Our Newest Project

Scooter and I like working on projects.  So far, we've refinished our kitchen cabinets, painted multiple bedrooms, remodeled a guest bathroom, rewired for new lighting fixtures, installed shelves and flooring in the storage room, tiled the t.v. room, remodeled the fireplace, hung drywall in the front room, installed recessed lighting all over the house, painted the family room, and done tons of yardwork and general sprucing-up.

Our latest project will have the most impact on our home.  When we first started working on it, Scooter was really into it and involved.  He was really excited!  After his initial contribution, however, the burden of the project has fallen on me.  I've been working so hard on it that it's literally been making me sick and exhausted.

Baby Plowman

Due October 1, 2011

We can't wait to show you the finished project!

 

Fireplace Remodel

This past summer we redid our fireplace. It was brick and we thought it was pretty outdated. We had already done some tiling projects and felt fairly confident that we could cover up the brick with slate. Note that I said "fairly confident"  - doing this stuff is scary sometimes. We decided that the worst that could happen would be that we'd have to pay someone to fix/finish the project (awful, but not inconceivable) so we jumped right in.

Here's the original fireplace. 

 First problem to tackle was this arch. The bricks stuck out about an inch -we needed a flat surface. How do you cut through brick? Well, we (translate: Scooter) used an angle grinder.

 The angle grinder worked pretty well, but the vibrations made some of the bricks fall out. Well, no backing out at this point since we've basically destroyed our fireplace so time to get creative.

 This is Skeeter, Scooter's little brother. He was visiting us and was a huge help for the first couple days of this project.

 Here's the creative bit. Using a combo of mortar, wood, screws and drywall, the boys evened out the fallen archway.

 Next step - decide which pieces of stone are the prettiest. We decided to use Chinese slate. It is gray with some reddish and purple swirls in it that reminded me of the red rocks back home in St. George. We spent a long time laying them out and deciding which pieces looked best next to each other.

 Then we used some really heavy-duty premixed mortar to hold those huge pieces of stone up. The large pieces probably weighed 15 pounds each.

 Like I mentioned - the big pieces had a tendency to slide down, so we had to prop them up until the mortar set. I was actually impressed with how little they slid considering their weight.

 A few days later we had installed all the big pieces.

 This is why I never put photos up of myself helping with these kind of projects. I'm always filthy. I had been using the wet tile saw to cut the stone and was covered in mud, water, and tiny flecks of slate. A vision of loveliness.

 We had to make sure to do all the angles including some pieces that were hanging upside down under the old arch.

 Then we started on the bench part. This was actually a lot harder than it looks because slate, unlike tile is not a uniform thickness. Some pieces were twice as thick as others. To make the surface level we had to adjust the amount of mortar under each piece individually, often pulling the pieces up after we placed them to add more mortar.

 We finished the top section.

 Now time for the front section. Again, the thickness of the stone was an annoyance.

 Finished. Notice the shims under each piece. Another tediously annoying detail.

When it was all dry a week or so later it was time to seal the slate. Slate always looks like it is covered by a dull layer of dust until it is sealed. The sealant penetrates the stone so that nothing that is spilled on it later will ever stain it. It also brings out the colors and makes it look gorgeous. See the difference?

Then I grouted it. I'm not going to post a picture of that part of the project - trust me, you don't want to see what I looked like during that. Choosing grout for this project was a nightmare. I actually grouted a large section and we hated the color. We hoped that as it dried the grout would lighten, but it didn't so we chiseled it out and I bought color number two. It was a keeper. 

We added some molding to cover the ugly mantel that looked like a white-painted log, and it was done.

It looks nice, but the wood paneling painted red looked like a barn and needed to go.

Since then we have done some other updates to the front room (drywall, tape, mud, paint, etc.) and we think the fireplace looks even better now that it isn't competing with the glaring red wall. We still need to finish decorating and putting up the bookcases, etc, but it is a huge improvement.

 

So to recap:

Before

After

 We love the new fireplace and think it really helps make the front room look more modern. The best part is how much money we saved. We got a few bids from professionals on this and they all told us between $1000-$2000. We spent just over $200! Updating our house while saving money is pretty much our version of bliss!

Husband of the Year

Meet the winner of the Husband of the Year!

Who is lucky enough to be married to this guy? Me!

Recently he did something so amazing that it really sealed the deal. (OK, it's not so recent anymore, but I half wrote the post months ago so I thought I should finish it.)

It is a really complicated story, but I've edited it slightly to make it shorter. If you don't want to read all of it, just scroll down for the pictures - you'll probably still figure out what happened.

A while ago Scooter's younger brother Skipper was coming into town for a medical school interview. We had been doing the regular pre-houseguest things that week: cleaning, grocery shopping, menu planning, making up the guest bed, and planning a full schedule of activities. On Friday Scooter picked me up from work and we headed to the airport to pick up Skipper.

As we were turning into the terminal Scooter asked me get a paper from the glove box which was a list that was headed "People Who Know." I was not only confused by the heading, but also by the people on the list. They seemed to be completely and utterly random with no connections. They included people from both of my jobs, some people from church, students and professors from the medical school, friends from other states and countries, and some people I didn't know. I was obviously puzzled, but I didn't have a chance to ask for an explanation because by the time I had finished reading it we had stopped at the curb and Skipper was waiting for us.

I hugged Skipper and as I did so it occurred to me that it was odd that he was wearing a hat because he was also wearing a suit, but stranger things have happened and I was given little time to dwell on it because I was trying to help get his bags into our car. The trunk was opened and I was confused to find suitcases already in there. Scooter also acted surprised and confused and then said "well, we better move these." He proceeded to remove them from the trunk and give them to a waiting skycap. When I started to protest he insisted that I better check the glove box again.

There was an envelope labeled "Top Secret." When I was told to open it I found a sheaf of papers. The top sheet was a flight itinerary. As I scanned it I did a double take on the dates. They were for that day. That's when I started shaking. He told me to check the next page. It was a cruise itinerary. We were going on a cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. I was utterly befuddled and incredulous. As realization hit me in waves I started feeling overwhelmed. So many little seemingly inconsequential things from the previous months started making sense. The "People Who Know List" started making sense. I started feeling kinda faint and since I don't have the best track record for fainting in the last few years (stories for another time) I decided I better sit down. By the time I sat on the bumper of the car the bags that Scooter had taken out of the car were checked and gone. I looked up at Skipper and realized that his hat said "Jamaica." Scooter had sent it to him and told him to wear it. So much planning had gone into this incredible surprise!

Even after the boys had tried to clarify what was happening I was still struggling to wrap my mind around it. We couldn't be leaving, I told myself. Skipper was staying with us that weekend. I had already worked out what we were going to do, where we were going to eat, etc. But even as my mind reeled, Scooter explained that we needed to hurry to security because our flight was starting to board really soon. Then my amazing husband whipped my purse that I travel with out, gave me my camera, a copy of "The Caribbean" by my favorite travel guide book brand, transferred me to a bench and told me to call my mom. He turned our car keys over to Skipper and showed him how to use the GPS (that we had conveniently and un-coincidentally recently purchased) to get to our house.

I called my mom and my sister Andrea answered her phone. As soon as I heard her voice I burst into tears, yelled "I'm going on a cruise!" and then confused her with the most garbled phone call in the history of our relationship. Poor Andrea had not been told about this in advance and was just as confused as I felt. I kept sobbing incoherent run-on sentences like "I read the list and was confused... (sob-sob)...and then Skipper was there...(sob)... and Scooter sent him his hat...(sob)... and then the bags were there...(sob-sob-sob)... and then they were gone...(laughing and sobbing)... and I opened the envelope...(more sobbing)... and we are leaving right now!...(really hard sobbing)..." While she tried to extract some sensible information out of me Scooter waved goodbye to Skipper and then we went inside.

Scooter had arranged the whole thing months ago. He had secretly requested work off at both of my jobs, found me a substitute for my Sunday School class, and arranged countless other things. He had completely packed for me. He had not forgotten a single thing - makeup, contacts and solution, sunglasses, a beach bag, nice dress and shoes, beach cover-ups, sports bra for working out, etc. I daresay that most men could not do this for their wives. I was honestly a little worried during the flight and until I had a chance to check what was in my bag.

In his excitement Scooter had checked the bags without giving me the outfit he had picked out for the flight, so I flew to Florida in my scrubs that I was still wearing from work.

He had arranged to stay the night with our friends Christopher and Kimberly who live near Miami. We hung out with them that night and the next day they drove us to the port. We boarded the cruise ship and we were off! During the next five days I kept looking at Scooter in amazement and saying, "I can't believe we are here! I can't believe you did this!" For the entire cruise Scooter kept thinking of details of the intricate planning process to tell me. I could have suspected so many times, but I never did. I think the secret to his success was to tell almost no one that we were actually doing it. He told my mom, but she didn't tell any of my sisters or even my dad. When we got back I had numerous voicemails from my poor sister, Rachelle, who was never told at all and was confused about why I wasn't calling her back.

 

Needless to say, it was a wonderful week and a most-deserved break for my hard-working husband of the year!

Completed Bathroom

We finished the hall bathroom remodel months ago but I haven't posted the results. I still don't feel like it is complete because the decor isn't exactly finished, but who knows how long it will take me to finish that and the basic remodel stuff is done so it is time to reveal it.

This weekend was the one year anniversary of owning our home, so in celebration I promised myself that I was going to post about some more of the remodels we have done.

To begin, here is the before and after. I wish we had taken more "before" pictures - oh well, lesson learned. To summarize the before: half carpet, half laminate, awful tile with nasty grout and caulking, lilac walls, dated cabinets, and nonexistent decor.

Here's the shower tile close up.

If you want to see how we got to this point you can read about it here and here and here.

The next step was grouting. Luckily it was easy to choose the color because we had seen a sample board at Home Depot (where we bought the tile). Scooter got me started, but then I did it all by myself - poor Scooter was so sad to leave and go up to his office to study. Doing house projects is sometimes a lot more fun than studying.

I was shocked at what a ridiculously huge mess this made. I guess it shouldn't have been such a surprise. First you fill the cracks then you sponge it off. Over and over and over and over...

Eventually it looks like it should. Then you have to let it dry, then buff the film off, then seal it. Last you have to caulk any cracks that there might be.

This was the tub after I had been cleaning it for a while. Gross huh? Don't worry though because it is sparkling clean now.

To recap the tile: Before and After

Next step - paint. We primed the bathroom and then spent hours debating what color to paint it. Turns out that picking a tan is more difficult than I thought. I didn't want anything that looked too peachy-pink. I also didn't want anything too dark because it is already a small bathroom. After buying and testing two or three samples we finally decided.

Then there were the cabinets to refinish. After doing the entertainment center this was really a piece of cake. All that was needed was some time.



At this point we really felt like we were done, but actually finishing took a long time and a lot of details. Painting and reinstalling the trim, reinstalling the toilet, trying to find towels and a shower curtain to match, etc.

We are really happy with the finished product. It isn't perfect, but it is a million times better than it used to be.




Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the mirror. Previously it was just attached to the wall with little clips. Scooter had the idea to make a frame for it. He designed and built this frame that we stained. I think it is creative and it turned out really nice. I like how you can see the color of the wall though the holes in it.




We are so glad we decided to tackle this project ourselves. It saved us a lot of money, it was fun (when we weren't pulling our hair out), we are really proud of it, and it gave us confidence to tackle lots of other projects. In fact we have done a lot more that I'll try to post about later this week. Actually, we had so many projects going at once that I had to put my foot down and insist that Scooter not destroy anything else in the house until we had finished all existing projects.

He has the destruction bug so bad that it has become dangerous to leave him home for too long without checking on him. He did really well until the other night I came home and one of our light fixtures was missing and the wires were just hanging from the ceiling. If I'm completely honest I have the remodel bug as well. Mine has manifested itself in the form of incessant painting and furniture rearranging. In fact, since beginning this post I have already stopped to rearrange my bedroom slightly. We have a fever and the only cure is more projects!