Hall Closet Work Continues

Happy Sunday, folks! This morning, after a pretty busy Saturday (which I'll blog about soon), we went into town to pick up a few more things for our hall closet project at Lowe's. 

One thing we needed was a transition piece for the doorway of the closet, where the closet flooring meets with the hallway floor. Both floors are wood, and pretty similar colors, so we knew we wanted a wooden transition piece, but it wasn't easy choosing the right one!

There were so many different styles, and our space is kind of tricky, because the floors are unlevel, so we think it will be a little difficult fitting the transition piece into the space. We chose one we think will work well, though.

While we were at Lowe's, we also picked up the last sheet of drywall we needed to finish the walls of the closet. We used a thinner drywall for the closet walls - 3/8 inch, to get the most room we could out of the small space. 

Trent worked on finishing the walls this afternoon, and we now have all of the drywall up and are ready to start mudding!

It took not quite 2 sheets of drywall to finish the walls. Now the next step is mudding over all of the screws and the cracks where the pieces of drywall meet. Then sanding it all to perfection!

We'll also try to fit that transition piece we got into the doorway where the 2 floors meet. You can see from the photos that it's pretty unlevel, so we'll see how that goes! And then we'll need some small trim for the inside of the closet just to create a seamless transition between the floor and walls.

Another thing we've done is changed the door hinges out. Before, they were the gold hinges that came with the door, and Trent switched them to white ones to blend in more with the door and trim.

It's just a little detail, but I feel like these hinges are a little more "low profile." They don't stick out like sore thumbs anymore!  

So, that's where we're at with the hall closet now that we were finally able to pick up some more supplies. Hoping to share a little about what else we did over the weekend, as well as how we're spending our Valentine's Day soon! Have a great night y'all!

Hall Closet: Getting a Floor and Walls

Yesterday, we started working on our hall closet again. We're hoping to get it finished soon! It only had a subfloor and some framework when we started yesterday afternoon, and then Trent laid the wooden floor:

It's a floating floor, so no nails required. The wood panels "lock" together. We got a set from the Habitat ReStore a few years ago and finally got to put them in! It didn't take too long for Trent to get the floor down, since the space is super small.

Then he started on cutting the drywall and screwing it into the studs. He got the walls about halfway up before he stopped for the night.

I think he did a pretty good job so far. It feels like some good progress for just one day!

It's cool to see this little hall closet coming together. And after taking a break from working on the house for a while, it's also pretty satisfying to start another reno project and see the space taking shape.

So what's next? Well, after the walls are all up, then the cracks and nails will need mudded and sanded. We'll also need floor trim and a threshold put down in the doorway. Then we'll prime and paint the walls and ceiling, and install some shelves.

I can't wait to store my towels, vacuum, and cleaning supplies in an efficient manner for once! Progress is nice. :)

Hall Closet Work in Progress: The "Before"

A little over 5 years ago, in 2011, we put a new hall closet. It's a tiny closet, but we wanted to utilize this wasted space to store our vacuum, brooms and mops, and maybe some towels and cleaning supplies. Since we first put it in, it's been unfinished, but we've still been housing some of these things in it nonetheless. Here's that space as it looks now:

We decided to start working on finishing the closet this month. So today, I cleared it out, and Trent has been starting the floor.

I took some "Before" photos, and we hope to make significant progress in the next couple of weeks. I'm glad it's starting to move along today, and I can't wait to see our finished closet! I have some Pinterest-like dreams in my head for it.

Here's the full closet, top to bottom. I had to stand on the steps to take these photos and actually get the whole closet in view. :)

Here's the subfloor - We're now putting in a floating wood floor with some flooring we got super cheap at our local Habitat ReStore a few years back.

We picked up a sheet of drywall at Lowe's yesterday; I don't think it will take much to finish these walls. The space is so small.

I'm hoping to share some in-progess pictures soon, and will keep you updated on the closet reno!

6 Year Housiversary

Today marks 6 years we've been living in this house together. Hard to believe it's been that long! Each year comes with new memories and adventures, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Each year, we've completed renovation projects in this house, both big and small. This year was a big one - the hallway, which we worked on year after year and finally completed this summer.

It nice to have a "brand new" hallway in this old house, and with each project complete, it seems like our house gets a little more homier for us. It's been some hard work along the way, but the reward of being done with a project is always the best part!

I'll always have good memories of moving into this house, and the projects we've worked on from our very first renovation to where we are now.

And though it is starting to cool down outside, this year is nothing like last year's Housiversary - when we had our first snowfall of the season, and it came in full force! Remember this?

Thankfully, we haven't gotten snow yet, and it's been a very mild fall here. I hope we don't get 6 inches of snow any time soon! I'm not ready for that yet. I don't even know if I'm ready to decorate for Christmas yet... I think I'll wait a little bit longer! :)

Our Finished Hallway

It felt strange today to come home from work, and not have to paint all night. Like, I really didn't know what to do with myself! For the last few weeks, we've been hard at work finishing our hallway renovation, and we finished it just in time for our anniversary party on Saturday.

This has been the longest renovation project yet for us, in the nearly 6 years that we've been living in this house and fixing it up together! We first decided to rip out the hallway walls and ceiling back in 2011, then worked on putting drywall up, installed lighting, and put in 3 doors. But for a few years now, it was sitting unfinished while we went about our busy daily lives.

It was hard to get the time and motivation to get it finished. But somehow toward the end of last month, we got the bug again and got back to work. We always say, if you want motivation to get renovation projects done around the house, throw a party. It's great motivation to get things finished so you can finally relax and don't have to stress about it when you have company over! Ha.

In the last month, we finished sanding the floor and refinished it, finished the mudding and sanding of the walls and ceilings, primed the walls and ceilings and painted them, finished installing trim and painted it, and painted all of the doors.

Once we started priming the walls, it was coming together and looking more finished, but when we got the paint on the walls, it really started getting real! Paint always has that dramatic change effect - it can make such a difference.

And we did a LOT of painting with this project. It feels like we painted everything! I was definitely getting used to coming home from work, eating, then grabbing a brush and a paint can. And I don't miss those nights. :) It's nice to finally be able to relax and enjoy it now.

Here is the finished product:

It was a nice anniversary gift for us, just to finally finish this space and be done with renovations for a while! We both feel like we put a lot of work into it. Of course it isn't perfect - there are a lot of imperfections, which you'll have with old houses, things not being level, etc. But it feels like a finished space now. 

Now, instead of stressing about trying to get it done, or being embarrassed by the exposed drywall that was our hallway, we can sit back and check another thing off our home renovation to-do list.

And it feels really good! 

Now, for a final Before & After picture:

The "Before" pictures are actually kind of mid-renovation - the top left shows Trent demoing the old walls, and the bottom left shows the bare studwalls and new hall closet that we built. Hard to believe we are finally finished, even if it is 5 years later!

Current Status: Painting White Things White

Hello all, and happy August! My hallway update is a little overdue - we've been working on it for over a week now, and we are actually making good progress.

We finished the floor. It's nice and shiny, and new-looking thanks to Trent's sanding work, and two coats of Poly. We couldn't walk on it for a while so we had to make a detour through the closet to get to the bedroom and bathroom.

Now, we can walk on the floor, but there is a huge white sheet over it. It's pretty much a construction zone now, as we are working on the walls, doors, trim and ceiling.

Here's a little before and after of the floor, sanded and then finished (the poly was still wet, but you get the idea!):

It's exciting to see things finally start to take shape. Especially after all of these years of working on this space! I looked back today at my previous posts, and we actually started ripping the hallway out back in 2011. That's five years ago! Talk about a long renovation! You can see my first post about the initial demolition of the hallway here.

Since we've gotten the floor finished, Trent has been working on more mudding touch-ups, and is now in the home stretch of the wall-sanding process.

I have been painting - Painting white things white.

Let me tell you, it is a blast. So far, I have painted 2 coats on the bathroom and bedroom doors, and one full coat on the trim around both doors. All of the doors and trim are pre-primed, so they are white to start. And I'm painting white semi-gloss on them. So, it's not a dramatic difference, but it is still a difference, in that they are much brighter and shinier when they're finished.

Here's my nearly completed bathroom door! It's not super exciting but again, it's progress, considering we installed these doors back in 2012, and we've lived with them unpainted for almost 4 years.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to paint the closet door white! Yippee!

Home Renovation Weekend

Since it's been another pretty busy summer for us, we've been lacking a little in the home renovation department. This weekend we wanted to get back into the swing of things and start getting more done around here.

Friday, Trent started in on sanding the hallway floor again, but his hand sander finally "bit the dust", literally and figuratively. That put us on hold for a day or so, and Saturday morning we went into town to get the supplies we needed to finish the hallway, including a new hand sander.

We spent a good deal of time in Menards gathering up all of our supplies, and we also found a good deal on a patio set, and ended up taking one home! Just $380 for the table and chairs - and the chairs are swivel-rocking chairs, so they're super comfy.

The only thing we didn't get yet was a new patio umbrella. Our current one is pretty faded and is getting a little worn out. So we'd like to find a new umbrella that we like, and maybe a few outdoor pillows to brighten things up a little bit.

Saturday after we got home, we had the twins' birthday party across the street, where we cooked out and took a dip in the pool. When we got back home, we put the new patio set together and called it a night. We're pretty excited about it, but we have a lot more that we'd like to do out here eventually.

This morning, we were back at the indoor renovations. Trent's been sanding the hallway floor for a few hours now, finishing it up. We're hoping later this afternoon we can get it all cleaned up and start applying the floor sealer.

I've been cleaning the kitchen - giving the stove and ceiling fan a good deep clean, and I touched up the paint on the cabinets. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint will do to brighten things up a little bit!

I gave my flowers a little plant food today, but they've been doing pretty well this summer, with the good amount of rain we've gotten.

We've had 100+ degree heat indexes this week though, so we're trying to stick to indoor projects as much as possible. Hopefully by the end of the week, we'll be making good progress on the hallway renovation, which has been years in the making. I love getting stuff done around the house and seeing the fruits of our labor. :)

Stay tuned later in the week for an update (I hope!)!

Work Currently In Progress

It's another beautiful Saturday! I love Saturdays. They are my days to relax, catch up on sleep, and get things done at home. It seems that Saturdays in the summer, we're always running around and doing things, getting out and enjoying the nice weather, etc. In the winter though, there's nothing I like better than just staying in on the weekends.

Trent is working today, so I'm staying home, watching documentaries on Netflix, and cleaning around the house. This week, Trent has worked on a couple of house projects, so I'm excited to share what's currently happening. It's small (definitely baby steps), but we have to start somewhere.

First things first, work has started again on the hallway! Aren't you excited? This has been by far the longest work in progress we've had with the house, and it's hard to get the motivation to continue working on it. This hallway has been ripped out and has been slowly rebuilt, little by little. Now Trent has started to sand the floor (with our little hand sander), so that we can start to redo it. We're definitely going to leave the hardwood that's here, but just sand and seal it again to make it all shiny and new. Just like we did in the living room and the bedroom.

It's only started, but I'm hoping to get it finished this winter. Using our little sander, it is quite a job - this section alone took about an hour. There might be about 6 more sections this size to finish! I know he will get it done, though, and I'm excited to see what the end result will look like.

The next mini project is quite small, but I'm glad it's done. I came home to this little threshold in the doorway of the living room. Once it's stained and sealed to match the living room floor, it will really help to finish off the room. I'm excited about it because I don't have to trip over the speaker cord anymore that runs from one end of the room to the other, since it's now covered with this threshold. Thank you, Trent! That thing was really starting to get on my nerves. :)

So two projects are in progress right now, one a little bigger than the other, of course. But every project counts! It makes us one step closer to being satisfied with the house.

Well, it's back to house-work on this Saturday afternoon! By the way, this was my breakfast this morning - toast by me, and breakfast scramble by Trent. Yum! It had eggs, potatoes, avocados, and sweet peppers. Overall goodness, and a perfect addition to the day.

Ok - now off to do the dishes! :)

Shades of Gray

I keep thinking about the hallway. I want it done. And I can't wait to paint it. I'm tired of staring at drywall and mud! I've been looking at paint colors. I want to paint the hallway a pretty gray color. We have a really light gray that we originally got for the bathroom, but it's very light and there's not a lot of contrast with the white trim. I think we're going to try it out on one wall, and if we think it's too light then get a gray color that's a shade or so darker. Grays and beiges can be hard sometimes, because they pick up different tints in different lighting - some have more of a bluer tint, some have a green tint, etc. 

I feel like I want the hallway to look really bright and maybe have a cooler tone? Here are some grays that I really like at the moment:

1. Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray:

(from here and here)

2. Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter:

(from here and here)

3. Valspar Urban Sunrise:

(both from here)

I'm leaning toward either #1 or #3 - I like the second color, but I think it might be a bit too warm and dark for our tiny hallway space. We'll see if the color we already have works or not first I guess (I can't even remember the name of it).

Now can we just finish the dang hallway already so I can paint?? :)