Yesterday we installed the bathroom cabinet and the new counter top.
I painted the old cabinet a dark chocolate color and we installed new hardware. We also installed new drawer glide brackets because the old ones were shot. No one will notice that fix but at least we’re confident the drawers won’t fall in.
The mirror that was in the room was the kind that was glued directly to the wall. When we ripped that out we had to replace the piece of sheet rock because of the severity of the glue damage. It turned out pretty well. It’s obvious that a professional didn’t do it, but it’s better than many home improvement projects I’ve seen. It’s also better than most of the fixes this house received in between when the original owners moved out and we moved in.
The counter top, back and side splash pieces went in relatively easily. We were nervous about breaking the pieces but with a little teamwork the process was actually pretty easy.
You can tell from this picture what didn’t fit. We’re working on that issue (and by we, I mean the better-half is ordering another part).
In addition to the work done in the bathroom we had new flooring installed. We originally thought we could do that work ourselves, but when we chose the flooring (duraceramic) we were told the grout was tricky. When we found out the install price, we signed them up. It would have taken us a lot longer to get anything close to these results. We did spend most of a day stripping out the old flooring and then nailing or pulling out a gazillion staples.
Here’s the floor in the back hallway as it runs into the bathroom. The kitchen is to the right, the laundry closet (with new doors that need to be painted) to the left. The garage is off to the left. Behind me is the door to the outside and a back stairwell.
It looks pretty close to ceramic but it is vinyl.
The remaining items are to paint the walls and the laundry room doors, rip the nasty carpet off the stairwell and then upgrade the stair treads, install new lights and replace the outside door and the door to the garage. We hope that most of those items will be done by the end of the year.
2006 has been the year of home improvements. I’d like 2007 to be the year to enjoy all the hard work.
Thanks for the updates. I’m feeling pretty inspired now. That floor looks really nice.
Thanks. We want to tackle our kitchen counter tops but that’s a job for some other year. We have already replaced the sink and the faucet in the kitchen but neither one of us is up for counter top work.
You should go for it. And, then blog about it so we can see all the pictures.
There’s just so much to do, I don’t know where to start.