Project 3: Bedroom Closet

For an old house, the closet in the master bedroom is a pretty decent size (not walk-in, but functional). However, aesthetically it had a few issues: the old paint was peeling, the plaster was in rough shape, and it wasn't efficiently laid out. It needed an upgrade and since we were already moved in, it had to be fixed with minimum dust. Here's how it went:

I've already started taking the old shelving and clothes rod:

more plaster is gone:
sheetrock and joint compound:
Painted:
Done:

Project #2 - Guest Bed:

More good times in the spare bedroom. More cracked walls and more excruiating skimcoating. We cannot emphasize the following point enough: Skim coating is a giant pain in the arse. Unless you are a plasterer, you will find it very hard to create a smooth finish with slightly-thinned joint compound. So instead you're stuck applying a thicker coat and then sanding it down. Sanding an entire wall produces dust levels that are simply astonishing. Our recent purchase of a decent shop vac was money well spent, as was Brian's respirator.

We made it through the first 3 walls, but the 4th presented additional delights. First off, there was a section under the mantle that was very badly patched. On another part of the wall, we were contemplating installing a stackable washer/dryer. We had two plumbers come over to look at it. At one plumber's request, Brian opened up a small hole in the wall so that we could see the pipes, rather than open up the chase in the bathroom since it's completely walled off in plaster. In light of this and ridiculous estimates we got for the plumbing work, we decided that a washer/dryer unit upstairs wasn't really necessary. So I had to patch that hole up. Those two side projects delayed completion of the painting of the guest bedroom until this past weekend (the first three walls were painted three weeks earlier.)

On to the pics:

Mantle area rework:
Post wallpaper, pre-skimcoat:

Add a little paint:

Project 1: Master Bedroom

Grandma's house wasn't exactly in "move-in condition."


In early May, we had the luxury of working on the house while living 2 streets over at our apartment. But by mid-month, we were up against a harsh reality that in two weeks we were going to have to live in this place, regardless of its condition. So kitchen demo work, kitchen cabinet assembly, yard work, etc. all had to be put on hold to get some portion of this house habitable.

We had the floors done early (before the walls in fact, and in hindsight this is not recommended). As for the walls, peeling off the wallpaper was slow and tedious and took up a few days. Next time, we'll go w/ a steamer. Scratch that -- let's hope there isn't a next time as far as wallpaper's concerned. Once the wallpaper came off, it was just further evidence of the poor condition of the walls. Brian read up on skim-coating, watched a few episodes on the DIY network, and hit the Depot for joint compound and tools.

First, the floors (before):
Here's how it looked with the wallpaper off:
And here's what it looked like with wet joint compound:
Dried JC:
And finally, paint:

Before Pics

Well the renovation is in full swing now, but before we chronicle the progress I think a few "before" pics are in order. Here's a pic of the full bath upstairs. Note lovely shower curtain and vanity...oh and those pink tiles.

Next is a pic of the master bedroom. This wallpaper was painful to remove. And the plaster walls underneath were in pretty rough shape. They weren't cracked but were uneven, any worse and you would have thought they were textured walls. The hardwood floors were in pretty rough shape; there were some dark stains in parts and the polyeurethane was completely worn out exposing some thirsty, graying oak.

Off of the master bedroom is a captive bedroom. As it doesn't have its own entrance realtors can't call it a bedroom. We call it the office.

Finishing up the upstairs rooms is the guest bedroom. The house has 2 front doors and two sets up stairs going to the second floor. The second set in effect give this bedroom a private entrance, which will be great when we rent it out. Just kidding. Anyway, here's a couple of pics of this room:

Here's a detail of the wall, or more specifically some pipe that sticks out of the wall. Note the attractive wallpaper. This one wasn't as bad when it came to removing but it still wasn't a blast.
Downstairs:
We really haven't done anything to the downstairs yet, so what you see isn't that far off from where things are right now.
Kitchen pics:

Here's one half of the kitchen. Its a good sized room, more or less 15 1/2 feet by 12 feet. Behind that fridge is the half bath. The wallpaper and the cabinets are by now long gone.
Now take your eye off the wallpaper for a minute and look at that layout. What is going on there? Theres so much that is just plain wrong there I don't know where to begin. Well, first, whats these washer and dryer units doing in there? They take up half the kitchen! Second, what is up with that corner nook? Its COMPLETELY useless. The cabinet space in that area is inaccessible. Third, the sink is actually partly in that area so you have to slide your way between the wall to stand in front of the sink. You've got a kitchen window but its completely wasted in this layout...things will change in this corner of the kitchen, you just wait.
Living Room & Dining Room:
By far the largest room in the house is the dining room. Its around 19 x 12. The living room is one of the smallest rooms in the house, although its by no means tiny. I think its around 12 1/2 feet x 14 1/2 feet. Our problem with these rooms is that we would use the dining room the least. I love to cook but I'll have people over for dinner maybe once a month, whereas we're using the living room daily. So right now the plan is to have the dining room become the living room and vice versa. That way our supper table that I built last year wouldn't get lost in the expanse of the dining room (the table is 5 feet long so in a 19 foot long room it just wouldn't shine like it does otherwise). Anyway, we haven't done anything to either room and colors have yet to be determined. Here's some before pics of these two rooms:



and here's the half bath: