The Unfortunate ~ In the Studio

Hello Everyone ~

Well I know that I haven't posted in a bit, and the last post that went up wasn't supposed to so I had to take it down. So here is an update. 

After I finished the floors we had to wait 72 hours until we could bring in furniture. Which ended up not being a bad thing. My Love was fighting a cold while working 12 hour days. By Friday he was beat so I told him to relax the rest of the day. On Saturday we were up early to attend a blacksmithing open forge class. We met the blacksmithing teacher for the local community college there and were able to purchase my new anvil from him. Afterwards we ran errands and met a friend out for dinner. On Sunday we stayed home to do house work and relax, which is when we were able to get the work bench into the studio. But a very depressing thing happened. 

The floor peeled! We barely bumped the table and the legs peeled up the floor paint in multiple places.

I was so upset. We went to home depot to return it but had to talk to the paint department before the lady at the return desk could continue with the return. The two gentlemen there asked if I had primed the floor first. Something I was not notified of when I originally spoke to the paint department employee. I quickly reread the instructions label and was about to kill myself. I had missed it! Before I was able to be rude to the innocent employees I walked away and left my Love behind to finish the conversation. Something I do when I'm about ready to snap.

The guys told my Love that we should call the number on the can and speak to a Behr representative to figure out what to do. A job I passed to my absolutely wonderful Love out of fear of what new work was to come. 

Through this terrible event, something good had arose...

The Behr representative was really nice and helpful. After reviewing our procedure and products used in the process of laying the concrete/masonry paint, the rep told us what we should do to correct the issue.

First we have to use a paint stripper specifically for concrete/masonry paints. 2-gallons worth!
 It is so strong it will even remove the old layers of paint that were there before. The rep believes that it was the old layers that prevented a good adherence. It might have been another brand that was used and the base ingredients were different than that of Behr... All understandable. So please do not make the same mistake I did!





Then we will use a concrete cleaner & degreaser. This is to make sure that all the grime is off the floor. Last time, I used TSP (trisodium phosphate). It works the same way that this cleaner/degreaser does, except it is weaker in strength.






Following with a concrete & masonry bonding primer. 
This doesn't work like painting primer. It actually remains tacky, no matter how long the dry time, which allows the paint a strong adherence.





And once more, Behr's 1-part epoxy concrete & masonry paint. 
I really do enjoy the color that I selected before, but after the short amount of time that my Love and I spent in the room with our boots on we found that the color shows everything... So I will be looking into another shade.




Now with our instructions, we will be heading out to Home Depot and purchasing these products. Then promptly mailing in our receipts, both the original purchase of the floor paint and the new purchases. Behr will be reimbursing us the full amount! *dancing* 

I do love good customer service! This just makes me feel so much better about purchasing 1 gallon of paint at $30! I will support a good company.


So this is what my studio looks like right now... 








Cheers~

Creating the Studio (Part 2)

A time limit has been set for me and my studio. One I don't mind to say the least, but I already have a couple orders in and I don't have anything ready. So pressure is on!

After all the troublesome work on the floors, I was definitely ready for a change of pace. Next up: cleaning. TSP: Trisodium phosphate is the best! Because I need a good surface for the epoxy to adhere to, I not only used the TSP on the walls, but on the floors. Even though I already sanded the floors I feel it best to allow the TSP to remove any leftover gloss. Can never hurt to prep twice.

But before I could paint, I have to do all my repair work. The tabs from the closet doors took some chunks out so out came the mud. Some simple spackle filled the nail and screw holes that were scattered about the walls. 

Then came the primer. I used it for this room and not the guest bedroom because the existing color is darker than the new one. If I do not primer first, then the darker colors will show through, requiring multiple coats to cover it up.

Because I mudded the same day I primed, I cannot paint over it. The mud needs 24 hours to dry before any paint can be applied. So those spots will have to wait until the following day. 

 After much debate, I finally decided to paint the walls first. It took a while to decide on a color. I had actually picked a color out on the oops paint rack, but it didn't come out the way I thought it would. So back to the swatch isle...

And this is the color that was selected! :)

 I have to admit, it was nice not having to worry about the base board. It made recoloring the room so much easier!

While the walls dried, I painted the floors.

I used Behr 1-part epoxy concrete and garage floor paint which can be purchased from Home Depot for $32. You can have it colored to any shade of your choice. It is super easy to use, doesn't require a sealer, and is very easy to maintain. Although the dry time was a bit of a drag (72 hours before furniture can be brought in).

Before I finished off the first layer of floor paint and closed the door to the room so everything can dry undisturbed I snapped a picture... What do you think?

Not too shabby, huh?

Cheers~

Creating the Studio (Part 1)

This could possibly be my favorite room in the house... Ok, not really as I love the entire house equally, but I do get to design this room the way I want with no approval from my Love. So its definitely a bonus on it's part.

My first set of jobs were pretty easy. Just a little muscle work from my Love (as I'm still recovering from surgery), a hammer & drill, and a box cutter to get the room prepped for its new makeover! 

Because we were not really focusing on this room at first, it has become a bit of a storage room. Sure some of the stuff in there belongs there, but the rest doesn't and was organized as we cleaned.

We then pulled the closet doors, frame, and shelf down. We also removed the "random shelf". We will be saving all the shelf pieces for later, but the closet doors are being put in the attic in the mean time 'til we can decide what we will do with them. 

Then the carpet... Oh that lovely carpet. BE GONE!! 

Haha I couldn't resist! Wish that really happened.

My studio just went absolutely random! The painted concrete was definitely something that I did not expect! I do enjoy goofy little surprises, but I have to admit, after talking with the guy at Home Depot, I'm liking this surprise less and less.

The upside : we had to get a belt sander *YAY more tools!!!*

Because the floors were already painted, it took quite a bit of extra work to prep for a good layer of epoxy coating. First I had to make sure that all the concrete chips were pulled up (these came from the tacks when I was pulling up the carpet tack board) as well any peeling paint.
But during this little venture, I found that the baseboard had been epoxied not only to the floor, but painted with it as well. This again messed with the plans as it is too much work to clean up the globbed mess. So off went the baseboard.

Then it was time to whip out the belt sander. And sand the entire floor. Yeah, a bit daunting. Lucky for you, you don't have to do it! Haha.

I like to work in steps, keeping everything dirty, clean, and new all at the same time. So I did all the dirty work first.

Overall just the prepping of the floor took roughly 16.5 hours. Yeah... I'm soooo glad its done!

Cheers~

Goals & Plans

Friday February 3rd I was admitted to the hospital for severe abdominal pains. Turns out my gallbladder was only working 11% so they had to remove it. Because I had surgery (and the bills...) our projects have been somewhat stalled.

Originally we were going to tackle the bathrooms, but I will not be able to help with most of it so we are having to refocus.

Like I mentioned in my post, Ideas for Big Changes, my Love and I are wanting to open the hallway, kitchen/dinning room window, and kitchen doorway a little more. These are much easier to do, so these have been bumped up the list to the top. This will also allow us to finally paint the rooms. YAY!!

We will also be purchasing the wood to build our work benches (2 long ones for the garage and one for my studio). These will be very helpful when it comes time to tackle the bigger projects.

Then we will also complete the cabinets for the laundry room.

For this year our goals are:

1) Garage ~ shelves installed, benches made, and possibly electrical addition finished

2) Laundry ~ cabinet and shelf installed

3) Openings (Hallway, Kitchen Doorway, Window) finished

4) Paint the great room

5) Complete media corner

6) Guest Bedroom ~ carpet and vanity installed

7) Studio ~ painted, carpet removed,concrete cleaned, work bench made

8) Master ~ bathroom finished, room painted, closet possibly finished

9) Exterior ~ weed killer, citrus trees irrigated

Aw man. Now that I look at the list, we sure have our work cut out for us! Now where did my hammer go?

Cheers ~

Making a Garage into a Shop (Part 2)

It is funny, no matter how determined you are to finish a project, items pop up that delay it's completion. 

We are finally finished with the basic upgrades in the garage.

After the ending of Part 1 we turned our attention towards the ceilings. With all the lose mud scraped off and the peeling tape removed, there were a couple somewhat quick steps to finishing off: the placing of new mesh along the seams, a bit of mud to cover the mesh and smooth things over, and lastly laying a heavy coat of primer for sealer.

After that was dry, everything was moved from the garage so the floors could be cleaned.

After sweeping everything the floors were hosed of remaining dust. We used muriatic acid twice, which is normally used in swimming pools, on the concrete to pull up any oil and grease.

Since it was a few days until we were able to actually work on the house again, we re-cleaned the floors the day before we laid the epoxy coating, using the cleaner that came with the kit.

Speaking of the kit, we used RustOleum's Epoxy Shield for garage floors, which can be purchased at Home Depot. It comes with an instructional DVD and plenty of "sprinkles." The only items that you need to supply are the actual tools for the job. Be sure to get the adhesive 9" roller brush. The material used is different and will be easier to roll the epoxy. If you use a standard paint roller, you will have trouble getting an even coat. Not to mention all the small threads that are released from the matting.

Once the floors were cleaned, (the above pictures are before the final wash) we started the epoxy. A really simple task that one person could do. I helped my Love because it was too fun of a job to throw "sprinkles" all over the place.

After 14 hours, items were brought back into the garage.





To refresh your memory, the garage originally looked like this:

My Love is so happy. And I am as well. Now we can get some shelves in here so we can organize some more! :)

Cheers~

Ideas for Big Changes

I was just writing my Nana when I was struck with an idea for a post! I found this really cool website where you can design your own house! Floor Planner is extremely detailed and quite thorough. It's free to sign up and you are allowed one project. You can change and adjust as many times as you like. Which I used to my advantage. >:]

Below is a layout of our house right now. It isn't perfectly to scale, but I did try my best. 

This is what the floor plan will look like after we complete our changes...

First we will begin our renovations in the bathrooms. 

The master is the very first project we will be tackling. It is also one of the biggest goals we have for this new year. We are looking to open the doorway leading into the bathroom from the bedroom (the current door size is 24"). Then we will be pulling out the current vanity, closet shelves & racks, toilet, and the bathtub & tiles. We are not going to gut the bathroom, just remove the old and start from fresh.

We are not planning on changing anything in the layout, which keeps things somewhat easy. So from there, we will replace the tub with a full walk in shower (two shower heads for comfort... Hehehe Oh I cannot wait!) tiled with travertine. The wall between the closet and the bath will be opened up and turned into an archway. The 24" doorway will be opened to a 36". It will also be changed from a hinged door to a barn sliding door. The toilet (which is the "14 gallon flush") will be replaced with a low flow eco toilet. The vanity will be made out of a beautiful hardwood, deep stained with some drawers. We will be adding some built in shelves above the toilet to help with storage. We will use every space in the closet that we can. Turning it into a fully organized space with drawers, shoe cubbies, coat cabinet, and the clothes bars.

Next will be the guest bath. This space is going to be much easier than the master. We will remove all the original items just like the master, but this time, we will be closing the cabinets in the hallway and opening them to the bathroom. We will turn the cabinets to some shelves and a bench seat with storage. The old shallow cast iron tub will be replaced with a new soaking fiberglass tub. The white porcelain tiles will be replaced with the same travertine in the master. The same eco toilet will be installed here and the same counter tops. Should be a fun project!! 

Because the house is old, all the windows and doors need to be replaced. They leak like an fan on high. So in the mist of these replacements, we will turn the large three pane windows in the living room to either french doors or sliding doors. We will close off the existing door and leave space for an upholstered chair. Hehehe.

To open things up we will also be opening some doorways and walls. The first will be the hallway. We will remove about four or five feet to open the hallway to make the living room feel more open.

Now for the kitchen. *rubs hands together* Muhahahahaha

The window between the kitchen and great room will be opened more, taking it up another 2 ft. to the ceiling in the kitchen. The doorway will also be opened to the ceiling and widened another foot - foot-and-a-half.

Exciting, no?

Cheers~

Making a Garage into a Shop (Part 1)

Normally I would have put up more of a fight about what rooms we will be taking care of first, but seeing as how we will be building our own bathroom counters and various other things, we needed the garage space finished.

So this last weekend we started this venture. First we had to organize. A quick job that made moving everything out of the garage easier. Then my Love went over the walls, scraping off all the lose mud and the peeling tape. After the walls were thoroughly scraped, I wiped them down with TSP. To make things move faster, my Love followed me with mud, patching up all the holes and dents. Look at the difference it made already!

Before :

After scraping, TSP, and patchwork (Just check out the door!) :

Next was the primer! And what a difference! The picture below shows the three steps we took to prep the garage walls for paint.

Here is the "tool nook" before and after :

And lastly we painted. We ended up taking our time picking a paint for the garage because we wanted it to be an "oops" paint. And we got lucky! What would have normally been a $78 - 5 gallon bucket of paint, was only $32 for us! And here it is...

The spots in the third picture were areas that had bubbled from the water/TSP mix and peeled away while I was laying on the primer. I went back after the primer dried, re-scrapped those areas and gave it a nice layer of mud. Only to return to it the following day to lay on another coat of primer.

Later this week we will be finishing the ceiling then cleaning and epoxying the floors. But that will be on a later post.

The Love is ecstatic to finally have a garage first to turn into a shop, and second that its actually happening! It makes our disagreements over the kitchen much more manageable! Hehehe

Cheers~

Studio... Ideas Ideas Ideas

Okay, I am definitely on a design binge right now. I've been thinking for months, maybe even years, on how I'm going to design my very own studio. There are so many ideas and options out there that its hard to settle. But today decisions have been made.

It will be based off of Moroccan styles with a lot of natural light. 

Although the room is small, I definitely want a sitting area. Maybe a couch? Or a couple upholstered chairs? 

The closet I want to turn into a collection of cabinets and drawers. Not sure what kind of finish yet. Maybe I will make the doors into jewelry displays... I should definitely have a chalk board on one of them too...

There will be a wall filled with inspiring images, designs, and paintings. 

I plan on pulling up the carpet and cleaning the existing cement. I will lay some rugs in front of the chairs and in the doorway, but under and around my work table will be just the cement for safety and cleanliness purposes. 

My desk will be made of thick wood with rounded edges and legs that are similar to this bed post. I'm thinking about having track lighting above the desk for more direct light. 

I would like to add more windows to the room. Maybe make the one that is there a little taller and add a couple more on the south wall. 

The door, I would like to be a screen door. I want to keep the pets out while I'm working, but I do not want to close myself off from the rest of the house. I also have to listen for any knocks on the door...

And for some fun little decorations...

It really is disappointing that I cannot start on my studio yet as the bathrooms need to be finished first, but I know that soon it will happen. :) Oh the anticipation!

Cheers~

Laundry Room Make-Over (Part 1)

A very important room it is. If it isn't organized I can become a little frustrated. You need room to iron, hang wet laundry, fold, store various items (from light bulbs to cleaning supplies)... You need to feel happy in this room.

And ours needs a serious make over. I didn't even want my new washer and dryer to be sitting under the dirty (and seriously sticky) metal racks that were originally hung. So I pulled down those nasty metal shelves, allowed the Love to fix the fittings, and then moved in.

TSP - check

Mud Patchwork - check

Primer - check

Paint - check

And that most beautiful Thursday rolled around, to bring me my new, HE Whirlpool washer dryer with steam technology... *girlie sigh* 

Come on! I know you are laughing at me... But seriously, after living in an apartment where the washer barely holds four pairs of yours and your Love's jeans combined! Then the basket would go bouncing all over the place no matter how many times you went out to get the balance right... I probably wasted about 1/5 of my laundry days just adjusting the clothes so it wouldn't bang around so much. A total nuisance!

Oh man, and what a Cadillac this pair is! I barely even have enough laundry to allow for a load sometimes! And the drum is so big!!! I'm in heaven when I have to go running around the house to find more laundry!

*Another satisfied sigh*

*Cough Cough* So moving on... 

Now that the washer and dryer are settled, I need to find something to do with all the items that should be in the laundry room, which are currently piling up in the dining room.

I spent a couple days thinking. We hardly have any money set aside (or even planned) for the laundry area. It was a room that we were just going to put together as we went along. But the idea that we have all these rooms started, and not one finished, on top of the pile in the dining room, and constantly having to search for light bulbs (because the Love puts them in places I have no idea to look), I decided this room needs to be finished.

I allowed my scavenging mind to wander, with my creative side following suit. And what do you know, I can finish the laundry free of charge! :) Everything is at home... Well almost everything. I will need a mouse sander, but no materials will need to be purchased! 

MUHAHAHA!

Since we are not using and will soon be removing the cabinets in the master bath I pulled the doors off and am sanding them down to the bare wood. Those will be used in the center for the three in the sketch above. The cabinet in the hallway will be opened to the guest bath for storage, an a cozy bench seat, so I also pulled the doors off. The large one I cut into two 30" tall doors which will be the farthest doors on the left and right.

I will put a second shelf, and maybe a third in the right cabinet, for additional storage. Why not after all, look at all that space that isn't being used. 

The orange lines around the washer and dryer are additional shelves. The one behind will hold laundry soaps and dryer supplies. The space between the washer/dryer will be additional counter space as well as storage below for laundry baskets and the cat litter box on the floor. 

I am eager to go pick up a mouse sander so I don't have to spend hours on just one door. I look forward to finishing, so I can share how to refinish cabinets (which can also be translated into furniture) and how my new laundry room will look!

Cheers~

Fun Little Helpers

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday! 

I was reading a blog post from one of my favorite bloggers, Centsational Girl, when she gave me a grand idea!

The author, Kate, explains in her post how she chooses colors, which is a fabulous directional point, and I was forced to think, how am I choosing mine?

I have this odd knack of remembering people by colors, a personality trait, a type of bead, or even a fashion style. I take that small ability and I aim it at the rooms. Who will be in this room? What do I want the mood of the room to be like? How do I want to style the room? 


When my Love and I were selecting the color for the guest bedroom, my first thought was "who will be staying in this room?" Friends, Family... But it's going to be mix genders, so it had to be gender neutral. 

Stepping back, I looked at the room itself. It's 10' x 10' with a closet and a wonderfully sized window. Since the room is small, I didn't want a color that would make the walls feel like they were pressing in on you. This room needed a color that made you feel free to stretch your arms far out and wide, in either natural sunlight or lamp light. 


Then I imagine what kind of mood would feel best. I know that I wanted a happy feel with an edge of relaxation. I needed something that made you feel good inside. For me a blue is always a great way to go, but I didn't want to go with a generic tone. Maybe with a hint of turquoise?
 
When I finally selected "winter surf" from Behr, my Love agreed with me. A perfect good mood color that remained gender neutral with the edge of relaxation.


But not every time is like this...

I am a total bargain hunter (Thanks Mom!) and that just about runs my creative side too... Hmmm... That explains why its so random and sporadic! So whenever we are in the vicinity of a Home Depot, Lowes or paint shop, we have to go in. There is always a section called "oops" paints. These are usually colors that were made wrong, not picked up, or shunned. Don't let those titles stop you though, I've found some amazing colors in that section. 


Our laundry room and garage, for example, are painted in solely oops paints. My studio will be as well. We are hoping to paint about 70% of our home using these rejected colors. 


Oh and just to give you an idea on how much you are really saving... We purchased the guest bedroom color at full price, $26.97 (I just saw a sign the other day that priced Behr 1 gallons at $29.98). Every 1 gallon of oops paint that I have seen and purchased is priced at $7.00. Not bad, huh?


Here are some other websites (linked from Centsational Girl) that can help you in your color selections:

Design Seed - I love their selection of color palates based off images! A great way to get into the mood of a room.


My Colortopia - I love their blog! It's full of tips and tricks that come with thriving in the painting, home decorating, and design realms.


Thank you Kate! And Happy Decorating Everyone!


Cheers~

Fixing the Fittings

So, remember that leaky spicket in the back yard? Or those nasty fittings in the laundry room? Well, we won! Muahahahaha!! No more leaks! 

The Love decided to crack down on them the weekend of the 14th. Took both days to complete. 

Has anyone ever heard of "shark bite" fittings? Well the Love had. Went mad raving about them while I remained skeptical. 

For those of you who do not know, they are a "push-fit" connection system. After cutting the pipe and de-burring, you just push the fitting on and its secure! They are "certified for underground and behind the wall applications and as a manufactured joint without access panels." No glue or soldering necessary.

Click here to see their brochure. (Because I love them now)

My Love said they've been using these connectors on semi trucks and large equipment for years. Mainly for their air lines which push 300 psi constantly. So I gave in and let him do his thing.

We were to be receiving the washer and dryer on Thursday the 19th, which required us to fix the fittings. We had gone to Home Depot and were able to talk to a 25-year plumber vet who gave us all the necessities for the job (for the spicket and water heater as well). But one thing none of us thought to check, the types of threading on the shark bites and the valve fixtures. We ended up having to run back and purchase a box set (the plastic box with the valves) because they didn't have individual washing machine valves that were non-compression threads... Grr... The box didn't even fit our setup! So we had to purchase another box! 

Well those nasty fittings and box went bye-bye. Helloooo clean, fancy, new fittings and shark bites! 

I wish I had a better picture of the shark bites but the brochure that I have linked above has quite a few.

~

I guess it's only natural to assume that every spicket is a thread on. But then again, someone once told me, "Assuming only gets you into trouble." And it did!

As you can see in the picture, the spicket in the backyard was stuccoed to the wall, leaving the joint to be inaccessible. We didn't want to have a hole in the wall for days on end, so we assumed the spicket was a thread on and purchased what we needed to replace the old booger. 

Much to our frustration, the spicket was soldered on. We attempted to melt the solder off, but to no avail. I believe that this fitting was glued by calcium build-up as well as soldered.

So it was back to Home Depot... 

The Love ended up having to make a larger hole in the wall to cut the pipe farther back, only to attach a 90° shark bite to a small piece of copper tubing to another shark bite that then threaded to a shinny, new spicket. 

I unfortunately wasn't able to get pictures of what happened there. But the last picture is the beautiful new spicket sitting outside the wall. 

~

And so it was on to the next project, the hot water heater.

The year that is stamped on the side of the tank is 1992, so we are going to have to replace it eventually, but we just wanted to focus on the fittings, being as we were on a roll...

The person who put this together was kind enough to use a 1/4 turn valve on the in-coming cold water, but unfortunately for us, it didn't budge. Plus, the copper flex pipe had been soldered to the copper piping coming out of the walls.

The Love whipped out the cutter and began work before I could even get the camera ready. Sorry! I've been slacking! But these are the pictures that I was able to take of the old pieces. If you look at the fourth picture of the pipes in the orange bucket, you can see the calcium build-up on and around the valve.

The black water that is coming out of the old fitting is burned piping tape. Our water heater was so hot that it actually burned the teflon away... Don't worry though, we've turned it down.

The Love used the shark bites here as well. And I am truly amazed by them!

After all this mess, the Love went into the master bathroom to replace the valves under the sink (before we realized we should wait until we remodel...Duh!). Once they were all replaced, he went around the house and found every single fitting leaking!!! All except the washer fittings. The funny thing, they weren't leaking from the shark bite, they were leaking from the threading! The Love removed the fitting, replaced the teflon tape, with many more passes, and they still leaked! The problem wasn't that they weren't torqued down enough. My Love is a diesel mechanic by trade and works on Caterpillar machines. He knows how to torque. 

We ended up running into the manager of the plumbing department at Home Depot and he gave us liquid teflon to use instead of the teflon tape... Sure enough, none of them have leaked since! 

So here comes the cheers, singing, and happy dancing! 

NO MORE LEAKS!!!

Cheers~