Keeping Busy at Home

Keeping Busy At Home

After the holidays we decided to do a few projects around the house.  This year Shaun has been very ambitious!  He decided to put up crown molding in the rest of our downstairs, install hard wood floors in most of the downstairs, and remodel our guest room.  This remodel included adding a door to go from the guest room directly into the bathroom.  We had very busy weekends for a few months, but with tons of hard work by Shaun and some help from Uncle Mark the Great everything turned out terrific!

Guest Room

This was the first project that Shaun tackled this year and really was what spurred us into doing the rest of these projects! One of the things we really wished we had in our house was a guest room with its own bathroom. It just seemed nice that company wouldn't have to go out into the hallway to get to the bathroom.

So after visiting one of our friends this fall and seeing how their bathroom was setup Shaun figured out how he could install a door in the same way. According to him, he was just going to cut a whole in the wall and install a new doorway in the wall between our guest room and bathroom. Now when Shaun says he can do something, well we all know that means he will be doing it! So he measured, ordered a new matching door, found matching latches and handle, and began cutting. Next thing you know, we had a door way (well a BIG hole in the wall)!   After that he had to relocate an outlet, frame the door, and hang the door. Then there was painting, replacing tile in the bathroom since it obviously didn't go through the wall, and finally grouting the tile. I probably forgot a thing or two, but you get the point!

The hole in the wall

Looking at the hole through the bathroom mirror.

Door framed and hung

Look a new door!

Now to tackle that paint! If we were going to be messing with the wall anyway we figured it was time to pick some paint that was a bit more subtle and install crown molding as well.

Crown molding up and room repainted

New TV installed over the closet and out of the way!

Here is the gap left after replacing the tile

Time for some new carpet for the room!

Took care of that gap and is what we eventually want in the rest of the house.

Our new guest room

Complete with its own bathroom!

Kitchen

The kitchen just got a little crown molding this spring.  The hardest part was trying to match the blue paint to do touch-ups.  After about three trips to the paint store, we finally found a match!

Before crown molding

After crown molding

 Laundry Room

The laundry room was one of the few rooms left in the house to paint.  Since we were going to put crown molding up anyway, we figured now was the time to pick out some paint.

 Before crown molding and paint

The crown molding is up and painted

After crown molding, but before paint

After some new paint with a new coat rack

After paint and crown molding

Our new laundry room

 Hardwood Floors

When we first moved in one of our (well Shaun's) projects was to re-do our family room. He took out our a media niche (because it was too small), painted, put up crown molding, and installed hard wood floors (phase 1 of the wood floors). That was four years and two kids ago. This winter he decided it was time to replace the rest of the carpet downstairs with hard wood as well (phase 2 of the wood floors)! Here is our family room that we planned to match.

Getting the living/dining room ready for installing the new floors. 

 Carpet was taken out, moped, swept, baseboards removed, and tile entry way removed.

 The first few rows installed

 A few hours later

 LATE the same evening

Once the tape was removed

Baseboards re-installed

Our new living/dining room complete with wood floors and crown molding!

 The following weekend we tackled the hallway and closet.

The first row laid.

Many hours later, it is almost done.  I helped with this area more than the other. 

Hence, fewer pictures and more real work on my part!

Finishing up the hallway. 

Yes, that is a box of beer at the end of the hall (also made a great weight!)

The finished hallway

 The coat closet/under the stairs

Making progress!

The closet was a pain, just because it was such a small area to work with.

 Larkin showing off our finished closet!