white washed the fireplace...

I used Antique White grout to basically re-grout this entire two-sided fireplace. Applied grout in between bricks, wiped with a damp sponge...

 Painted doors with Rustoleum High Heat paint...

the bar...

I decided to repurpose scrap pieces of fence wood to refinish our bar.

I laid it out in our garage to make sure we had enough.

...stained each piece, measured and cut, began to mount onto the bar with a nail gun.

Completed the side first...

Worked our way across the front...

Cut bottom pieces to fit...

Changed top out with a piece of butcher block from Ikea that was already cut to the perfect size. The top was the only thing we had to purchase for this project, cost $125!

Yay!

our finished bathroom...

downstairs bathroom...

A few weeks ago my son decided to use our guest bathroom to take a nice, long shower. Well, my husband ran down to the basement for something and water was all over the floor! I guess it was good this happened now and not while someone was staying at our house and needed to use this bathroom.

The tile all along the bottom row were loose. I could push them right in. I tried to recaulk at one point but we new the time would come and we would need a new shower. 

Shower before...

Shower during demo...

I was losing my patience so I went and found a sledge hammer...

I'm going to remove the rest of the sheetrock over the shower and remove remaining tile around the shower area. 

We were going to put a new pan in but it would be extremely difficult to get this one out, it's in there real good, especially around the drain. Kind of scary to mess with that. The sub floor is fine, the water dried and there is no evidence of mold anywhere. So, I have a lot of cleaning up to do!

I cleaned out any debris that fell behind the pan.

Added two studs to make a shelf in the shower.

Marked ceiling where all studs are.

I'm following a couple of You Tube videos through this process. One guy used plastic for extra precaution for any water that might get through the tile. If any water seeps through, it will run down on the plastic into the pan, not onto the sub floor. backer board is water proof, water should not get through, but I'm all for the extra protection! He said to leave the top open as a vent, this way moisture doesn't get trapped into the walls. I used a staple gun to attach the plastic to the studs.

So, now we're ready for the backer board...

This is the tile we bought, they're 12x24:

This is the floor we will use...

This will be the vanity and top...

Backer board is done. 

We used 1/2 inch, 3x5' Hardie backer board w/backer board screws (all in the same isle as tile & tile tools, etc...)

It's very heavy, It's very messy to cut, wear eye & mouth protection and definitely work outside. 

This is the thin set adhesive we used to apply the tile. It's ready to use, no mixing!

This is the part I was nervous about, applying the tile even. Not only do you have to check levelness but if the wall is not true, you have to correct it with the thin set so all tiles are even up against the wall. Very difficult while working with large tile like these. Especially as I got higher and had to lift them covered with thin set.

I have 1/8" spacers. They worked ok in between rows, not so much for spacing side by side. I did better eyeballing that. The thin set is rubbery, the spacers would fall out.

I also used ripped pieces of cardboard to keep the tile level.

behind the bar...

We put new carpet in the family room in the spring. Left the area behind the bar to be completed. We used Allure traffic master in cherry wood from Home Depot. Extremely easy to install and waterproof. Also holds up to high traffic which is not an issue for us here. Can't wait to tackle the rest of the "bar" area!

Ny State Testing

Going off the subject of home decor, organizing or remodeling, I need to post something important to me. Having kids ages 12 (6th grade) and 9 (4th grade),  I'm having a difficult time with Common Core state testing. I encourage all parents to check out the web site nysape.org to read about "opting out" for state testing. We need to support our great teachers before we lose them!

the laundry closet

This laundry closet is upstairs, right outside of our bedrooms. This was one of the features that sold this house to me, maybe not my husband, but I loved this!