which was a big deal and a lot of work. Some people know how to do things, and some don't.

As soon as we let the cats go outside, they checked out everything and then rolled on the concrete pavers in the sun. We have already enjoyed some pretty spectacular sunsets. This picture was just before dusk when the light was not so harsh, but before the sky became really colorful. The cats especially love to go outside after the sun sets and it cools off. Most nights we have to go out and bring them inside at bedtime. And one of the best things is that it doesn't look like it was designed for cat containment - it is very pleasant and relaxing for humans, too!

Keeping Cats From Falling 11 Stories, part 2

2010-04-26T10:09:00.000+09:00

Today I cut 10-foot lengths of copper pipe into 32" pieces.
These will be the decorative part of the legs for the fence around the terrace.

The hardware guy pointed out the little tool for cutting the pipes and said it would be easy. He wasn't kidding. You just mark the length you want to cut, clamp this tool around the pipe, and then swivel it around and around. After a few rotations, you tighten the clamp a bit more, and in a few minutes, the pipe is cut with a nice straight edge.

I needed a minimum of 21 pieces, but I cut about 5 extras, just in case I need them.

I also have a bunch of remnants that are about 4 inches shorter. I will figure out something to do with them after I assemble the fence. I have a new hobby looming on the horizon making something out of copper pipes. Besides fencing.

How to Keep Cats from Falling 11 Stories

2010-04-24T12:06:00.001+09:00

Our exciting new pad in the Big City has a huge terrace (30 x 19) that will be my escape hatch - a place to step outside and feel the unobstructed sunlight on my head. I can't wait to grow my urban oasis, but there will be lots of challenges. The first one being that there are no screens on the doors to the terrace (how high do bugs fly, anyway?) so if we open them up to enjoy the fresh air, our two cats will be outside in a flash. When I arrive next week, I want to construct a barrier above the terrace wall so they won't go through or up and over. The wall is only 42" high, so it won't even slow them down. They have been cooped up in there with my husband while I sell our house and complete the move, so I know they are frantic to get outside - just like I will be, if I don't make this happen. And there are no do-overs, since we are 11 stories up. It has to be right the first time.

Another consideration: we have a neighbor right next to us with the same size terrace, so we can't block their view, i.e., no rolls of bamboo or woven grass fencing. And I don't want anything horrid out there, so that rules out of lot of options right off the bat - like chicken wire, chain link, etc. Plus there is the whole problem of how to anchor it on a concrete surface up in the sky. I had to come up with something novel. I think I have done just that, although I won't know for sure until I try to assemble it next week.

I literally spent a couple hours wandering in Lowe's going from the fencing to the plumbing to the hardware sections, working on the solution to this. The fencing I will use is this. Small enough holes so they can't get through it, so it just needs to be secure and tall. It is 44", and will overlap with the wall by about 6", so I will have an unclimbable (New Word Alert) barrier approaching 7'. Sharkey is a good jumper, but he can't clear 7'.

Now for the secure part: I have come up with an idea for legs that will substitute for stakes that need to be pushed into the ground. I will take some pictures of those next week when it is all set up.

What I want to show right now is how I made the anchoring base for the legs. I got all the $1 rectangular flower boxes I could find at local dollar stores (thanks for driving all around town with me, Dad), and five 50-pound bags of quick-setting concrete. I cut up some rigid plastic tubing from the plumbing department, and used silicone caulk to stand the tubing in the flower boxes. They leaned a bit sometimes, so I braced them up straighter with some gravel for the first few, but soon found it didn't matter.

I mixed up 10 pounds of the concrete with water and put it into each flower box. While putting the concrete into the box, I put a finger over the holes in the tubes to make sure concrete didn't get in there, and that they stayed where I wanted them to stay. I could straighten them up if they were still leaning. In some of the boxes I used only one tube, but in others I put two. More about that later. Quickcrete concrete mix sets up quickly, so it is best to mix up small batches that you can comfortably stir, carry and pour. And be sure you put the water in your mixing container first, then add the concrete powder. I used two old plastic cups that held about probably close to 8 ounces, one for water and one for the dry concrete mix.

Here is my recipe for about 10 pounds of mix (not including water and tile weight):

Put 2 and 3/4 cups of water in a bucket.
Add 3 cups of concrete mix and stir it with a gardening hand-trowel. The mix is powder and gravel, and will be very easy to stir at this point.
Add 3 more cups of concrete mix and stir it up just until there are no dry spots.
Add 3 more cups of concrete mix. Now it will be a bit more difficult to stir, but get everything in the bucket thoroughly wet.
Then add 1 last cup of concrete mix and stir it in completely. Scrape that gardening trowel on the edge of the bucket to remove the concrete. Then, drop into a second bucket full of water.
Now use a rectangular trowel, which you can find in the tile tools section. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bucket and give it a final stir.
You have about 5-10 minutes to get it into your mold or container before it starts to set up. Tamp it down with the trowel. Then immediately fill your mixing bucket with water, and drop the rectangular trowel into that water.
Top the concrete with some tiles, pressing them into the concrete but not so much that they "sink".
Now go back and rinse out the mixing bucket and both of the trowels, and you are ready to mix up the next batch.

After about 10 minutes or so (just about when you get the next one poured), go back and verify that the tube is standing as perpendicular as you can get it. I threade a long rod down into the hole and "eyeballed' whether it appeared to be straight. You can adjust it a bit and jiggle the container to get the concrete to settle around it in its new position.

I love the way the tiles gave them a 'finished' look. I especially love the ones with these green/blue and white river rocks. What is it about rocks? I just love them.

I got these as samples and intended to use them for the floor of a shower, but that was one of the projects I never got to do. So I am glad to have these portable works of "art" to take with me!

Here's the line-up about halfway through the process.

I made 21 of the rectangles, and 4 round ones. All souvenirs of some of my favorite tiles.

I feel good about being able to mix and pour 250 pounds of concrete in an afternoon. Definitely a cardio AND strength-training session. I will admit that my hands ached the next day. But they are done, they look pretty, and will be a critical piece of the puzzle that will allow me to rapidly assemble either 1.) an Outstanding Fence, or 2.) and Unmitigated Disaster. My dad suggested adding chain and selling them as rowboat anchors if the fencing thing doesn't work.

Why do so many toothbrushes look like they're made by Fisher Price?

2010-04-11T00:14:00.009+09:00

Sometimes it's just the little things that get me excited. Like this toothbrush that matches my bathroom accessories.

I didn't want a tri-color pink, green and purple number that looks like a cross between an athletic shoe and a toddler toy stands out like a sore thumb in my newly tiled and painted bathroom.

And that was a challenge. But this one looks great - as idiotic as that sounds.

Note to toothbrush manufaturers: There is a market for toned-down toothbrushes in various shades of grey, taupe, and beige.

Final pictures of the living room area

2010-03-21T00:48:00.008+09:00

looking toward the kitchen and dining room:from the sliding doors, looking into the room:
looking from the dining room:
I really sweated over these curtains, trying to find just the right color and fabric. I wanted some kind of nubby silk, but that would have cost thousands for all these windows, on top of the couple thousands it took to get the solar shades up. So these are Ikea curtains, $30 a pair, with 50" wide panels so I only needed about 9 pairs to get decent coverage. The ceiling-mounted rods were a really juicy find - 10' wide that could go out to about 15', on clearance from JC Penney for $13. I had to make up for it with the specialty hooks with little clamps to hold the panels costing about $30 per pair of panels. So that would put the total at about $700 for nearly 30' of windows.

looking toward the sliding doors and deck - showing the remainders of the huge snow we had in January and February. I brought the patio furniture back out to the deck, but still had to wait several days before i could arrange it and put up the umbrella.

Bathroom

2010-03-10T12:11:00.008+09:00

The focus has changed from living in it to getting ready to leave, which is not nearly as satisfying. But now it is about the product rather than the process. And the tub and shower units are still here. As it turns out, my esteemed Plumber and Water Master, Rick Littreal, told me that these are vastly superior to most of what is on the market now, and that I don't need to feel bad about leaving them in.

But I still like tile the best.

Here is the latest bathroom tiling project:

2010-03-10T12:05:00.003+09:00

This is the wall that runs perpendicular to the kitchen. It is really part of the dining area, but is adjacent to the kitchen.

I love this little leather chair that fits the kneehole space so well. The countertop is abnormally low, so I expected to have a much more difficult time finding one. Again, new doors/drawer fronts, hardware, and countertops.

Kitchen of the Year

2010-03-10T11:49:00.007+09:00

I was sure I would have to gut the kitchen to get results like this. Okay, yes, the appliances are all new, but otherwise it is just new doors, hardware and countertops, and a mosaic tile backsplash that marries all the colors together. I am flabbergasted that this was less than $10,000 when the average kitchen reno comes in over $25,ooo.

Big Change of Plans

2010-03-07T09:45:00.003+09:00

All this time I thought I was renovating this house for us. But now I know I was getting it ready to sell. There is so much about this place I love, and it looks better every day. So I am trying to wrap my brain around the notion of moving out. I am finishing up the final details, and with any luck the sign will be out in front of the house by the end of the week. So tomorrow I will walk through and take lots of pictures to post. Sniff.

My Review of White Canvas 24" Wide Four Light Pendant Chandelier

2010-02-26T01:24:00.003+09:00

My Review of White Canvas 24" Wide Four Light Pendant Chandelier

2010-02-26T01:24:00.001+09:00

Originally submitted at Lamps Plus

Modern simplicity is exemplified by this drum shade pendant chandelier. A 1/8" thick acrylic diffuser at the bottom of the shade prevents glare. The design includes extra cable and cord for a versatile hanging height.

10 feet adjustable overall hanging height.
32" pre-set...

Gorgeous!

By renovationbloviatrix from Blacksburg VA on 2/25/2010

Pros: Quality Construction, Great Illumination, Easy To Hang, Easy To Change Bulb, Attractive Design, Stable Design

Best Uses: Over Table, High Ceilings, Primary Light Source, Decoration

Describe Yourself: Midrange Shopper

Pros: This is over my dining room table in an open floor plan and works perfectly. It makes a striking statement, but doesn't get in the way or look as showy or ridiculous as some designs might. The shade does not obstruct the view across the room because it is not very tall. It is an outstanding choice for a space that is modern or transitional, which are the two styles I needed to encompass. I wish there was a smaller "mini-pendant" version for my kitchen island. A smaller version would also have been just what i wanted for the reading lights on each side of our bed.

Cons: It is a bit tricky getting the shade leveled with the 4 suspension wires, but it is worth messing around with. the adjustment mechanism is easy to operate, so it just takes some time and patience. (Beside the obvious reason, it has to be leveled so the diffuser inside won't look crooked when the light is on.) i will point out that the center electrical cord should be longer than the 4 suspension wires. My electrician installed it with that cord hanging straight. I had to ask him to adjust it so it would have that graceful sigmoidal curve, which meant it ended up a bit higher than i had intended it to be, but that is an insignificant detail when the fixture is so beautiful.

I chose this partly because i am getting ready to sell the house and wanted it to be stylish but not over the top. We are moving to an apartment and I wish I could take this with us.

(legalese)

My Review of Tiburon Halogen 22" Wide Bathroom Light Fixture

2010-02-13T00:01:00.001+09:00

Originally submitted at Lamps Plus

From Minka Lavery, this bathroom light fixture features a brushed nickel finish and etched opal glass. The trio of lights are adjustable side by side only.

Extends 8 3/4" from the wall.
6 1/2" high.
22" wide.
Includes three 40 watt G-8 halogen bul...

Beautiful and versatile fixture!

By Renovationbloviatrix from Blacksburg VA on 2/12/2010

Pros: Attractive Design, Quality Construction, Great Value, Great Illumination

Best Uses: Small Rooms, Primary Light Source, Decoration

Describe Yourself: Midrange Shopper

This works well over a wall-mounted medicine cabinet because the lights extend out from the wall enough to shine in FRONT of the mirror, rather than along the top of the medicine cabinet like several others I tried to use. It is not obvious from the photographs on-line that it has that "reach". Also, each lamp "unit" can swivel in any direction, independent of the others, so you can tilt one or two toward the mirror, another toward the shower, etc. Each one can rotate and point up to the ceiling if you would rather have indirect lighting.

(legalese)

Stone is The Best

2010-01-20T10:32:00.007+09:00

I love this new stone facade - i love the whole renovation, but the stone ("Westchester Ledge") is the very best.

If you take a look at the before, the bad resolution is a good thing otherwise your retinas would probably dissolve. The new stone is surrounded by new paint on the old siding, new gutters, new storm door in cranberry on the front door. Since this picture was taken, i also replaced the door hardware, which i will post another time. The roof is a synthetic shake shingle that comes with a 50 year warranty.

And the driveway - - - who would have ever thought that an asphalt driveway would be such an incredible upgrade?

Nothing is happening because nothing is happening.

2009-11-15T09:25:00.006+09:00

I thought by now I would have triumphantly posted pictures of the completed exterior. But you can blame Hurricane Ida on me. We had shingles delivered on Friday and the roof work was supposed to start on Monday. Instead, we had 4.5 days and nights of driving, soaking rain. The pallets of shingles are sitting in the yard, sinking into the mud.

They will (as you might guess) go on the roof. Shown here. You can see that the siding was removed (weeks ago) and the surface has been prepped for the stone facing. Which will go on after the roof is complete. Someday.

Today was a beautiful sunny Saturday. By about 2:00 it occurred to me that it would have been the perfect opportunity to tile the front step before winter sets in. But I don't have the tile or any sort of plan, and I am getting ready to go out of town on Monday, too, so it would be a 2 day window. Kinda tight. So I am going to have to let this nice weather go to waste. I am hoping for a very mild December.

I don't know - is this an attractive front step, or could it use some improvements??

I LOVE THIS CLOCK!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-28T11:10:00.003+09:00

Got it at the Salvador Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain. Coolest art museum ever.

Could NOT leave without one. End of story.

It ain't modernism, but here is a finished room.

2009-09-28T06:10:00.017+09:00

Well, it is about as finished as it will get while I live here, anyway. Of the 5 small bedrooms in this house, this is one of the teeny-tiny bedrooms. It has been a real challenge to figure out how to get ample sleeping space into these rooms and still retain some other function, given that we don't have permanent residents for any of them other than the master bedroom.

Starting out, the room was a nearly literal blank canvas - beige carpet, off-white walls, ugly ring fluorescent ceiling light, and a nasty traverse rod with off-white curtains. Nowhere to go but up.

Goal number one was to fit in some bookcases to house some of our increasingly anachronistic books, and still have guest(s) sleeping quarters. And goal number two was to make it blend some modern and some traditional, since the bookcases, side cabinet and chairs are traditional-to-antique.

I chose this dusty green paint just because it is one of my favorite colors, and I had not used it anywhere else in the house. The exciting bargain for this room was finding these curtains at Bed Bath & Beyond on clearance for $15/panel. These determined the rest of the color scheme, which is gold with a bit of orange. I got the double rod and rings at

BB&B also, and re-used sheers I had taken down from another room.

I found the daybed frame online. It struck me as the perfect transitional style between modern and antique. The bedspread is from Linen Source, also online. I like the swirls - much more modern than the traditional floral patterns you usually find on this type of spread. I had to rip off the back of the bed skirt and sew it onto the end that would usually be the pillow-end of a twin bed.

Underneath this daybed is a trundle, so two people can sleep in this room. People without cat allergies.

I wedged the daybed between the two crappy bookcases from Office Depot. They look decent this way, so it is not completely apparent what pieces of shit they really are. I am so tired of buying "assembly-needed" things that look good in the store, but when you start assembling them you realize the

materials are only slightly better than very dense cardboard.

I pulled out some of my framed stuff from my old house, which was really traditional style, especially compared to this house. I think they work okay here.

This pendant

lamp is from Lowe's, and replaces a white Chinese paper globe that was hanging on a cord.

The mirror is one I got from a friend when I was still in high school and her family was moving

to Taiwan. Long ago I stripped the black paint from the frame and found this lovely paint underneath. I touched up the gold part with some craft paint.

The rest of the room is other old furniture we had on hand, including this cool clock from my in-laws. When I need to soak up some calm, this is a good room to get some.

I am so Ashamed.....so here are some old pictures of one of my best tile murals

2009-08-05T08:56:00.030+09:00

Who knew - I actually do have some one besides Mom who reads this blog and has been wondering (just like Mom) when I will sit down on my dead ass and write post Something - Anything. I am so surprised and pleased that Noel cares, I am going to try to do better. Here is the excuse I will use: I have cut back on serious projects to focus on planning for the huge facelift project (see 2 posts back - way back to August 2008, i think). But there is stuff i have been doing. Here is my other excuse: I had to get a new computer and can't find the software for downloading stuff from my camera. Gotta figure that one out, because I have done lots of smaller stuff that does add up nicely.I thought i was going to be able to post the drawings for the facelift project, but can't open the file here at home. So i will solve that one tomorrow and try to post those before I go away for the weekend.

In the meantime, I am going to post some old pictures of a tile mosaic I made at my previous house. It is one of my all-time favorites, and something I hope to replicate (sort of, only better) here in my new place - just not sure yet where it will fit in. Here is a preview of the finished product:

The installation site was a bay window with a wood sill that had been water-stained

by overflowing plant pots. It was a nice sunny window we installed in about 2 years earlier.

I found these mosaic tiles at a home surplus store for about $3 each, marked down from $29. The scrolley parts reminded me of ferns sprouting and uncurling, so I decided to use that in the design. One of these is intact; one has the borders trimmed off.

I did a little reading before I started to find out what type of mortar to use. Everything I read indicated that the best thing to use was good old Elmer's glue, since the substrate was plywood. This made it easy to work in small areas, and I could draw out a shape on the wood (although I don't really work that way - I am not good at drawing or following lines). It does mean that this should not be exposed to standing water, so I would need to wipe up spills from overwatering, but wouldn't have to worry about water stains.

The first thing I did was cut out the "sprouts" and lay them out on the sill. I wanted to make some big ferns using the other tiles. This was slow work, so it quickly became obvious that the easiest way to do this would be to have all the other tiles off of the mesh so i could move them around as needed. So, I pulled all the rest of these little tiles from the mesh and sorted them all out by color. At first i thought there were just white and green squares, but I found there were brown and gray ones, various shades of green, and several shapes. I sorted these out into plastic leftover-food containers that I could cover and stack when I was done for the day.

After I filled up the space with the green parts of the ferns, I outlined them with the white tiles. I decided to use some other parts of the original mosaic tiles along the border, making a green "stripe" all the way around.

And then I just started filling in all the spaces with the white tiles. After a few rows, I could see that i would not have enough square pieces to make symetrical rows, so I decided to make some "swirly" patterns using the smaller pieces.

And then, it started to become obvious that i would run out of white squares before I had finished, so I decided to incorporate some of the grey ones into the background.....

I went back to the store and bought all the rest of the mosaic pieces they had, but I knew I will still run out. So I got some Home Depot tiles that were flat stones and worked those into the corner areas. This looked so good and really "grounded" (no pun intended) the design, I decided I would look for other tiles that would add more texture and color

I think these added a LOT to the design, and made it much more interesting than it would have been with all white tiles.

It took about 2 weeks to get everything in place, dry, and ready to grout. I

decided to use a light gray grout for a couple reasons. One is so it would not look horrid if water did run out of a pot and get it dirty or stained. Another is because I wanted a low contrast with the white sections. Also, it looked "earthy" without being brown (and too dark). I put some masking tape along the white window frame to make clean-up a bit easier, and mixed up the grout. This was a pretty small area, so the grouting step was pretty fast and easy. After it dried, I cleaned it all up and sealed it thoroughly with several coats of silicone sealer.

Here is the rest of the finished product. The colors don't look quite as bright as they really are because I took these pictures at night.

The new owners of the house love it as much as I still do, so that made it easier to leave!

Sorry, fan. I didn't mean to desert you.

2009-02-21T04:27:00.003+09:00

Well, obviously i lack devotion to my blog. It has been a long time since i bothered to even open it up.....but i have done some things that merit a post or two. I will get the camera out this weekend and do so, just to show how a couple of these projects were wrapped up. But in the meantime, take a look at another blog that is hysterical. I have seen pictures that made me wonder what marketing genius was taking them and thinking they would help sell a house, but these operate on a completely different plane - - - - one that is far lower than any i have seen, yet oh-so-parallel. lovelylisting, indeed.

Pocket Door Time

2008-08-14T11:55:00.003+09:00

I finally found a carpenter who would take on the pocket door project for the powder room/half-bath in the entryway. Just to remind you of the context, here is a picture of what I started with:

A teeney-tiny bathroom with a door that would not even open all the way - it would hit the sink and stop short of opening all the way by a few inches.

Unacceptable.

So I took out EVERYTHING - stripped it down to the subflooring, changed the light fixtures, sink, toilet, paint colors, medicine cabinet, flooring - you name it, it was removed and replaced, as you can see in the pictures here:

But that still left a new problem with the door. The old door would have been able to close, but, damn, I just didn't want to rehang it in this cool new space. The room is so small that the door would be a significant ugliness. So we bit the bullet and are paying to have a pocket door installed. It just wasn't going to be right to do anything less.

So the old door frame is gone, and i have already missed my opportunity to photograph part of the house's skeleton. The pocket door frame has been installed and the sheet rock is up, taped, mudded, sanded and ready for paint already. This guy rocks. The painter starts tomorrow, and the door will be installed before the end of the week!

I am planning to get a facelift

2008-08-06T08:56:00.010+09:00

We went and talked with the designer who is coming up with a plan for residing and reroofing the house. Since it will get an entirely new skin, we want to add a little drama. The front of the house looks like we live in a hobbit hole at best, in the hobbit's garage at worst. The siding and roof are in bad shape, though not leaking. He has come up with a very cool entryway addition with some pretty exciting posts and beams, with a metal roof and board & batten siding. We also asked him to incorporate some stacked stone facing, and he has lots of it in more places than I had thought of, so that is a big plus. We had a bit of a problem imagining exactly what this might look like with the actual materials, so he is going to work up the design drawings a bit more with some color adjustments, and also a couple alternatives for materials. But I did some surfing and found a blog with some nice examples of these materials, so now I am starting to get it. Here are two paticularly nice pictures from that blog, with all the elements he showed us, just not in the same configurations.

Our windows don't open out like the ones below, but this is a very nice example of the types of materials and structures we will probably incorporate into the changes to the facade. He has proposed using cabling like this for the railings on the decks, which i also love.

I found a "Better Homes & Gardens" specialty magazine called "Exteriors" (they have one for every topic I can thing of) that has some other interesting variations along this same theme. After I show these to my husband and get a yes/no vote on the options, I will go back to the designer and see if we can finalize the plans.

Then we'll need to get bids.

Gulp.

Even an ancient dog can learn new tricks

2008-08-02T01:38:00.004+09:00

Just in time for the Beijing Olympics: here is a link to a great New York Times article about home renovation in China. It has shining examples of how you can blend the very old and the new to create an incredible environment. Inspiring!

I want to live here

2008-07-28T22:59:00.005+09:00

Here is a very interesting site on bathroom fixture design. It is not every day that a showroom embraces minimalism, rather than cramming every sample down your throat.

Down to the last details in two bathrooms.........

2008-07-28T10:36:00.010+09:00

I visited my mom and sister in Indiana over the weekend, and it came to my attention that I have not posted the progress on the powder room in the entryway and the bathroom in our guest bedroom. So here is a the powder room with lights, mirrors, towel bar, etc., all installed..........

The to-do-list for this bathroom is down to patching the grout in a couple spots, and there is a carpenter that will start on the pocket door this week - yay, finally!

And here is the replacement faucet for the guest bathroom, flanked by my exciting find - - - glass soap dish and water tumbler mini-shelves (ordered from www.atgstores.com) that are such a fine match for the sink. You can get a better sense of the iridescent quality of the backsplash tiles in this picture, too. I bought the last of the tiles from www.naturalstoneoutlet.com, so they no longer have them on their website.

And notice also the sleek drain pipe. It takes something that is so functional and turns it into a sculptural detail. I never thought I would be so admiring of a piece of plumbing. My plumber has temporarilly connected the water supply lines with brass fittings, but has ordered chrome, which he will install the next time he is working on another project. The sink, faucet, and drain pipe are all from ModernDanish.com, so if the hot links to the individual pieces don't work, just go to their homepage and browse. It is so worth it.
Here is a picture of the light fixture. There is a new exhaust fan with ceiling light, too, so now there is more light overall in the room. That ceiling light allowed me to turn off the lights in the 3-light fixture so I could get a decent photograph. The only things left to do here are 1) install the toilet paper holder, 2) finish the floor, and waaayy off in the future we will replace the shower with a real shower pan and tile walls. When we do that, I want to cut a small window to let some light into the bathroom from the adjacent closet, which actually has a window in it.

Time out to welcome readers of LiveModern

2008-07-26T04:51:00.006+09:00

Welcome to my blog! I found LiveModern when searching for shogi-screen doors. This is a saga about renovating a house that was modern in 1978. But just like that space odyssey mission to Jupiter that was due to arrive in 2001, the place was freeze-dried soon after launch. It has been revived from that state, and is slowly reanimating as I move from room to room renovating the life back into it. It is a great house on a splendid lot in a pleasant neighborhood in a sleepy little university town in beautiful part of western Virginia - in a word, it is worthy. While out-dated now, it will live on eternally modern if I have anything to say about it. . . . . and I can't shut up!

Please take a bit of time to go back to the first entry where I launched this operation so you will have the context for what I am doing here, and I hope you will find it interesting and maybe even inspiring. My philosophy is that the world would be a better place if we would all get busy retiling our bathrooms, kitchens, and any other appropriate surface we can find. Stone and tile are among the most beautiful materials on the planet, so earthy and organic even when shiney and synthetic. These materials will play a major role in my renovation as it evolves over the next few years.

So browse or study as your schedule permits, and feel free to send me your comments, questions (even if they start out with "why in the hell.......") or suggestions, because this is my new obsession in life.

Thanks for your time!

p.s. every surface is or can be made appropriate!

The One That Got Away

2008-07-12T08:38:00.009+09:00

On a recent trip we had chance to see what the new owners of our former residence has done to the kitchen. Gutting that sucker was long over-due, and something I wanted to do everyday that I lived there, but the list of projects there was way too long and I just never got there. This is not exactly what I would have done, but I think they did an outstanding job. Tiles, cabinets, appliances, everything is new. These are cell-phone pictures, so the quality is not the greatest, but I think it is still clear that it was well-executed.

The new counter-tops are concrete, and the cabinets are all a nice matte black. I love the in-cabinet lights. The wall tiles are black with red and black glass accent strips.
The microwave is the same one we had, but the other appliances are new. I love the hardware on the cabinets, too.

Here is a close up shot of the glass tiles on one end of the room.....

And the wall tiles with strips of glass as accents......

And this is the floor, which is the same tile as those on the wall behind the range.......

Looking from the kitchen into the breakfast nook.......

Not a fan of the table and chairs, or color scheme, but again I think it is very nicely done. The light fixture is the same one we put up, and they even made that nasty paneling look good by painting it.

All in all, an outstanding job.

A Busman's Holiday

2008-07-10T10:41:00.013+09:00

So what does someone who is obsessed with tiling her way through a home renovation do when she takes a long-weekend vacation to a restful cottage on a beautiful lake in Northern Michigan?

She tiles something, of course.

Now that I am home again, it occurs to me that I should have taken pictures of the 3 previous tiling projects I did at my aunt and uncle's summer cottage. Here is a picture of them, standing outside the front door. Aren't they cute in this picture?

I did those other projects years ago, back when I was just getting my start - a kitchen back-splash and 2 bathroom floors. I was worried about how these would hold up in the extreme environment of deep solid freeze every winter, but there is nary a crack anywhere in all 3 of them. So when I got there and saw the raw concrete of the recently repaired fireplace/grill, I knew it needed some embellishment, and no one could stop me.

Here it is, in context: and up close:

My sister and her husband had repaired the concrete on their recent visit. As soon as I saw it I thought about tiling the top of it and knew just what tiles we needed to get. Home Depot, 1"x1" slate tiles in 12"x12" sheets. They are perfect matches for the stones in the structure of the grill. Plus, the uneven surface of the grill would be a real challenge if I tried to use anything larger than 1x1's. Some of the tiles have a coppery glow, and some have a slightly quartzy look, just like the stones that came from the lake and surrounding dry land areas. You can see the same stones on the lower facing of the cottage.

First I painted the iron collar that my aunt and uncle had made at a local welding shop. Then I scrubbed the concrete with a dry brush and dusted it off with a rag. Then I cut the tiles into strips 3 tiles wide and laid them out to make sure of spacing and placement. If it was mine, I would have covered the entire top. But my aunt just wanted a border around the iron collar, and I decided to please my client rather than myself. I didn't want to have to cut any tiles, so I shifted them around until the spacing was just right.

To keep things neat and clean, I used painters tape to mask the dry paint and also the concrete. Then, I spread the adhesive on the backs of the tile strips, rather than the concrete surface to minimize clean-up. (Adhesive that went outside the application area would have been extremely difficult to remove from the rough concrete.) The adhesive was a type recommended for shower floors and other areas that would be exposed to standing water, since this will definitely be exposed to the elements.

I let it set for 24 hours, even though it was very tempting to grout it later that day. It seemed dry, but I have learned the hard way that it is not good to start grouting before the adhesive is dry. My aunt chose a beige color for the grout. We bought that at Lowe's so we could get the brand they carry that has matching sanded caulk. That way it is a really good match - I hate it when the caulk is distinctly a different color from the adjacent material.

The grout is also sanded, since the grout lines are fairly wide. The sand makes it a lot stronger, and there is no concern about the sand scratching slate tiles.

The next day, I was ready to caulk the edges, but sadly, it was raining. So I had to drive back to the airport after giving my aunt instructions about where to caulk. Here is the un-caulked-but-otherwise-completed project, somewhat wet on a rainy Tuesday-after-the-Fourth-of-July morning. I will be curious to see how it stands up to the elements in the years to come.

The Disappearing Sink

2008-07-01T08:19:00.007+09:00

As I said before, the faucet is going to have to go (too tall, splattering water everywhere), but the sink is great. It opens up the space nicely, and has a bonus shelf underneath, which was a big plus compared to a pedestal sink. Still need to finish the grout, still have some painting to do, and the floor tiles will go down last. But I am taking another day off to enjoy the sink and think about alternative faucets. Here is another before-and-after comparison. See the last post for intermediates.

Here is another view of the sink................

i've been back for a while, but

2008-06-30T08:42:00.010+09:00

I've been so busy trying to redo the guest bathroom before anyone comes to visit, who has time to blog. Here is the horrid "Before" shot..........

It can be described with one word, but I can't decide if that word is "yuck" or "blah". Beige, beige, and brown, with a white toilet and more of that beige, brown and yellow linoleum from another distant time. My original thought about this bathroom was to embrace the beiege/brown - - -I tried to feel better about it by calling it mocha and hung up a shower curtain that was the same color. But it just wasn't working.

So I replaced the towel rods and put up some matching shelves over the toilet, changed the toilet seat to a new white one, and got a different shower curtain. I also painted it blue, which was a big help all by itself. Then hung up some blue and white towels. Eventually I want to rip out that nasty fiberglass shower insert and build one with tile, but that will have to wait a bit. Better, but still not there.

I added some hardware to the sink vanity, but that thing was still an eyesore. I thought I would look for a pedestal sink to open up a bit more space, but then I found a wall-mounted clear glass sink that would REALLY open up the space. So even though I had not planned to jump into a big-time-and-money change, the doors were closing and it was too late to jump out of the bus.

Since one thing always leads to another, I decided to put tile on the wall behind the sink to show it off. I wanted small glass tiles, and went back to my old favorite, naturalstoneoutlet.com, to see what they might have. I decided to go with the iridescent coral glass mosaic tiles that come in 13 x 13 inch sheets, on sale for $7 a sheet. I was going to put in a link to the picture of the actual one I chose, but I guess I must have bought the last of it, because it is no longer listed on the website. (Sorry) They are whitish, with pink, yellow, blue and peachy iridescence like mother-of-pearl. Colorful, but neutral, so I like them a lot.

Blacksburg's best plumber, Rick Littreal, ripped out the old sink for me, and redid the plumbing so that it would be fresh and shiny and new, since it is going to be highly visible.
Here is a view of the space minus the ugly old vanity, and after he reworked the plumbing. I cut a piece of concrete board that was left over from my subfloor I put down in the powder room, then slapped up the tile as soon as it arrived. For the first time, I used an adhesive-grout-in-one product, thinking it would save me some time, and would be helpful since the tiles are so thin (making it difficult to keep that adhesive from coming through the joints). But it was really not any easier because I had to go back and put a second application of the "grout" because the first layer shrank so much and left little holes everywhere. But here it is after some of it was up.......... You can see a bit of the new medicine cabinet, too. Since the old medicine cabinet has a light incorporated into it, I replaced the light fixture, too. In addition, I replaced the ceiling fan with a new quieter one that has a light, so now there is plenty of illumination in the space, which helps out since there is no window. Yet. Someday.

After the tile was up, Rick came back and put the sink it. It was tricky because of the location of the plumbing, so we decided to place it a bit lower than standard. I thought this would be okay because the faucet I chose was 13 inches tall (the one pictured at the link is only 6 inches). But..............it turned out that the faucet was all wrong for this sink, because the water splatters all over the opposite side of the basin portion. Not good. Cool-looking but not practical. So I am in search of a new faucet, and will return that one as soon as I find a new one. The website where I bought the sink and faucet is moderndanish.com, and they seem to be willing to let me return it. We will see how that works out. They have one I want for another bathroom, too, so I hope they will be reasonable.

I haven't taken a picture of the room with the sink up yet, but will do it tomorrow.

Takin' the weekend off.

Travel Time

2008-05-23T16:33:00.010+09:00

I am taking a break from renovation, and all the rest of my usual routine, to go visit my daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Japan for a week. You might be wondering why I did not say I will be visiting my son, and so here is the reason. There is a lot to say about that, but that is all I will say for now. My grandson is now 4 1\2 years old, and my granddaughter is his adopted sister who is 13. She is a great kid, and they are all very devoted to each other. I have only known her for the last 4 years, but enjoy spending time with her when I visit. She speaks great English, but my grandson does not yet. I have learned a little Japanese, but don't make much progress because when I am there I need to speak English with him as much as possible so he is exposed to a native speaker.　 I am in Haneda airport in Tokyo right now, at an　internet cafe waiting for my connecting flight.

So, no pictures of renovations today. Instead I will just report that my prospective carpenter came to the house yesterday to take a look at two projects. I really like the guy, and he seems like he will be easy to work with. And he got it right away when I explained what I want done. 　The two projects we discussed are the pocket door for the powder room/half-bath that is nearly complete except that it still has no door (minor problem for a bathroom), and the shower in the guest bedroom bath.　　He has a guy who works with him who can probably do the pocket door in June. 　The sooner the better, but June will work just fine.

The shower will be something he won't be able to get to before July or August, but that is fine, too. There is no burning need to get that done soon; it is just something on the list that my husband is now saying he wants to be able to check off. So here is the plan:

1. remove all the old fixtures in the bathroom.

2. take up the linoleum.

3. lay the new floor tile (whatever that is - - - need to pick something out).

4. he will then rebuild the shower pan and walls, move the shower drain to the center, and install a window above the shower on one wall.

5. he will lay the tile on the floor of the shower. maybe. or maybe i will.

6. I will tile the walls, for sure.

The bathroom currently has no windows, but there is a window in the adjacent walk-in closet. So putting a window up high in the bathroom will allow some natural light to come in from the closet. At first we thought we might change the footprint of the closet and bathroom to make it so the bathroom extended to that exterior wall, but then a lot of the plumbing would need to be moved around and that would get crazy expensive. We are willing to go the distance for the new master bath, but not for this guest bath. I think we can work within the space we have and make it a nice bathroom. Just removing that abominable fiberglass shower insert will allow the shower to be about 6 inches longer and a couple inches wider. I am also now searching for the right base for the sink. A pedestal sink would be good since that would make it feel roomier in there, but I hate to lose the storage capacity. However, there is a fairly ample walk-in closet in the bedroom, and there is an additional closet just outside the bedroom. So that can be the storage spot for extra toilet paper, etc. I would like to find something that is somewhat open, but has maybe one drawer and an open shelf. Then I would use the square white porcelain vessel sink I already have.

Lots to think about. Damn, I am tired. Stayed up all night before I went to the airport at 6:00 am for my flight to Atlanta and connection to Tokyo. That was a total of about 17 hours of flying, plus another 45 minutes to the airport, 1/2 hour wait, and a heartstopping connection time in Atlanta of about 25 minutes. In Tokyo I took a bus from one airport to another (1 hour trip), and have been waiting here for another 2 hours. So that is about 22 hours so far. Only 2 hours until I board the last flight, which will be about 3 hours. Finally, I will get a cab at the airport in Okinawa, and if I am lucky and the guy knows how to get where I am going, it will be about 30-45 minutes. So let's call it 28 hours of travel for the entire trip. But, hey, no whining. It is worth it.

My Laundry Room, The Butterfly

2008-05-22T15:01:00.008+09:00

The laundry room has undergone a metamorphosis . . . . what was just an empty room is now a functional space for sewing or other craftwork. I had Diane Hailey from the local Closet Concepts design an installation that includes floor-to-almost-ceiling linen closet, fold-out ironing board, drawers, shelves, and work countertop/laundry folding area. Here is what it looked like before the installation:

Basically just an empty box with a pathetic folding table opposite the washer and dryer. If not for the excellent tile job, this room would have been a total negative. But now.......it's a wow. Check it:

The cabinetry is a pretty close match to the walls, which enhances the "built-in" look, and the countertop is a good match for the accent tiles in the floor and wall. Actually, I wonder if I ever posted a picture of the finished tile? In case I have not, here is one:

The room is now really making that utility tub look particularly sucky. I may have to replace that someday. In the meantime, i am looking forward to filling up the shelves and drawers and hanging some artwork.

Drilling Down

2008-05-20T12:27:00.004+09:00

I am so proud of myself . . . . . I mounted the towel bar and toilet paper holder in the half-bath all by myself today, and they both look very cool. Here is the towel bar, which is particularly cool with this half-circle shape.

You can see the mirror in this picture also, and a bit of the spots where the light fixtures will go on each side of the mirror.

Those lights should be in soon, but I will be on vacation for 10 days, leaving in just 3 days, so that will be something I deal with when I get back. I will have a bunch of lights to install, so will set up a date for that with the electrician.

Tne next big thing is coming up tomorrow morning when I get cabinets installed in the laundry room. This is going to create a laundry-folding/sewing desk area, storage drawers, built-in ironing board, and floor-to-ceiling linen closet. Can't wait!

Good News! I am an ideal candidate for remodeling!

2008-05-18T08:19:00.007+09:00

Here is a fun test to see if you have what it takes to emhandle the stress of a big renovation project. The good news (for me) is that I passed - Yay!

Here is the analysis of me:

"Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out. Conclusion: You are an ideal candidate for remodeling. You are flexible, patient, can roll with the punches and remain upbeat."

Well, I don't know about all that. But I think I can agree that I am flexible, patient, can roll with the punches and remain upbeat. I also agree that you need to be all those things when renovating, and you better have it in proportion to the size of the project.

I found the test when I was reading a juicy article in the New York Times called "Building Rage" about how some people lose it when dealing with contractors. "Much has been written about contractors from hell, but comparatively little attention is paid to the homeowner from hell, who can make contractors crazy."

I think one of the things that helps me is that I work hard at finding people I feel comfortable working with - when I know we are communicating well, I have more confidence that I will be happy with the results. So far I have found an electrician, plumber, and landscaper I really like, and they are very easy to work with. There is a designer who came and measured everything last week and is working on drawings of the exterior for some upgrades and new siding. I know what genereal contractor I want to use when we undertake a big project like the kitchen or moving walls around in the master bedroom. Now I just need a carpenter who can do smaller jobs, like changing the closet doors or building a shower pan. I talked to a guy who will be coming by in a couple days to see the shower and doors and give me a bid. He seemed nice on the phone, and is currently working on a full kitchen installation in another house, so I think he knows what he is doing. Can't wait to have him come by the house.

Lighting Spree

2008-05-13T08:15:00.014+09:00

I went on an overnight light-fixture feeding frenzy ordering the lighting for the entryway and stairwell.

Here is a picture of how the entryway looked when the previous owners lived here, and also how it looked empty:

...................and here it is now, except that i moved that big ship to a different room. It is much more spacious with out the boat parked there.

You can see the old paper-shade-dangley-light fixture that came with the house. I kinda like paper shades, but we have way too many of them here, and I think the new fixture will be better.

Here is what I picked out for the entryway:

I chose this one because the black lines of the metal remind me of the painting hanging in the space. It is an original oil painting that we bought for our 8th wedding anniversary from an artist in Dayton, Ohio. I love it because it is reminiscent of Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox religious icon, but it is a totally modern take on the classical theme of angels. They look both watchful and melancholy with those big eyes that also remind me of those cheezy big-eye-kid paintings from the 60's. The other reason I like this fixture is that it is complementary to the one i have chosen for the stairwell to replace the even bigger paper-shade pendant there:

The Devil is in the Details

2008-05-12T10:36:00.005+09:00

I have ordered new light fixtures, toilet paper holder and towel bar, and am searching for someone to install a pocket door so I can finish up the bathroom renovation. In the meantime, I will trim off the bottom of the old door so I can rehang it. I bought a new circular saw at Lowe's - - - a Black & Decker battery-powered one. The rechargeable battery can be used in a bunch of other Black & Decker tools, including a weed-whacker I bought at the same time.

Speaking of weed-whacking, I am going to need to bust a move outside in the gardens. After sitting empy for a year, the plants here are pretty overgrown and somwhat weedy to boot. So while I wait for the stuff to finish up the last details of the bathroom, I will try to make a dent in the garden. This weekend I transplanted a bunch of the perennials, and weeded out some that were spreading out everywhere they shouldn't be. Some of them were moving from the garden spaces into the driveway, and all the tallest stuff had moved to the fronts of the beds. Today was rainy, so I bought some flats of impatiens, ajuga, and petunias that i will put out tomorrow. It is dark out now, so i will have to wait until then anyway to take a couple pictures.

I want to plant some tomatoes and herbs in a sunny spot in the backyard, but i will get someone to cut down one of the trees first. It is right in the way of the view out the back windows, way too close to the house. There wouldn't be much left if we tried to prune it back, so I am thinking it will just be better to cut it down. I will call my landscaping guy and have him tell me what he thinks we should do.

I also have some carrot seeds that i bought in Japan. The Japanese carrots (and NO that is not me in the Japanese carrot video) are so wonderful - short and very fat compared to the ones we get here, and SO delicious. They are so fat you can actually make musical instruments with them, for crying out loud. I am not sure if they will grow in this climate, but it will be fun to give it a try. I am hoping the rabbits I have seen out in the backyard won't eat the tops off - - - might have to frame them up and cover them.

One of the Costs of Unfinished Renovation Projects

2008-05-02T12:13:00.002+09:00

Still haven't put up the new toilet paper holder or towel bar, so the roll of toilet paper was just sitting on the vanity top. This is the second day in a row I have come home to find that my little cat Sharky has gotten the brand new roll of toilet paper and absolutely shredded it.

I didn't put out another one today.

My Review of 11.5" Wall Sconce in Brushed Nickel with White Fabric Shade

2008-04-28T23:58:00.001+09:00

Originally submitted at CSN Lighting

This one light wall sconce is not like many of the bold, eccentric pieces from George Kovacs. It is reserved and simple with a brushed nickel finish and white fabric shade. This sconce is a great way to support you modern decor in a simple, stylish way without becoming overbearing or dis...

Is George Kovacs already married?

By renovationbloviatrix from virginia on 4/28/2008

Pros: Easy To Assemble, Shades are very nice, Attractive Design, Diffused light

Best Uses: Powder Room, Bedroom, Living Room

Primary use: Personal

I picked these out to contrast with the natural stone tiles I put on the wall and floor, and the fabric shade softened the look of the room and provided a nice textural contrast. The white shades were also a nice color contrast to the dark grey and black tones in the tiles and vanity base, and matched those of the white sink and toilet.

The brushed nickel finish matched some brushed aluminum accent tiles and the faucet perfectly; the square shape of the metal and the fabric shade complemented the square lines of the sink and toilet.

Sadly, these did not fit in the narrow space between the side wall and mirror frame for my bathroom and so i will have to find a substitute. I am deep in despair. The shade fits very close to the wall, so make sure you have enough clearance between light fixture and mirror or other adjacent structures on the wall.

(legalese)

A Day Off to Enjoy the Garden

2008-04-21T08:46:00.009+09:00

I am suffering from bathroom-renovation overload right now. So I spent some time outside taking pictures of the plants coming up all around the yard and breathing deeply. Here are some of the best ones:

I recall casually saying that the sink base was no problem...........

2008-04-19T10:52:00.007+09:00

Well, that was wrong. It was a huge pain in the ass because the existing plumbing came out of the side wall, not the back, plus it was old and rusted out. Rick had to work all day+ to change the pipes, he painted the waste pipe so it wouldn't show, and did a beautiful job installing new copper pipes that look fantastic. He cut through the side of the cabinet, shimmed the legs to level it, laid a beautiful caulk line between the cabinet top and the wall, and assembled the whole thing. And that was after the herculean effort to install the toilet, which required drilling a hole in the floor to bring the water supply up from the basement, and lifting the entirely assembled toilet to put it in place. He was not a big fan of the toilet design, and had to improvise and trouble-shoot all day long with the supply line, the bolts, the - you name it, he figured out a way to do it. My newly designated plumber-for-life. Here is everything finally FINALLY installed! If the room was a little bigger, it would be easier to get a good picture. These don't do it justice. It really is stunningly beautiful. Next I need to clean up the walls a bit, put a little caulk along the edges of the wall tile, and get a toilet paper holder and towel bar. I have the mirror for over the sink, and will put it up in the morning. And then I can see if the light fixtures I bought will fit. They might be a bit too big, but I won't know for sure until the mirror is up, and then I can check to see how they look.

I am even excited about this silly register cover I found at Home Depot.

Sharky is fascinated by this toilet.

Change of Plans for the Toilet

2008-04-19T10:19:00.008+09:00

I consulted with my Plumber Extraodinaire, Rick Littreal (Pyramid Construction), and he is game to see if maybe there is some way the toilet I ordered could perhaps fit. He persuaded the store owners to let him check out their showroom floor model of the toilet I ordered. He brought it over to see how it would fit. And the bad news is - it doesn't. Not only doesn't, but extremely doesn't. He will have to move the water supply line AND change the waste pipe (wrong size and requires a no-flange installation) AND the waste pipe is about 4" too far away from the wall! Here is is in the bathroom, seated on the waste pipe, and you can see that there is a huge gap between it and the wall. This design is just not practical for existing plumbing. I chose it because I like the way it and the sink have the appearance of "furniture" - this is what you see when you come into the house, and I like having it look like "furniture" rather than bathroom fixtures. But enough of this madness. I went back to the kitchen/bath store and asked the manager to cancel the order and find a subsitute that has a similar style.

I didn't think there would be anything quite like it, but he surprised me. He found one made by Duravit that had some quirks, but was a standard installation - if you don't count the water supply line. The toilet had a solid back, so the water supply line had to either be moved farther to the left or could come up through the floor as the god of plumbing decided to do in my bathroom. So I decided to go ahead and grout all the tile (ah, yes, I forgot to mention that I laid the floor tille) so either this Duravit toilet fits, or else we will just put in a standard boring pedestrian toilet like everyone else on the planet.

So the tile was down, and the grout went in. I used a darker grout on the floor because I don't want the grout lines to be a big contrast to the tile. I also laid it with pretty thin grout lines, just to minimize them. I love love love the way it looks. It is a dark grey, but it has a bit of brown in it, which helps it tie into the brick floor in the entryway. My cat, Sharky, loves it, too. In fact he was in the room throughout the entire tile installation. Here he is while i was working on the grout around the water supply line, and laying out the floor tile. I think I'll let him do the next bathroom.

Did I Say the Walls Were Done??

2008-04-19T09:38:00.011+09:00

What was I smoking? Yes, the tile was up, but jeez, the walls weren't done. But I did get some grout that looked great and got the wall tiles grouted. There are lots of websites that will walk you through the process better than I can, but here are the steps:

1. Spread the grout on the tiles.

2. Squish it into the spaces between the tiles with a tool called a grout float.

3. Wipe off the excess with a damp sponge. You will need to rinse the sponge frequently in a pan of water, wringing it out as much as you can so that you won't remove too much of the grout.

4. After about a half hour or so later, you will need to go back and scour off the dried haze with a scrubby thing - one of the scrubbing pads that won't scratch teflon off of a frying pan, but will clean it up; I forget what they are called. (but if your grout is light-colored, don't use a green one. get a white one that is sold in the tile aisle at hardware stores. little microscopic shreds of it break off and will get stuck in your grout and show up.)

The one in this picture is a sponge on one side, with a white scrubby part on the other side. It is important to do a good job of removing the grout from the tile surface now, but you don't want to scrub out the grout from the joints.

5. Let it dry overnight and give it a final buffing with the scrubby thing. I love this moment. It is so cool to see the finished, grouted tile. I have to keep going into the room and turning the light on to admire it. After another day or so, put a sealer on it. I used one that is a matte finish. I don't want this to be shiney. Now on to the floor.

I Forgot to Expect the Unexpected.......

2008-03-23T11:37:00.005+09:00

And just when things were moving along nicely.

On Friday (yesterday) I stopped at the kitchen/bath store to see if they could recommend a plumber, and got a couple names. I called the first one, Rick Littreal, and he had just finished a big job early (good sign) so he offered to come by that very same day and take a look at what I need to have him do. He asked if I had the spec sheets for the fixtures, so I downloaded them. Hmmm. I noticed right away that the toilet installation guide said "READ BEFORE INSTALLING!" "Non-standard installation!" Oh boy. I was hoping that I have a non-standard bathroom. But, no. He did admire my tile choices, so we were off to a great start. And the vanity base is no problem. But when I showed him the installation guide , he immediately spotted two things that will have to be changed. The guide specifies that the waste pipe should be a four inch pipe with no flange, and it needs to extend above the floor. The water supply line needs to come out of the wall at a point about 7 inches higher than it currently is. And the bolts holding the toilet to the floor will need to be pre-drilled and tile will need to go around those spots because he will not be able to drill through tile. Argh. So the short story is that it will cost about $500 to install instead of $100 for a standard installation. But he is Richard the Lionhearted Plumber - - did a thorough diagnosis and is not afraid of this totally unique installation, just letting me know it will cost a bunch. The guide said there was a template that the installer would use to mark the floor for drilling, so he suggested I get my hands on a template so I could continue with the tiling if that is the toilet I want.

So I am a little disturbed that the salesman at the K/B Store didn't tell me about this - they have it in the showroom, for pete's sake, so he had to know it is better for new construction than it is for renovation. I looked through my old bookmarks to see what other toilets we had looked at to see if any of those were standard and cheaper to install. But when I called my husband and told him I was looking for an alternative, he said no, Let's Go For It. That is the Toilet I Want. So I went to said K/B Store and requested the template from the floor model, he gave it to me, and I guess I will Go For It.

But I decided I would grout the wall tile (except for about a square foot right around the water supply pipe, which will need to be ripped out to move it) before I lay the floor tile. I got out my bag of grout and started mixing. Just as I was getting it all mixed up, I realized it was smooth...............too smooth. What is up? Suddenly, I realized ----it must be unsanded. I checked the bag, and dambit dambit dambit - that is exactly right! No sand!! This is not good. Unsanded is for very thin grout lines (or for applications with really polished tiles that might be scratched by sanded grout). My grout lines are going to be way too wide, sometimes more than 1/4", and those will be too big. I need the sand or else there is a strong chance that the grout might crack. I might be able to get away with this since it is a wall, not a floor. But who wants to take a $15.00 chance with $600.00 worth of tile??? Not worth it. Plus, I want the floor grout to be the same as the wall grout, so I had to just trash that whole batch of grout and drive back to the hardware store and buy new grout. By the time I got home, I had lost all my momentum. Ready to plop on the couch and watch "Blades of Glory".

Tomorrow is another tile day.

The walls are DONE.

2008-03-17T10:18:00.010+09:00

Today I painted the walls. It took a lot of coats, but it is finally done. We (I) used a metallic paint that was the lightest silvery shade they had. It is a Ralph Lauren color from Home Depot.
I guess that little circular shape on the wall is a reflection of the flash, because I don't see that on the wall when I look at it. Tomorrow I will seal the tile so I can grout it.

I also put down the first layer of leveling compound on the floor. There is one corner that was lower than the others when I moved the ladder around the room. Here is the box of the stuff I used. When you mix this up, you need to be ready to spread it right away. It sets up in about 20 minutes, and I am not kidding. The first time I ever used any of this, it seemed similar to grout, and I mixed it and then started sweeping the floor I was planning to patch. By the time I was finished sweeping, the compound was solid, with the stirring stick stuck standing straight up. I had to throw away the whole bucket. Here is the floor area I patched, taken about 2 hours after I spread it out. I may need to add one more layer. It is better to do two or three layers, rather than try to do it all in one shot, since it will get sort of "wavy" on the top if it is too thick. There are a couple lumps on the surface, so I will need to smooth it out a bit even if it doesn't require another coat.

In the last post I mentioned that the strips of marble turned out to be very easy to cut. Here is a picture of my tile nippers and a piece of the marble. These nippers are nice new ones that are quite sharp, so it was really easy to snap these into smaller pieces to fill in the ends of the rows of tile sheets.

Here we go.........

2008-03-16T10:07:00.007+09:00

Time to stop talking and start tiling. I started out by deciding exactly where I want the accent strip of tiles to go, which is directly along the line defined by the placement of the wall sconces that will sit on each side of the mirror above the sink. you can see the place where one of those sconces will go right in the center of this picture. I used a level to draw a line directly on the wall, and then nailed a thin board just under that line. I laid the single row of black accent tiles so that they sat right on that board, and then started in with the 12" x 12" sheets of marble strips. I thought these would be impossible to cut, but found out that I could snap them easily with tile nippers. So I put up a row of 12" x 12" sections, and then filled in the ends out to the wall, some with whole strips and some that I cut to fit. Here is a view of the edge of a row. This one obviously is not at the end of the wall, but you can see that if it was, i would need to fill in those jaggedy edges. As I approached the edge of the wall, I stopped when there was about 6" more to go. Then I picked out pieces that were various sizes so that it "matched" the randomness of the sizes within each sheet of strips. Sometimes I had to cut a piece to get a good fit, but most of the time I could sort through the pieces I had romoved from whole sheets just so I would have a bunch of single pieces to use for the edges. After putting a couple of sheets on the wall, I hammered in a little nail under the top corner strips of each sheet. That kept the sheet from slipping down the wall before the mortar was set. They stuck up pretty well all by themselves, but I didn't want to come back later and see that they had slid down even a little. All in all, I was surprised at how easy these were to put up. But there is a randomness to them, and a little droop here and there, so this is not something I would recommend for someone who is freacked out with slight imperfections. You can see that in the picture just to the right - - The strips are not absolutely perpendicular to each other, and the joints where they meet are a little more "regular" than the random pattern within each sheet. You can see that clearly in this picture of the wall after all the tile was up. You can see where the sheets meet right now, partly just because you can see the wall more clearly. But after the grout is up, I think those joints will be nearly impossible to see. In order to make them less obvious, I staggered the sheets to avoid having a ceiling-to-floor line of evenness . It is kind of hard to explain in words, but I think those lines are easy enough to see right now.

So all the wall tiles are up and the mortar is setting. The next step is to remove all the little nails, wipe this down and then seal the tile to get ready for grout. While that is setting, I will paint the other walls. If I didn't mention it before, I painted the ceiling before putting up the wall tiles. Now I am wishing I had already painting the walls, but too late for that now.

Woohoo - I FINALLY ordered the bathroom fixtures!

2008-03-15T08:22:00.014+09:00

It was a tough making the final choices - there are so many choices out there - but I finally decided on the "hardware" for my 1/2 bath - I am not fond of the euphemism "powder room", but for the sake of clarity, that is the one I am talking about. I have been browsing online for months and knew what the prices were there, plus had a good idea of what I wanted. But if the prices are competitive, I prefer to buy locally. That way, if I have any issues, it will be easier to make an exchange or get a refund, as the case may be. So I went to a kitchen/bath store in Christiansburg (if they had a website I would put in a link, but they are a bit behind the times and don't have one) and asked for contractor prices if I bought all the rest of the stuff I will need to put the bathroom together. The guy agreed, and we got down to business. In about an hour's time, I ordered a toilet, sink and vanity combination, faucet, and 2 sconces. I already have 2 mirrors I bought at tjmaxx: one for over the sink, the other for a side wall. I have found that tjmaxx is a fantastic source for nice looking mirrors priced at about $30-$50. The only thing left to buy will be a towel rod and toilet paper holder. I may go back there for those, since they had some very contemporary ones that would look good. HD and Lowe's are a bit deficient when it comes to contemporary styles. Here are the pieces I bought:

TOILET

I posted it before, but here it is again because I love to look at this toilet. I never thought I would say such a thing, but there it is. The space is very small (5' x 4'), and somehow it seems like this will fit better into a small box of a room. I'm also already enjoying how there are no surfaces way down on the floor that will collect dust or whatever. Just the floor, the seat, and the top of the tank.

SINK BASE/VANITY

I tried to download a picture from the Decolav website, but that function was disabled. So you can see it if you click here. I was in love with a half-moon shaped vanity I saw online, but I just was not sure how it would look with the plumbing coming out of the wall and into the side of the vanity. So I decided to go with this rectangular one. This way I know the pipes will not be visible. The End. I am not sure if I will be able to use the square sink I bought from the Modern Danish site (via their ebay store). The top of this vanity has a large circle cut out that accomodates the sorta-squarish sink (shown in the photograph) that comes with it. If my very-squarey one fits, I will use that one, and if not, then I will just use the sorta-squarish one. I really want the very-squarey sink because it will be extremely cool with the very-squarey toilet. The vanity comes with a hole predrilled for the faucet, but I will have the faucet placed on the left side of the sink if that predrilled faucet hole doesn't show. And if the precut sink hole will still be covered, I will have the sink set slightly to the right of center.

After the stuff arrives, I will put it in the room and see what arrangement looks the best.

SCONCES

I first saw these online and fell in love with them, and found they carried them at the kitchen/bath store. The designer is George Kovacs and the brand is Minka. Again with the square theme. But one big difference with this light is that the shade is fabric. I think this will be a nice compelment to all the hard materials - tile and porcelain - and will soften it a bit. Also, I think this light fixture is pretty contemporary without going over the top, but the fabric aspect keeps it a shade (sorry) contemporary. I ordered it at the store, but they said it will be on backorder until the end of May. I have seen these online for quite a bit less money (less than half what I paid) so I may have to cancel that order and go with the online option for these.

FAUCET

The brushed nickel faucet is going to match the little 1" accent tiles that run along at the level of the sconces. I don't have a picture of the exact faucet I ordered, but it looks something like this, but with a bit more squarish style. And, like I said, it will be brushed nickel. I overpaid a bit on the faucet, but made up for it on the prices of the toilet and sink base, so it ends up being a satisfactory total.

So these will be delivered by the end of March. I will need another week to get the walls painted and tile installed, grouted and sealed, so that timing will be fine. As soon as I have a firm date for delivery I will schedule a plumber to come and install the toilet and sink. I have been mulling over that process and have decided I need to have a professional do this part of the job.

Well, I WAS going to start tiling.............

2008-03-08T11:29:00.004+09:00

BUT - I got a great deal on a last-minute airfare to Denver to visit my daughter and family. Since I don't have that replacement box of tile anyway.......... it would be kinda stupid to start putting up tile now anyway. According to the UPS tracking info, it should arrive on Tuesday. So I will fly out tomorrow (Saturday) and come back on Tuesday afternoon.

In the meantime, here is the sink I just bought online at an ebay store. Snagged it for $79.00 plus shipping. It is also available on the store website for $99, which is still a huge discount, at Modern Danish. I love this website because they have such very cool and unusual stuff. I have a couple old friends who are Danish, too, and they are also very cool and unusual. Cultural trait, perhaps. Even better are the closeout and scratch/dent deals they have in the "Outlet" menu. Fabulously beautiful stuff, sometimes slightly damaged, but they have clear descriptions of what the damage is, with pictures so that you know what you will be getting. Some of it is just overstock or old stuff. I guess even sinks can go out of style. But mostly I think it is a matter of more and more interesting things coming onto the market, so that the "old" stuff starts looking stale, even though you have never actually seen it in anyone's house yet.

I am still trying to decide on the vanity base I will put in there. I know it will be black, and it needs to be somewhere between 25"-36" wide. The most critical thing is that it must be less than 21.5" deep so that the door can swing completely open.

I will think about it on the plane.

They are stepping up to the plate!

2008-03-05T11:27:00.003+09:00

I contacted Ana Morales at Natural Stone Outlet and told her my tile order was goofed up. I was unsure how they would handle it, but I am happy to report that she immediately said she would ship out the replacement tile. Also, she will schedule a pickup with UPS for the wrong box I received. Couldn't be easier! I am a big fan! They have such nice tile and the prices are great. You can order samples, too, which is something I could not do on another unsatisfactory site I found. The unsatisfactory site had a minimum order size - - - sorry, no single tile orders. So I emailed them and asked for a teeny-tiny piece of tile so I could check the color before I placed and order and they said No. Too bad - they had a lot of nice tile, but I am not wasting time with a place that won't let me at least buy a sample.

Glad I Checked

2008-03-04T09:55:00.018+09:00

I just got back from a week-long conference on the west coast, ready to dive right in and get the wall tile up. My wall tiles are "strips" of marble that come in 12" x 12' squares glued onto a mesh. This makes the installation significantly faster and easier. In this picture you can see one square with the mesh side up, laying on top of another square with the tile side up. These pieces are not tumbled marble, but they aren't polished either, so they have a very natural "stone" appearance. I bought them for $11.00 per square from a discount tile website called Natural Stone Outlet. This is a great price. I saw something very similar, if not the same, at The Great Indoors in Denver for about $30.00 each. Click here to see these tiles in a sample installation. I love these tiles. I ordered samples of the grey ones, too, but these black ones are so cool, it was an easy choice.

The edges of the tile blocks fit together so that the "seams" will disappear after they are grouted. Here are two tiles laying side-by-side on my kitchen countertop. At this point, the seam is obvious because the mesh does not extend out to the edges so you can see the countertop more clearly along the joint. My plan is to position the edge of the tile line about 4 inches out from the edge of the wall. This will leave alternating "gaps" of about 2" and 4". I will post some pictures to illustrate this when I start intalling them, so check back if that last bit was confusing.

I know that filling in those edge areas will take almost as long as laying all the rest of the whole squares, so having pieces of the right sizes ready to go will speed up the process. And when you are working with wet mortar, saving time is meaningful. I don't want to cut them if I don't have to, which is why I need to place the full squares far enough from the edge of the wall so that the gaps will be the same sizes as these pieces. So I have been cutting up some of the sheets of tiles and sorting them by size into several boxes.

Whenever you are laying tile, it is a good idea to take them from various boxes as you go, so that you don't end up with a region that is a different color than the rest. So I decided I should do the same thing for these little pieces. I have 5 boxes of tile, so I started working my way along through each of the boxes. And it turned out to be a good thing I did this for another reason: when I opened up the 4th box , it turned out to be a box of GRAY ones! This is a big pain right now, but it would have been a lot worse if I had been in the middle of putting these things up on the wall! Better to find out now while it is just an inconvenience to have to get a replacement box.

So now I get to find out how easy these guys are to work with on a return when it is their fault. They have a fairly strict policy with a stiff restocking fee for "normal" returns, which I can understand. They don't want to have people sending back remnants that don't match the color lots they still have in stock, and the boxes are damned heavy, too, by the way. Handling orders is a big deal and this policy helps them keep a decent profit margin on very discounted prices. But this is an error on the part of their shipping crew, so they should be willing to replace it at no cost and with a minimum of hassle. I will let you know how this turns out. I have a lot more tiling to do in this house, so I hope they will be cool about it.

Having the Right Tools Makes All the Difference!

2008-02-25T10:46:00.004+09:00

You hear it all the time, and that's because it is so true. Having the right tool makes every thing about a task so much easier. Here are a few of the tools I have collected for this work.

I mentioned my new drill. My husband bought it for me so I would be able to mix the thinset mortar for the subfloor and setting the floor tiles. I have a long attachment for mixing the mortar, and the drill has an extra handle that fits around it so you can use two hands. That really helped me out when I was screwing the backerboard down to the subfloor. Cordless drills are great, but they don't have enough umph to do some jobs. The plug-in electric drill has alot more power.

This job, and the tile to come, required a lot of time on my knees. I wouldn’t be able to do that and still be able to walk the next day without this nifty little kneepad with handles. The knee pad cushions the knees, and the handles help you get up and down, especially about the 47th time you need to stand or kneel back down. I got this one from a website/catalog for Gardener’s Supply, but I have seen them other places since I got mine. You can flip it over and it is a bench. The handles fold flat for storage, but mine is almost always in use somewhere around the house. I don't think I could do this kind of work anymore if I didn't have this thing.

Don't Fear the Subfloor

2008-02-23T11:31:00.004+09:00

After realizing I would have to do something about the subfloor in my gutted bathroom, I was afraid it meant calling in a carpenter to put down plywood. (I have a persisting fear of power saws ever since I had a near accident about 10 years ago.) But that would really slow down the process so I wanted to see if there was some other option. You never know what kinds of materials are out there if you don't ask, so when I picked up my new tiles at the tile store I did just that. The guys who work there are great, and they showed me a couple different options. I am starting with about 3/4 inch of subfloor, so they recommended that I use 1/2 inch backer board. This is a grey board that comes in 3'x5' sheets, and is sort of crumbly cement compressed between two mesh layers. So I bought 2 of the sheets and a big bag of thinset mortar to use on the joints. The only issue I have to consider is that this will raise the bathroom floor higher than the entryway that leads to it. But I have some ideas for dealing with that.
Some people would probably use the measurements of the room and cut the pieces according to those, and that ought to work fine. But I decided I would rather make a paper pattern to lay out on the backer boards to get my cutting lines. I used 4 big sheets of paper, taping them together where they overlapped on the floor to make the pattern. This made it easy to mark exactly where I needed to make the cuts for the toilet, the heating duct, and to fit in the door frame. I also decided to pull the molding off the inside of the door frame so that I wouldn’t have to make cuts around that in the subfloor and the tile, so that made this part of the project a bit simpler. I cut out the pattern on the lines, placed the 2 boards on the garage floor, and laid the paper pattern on the boards so that it lined up with two of the edges to minimize the cuts. I used a black Sharpie to outline it and scored them with abox-cutter razor knife. Then you should be able to raise the board, bend it at the scored lines, and snap it. I could see it was close to snapping but couldn’t quite get it to go. So I called for backup – my husband came out and re-scored them for me, and he was able to cut them a little deeper than I was. Then they magically broke right along the lines – wow!

For the two holes (toilet and heat duct opening), he helped me a drill holes along the scored lines and then just used a long skinny hand saw to connect the dots. After that, I could do the rest myself. The stuff is pretty crumbly, so it was easy to notch the area for the door frame. In fact, it would be easy to overdo it, so I just did little cuts, and broke out small bits. When I took them into the bathroom to put them down, there was just one little spot that that needed to be trimmed. It was pretty amazing to see it go down on the floor so quickly and neatly.

So the next step was to screw the new layer to the subfloor below. I found a plastic box of green screws especially designed for cement board – about 2” long with a large head to hold the board down tight. The whole idea of this process is to have a surface that is not going to flex or else the grout – or worse, the tile – will crack. I pulled out cordless drill and a phillips head bit. But when I tried to put in the first few, it seemed like they weren’t going all the way in. So back to the hardware store for my new drill with a cord to boost the power quotient. I got one that has an extra handle that helps stabilize the drill and lets me use two hands to apply some extra girl-power pressure. And Whoa, baby, that one drove the screws in so fast I needed to back off a bit. The cement board is kind of granular and it was really easy to go too deep with the screws. But after a couple, I got the hang of the technique and it went really fast. And lickety-split, Bob’s-your-uncle, I was done! It looks so good, I had to keep going back and turning on the light to admire it.

Go sell a house, wouldja?

2008-02-22T05:06:00.007+09:00

Well, boys and girls, let's see what the emailman brought today. Hmm, here's one with a great question. Some hot-shot realtor from Denver asks, "Hey, slack-ass! How do you pull out a toilet without a huge water mess?

Well, good question, Miss SmartyPants, I am so glad you asked. It is actually quite simple, so don't leave your toddler in the bathroom unattended. Here is the entire process in 10 Easy Steps:

How to Remove a Toilet

Step 1. Turn the handle on the little tube going to the toilet tank. That's the water supply line.
Step 2. Flush the toilet once or twice to empty the tank as much as possible. There will probably still be lots of water in the actual toilet bowl.
Step 3. Argue with your spouse about the effect of pouring more water into the bowl. He obviously has never lived in a really crappy place during his sheltered life and has not needed to know you can flush a toilet just by dumping a bucket of water into it.
Step 4. Go get a big bucket and fill it with water in the kitchen despite the laughter coming from the bathroom.
Step 5. Pour the water into the toilet. It will flush out most of the water remaining in the toilet bowl, leaving a very minimal amount.
Step 6. Remove the bolt covers -they cover the bolts holding the toilet to the floor.
Step 7. Remove one or more bolts with a wrench.
Step 8. Go back to the hardware store and buy a little saw with a blade that will cut metal. Kobalt makes a nice one with 3 types of blades for metal, wood, or something else. The handle and the blade together are about the size of a wedding cake knife, and the blade is flexible so you can get into that narrow space between the toilet and the wall, slide the blade under the toilet and cut the bolt that is frozen.
Step 9. Have a few old towels handy now because there will be some water, but not too much.
Step 10. Lift the toilet up, breaking the wax seal, and take it out to the garage. It will look lovely out there.

You will have a little clean-up to do, but it is not bad. Get a stiff piece of cardboard and scrape away the wax seal. You will be able to see that the bolts actually are in little slots that would have let you lift, twist, and remove the toilet without actually needing to undo them all the way. And, as a bonus, you can see now how it all went together and that it might not be impossible to reinstall the new one yourself. But I will probably get a plumber to do it anyway.

And it is so lovely to come home at the end of a workday and see a toilet in the garage amid the rest of the clutter.

Let the Renovating Begin

2008-02-20T12:35:00.010+09:00

It has been so long since my last post that I wasn't even sure how to log in and make this post. The bookmark saved it for me, and now I can get this back on track. Between moving in, travel (whee!) and the holidays, there was not much time to do anything of any significance. But now I am on the job with a vengeance. First project at hand is the half-bath in the entryway - the one commonly known by the universal euphemism of "powder room". This dreadful little penalty box was ill-conceived, boring, cramped - for crying out loud, you can't even open the door all the way: it bangs into the sink when it swings into the bathroom. The linoleum is pretty disgusting, and the medicine cabinet is absolutely disgusting. And the looong, loooooong flushing time on the toilet is getting on my nerves. It is clear that nothing in the room can be salvaged. It all. must. go.
And so on a stormy afternoon a few days ago, it all went into the garage. Then I pulled up the linoleum. The good news was that it was very easy to pull up. And, hmmm. Look at that subfloor. OSB board. That is not going to be a good substrate for tile. I imagine that is why the linoleum was not really stuck to the subfloor.

Looks like it will be time to call in some assistance from a carpenter, because i think it needs to be plywood or something a little more solid. Well, in the meantime, I patched the walls and prepped them for painting and tiling. That was enough to fill the rest of the day. I went to the hardware store and bought myself a 1/4 sheet palm sander to take the gloss off the paint on the wall to be tiled. And then I began to realize why professional painters get such better results than I ever have - this is an outstanding way to smooth out the areas you patch with joint compound on big areas or the other kinds of patch stuff on the small spots. So I went a bit crazy sanding all over the other walls, too. Now I can't wait to see how the paint will look. My tile is on order, due in any day now, so I will try to get that subfloor in ASAP.

Time Out

2007-09-20T02:50:00.000+09:00

Jeez, moving has really taken the wind out of my sails. It is all I have been able to keep up with for the last week. That, and I have had to go back to the store and request a third clothes dryer. First one would dry for 1 minute, then throw an error code and stop. Second one looks like it was tipped over and dragged to the delivery truck. Third one will be delivered in a couple days, and had better be functioning and looking good.

Things are starting to come together and look somewhat organized. It will get there. Then I can get back on the Renovation Bus.

The Worst Bathroom in Blacksburg

2007-09-14T07:43:00.000+09:00

These are pictures of the half bath off the foyer area. It is blah, boring, ugly, and very blah, not to mention cramped and laid out in a very ridiculous arrangement. The door doesn't even open all the way; it actually bumps into the sink. Who does something like that . . . . and then leaves it that way for decades? They weren't always old, so that can't be the excuse. The linoleum is the same horrid stuff that was in the laundry room. And the walls and fixtures give beige a bad name. This sort of decor is the reason beige fell out of favor a few decades ago and is only now being rediscovered . I can't wait to rip this whole room apart. Not yet sure what the floor tile will be, but I think i have decided on the wall tile and fixtures. the wall behind sink and toilet will be the marble slivers shown in this picture:

And the sink and toilet will be these or something similar:

What is it about things that are square that I like so much???? The sink can be situated more toward the right so that the existing door can open unobstructed, but we will probably end up having a pocket door put in so that it won't be so cramped.

The Kitchen Time Forgot

2007-09-12T12:29:00.001+09:00

The kitchen in this house was probably fabulous in 1978.

In 2007 . . . . not so much. The word "outdated" is inadequate to describe the cabinets, and the sink is. . . . . well, the divided sink must have been on the cutting edge in 1978, but this orange is horrific. The appliances appear to be functional. The stove and dishwasher, that is; there is no refrigerator right now. And what is going on with the "island"? The countertop there, and along the wall, are both designed for children, not adults. So everything here is going to GO. Some of the cabinets will end up in the garage, where they will be perfect. The island can go into the laundry room until we do something more with that. So they will all be used in one place or another, just not in the kitchen. The tile floor is too boring, so that has to go also. I have been working with a guy at a local cabinet company and he has put together a great plan. The cabinets will be a very light and smooth maple, mostly drawers, with a few steel doors with frosted glass inset doors for accent. the island will be sort of triangular, with a gas range inset, and bar stools on the opposite side. The far wall will have a bar sink and beverage center, and the microwave will be in that wall also. If i can get a sketch of the arrangement, i will add it to this page. Floor = wide plank maple in a natural finish. Stainless steel appliances, including a 2-drawer dishwasher. Cabinet-depth refrigerator, and i hope it will be a freezer-on-the-bottom/french-door-fridge configuration. Grey quartz countertops. The walls are painted gray right now (Granite Boulder from Behr Paint at Home Depot). I am searching for some cool tile for the backsplash. Thought I had found it when i ordered a sample of marble mosaic with grey and gold, but the sample did not have anything i would have called gold. So I am still seeking the right tile. I think i want something with small tiles in a mosaic, glass or marble, square or "pencil" shaped tiles.

I Love This Light Fixture!!

2007-09-12T07:33:00.000+09:00

I need to put this somewhere in my house - - - maybe in the stairwell. I found it online at the Hampton Bay website: http://www.hamptonbayinfo.com/Product.aspx?pid=a909b95c-06a3-4adb-8d7e-873c9aac01d7&cid=1051488 There is a 3-light version, too, along with pendants and ceiling globe things, but this one is the best. It would go nicely with stainless steel, brushed nickel, grey things, gold things, slate tile, all very nice things. But it will mean I need to take down the old fixture. What do you think? Will this one look better?

You can get a glimpse of the kitchen in this picture, but it is just a glimpse. I will show you more of this next time i log in. It requires a fresh attitude to do it justice.

Can This Deck Be Saved?

2007-09-12T05:37:00.000+09:00

The power washer is doing something amazing to that crappy-looking old deck! All I can say is Wow! It is going to look fantastic when it is stained/sealed. Also, I started moving some of my outdoor plants to the house, and they look beautiful against the newly clean wood.

Starting to Move In

2007-09-10T10:56:00.000+09:00

Omigod, we go so much done today. My sister kicks so much moving ass. And my mom unpacked and organized the kitchen. it is so a may zing. all the artwork, all the kitchenshit, all kinds o' miscellaneous crapola is all moved in and unpacked IN ONE DAY. If you, American Home Owner, wish you could move quickly, you wish you had my sister as YOUR sister. And my mom as your mom. Other than the furniture, we have already moved, in one day, with a bunch of boxes and tubs. I love these people. And - my husband. who has no interest in home ownership, bought an electric powerwasher, burned it out, and returned it and graduated a gas-powered powerwasher all in one day. I can't wait to post the before and after pictures!!!!

Help Is On The Way

2007-09-08T03:45:00.000+09:00

I had a stroke of genius - - - - we need to bust a move and get our stuff packed and into the new house. It is down to making a decision about hiring people to help pack or we will never get there. Then I realized I should buy my mom and sister airline tickets to fly here and help me instead. It is probably even cheaper than hiring help because I got such a good deal on last-minute fares, and these two are workhorses. When I had a garage sale before moving to Blacksburg, they drove down to help me set it up and do the sale. My sister should win the Garage Saleswoman of the Year Award for Excellence. We took in over $1,100.00 in US Dollars from that sale and it was all because of the way she was passing out bags and encouraging people to go ahead and buy stuff. And 90% of it was little crap we sold for $5 or less.

They will be here tomorrow afternoon, and then we will plow into it. Movers will move the big stuff on the following Saturday and then we let the dust settle. Can't wait to walk out onto that deck with my morning coffee!

Colors

2007-09-07T22:29:00.000+09:00

I found this gorgeous rug at Bed, Bath & Beyond and fell in love with the color palette. They also have dupione drapery panels in a color they call "platinum" that looks stunning with this rug. The living room, dining area, and kitchen of my house are all one big slightly-shallow-L-shaped room, so it makes sense to have a unified color scheme throughout this area. This open floor plan is yet another reason why I wanted this house. A room like this was way ahead of its time in 1978. I don't think there was even a name for it, such that it is. Who came up with "great room", anyway? What a clumsy phrase for such flowing space. Another word in the same category is "grunt". But my "great room" is not exactly flowing right now the way it should. Stagnant would be a better description. Here is a picture of the living room end of the room. The best I can say about it is that it is a blank canvas. And, okay, the two walls on either side of this view are floor to ceiling windows. There are some truly heinous aspects of the room (skillfully not shown in this picture), but i will save those for another session. Today is about color choices. The direction I was headed was the path of black, platinum, grey, and beige, and I was also stoked about the square/rectangular geometry of the rug, too. Lots of design fodder here.

But then we were at some friends' new house, and saw the color that was on their walls and I knew I had to have it. It was a warm gold that did not drift too near orange or yellow. I think Golden Camel would be a decent name for it. And Friend 1 said it was similar to a Behr paint color called "Gobi Desert". I am pretty sure they have camels in the Gobi Desert, so this all makes evolutionary sense. Camels could blend in very nicely there. I was thinking kitchen walls for this one. This was actually the subject of much debate and required numerous trips to Home Depot to get paint chips and more paint chips. We actually settled on Pebble Path rather than Gobi Desert, mostly because Pebble Path looked more like the color I remembered from being at their house the day before. Then we picked out a nice gray called Granite Boulder. I was looking for a beige as my third color for the living area, when Dr. I-Won't-Do-Any-Renovation-Work found the Ralph Lauren texture and metallic paints. After much debate, we bought a gold metallic paint for the dining area.

But when we got them to the house, we had another round of debate, and decided that Granite Boulder would be best as the background for the new kitchen cabinets we are going to put in, and Pebble Path would be better in the living area. Wen we started putting Pebble Path on the LR walls, it was one of those sweet and juicy moments of epiphany. I can't even express how perfect it looks, and the pictures just don't do the color justice. Also I am a convert on the gold metallic in the DR area. My only gripe is that it isn't a big contrast with the LR (but maybe that is okay). And to top it all off, Granite Boulder is perfect for the kitchen walls. Perfect. So that paint is now up, and i will deal with the baseboards and window frames next week. The rest of this week will be devoted to tile, getting the washer and dryer in, and starting to move small stuff. Our apartment is only a few blocks away, so we will move a lot of little stuff over the next week.

Why?

2007-09-07T16:55:00.000+09:00

You might be wondering why someone (me) might want to bother buying a house and gutting it. If I don't like anything in the house, why not buy a house I like? The answer is that this place is situated on a kickass lot. The trees - hickory, oak, maples, elms, buckeyes, evergreens -are so tall it makes you dizzy looking up at the tops of them. The gardens are full of shade-loving plants: hostas, ferns, rhododendrons, azaleas. I can't wait to see what comes up in the spring. There is hardly any grass to mow; just beds and beds of perennials surrounded by a big thick hedge that looks like hemlock. Here is a picture of my new back yard: Sitting outside on the deck is so relaxing it is like being off in some remote vacation spot.

Can't wait to get my bird feeders set up and see who comes to visit.

Back On the Inside

The other reason I wanted this house is that it is very well-built and sturdy. The construction seems to have been above average, especially for that era when cost-cutting and use of cheap materials began to be wide-spread. The windows are all custom made, and every room has huge windows facing out into the back yard. It is built into a slope and the rear windows are facing the south, so it is very energy-efficient, despite the ginormous windows. Here is an example:

This much window space or more

is in every single room,

and every room looks out at this view.

I knew I wanted this house the first time

I went inside. It just took a while to get my

husband to agree. He has really good taste when

it comes to decor and style, picking out colors, etc., but

he has absolutely no interest in being Mr. Fix-It,

doesn't want any power tools, and has never ever

puttered about in the garage a day in his life. He spends all his time working. He (we) founded a biotech start-up about 9 years ago, and it consumes the major portion of every day. To paraphrase Leonard Cohen, he's just paying his rent everyday in the Tower of Science. I am a molecular biologist, too - in fact, we met in graduate school - but I have broken free of my chains and no longer do research. So I am the one who has time, not mention interest, in this Big Project. Consequently, he agreed to buy the house if I would do so with no expectation that he is going to do any of the renovation work. If I can't do it, I will find someone who can. He is willing to pay for the work as long as it fits into the budget. Heheheheh. So we bought it.

Let the demolition begin!

Baby Steps

2007-09-07T03:23:00.000+09:00

Before we move in there are some things that have to be renovated first. Primary among these is the laundry room. . . . . . not moving in without a washer and dryer. . . . . not gonna put a new washer and dryer on that nastynastynasty ripped-up 30-years-old linoleum. So that was ripped out and the floor was cleaned up. Well, cleaned up enough. It was kinda damp and yucky underneath the linoleum along the exterior wall, where there was a crack in the concrete, so I figured that is where the moisture is coming up out of the ground and keeping the yucky linoleum damp. Sounded simple - just patch the crack and lay the tile.

I know you wish you could have this linoleum I ripped out.
I am so sorry that this picture does not do the colors justice.

It is truly putrid.

But anyone who has worked on an old house (and this one is not even very old) knows that no job is ever as simple as it appears it will be. When i came back the day after cleaning up the floor with the adhesive-removing solvent stuff, I see this ominous wet spot around the floor drain. Great. So I take the drain cover off and . . . . . . .aack, whuthuf*#k???? This is supposed to be a drain, as in emergency washer-overflow drain so the damned basement doesn't flood, right? Thank God for the home warranty. So a repair guy came, uncapped it and cleaned out the drain. And between the two of us, we soon came to realize that there is a reason it is capped. When a "lot" of water goes down the washer or utility sink drain, you can see that the water in this floor drain rises. Oh, shit. Repair Dude says it is a lousy design flaw - the drain should have been out in the middle of the room instead of so close to the other drains. That would have given it a little more pipe length, and the sudden influx of water drainage would have more space to accomodate the waste water. I can see that this may end up being a problem when we get our washer running. Will deal with that later. For now, I just need to get this resolved and get the floor tiled.

When i go back that night to start tiling there is a pool of water coming out from under the wall!!!! What in the Hell!!!! Finally I realize that Repair Dude did not turn off the cold water faucet when he flushed the drain, and it has been dripping and now the drywall under the washer water faucets is now saturated with water. What Next?

I let it all dry.

Painted the room.

Laid the tile.

Grouted it.

It looks fabulous.

Things are better.

I decide I should tile a backsplash around the utility tub.

So, I pull off the ugly woodwork around the little recessed area where the washer water faucets are, and here is What Next: The drywall has absolutely rotted away. This dripping thing has obviously been occuring now and then for a long time, and the wall has rotted away. So I will now allow that Repair Dude didn't cause the damage, just hung the sign out and made me see it. And, really, this is just one more reason why this area should be tiled. That way it will be sealed and this shouldn't happen again.

When I chip a bit of the wet drywall away, I can see that it is - Bonus! - all mildewy and moldy behind there, too! When my husband decides to check it out, he starts excavating and the next thing i know, the hole is freakin' huge.

This was not in my plan. And I am not a carpenter. And, I have not yet told you one of the soul-selling promises I made when he agreed to buy the house, which was that I would not ask him to do Anything when it comes to renovations. More on that later. Curent problem is that i need this fixed. Now. Washer and dryer will be delivered in 6 days, and tiling takes a minimum of 3 days. I wanted to have it done so they could be installed and not need to be moved to do this kind of stuff.

The next day we went to a Labor Day cook-out at some friends' new house (which is completely finished and looks fabulous, not to mention the wall color is positively inspirational) and am crying in my beer about needing to get the wall back together. My new best friend says he will come over and fix it (I did offer to tile a bathroom for him at his new condo), and 2 days later he and my other new best friend who is a DRYWALL CONTRACTOR! show up and fix it!! Halleluia! Check this out:

It grew a bit, but that was so these two studly dudes could nail it to the next stud. So tonight i put another coat of the joint compound on it, and tomorrow I should be able to paint/tile it. Yeah, I might not get the grout on it before the washer and dryer are delivered, but i can deal with it. Baby steps.

launch

2007-09-06T21:12:00.000+09:00

Photo albums are over and you can't pay me enough to "scrapbook" (as though "scrapbook" is a verb) so let the blogging commence - as though "blogging" is a verb, but never mind. The first rule of blogging is that there are no rules.

My blog is all about my new home renovation project. I have successfully persuaded my husband to agree that we should buy a house that is a relic of the Disco Era. It has those great bones that everyone seeks - just needs some updates, she said. heheheh.

But, really - this place was crying out for someone, anyone, to take on the charge of dragging it into the 21st century. It was custom-designed and built in 1978 by people who loved it exactly the way it was built AND NEVER CHANGED A THING. So it is time. This will be my record of choice for figuring out exactly what I do with it, along with the why and how, before and after, blood, sweat and tears included. Here is a picture of the front of the house. It doesn't look like much, but that is because the landscaping is so dense and overgrown that you can barely see the house. This place is all about the landscaping and trees. Huge trees, naturalized plantings. Almost heaven. I am going to love it here. The house is incidental compared to the lot, but I am going to love the renovation process. It is going to be huge, so I will show you the plans bit by bit on the old Need-to-Know basis. And pretend it is all under control.