Plywood floor

Chris spent last month priming and painting all the basement rooms. The next phase of the remodel and out major goal before Baby arrives is to install flooring in every room down there, so we are not traipsing dirt and drywall dust into the main part of the house. Having researched a variety of options, most of them were not in our budget. So with a little inspiration from Pinterest I decided a 'plywood floor' in the guest bedroom would be a great solution. Chris had to be convinced as he was the one that would need to do most of the work, but he soon came around to his pregnant wife's grand idea. (He's a keeper for sure!!). He stipulated one condition though - I had to go to Home Depot and get the plywood.

So off I toddled to Home Depot, looking pregnant and trying my hardest to speak with my best English accent (its fading fast). Two very helpful guys helped my choose plywood for the subfloor (to go over the cement slab) and plywood to be cut into 8 inch planks, which would eventually become the new flooring.  They even used their industrial cutter to make those 8 inch planks for me. Once I had all my wood (3 hours later) I called Chris and Cody to come collect it all for me in Cody's truck (Thanks Cody!!).

10 pieces of 4'x8' ready to be sliced into 8 inch planks

                             

My two very helpful men, cutting the 10 sheets of plywood into 8" x 8' planks

Next job was to empty the guest room of clutter and prep for the sub floor. We needed to install a sub floor because it would have been impossible to nail or glue the plywood planks directly to the cement. Plus if we were to get any moisture down there, which is a possibility because it is below ground, then we needed to prevent water damage.

The guest room ready empty and ready for the sub floor

We laid 2 sheets of 6 mil plastic, just in case any water started to seep through the cement

Chris had to pre drill holes in the cement and then get the cement screws in place. Every screw was a battle and in total we went through about 15 drill bits because the cement was so dense. After a full day the 3/4 inch plywood sub floor was in place.

Meanwhile, I spent my time sanding all the plywood planks to get rid of any major splinters, smooth the coarse mill finish and remove any stamps or ink marks on the surface. It was a process. 

Eventually the planks were ready to be glued and nailed in place. We invested in a nail gun, which made the nailing go super quick. We used a random metal bracket as the spacer between the planks. We were going for the rustic, farmhouse cottage look, so some discrepancies in the spacing wasn't an issue for us. 

Installing the plywood planks took a day. 

We were pleased with the outcome, but needed to stain and polyurethane the wood in order for it to be a useable floor. The plywood is too soft to leave in 'au naturale'.

I decided to do a white wash stain over the plywood, so you could still see the grain, but without all the pink tinges of the plywood.  I mixed one part white primer with two parts water, and slopped it on using a paint roller. 

After 2 coats of stain, Chris covered the wood with 2 coats of polyurethane. We would have done another coat, just to further protect the wood, however the smell throughout the house was too much to deal with being pregnant, so we stopped at two.

I think it turned out pretty good. 

Semi-gloss finish

Nice wide planks, good spacing and the wood grain is still visible. 

Overall, we are super pleased with the outcome. Once the sub floor was in place, the planks went down really easily, especially once we figured out that the glue came out the gun with a lot less effort if it was warmed before hand. Cold glue is difficult to work with!! All up it probably came to around $3 a square foot. A little more expensive then we had anticipated, but the sub floor probably cost $2 a square foot to install. Considering the wide, planked flooring we had been looking at was over $10 a square foot, I think it was a great investment. Hopefully once we start using the room as a guest room, it holds up to the wear and tear. I'll keep you updated!

Basement update

Well, the basement was framed in March and progress came to a halt. Then, in September, we found out we were having a baby, and things quickly got moving again. Our 'guest room' upstairs will be a nursery in no time, and we need to have more space to host family and friends who are planning on visiting the new addition! Electric, plumbing, insulation and drywall were the big projects that needed to be completed. Today that was accomplished. Next up painting, tiling the bathroom, flooring, doors and trim. 15 weeks and counting...........

25 weeks pregnant. We have 15 weeks to get the basement finished.

Rough in electric was completed in November, which allowed us to get the insulation installed in December.
Man Cave' insulated.

View from Mud Room (bottom of stairs) into 'Man Cave' 

This will be the shower in the guest bathroom.

Dry Wall was up in January and was finally completed today. View of Man Cave towards Guest Bathroom and Bedroom

View of Man Cave. Laundry Room is behind that wall. We kept the steel beam uncovered as a reminder of where we started 3 years ago!

View of Guest Bedroom with walk in closet to left and Mechanical Room through the door to the left.

View through bathroom door. Rough plumbing in place for sink on left and toilet to right. Shower is further to the right out of sight!

Dresser project

This past summer I decided we needed some new furniture in the house. I wanted to try my hand at 'furniture restoration' so I scrolled through some local Craig Lists listings and came across this dresser in East Vail. I decided it was going to be my new project.  I think it turned out pretty good!

Picked this beauty up for $50 on Craig's list

Sanded, stained the top, painted the base and spray painted the handles.

Found a new home in the guest room.

Tiling Project

Our plan for the summer was to continue to focus on the basement (electric/plumbing/ insulation/drywall) and also to get the gross stone/plywood stairs outside the front door knocked down and a lovely new deck built! By now you would have thought we would have learnt that what we think something should cost, will actually cost three times that and then some!!! So that being said, and the fact Chris was down all summer recovering from back surgery (:-<) we did none of these things!!

What we did do though is pay a tiling expert (Specialized Tiling) to finish some of those nagging jobs we had outstanding in the upstairs of the house! The first being the kitchen backsplash! Both Chris and I agreed that we didn't think the kitchen looked bad prior to the backsplash - but looking at the before and after pictures it is very clear that we have been living in this house too long and are oblivious to how unfinished it really did look!! The lovely glossy grey subway tiles (from Lift Flooring Studio - Eagle Vail) really finish the kitchen off and go well with the grey cabinets, stainless steel appliances and dark granite countertop!

Kitchen sans backsplash

Lovely grey subway tiles with a contrasting white grout!

You can tell a pro did this - symmetrical tiles either side of the window frame!

The kitchen is now finished!

We also decided to get some of the other tiling jobs completed while we had pros here. You may remember I tiled the floor under the pellet stove, which was probably one of the first projects I did in the house! Almost two years later, Chris tiled the wall but was unsure of how to join the tiled wall, with the dry wall. Another year later, and the tiling is now finished!!

Before.

After.

Finally, the step in the bathroom, with the lovely carpet edge from the bedroom hanging through!  While  I managed to tile the floor, shower and vanity in the bathroom - this step was too much! So happy with how it turned out! With only the vanity lighting left to do in the bathroom - we almost have 3 rooms upstairs completely finished! 

Before.

After.

The Basement

After a year long hiatus from anything involving a saw, nails or paint, it was time to get back on it and start the Basement Remodel!!!

We are pretty excited about this! Chris probably more so than me because his beloved Man Cave is becoming a reality not just a far fetched fantasy!! I'm happy because I get to declutter, sort and organise (throw out) a growing mountain of junk that is being stored in the basement! Plus I also get to design the second bathroom and guest bedroom!

Here's a preview of the before, very cluttered basement, and then some of the work in progress! First job is framing, then electric, insulation and drywall. Hopefully this will all be completed by late Spring!

BEFORE: Laundry Space

BEFORE: The man cave, with the ever increasing pile of junk!

BEFORE: The guest bathroom to the left and another pile of junk where the guest bedroom will eventually be!

AFTER: Framed Laundry Room

AFTER: Pile of junk and framed MAN CAVE

View from MAN CAVE of the eventual MUD ROOM, which will also be framed. Eduardo, the guy who basically built our house is back again helping out with the Basement remodel! He brought a couple of new guys to help with this project!

AFTER: Framed Bathroom. Low ceiling because of pipes above  - not ideal but will be 80 inches high which just passes code requirements!!

Framed partition/closet in the guest bedroom - looks a little weird but saw it on Pinterest and think it will look really cool when finished!! (Chris is not so sure - we will see!!)

View from the closet in the guest bedroom! To the left is the mechanical room. To the right is the doorway with the bathroom behind it.

Headboard project

I saw an adorable diamond tufted headboard on Pinterest a year or so ago, so pinned it to my DIY board with the intention that one day when i had some spare time, I would make a similar one! Well that day came last month!

I made a list of essential items needed and headed to Joanne's fabric in Denver (a big trip out for this mountain girl!!). The list looked like this:

• fabric (about 7ft- enough for buttons and wrapping around board and foam) - I wanted a mustard yellow colour. Choice was limited do I ended up with a linen fabric.
• 2" foam
• batting
• button kit
• upholestry needle
• twine
• staples for staple gun

I also headed to Home Depot and picked up:

• plywood (3/4")
• glue

With all my supplies bought (approx $150) I headed home and started the big project!

I got the circular saw and chalk line out and marked, measured and cut out the headboard dimensions (52"x 39").

With the chalk line I also marked out grid lines on the wood which enabled me to mark the location of each button placement. I used a drill to make holes at the button locations.

The dirty work was done so I moved the board up to the kitchen table. This provided a better working height for the next part of the project!! I cut the foam out to the dimensions of the board and used glue to attach it down.

While that was drying I ironed the fabric and made the buttons following the kit directions!!

 

I laid the batting, then the fabric over the foam and board!! This provided a plush layer for the headboard! The next part of the project was best performed with a helper!! I started in the middle of the top row and from underneath used the upholestry needle to push the twine through the hole and the foam/fabric to the front of the headboard. Attaching a button to the twine, I then reversed the needle through the hole, threaded it with the twine and pulled it through to the back of the board.

I got my helper to push the button deep into the foam from the front, while from underneath I tied a knot in the twine then used a staple gun to secure it in place. I zigzagged the twine back a forth, stapling as much as necessary, in order to keep tension on the twine.

I repeated this technique with all the buttons, keeping the fabric smooth and tight.

The headboard was turned over, the excess fabric trimmed and then stapled down in place.

....and voila!! My lovely mustard headboard!!! I left the bottom 9" plain (no buttons) as this sits behind the mattress and isn't seen. I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt and plan on making one for our king bed!!

My veggie patch!

This time last year our garden was under a few feet of snow. This year that isn't the case. With a month of unseasonable weather (60F and dry) all the snow has melted away and I am ready to get my gardening on. We didn't manage to do too much in the garden last year as our focus was on finishing the inside and exterior of the house. So this Spring we needed to plan out our veggie plot and get digging and weeding. The far end of the garden gets the most sunshine so it was an easy choice. With a little hard graft and a handy husband its starting to come together nicely.

As we could potentially still get snow and certainly frost through till June I'm hoping a cold frame will protect the seedlings and extend the growing season. We had saved several old windows and a glass door when we were remodeling, and we have plenty of scrap wood left from our numerous projects. So Chris whipped together a couple of cold frames. I just need to attach some plastic sheet to the sides of the frame and they will be like a cozy mini greenhouse for my plants. As well as a protector from deer and maybe bears? 

I've planted some seeds inside and intend to start planting outside beginning of May. Its going to be an experiment and I'm optimistic/hopeful I'll get a good yield of veggies this summer!!!!!

The selected location for my vegetable patch

Chris got his DIY on and built a couple of cold frames. 

I started digging and weeding the area where I want the cold frames to go

Chris worked on removing an old barbed wire fence. 

It all got too much and he needed to take a little break with URL.

Helen weeding away!

Two little sections. The right side has been weeded and is ready for some compost.
The left side still needs weeding. I'll move the cold frames around as needed.