DIY #3 (Waterproofing) Complete...

On Tuesday, Adam and I were able to muster up the energy to complete DIY project #3. The master shower and guest tub/shower are now officially sealed and water proofed. It only took about an hour to apply the second coat of the RedGuard and we were able to officially check this project off the list! Personally, I think we could get used to the pink but Adam is not going for it haha.

Master shower before

Master shower after 

We were expecting the fascia and remainder of the siding and shake shingle to go up this week but I guess, because of the three consecutive days of rain, those projects have been on hold. There were a few things done on the inside of the house though. The second coat of primer was sprayed on the walls throughout, the interior doors were installed, and the liner of the outdoor fireplace was finally fixed. I now have my herringbone refractory patter and the standard brick is gone (yay)! We received an email from our builder to go approve the baseboards and moulding samples that he left in the kitchen but some very diligent worker locked all the doors to the house so we couldn't get in (I guess we will be asking for a key tomorrow hehe).

New herringbone liner in.

Peeking through our locked up house to check the progress

The interior doors are up (pic through the window since we could not get in).

R Cabinet Studio also came out yesterday and took the final measurements for the kitchen cabinets. We are meeting next week to go over the final plans. Stay tuned for the fabulous kitchen sneak peak...

Tile Time...

Well, it was another house filled weekend... With the drywall team having finished up last week, the painters began their work. We haven't finalized any interior paint colors yet but they did go in and spray the initial priming coat to even out the drywall and where the joints were taped. It is crazy how much of a difference a little white paint can make. We decided to go with smooth ceilings which look awesome even with just the initial primer coat!

guest bath entry/hallway, great room, kitchen, and dining room with primer coat

master bedroom

garage

Saturday morning we met with the tile guy, Danny, and discussed our plans for the tile and how much of each we would need to order. The only floors that will be tiled will be both bathrooms and the laundry room. We picked the same floor tile for all three rooms to have some continuity and simplicity. We went with a tile called "bambu light" from Floor and Decor (for some reason the picture on the website is much more beige than the actual tile). It is definitely a more contemporary looking tile with linear lines of blues, creams, and grays running throughout. With the majority of the house being done in a transitional style with a great deal of classic and traditional elements, I love the juxtaposition that this contemporary tile offers to the design. In the second (guest) bath, we are sticking with a simple yet timeless white subway tile. I have big plans for that space and do not want something that will be busy or a competing focal point. Plus, I happen to love the timeless look of subway tile. We picked another classic for the indoor fireplace, a Carrera Marble herringbone on a convenient 12x12 mesh. We haven't picked the kitchen backsplash yet, but the fireplace tile is a strong contender for that as well. The master shower, though, is definitely my favorite tile project of them all. After finding a couple of inspiration pictures online, I fell in love with the concept of stripes for the master shower and, of course, I wanted to incorporate mint! After a ton of hunting, I found the most perfect mint green penny tile (to say that I am obsessed is an understatement)! To highlight the mint tile, we are going to use a beveled edge white 4x8in subway tile. We had to go with the beveled edge so that the width of the subway tile would match the width of the penny tile which is thinner than the standard wall tile width (this is the only tile left for us to still order). The plan is to do a total of four 6 in penny tile stripes and one 12 in stripe with 12 in subway tile stripes in between each one (I am giddy just thinking about it)! The best part about the tile, though, is that, so far, it is all under budget (wahoo)! Due to most of the tile that we needed being on back order, we were only able to actually bring home the subway tile for the guest bath and the herringbone tile for the fireplace. The floor tile and bullnose for the subway tile are on backorder and will be in 6/24. The mint green penny tile was ordered online and is one its way! Once the tile is in, work will begin and the first major finishing of the home will be underway!

  

Carrera Marble herringbone for fireplace, Bambu Light floor tile, Mint penny tile for master shower stripes,  Subway tile for guest bath

After the assistance of 3 employees and
checking 4 departments, we finally
found the RedGard (in flooring)!

To stick with the tile theme this weekend, Adam and I also started our third DIY home project today. The drywall team installed the "purple drywall" in both showers, which is now all that is required for code compliance apparently. While this product is moisture and mold resistant, it is recommended that an additional moisture barrier is applied before the tile is placed. To have our tile guy apply this moisture barrier, it would have cost us $150 per shower ($300 total). Thanks to Home Depot and our willingness to get our hands dirty, the project only cost us $78 (the product was only $50 but we needed some painting supplies). The product we used is called "RedGard" and rolls on like a very thick paint. This was hands down our easiest home DIY to date and only took about an hour and a half. We will go back tomorrow to apply the second coat and then this project will be complete and the showers will be ready for tile.

Surprise, it is hot pink!

Have a great week!

Gettin' Techy Part 2...

As previously mentioned a couple of posts ago, our first DIY project was running the low voltage wiring for the home. In the first post about this project back on June 15th, we had just completed running the coaxial cable and cat-5 for our cable and data and were planning on running the pre-wiring for a security system. Unfortunately, between the building schedule, our trip to Chicago, and Adam getting the oh so fun vertigo following our trip, we did not have time for security. However, because we are doing a one story and have a very accessible attic, we have been assured that this is something we can easily run later. We did however, still need to finish our project by installing the low voltage media box, and building a shelf in the pantry for our speaker receiver. Last week we did just that and finally tackled the second and final part of this project.

We ordered a 28in Leviton media box which would be installed in our pantry or, as previously dubbed, our "technology hub." Now, of course, this box was narrower than the studs it had to go between so we dug through the scrap wood pile (something I recommend everyone have on site during their build), and used some scrap 2x4 to frame out the space for the box. Once that was completed, we had the fun job of punching out the metal "knock outs" where the wires and power supply would run through and into the box. If you ever need to do this on your own, do not believe the instructions that say to simply twist them out with a screwdriver. You need some serious muscle and prying with that screwdriver to get those things out. Even this video on You Tube that we used for instructions makes it look much easier than it was. I definitely recommend knocking them out prior to mounting the box (this is different than the video instructs but will make the process much easier). Once they were removed, we used the foam pads that came with the box to go over the knock out holes and cut an X slit for the wires to run through. Next, we placed the box between the built out studs and screwed it in. Make sure when you do this that it is not sticking out too far in the back or front to interfere with the drywall (I say this, of course, because we did haha). The first time we hung the box, I went around to the back to admire our work and saw that it was drastically hanging out past the studs so, we took it down and re-hung it. The second time it was perfect and totally worth marveling at!

Scrap wood to build out the wall (6/30/14)

Screwing in the box..it was a late night, thank goodness for head lamps! (thanks mom and dad)

The box is in! (6/30/14)

With the box hung, we were ready to build our shelf that would house the receiver for the surround speakers. With the help of our neighbor, Mike, and his tools, (something we are lacking right now having no where to currently store them in our tiny condo), we tackled this project. Unfortunately, the drywall crew had already begun to drywall the house so we had to cut out a small section in order to access the studs, frame out the wall, and secure the shelf. Again, we utilized the scrap wood pile, and found enough scraps to frame out either side of the wall and build our shelf. To achieve the correct depth, we needed to use two pieces of scrap wood for the shelf which I cut myself with a circular saw (yay power tools)! Once the shelves were measured and cut, Mike and Adam drilled them into the wood we had already placed between each stud and voila! We had a shelf for free! We re-nailed the pieces of drywall that we cut out and, the next day, the drywall crew kindly patched our holes and dry walled the shelf. It is amazing what a litle drywall can do to make something look like it was done by a professional.

Using the circular saw, I want one! (7/1/14)

Drywall to the rescue...the (mostly) finished product. (7/1/14)

We now have our box and shelf and, thanks to Mike's friend and electrician Orlando, the electrical was run through the bottom of the box so that no unsightly wires will be visible. He also added a ground copper wire to our ground rod and is adding a box for the cable company to tap into outside of the home. This will prevent the cable guys from drilling into our new pretty home when they come out (even though we have been cable free for almost 2 months now - amazing)!

While we were in there making a mess of things this past week, the drywall crew also began their work. They plan on having all of the drywall finished and prepped for paint by the end of the week!

Drywall is up...stage one (7/1/14) Also, the indoor fireplace is in (the black will be tiled over).

With our DIY projects out of the subcontractors hair, they have really been able to accomplish a lot with the drywall. Stay tuned for updates on the inside of the home with complete drywall and on the beginning of our finishing selections: wood and tile!

Insulation: DIY Project #2

When we set out on this crazy adventure and massive project, I told Adam that I wanted to learn as much as possible and consequently also get my hands as dirty as possible. I had visions of following around subcontractors learning how to do a little bit of everything so that I could become "little miss handy." Turns out, although Nicole Curtis from Rehab Addict does it all the time, the subs don't exactly enjoy some little blonde girl bothering them on the job hehe. Luckily, there were plenty of other projects for us to dive into....

Growing up, I was my father's only child and thus, at times, was expected to play the dual role of daughter and son. My dad is a very handy man and so any school project of mine usually involved building something. As a child, I quickly learned that you should measure twice and cut once, sawdust in the eyes is a bad thing, and power tools give a great adrenaline rush but are something that require great focus and know how. I loved the satisfaction that came with being able to say "I made that" and knew that I wanted to be able to say that about our future home. 

In the previous post, you saw us begin to tackle the low voltage wiring (stay tuned for a future post on round two of that project). Since then, we have also completed our second DIY project. Upon returning home from our Chicago vacation on June 23rd, a lot of progress had been made on the house. The exterior insulation had been completed, some of the siding was up, and the drywall was set to begin the following week. This meant that our second DIY project of putting in the interior wall insulation needed to happen ASAP so that we did not hold up the drywall. Unfortunately, on our flight back from Chicago, Adam got a case of acute vertigo (BPPV) which he had never had before and spent the next few days lying in bed and throwing up. After about three days and some

vestibular PT from our friend Josh Smith (thanks Josh!),  Adam was at least able to tolerate standing up and going to the property. What he could not tolerate was looking up or any excessive head movement which meant that the interior insulation would be my job. Fortunately, we decided only to do a few select walls including the master bedroom, and front bedroom. The other room is separated by a hallway and closets so we did not feel the need to insulate those walls. We purchased the insulation at home depot where we learned an extremely valuable tip: if you rub baby oil on your arms/hands/neck, the fiberglass will not stick to you (brilliant - I still used gloves though too). We also referenced You Tube for tips on cutting around for outlets and wiring. It turns out that insulation cuts fairly easily with a bread knife so I simply measured where each outlet or wire was and cut it out on the insulation then nestled the wire into the slot or pulled out some of the insulation for the electrical box to fit into. It took two nights and a ton of staples but I was able to get all desired interior walls insulated in time for the drywall team.

We also had to re-run one of our low voltage wires: the one that ran from the box to the ground bar in the garage. While we were gone, the house had already been fireproofed (a fire proof foam was sprayed into all of the holes drilled by the electrical and plumbing, and us). This meant trying to wiggle the cable that we needed to remove loose and then sliding the other one into place. Fortunately this was not as difficult as we thought and I was able to remove the original cable that was too short and run a new, longer one. However, with Adam out of commission, it took twice as long but did get completed on time.

Like I mentioned before, while we were gone, there was a lot of progress made on the house. The exterior wall insulation was installed, the siding is now almost complete, the fireproofing was done, and the interior fireplace was installed. It is amazing how fast this process is moving now!

Siding is almost finished and ready for paint

Fireproofing (the orange foam fills the holes that were drilled to prevent a fire from spreading through the spaces and throughout the home

Exterior wall insulation. The ceiling/attic will be blown in.

I trash picked this AMAZING fabric from someone's curbside. Not sure what I will do with it yet but I had to have it since it is from one of my all time favorite rooms ever! See below) 

One of my favorite rooms ever from Southern Living. The fabric I found is used on the chairs.

The finished product of our first DIY project - low voltage wiring - up next...