A Serious "Pop" of Color

When we moved in to this house, one of the things I liked was the way the previous owner had painted the fireplace- unfortunately, it was not a color that worked for us. (This picture is from VERY early on- one of our first rounds of photos taken in the house if I am not mistaken.)

Even though I was sure that I had to change the color, I knew I definitely wanted the fireplace to stand out. I knew that we would re-paint the brick to match the color we had chosen for the trim (Swan White), and quickly decided I wanted the fireplace to tie in with the backsplash tile that will be going in the dining room buffet area and kitchen. Now, the tiles for the backsplash were chosen when we were still in Arizona planning the space- and purchased soon after we moved in. We ordered all of the tile from glasstileoasis.com, and have been very happy with what we have received. So, here you go... a preview of the backsplash!!!!!

(Just imagine this with the white cabinets..... ahhhhhh pretty!) The picture is a little decieving, the tile is actually a bit darker when placed on the wall.. but you get the general idea. You have no clue how excited I am for the day we can install this beautiful tile!!!

So, the plan was to find a color that matched the tile for the fireplace and also the interior of the front door. Based on the color chips, we chose a Behr color called Brilliant Sea. On the card, it was perfect. In person, it was a bit much. The door looked OK, but that also had to do with the fact that it was in shadow. With all of the afternoon sun that we get in the living room, the fireplace looked almost fluorescent.


I wanted a pop of color- not a punch in the face. At first, we thought maybe it looked so bright because the room was empty. We decided to live with it for a while and see if it grew on us. It did not. It soon became apparent that I would not be able to concentrate on anything else until we fixed that color. We went through more paint chips, also taking the tile in to the Depot to be sure we hadn't missed a color along the way. We ended up deciding on a color called Havasu (a little tribute to AZ too!), which was actually the next step darker from our original choice of Brilliant Sea. On the chip, it seemed much too dark, but once we had it up we realized it was the exact color we had been going for. It's hard to see a huge difference in the photos- but trust me- it is much, much better!


And another bonus- we have extended the finished floors down the hallway, throughout the dining room and through about half of the living room! We were able to *finally* take our couches out from their plastic tent- and got the TV set up just in time for FOOTBALL SEASON! We also were able to get rid of the awful vertical blinds in the living room! YEA!!!


Lesson learned: If you're not sure- go ahead and spend the $3.00 on actual paint samples to test... otherwise you will end up stuck with a gallon of Brilliant Sea in your garage.

Architectural Detail

Of the many facets that give a house 'charm' one of the more important is Architectural Detail. Portland and the surrounding areas were largely built in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and the overwhelming majority of period houses in this area fall into the Craftsman style of architecture. Because they were built by hand, often by small groups of very talented and experienced craftsmen, they contain details that act as a testament to the builders skill. Exposed corbels and rafters, exquisite built in cabinetry, often hidden storage, all executed with the finest skill the builder could muster. One would imagine that, in an era of craftsmanship, these details would be talking points, giving credence to the avowed skills of the homebuilder, and building his credibility and reputation as a carpenter.

Our house is not one of those...

This home was built (quite solidly) in 1973, in a later era of expansion and sub-development. Additionally, it has been remodeled more than once, and by persons of, ahem, 'questionable skills.' I try to refrain from screaming expletives about useless hacks... sometimes I fail.

This is all background to the point at hand, which is that we wanted to, in our design, add a few Craftsman style details to the house, to add some charm. Exterior details are a later possibility, but that is down the road a ways. One of the first details we decided to add were arched beams on the interior.

In previous posts, we have touched on the two interior beams that Rachel and I installed. These two beams were necessary to carry the load of the ceiling, although they do not have any true structural or roof load. Accounting for the shape of the room and the placement of the beams, we have used them to demarcate the dining area from the rest of the living space, and adding arches to the finished beams helps to give the room a charm and detail that helps to justify the beams. Where otherwise there would be two visible beams with no major purpose other than support, we now have an architectural detail that defines the dining room and adds grace and charm to our living space.

Arches are not particularly complicated, but they are tricky. If one does not figure all the details out beforehand, one runs the risk of a too abrupt transition to straight, or uneven arches, with different lengths and/or radius between one detail and the next. My method of creating these arches was to build the four units, identical in measurement, on the ground, then fasten them into the corners. I worked out (mathematically) what the radius should be in order to use 24" pieces of flexible corner bead (we'll get to that in a minute) and worked backward from there to establish the shape of the side pieces.

The corner units are made of 2x4s, ripped to the correct width, with a radius cut piece of particle board attached to both sides. OSB and plywood are also usable for the sheeting parts, but particle is what I had on hand. I cut all the pieces to be the same size, and assembled them with screws.

After the corners were built, they were installed on the bottom of the beams, in all four corner (both sides of the post and both wall attachments). The sheetrock was then hung on the beams and walls, excepting the curved portions of the arch. The curves were covered with several layers of High Density 1/8" hardboard. Each layer of hardboard was attached to the curves and beam to hug the plywood arch, with the final layer being installed rough side out, to hold drywall mud.


At this point, the project is ready for corner bead. While it is possible to make preformed metal arches out of standard steel cornerbead, it requires very expensive and specialized tools. I elected to use flexible plastic cornerbead for this application. This product is widely available and looks very similar to regular plastic corner, except for one leg of the corner being cut into small lengths. The corner is then carefully bent into place, and attached at the middle, working your way out to the ends and keeping the curve smooth (this is one of the tricky parts). After this arched corner bead is attached, standard straight corner is applied to the rest of the corners.

Next up, drywall mud. One thing to note regarding inside corners such as this, it is almost impossible to mud these in thin layers. The nature of the cornerbead and inside curve is such that you will wind up putting the full depth on at one time. It can be helpful, in situations like this, to use chemically hardening 'hot' mud, as it is less likely to crack while curing in a very thick layer. After several applications and multiple rounds of sanding, we are ready to paint and finish.
What's that behind the arch, you say? That's what we call a teaser, and it's to get you hooked in. Fear not, more posts will be forthcoming!


After paint and finish, we have a beautiful detail that helps define the space, adds character and charm to the overall building, and architectural detail to the house.

It's been a while... Let's talk about cabinets!

It's been over a month since we have had a chance to update the blog- and we apologize for getting behind! Just because we haven't been posting doesn't mean we haven't been working on the house, though... so I will do my best to catch up.

One of the big things that happened in August was that we bought our cabinets!!! We decided to go with Ikea cabinets. Because the cabinets are actually made from metal and composite material, and only the faces are actually nice wood, these cabinets are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than, oh let's say all cherry cabinets that we had in the condo in Phoenix. We had originally budgeted about $7,000 for all of the cabinets, looking at warehouse and discount stores. The issue with these stores is that you essentially only have the options in front of you. They may not be the exact shapes/sizes you need, or not the right color. When we went to Ikea to browse, we found a style that was exactly what I had pictured in my mind- and had all of the features we wanted, such as soft close doors and drawers, glass front-paned doors for the dining room buffet area, etc.

After deciding what face type we liked, we headed home to design our cabinet layout. Ikea has a program on their website that allows you to design your rooms and print out an item list as well as a 3D rendering. The program itself is a HUGE headache, but completing all of this at home was incredibly beneficial. That way, I could be on the computer looking at options, while Tim could run over to the room and double/triple check measurements. Once we were finally happy with the design, we headed in to the store to purchase the cabinets. This proved to be a headache in and of itself, but, in the end, we completed the purchase and got cabinets for the kitchen, a dining room area buffet and the vanity area in the master bedroom for under $5000. Oh- and that also includes the hardware, a new (farmhouse!) kitchen sink and faucet.

Thankfully, we had Ikea deliver the cabinets- it would have been multiple trips even with Tim's truck. We managed to clear out about 1/2 of the garage and anxiously awaited the delivery. When it finally came, we went through each item, cross referencing with our list, 3 times in order to be sure we had everything and the order was correct. This was quite a process, especially when you consider the crazy names that Ikea gives everything. Luckily, the order was fine. As part of this process, we also divided everything by room- giving an area to the dining room cabinets, kitchen and master.

The first set of cabinets to be installed were in the master bedroom. It was only 2 sets of drawers, so by far the easiest to install. For the vanity, we had previously purchased a tiger's eye glass tile for the counter top. Once the cabinets were built and installed, Tim added a counter in particle board, and a strip of fascia above the seating area. We were also able to install the vanity sconces!

The next step was to tile! This was my first experience laying tile, and I have to say it was not that difficult. I'm sure it also helps that we were tiling a flat surface rather than a wall- good practice for the backsplash and master bathroom! Basically, you spread out a layer of thin-set mortar, using a 1/4" notched trowel to get a consistent thickness. Then, you lay the tile down. The glass tile came in 13" X 13" sheets, so it was as simple as putting the large squares down evenly. We did have a few cuts to make, and rather than using a tile saw, we managed to find my stained glass equipment and used the "chompers" to break the glass. Once the tile is placed, we pressed it down into the mortar and allowed it to dry. Finally, we used a sponge to remove any residue from the glass.



The next step was to grout. For this portion of the project, we had a guest star! My parents actually came in to visit, and of course, were put to work! My mom did a fantastic job of grouting the counter. We decided to go with a dark chocolate grout so that the small tiles would look more cohesive and you would not notice each tile as much as the overall effect.

We also were able to hang the mirror- another Ross find- and add the drawer hardware. The hardware for the vanity was actually purchased at the Home Depot. We found a design that mimicked the design of the mirror and antique chair (which is not pictured).
Overall, I am very happy with how the vanity has turned out. Because we have such small bathrooms in this house, it is really nice to have a separate area to get ready in the morning. Additionally, because we installed outlets on either side of the vanity, it also functions as a desk if I need to set up my laptop.

The Hardest Part

Isn't the waiting....and it actually isn't living in a remodel- although that is tough. But, while we're on the subject, a few thoughts.

If you are considering living through a remodel, you should really take the time to mentally prepare yourself. You need to be ready to accept that, not only will you not have all your stuff, but even the stuff you do have around will never be readily accessible. You need to accept that NOTHING will EVER be clean. Not until it's totally finished. You will be tripping over wires and climbing over piles of (fill in the blank..drywall, tile, supplies, etc...). You will most assuredly get dirty...and you will be tired. Another bonus- if you are re-doing your kitchen, you may even go through some time where cooking can only be done outside- via the grill, a camp stove, or a firepit. And the only place to sit and eat your food will either be outside or on your bed. Since we all know that food isn't allowed in bed- guess what? It's campfire meals! Every day!! Trust me on this, if you are a person who has never enjoyed camping or "roughing it", go ahead and book an extended stay right now, because living through a remodel is NOT for you.

Even though a part of me is embarrassed to show you these pictures- I think you need to understand what this is really like... so, take, for instance, the view from the front door to the kitchen/dining room/living room. Don't you just LOVE our garbage bag wall? It was actually incredible at keeping some of the dust/dirt off of our living room furniture.

It gets better... Welcome to the Dining Room!

It's not pretty, but that's reality, people.

While all of this has absolutely been exhausting, it has also been an amazing experience. Tim has taught me about plumbing and electrical and drywall and construction- to the point that I KNOW I know more about some of this stuff than some of the employees at the Depot. And, without stepping foot in a gym for ...ahem..a long time, I am stronger than I have ever been. I can accomplish things now that I would have never thought possible 6 months ago. Not to mention that many people think of living through a remodel as one of those things that can "break" a marriage. I know it's only been a little over 2 months, but Tim and I haven't fought once. If anything, I think that this is making us a stronger, better team. I think that maybe, being thankful for these things has helped us to get through all of the not-so-great parts I noted above. Laughter and silliness helps too.

So, with all of that being said, I would like to tell you about the HARDEST thing we have done so far. Framing.

Since we took out the walls surrounding the old kitchen, we had to replace some beams so that the ceiling wouldn't collapse (pretty important). The solution was to install two large header beams- both beams are 10.5" X 3.5" and one was almost 10 feet, the other almost 14. I came home from work on Wednesday of this week to see that Tim had managed, through what I can only assume was black magic, to get the smaller beam in place on his own.

The big one was there waiting for me. Tim says that the beam weighed about 200-250 lbs- but I am pretty sure it was closer to at least 400lbs. Getting the beam in place involved us both holding this beam above our heads and, finally, balancing it on the top of the 6ft. ladder. When we got one side of the beam maneuvered into place, we found that we could simply not get the other side up. The reason being, due to a poorly done remodel in the past, the ceiling had not been properly supported and was drooping. Every time we moved the beam, you could see the ceiling moving up and down with it. At one point, Tim was holding up one end while I frantically ran around him emergency-framing up a "wall" to rest the beam on while we formulated a plan. This was with the big nail gun, which I only used for the first time a few weeks ago, and was now running up and down step ladders with while holding up framing beams. Like I said- stronger. Eventually, Tim had a brilliant idea and grabbed a bottle jack out of the garage. We ended up putting a stud on top of the jack and using it to lift the middle of the beam up. It got the beam to the point that it close, but still not totally into place. Then, I got to beat the beam repeatedly with the BMFH (all over my head), while Tim used the Trojan to try and coax it into place. FYI, the Trojan is a wall pulling lever thingy. (Technical terms). There were many other approaches that didn't work so well.

Once the beam was up, we were finally able to remove all the old kitchen framing that used to be the walls, refrigerator cubby and pantry. You can also see that we have since pulled down the ceiling in the kitchen, since we realized it would be easier to start from scratch than to re-texture what was there.


This was, hands down, the most exhausing, difficult thing we have done so far- but the sense of achievement when that beam finally lined up correctly was amazing. Another way to put it- I am not much of a drinker, but when we finished this, the almost involuntary words out of my mouth were " I need a beer."

Garden Update- Mystery Solved!

For those of you that were wondering about our Mystery Tree, the mystery has been solved!!!

It is a Purple Robe Locust Tree!

http://www.tytyga.com/product/purple+robe+locust+tree (if the link works) has more information about the species. Apparently, it will grow in Montana, Arizona and New Mexico...so if our little seedlings stay alive, I know some people who may be getting new trees :) The article also mentions that bees that feed on these trees can create a very rare and tasty honey- maybe we will try and open negotiations with the giant bumblebees in our backyard.

Also, a rose update- When we moved in, we had three rose bushes- one pink and one red that needed some serious taming (they were approaching 10 ft. tall). We also had one little bush that appeared to be dead. It was nothing but stumps and had been choked out by the Virginia Creeper. Well, we pulled out the creeper and did what we could to give the little rose room to grow. Much to our pleasure, the rose started to send out new shoots- and this week, started blooming!!! Coming from a person who has never been good at Not-Killing plants, this feels like a real achievement. The color is really beautiful on these new roses- when they are opening they are orange, yellow and coral,

but after they open they fade to a really pretty apricot color. They also have an amazing scent.

Finally adding some Curb Appeal

As you can see, one thing this house was lacking was some.. or any.. curb appeal. After getting the grass down to a manageable level, our next step was pulling the weeds out of the flower bed surrounding the pine tree in front. (We didn't even realize that the bed was there until we mowed the lawn!). We also managed to trim the bushes in front of the house so we could actually find things like the doorbell. Then, as we continued to work around the yard, we found that we had a stock of garden border blocks. So, we decided to tear up some of the grass from the front of the yard and install a bordered flower bed. We suspect there was a time when this area was a flower bed in the past.
Finally, yesterday, we took a trip and bought some plants!

Thankfully, we got them all planted yesterday- because today we would look like drowned muddy rats out there (it's been pouring all morning).

The existing bush behind the mailbox is a combination of a rhododendron and some sort of yet-to-be-determined berry. We planted a holly bush next to it, and in front of the electrical box we planted a peony (hoping it will eventually grow to block the view of the big grey box.) In the rest of the bed, we planted a variety of annuals- a purple heliotrope, a rainbow lantana that goes from pink to orange to yellow, some snapdragons, and petunias in our wedding colors (awwwww).
And yes, the mailbox is ugly... it's on the "Eventually" list.

Around the pine tree, the only things growing were some unknown purple ball flowers, so we added some lady ferns, some oriental lillies (which you can smell all the way in the backyard), purple penstamon and a blue delphinium.

Another bonus of working in the yard on a Saturday is that we were able to meet some more of our neighbors, which is always nice. We got more offers to work on their houses when we finish ours. They don't seem to understand how long it will be before we are done! :) Now, because I am so excited about having color in front of the house, some more pictures of the flowers...

It's definitely not the most amazing landscaping ever to be seen, but it is an absolute improvement.

My Precioussss!

We bought lights.

We bought really really pretty lights.

Really pretty super exiting totally beautiful sparkly shiny awesome lights.

I really love these lights.

Since lighting is really like the jewelry of a house- it's also, much like jewelry, the last thing to put on. However, since we finished the painting and the flooring in the hallway, I convinced Tim that we should absolutely, positively, put in the hallway light. If nothing else, just to have a taste of what the house will feel like when totally completed. I like to stare at it.

The hallway fixture is a glass bowl filled with crystal drops that look like rain. It makes rainbows on the walls. I am in love. It will also match the two pendants to *someday* be installed over the peninsula in the kitchen..which will *someday* exist. I wish that the photo did it justice!

We also installed a can light at the end of the hallway which will *someday* light some artwork. I should note that we got all of the main lighting fixtures at Lamps Plus (hall light, two pendants, two sconces for the master vanity, dining room fabulousness, and entry light that is so awesome it makes me giggle when I think of how cool it is). I found the lighting store totally overwhelming - there were some seriously fabulous fixtures in there. Also seriously expensive. This place honestly had a crystal ball fixture priced at $53,000.00. And no, that is the correct number of zeros. But, I managed to keep myself on a leash and we got everything for only about $1100. Not too bad for seven fixtures- it didn't hurt that they were having a summer sale.

I should also mention that Tim thankfully convinced me to spend a little extra on the light switches. They are his fancies. He loves them. He is very excited to turn the lights on and off in the hallway. And, I admit, they are SUPER COOL. We got Lutron Maestro switches- they are a digital push button dimmer and do all sorts of tricks- such as remembering what level of light you want, fading on and off, and even delay in turning off (giving you just enough time to walk from the hall to the bedroom without having the toe stubbing- shin hitting issue of walking in the dark). They are very fancy.

I can't wait to see the other fixtures installed!! And I can't wait to share pictures of them!!

Our first step toward being guest friendly

After we finished the master, we moved on to the Office/Guest Room. Luckily, there was very little electrical work to do here (other than replacing the outlets & switches), and only a few drywall patches. So, with very little mud, we were able to move straight to paint and flooring! After Tim convincing me on some pretty neutral colors in most of the house, I was able to talk him into a beautiful dark charcoal grey for this room. Also, because there were not as many cuts, we were able to finish the flooring in this room in about 2 hours.
We also concocted our own lighting solution for this room. We had a lamp that did not make it through the move, so we decided to use the lampshade and a $5 lighting disc from Home Depot to create a fixture. It was pretty easy, and obviously very economical. Of course, it's pretty hard to see in photos. So, just trust us.. it looks pretty good. :)
Of course, we still have to decorate and someday decide on a solution for the computer desk that does not involve using our camping tables- but for now, we're calling it good and moving on.

We finally have a real bedroom!

It's been some time since we've added any updates to the blog- mainly because we started out thinking we would post as each individual project was completed. We are now coming to a point where there are some rooms and areas that are partially completed- but it may be a while before we are comfortable calling them "done". So, with that being said, we wanted to give an update on some of the things we have been working on over the last few weeks.

We'll start with the master bedroom. When we moved in, the door to the master was located at the end of the hallway. The awkward footprint this created gave the room little usable space, and had we left it alone, we would have had the bed pushed into a corner. We quickly realized that by moving the door to the room, we would be able to gain some square footage. Knowing we would be creating a mess in that room, we initially set up our temporary bedroom in the small back bedroom of the house.

The first step in re-claiming our master was to remove the existing door and tear down the drywall between the bedroom and the hallway. For perspective, the view below is taken from the hallway, looking into the existing doorway and through the wall.
We also had to (of course) do some electrical work in the room. The bonus was that we could add boxes and outlets in the exact positions to meet our needs. The new alcove created by moving the door will become a vanity area, so we added boxes for wall sconces there as well as new outlets. Because we were moving the door, we also had to move the location of the wall switch. We took the opportunity to add fan switches and switches for some wall sconces we brought with us from Phoenix.

Once we finished updating the electrical, we were able to put up the drywall. We also used the drywall mud to re-texture the existing walls as we had previously done in the hall bathroom.
Then, a very exciting step- PAINT!!! We also painted the ceiling and window trim. In this photo, you can also see the odd little side window- it is filled with some sort of patterned cut glass. A '70's detail that we're definitely keeping. You can also see how excited Vaughan was to get into his new bedroom. (He's even standing in his spot in this one.) You can also catch a (night time) glimpse of the HUGE rhododendron outside the window.
Finally, we took a trip to our local Lumber Liquidators. We decided to go with the same brand of laminate flooring that we had installed in our condo in Phoenix- Dream Home Nirvana brand. This time we went for Buchanan Oak. It stood up well before, so we expect the same result here. It could even handle our drooling dog (and that's saying a lot!). Another bonus of using a product we were familiar with is that we had previously mastered the installation process- while the boxes note "Easy and Quick Assembly"- it's not quite that simple. But, once you get the feel for it, you can build a rhythm. The cuts slow you down more than the installation. We finished the master in about 4 hours. Unfortunately, they did not have all of the square footage in stock that we needed, but we were able to bring home about 670 sq. ft.- enough to get the back of the house bare-foot ready. Also- in this photo, you can see the soon-to-be vanity alcove area.

Please excuse the unmade bed in this shot- Vaughan was so excited he couldn't even wait for blankets before getting cozy in the new room.

More pictures will come of the master once we finish the vanity area- the tile has arrived and we have picked out the cabinets- more on that later too.