Showing posts with label Family Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Room. Show all posts
Project "Goodbye Nasty Carpet, Hello Hardwoods" in our Family Room ended up taking three solid days.
Day 1:
Remove baseboards
Remove carpet
Remove carpet pad
Clean up all debris left on the sub-floor
and
Nail down all of the nail heads that had managed to work their way up over the past 15 years...
Day 2 & 3:
Lay all of the new pre-finished hardwood flooring that we got off of Craigslist...
Sorting through it all and trying to lay it in a way that didn't look like a pattern was the hardest part. We were told that the boards were "random lengths", but as we found out, they weren't so random at all. Making it all appear non-uniform was harder than we thought it would be.
We wrapped up at the end of day 3 finished with the floors, baseboards put back in place and the room looking pretty much like this...
Will was exhausted from doing all of the labor himself and we both crawled into bed with a whole new level of respect and appreciation for tradesmen!
To say that we love the new floors would be a huge understatement...
They're shiny and beautiful and the absolute best part...
We no longer have to worry about spills on the carpet when the kids eat at the counter and...
wet shoes when the kids come in from the backyard are now no big deal...
I'll show you a Before & After comparison soon, but I'm still working on the layout of the room and tweaking a few things here and there. I need to do some touch-up painting along the baseboards and get all of the curtains hung.
(I got some new panels for a steal, I tell you! Can't wait to see them in place!)
Now that it's finished we can definitely say that it was a heck of a lot of work, but a
whole lotta worth it!
(I got some new panels for a steal, I tell you! Can't wait to see them in place!)
Now that it's finished we can definitely say that it was a heck of a lot of work, but a
whole lotta worth it!
It's good to be home!
We spent 8 days taking a road trip down the west coast in a 25' RV that we rented from Cruise America. Despite the crazy amounts of rain and hail that followed us down the coast and all the way back up...
We had a GREAT time together!
Scout came with us and he was perfect! We were a bit nervous about leaving a 5 month old puppy alone in the RV since we couldn't take him with us into restaurants and shops, but he was a champ. No accidents or surprises for us - just super excited to see us every time we came back...
Most of our days looked like this...
(Grey, but still undeniably gorgeous)
Every once in a while, the rain would stop and we could go out without our rain coats on...
And a few times, we got really lucky and the sun made an appearance...
I'll admit, the small quarters in the RV were a bit cramped for our family of 5 (6 with the puppy), but for the most part we had all the comforts of home.
Including homemade pancakes for breakfast...
We made it down to the Redwood Forest in Northern California.
Will had been when he was a kid, but I had never been before.
It was nothing short of amazing!
We stayed at a couple of RV Parks, but mostly at KOA's. This one here was in Waldport, OR - our favorite KOA that we stayed at...
Will had been when he was a kid, but I had never been before.
It was nothing short of amazing!
We stayed at a couple of RV Parks, but mostly at KOA's. This one here was in Waldport, OR - our favorite KOA that we stayed at...
There was plenty of sleepy time for Ellison cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway.
Sleepy girl...
Vacations are a wonderful escape from everyday life, but it is always, always nice to come home.
This vacation was especially significant for us.
It is the first time that we have ever been able to take a vacation during the kids' Spring Break from school. Normally, Will's flying schedule has him gone for part, if not all of it.
We weren't expecting to be able to do this. We wouldn't be able to with Will still out of work.
It was 100% planned on the spur of the moment.
And only because...unexpectedly, Will got a phone call from the Chief Pilot from Alaska Airlines telling him that he's being recalled.
HE GOT HIS JOB BACK!
It has been just over 6 months since he stopped flying.
A total of 12 pilots got the call and Will was #2 (based on seniority) on the list.
(12 is a pretty measly number considering there are still over 100 pilots and their families from Alaska Airlines that are without their jobs, so we definitely feel lucky that he is in this first group.)
We have been wanting to follow the coast in an RV for years. And once the call came, we realized that this was the time to do it. We made the reservation for the RV, put all of the projects we had been working on on hold, and started packing.
A couple of days later we were rolling down the road!
It was nice to unplug, get away from the projects and responsibilities of home and spend real and uninterrupted quality time with these kids of ours that are growing up entirely too fast.
We made memories that will last a lifetime!
:)
So what are we up to now that we're back?
Right before we left, Will laid the new wood floors in our bathroom.
My "FREE STUFF" door has been transformed and I love the final result.
The new door has resulted in a big makeover for the laundry room. It's coming along nicely, if I do say so myself!
And today...
TODAY
we are ripping out the carpet in the family room!
That's right. The time has finally come.
We found a great deal for pre-finished hardwood flooring on Craigslist and picked it up yesterday.
I will show you photos from each one of these projects soon, but for today I'll be helping out Will as much as I can to get this flooring project moving along.
Wish us luck!
I'm afraid to see what we will find under that nasty carpet.
Ahh...it's good to be back!
Right before we left, Will laid the new wood floors in our bathroom.
My "FREE STUFF" door has been transformed and I love the final result.
The new door has resulted in a big makeover for the laundry room. It's coming along nicely, if I do say so myself!
And today...
TODAY
we are ripping out the carpet in the family room!
That's right. The time has finally come.
We found a great deal for pre-finished hardwood flooring on Craigslist and picked it up yesterday.
I will show you photos from each one of these projects soon, but for today I'll be helping out Will as much as I can to get this flooring project moving along.
Wish us luck!
I'm afraid to see what we will find under that nasty carpet.
Ahh...it's good to be back!
Normally I'm the one needing a change.Even a small change somewhere can make a huge difference in the way you feel about a room! But on Thursday, it was my husband who felt the need to make a change!
HA!
I laugh, only because I love him!
On this particular afternoon we had decided to put the boys' bunk beds back together which led to reorganizing and rearranging their entire bedroom.
(More about that later)
After we had put the kids to bed for the night, I was looking forward to finally eating dinner and sitting down for a bit. Next thing I know, Will is surveying the Family Room and talking about possible furniture arrangements!
Who is this man?
It was quite obvious that he needed a change, so I let him do his thing.
With that said, here is the Before:
And the After:
All of the furniture now sits on an angle to match the armoire in the corner.
By doing this he was able to bring in another chair, which is great for when we have people over!
However, this layout creates only one way of getting in and out of the room which can make things more difficult when company is visiting...
...but he swears this won't be a problem.So?
What do you think?
How did he do?
Two thumbs up for the carpenter?
I'm not totally convinced about this arrangement, but it's worth trying for a while. And we'll see what impact it has on flow when we do have friends and family over.
But above everything else, I love it that he loves it!
The kids love it too!
Change is good!
And once again, one project leads to another...
See the sofa table in this picture?
I have been wanting to paint it for quite a while.
Now that it sits in its new spot, I have much more motivation to get it done!
Now to pick a color for it...
Now that it sits in its new spot, I have much more motivation to get it done!
Now to pick a color for it...
A while back we entered our Board and Batten Project that we did in our family room into Apartment Therapy's Do It Now! Small Projects Contest.
We uploaded all of our photos, wrote out all of the instructions and after we hit the "submit" button we received an email telling us that we would receive yet another email letting us know if our entry was selected as a participant. Just because you entered, didn't automatically give you a spot in the contest. We didn't hear a peep. I was disappointed, but chalked it up to being a different kind of project than what they were looking for. No biggie. We'll try again another time.I woke up this morning to find this email in my inbox:
(This email was sent to six of us that entered)
"Congratulations to all!! It is my pleasure to inform you that you are the six winners of our "Judge's Choice Awards" for Apartment Therapy’s second annual DIY small project contest. You have received Honorable Mention in your category. As with all our contests, every submission was a winner and had something valuable to offer. Still, your outstanding submissions really stood out to our panel of judges!
This year we posted about 80 amazing submissions across five categories that showed how inspirational and creative small DIY household projects can be. Thank you for your remarkable contribution.
Our six judges will each be awarding an honorary prize of their own, which is completely at their discretion...
Once again, thank you so much for being a part of our AT community."
YEAH!!!!!
Judge, Christina Batch-Lee (from Etsy) representing Apartment Therapy chose ours as her favorite project! Here is what she had to say:
Why Christina Chose It: "My pick for the best in decor is How To: Board and Batten. I'm still so impressed by this project! When I first came across the after photo, it took me a moment to "find" the project itself, because the finished results fit so seamlessly into the space and now defines the whole character of the room..."
"Karla and Will's thorough instructions really make this feel doable — and at such a low cost for materials — an easy investment with a big return.
I also love how they've interpreted a nautical theme for this room, with subtle details and material elements that add up to the experience of being in a cozy seaside cabin, or the berth of a ship."
Someone pinch me now!Thank you so much, Christina! Your words mean more to me than you can know! I appreciate it so much!
How exciting!
I wish I would have known that we were in it!
But, lesson learned...when you enter a contest watch it like a hawk because you may, in fact, be a participant without even knowing it!
What an awesome way to start the day!
Here is the link to our submission:
How To: Board and Batten
Karla and Will's February Jumpstart Project 2009
and the link to what Christina had to say about it:
Christina's Favorite
I'm on Cloud 9...and I just might not come down...
Now we wait to see what our prize is!
I have received several questions about how exactly we achieved the Board and Batten look in our kitchen and family room, so I thought I would dedicate a post to it! Consider this a DIY: How To
...well, at least how we would do it!
The first thing I did was research any hard and fast rules about Board and Batten. I wanted to stay true to the look because the whole goal was to bring a sense of architecture to the room that would be mistaken for something that has always been here. I found a few sites that really helped. Here is how Board and Batten would be installed if you were doing an authentic installation. This site was helpful also!
What we wanted was "the look", for less. Meaning all of the bang for not a lot of buck! We wanted to have the vertical strips capped off by a horizontal band at the top and have our existing walls act as the "boards". We also decided to put a "cap" around the family room with a groove running through the top to act as a plate ledge to hold an occasional starfish.
Ok, down to the nitty gritty. This entire project was done using MDF. No reason to break the bank using real wood when it was going to be covered up with three coats of paint anyway! I decided on the height based off of the existing architecture in the rooms. My biggest issue with our family room had always been a long, narrow window that sits up at eye level. I had, sort of, a love/hate relationship with this window! It has a well defined purpose (acting as a frame for Mt. Rainier - stunning!), but it was never easy to incorporate into the room before. It always felt like it was floating. And since the skies are only clear *some* of the time up here in the Pacific Northwest, the window didn't make any sense on days where there wasn't a mountain to frame! I decided the height of the Board and Batten would be 65" which hits right in the middle of the window. This way the window would look supported instead of floating. I am happy to say that it worked!
There were no "rules" followed on this! We adjusted the information that we found online to work for our real life rooms and what was aesthetically pleasing to us. Ok, I should say "to me". My Handyman just wanted to know what cuts to make and where to point the nail gun!The horizontal strip on top is 3 & 1/2" tall. The vertical strips are 1 & 1/2" wide. The spacing between the strips is 12". We did adjust the spacing when necessary! I wasn't happy with some of the spots where the strips would stand if we followed the 12" spacing rule every time. And I can tell you that if you're not working on a long span of wall, then feel free to adjust! You can't tell where we switched up the spacing at all! But to the eye, it looks a whole lot better than if we had done 12" spacing everywhere! The other thing to consider before you start attaching the strips to the wall is where light switches and outlets fall. It's best to tackle each wall individually and begin where the most issues could possibly arise! To make it easier on ourselves we cut a 12" scrap piece of MDF to use as a spacer. That way we weren't having to measure out 12" each time.
The biggest issue was how we were going to tie this into our existing base boards and window trim. We decided to cut each vertical piece off at an angle at the bottom, and each horizontal piece off at an angle on the sides where it met a window so that the depth of the MDF would not be greater than the depth of the trim molding.
TRUE Board and Batten would have flat panels of wood 12" wide lining the walls and then the strips would serve as seam covers. We were not about to cover all of our walls entirely in wood (goal: inexpensive, remember?) so by putting up only the strips and painting it all out in white we trick your eye into thinking that it really is paneled walls. And I can tell you that until someone gets right up close to it or touches it, they do not realize that in between the strips is normal textured wall!
The whole thing had to be primed and then get painted out with two coats of semi-gloss paint. My husband was nervous about our walls being glossy, but if this was the real thing (all wood!) it would be painted in glossy paint just like the rest of the molding throughout our house. And I think that has a lot to do with people believing that we have actually paneled our walls in wood!
Here you can see where the height of the board and batten meets the long, narrow picture window.
And here you can see the two vertical strips falling evenly under the kitchen window. This was one of the spots where we adjusted some of the spacing. I like the result!
Now that all is said and done and we've been living with it for about a month, I can undoubtedly say that this project was worth it! It did disrupt our home life for a few days (the kitchen and family room were pretty much unaccesable), but the kids actually thought it was fun to eat in the dining room instead of the kitchen for a few days! The most time consuming part was all of the painting that had to be done. We finished the install (including all of the cuts) in about 5 hours. It took 2 full days to do the 3 coats of paint. I wanted each coat to get adequate drying time.If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them!
We have a few friends that have expressed interest in doing Board and Batten on their walls. As well as a nursery for a sweet baby boy that will be arriving in May! I am excited to see how it all turns out! There is no shortage of inspiration out there! Take it and use it to your advantage!
The family room and kitchen before...
And how it all looks now...
with freshly painted walls and Board and Batten surrounding the space.
The cardinal points of the compass is an idea that I have had for a while, but with the holidays it was just to busy to turn it into a reality.
This is the reproduction map of our town that we got while in the city for our anniversary. My Handy Man (my husband) framed it in a beautiful piece of poplar. I love how it fits into the room and has meaning behind it...
We framed one of my husband's aeronautical maps of the Puget Sound in fence paneling. I love that it has a rustic feel to it. The map provided the perfect color, so it was a must for the room!
Adding the latitude, longitude and elevation was my husband's idea!
Our son loves to plant his apple seeds every time that he eats an apple. The amazing thing is that they actually grow!..................................................................................
I'm very happy with how it all turned out! The space is comfortable and cozy while still being fresh and bright. We were able to try something new for us by installing the board and batten and my vision for the compass turned out just as I had hoped. The family room and kitchen now feel like they actually fit in with the rest of the house. The disjointed feeling that the rooms had before wasn't something that I was willing to settle for. I think I accomplished a theme without it being "in your face" or over the top. This room acts as a true "family room" on a daily basis, so I needed to achieve the balance of functioning for my kids while still being a beautiful space for me! It was very time consuming and exhausting since I had to paint almost non-stop to get it done, but in the end the hard work is always worth the effort! And now I can finally say that this room is done!
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