Tag: Remodel

Be Our Guest

The guest room/bathroom was our last ‘room’ to be completed, unfortunately so, since we had a fair number of guests before it was even remotely occupational and now due to 2020’s travel issues we’ve had none 🙈🤪

Here you see it in some of its former grandeur…

From left to right –  What is now the bed nook. What is now the little countertop area. What is now the bathroom.

Once a layout was decided on, the wall building and drywalling etc. began.

I wanted to make use of the space that was available behind the door, (the far right photo above) so a closet would be installed, new handles put on it from Amazon and then it was filled with bedding/home items, so our storage room could be used for more tool-y bits etc.

Due to a mishap from the store, we had one box of flooring that didn’t match the rest, so Mike did some super fancy puzzling and STILL managed to complete the floor without it, since he already had the glue on the floor and the store was over an hour away.
He literally used EVERY piece of flooring we had and I’m still not sure how he did it 😂
He said he’d never had so few scraps 🙈 I ordered peel and stick tiles from Amazon for accent flooring in the bathroom area… we really went for that ‘use all the leftovers’ and ‘peel and stick stuff’ in the basement 😅 Honestly though, I’ve been super happy with how the peel and stick tiles have looked and held up 🙌🏻

Here it is ‘finished’ but yet, far from it 🤪

And now, as it currently stands…

The vanity in the bathroom is from Ikea.

It was $70.00 or so dollars, came with the vanity top and I was happily surprised with how much room it actually has inside!
The legs were spray painted gold and the brushed gold faucet, towel holder and toilet paper holder were purchased months earlier, on sale from Home Depot. The mirror in the bathroom is from Winners.

A sliding door was installed for the bathroom.
Mike found the roller part of it on sale so that’s why we decided to go that route, though it makes sense to use that style, so that the floor space doesn’t have to be clear for a door to swing open.

A potential problem with guests being so slovenly with their suitcases and such 🤪
The door itself was purchased on the local buy and sell page and the exact style I wanted 👍🏻

We had these Art Deco style door plates from one of our many projects/finds/I don’t exactly know where but they worked as little finger pulls on the door, while adding much visual pleasure 💗

A shelf was installed in this open nook area to give some more space to place things upon/add some character to the room.
We covered it using marble drawer liner, so it would match the nightstands and brackets from Ikea were sprayed gold and installed as a decorative aspect.
The mirror is once again from Winners 😏
The blue vase is actually one we bought when living in Holland and the dried leaves are from the palm plant I killed 😜 Our extra bar stools fit beneath it perfectly, so that worked out wonderfully, storage wise👌🏻

I find a lot of simple pleasure in making up the ‘welcome basket’ and putting little oft forgotten necessities in the bathroom. Probably more pleasure in that preparation than the actual action of having guests 😂

The duvet cover is from Amazon and though there is something about it I’m not 100% sold on, it couldn’t be returned due to having been washed, so for now it will be kept ☺️
I love the colors in it and the idea of the tropical design but as I said… there just seems to be something that’s a little ‘off’ 🧐
Adding the headboard and getting rid of the pink rug helped a lot though.

The headboard was a $5.00 find at our local ‘Habitat For Humanity’ and after a light sanding, vacuuming and washing, Mike attached it to the wall and I’m super happy with it 😁

The little ‘nightstands’ were made using small leftover pieces of countertop from the Mac House Makeover! 😁
We also made sure to put power outlets on each side of the bed for easy device charging 🙌🏻

Walls/ceiling were also insulated where possible, since the room is below the kitchen and beside the laundry room, two decently high traffic areas that could hinder ones guests restful mornings 🤓

I still want to add a few finishing touches here and there, art above the bed for example. I just don’t know when I will get around to such things, so I decided it was high time to share this, the last real ‘made over’ space in our home ☺️

Below Deck – A Basement Renovation

To refresh your memory from long ago, we had completed the upstairs renovations in our home to a large degree but the basement was another story.

An unfinished, dirty and dark story…🤪

We decided on creating three ‘rooms’ in the area left over after having situated the laundry room under our stairs.

Mike moved the water heater from one end of the basement to the other, in order to keep all the utilities together and that opened up a lot more options for the rest of the basements layout.

A guest room with a small bathroom and an open, second seating area that could be used for a desk or couch or whatever the need would be and then the storage/utility room.

We got our basement flooring off of kijiji and it’s a nearly perfect match to our upstairs flooring (though for some reason it always shows footprints, so I’m glad our upstairs flooring was a different brand 😬).
It goes throughout the sitting and laundry area.

Glue down tiles from kijiji were installed in the storage room and then leftover flooring from our other houses makeover, was used in the guest room.

A window Mike found at the restore in Regina was installed, as the basement had no windows at all, so that of course let in much extra light👌🏻

As it goes and as you all know by now, the steps of finishing were taken.
Framing, insulating, drywall, finishing drywall, painting, floors, trim, doors etc etc. 😉

Lastly, the bro came over and helped wire the the new lighting/switches/outlets for the basement, so that Mike could install the floating ceiling to finish off the space!
Leaving it so much brighter & cleaner, in such a short amount of time 😁👌🏻

(‘Short amount of time’ referring to the ceiling install, not the reno… that took two years and counting )

The very last thing he accomplished in our basement space was the stairs!
We were tossed between paying for carpet and install or going through the work of sanding and painting them, in hopes they’d hold up.

We went for a cross between option one and three 🤪
Carpet, but it was installed by Mike on a day he had off work instead of by a company and the carpet itself was end roll pieces, resulting in a $130.00 (ish) stair treatment 😏👍🏻

I’ll share the before and after pictures side by side here, so the full impact can be… impactful 😉

There isn’t any other picture of the storage area because, well… storage. It holds not only our supply of stroopwafels, winter/summer apparel, shoes etc. but also our water softener, heater and some obtrusive plumbing.

I title the above shot, ‘Stairs’…

The washing machine and dryer were moved to live under the stairs and you can see that room here Airing Out Our Dirty Laundry .

The below photo of this nook ‘before and after’ is so satisfying to me…

And finally, the overall view!

There are still some little finishing bittles that need doing but that is to be expected… I hope 😉

The guest room is nearly done but missing just a feeeew touches so I figured I’d save that for another time, though it will be done pre June, as we have official visitors booked in for then #motivation  😉

Sanded Down Storage Solution

Hi!

It’s time for another before and after… which seem to easily be my favourite type of thing to post about 🤪

 

I’d spotted this on the Facebook buy and sell page and loved the front panels and felt like they had the dark ish tropical kind of vibe I’m aiming for in our bedroom and we really needed more storage space.

Continue reading “Sanded Down Storage Solution”

Heading Upstairs – Staircase Unveiling

The staircase, a spot small enough, you may think it doesn’t require a ‘reveal’ all of its own… but in this instance, I believe it does 😜

 

 

The few stair rails that were there, were removed, so things could be more easily moved up and down and they never got put back… eventually a stair rail attached to the wall will go up, we just haven’t found one/been that concerned with it as of yet.

 

 

Mike ripped out the odd, built out ceiling, covered in the same cedar planks that had been in the bedrooms, so he could walk upstairs without having to duck  😜
It was a really odd ‘feature’ as behind it was just open, yet unusable space… so to take it away and finish the ceiling on the same angles as the rest of the upstairs walls, made for a much more open, spacious feeling.

 

The grippy strips stuck on each step for traction, were removed and then the stairs sanded.

 

 

I love the artwork that meets the eye every time we walk downstairs… I still can’t find the name of the lady who painted it, but we bought it at the ‘Everything Country Sale’, the spring we moved here.

 

 

 

 

The first thing you’ll see at the top of the stairs, is a little, handmade door Michiel crafted, as a cover for the attic crawl space behind the walls.
I don’t like children much but I do like child like things 🤪

 

 

Note the adult sized door to the left, for size reference .

 

 

I originally assumed I’d be painting the stairs, either white or an accent color but after they were sanded and seen with the new white wall as and grey trim, I liked the rougher look.

Mike still isn’t totally convinced 😉

Keeping them ‘original’ was kind of fun too, as the stairs themselves are the only thing we didn’t rip out and/or replace in the entire house pretty much 🤪

 

 

I think the geometric light we bought in Italy, accents the whole space perfectly 😉👌🏻💕

 

Now, that part of the house is clean, eye-pleasing area… and no longer a head hitting one 😉

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