* Remodelaholic

Cause sometimes, I like to show off....

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Just thought I would give a shout out to

Roeshel of the DIY Show Off!

THANK YOU!

She was kind enough to feature my half bath Retro Remodel from my post here, today!

The one that went from this to this:

Enter here; Entry Remodel Plans

Our house is your basic builder's grade house. Nothing interesting, no great finishes. The entry is no exception. This is what it looked like when we walked through the house.

For the last little while we have been making plans. I wanted to show you some of these today. The only caveat is that we have no time frame as to when exactly we will get this done... It is just how we work. See, if the weather gets good, we have a project to do outside. Or somethings need to be organized before I go insane, we try to get to that first, cause going insane is not a good thing!...

Which means, while we will try to get this done asap, for our sakes as well as your inquiring minds, I can't make any promises to time lines! But fear not, you will get to see the finished product... sooner or later!

There are a few problems with the entry

1. It is a tight fit.

2. There is no natural light.

3. It is just kinda blah....

4. It felt like an undefined space. (one of the problems with one plans to me, is the lack of defined spaces, the entry just sort of melted into the family room)

My goals: (pretty much the opposite of the problems...)

1. Open up the space

2. Let in some light

3. Give it some character

4. Define the space, as it's own little room.

5. A small table for keys and a mirror, (so I can see how bad i look when I answer the front door).

So, I started drawing up options. I am a person who likes to see what I am doing. Also, since Justin and I collaborate on projects it is the best way to communicate back and forth. Needless to say there are usually a lot of these plans, in varying degrees of "finished-ness". While we are building it, we sketch our versions of how it should be done until we come up with the best solution. There are always a lot of changes!

1st try not the final plan. Our first attempt at coming up with a solution.

The attempts to fix problems, are as follows

The new newel posts sit on the first stair, instead of on the floor in front of them,

this gained us 6 inches of extra width.

A small 1' deep console table, very open.

Corbels in the open space to create some sort of header to define the spaces a little more.

2nd attempt, after deciding to have arches into the kitchen.
We were figuring out what it would look like with a full arch into the entry.

We also had new plans for the door headers. You can see that we have already made some changes to the entry, i.e. painting the door black, but I will show you that later.

Same day view from the kitchen, to see how the two arches would sort of look together,
and a possible black handrail.

3rd option, While looking through some magazines and old tear files I found these images that I really liked, which sparked a new, altogether more open option.

We discussed the plans and Justin made a 3d model of the space with our few changes,

and the idea is getting very close to done.

This was basically the last plan we had come up with. It opens the space up tremendously. The new arch above defines the spaces, The stairs look custom, grand and beautiful. So, this is what we have had in mind, but there is still one major problem, NO natural light.

Enter our last solution, not quite fully worked out. I will have to explain this in depth after our visit to the window store on Saturday. But here is the sketch:

Notice the large window?

Remember how I was talking to ya'll about stained glass?

Well, I will explain that in more detail on my next "designing our house" post....

What do you think of the new plan?

(i hope you don't hate it, cause we are already working on it.... and it is probably not going to change much)

**EDIT: To let you know why I don't want to replace the door to add natural light. First because of the budget! Hello, expensive!! But also, we get a LOT of solicitors in our neighborhood, and my no soliciting sign does not always stop them. So, often times I check out my trusty little peep hole to decide if I am going to answer. If I had a window on my front door, it would be hard to look through and see who is there, before deciding on whether or not to answer the door, cause they could see me. But I promise, I have a solution that will work! (Thanks Emily for the question!)

They've got a way! Guest Remodel Project

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Ronda from Batchelor's Way sent me this great bathroom transformation, links to part one and part two. They used finds from the restore, goodwill stores and what she already had(my kind of remodeling!!) I hope you enjoy the project!

We have been finishing our basement one room at a time, and we have just finished the boy's bathroom down there. We do most of the work ourselves this helps us to be able to afford all our home improvement projects. We also find less exspensive ways of doing things.

Let me share our journey of the bathroom and how we saved. We knew we wanted to tile the shower/tub walls because we wanted the tile to go all the way to the ceiling. I don't know about you but my teenage sons, take the hottest showers so tile walls really help.

Anyway, I priced the tile at about $200 at Lowes. That was using mostly small plain tiles. But then I went to the ReStore, (which is like a second hand home improvement store.) That's were I got creative with the tiles I found there. My hubby and I came up with what would work with what they had, and the tiles ended up costing us just over $60. Savings of around $140. SWEET! I think they turned out wonderful.

I saved money on the paint even though I painted the bathroom twice. First I painted it this light apple green. Why? 'cause it was left over from the upstairs bathroom. But there is no natural light in this room and it was glowing green like some sort of alien. Then I took some leftover white I had and mixed it with some dark brown my sister had left over. I really like how it turned out. Both paints were free so I call the color Free Mocha.

Next I picked up these floor tiles at a Black Friday sale at Lowes, $26 for the tile to cover the whole bathroom floor. I convinced my hubby that we should lay them on the diagonal, I love the look. We used dark grey grout for two reasons. #1 grout will eventually end up that color, especially with teenage boys. #2 We had to buy a bag which would cover more than that bathroom, so this color will work on our bathroom up stairs. Two for the price of one.

We planned on moving our mirror down there if we could get it off the wall in one piece, but we need storage. After all, four boys will eventually share this one bathroom. That solution came one day when we were shopping at DI, and found thes babies! Two matching corner medicine cabinets for $10 bucks each! I sanded them primed them, touched them up, painted the outside black, and put stone like contact paper on each shelf. Instant storage that doesn't look to shabby!

Here's our mirror prior to moving.

Here's the finished product.

One of the high cost on any project tends to be the lighting. Why light fixtures cost so much is beyond me. But you know me, I don't pay those silly high prices. I found this white light fixture at the ReStore for $5, still in the box brand spanking new. I of coarse spray painted it black. It did not come with the glass parts. But I was patient. And last week I found I found four perfect glass parts at DI for $1 each. That's $9 totall for my light fixture. We had picked one out at Lowes that was similar but cost $43. That's a $34 savings. Love it!!!

Here she is all painted and installed. She looks good!

Decorating the bathroom on a small budget started with inexspensive fabric from Walmart. I used it to make a shower curtain. It cost about $9 and I made it extra tall because I like the look and it keeps more water from spraying over the top. The fabric had different surfboards all over it. So, I gathered up what scrapbooking supplies I had in coordinating colors and made paper surf boards mounted on foam to give them a 3-D look. Then I mounted the whole thing in some black frames I already had.

Next I found this metal trash can at DI for $1. I brought it home, taped it off and spray painted it (of course).

I plan on buying each boy their own color of towel. Grey, black, brown, and tan. That helps keep track of whose towel is whose. So far I've only purchased the grey ones. I also like to use hooks instead of towel bars. It's easier for kids I think. I attached a piece of bias tape to make it easy to hang it on the hook.

I needed a hand towel holder but didn't have a very big space. So we used an industrial handle and Spray painted it black. I like it cause it holds the towel in place better when they are drying their hands.

Also, I just love this shelf above the toilet. I got it for free from my lovely neighbor. Only it was about four feet long. So my wonderful hubby cut it in half and put it back together. I added a short peice of one by two piece of wood behind the fancy supports to beef it up a little. I just love it. I wanted the shelf for a basket to fill with good old TP. (At our house someone seems to always be yelling from behind the bathroom doors, "Can someone bring me some TP?" Hopefully this will help.) I already had the basket. I picked up the cute plaque I picked up at Salvation Army for $1.

The Final Product:

That's our latest and greatest project. I love it! And I love that it's done!

Ronda, WOW! I am tired just thinking about it!

I am so impressed with all the great deals!

What do you all think?

Now it's your turn. Do you have a great remodeling project to show off, submit your projects to me today!

Lucky You! Cheater's Cream of Broccoli Soup

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Since I did not decorate in any way for the holiday the least I could do is eat green food, right? Yea, I know, who wants to eat green food? Me! As, long as the item is naturally green, and isn't just dyed green. So, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite, 15 minute meals, Fake it- Broccoli Soup.

I love a good Cream of Broccoli soup, but usually when the word cream proceeds the word soup, it means you shouldn't eat it. So, while on my little stint with Weight Watchers(which when I have the time works well for me), I worked this little baby out and I think it was only 2 points per serving. So, not only can you eat it and enjoy it, you can feel good about it too!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

(serves at least 8, I make it large and then freeze individual servings in ziplock bags,

for when I need to eat, but don't want to cook- which is pretty much everyday!)

1 bag frozen Broccoli Florettes

1 bag frozen Cauliflower Florettes

1/2 medium onion

3 cans Cream of Broccoli Soup

1-2 cans chicken broth

1/2 bag frozen peas

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups water

optional garnish:

Dallop of sour cream

Shredded Cheddar

In a large saucepan add chicken broth, water and frozen broccoli and Cauliflower.

Meanwhile in a small saute pan, spray a little shot of cooking spray and add the onions,

saute till translucent and soft.

When the broccoli and cauliflower are soft add the 3 cans cream of Broccoli soup and sauted onion. And then puree in batches in your blender or food processor. Because there is not thickening agent in this soup, pureeing is key, it is what gives the soup thickness.

Return soup to pot add the peas and salt and pepper to taste, bring up to heat and then serve! Easy-peasy!

We served ours with Parmesan toast- which can be the "gold"!

butter lightly some bread or rolls of your choice

(optional) light sprinkle of Garlic Salt

sprinkle with Parmesan

Toast! Till the Parmesan is golden brown!

(we use our trusty little toaster oven but you could broil it in the oven)

Link up a recipe!

Ugly Garage Door Be-Gone! Carriage Door Tutorial!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Thanks to Randy of Capelli Design Group, the project we've been waiting for is here!

If any of you Dallas/Fort Worth locals would like to have this done for you, while you sit back and relax, please contact Randy his email is randy@capellidesigngroup.com.

The before is below:

I have been scheming of ways to to make my garage doors into faux carriage doors for a while, but our friend Randy did it first! That makes my life SO MUCH EASIER!! Luckily, he and his wife took a ton of pictures too, so that we could feature it on the blog. And, I KNOW you all wanna see how it is done, well, here you go!

We have worked very hard and have spent a lot of time creating this tutorial! This project may not be reproduced on any blog without receiving Remodelaholic's written permission before posting. If you receive permission, you may use the finished garage door image only, and link back to Remodelaholic for the tutorial. No part of the tutorial may be copied except for personal incidental noncommercial home use. If you build the project, and post about it, please link back to the instructions on Remodelaholic. Thank you.

Supplies:

(for a 7' x 16' door)

4 sheets of 4 x 8' outdoor groove board

Pine 1 x 6 (plus any wider segments you might need)
(Length according to design and panels on garage door)

Liquid Nail adhesive

Self Tapping Screws

Nails

Stain/Paint

Decorative Hardware
Garage door opener Springs

Tools:

Circular saw

Miter saw or handsaw and miter box (to keep cuts straight)

Jig saw or reciprocating saw

Drill

Hammer

Caulking Gun

**The space that is left at the top of the door in order to be able to operate, can be covered on the door frame (the actual wall portion of the opening) with an extra piece of case molding.

Remember that this could work for single garage doors too. And whatever design you love best you can try to imitate. Look for the carriage doors that you love, I sketched a few random options out, cause I like to sketch, no they are not perfect but you get the idea right? Good.