I want that! But I should get this.

When you buy a fixer upper like we did, you get to gut the home and make it something completely new. But here is the reality, everyone makes mistakes and you want to make sure you don't make any big ones when it comes to the finishing work. Because let's face it, you could select floors that are too soft for your lifestyle and look like the hardwoods at the Crystal in Athens in 10 years when you re-sell, or let's say you pick something "chic" at the time like my father's shiny white cabinets....very cool in the 90's....can look really cool in super modern homes today....but he hates them every day he walks into that kitchen. So in a nutshell the theme of this article is to take your time and choose wisely. I say this because I just returned laminates to lumber liquidators one day after purchase and I will explain why but thank goodness I did not install something I would hate later. Finishing work like flooring/trim is not an easy change like the paint color.

As we refinish this home we have to keep a few things in mind:

1. Budget
2. Buyer
3. Lifestyle

We figured out our budget by researching the homes sold recently in our development, sitting down with our Realtor Jennifer Burke (HIGHLY Recommend) and finding a price range she felt would be realistic. Once we reached a price for future resale she gave us examples of homes in the area that fall into that category. What I learned is to get in or around that resale price we would have to go all out with the bells and whistles. Hardwoods, granite counter tops, granite vanities, manicured lawn with patio and the list goes on. We have now figured out who our buyer will be one day and they like the good stuff, and the detail :) Sounds expensive and it can be but that is why we do things ourselves AND I will eventually post all the great places to get granite, cabinets, carpets etc. Basically you cut out the middle man and go straight to the factory but more on that in time.

Ok so we have our budget and future buyer now this is what I struggled with...lifestyle. You may like something in your idea book for example, custom stained (almost black) high gloss finish hardwoods. I know it sounds weird but they look so sharp to me...

Contemporary Living Room by Minneapolis Interior Designer Martha O'Hara Interiors

well the reality is a custom stain is a pain in the ass because you have to polyurethane ..I have seen it done before it smells, you have to make sure there is little to no dust in the air and with flooring you have to do multiple coats. High gloss finish is unforgiving when it comes to scuffs and dirt, I would be cleaning ALL the time...and future french bull dog would be no more as I would not want to risk claw marks on my floors. So for our lifestyle I need something that will be tough, and hide scuffs/scrapes, but I still want dark wood....SO I will get a rumba and there you have it COMPROMISE. My wants meet my needs. 

It seems simple to buy things that fit your lifestyle, but I ALWAYS seem to forget when it comes to anything in my life. I buy dry clean only when I know I won't be going to the dry cleaners, I buy glass furniture when I know it is a pain in the ass, I pick up a litter of foster kittens from the APL when I know my fat cat will probably eat them and the list goes on. With flooring take your time and know your options, choose wisely and remember your opinion is important but if you have a future buyer in mind try to pick options that would appeal to many people. 

Another quick example, we wanted tile in the kitchen as it it is a high traffic area and can withstand a lot longer than hardwoods. However while some people would love tile in the kitchen, most feel that hardwoods are "homier" and tile is cold. 

And to wrap up I will explain why I took the laminates back. As you will recall from previous posts we have a couple rooms on concrete slabs but the majority of the house has a plywood base. Well with concrete you can do laminates/solid engineered flooring and with the plywood you want to do the hardwoods. I picked up laminates thinking "It's just one room, who cares, it's like 800 bucks more to do the engineered and it's not a high traffic area" well 24 hours of anxiety turned into a credit at lumber and we are picking out engineered floors this weekend. We decided at the beginning we WILL NOT SKIMP ON THE FINISHING. And we will have to stick to it. Even the 1/2 bath in your home should get full effort :) And that is what we will do.

Laminates are awesome btw we installed them in the condo, but that is for a different buyer. 

Too many rooms, too many options.

I overthink things. A lot. So when I am given such a huge project I am not sure where to begin. In order to figure out my design theme I began an idea board online at houzz.com. I am a big fan, it is like pinterest for interior designers. You pick out your room, then style and just cruise away onto a sea of million dollar homes with no budget. Create an ideaboard for your house and save things you like so you can review. As I look through my ideaboard I find that I like traditional/contemporary....I am not sure how to mix the two unless that means I am eclectic... but whatever I may be I have a vision now for my home. I know now that I like dark hardwoods, clean white walls, stone porcelain tiles and the list goes on and on.

While we may not all have the budget for white marble bathrooms like some of the homes on this site (myself included) it is fun to feast your eyes on such beautifully decorated rooms and get an idea of the aesthetic you are going for.

Another great website is obviously pinterest.com. You can also buy magazines at Lowes for the particular part of the home you are planning to tackle but it can get a little pricey. I will probably get some magazines on deck/patio design when we begin that project in a year :)

Most of you may know about these sites but if you are not sure what to do with a room you don't need an interior designer (apologies to my friend bethany) just take a minute to get your thoughts together maybe find a starting piece like a neat rug, great curtains, piece of art and work from there. Relax this is the fun part. But remember when picking out flooring/trim etc to keep your resale price in mind and the buyer you will one day try to attract ;) more on this topic in my next post....

Pics from my Idea Book!

 

Contemporary Kitchen by Fort Lauderdale Architect tuthill architecture

Contemporary Living Room by Fort Lauderdale Architect tuthill architecture

Mediterranean Retainer Walls by Orlando Tile Stone And Countertop aZura Stoneworks

Traditional Kitchen by Minneapolis Kitchen And Bath Fixtures Steven Cabinets

Wallpaper. I Hate You.

As we move from room to room we seem to be encountering different wallpaper obstacles. Some wallpaper is thick and when you do a dry pull you see that it is tearing down drywall behind it. Exhibit A below



If you see this happening stop. Try working from the top, nice and slow with a spray bottle of warm water and fabric softener. If the problem persists have a dry wall specialist take a look, quotes are free, OR do what we did and make the decision to simply put new sheets over it. Stucco look is another option but it depends on the look you like and your future buyer.

Some of the walls were prepped before the application of the wallpaper making the job much more manageable. Today I will discuss the easy way to tear down wall paper.

Tools you will need:

1. Spray bottle

2. Putty knife or 5 in 1 tool.

3. You can use fabric softener on the thicker paper or non prepped walls as you are going to have a lot more adhesive to scrape off in the end.

Yep that is about it. Fill your spray bottle with warm water and begin. My drywall guy said to start at the top and work your way down. He also introduced me to the fun fact that steamers are not the best way to go. If you leave it on in one spot it can saturate the drywall too much. This is the best way in his opinion. I am going to post pics we did not start from the top we just went every which way. I find the easiest way to scrape is in an upward motion. When you spray on the warm water give it a couple minutes to soak and then go to town. 

that it my mom going to town on the wallpaper.

Prepping after wallpaper includes:

1. Scraping off any glue residue and good washing of the walls. We purchased DIF from Sherwin Williams. It was good but when you scrape like we did I am not sure it is completely necessary.

3. Putty

2. Applying two coats of multi purpose primer (screw oil based it sucks)

Wash. Putty, Prime. Paint. If your house consists of 80% wallpaper like ours does my heart goes out to you but you will love your room when you take the time.

The Devil Incarnate

Grass Wallpaper from the 80's....

This stuff can get nasty we started with a basement full of it...

Some panels came off quite easy while others took a lot of scraping. The end result is simply what you see in the first picture.. a big mess, and no matter how much you scrape and wash the wall will never be perfect. SO options include:

1. Prepping the hell out of it then doing a skim coat

2. Prepping enough that the grass is all off and doing a stucco finish

3. Putting new dry wall sheets up.

there may be other options but these were the 3 presented to me. We are not going to be doing stucco in my opinion it is not easy for re-sale so we are going to choose option 1 and see where is gets us.

Where is the leak?

So after a few days of working on the house I came in one night and opened a closet door only to find moisture at the base of the drywall. As I looked down at my feet I noticed that the carpet was saturated all the way into the room next door, we have dubbed this room the bonus room. Behind the closet one will find a wet bar, so naturally one would assume the leak was coming from there. Well you cannot know where a leak is coming from without seeing what you are working with behind the wall. After a few holes in the drywall, the disposal of the carpet in the bonus room (it had to go anyway) and the gutting of the entire wet bar we found out that leak was not there!

So you get the dehumidifier, you dry it out, and THEN you turn on the water again. Go figure we have water again however it is coming from under the concrete slab HURRAY! Please take note it is winter and we also wanted to see if the water was coming from the exterior wall as THEN it would be a drain spout issue etc. So we were presented with 3 options from our plumber Chuck: 

1. break up the concrete fix the leak. 

2. isolate the hot, and then the cold, to determine which one or if it is in fact both that are cracked and run new piping over the concrete and then put a raised floor in the room.

3. run new piping up thru the wet bar (that will now become a closet) thru the ceiling and into the bathroom next door as that is really the only place that needs it

We chose option 3. Breaking up concrete is a pain in the ass so avoid it if you can. And I do not like the idea of a raised floor...

If you have a leak it's usually not a big deal to fix just a pain in the butt to find sometimes. We fixed up our condo and had water running thru the ceiling and down the walls, I learned how to solder pipes and it's really not that hard at all. I will be running new piping in our laundry room so in time I will post a you tube to show everyone how we did it and what you are capable of doing without a plumber handy and when you probably should just call the plumber :)

One Month In

Let's begin with a little background on this particular home. It was built in the 80's and whoever put in the trim work or assisted in the building of the addition to the home should quit their day job. Everything used in this home from the siding, to interior trim, to the vanities is simply an abortion. Almost 90% of the walls are covered in wallpaper and when you rip it down you find that they just applied wallpaper to drywall. I am Italian so for my blood pressure I have made up an alternate world and in that world the previous home owners did not CHOOSE to put wallpaper on drywall, no in this world primer did not exist during the 80's and they just simply had no choice! So instead of cursing the name I found written under the carpet I pulled up the other day (this name has been verified as the original home owners confirmed by the neighbors) I will just assume that they did everything wrong in this home because they simply had no choice.

So with all phases of construction there is demolition, which we seem to be very good at. However, when you take something a part you must put it back together again, this is where things seem to slow down. I keep watching the DIY channel and hope that maybe I can miraculously flip a room in one weekend, or sometimes I put on "Men at Work" in hopes that an 80's montage will happen in our living room where everyone wears overalls and by the end of the song the room is complete. Alas this dream remains in its true form and I am faced with the reality that this will probably take us 5 years. So with that said I find sanctuary in this blog and at the ears of my friends and family to listen to my woes. 

Along with my bitching you will find answers to some construction questions as we go along this journey. We will cross the bridges of, proper ventilation in your roof, water leaks under concrete slabs, flashing properly, the love of trees and the nightmare of root systems from hell, and even how to evict chipmunks from your basement.

Hope you guys enjoy the blog!