Broken Record

Not to sound like a broken record but not a lot has changed with the house since our last blog entry. Partly because of Clemson's shockingly successful football season thus far, but also because the gung-ho, let's-get-this-thing-done mentality has worn off a little. We accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, and I guess, we decided we deserved a break. And what better way to do that than to completely engross ourselves in college football!? Since we're settled and not in a rush, we're both content to keep the house projects on the back burner until the regular season finishes up in the first of December.

Though the projects aren't chugging out at the initial rate, we are getting things done here and there. The Den is our current room of interest and here's a look at what's been happening between commercial breaks...

First, it may help to have a little reminder of what the Den looked like Before:

View of the large wall-to-wall built-ins before

Small built-ins before

Our first plan of action on the Den was to remove both sets of dated built-in cabinetry fixtures. They weren't pretty and they didn't really suit our needs because the large built-in was made for a tiny, old-school, boxy-type TV and our big flat screen TV wouldn't fit on it. So we chose to simply tear them out. Well, it should have been simple.



Demo-ing the uuu-gly built-ins



Almost gone and a sneaking suspicion arises...

And what do you know, we've got problems.

And it's confirmed

The hard wood floors do not extend beneath the cabinetry leaving a section of exposed subfloor and the ceiling is missing its popcorn texture leaving a section of unfinished sheetrock where the upper cabinets had been.

So we will have to bring in someone to add hard wood and finish it to blend with the existing stain and finish, as well as, someone to patch and blend the ceiling. This unexpected bump in the road is a bummer because it's going to slow us down and eat in to our already stretched budget for this room. To keep on track, we went ahead and begain priming what we could while we arrange for the repairs.

At this point, I am already really excited about the future of this room because the primer alone makes the room feel brighter and a lot less dungeon-like.

Once the priming, trim painting, and ceiling and floor repairs are finished we are going to be installing a natural grass-cloth wallpaper to conceal the paneling grooves. The paper will be very similar to this one :



Then we will be installing a built-in desk with cabinets above it where the smaller set of cabinets used to be to the left of the fireplace. To finish the room, we will be transforming the fireplace but in what way, we haven't really decided on. We are not in love with the stone or it's assymetrical layout but finances will probably limit and control what we are able to do. At the very least, we will be painting it and giving it a new mantle but we are still searching for other budget-friendly solutions.

We are both anxious to have this room completed so that when we have guests over we have something other than canvas tailgating chairs to offer them!!

Greener Digs

This past week we made some big changes. Nothing exciting, nothing fancy.

But something that was very necessary.

When we purchased this house, we knew that updating the central heating and air and hotwater heaters would have to happen down the line.  But when we received our first energy bill from SCE & G and both of us nearly fainted, that line got shorter.

A lot shorter.

That job went from necessary to emergent.  So this past week, Mr. Keith and Travis took on that task.



Keith's Heating & Air
Not sure if you've heard of them but they do great work!!
*wink-wink*



They started the week by uninstalling our dinosaur hotwater heaters and replacing them with a new energy-efficient Rinnai tank-less water heater.

Dinosaur No. 1

Dinosaur No. 2





They spent the rest of the week removing the old duct, replacing the floor insulation, installing new duct, and firing up a new HVAC unit. All in a weeks work!

All of their hard work should equate to greener energy consumption and lower SCE & G bills!!

Thank you Mr. Keith for all of your hard work!! We owe you a big steak dinner (or two or three or ten!) and a couple bottles of Aleve!

And a special thanks to Heath & Meredith for letting us borrow their space heater. Without it we may have frozen during those nights without heat.

Now for my shameless plug:

For all your HVAC needs --

 Service, Maintenance, and Installation.

Call

KEITH'S HEATING AND AIR

843-200-5499

Tiger Timeout

You've probably noticed that we've taken a little break from the heavy labor these past few weekends. We know we've been a little very slack but we have an excuse. A really good excuse.

CLEMSON FOOTBALL!!

 It turns out that our team made of newbies is really pretty good this year! The excitement caused by defeating top-ranked teams week after week has caused us to temporarily put the house on the back burner. In just five short weeks, we've managed to climb our way to No. 8 in the nation by knocking out a top 15 team one by one, week by week. So come on, who can blame us?

But, before you start calling us names -- like "lazy bums" and "good-for-nothing-slackers" -- you should know that we have been accomplishing some little odds and ends type tasks during this little hiatus.

We purchased an area rug for the Bedroom



We've got new roman shades in the Bedroom



We hung a few small pieces of art in the Bedroom



We painted and re-hung the bathroom cabinet doors and drawers





We've painted and re-hung the Bedroom closet door

We replaced our rotten and rusting mailbox and post

We've begun working on installing shelves in the closet

In progress

Almost there

See, we haven't been complete football zombies. We've managed a few productive tasks here and there.

This weekend coming, we've done the responsible thing and have declined our tickets for the Boston College game to stay home to begin demo and priming the Den. We will be listening on the radio and if there are Tiger Paws painted all over the walls when we are done, well so be it!!

GO TIGERS!!!

PROGRESS: Master Bedroom and Bathroom

Here's a peak at what we've accomplished on the Master Bedroom and Bathroom thus far.

BEFORE

PROGRESS

BEFORE

PROGRESS

BEFORE

PROGRESS



BEFORE

 

PROGRESS

BEFORE

PROGRESS



BEFORE



PROGRESS

BEFORE

PROGRESS

BEFOER: Hers Closet

BEFORE: His Closet

PROGRESS: Combined walk-in Closet

PROGRESS: Combined walk-in Closet

BEFORE: Room Layout

PROGRESS: Room Layout



So, obsiously there is a lot left to do. The bedroom door, closet door, and cabinet doors and drawers in both the dressing room and bathroom still have to be painted and rehung. The bathroom mirror needs to be rehung (after it under goes a small super glue surgery). The mysterious hole in the wall by the sink in the bathroom is where the medicine cabinet was and since we didn't think to close it up while we were closing in the closet door and removing the old intercom from the wall in the bedroom, we are stuck with that beauty for a little while. So, it too has to have a fresh coat of paint and then I guess we'll hang it back into its hole.

Aside from those things, there is the obvious decorating needs. Knowing me, this will happen one piece at a time and will evolve over months and/or years. But, our immediate focus in that area is window treatments and some sort of rug solution.

As for the closet, we plan to install some sort of shelving at each end of the closet to optimize our storage space. This girl's got a lot of shoes so I'm envisioning some shelving for my shoes and purses on my end and storage for Travis's shoes, hats, neck ties on his end.

We eventually plan to do a complete overhaul on the bathroom to combine the two areas and make one large space. We'd like a big glass-enclosed shower with dual shower heads and a stylish vanity. But since we've cleaned and painted that little bathroom, we've pushed that plan a little further down the list of things to do because, so far, we are pleasantly surprised with how she shined up. Not to mention, it's proving to be a pretty functional layout. It's only been a few days but I'm enjoying my dressing room area and the linen closet his huge.

So with the completion of just a few small tasks, we will be shifting our focus to the next plan of attack -- The Den.