Kitchen Renovation

We decided when we bought the house that one one the main renovations would be the kitchen. After our basement renovation we began to work on the kitchen. This renovation was a bit lower budget than the basement. We removed a few doors and put some lights as well as a re-paint. I decided since to do a bit more creative format for this post. Since the A-Team was removed from Netflix I chose to make an A-Team building montage that the show is famous for. Enjoy!                                                                 

Drywall Part 2

The last post I did, about drywalling our homes gym, I left the project in a cliff hanger.  In this post I will show the final steps.  After the drywall and painting was done, we selected the flooring. In our previous house we had a small mat of foam pads in our basement so our workouts did not have to be completed on the cement. We decided to reuse the mats for our new workout room.

 Once that was done we installed some basic baseboard to give the finished look to the room. Even after we put in the baseboard the room looked empty and "sad" if a room can be sad. So we found a plan for a shelf online. 

I used this shelf design for inspiration for my shelf:

Vintage Revival

We bought the lumber and I cut it to size outside.  Then I took it inside to the work room to piece it together.

After that was done I put in a bolt on the front of the shelve to give it a more contemporary look.

When that was done I attached it to the wall. Then I attached the top 3/4 plank that would make up the top of the shelve. Then to finish off the entire project I used a golden stain to accompany the whole look of the shelve.

Once the stain was dried we added a pull-up bar and the workout room was done.

Before

After

Garbage Bin

I thought it would be nice to work outside and do a smaller separate project outside the house.  I always thought that the garbage bins the town provided were quite ugly and never suited any house. I found a spot beside the house to put it that would look out of the way but would still make easily accessible. After that I cleared out the grass and made it level with the excess dirt.

After that  I started up the chop saw, cut up some treated lumber and stapled the floor frame together.  I decided not to use nails but screws. I got some 3/4 inch plywood and cut it size with the skill saw and screwed it on.

After that was done I ripped down some 2 by 4s to make the frame. Then I screwed together 3 walls out of 2 by 2s.

By that time I the day was done so I packed everything up. The next morning I screwed together the frame. To give it siding I stapled on tongue and groove hardwood to the frame and put on a front door and top door.

Final Product

Drywall

We have a few storage rooms in the house, so we decided to clear one out and renovate it to make a small gym.  When we got it there was one piece of drywall stapled to the wall and cement floors. 

As a first step we started to drywall the place.

First we sound proofed the walls with some sound proof insulation.  

After we were done that we put on a vapor barrier.

 

Then when that was done we began to drywall.

 Once that was done we mud and taped the whole room. Since this was not a major room, we only mud the room 3 times. If you are dry walling a room like a bedroom or a living room it is necessary to mud around 5 times.Once this was done we painted it a grey color.

I have decided since this project was a rather long one to divide it into two parts. 

The next blog post I do will be on flooring, baseboards and one other installment I made. 

I will also have a picture of the finished project.

Image Transfer

I decided today to do a blog about smaller project that I worked on.

We bought some storage crates for a piece of furniture downstairs.  We wanted to print some lettering on them. We found a way to transfer the stuff we printed off directly on to a piece of wood. 

 To begin, we gathered together wax paper, printer paper, spray adhesive, spoon and wet cloth. 

You only need the first three to make the transfer paper.

To make the transfer paper you have to glue the wax paper to to the printer paper with the spray adhesive.

After this is done you can print the image you want directly on to the wax paper with your computer printer. Be sure to print your image in reverse so when transferring it, it comes out the right way!!

After that is done you can wet the area you are transferring the image to with a wet cloth. Then, you place the paper ink side down on the area you want the image and smooth it out with a spoon. 

 After you do this it should be done. 

I found this how to on a great website called UnexpectedElelegance.

 Click the link to find some great DIY'S.

Intstalling A Shower

 The down stairs bathroom only included a bath tub, no shower. The tub itself was a nice claw foot tub. We decided rather than redo the entire tub we could fit it with a shower head. We bought a shower kit from amazon. 

(A little trivia for you: Amazon sold 426 items a second in the lead up to Christmas.) 

To begin installing the kit we had bought, we had to turn of the water and cut off the PVC tub overflow drain with a sawzall.

We then took out the existing water taps and installed a new one that was compatible with the shower kit.

We then ran the water line up from the taps to the shower head.

 The shower kit included an oval curtain rod so we added that on as well. We made it stable with hangers attached to the roof and walls.

After this was done we attached the shower head and curtain for the finished product.

Flooring

After we tore out the carpet from the basement and bedrooms, we began to lay the flooring of choice, fir to match the other bedrooms. To lay the flooring you need a flooring gun. You can buy a high end one if you plan to do flooring frequently. We just bought an inexpensive one since we only plan to do it this once.  

You will also need a chop saw to cut the flooring to size.  Once you get the hang of it goes in rather quickly. We rented an orbital sander at this point and gave the floor a good sanding to smooth it out and prepare it for staining.

 

 If you are using unfinished hardwood, like us, you will need to stain it.

 We used a squeegee brush to apply the stain.

After you stain it you will want to put a protective coat on it to preserve it.