Our Nesting Ground

Monday, July 18, 2011

Final Floor

The floors are done!

There's going to be much box shuffling and furniture moving over the next several days...

Friday, July 15, 2011

The kitchen was the first room we unpacked when we moved in to our new house. Let's just say we like to eat, and our stomachs and wallet were getting tired of eating out. I think it was the breakfast sandwiches from Sonic on moving day that put us over the edge.

But before we could fill our new kitchen cabinets, we had a little prep work to do. We started by removing the shelf paper. In some areas there were three layers of paper. The bottom layer looked like it must have been put in in the 60s, when the house was built. After much peeling and scraping all the paper was removed and the cabinets were ready for new liner. We prefer the non-adhesive shelf liner because it's easy to remove if you want to clean it or switch it out. We use the solid-colored stuff because it's inexpensive and gets the job done, but there sure are some cute patterned papers available...

Fabric-topped for dresser drawers and closets (from Container Store)

Scented (also from Container Store)

And if your looking for prints, chicshelfpaper.com has a wide selection:

Flower Burst

Eco Leaves

Windblown Whispers

So pretty.

Aside from being a little dated, the cabinetry in our kitchen is solid wood and in very good condition. (We have plans to redo the kitchen soon, with new counter tops and a new look for the cabinet fronts...we'll share those plans with you soon.) While we didn't splurge on shelf paper, we did put up the cash for something a little more practical- cabinet organizers.

Do you see that little bit of green poking out from the frying pans in the photo above? Those are "pot protectors" that I sewed to keep the pots from getting scratched when they're stacked.

I can't stand having to pull everything out of the cabinet to get to the one thing I need in the back, and that's why I love these. Such an easy solution to such a common problem.

Let me switch gears for just a second and say that our MO for this house remodel is a bit different than the last. Since we're only planning to stay in this house for 4 to 6 years, while Zach is in school, we're choosing materials and finishes that will give us the most bang for our buck, especially when it comes to the resale value of the house. Of course we want to enjoy the house while we're in it, but at the same time, all our decisions have been driven by the question, "What's the cheapest, most practical option for us?" If we're going to put it in the house, it must be affordable and relatively durable.

So when pricing cabinet organizers, we we're excited to find this IKEA option starting at $16.

RATIONELL wire basket

Measurements in hand, we went to IKEA to purchase them. It's wasn't until we saw them on display that Zach pointed out one fatal flaw, they were side mount.We have a galley style kitchen and all the cabinets open up to one another, with no cabinet sides in between. Even though the IKEA organizers didn't work for us, we think they're still a good option for those with cabinets that can accommodate them.

The next stop we made was Container Store, to check out their Elfa easy glider.

It mounted to the bottom of the cabinet, so that was one problem solved, and starting at $25, the price was still reasonable. Unfortunately we needed 12" and 15" widths, and all that was available were 9" and 13" widths. We could have made them work but would have lost several inches of storage space in each cabinet. We were about ready to call it a day when we came across these chrome roll out drawers.

They were perfect in every way, bottom-mount, and just the right widths, but they came with a bit of sticker shock. We compromised and ended up going home with 4 drawers, instead of the 7 we had originally planned to buy. We were also able to use Zach's educator discount to get 15% off. And although we bent the "affordable" part of our "affordable and durable" rule a bit, we figure that we can always take these with us when we move.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Mop

In case you're wondering how we mopped the concrete subfloor, because admit it, that's the kind of stuff that keeps you up at night, it wasn't with a regular sponge mop. That would get torn up pretty quickly.

Instead, I used a string mop, along with one of these...

Look, it even matches the walls! It's like being inside a banana peel.

And yes, I am a neat freak, but no, I do not own a commercial grade mop bucket. It's actually on loan from my mom, who purchased it years ago when she redid all of her flooring.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Removing Carpet

Before we could put down our new flooring, we had to remove the carpet. This requires a bit of hard work, but is simple to do. Here are a few quick tips on the process:

A dust mask, gloves, and knee pads are a must! You will also need a large pry bar, putty knife, and carpet knife.

You will need to pull the carpet free from the tack strip. It's easiest to start at a threshold or corner of the room.
You may be tempted to pull out all the carpet at once, but don't. Carpet is heavy! Using a carpet knife, cut the carpet into 4 to 5 foot sections before rolling. This also helps come trash day, because some collecters won't pick up large rolls of carpet. (Bulk trash day couldn't come soon enough for us. Old carpet on your front porch for weeks on end isn't exactly classy.)
Once you've got the carpet out of the room you will need to remove the carpet pad. If you're lucky, the installers were light on the glue, and it will come up pretty easily. Use a metal putty knife to scrape up any remaining bits of glue or padding.
The most tedious part is removing the tack strip. Make sure you wear safety glasses for this step, unless you want to end up looking like this. Using a pry bar, pry up the tack strip. Sometimes it will come up clean, taking the nails with it. Other times the wood will break free from the nails and you will need to remove the nail from the subfloor using your pry bar. If the nail head breaks off and the rest of the nail remains in the subfloor, you may need to hammer it down until it is flush with the floor. (There may be some sparks when the hammer hits the nail, so make sure you keep those safety glasses on!)

Clean up all the debris. I swept up the big stuff with a broom then went back and vaccuumed with a shop-vac. I also mopped the area with bleach water to pick up any remaining dust and to disinfect the floor.

We removed the carpet in the formal living/dining and in all three bedrooms, which comes out to a little over 900 square feet. For our new flooring, we went with an inexpensive wood laminate in a dark finish.

We expect to reach nirvana once all the flooring is in. Two rooms down, two more to go...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Corridor expansion

The doorway is finished! Isn't it pretty? We ended up widening it by 17 inches as well as raising it a few inches. Now we have full access to the freezer and pantry. (Before, both the freezer and pantry doors bumped into the doorway and couldn't be fully opened.)

Before

After

You can catch a sneak peak of our new flooring in the photo above...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Tearing down walls

Zach and I decided to jump right in and tackle two of the biggest projects we have planned: replace all the carpet with wood laminate, and tear down part of the wall connecting the kitchen to the dining room, to make the opening bigger and better accomodate our side-by-side fridge.

I ripped up all of the carpeting and tack strip in the formal living/dining yesterday, while Zach got to work on the kitchen wall. Before, it was a standard sized doorway with a pocket door.

You can see in the picture below how the freezer door opens up into the wall.

Zach, looking somewhat deranged, and demonstrating his new reciprocating saw, which we bought on Craigslist for 15 bucks!

So far Zach has removed the pocket door and trim and widened the doorway by several inches. Once the doorway is trimmed out, we'll be able to start laying the flooring.