Let's Talk Remodeling

[dg39]

We started remodeling the house 2 yrs. ago. It never ends. We started redoing the yard. We put in an i/g pool, pavers, fence, poolhouse. Then we resided the outside of the house. Then last april we finished an entire redo of the kitchen. Broke down walls, ceilings, etc. Put in new counters, appliances, floors, walls, ceilings. Without a kitchen for 3 looong months.

Right after that we redid our basement. Again put in new walls, ceilings, floors and added a full bath.

Now we're almost finished redong our 2 bathrooms on the main floor. New everything again. We have the frameless shower doors on order and they should be in any day now. That was the real killer with the price. The other bathroom we're putting in regular shower doors, because that bathroom is off our bedroom and no one uses it but me, so I went cheaper with that.

The bathroom in the basement is very large,so the shower doors there have to wait, they want close to 4,000. for the frameless doors. We have a bench type seat in that bathroom and it interferes with any type of shower door frame, so that has to be custom made and right now its too expensive for us to do, so we're waiting for that.

I'm hoping we'll be finished with remodeling soon, but, my dh wants the driveway done with pavers, and my walk way needs to be redone also.

He also THINKS we're redong our 3 season room soon, but, he has another thing coming to him because IT'S NOT GETTING RE-DONE.

He must have a money tree buried in the yard that I don't know about.....

 

[Disney Doll]

We just finished our main floor bathroom. That took about a year because we were doing it ourselves, and it kind of ground to a halt when we got to the taping sheetrock part because DH doesn't like to do that. Thank God one night we had a painter buddy over who offered to do it, and then DH wanted to have a picnic here for his work colleagues, so I was able to give him the old "no bathroom downstairs, no picnic" ultimatum. We have a master bath upstairs, so we were not without a bathroom during the renovation period, but I didn't want all his work colleagues schleppig up there in the bedroom area and so forth. Other than the shower door, the bathroom's finished.

Now we have started the kitchen. Not a total renovation...we're keeping our beautiful golden oak cabinets. But we need a new stove and dishwasher. The dishwasher change will require removal of the 1970 formica countertop to gett he dishwahser out, so we will be getting a new granite counter and a new sink and faucets with the dishwasher. The new stove requires moving an upper & lower cabinet because it is wider than the old stove, so that is what DH & his contractor buddy are working on now. We will need to redo the soffet because we have to remove a cabinet that was above the stove to be able to install the exhaust hood. Right now, the soffet is down so I can see all the electrical wires inside of it and there is some sort of silver duct stuff laying all over my kitchen counters. The stuff form the 2 cabinets that are beiing moved is in boxes on the dining room table. It's really a very attractive,s tylish look overall.

 

[Galahad]

We're doing a BIG remodel right now. We are adding a 4 seasons solarium (With a hot tub room), a small "bump-out" solarium to the old breakfast nook, redoing the whole kitchen (including moving walls) AND replacing all of the flooring on the main level of the house (living room, dining room, kitchen, great room, etc. It's a mess! We've had no kitchen for 2 months so far. The additional rooms (adding over 600 sq feet) mean we had to pull more power from the power company (Al Gore would hate us I suppose). Yesterday I got home and there were 6 trucks at the house from all of the contractors. It would have been easier to build a new house.

 

[mickeyboat]

We moved out and renovated 2 1/2 years ago. It sucked! But it was really the only way we could do it since we tore the roof off, went up a story, added some rooms, gutted all the walls, installed new plumbing, electric and furnace.

I was so happy to move back in!

I thought I would really enjoy re-decorating, but I hate it, and it still isn't finished. I am not sure it will ever be done.

We still have some work to do. There is a little siding that needs to be put back on, the kids need bedroom doors, DH is building a pantry, and some painting and staining need to be done. We also need to build steps for the patio and porch.

But I love having everything clean and new!

Good luck to everyone!

Denae

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Now we have started the kitchen. Not a total renovation...we're keeping our beautiful golden oak cabinets. But we need a new stove and dishwasher. The dishwasher change will require removal of the 1970 formica countertop to gett he dishwahser out, so we will be getting a new granite counter and a new sink and faucets with the dishwasher. The new stove requires moving an upper & lower cabinet because it is wider than the old stove, so that is what DH & his contractor buddy are working on now. We will need to redo the soffet because we have to remove a cabinet that was above the stove to be able to install the exhaust hood. Right now, the soffet is down so I can see all the electrical wires inside of it and there is some sort of silver duct stuff laying all over my kitchen counters. The stuff form the 2 cabinets that are beiing moved is in boxes on the dining room table. It's really a very attractive,s tylish look overall.

That sounds about as extensive as our kitchen remodel. We had one wall of new cabinets made to match our existing wall. I refinished the cabinets, and got all new appliances and granite counters.

That was only miserable for about two weeks. The time period that I had just the cabinets there, with no decking on them. I can't begin to tell you how many times I set a glass on the "counters", to have it drop all the way to the bottom of the cabinets.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I just had an estimate done to convert our gold shower enclosure to brushed nickle. We currently have rain glass. To just change the metal and use the rain glass was about $750. To replace the whole thing to brushed nickle, clear glass, european handle was $900. Go figure. I didn't know the metal cost so much or perhaps thats the "if you really want to do this" price. I didn't ask about frameless, I should have though.

Oh yeah... my price didn't include showerguard ($300), or any type of textured glass ($600).

I love the idea of textured glass, but one of the biggest items in my budget, is the mosaic tile on the shower walls. I would rather not have it obscured by the glass, YKWIM? I also don't want it too busy in there.

I'll try to scan the newspaper clipping of the bathroom I'm shooting for. I'm not sure how good it'll come out.

Oh, and BTW, my cabinet guy looked at my vanity in the hall bath and dead-on guessed what I paid for it. He said he could have made it easily. You might want to look into that. I can always send you more detailed, close-up photos of it if you want to give it a try.

Problem is, if we change to clear glass, my shower is not tiled. Its not a surround, but some sort of solid surface material. If you've ever been to OKW, it reminds me of the shower in the one bedroom. And its white. Very functional, easy as pie to maintain, but unfortunately not very stylish by todays standards. With clear glass, it won't look upgraded. So that means pulling down the walls and starting all over. Problem with that, is the whirlpool tub is made of the same material, and I have no clue what to do with this.

Can you post a picture of it on here? I'm kind of confused as to what you're talking about. It sounds like you have a cultured marble surround, maybe?

 

[PlutoLuvr]

First, to the OP, I love the pick of your doggie in your sig! We have yellow labs, close cousins to goldens, but I could never, ever get my babies to sit for a pic with goldfish on their noses!

Back to topic:

We just finished a three-room remodel, kitchen, dining room and den/family room. We started January 2nd. I still have two boxes of kitchen stuff to clean and find a home for. The dining room still has to be put back together completely, as does the den.

While I love having my new kitchen, I don't think I'd pick that time of year to ever do it again. Christmas was a hectic mess for us. As soon as Christmas dinner was finished, we had to start packing up all our stuff. We had no time to enjoy and relax the week between Christmas and New Year's. We still haven't really played with any of our gifts.

Our home was built in '52 in an older section of NE Florida, and we bought it from the original owners. They took extremely good care of the home, but the colors, cabinets and layout of rooms were very outdated. I really wanted to keep some of the '50s charm of the home with any remodeling projects. Our wood casings, for instance, around doorways are truly priceless. Also, '50s homes in NE Florida don't have big, spacious floor plans. It's a bunch of little rooms. I wanted to keep that. So it saved some $$$ not having to tear down walls -- although we did tear down one wall, but we filled in another, so I guess it's a wash.

I love my new kitchen. We did black and white checkerboard tile. Our contractor surprised us with a mosaic tile Mickey head in our pantry. It's beautiful! I almost cried when I saw it. The cabinets were from Timberlake, and we did a few upgrades (dove-tail drawers, coffee glaze).

We didn't opt for any of the "newer" countertops. We went with a high-end Formica -- Microdot (perfect for that '50s look) in a sage green with bevelled edges. For one thing, I couldn't find a color that I liked with stone/Corian countertops. Everything was beige, black -- very contemporary colors. I wanted to step into my kitchen and feel like I was in an upgraded Mel's Diner. With Formica, every color in the rainbow was available. Not to mention cost! Zodiac would have cost us $4,500 in colors I didn't love. Formica with every upgrade in a perfect color for our theme cost us $613 installed. I'm very picky about my appliances, so we spent the "big bucks" on appliances instead of countertop. We plan on staying here awhile, so we just went with what we absolutely desired.

Our paint color is lavender. Everything we could, we did stainless. We had a bar installed in the kitchen with our countertop, and I found these awesome '50s barstools -- black.

Anyway, I'm cooking again! Not in a microwave, either!!! Real cooking. The first thing I did was make a pot roast, gravy, roasted fingerling potatoes, steamed brocolli. I was happy to do dishes in a big kitchen sink instead of the tiny bathroom sink that we'd been using for eight weeks.

My only complaint so far about the kitchen is the black and white tile floor. It's really, really hard to keep clean. What normally wouldn't show up on white tile shows up on black and vice versa. I've been lucky in my life that I've always been able to either use a mop, broom or vacuum cleaner to clean floors. This is a floor I will actually have to clean with a rag on my hands and knees.

Oh, well ... live and learn!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

The scan actually came out better than I thought it would!

Our tub will be along a wall, with the shower butted up to the right of it and our cabinets will be along another wall, with the closet opposite of that.

This isn't the granite I want, but this is how I want my shower and the tub area to look.

I've been holding on to the picture for over a year now. That's how long we've procrastinated about this!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

First, to the OP, I love the pick of your doggie in your sig! We have yellow labs, close cousins to goldens, but I could never, ever get my babies to sit for a pic with goldfish on their noses!

Thanks!

I remember reading a post about a mickey-head mosaic! Do you have photos of your new kitchen?

I don't think you made the wrong decision at all, to go with formica (heck, I've some of that go almost as high in price as granite!) if you're going for a retro look!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

We moved out and renovated 2 1/2 years ago. It sucked! But it was really the only way we could do it since we tore the roof off, went up a story, added some rooms, gutted all the walls, installed new plumbing, electric and furnace.

I was so happy to move back in!

I thought I would really enjoy re-decorating, but I hate it, and it still isn't finished. I am not sure it will ever be done.

We still have some work to do. There is a little siding that needs to be put back on, the kids need bedroom doors, DH is building a pantry, and some painting and staining need to be done. We also need to build steps for the patio and porch.

But I love having everything clean and new!

Good luck to everyone!

Denae

You didn't remodel; you practically built a new house! Wow!

 

[mickeysgal]

The scan actually came out better than I thought it would!

Our tub will be along a wall, with the shower butted up to the right of it and our cabinets will be along another wall, with the closet opposite of that.

This isn't the granite I want, but this is how I want my shower and the tub area to look.

I've been holding on to the picture for over a year now. That's how long we've procrastinated about this!

Thats a beautiful picture. What is on the back shower wall, a mirror, or is it all mosaic?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

We're down to picking the flooring - a mix of carpet and cherry hardwood, tile, and the dreaded vanity for the bathroom. I think I have one picked out on Ebay - finally.

This is what I get for reading new post from the bottom, instead of the top!

Can you post a photo of it? I'd love to see what you found!

Already I'm looking ahead to our master bath since that is in serious need of updating. We found a granite we love, so we're pushing ahead on that project in tandem with the basement project. But you know how that goes, change the cabinets, have to change the floor. Change the floor, have to change the shower walls. And so on, and so on...

I should be bonkers by June.

We'll be bonkers together .

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Thats a beautiful picture. What is on the back shower wall, a mirror, or is it all mosaic?

It's sort of a confusing picture. Why they took it from that angle is beyond me.

The tub and shower are actually in the center of the room and there is a vanity with mirror on either side. So, what you're seeing is the mirror from the vanity that is to the side of the shower. That particular shower has three sides of glass.

I was going to do bead board on the side of the tub until I saw that. I just love the look of that tile. We went and looked at it, and it's pricey. There won't be a whole heck of a lot of it!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Here's my photobucket account of house stuff...

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/kctwins/house/

Oh, and shop Elfa only in January, when it's on sale! We paid about $800 for our entire closet!

Very pretty house!

$800 isn't too terribly bad (if you say it really, really fast!), but it's March!

 

[PlutoLuvr]

Thanks!

I remember reading a post about a mickey-head mosaic! Do you have photos of your new kitchen?

I don't think you made the wrong decision at all, to go with formica (heck, I've some of that go almost as high in price as granite!) if you're going for a retro look!

Yes, we have tons of pics. I need to read some stickies or something about how to post them. All I know how to do on this 'puter is type and hit "reply" LOL. Believe it or not, I still write checks to pay bills, too, because I've never been able to successfully create an online account to pay any of my bills.

What can we say? We're late-bloomers, I suppose

 

[mickeysgal]

Can you post a picture of it on here? I'm kind of confused as to what you're talking about. It sounds like you have a cultured marble surround, maybe?

Its definitely not a surround as each wall is it's own full length, separate piece. Its not marble nor fiberglass - its a corian-like material. Actually I love it as there are no grout lines to worry about and it cleans up like a dream. Unfortunately, it doesn't look "master bath" by today's standards. If I go through the hassle and cost of replacing the gold trimmed shower enclosure, its not going to look updated due to this solid surface non-tile stuff. Further, my jetted tub is made of this same seamless material. I'd have to tear out all of this too. Leaving it as is, and just replacing the floor and cabinets will make the room not look consistant. For resale, I think it will hurt us. I'm going to have to learn how to post pictures!

I know, in the end, we're probably going to have to pull the whole thing down and start from scratch. I just cringe at the cost and time involved.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Yes, we have tons of pics. I need to read some stickies or something about how to post them. All I know how to do on this 'puter is type and hit "reply" LOL. Believe it or not, I still write checks to pay bills, too, because I've never been able to successfully create an online account to pay any of my bills.

What can we say? We're late-bloomers, I suppose

Open up a Photobucket account.

It's free and it's so easy to use. All you have to do is click on the supplied link (it now copies it for you) for each picture, and paste it in your response by clicking ctrl + v at the same time.

 

[mickeysgal]

Can you post a photo of it? I'd love to see what you found!


We'll be bonkers together .

I'm not sure if this link will work. If anything, the item number is here so that you can look at it if you care to. This is what I'm leaning towards. Here its shown in antique cherry. I have found a company that will do it in black. I'm torn right now. We did shadowbox wainscotting in the bathroom and stairway and I think it needs something striking against it to offset it.

Click here: eBay: 37" BATHROOM VANITY SINK CABINET, FURNITURE, VANITIES (item 120094500522 end time Mar-06-07 22:04:18 PST)

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Its definitely not a surround as each wall is it's own full length, separate piece. Its not marble nor fiberglass - its a corian-like material. Actually I love it as there are no grout lines to worry about and it cleans up like a dream. Unfortunately, it doesn't look "master bath" by today's standards. If I go through the hassle and cost of replacing the gold trimmed shower enclosure, its not going to look updated due to this solid surface non-tile stuff. Further, my jetted tub is made of this same seamless material. I'd have to tear out all of this too. Leaving it as is, and just replacing the floor and cabinets will make the room not look consistant. For resale, I think it will hurt us. I'm going to have to learn how to post pictures!

I know, in the end, we're probably going to have to pull the whole thing down and start from scratch. I just cringe at the cost and time involved.

I hear ya.

I have a jetted tub that I don't use. The drop-in tub that I found was only $600 w/o jets. I have yet to hear from my stone lady, so I have no idea what we're looking at, as far as the shower enclosure and doing the new shower pan.

I'm moving it out by about twelve inches, so I pretty much have to start from scratch too. We're keeping the plumbing and the drains in the same spot, so that should save some money.

I bet the tile, granite (if we can use remnants) and shower pan come out to about $5k.

Here's a picture of my bathroom as it is now. It's huge, but you can't tell by this picture. The wall that doesn't show, is covered in lovely brass-framed sliding mirrors (those are going) and the countertop is so long that DH and I have to yell to each other.

And then I have this tee-niny closet and no linen closet! Sooo much wasted space.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I'm not sure if this link will work. If anything, the item number is here so that you can look at it if you care to. This is what I'm leaning towards. Here its shown in antique cherry. I have found a company that will do it in black. I'm torn right now. We did shadowbox wainscotting in the bathroom and stairway and I think it needs something striking against it to offset it.

Click here: eBay: 37" BATHROOM VANITY SINK CABINET, FURNITURE, VANITIES (item 120094500522 end time Mar-06-07 22:04:18 PST)

I love it! It would look great black, with another color underneath, so that it would show through on the scroll-work a little bit. Mine has a red underneath.

That price is awesome! I remember looking at that same company.