Archive for December, 2009
Seriously?!
Yesterday we learned that Young House Love was named one of the World’s Best Design Blogs by The London Times when we shockingly noticed our name on their top fifty list. Insanely enough we came in at number twelve. As in, they think we’re the 12th best design blog in the world. Isn’t that kind of mind blowing? We’re still pinching ourselves. And we’re thrilled to be in good company with a slew of stateside and international blogs that we know and love (like Apartment Therapy, Desire To Inspire, Decor8, Design Sponge, Making It Lovely, Chez Larsson, SF Girl By Bay, and Brooklyn Limestone to name a few).
Here’s a link to the page with our little ol’ mention, and here’s the main page where the article begins so you can click through the entire top 50 (this roundup is chock full of amazing blogs that we definitely recommend checking out!). Your google reader won’t even know what hit it.
In summary: Ahhhhhhh! We’re nerds. And this made our year.
Jonel’s Design Dilemma
Jonel’s blank slate of a living room is raw and ready for a major update. Here’s her letter:
My living room needs help! I don’t know my exact style but I would like a comfortable, light, and airy living space. I like country with a bit of casual modern. I also like natural items. I don’t mind patterns. I like neutrals, greens, blues and grays- nothing very bold and bright but I am honestly up for any color scheme you think would work. The blue carpet will be removed to reveal the hardwood floors underneath. This is my first home so I will need a couch, chairs (I like the Dolce one from Target you have), coffee and/or side tables, window treatments, tv/entertainment area, light fixtures, storage options, and whatever else you see fit. I have a 5 year old daughter and 2 puppies so I would like a couch or chairs that are easy to clean up although I really prefer not to have leather ones. Also, in front of the fireplace on the floor are some loose red bricks that I would like to change, any suggestions? Thank you so much. I can’t wait for your suggestions. -Jonel
Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
1. Once that old blue carpeting comes up and the hardwood floors are revealed, this space will already be on the way to a huuuge makeover. Plus some light yet warm tan paint (Glidden’s Water Chestnut) will look great on the walls when combined with a crisp white fireplace, trim, and doors. And since Jonel mentioned that she’d love a suggestion for the cracked and loose brick tiles on the floor in front of the fireplace, we think replacing them with simple and clean white 12″ floor tile (or even small white mosaic tiles or subway tile) will extend that clean white tone from the brick down onto the surround for even more presence and cozy style. We’d also suggest upgrading the railing to a basic clean-lined dark wood or painted white one for an instant facelift. When it comes to the rest of the color palette we’ll be bringing in some rich chocolate wood tones and layering in some golden and wheaty neutrals along with soft sage and celery greens and a fair amount of soft tan and cream to keep things casual, open and inviting.
2. We love these three pillows which will serve as small bursts of color and texture since Jonel prefers neutral larger pieces (which are always a timeless choice). We’d love to see the patterned pillow (on sale!) on the chair that we’ll be bringing in as well as on the sectional (along with the other two pillows – this one and this one- each appearing at least twice on the sectional to break it up and add inviting warmth and cozy style).
3. We always love a large mirror over the fireplace to bounce around lots of light, but because Jonel’s space has lot of large doorways and openings we thought a large square piece of art would also look great. This luxe oversized canvas is ready to hang (no framing required- plus it’s light and easy to mount) and it has hits of warm wheat, gold, cream and a lot of other tones in our color scheme to create a stunning focal point above the fireplace.
4. Jonel mentioned that she loved the Dolce Lounge Chair that we have in our den and living room so we headed over to Target to find one for her. Imagine our surprise when we learned that they now make them in a soft sage color, which is perfect for injecting a bit of interest and a splash of subtle color to Jonel’s living room. Plus the price is right! When it comes to the placement of the seating area, we’d love to see the L-shaped sectional positioned so it faces the fireplace and the large doorway without the french doors (since we’ll place the TV to the right of that doorway for easy viewing). Then the sage slipper chair can be placed about 5 feet in front of the doorway facing in towards the sectional to create a U-shaped seating area that feels balanced and floats in the middle of the room on an area rug that will ground everything and create a cozy and inviting room within a room.
5. We’d love to see these feathery golden-yellow blooms in a gold or tan vase on the left side of the fireplace mantel (layered in front of the art which will hang on that wall above the mantel) for an asymmetrical and cheerful effect.
6. Hanging this gorgeous pendant light full of golds and greens about 12″ from the ceiling will really update the entire room (we’d love to see it centered on the fireplace- it looks like the fixture box might need to be moved a smidge to the left but that shouldn’t be a major undertaking since the room is still pretty raw). By centering it on the fireplace it will also end up in the middle of our floating seating arrangement to further define that area and create and inviting and balanced effect in an instant.
7. We love the idea of a large storage ottoman used as a coffee table so Jonel can stash toys, games, and anything else she loves to keep out of plain sight in a moment’s notice. Plus ottomans are super kid friendly and this one has a great microfiber-ish texture that’s easy to maintain and keep clean thanks to the forgiving color. And if Jonel is ever entertaining and in need of a more solid surface she can simply lay a large tray on the ottoman to create a coffee table-ish effect in a snap. And because the slipcovered sectional that we’ve chosen for the space has a nice right angle, the ottoman will mimic that shape and tuck right in to complete the seating area and tie the slipper chair and the sectional together for a nice U-shaped seating area that’s effortlessly casual and undeniably comfortable.
8. Here’s the much mentioned slipcovered sectional that will add kid-friendly and dog-friendly style (and comfort!) to the room in a snap. We love that half of it will face the fireplace while the other half will face the wall with the doorway sans french doors (where we’ll be placing the TV). We also like that the rolled arms and the slipcovered nature of the sofa bring in a dose of country style which Jonel mentioned that she liked while the clean-lined shape still fits in with the casual modern feeling that she also enjoys. And once Jonel tosses about five of those green accent pillows on the sofa to break it up and add textural interest it’ll look even more plush and cozy.
9. This media stand (on clearance!) is meant to be placed in the corner of a room and we think it’s perfect for the corner to the right of the doorway without the french doors (which is one of the only places to put a TV in the entire room). The rich dark wood is perfectly classic-meets-modern but it’s still much more casual than a large oversized armoire since the flatscreen TV will be out and easy to see from the half of the sectional which faces that wall. Perfect for the comfy and laid-back vibe that Jonel adores.
10. We love this 8 x 10 striped rug since it’s full of so many of the colors in our palette. Plus the stripes mimic the lines in the chandelier that will be hanging overhead for a cohesive and layered sophistication that’s still simple and inviting. We’d love to see it centered in the room with the sectional on two sides of it and the slipper chair on the third side facing the wall with the french doors to create a perfect u-shaped seating area with great views of the fireplace and the TV. And popping the plush storage ottoman in the middle of the rug will be the icing on the cake.
Oh and this round country-chic side table can be placed between the sectional and the slipper chair to further join them in a U-shaped arrangement if Jonel would like even more places to store or place things beyond the ottoman. And speaking of places to store things, we love the idea of putting one of these light and airy dark wood bookcases on both sides of the fireplace to create an almost built-in and balanced effect while providing additional display and storage space. And accessorizing them with woven baskets, hardcover books, and gold and green accessories (like potted plants, candle holders, vases, bowls, figurines, etc) will really complete the look.
As for the windows we’d love to see these soft neutral roman shades hanging high above each window on either side of the fireplace for even more balance and style (mounting them just about an inch or two below the ceiling will make the windows look even bigger and more lovely).
So there you have it. A living room full of light and casual style. We can’t wait to see what you guys think!
Update: We sadly can no longer find the time to take on client commissioned mood boards (we now whip up general inspiration boards instead) but if we ever reinstate them we’ll make a big announcement!
Tackling The Basement: Chapter Nine
We’re back to share a quick and easy window-frosting tutorial as promised last week. We knew our basement windows were completely devoid of privacy and therefore could use a bit of cover, but we didn’t want to hang heavy blinds that we kept perpetually closed since that would definitely rob the room of tons of light. Enter the idea of window film. We actually used it to frost the original master bathroom window after we moved in. Then we later replaced all of our windows and realized our private backyard didn’t provide a good view of the bathroom since it’s up so high, so we opted not to redo the frosting treatment afterwards. But the basement is certainly a lot easier to peer into than the bathroom, so out came the idea of window frosting film again.
We snagged a roll of it at Home Depot for $18.98 (we needed just one to do both windows and the large pane of glass in the door). Oh and the brand was called Gila if that helps anyone. We also grabbed a spray bottle of film adhesive along with a a tool kit complete with a squeegie-ish device and a knife to help with the application for seven more bucks. So for $26 we added privacy without blocking all the light that filters into the room and makes it feel less cave-like and dungeon-esque.
But before we got to the frosting fun we had some seriously dirty windows to deal with. Not only were they coated with dust and grime, they actually had Drylok spatters all over them (both inside and out- go figure!) so first we had to get them cleaned up and ready for their close up.
All the splatters were no match for a straight edge razor, which we always recommend using with extreme caution. Fingers are kind of important when you’re as obsessed with painting and projects as we are, so we guard ours with our life. Grippy gloves can help as long as they’re tight enough to feel snug and not cumbersome, and the best approach is always slow and steady. Of course you can grab a utility knife holder for even more control (which we recommend for your safety- this photo is just a pic of our process, not our suggested approach for others). So be extra safe, take a deep breath, channel the tortoise (as opposed to the hare), and watch that paint come peeling off!
You should be left with pretty darn clean windows, and following your little razor session with a glass cleaner wipedown should be all the prep you need. Basically you know you’re ready to frost your windows when they look so sparkly that it almost seems wrong to cover them up with anything. They’ll gleam like diamonds I tell ya.
But frost them you must (well you don’t have to, but in our case it was definitely the way to go). So the next step is to carefully measure each pane of glass that you want to frost. This is important because you’re not measuring the entire window if it’s made up of two side by side panes (like ours is above), so be sure to measure each glass pane individually, no matter how many there are in each window.
Then add an inch on each side of those measurements, so if your window is 15″ wide by 20″ tall you will write down 17″ by 22″ (an inch on each side means adding two inches to each measurement). Then it’s time to whip out the roll of frosting film from the box. It’ll look like a long roll of white wrapping paper with a shiny clear side and a more matte frosted side. Now’s the cutting and measuring part. Grab a ruler (or a t-square if you have one on hand) and measure and cut boxes out of the film that meet the measurements that you recorded (the ones with extra inches on each side, not the exact measurements of the windows). You can either use a pencil to trace each box out onto the matte frosted side and then cut them out OR just cut without drawing anything out (being sure you end up with a box that’s pretty close to the larger measurements you recorded).
After you cut out a slightly oversized square of window film for each pane you’re ready to separate the film from the glossy plastic backing, which can easily be done by placing a piece of tape on each side of a corner (being careful not to let the tops touch or they’ll just stick together completely). They should each adhere to their respective side so you’ll be able to use them to separate the frosting film (seen below on the left) from the clear plastic protective backing (seen on the right) which won’t be applied to the window in the end.
So go ahead and pull those two layers apart about halfway down the square until it looks a little something like this:
It definitely helps to have two people for this job by the way. That way one person can hold the half-peeled film up while the other sprays the window and then both sides of the frosted part of the film with the application solution (ours was called Gila Window Film Application Solution by the way). Note: we’ve heard you can forgo buying the application spray and just fill a spray bottle with water and a drop of dishwashing liquid, but since we didn’t have an empty spray bottle and use eco-detergent (which we weren’t sure would work since it’s plant based) we opted to just buy the Glia solution for $3.50 since it was cheaper than buying a spray bottle and more mainstream dish detergent). We have also heard that some frosting films only require water to adhere them, so be sure to read the directions included with yours.
Once the window and half of the back side of the frosting film (as shown in the image above) is adequately misted (along with the entire front part) it’s time to apply it to the window pane. Thanks to the inch of leeway on each side of the film there’s no worry about placing it perfectly and you can easily trim things down to a perfectly snug fit once you get them more securely in place.
The film should stick pretty well to your window, but won’t look seamless at all at this point. Oh and you can pull off the other half of the clear plastic film (while someone else holds the frosted piece in place from the top two corners of the window). Now the only layer on the window is the frosted film with about an inch of overlap on each side. You’ll see tons of bubbles and streaks but fret not.
Here’s where the fun plastic squeegie-thing comes in handy. Just glide it across the window film to push all those dastardly bubbles out to the edges of the film (where they’ll magically disappear). Do this for as long as it takes to remove all the bubbles for a near-perfect and seamless look (except for that extra inch of film around the edge of the pane). It’s worth noting that the edges of the film might look a bit bubbled and won’t form a tight seal on the window until they’re trimmed down to fit, so don’t worry about a little imperfections around the perimeter of the pane, just get the rest of the window looking great.
Then take an exacto knife and carefully place it firmly between the edge of the window pane and the window trim (our exacto came in the kit with the plastic squeegie thing that we grabbed for $4- so worth it just for that yellow squeegie thing). Hug the window frame tightly as you slowly pull the knife, using the edge as a guide for a perfectly trimmed piece of frosted film that ends right where the window frame begins.
And that my friends is how it’s done. Really, it’s easy! As long as you have an extra person on hand (and aren’t trying to cut your frosted film exactly to the size of your windows- the inch overlap and trimming method really results in the best fit) it should be relatively straightforward.
It probably took us less than eight minutes per pane, so we did the entire basement in under 40 minutes. And for $26 we were left with a soft frosted look that gives us privacy without blocking all that pretty daylight that comes in handy when we’re down there looking for something (or, let’s be honest, just standing there admiring our new room).
Oh and it bears mentioning that the frosted film is 100% privacy effective. As in, no matter the time of day or the light level inside or outside, you can’t see through it. Which is definitely nice (how annoying would all that work be if it was only semi-effective?). But as you can see from the photo below, the light still streams into the room right through the film.
Which is really quite amazing since we worried that it might get dark and spooky down there with the addition of the frosted film. Not the case! So we can still easily admire all the other projects that we’ve completed along with our new “privacy please” windows. Like the paint storage station, the vertical bike rack, the carpet square area rug…
… the new overhead light fixture, the DIY screen, the see-through armoires that we obscured with wrapping paper, and all the other undertakings we’ve slowly accomplished over the last one and a half months.
So that closes the door (har-har) on the window-frosting tutorial and the room’s overhaul as a whole.
All that’s left is a little basement roundup post full of photos from start to finish and an always-fun budget breakdown that details the entire cost of our latest major makeover. So as we say so often around here, stay tuned…
Oh and we’d love to hear what window-related projects you guys have recently taken on or put on your to-do list. Any fellow frosting film fans out there? Do tell.
Psst- Want to look back on our big basement makeover from start to almost-finished? Here’s the first post, the second post, the third post, the forth post, the fifth post, the sixth post, and the seventh post and the eigth post. Good times.
Get Wreath The Program
Ok, so that title might have been a bit of a stretch. Forgive me, I’m just a little (ok, a lot) hyper about our latest holiday project. You may remember Cardboard Safari from our recent Sponsor Shout-Out post. Well, they generously sent over two of their amazing white cardboard snowflake wreaths and we couldn’t wait to put them together. One of the most fun things about everything from Cardboard Safari is that it arrives flat in a box, and all the laser cut pieces of recycled cardboard can then be punched out by the lucky recipient and put together, like a highly entertaining 3-D puzzle for adults (you can see us crafting our white Cardboard Safari rhino from a past giveaway right here in fast motion).
It really is our idea of a good time. Especially since we love anything DIY, anything recycled, and anything white. Seriously, can you say jackpot? Here’s how our fun little cardboard wreath started out, just a series of laser cut cardboard sheets just waiting to be punched out and assembled:
Here’s the wreath as it started to take shape (the directions were actually really simple, just the same two steps over and over again). And yes I did make it in bed since I was quarantined in the bedroom while John worked away on this little project.
Here it is as almost completed about ten minutes later:
And here’s the totally finished product…
… which we happily got to make twice since Cardboard Safari generously sent two over. As you can see even animals like their stuff. Probably because many of their products feature animal likenesses but no four-legged (or two-legged) creatures are hurt in the making of these fun cardboard creations. Heck, no trees are even hurt since they’re made from 100% recycled and non-toxic cardboard (that’s local to boot, so no energy is spent shipping things overseas).
And here we have our lovely little snowflake wreaths hanging in the two windows of the den. All it took was some ribbon looped over the curtain rod and we were in business.
And just because we love seasonal decor that can multitask, we also wanted to show you how else you can use these fun little cardboard creations. Check out this little holiday breakfast set-up we whipped up with one of the wreaths as the centerpiece. We imagined a little pancake breakfast around it with the candle in the hurricane softly flickering. Mmm, pancakes.
So what would you guys do with one of these babies? Don’t you love that they’re paintable (and otherwise pimpable) so you can spray them with glitter spray, coat them with a bright glossy candy apple red color, or even hang edible treats around them (wouldn’t candy canes hanging off of a few of the snowflakes look cute n’ tasty?). Let’s chat about how you would customize your own (which you can grab right here by the way). And while we’re at it, let’s talk about wreaths in general. Do you love fresh pine ones? Modern ornament-riddled ones? Architectural square ones? Do tell.
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Tackling The Bathroom: Chapter Two
When we say we’re “tackling a room” it’s usually a figure of speech, but in this case it’s pretty close to being a literal description of our big bathroom demolition weekend (check out this post for more info on why we’re doing it and this post for our plan for the space). The biggest surprise from our weekend of knocking stuff out and gutting the room? Well, the bathroom sorta tackled back.
Before we could be all “in with the new” we had to take care of that pesky ”out with the old” part. Here’s what the bathroom looked like once we cleared all the simple stuff out (baskets, shower curtain, mirror, rug, etc). We told Burger to say goodbye and he wasted no time…
Then Sherry helped me remove all of the fixtures (toilet, vanity, faucets, shelves, shower curtain) and it was up to me to demo out the tiled portion of the walls and the entire floor (since Sherry’s busy doing other important things these days). And demolishing wall and floor tile was actually something I’d never done before (neither had Sherry, and boy was she sad to miss out on the fun). But how hard could smashing stuff up really be? Famous last words, right? After some online research and chatting with friends and family, we readied ourselves with the necessary demolition supplies. They fell into three categories:
- Tools for dismantling and generally busting stuff up (hammer, sledgehammer, small crowbar, screwdrivers, wrenches, razor, drywall saw, etc)
- Supplies for managing the mess (broom, dustpan, rags, buckets, trash cans, heavy duty contractor trash bags, painters tape to cover drains, a shop-vac, etc)
- Items to protect me and/or the house (goggles, gloves, gas mask, old clothes, cardboard and a cloth tarp to lay over the tub, and a plastic drop cloth to seal off the room).
Who knew knocking down a bunch of tiles took so much prep? But in the end I was thankful for (and used) every last item. Here’s the three-day fully detailed rundown.
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Day One: After shopping for all of this stuff last Friday evening, we returned home to do the basic – and cleanest – tasks first. We worked together to remove the old vanity by simply turning off the water, disconnecting the plumbing with a wrench and unscrewing the vanity and sink from where it was attached (both to each other and to the wall). After that it just took one strong tug to lift the sink off and carry it out of the room (quickly followed by the base of the vanity).
With that gone, we turned our attention to the toilet – which we actually plan to reinstall afterwards since we replaced it just a few years ago when we moved in. It was a similar process of turning off the water, then disconnecting the plumbing, the seat, the tank and the bowl one-by-one.
And of course we plugged up the sewage opening with an old rag to prevent any nasty fumes from escaping (and to keep debris from entering later).
With those big items gone- followed by simply unscrewing the shower fixtures- the room was entirely clear and it was time to get rested up for Saturday.
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Day Two: We woke up bright and early thinking that Saturday would be the only demo day. I, the non-pregnant member of our household, was going to be a one-man wrecking ball while Sherry kept her distance from the mess and the dust (trust me, she wasn’t sitting around eating bon-bons she was hovering and wishing she was the one with the sledgehammer). But with our house being built during the era of lead paint, we were EXTREMELY careful about keeping Sherry away from the demo zone AND keeping the demo zone away from Sherry just in case there was any lead paint lurking behind the newer coats of latex (i.e. I didn’t wear my dirty clothes outside of the room, we sealed off the doorway with a thick plastic drop cloth, and any wayward dust or dirt was immediately cleaned up with a wet rag and TSP cleaning solution- which is recommended when dealing with potential lead-paint dust). And of course I was all decked out in my protective gear for added safety (goggles, gas mask, gloves, old clothes that we disposed of afterwards, etc).
Oh and here’s a tip whether you’re dealing with lead dust or just regular dust (which is also nasty and will permeate every cranny of your entire house if you let it). It helps to seal up heating vents, bathroom ceiling fan vents and even to cover your “toilet hole” (yes, that’s a technical term) to keep nasty debris from invading those alcoves (and potentially spewing all over the place once the heat/fan is turned on). Plus you don’t want to clog up your sewer with fallen chunks of wall tile.
Speaking of sealing things off, here’s a view of the heavy duty plastic tarp that Sherry stared at all day, constantly asking me what was going on because she just heard banging, crashing, and probably a fair amount of muttered profanity. It’s just a heavy duty plastic drop cloth, but when taped in place it’s really an amazing way to keep everything nasty in the room… and out of the rest of your home.
But back to the view behind the bubble. As mentioned, I entered looking like a confused comic book character (the googles paired with the gas mask created sort of a pathetic villain vibe) and thanks to all my prep work the night before, I quickly began knocking off those wall tiles. I was implementing a simple crowbar-laid-at-a-tile-edge technique, followed by a few strikes of a short handled sledgehammer. Let’s just say it was slow going. As in, it broke loose a tile or two for every four or five swings of the hammer. Very quickly, the sheer amount of work this would take me started to set in. Not to mention what I discovered behind the tile was NOT modern backerboard or drywall (which I was hoping to saw out) but rather two inch thick concrete mortar sandwiching a sheet of thick mesh-like metal. It was an older tiling technique that I had read about online but somehow never realized could be found in our older home. D’oh.
But having committed myself (by way of heavily sealing myself into the room and already being quite dusty) I decided to plug away. After all, the “hit it as hard as I can technique” was working – just ever so slooooowly.
Fast forward six sweaty hours later (not sexy-sweaty, gross exhausted-sweaty) and I’d finally managed to get all of the tile off the wall. Even with the floor tile left on my to-do list, at this point I would have thrown my arms up victoriously… but I barely had enough energy to move them. Plus, the amount of tile rubble surrounding me made any fast movements a risk to my balance. I never imagined how much trash our tiny bathroom would create (it could have something to do with the fact that someone decided to tile ALL THE WALLS) but I was very grateful that we invested in a large box of heavy duty contractor trash bags. Note: don’t fill the bags with more than you can lift because I don’t know anyone who can carry a trash bag full of rocks (even a weird gas-mask-and-goggle-wearing comic book character).
But before turning to clean-up, I decided to power through two more hours of work (basically as long as my bladder would last – oh the irony of spending the day in the bathroom but having nowhere to “go”). Sure all the wall tiles were down, but I now had to demo out the stuff behind them to get down to the studs (and cinder blocks, I soon discovered)- which mainly consisted of a few inches of serious mortar with that maniacal metal-mesh sheeting nailed to the studs behind it. With my supposed “one day” of demo quickly looking like two (or three?) I wanted to at least make a dent in all of the thick metal mesh and mortar that taunted me from every angle. This involved smacking it with a hammer to knock as much of the mortar off (and often using the back of the hammer to pry it). Then, once that nasty metal-mesh was mostly exposed, I used the back of the hammer to pry it off of the wall (it either pulled it off of the nails in the studs/furring strips or pulled the nails right out along with it when I used enough force). And that’s when I discovered the cinder blocks (!) behind the window wall…
I got two walls completely stripped down to the studs/furring strips before my arms (and bladder) nearly gave out and it was time to call it a night. And since the gym was closed (where I’ve been showering) and I was coated with debris, I had to rinse off all the dust I collected over my eight hour workday outside with the hose in 40 degree weather. Sherry did bring me some hot water with a washcloth and a bar of soap in the end, but I was still standing barefoot on the patio freezing my sore bum off. Yeah, I don’t want to talk about it.
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Day Three: Sunday kicked off early with sore muscles, cramped hands and the removal of all of Saturday’s trash by way of dozens of heavy-duty contractor’s trash bags (I left about ten inches of demo’d tile on the floor the night before, so getting it out to the garage was important since balance is key when holding sharp objects like a crowbar). Oh and we started a pile of trash in our garage that we’ll haul away once the project is 100% complete. We plan to rent a $19-an-hour pickup truck from Home Depot and pay about $8 to drop everything off at the local dump (which ends up being much cheaper than renting a dumpster although it’s a bit more labor intensive since we’ll be hauling stuff ourselves). Just carting out all that smashed up tile, mortar, and metal sheeting took about an hour or so, followed by another four hours of metal mesh removal and then another round of clean-up. Why clean up again? Because I had to clear the way for my next assignment: the floor (so first I had to find it again). Here’s that intense metal mesh I’m talking about that was behind all the tile and a few inches of heavy-duty mortar. Yeah, it’s not chicken wire:
Seriously, our bathroom could have doubled as a bomb shelter.
Anyway, after having gone through all of this on the walls (and it being about 4pm on the day before I had to go back to work), I knew I could/had to do the floors more efficiently. We had actually chipped away a section of flooring before starting demo work, so we were already aware that our worse-for-wear-basketweave tile was also set in mortar atop metal mesh which rested on diagonally placed subfloor beams (the fact that the mortar and metal sheeting was also in all the walls of the bathroom was the added surprise). So, thanks to some googling ahead of time, I already knew that a demolition hammer was my ticket to getting ‘er done. And thank goodness hardware stores like True Value rent those suckers for about $60/day. Remember they gave us a place on their DIY Blog Squad along with a generous gift card? It certainly came in handy, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you True Value, for saving me from what I can only guess would have been ten more hours of hard labor.
But back to my new favorite power tool. The demolition hammer is like a mini-jackhammer and is by far the biggest powertool I’d ever used (that’s not saying much for me, though). So I trepidatiously placed the chisel against a grout line on the floor and pulled the trigger. With a few sharp pounds of force, up came a section of tile (and the concrete beneath it). Victory! Now somewhat reinvigorated by my trusty destruction device (and feeling more like a cool superhero instead of a disheveled goggle-and-gas-mask-wearing weirdo) I was able to break up the entire floor in about 90 minutes. Kinda made me wish I had used it on the walls. Sigh.
Speaking of which, I have to admit that this whole demo adventure was a little bit of a roller-coaster ride for me. There were times when I felt like giving up because the task seemed insurmountable and there were times that my body just wasn’t up to the challenge (after a few of the more challenging hours). But then there were other times – like as I pried up the last of the metal mesh on the floor to expose the raw bones of our house – that I was excited by the amazing transformation I was bringing to our bathroom. I mean, it’s kinda awesome to stare at the basic structure of your house…
… even if it includes an area of rot next to the tub (more on how we remedied that in a later post).
And happily, my roller-coaster ride came to an end around 11pm on Sunday night. There’s nothing like eking things out when it’s down to the wire. I had finally removed all the last bits of trash and rubble, dusted and shop-vac’d as much of the remaining dust and dirt as I could and even wiped down most surfaces and tools with a rag moistened with TSP cleaning solution (again, trying to be sensitive to potential lead issues). Amazingly, the demo was complete – just in time for me to get about seven blissful hours of shut-eye before dragging my weary body off to work the next morning. And yes, there was another cold outdoor shower, but this one didn’t seem half as bad…
*Now for a little safety suggestion: wear proper closed toe shoes when taking on projects! We don’t know what we were thinking in those two barefoot photos but we definitely recommend keeping your feet protected, especially for those heavy duty tasks. Safety first!
Psst- Wanna check out Chapter One of the big bathroom redo? Click here for those deets.
