For the longest time Lucy wanted a vegetable garden and for the longest time I thought we didn’t have the space for it until I realized that the side along the back of the house would be perfect. We had made a flowerbed from some broken concrete from past projects but that wouldn’t cut it. Lucy was particular about the materials we would use, as this was to be an organic vegetable garden. The first order of business was to…
Remodeling a Garage…. This needed to be done but was one of the worst experiences of my life. I was tired of finding rat droppings in the garage and seeing it filled with wood paneling. What started as a cleaning job turned into a complete remodel. We started by replacing the old sliding door with a new French double door. Originally we thought this would be hard but it was as easy as removing the sliding doors and then removing…
The backyard was such a mess when we got the house. We started by ripping up the old concrete and placing new concrete pavers. We tore down an old metal and rotten wood shed and put down some mulch and created a small bbq area and built a new modern shed. We put a couple of pillars and attached swinging doors to separate the cooking area from the entertainment area. We set up an outdoor television and ran electrical for…
This was the project that almost drove Lucy crazy. We decided to tile both bathrooms even though they weren’t in as bad of a shape as the rest of the house. The only regret I have is not pulling out the bathtub frame. I didn’t trust my ability to waterproof the bath area so I left the insert in there but once the job was complete, I immediately regretted it. We started with a demo of the non-direct water…
Originally we placed laminate from lumber liquidators but we found out later that they released cancer-causing chemicals at higher than approved levels so we decided to throw them out. Initially we thought that sanding our floors would be too hard but at this point it was the cheaper option and after doing it, I wish we had done it from the beginning and not bothered with laminate woods. Rented Sander We rented a sander from Home Depot and got…
The kitchen started out looking like a lumberjack’s wet dream with all the wood cabinets. The kitchen was so dark and gloomy that we did a complete demolition and rebuild. We stripped the floor all the way down to the under floor and placed brand new plywood which gave the floor a nice flat base. We used large white tiles and they were placed in a straight pattern because at the time, I was a not confident cutting tile. Italian…
When I bought my first house, I was not financially able to buy a move in ready home so I bought a fixer upper. It is in my nature to do things for myself but remodeling a home was a completely different animal. Most of my education came from YouTube videos and my results are far from professional but my house is in a far better condition than when I bought it. This section will cover some of my…