bathroom envy

I posted many moons ago about renovating my kitchen. Well, that project got put on the backburner for another year. In the meantime, I am comtemplating redoing my bathroom. It is much smaller, more doable on a DIY scale, and I can break it up into two or three phases to make it more affordable.

Step 1: Rip out the awful plastic/melamine/whatever shower surround and redo some plumbing work (courtesy of my awesome neighbor). Tile the walls in lieu of a new surround and reglaze the tub. I've seen reviews on Angie's List that this is relatively affordable and easier than a new tub.

Step 2: Repatch some of the drywall, install a new sink pedestal and repaint

Step 3: New tile floor, new lighting

I'm not sure of the order on replacing the sink and the tile floor. Tile first, then the sink on top? New sink and tile around?

One thing is for certain: I have bathroom envy of Freckle Chick's guest bath.
I am in love. Gray walls? Check. Gray tile? Check. Tile shower? Check. And it looks pretty simple on a DIY scale. I think she has another post on how easy it is to tile. I'm not one for complicated projects, but surely someone in my family or friends is slightly handy? Right? Ummm....yeah.I love her gray tile floors from The Great Indoors. Such an unusual size. I have no idea where to find anything even remotely similar in Indianapolis. I may have to venture to the Great North aka Castleton to check out some fancy pants tile places.

This is the only pic I could find of the bathroom and it's pre-mirror. But you can see the green, which features prominently in three rooms of my house. I'm kind of over it and want something new and fresh. I bought paint for the stairwell (finally! Only FIVE years!) although I immediately wished I had purchased something darker. I may use that in the dining room to repaint and then go with something a bit darker in the stairwell.

**Off topic, I logged in and somehow old Blogger dashboard was back hallelujah! And I also noticed that all four lightbulbs are on in the bathroom pic. I had forgotten how darn bright the bathroom is/was because they have been burned out for I don't know how many years...it's probably time for some new ones, eh?

blue and green equals art

I finally hung some pictures in my house. Only two years late! Story of my life.

The downstairs of my house is painted green, and I've been accenting it with blue- blue glass vases, blue pillows (to come), and artwork with touches of blue. I have a large, gorgeous photograph I bought at Penrod several years ago. It's of a bright blue door somewhere in Santorini- I love it, and I can't believe it's been hiding in my closet for two years. It's my first and only true "art" piece so far, and I even tried to find that door in Santorini when I went four years ago. Alas, I couldn't find it. I did, however, take many other "blue" photos in Greece (pretty easy to do; everything there is bright blue!) and I am going to accompany those with some other "art."

I took some square frames from the clearance section at Target- three bucks apiece last winter. I added some pages taken from a calendar we gave my Mom last year. It's a page-a-day type of beaches from around the world. I picked four of my favorites and hung three on a column in my dining room, and added another to an end table that was missing something in my living room.




(sorry the flash blew it out so much)

There are over a hundred photos left, and I didn't want to waste them! I took some photo coasters that had been sitting empty and unused, and cut up four other calendar pages for those. I didn't want a recognizable "beach scene," so I picked four aerial shots that had texture to them- they are all water, but it's hard to tell when a small section is used in a close-up.



Tomorrow I'm going to finish using some of the other calendar pages in more square frames. I love making art out of found pages like this...it's professional photography, but it didn't cost much, and I'm recycling the pages too, in a way.

How to refinish a floor, or at least how I blundered through it

Last week I refinished my 80-year old wood floors, and they were worth several days of work, and a week of staying at my parents.

This website was of invaluable help (recommended by my uncle), and I followed pretty much the same steps. It's best to put the varnish on during the day, or at least with plenty of bright light. Putting coats on in the dark is a recipe for disaster. I cannot stress this enough. Invest in a Mouse by Black & Decker hand sander. It's great for getting into all of the low spots and corners. We actually went out and bought a second one to speed things up!

Ingredients:
1. Varathane EZ four-head orbital sander, rented from Lowe's for $35/day (two day rental)
2. Four gallons of Varathane Oil-Based Satin Finish for floors (used liberally, discarded quite a bit at the end, really 3.5 gal)
3. Two palm sanders, two Mouse sanders, plenty of 60 grit sandpaper
4. 12 packs of 36-grit, 6 packs of 50-grit, 2 packs of 80-grit
5. Four lambswool applicators
6. Two dropcloths
7. One pack of 120-grit or 150-grit for scuff coats
8. 12 two-packs of tack cloths from Lowe's
9. Four varnish brushes
10. One large back of chocolate
11. Two parents, one sister, and two friends to help

We sanded for two days, starting with the 36-grit on the floor sander. We probably should have stripped off the old old varnish, but instead spent a day trying to sand it down. That included standing on the orbital sander (not safe!) to really cut into the finish. Once we got the finish off, it was smooth sailing. Again, the Mouse sanders were really the best tool to knock down the high spots and dig into the low spots.

We put on four coats, letting it dry at least 24 hours between coats. This is longer than necessary, but because of my day job, this was our only option. I do recommend giving it ample time to dry to prevent hazing or crackling. I stayed at my parents house while the varnish dried- since it was oil-based, the fumes were extremely strong. My throat tasted like burning for hours after each coat.

All in all, the process took over a week. Two full days of sanding, and then around two hours a day for four days to varnish, then three days to cure.

finally an after

One of my largest projects of the year is coming to a close, and not a day too soon. I have been wanting to put up my Christmas tree for over a week, but was unable to because I was waiting for my floor to dry. That's right, I finally refinished my downstairs floors.

The progression...
Before:


Post-Carpet:


Post two days of sanding:






After the first coat (will dry a satin finish):

before&after

This was before:


And now...finally...the after!

My neighbor gave me a dining room table (free!) and my mom lent me some chairs for the time being. The hardwoods aren't yet refinished, but it finally looks like a home!


Ready for fall too!


On top of the built-in cabinet, my international corner of souvenirs from trips abroad. Okay, two vases are really from Target but they were made in China!