Elisabeth's Bathroom

Elisabeth's tiny master bathroom measured about 6' x 8'. Built in the 1950's, it has a single vanity, toilet, shower, and small linen closet:






The shower is so small, Elisabeth cannot even wash her hair with both arms at the same time without hitting the wall!



Solution: We removed the fur down in the shower and over the vanity; removed the wall that is on the left side of the shower; changed the size of the shower by stealing from the linen closet; built a taller vanity with a centered sink; and changed all the surfaces:








The result: a beautiful updated master bath!

Shannon's Kitchen - The Finished Fireplace!

We have entered the final phase of Shannon's kitchen remodel, it's been 9 weeks and the transformation is amazing! The fireplace surround is faced with tiles of Calacutta Oro, the same material as the slabs used on the kitchen counters.
This is what the area looked like before:

Shannon's Kitchen - The Baseboard and MDF

When we replaced all the flooring in Shannon's living space, it was necessary to replace the baseboard as well. We decided to go with a taller baseboard than what the house had previously. Since the baseboard will be painted, there are two options-- use all wood or use medium density fiberboard (also known as MDF).

This is what we ended up with:


We used a 6" piece of MDF on the bottom and a piece of 1 1/4" wood molding (called PM5) on top, total cost is $.74 per linear foot. If we had used all wood, the cost would have been $1.44 per linear foot. At almost half the price, MDF is the better deal! This is what it looks like before it's painted:


Many times, MDF is not recommended in wet areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. With repeated exposure to water, it will probably puff up. I have it in my bathrooms and have not had any problems. My neighbor has it in her bathrooms and has had problems with it, she also has 4 young children. But even wood that is repeatedly exposed to water will have problems . . . At Shannon's house, it's not a worry because water is not used to clean the engineered floors. So we got a great look for less!

Shannon's Kitchen-- The Floors

One of the things that will make a space feel larger is to have the same flooring material throughout. Shannon's kitchen and family room floors were Saltillo tile set on the slab and the living room was 2 1/4" hardwood floors set on screeds. In the picture below, we have removed the tile, the tile thin set, the wood floors, and the screeds then we scraped the old tar:


As you can see there is a big difference in the floor heights. Also, the slab was not level, so we use a leveling liquid to smooth the floors. Where the wood floors used to be, we poured new tar, set new screeds and added a moisture barrier:


Then plywood was laid on top:


In the area where the tile used to be, we used a liquid moisture barrier:


Once all was dry, we started laying the floors:


Shannon fell in love with this 5" pre-finished engineered flooring from Anderson Floors. The floors took 2 weeks to complete, aren't they pretty!

Shannon's Kitchen--The Fireplace

In Shannon's Kitchen, she also wants to add a fireplace in the living space. In the picture below, it will go where the armoire is, and the tv will be mounted to the space above.


Unfortunately, we found that we can not use a wood-burning or gas appliance fireplace because the vent pipe would be too close to the air conditioning unit in the attic. And direct-vent gas fireplaces are not allowed in our city. But that didn't stop Shannon! She researched electric fireplaces and went to a couple showrooms to see them. (It is important to see the product before you buy, since pictures can be deceiving). Shannon found one she liked and we made a frame for it, see the picture below:


It is important to secure the frame to the concrete floor and also to the 2x4's in the wall to ensure stability. We will trim this out with a tile surround and a mantel to complete the look, so stay tuned!

Shannon's Kitchen--Demo

This is Shannon's house, a cute, ranch-style house built over 60 years ago. Previous owners added a family room with 16' ceilings to the back of the house and now Shannon is ready to update the kitchen. But before we remodeled the kitchen, I suggested that we raise the headers and change the kitchen lay-out to optimize the space. This is before we started:




After 2 days of demo work, this is what it looks like:



All tolled, there are 4 headers to be raised, plus a couple more beams to be added for support. Check back tomorrow for updates, it is going to be amazing!