You already saw our kitchen go from this…

…to this…

Yeah. That was a complete gut job. Since then, we’ve been doing what we do best. Tweaking.

We originally installed four open shelves near the range. They were totally functional and got me on the open-shelving-in-the-kitchen bandwagon but left a lot to be desired. The white MDF boards got lost against the light-colored wall and looked a little meh. A reader with a keen eye also noted that the shelves seemed too low and would look better if they were in line with the hood.

We lived with them that way for a few months. I really liked having our everyday serving ware {plates, bowls, glasses, etc.} out in the open for quick access but felt that something was off. I went back through my kitchen inspiration photos and noted that many incorporated wood shelving. And after I looked further, I noticed that {as the wise reader above had suggested} the open shelving was in line with either: 1) a range hood 2) wall cabinets or 3) both. Aha!

I mentioned to HH that I thought the shelves would look better if they were raised so that the top shelves were in line with the hood and the bottom shelves were in line with the bottom of our wall cabinets {on the perpendicular walls}. He just looked at me.

He didn’t say a word but I’m pretty sure he was thinking, “What?! I just hung those shelves. They’re not going anywhere.”

Then I added, “And wouldn’t it be nice if we could find some reclaimed wood to replace the MDF?”

Still, the look and no words. This is what HH has to put up with on a daily basis. Have pity on him.

But I had planted a seed. And eventually it sprouted some roots because a few weeks later HH told me we had a few fence boards leftover from our DIY ‘love’ headboard. On top of that, they were 1″ thick – exactly what we needed. He thought we had enough to replace the MDF shelf boards. He also said something about installing a backsplash while he was at it.

I love that man.

I’ll have full-on ‘how we did it’ posts next week but feast your eyes on this…

How you like dem apples?

First, let’s discuss the most obvious tweak. The backsplash.

We chose 2″x12″ white subway tile and a contrasting warm gray grout.

We decided to tile up to the hood but not to the ceiling because we really didn’t want the hood to be an ‘in your face’ focal point from the adjoining family room.

Likewise, we chose to only go three tiles high with the rest of the backsplash. Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy an entire wall of tile now and again but when it’s visible from a not-so-utilitarian space {like our wide open adjoining family room} then it feels a little cold to me. Not to mention, keeping our backsplash minimal saved us time and money. Unless your kids are doing the cooking in your house {in which case TELL ME YOUR SECRET}, you really don’t need a backsplash that extends to the ceiling.

It’s hard to tell from this shot but the low backsplash wraps around under the microwave.

No backsplash along the desk area. I’m reserving the under-cabinet space for an inspiration board, memos, reminders, etc.

Now for the less obvious tweak. The reclaimed wood shelves…

Seriously. They might be my favorite thing in the entire kitchen. Besides the skylights. The wood is old fence boards from HH’s family farm back in Pennsylvania. Like I mentioned, it was from the same lot that we used to DIY our previous headboard. {Don’t worry. HH sealed it so there’s no risk of contaminating our dishes with nasty chemicals or harmful dust.}

This shot shows how the raised shelves follow the lines of the kitchen better. I liken their new, higher position to a good {not Joan Rivers} facelift. It’s like that’s where they were supposed to be all along. Oh, and I have no problem reaching stuff on the shelves at their current height. At 5’4″, that was a slight concern for me but, turns out, it’s just like reaching up into a wall cabinet for something on the bottom or middle shelves.

The wood isn’t perfect. It’s bowed and warped which did pose somewhat of a challenge to hang. It has an aged patina that can’t be bought and only comes with time. We purposefully left some of the old paint on the boards.

Each shelf is actually made up of two boards placed side by side. Since we reused the IKEA brackets, HH had to cut the boards length and width wise to fit. Even though there are two boards and they aren’t perfectly smooth, it’s not enough to make our dishes wobble precariously above us.

I love the function of the open shelving so much that I bought two more brackets and we added a low shelf over near the fridge for easy water drinking. {See how the backsplash continues along this wall?} The height of the shelf is in line with the backsplash and still allows us to utilize the electrical outlets properly. This corner needs work. I want to hang the paper towel roll and I’ll probably remove the coffee maker since we rarely use it.

HH was worried the area under the shelf would be wasted but it’s perfect for storing cutting boards.

Some more shots because I can’t enough of the reclaimed wood and it’s Friday!

The mix of the shiny white tile, glass globe pendants, stainless steel brackets & appliances, weathered wood shelves, warm walnut island top, dark lower cabinetry and aluminum stools are so us. We love the contrast of light + dark, old + modern, shiny + matte.

I still have a short list of things to add to the kitchen, mostly final touches and accessories: window treatment, rug, maybe some hooks under the lower shelves near the range for towels/kitchen tools, wall art to the left of the window, etc.

Last week, one reader guessed another addition to the kitchen…

Cabinet lighting. {I’ve yet to paint those damn french doors. Why?! It’s not that hard!}

HH installed it himself. I have no idea how. I’m clueless when it comes to electrical work. I do know our electrician-in-law {who did the rest of the electrical work on the house} ran supply wire and hooked it up to switches so the cabinet lighting turns on/off with the flip of a switch. Presto! If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask in the comments section and maybe HH can answer them. I’m sorry. I have no desire to be an electrician.

But I do love what lighting can do for a space. I wish I could capture the ambience of the cabinet lighting at night. It’s the only lighting we use in the great room in the evenings after the kids are tucked in bed, lunches are packed for the next day and the kitchen is cleaned up. Cabinet lighting – that’s about as romantic as we get, people.

One last thing before I go…THANK YOU for voting for Mabrey’s room in the Room for Color contest over on Apartment Therapy. We won the dark division! I couldn’t have done it without you.

Have a happy weekend! I’ll be attempting a weekend warrior project that involves paint. Fingers crossed the kids cooperate.

Click here to see who won this week’s Bona giveaway.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Sometimes HH and I get overwhelmed, discouraged and even struck with fear when looking at the long list of things left to do on our Underdog. Especially when many of the projects are right here in plain sight for us to see on a daily basis. We’ve found that the best way to turn our frowns upside down is to look at ‘befores’ of our house and see just how far we’ve come.

We bought the house in May 2011 but didn’t really start any work {aside from tree removal and demo} until after our previous home sold in mid-August 2011. During the nearly 9 month renovation, we lived in a two-bedroom apartment away from the chaos. Even though our apartment was far from lovely, I am so thankful we were able to have a safe haven separate from the renovation.

I thought you would appreciate seeing the progress on our home as well so you’re in for a little before-and-progress/after action today! {I’ll warn you. The ‘befores’ may be frightening to anyone who suffers from claustrophobia and the ‘afters’ are far from done.}

Here’s our Underdog in all its untouched and then renovated glory…

That’s the view from the front door looking towards the dining room and kitchen.

We removed the walls dividing the kitchen, dining room and family room. We vaulted the ceiling and added skylights. The original dining room window was replaced with french doors. The doors need painted and we still have a little work to do in the kitchen {backsplash, window treatment and styling}.

The original kitchen cabinets were rotted and falling apart.

We installed an IKEA kitchen.

That’s the interior wall we took out to open up the space.

A large 9′ island adds storage where wall space was lost and serves as a casual dining spot for everyday meals.

That’s the family room. If you look closely, you can see paint peeling and water damage along the wall and ceiling above the mantel.

And that’s the family room as of this week. Eventually, painted white tongue-and-groove planking will surround and frame in the TV. An original painting {created by the previous owner no less} will hang in front of the TV and raise/lower via a motorized pulley system. HH is still fine tuning the design. Other than buying a rug, new sofa and chairs, this room hasn’t been decorated. We need window treatments, a bench under the picture window and accessories.

Some more shots of the great room after…

The only decision we’ve made about the original brick fireplace surround is to live with it a while. I have nothing against painting brick but HH and I both like exposed brick. We’ll see.

We haven’t addressed the front door yet.

I have plans for a gallery wall behind the sofa to disguise the surround sound speakers and balance out the upper cabinetry on the other side of the room.

The leaning artwork is the piece that will raise above and lower over the TV.

Onto the former den…

The window unit was the only form of air conditioning in the house.

We removed the unit and installed a heat pump heating & cooling system.

We’ve repurposed the room as a dining room/mudroom/laundry room although it still needs a lot of work. HH added tongue-and-groove wainscoting and laid durable travertine tile. Even with the two PAX wardrobes, I need to address storage & organization. Somehow, shoes and backpacks aren’t making it all the way to the wardrobes. We also need to repair the man door to the garage, hang the light and hang the last interior door {to the kid/guest bathroom} that’s leaning against the wall.

The dysfunctional sliders were replaced with french doors. Just like the ones in the kitchen, we’ve yet to paint them. The dining chairs are actually outdoor chairs that will live outside in the future. For now, they’re inside.

The other side of the room housed a laundry closet.

We demo’d the closet and added upper cabinets. The plan here is to install a wood countertop above the washer/dryer and to conceal the machines so that this corner resembles a dry bar.

The opposite side of the house is where the bedrooms and bathrooms reside.

The old hallway was dark and dirty.

Recessed lighting was installed to wash the walls and brighten the passageway. {Hi boys!} The interior doors were replaced but they aren’t painted yet. We need to build a door for the attic access.

The first of the two bathrooms had cracked tile and mold within one wall.

The bathroom was gutted and is prepped, awaiting finishes. It’s on our winter to-do list. It will become our kid/guest bathroom. Yes, that means our family of five is sharing one bathroom right now.

The first teeny {smaller than 10′x10′} bedroom had peeling paint on the walls, matted shag carpet and a bed took up the entire room. It was a nice four poster bed though, no?

This room is the closest to being ‘done.’ As in the rest of the house, we demo’d the room to add insulation to the cinder block exterior walls, updated the electrical, hung drywall, installed new flooring & baseboards and painted.

The second bedroom was a decent size but crowded with furniture and clutter. The baseboards in this room were deteriorating from termite damage.

Our boys share this room now. {Surprise! You get a sneak peek of their new rug. More on that next week.} I can’t wait to add built-in desks and open shelving so the room can double as a workspace for the kids.

The master bedroom was being used as an art studio. It was dark, dirty and outdated.

It’s now a true bedroom but needs some tweaking. Don’t mind the sloppy bed with mismatched pillows. Everett made the bed and I didn’t have the heart to tell him he did it wrong.

I have to be honest. I’m not 100% happy with the wall color. It’s Benjamin Moore tapestry beige and it’s the same color we used in the hall and great room. While I LOVE it in the hall and great room, I don’t like it in the master bedroom. The problem with the bedroom is that it faces north and receives little natural light. I thought painting it light would make it appear lighter but this particular color just accentuates the shadows and comes across as dingy. I’ll probably end up repainting it. Any suggestions for good paint colors in a north room are welcome!

The adjoining master bathroom had many of the same problems as the other full bath. The original tile was cracked and the entire space was outdated.

We did a full gut job. I need to get creative with storage and organization in this bathroom. A toilet paper holder would be a good place to start. I have the same feelings about the paint color in here as in the master bedroom.

Currently, this is our only functioning bathroom. While it isn’t impossible for a family of five to share one bathroom {I do love having only one bathroom to clean}, I am looking forward to the day when the kids have their own bathroom.

So. There you have it. A look at our house from the first time we walked through it to current day.

Whew. That was cathartic. I’m feeling much better about our progress. And that’s only the inside of the house. Maybe I’ll crank out a similar post for the exterior. Can you believe HH and I walked through the house the first time with it looking like that and left with smiles on our faces? Yeah. We’re crazy.

To answer a very popular question…the house was an estate sale in a highly sought school district and listed at $99,000. It was the black sheep of the neighborhood with most homes in the area going for $140,000 and up with minimal updates. We offered $85,000 and got the house. At closing, we learned that all of the money from the sale of the house went to charity.

While tweaking this house into our home isn’t always easy or fun {damn you, concrete slab and cinder blocks walls!!}, we love it a little more each day.

Check to see who won this week’s Stella & Dot and Signs by Andrea giveaways!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Our Underdog is livable {yippee!} but by no means is it finished. There are a few pressing issues that need to be addressed to make our house safer and more functional.

Here are the top 9 projects on our to-do list in no particular order:

1. Finish unpacking and clear out the garage. Self explanatory. I think the picture says it all.

2. Install register covers. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. Our house is built on a concrete slab with a down flow furnace which means ductwork to all registers runs within the slab. All but three of our floor registers open up right at perimeter walls. During renovation, we opened up the walls to add insulation, tore out the old termite-ridden baseboards, laid engineered hardwoods and installed new, thicker baseboards. That left us with less room for a standard register cover.

Since we can’t move the registers themselves {because the ducts are within the concrete slab}, Handy Hubby thought about trimming down a standard cover to fit. It turns out all of the covers we like would have to be trimmed so much that it would destroy what was left {i.e. the open parts of the cover would be cut into}. The normally simple task of installing register covers has become quite a predicament. HH is now talking about cutting into the bottom of the baseboards where a register pops up to squeeze in a cover then caulk around the baseboard-register cover seam. Good times. I will say that our boys have been surprisingly good about avoiding the open registers. No one has stepped into a register or lost a toy down one yet. {I’m probably jinxing myself.} I think it has more to do with the registers’ placement along rooms’ perimeters and less to do with Layne and Everett following orders.

3. Hang interior doors. Have I mentioned we have no interior doors at the moment? Say what?! All bedrooms, hall closets and our one finished bathroom are doorless. Good thing no one in our family is too modest. As a temporary fix, I have blackout panels hanging from tension rods in each bedroom’s doorway. {The one on Mabrey’s room is actually two shades I had made for our interim apartment safety-pinned together.} The closets and bathroom are bare. The panels are okay for now but I’m constantly telling the boys to be quiet when Mabrey is sleeping. I’m anxiously awaiting the day when I’ll be able to close a door between my sleeping baby girl and my two rowdy boys. Ahem, HH.

4. Organize closets. The original closets {save for one hall closet} had one hanging rod with a shallow shelf above it. We removed the hanging rods in the master closet and boys’ closet during renovation because we wanted to optimize storage in those two larger closets. Now that I’m unpacking our belongings, it’s difficult to find a spot for anything.

Currently, my hanging clothes are in Mabrey’s closet and HH’s are in one of the hall closets. The boys’ clothes are folded in a linen closet and their toys are piled up on the floor in their bedroom closet. Obviously, this temporary setup is NOT working.

5. Organize PAX wardrobes. This goes along with the dysfunctional closets. Right now there’s just a bunch of stuff lying in the bottom of each wardrobe. IKEA sells complementary storage accessories for the wardrobes and we’ll be implementing those.

6. Find a rug for the boys’ bedroom. Boys will be boys and mine like to wrestle around with each other on a daily basis. That’s hard to do on wood floors. They need a soft place to play. I’m considering Flor tiles {expensive!} or having carpet bound into a custom rug {less expensive but not cheap!}.

7. Design a workstation along one wall in the boys’ bedroom. I’d love for Layne and Everett to each have their own workspace. It’s not so much a priority now {Layne’s finishing up 1st grade and Everett’s in preschool} but will be in the years to come. I’d love to have it done way in advance so they can take advantage of it sooner rather than later. Not to mention, we could use the extra storage.

8. Do something with the flippin’ front door. Do you detect any hostility? The door, I like. How it functions, I do not like.

To unlock it from the inside, you must use a key. Do you know how many times I’ve resorted to sliding open the front window to talk to a visitor because I can’t find my key right at that moment? More than I care to admit.

The door also has ~2″ gap at the bottom so we must keep the old aluminum storm door on the outside to keep critters from getting in. The storm door is bent and doesn’t close properly. And it’s LOUD. And it’s UGLY. It’s UGLY LOUD. {That’s a new term I’m going to start using.} It’s not the first impression I want to make.

9. Get the TV working. Mind you, if I was single, this wouldn’t be on the list. {However, if I was single, then this list wouldn’t even exist because I’d still be trying to knock down walls.} The TV is all HH. We aren’t big TV watchers but HH has this thing about installing electronics right away in new places. I think it’s the engineer in him. Or the upcoming summer Olympics. As is, the TV is hung but not functional.

Those are our pressing projects. Notice none of them include painting the french doors, hanging new light fixtures, installing tongue and groove around the TV, hiding the washer/dryer, etc. Rooms have to work for me before I can even think about making them look pretty. Otherwise, it’s like putting deodorant on dirty armpits. Okay, I have no idea where that analogy came from.

That’s not to say if we have a lapse in between projects that I won’t be tempted to, say, paint a crib or something.

Check here to see who won this week’s giveaway!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

After posting progress pics of the kitchen a few weeks ago, some questions popped up. First, there was concern that the hood appeared to be too high.

Handy Hubby installed the exhaust hood according to the directions which advised placing the hood 30″ – 36″ above the cooktop.

Ours is 31″ from the cooktop so we’re actually on the lower end of the recommended range. There are several reasons as to why the hood may seem higher in pictures. First off, the height of the ceiling where the hood’s chimney dead-ends is 9′. That’s because we opened up the original 8′ ceiling and vaulted it. Where the sloped ceiling meets the wall is 9′. That extra foot of headroom might be extending the height of the hood visually.

Another reason the hood may look so disconnected from the stovetop is because there’s nothing but empty space separating them at the moment. The control dials on the range are located at the front, just above the oven door, so there’s no control panel on the back that sticks up. It makes for a clean line horizontally but might be why the hood feels oh-so-far-away. Ideally, I’d like to add a backsplash {not sure what type of material} and/or a shelf above the stove. Both of them would help to bridge the stove-to-hood gap. Upper cabinets placed on either side of the hood could also give the hood a cozier height visually but they aren’t in our kitchen plans.

One other thing…many of the newer exhaust hoods are efficient enough that they can be placed further from the cooktop than older models.

HH and I didn’t really notice the hood feeling too high. HH likes the fact that he can stand at the stove and easily see the burners without dipping his head under the hood. Hopefully, our plans to add a backsplash/shelving above the stove will keep the open space from feeling like a tundra.

There were also some questions regarding the fridge. Many of you wanted to know our reasoning for choosing a side-by-side model. We chose the side-by-side for several reasons:

1) We had one at our previous house and liked it.

2) We have friends who have a French door/bottom freezer drawer and they hate it. We usually like/dislike the same things so we figured we wouldn’t like it either.

3) We like having the water and ice dispenser on the outside of the door so our kids can fill their cups on their own.

4) We don’t have a need for storing large platters {i.e. we’re not caterers or bakers} in the fridge, so the narrower fridge space is just fine with us.

5) We wanted a counter-depth fridge and IKEA only offers them in side-by-side models. {We purchased our entire kitchen from IKEA during one of their 20% off sales…if you buy three kitchen appliances, you get 20% off your entire kitchen order. We bought our fridge, dishwasher, range and hood from IKEA.}

The side-by-side should serve us {and HH’s Yuengling!} well. I totally understand that some people prefer other types of fridges though.

What about you? What’s above your stove?…a microwave?…a patterned backsplash?…a custom hood? Are you like us and prefer a side-by-side fridge? Or are you a French door fridge lover?

FYI – We’re making progress in the mudroom/dining room/laundry nook! Catch a sneak peek two images up and in the image below.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

This has been quite the week. Nope, we didn’t move into the Underdog like some of you guessed from the beer in the fridge pic. We’re not that good. {By the way, thanks for contributing to H*T this week. I thought your comments were great! I think a regular ‘worth a thousand words’ post could be fun. What do you think?}

I haven’t taken up drinking since I’m no longer prego. And we didn’t throw our first Underdog bash either. Sorry to disappoint you. The chilled beer is all Handy Hubby. Just because. Because we have a fridge…at the Underdog…that works…and can keep beverages cold…alcoholic beverages…from Pennsylvania…HH’s home state. Stocking the newly installed fridge with a six-pack of Yuengling was HH’s natural reaction.

Can you blame him? He’s been putting in long hours at work, at home, at the Underdog. And he paid the price this week. HH came home from work early on Wednesday complaining of chills, aches, nausea and upset stomach. He was quarantined then forty-eight hours later he was back at work and back at the Underdog.

We’re starting to feel the itch. The itch to have a permanent house. A house that I can tweak into a home. Neighbors. A neighborhood. A school bus stop that we don’t have to drive to and from twice daily. An oven that doesn’t burn every damn thing we put in it. An organized closet. Man, what I wouldn’t give for just one organized closet. And can I tell you how not fun it is to carry groceries, bags, and now a newborn in her pumpkin seat up three flights of stairs?! A changing table would be nice too. Don’t get me wrong. Living in the apartment away from the renovation mess has done wonders for our sanity but we’re ready to move on.

Our boys are starting to feel it too. They need a yard. They need a better routine. They need to see their Dada more often. They need friends that live a few doors down. They need stability. They need a fun, put-together bedroom. HH took one look at their room in the apartment this week and said, “It’s like we’re coke addicts.” Did I mention we sold Everett’s bed via craigslist {we’re still trying to sell Layne’s in preparation for bunk beds at the Underdog} so he’s sleeping on a mattress on the floor? Since giving birth two weeks ago, let’s just say that housekeeping has fallen by the wayside. The Underdog is now probably cleaner than our apartment.

So, yeah, we’re ready. Unfortunately, we have a few projects to complete before we can move into the Underdog. We’re buckling down and knocking them out. One project is the kitchen. Here are pics of its progress that I took earlier this week. I didn’t even clean up to make it look pretty. Don’t mind the random ladder placement. The good news is that it’s even further along than this now. I just haven’t had a chance to snap more current pics. Other than some extra man power to move the appliances in from the garage, HH has single handedly installed the kitchen.

You can see the fridge and hood are in. The back of the island is now covered with black panels so it matches the rest of the lower cabinetry.

The trim around the French doors still needs painted and I haven’t yet decided what color the doors will be. Gloss black? Red? Something else?

Not only did we choose to mix-and-match cabinet types between the lower and upper cabinetry, we also have two different styles of upper cabinetry. There are glass-front doors above the desk area and solid upper doors around the fridge.

Since the desk area will work much like an office, I plan on using lots of concealed storage within the glass cabinets to keep things looking tidy.

Sorry about this wonky view. I think I was holding a newborn and snapping around the lone ladder. Anyway, we chose to use closed cabinetry near the fridge for some hidden upper storage. The empty open shelf next to the fridge is for the microwave. The microwave that we don’t have yet. Even though the microwave won’t be hidden behind a door, it’ll be concealed from view of the family room because the fridge extends out beyond microwave by several inches.

In that last shot the gas stove is sitting in the middle of the kitchen. It’s now in place under the hood and it doesn’t look like a stove we should own. Six burners?! Come on. After months of cooking on an outdated electric stovetop at the Underdog, we’re very much looking forward to making meals on a quality gas stove. Ah, the little things.

Next up on the kitchen list is making decisions about the sink, faucet, countertops, and said microwave. We’re strongly leaning towards some type of wood countertop for the island because we want it to feel more like a tabletop than a kitchen countertop. For the perimeter, we’re leaning towards a low maintenance solid stone such as granite, concrete, corian, etc.

As the title of this post suggests, things are heating up in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, HH is set to start tiling the mudroom/dining room/laundry nook this weekend. He’s got the multipurpose room all cleared out and ready to go.

That reminds me. I can’t wait to come up with an idea to disguise the side of the fridge that you see in the image above.

We’re installing travertine tile in the mudroom. Since the room has direct access to the garage and backyard, we wanted something that would hold up well to dirty, muddy, wet shoes. Oh, and the reason for no paint on the bottom third of the walls is because we have a DIY wall treatment in mind for the room that will extend partway up the wall.

That’s where things stand with the Underdog. The next few weeks are going to be a whirlwind for us trying to get the house livable while still adjusting to the newborn haze and our newly enlarged family of five. But we’re determined to get in there. We need it.

FYI – Click here to see who won the Sierra Sage giveaway this week. Maybe it was you!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

The weekend before we welcomed our new baby girl into our family I went into full nesting mode over at the Underdog. I got the master bathroom squeaky clean then moved onto the three bedrooms.

{master bedroom before}

{boys’ bedroom before}

{nursery before}

In each of the three bedrooms, we tore out shag carpeting, demo’d the exterior walls to the cinder block to insulate properly, upgraded the electrical, hung new drywall on the exterior walls, painted, installed engineered hardwood flooring and replaced the old termite-damaged baseboards with taller, beefier trim. The boys’ bedroom and nursery windows had been replaced by the previous owner. The master bedroom windows were the original aluminum kind with cracked glass panes. We replaced them with new vinyl ones.

{master bedroom after}

{boys’ bedroom after}

{nursery after}

A few thoughts on the bedrooms {i.e. there’s still work to do!}:

• Like the master bathroom, the bedrooms are done from a renovation standpoint but not so from a design standpoint. I’ll go into more decor detail room-by-room after we move in.
• We need register covers for all the bedrooms.
• We’ve yet to install interior doors for the bedrooms. I’m going to implement fabric doors for all the bedroom closets. At first, we thought we’d reuse the original bedroom doors and paint them but now we’re leaning towards buying solid wood doors to increase privacy in such a small house.
• Did you notice the thicker, meatier baseboards?

To clean up the renovation dust, I relied on my trusty cleaning favorites.

I used a mixture of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day all purpose cleaner and water to wash the windows inside and out. The Underdog’s roof has a pretty deep overhang that extends about 2-3 feet beyond the brick facade. It’s not optimal for letting in lots of natural light BUT I think it helps protect the windows from excessive dirt and runoff. The new windows in the master bedroom weren’t any cleaner than the windows in the other bedrooms. I’m hoping this means less frequent window cleaning in my future. Our previous house had no overhang and as soon as it rained, my clean windows would be grimy once again.

Before tackling the dirty engineered hardwood flooring, I did some research. I wasn’t sure how to go about cleaning them…especially since there was still glue residue on them from the installation. {We installed them onto a concrete slab and weren’t able to nail them into a subfloor. Boo.} Everything I read said to clean them the same way as solid hardwood. So after shop-vac’ing the loose debris, I used my favorite wood cleaning mixture – Murphy’s Oil Soap mixed in warm water. It worked great not only on the the renovation dust but also on the glue residue. For the first deep cleaning, I skipped the mop and worked on my hands and knees with a bucket and microfiber cloth. In true Cinderella style. Well, if Cinderella had been 38 weeks pregnant. The best part about the Murphy’s Oil Soap is that there’s no need to rinse. And I’m all about less steps when cleaning is involved.

Update: So apparently Murphy’s Oil Soap isn’t the best choice when it comes to cleaning hardwood flooring. With repeated use over time, it can leave a residue. Sheesh! I have a lot to learn!

Another important thing to remember is that each of the cleaners I used – Mrs. Meyer’s & Murphy’s – is concentrated. That means thorough cleaning requires less product…which means one bottle lasts a long time…which means more money for more important things…like pillows. I’ve had these two bottles for at least four years now. And I use them all the time.

This is where I wish virtual scratch-n-sniff pictures were possible. The mix of Mrs. Meyer’s lemon verbena and Murphy’s oil is delish. Not only is the Underdog starting to feel like a home, it’s starting to smell a little like one too.

I also got the hallway cleaned up and protected. I just cut up a bunch of cardboard boxes from our IKEA kitchen install, duct-taped them together in sidewalk fashion and laid them on the floor. It’s my version of the Yellow Brick Road. Since we still have some renovation projects going on and will need to move in furniture at some point, I’m hoping the cardboard rug will keep dirt and dings to a minimum until we’re settled in. Then all bets are off after that!

With one bathroom and three bedrooms in move-in condition, Handy Hubby has moved onto the kitchen install. The goal is to get the kitchen functional {cabinets and appliances in working order but probably not all finishes will be done when we move in…who needs countertops anyway?!} and install tile flooring in the mudroom/dining room/laundry nook so that we can hook up the washer and dryer on moving day. We’re chugging right along.

Finally, I apologize if any or all parts of this post are incoherent. I’m on newborn time. My brain is foggy and my heart is full. Per your requests, I’m working on a few posts that will discuss Mabrey’s birth story and how we came to choose her name. Coming soon!

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

We’re making progress on the master bathroom! Before, the bathroom contained original fixtures and pink ’50′s tile. {And some stylish vinyl accessories I might add – shower curtain, valance and curtains. Yes, you heard me. Vinyl valance and curtains. With bathroom scenes printed on them. Tasteful.} The one thing I really liked about the bathroom was the window. Bathrooms with no windows can feel especially dark and cramped. We had planned on living with the bathroom as-is for a while but discovered that some of the tile surrounding the tub/shower was cracked and allowing water to seep through into the walls.

It’s difficult to see in the picture, but there was a hairline crack through a few of the tiles in the bottom left-hand corner. Unfortunately, water doesn’t discriminate between small and large cracks – it’ll find a way through them all!

In true renovation style, we gutted the room down to the studs removing the original tub, tile and vanity. The porcelain throne was the only keeper. Then something miraculous happened. A marketing rep from The Tile Shop contacted me to see if we’d be interested in using some of their tile for our Underdog’s renovation. Um, please and thank you!

I chose this inexpensive large textured tile for the shower surround. My thoughts were that the white would keep the bathroom feeling bright and the shiny, textured surface would bounce even more light around the teeny room. Plus, who wouldn’t want to take a shower surrounded by glittery tile?!

I decided on this penny tile for the floor. Another affordable option! {The sample of wood flooring next to the tile sample is the flooring we’re using in our adjacent master bedroom.} Can you tell I was going for lots of texture in the bathroom? To ground the room a little and add some contrast, I went for a gray-ish floor tile as opposed to something white.

We got the bathroom put back together {foam insulation, updated electrical, new window, new tub, new lighting fixtures, drywall & paint, backerboard, etc.} somewhat and then Handy Hubby proceeded to prep for the tile installation which involved studying this DIY video and lots of measuring. A few days in, our bathroom is starting to look, well, like a bathroom…FINALLY! Instead of a jail cell.

The shower surround is up and waiting for pencil tile edging and grout. Even without finishing touches, the bathroom is so much brighter and fresher!

There’s my lovely little window! HH installed the tile horizontally in a brick pattern all the way to the ceiling. I think the large size of the tile goes a long way in making the small area feel bigger.

A bullnose version of the large tile finishes off the window inset perfectly.

With the window right inside the shower/tub area, it allows natural light to pour in and make the tile all the more shimmery.

This tile might not be good for our utility bill. I don’t think I’m ever going to want to turn the water off and leave the shower! Is it weird to want to rub my hands all over the shower tile? Yeah, I thought so.

The plan is to add pencil edging along the border where the tile meets the drywall. HH had to install two sheets of backerboard on top of one another on the toilet wall to get proper coverage over the top of the new tub. {The tub was a little shorter than the width of the bathroom.} As a result, the shower tile sticks out further than the drywall – which would happen anyway but in our case it’s exaggerated – so we aren’t able to use the bullnose tile like HH did for the window inset. After a quick call to The Tile Shop {I tell you what, those people know their tile!}, we were happy to learn that we’d be okay to use a pencil tile with some more height to it for the shower’s border.

Once the edging is complete, HH is grouting and moving onto the bathroom floor tile. He’s a weekend warrior that man. Love him. Even more than that glittery tile.

Our goal of having at least one functional bathroom before moving into the Underdog is slowly becoming a reality. Let’s not forget that we have another full kid/guest bathroom to tackle {which I’m just as excited about} along with a mudroom/dining room – both of which are getting tile treatments. We’re not out of the tiling woods quite yet.

What about you? Any bathroom business under your belt? The DIY kind, I mean. Any plans for updating a bathroom in your house?

FYI – The Tile Shop graciously offered us the products linked to above free of charge. In that way, we’ve been compensated for mentioning them. However, we would highly recommend their products and services regardless of compensation. They have been extremely helpful to us in selecting tile, ordering product, and DIYing the installation. We can always call the store with a question and get a quick and educated answer. They even offer DIY classes in-store if you’re a tiling newbie.

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

With all of the kitchen base cabinets installed, Handy Hubby was able to knock out the rest of the hardwood flooring! If you’ll remember, a few short weeks ago this is what the kitchen looked like…

HH researched the installation of a floating engineered hardwood floor and found that it was recommended to install any kitchen base cabinets prior to installing flooring. From what I understand, since the base cabinets are attached to the wall laying a floating wood floor beneath them could cause problems down the road when the floor expands and contracts. It could result in shifting of the cabinets and damage to the walls. {This isn’t the case with a nailed down wood floor since in essence it’s not a floating floor.}

As much as we were aching for the hardwoods to be done already, we weren’t willing to chance screwing up the kitchen cabinets and walls due to expansion/contraction in the future. So, the flooring install was put on hold while HH assembled and installed the base cabinetry in the kitchen. We chose not to worry about the few upper cabinets since their installation wasn’t necessary for the completion of the flooring. {For more details on our kitchen layout, click here.} Normally, it’s much easier to install upper cabinets first then move on to lower cabinets but IKEA has a nifty rail system on which the upper cabinets are installed so we figured installing the lower cabinets first wouldn’t pose a problem. I’ll let you know how that pans out.

We also opted to forgo the drawers and doors until the flooring was complete.

HH assembled and installed all the base cabinets himself…in between numerous business trips. {That’s why it’s taken me so long to get you some after shots.} In talking to him, he found the process to be relatively easy. But you have to remember he’s comparing this project to tearing down walls, vaulting the ceiling, upgrading the HVAC system, etc. AND he’s an engineer so his evaluation of the situation might be a little skewed. I’m sorry I don’t have detailed in progress shots of the cabinet install…HH doesn’t think of that stuff when he’s DIYing and my bed rest has necessitated my absence from the Underdog. But once HH is back from his most recent work trip {tomorrow!}, I plan on sitting down with him and getting all the details to share with you and maybe even trying to capture a few close-ups so you can see how he attached the cabinets to the walls and installed the kitchen island.

For now though, here are the latest pics I snapped a few days ago when I was feeling pretty good. They should give you a better idea of the kitchen layout.

The view from the front door…

I love that you can see all the way through the house to the backyard upon entrance into the Underdog. A window used to live where those French doors are. HH and I debated back and forth between replacing the original window with a set of doors or not. We knew we’d love the doors but hadn’t planned on putting them in right away. We’re both so happy we bit the bullet and went ahead with the French doors. No regrets one bit. At some point, I’ll paint the doors. I haven’t decided what color…black?…gray?…red? Who knows what hue they’ll end up!

Just to the right of the French doors you’ll see two base cabinets. With a continuous length of countertop connecting the two cabinets, this area will eventually become a desk area. There will be a few shallower upper cabinets for added storage. I see this space being used for making grocery lists, sorting mail, paying bills, filing paperwork, blogging, etc. Organization will be key. I can’t wait for everything to have a place!

If you do a 180° and look the other way across the kitchen, this is what you’ll see…

Our kitchen is pretty wide {~25′} but not very deep. It has a galley feel to it but instead of two parallel walls closing it in, we removed one of the walls and added an island in its place to open things up. There’s a nice, wide walkway between the island and cabinets along the wall to make for easy maneuvering.

Moving across the kitchen right to left {sorry, I’m left-handed so I tend to do things bass-ackwards} from the French doors…

The hood will be centered between the sink window and French doors. We thought it’d make a better focal point than the fridge. This did require us to have a gas line installed at the new stove placement. {The fridge will live where the stove used to.} To the left of the stove is the dishwasher then the sink. Have I mentioned that I’ve been hand washing our dishes for the past six months? The apartment’s dishwasher works as if someone is spitting water onto your dishes…dirty water. I used it once and vowed not to touch it ever again. I look forward to the day I can throw our dishes into a fully functioning dishwasher!

The far left side of the kitchen will house the fridge. This was the original placement of the stove but, like I said, we chose to move it, move it. Not only does this keep our fridge from being the center of attention, but it moves it closer to the garage entrance which should make putting away groceries a cinch. A few shallower upper cabinets will go along this wall as well. One will hold our microwave {which we haven’t purchased yet} and a deeper storage cabinet will top off the fridge.

The hole in the wall in the upper corner is wiring for above cabinet lighting. The uppers on the other {right} side of the kitchen will get above cabinet illumination too. That was another one of our electrician’s ideas that we hadn’t given much thought to until he mentioned it, but I think it will be a great investment and make for some lovely ambiance at night.

Looking back towards the desk area from the fridge…

That concludes a little walk through our preliminary kitchen. Let’s get back to that flooring.

After all the measuring, bending, cutting, squatting, and gluing and gluing and gluing, we LOVE this floor! Sure, it could use a good scrub but we’ve deemed it worthy of all the hard work it took to DIY the install. With that one set of black drawers installed on the island, you can get a good feel for how the black base cabinets will look next to the floor. I like the way the black in the cabinets draws out the darker grain in the floor. But I also like that there’s enough contrast between the brown floor and black cabinets that they feel separate. A darker floor would have been too dark. {With the white cabinet frames, you can see how the hardwood could work nicely in a white kitchen too – in case you were wondering.}

With the island and base cabinets in, HH finished up the rest of the flooring just last weekend {on one of the two days he was home in between work trips}. He floored right up to the island…

…and base cabinets…

The island and base cabinets will get a toe kick treatment with black plinth that matches the cabinetry. It will hide the island’s framed base and the lower cabinets’ undercarriage. There was no need to floor all the way under the cabinets. HH cut notches in the flooring for the legs of the cabinets.

By contrast, HH installed the wood floor underneath all appliances.

This is due to the fact that the appliances – while hooked up at the walls – are not ATTACHED to the walls. Their freestanding properties, unlike the screwed in cabinets, give them more wiggle room for any expansion and contraction that may occur with the flooring later on. Again, this is the case for us because we installed a floating engineered hardwood floor onto a concrete slab. If you are nailing down your wood floor onto a subfloor {lucky dog you!}, then there shouldn’t be a problem installing the flooring underneath base cabinets if you choose to do so.

Luckily, our major appliances {fridge, dishwasher, stove} have adjustable feet so that we can keep them level with the cabinets when it comes time to install countertops. HH did take the heights of the appliances into consideration when installing the cabinets, so everything should be flush. Unlike custom cabinetry, IKEA cabinets have adjustable feet on them so you can finagle their height to your requirements as needed. Or you can always build a base using 2×4′s…similar to what HH did for the island.

For fun, let’s take one last look at the flooring done-zo. Well, minus trim, baseboards, thresholds and a good cleaning.

Not too bad considering she once looked like this…

Ack!

Next up? The master bathroom. We’re sort of jumping trains and moving away from the kitchen for a little while. We’d like to get one bathroom completed before finishing up the kitchen, so that’s where we’re headed next. Tiling here we come! Although it doesn’t look like I’ll be doing much tiling. I have strict orders to take it easy for two more weeks at least. I haven’t quite figured out how to ‘take it easy’ with two busy-body kids, a traveling hubby and a house under renovation but I’m doing my best. So far, so good. Baby is still cookin’.

I mentioned above that HH was home for 2 days in between work trips this past weekend. You saw what he did one of those days and the other day he was home we were doing this…

…celebrating our older son’s 7th birthday! My dad graciously let us take over his house for a low key, laid-back family party. We couldn’t fit everyone into our teeny apartment. For some reason, this birthday was a real stinger to me. I can’t believe Layne is 7. He’s so grown up! He wouldn’t let me decorate – not that I could have gone all out anyways with the whole bed rest thing. He even turned down balloons saying, ‘uh, Mom, balloons are kinda babyish.’ Everyone kept commenting on how mellow and quiet he was, too. But that’s just Layne. He’s not one to want to be the center of attention.

His brother and my sister have that covered.

Two peas in a pod, I tell ya.

Happy weekend!

**Congrats to Katie whose lil’ guy replies, “I wuv you awww da way to da dirt!” every time his Dad says, “I love you all the way to the moon!” Also congrats to Becky who, ironically, loves her sweetie more than sweets. Katie and Becky are the winners of the Signs by Andrea giveaway.**

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

The highly anticipated skylights are in!  Maybe not highly anticipated by you, but Handy Hubby and I have been waiting and waiting and longing for these babies to be installed.  We’ve got a thing for skylights.  We love the way they let natural light flood in and give you a view to the skies when you’re inside.  So when we decided to vault the ceiling in the great room, adding skylights was a no-brainer.  The company that installed the new metal roof {pics to come!} also installed the skylights.  HH DIY’d the framing on the interior ceiling prior to the skylights being installed.

Since there’s a large picture window at the front of the house that lets tons of natural light in, we chose to have four skylights installed on the backside of the house {over the future kitchen} where natural light was lacking.  We also liked how putting skylights on the rear of the house would keep the front exterior of the house looking less busy and less cluttered.  {i.e. the roof on the backside of the house has a lot goin’ on now.}

At first, HH and I were set on adding a trio of skylights but once the ceiling was vaulted we realized things would look much more balanced if we added two pair of skylights – one pair lined up with the kitchen window and one pair lined up with the new french doors in the kitchen.

We were able to find long, skinny {14″ x 46″} Velux skylights available at our local Home Depot. The narrow width allowed the skylights to be installed without cutting into the existing rafters.

Of note - While the skylights were available in-store, we had to special order the flashing kit for our metal roof.  Our local Home Depot did have flashing kits available in-store for standard shingle roofs.

Other than providing the once dark kitchen area with much needed light, the skylights also provide us with a great view. Since they’re angled on the back of the house, the skylights allow us a 24/7 view of the tops of the mature trees that make up the tree line in the backyard.

I promise in real life the view looks 100x’s better than what I can capture with my camera.  It’s difficult to take head on pictures of windows/doors that glow with natural light but hopefully you get the idea.  Oh, and don’t mind the random electric cord.  It’s a temporary setup.  Anyhow, it’s fall here in the midwest and most of the trees aren’t as full as they are in the summer so I can’t wait to see how the view changes from season to season.  Everett refers to them as ‘light skies’ – hence the title of this post.

All of the images so far were taken on a very cloudy, rainy, dreary Ohio day.  The skylights’ effects are more pronounced when the sun is shining…like it was yesterday.  I snapped some more pics while the sun was out.

It was evening and the sun wasn’t so high in the sky.  I’ve yet to experience the skylights on a sunny afternoon when they’re sure to be at their best.

Now that the metal roof and skylights are in AND now that the Underdog has passed inspection {!!!}, we’re able to start insulating the walls and vaulted ceiling.  Last night, the boys, HH and I spent our evening clearing out the Underdog for insulation installation today – you know, moving stuff away from the walls, gathering all HH’s tools and putting them in the garage, and getting piles of trash out of the house.  We’re actually having spray foam insulation installed by the pros over the next few days.  That means we’ll be steering clear of the Underdog for several days to avoid any harmful fumes.  We’ll probably check in daily and just peek through the windows to see the progress.

With the Underdog under quarantine, the boys and I get to see HH more over the next few days than we have in months! I’m not exaggerating when I say HH has been spending every spare minute of his time at the Underdog plugging away.  We’re very much looking forward to seeing him this week and we’re grateful for all the hard work he’s put in over the past several months.  It will be nice to have him around.  Love you, HH.

FYI – I was not compensated to mention Velux skylights.  I’m just sharing a great product we’ve used!

images:  all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Thanks to everyone who entered to win the Children Inspire Design giveaway!  I really enjoyed reading all the great parenting advice you guys offered up.  As a mother, I tend to overthink little things when it comes to parenting and your comments reminded me that I should see those things for exactly what they are…little things…and focus more on living in the present. And that’s great advice for anyone – not just parents!

Congrats to Katie who advises parents to go with their instincts since they’re the ones who know their children best.

Now, switching gears completely…

THE UNDERDOG PASSED GAS AND FRAMING INSPECTIONS TODAY!  And Handy Hubby gets all the credit for that. He’s been over at the Underdog every evening after work and spending all weekends there too in preparation for inspection. In fact, last night he drove over directly from work and didn’t get back to the apartment until after 11pm finishing up a few small framing projects.

Not only is this passing grade a huge relief and accomplishment for HH, but it means we’re on schedule for insulation next week!  And insulation leads to drywall and drywall leads to real walls and real walls lead to a real house!  Okay, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but each little nugget of progress feels like Christmas morning to us. We’re very much looking forward to putting the finishing touches {flooring, tile, kitchen cabinetry, paint, etc.} on our fixer-upper.  She should start looking more like a house and less like the inside of a jail cell soon.

image:  Children Inspire Design