Home Maid Simple

Tag: remodeling

  • How to Prep Your Home for Sale

    How to Prep Your Home for Sale

    As we continue our search for a new job, we are also prepping the house for sale. Although we haven’t listed it on the market yet, we want it ready to go up as soon as we know where we’ll be moving. By having the home in top condition before listing it, we should be able to sell it in a short time period, without too much back and forth with a potential buyer.
    Also once we move, we will not be able to take care of anything in the home, so it needs to be looking good, in case we have to move before it sells.

    So before you list your home for sale, I suggest going through room by room and making a list of anything that needs updated, painted, or repaired.  Mark has gone through the home and made this list for us. It’s going to take a lot of work, but we don’t have much else to do.

    Master Room
    – Clean walls. Possibly repaint
    – Fix the broken blinds

    Bedroom #1
    – Touch up Paint
    – Reattach closet door

    Bedroom #2
    – replace flooring in walk in closet
    – scrub walls. Possibly paint

    Bedroom #3
    – Scrub walls

    Bathroom
    – Touch up paint
    – Fix door jam
    – Fix cupboard door
    Hallway
    – Touch up paint
    Front Room
    – Retrim doorway
    – Repaint
    – fill screw holes

    Kitchen
    – Touch up paint around window and ceiling
    – Spacer between cupboard and wall
    – Ceilling edge above stove
    – Caulk around attic entrance
    – Conceal the back of the cupboard showing
    – Trim around pantry doors
    – Sand, caulk and paint trim

    Family Room
    – Paint trim and ceiling
    – Paint fireplace top piece
    – clean paint off doorknobs

    Stairway
    – fill cracks
    – paint
    – clean doorknob
    – Stain hand rail

    After you’ve gone through the inside of your home, take a walk around the outside. List any repairs. Make sure the sprinklers are working, the lawn is trim, and weeds are pulled. As a buyer, the lawn is the first thing we see. Make it look good, but don’t invest too much money into it. I enjoy having a lawn to make my own, rather then redo what the previous owner had done. I would say stick to daily upkeep of the yard, and don’t try and do any large projects unless it really needs it.

  • Over the Sink Light

    Over the Sink Light

    As part of our Kitchen Remodel, we decided to put a light over the sink.
    When we moved in there was a small cupboard over the sink. One day as I went to put some items in the cupboard, I noticed there were wires sticking through the back of it. Not just any wires though, really large ancient wires. Obvoiusly before the cupboard was there, a light fixture had been hanging above the sink. Perhaps at one point, that was the only light in the room. Who knows, but those fat wires kind of scared me just hanging out like they were.
    The kitchen ceiling is quite tall, and the center light really wasn’t all that effective, even though it’s a fairly small room to begin with.
    I browsed online for awhile and decided I really liked this hanging light. I thought it would match the style we were going for.

    Don’t you think that would have looked nice in there?  So did I. Until we ordered it, it arrived and we found out it is for track lighting. Not something we wanted to play around with and add above the sink. 
    Well Mark has made many trips to Home Depot and Lowes lately, and on his latest trip he came home with a new light. I have to admit, he did a pretty good job. I’m pretty in love with the new light, and it makes night time dish washing a whole lot easier!
    What do you think?

  • Tuesday Tips – Plumbing

    Tuesday Tips – Plumbing

    Tuesday Tips

    Have you ever worked with plumbing? Has your spouse?
    When it comes down to electricity and plumbing, I get very nervous doing our own remodeling. To me those should be left to a trained professional. Sadly, they also cost a lot of money to update as well.
    We’ve come down to the last few steps of our kitchen remodel. We could’ve been done last week actually, except that the plumbing to the kitchen sink was giving us a pretty hard time. I wish I’d taken a before picture, but I of course didn’t think we’d hit that many problems.
    Every time we turned the water back on, the tubes would pop out and spray water everywhere.  It was quite the mess really. Finally, after 3 days and a lot of white tape, we had it! We had one small leak, but it was just a drip.
    Or so we thought. Sunday night, I found the Princesses dresses pretty wet. I thought as my mom had done laundry that maybe she just hung them up to dry, so I just moved them from the closet to my line dryer.
    I should’ve used my brain a little better.  Monday morning when I went to get clothes for Princess R, I found a sopping wet carpet, and ALL the girls dresses soaked. Plus, Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit (my two favorite games) completely ruined.  Of course at this point Mark was gone to work and couldn’t come home. I found every dry towel we had, and made a facebook plea for fans. I hauled our massive shop vac down the stairs and started sucking the water up the best I could as well.
    Thankfully, a neighbor came over and was kind enough to spend 5hours working on our plumbing.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop all the leaks either.
    Finally, a certified, licensed plumber was called in. After another 1-2 hours the plumbing under our sink was completely replaced and brought up to code.
    Now our problem is fixing the carpet in the basement….again….I feel like we’re back to last year and the flood we had from a frozen pipe.
    So my dear readers, all this to bring you today’s Tuesday Tip.
    If you’ve never worked with plumbing, or your plumbing is many years old, don’t touch it. If you think you can figure it out, give it a try, but after 24 hours, I suggest you stop and bring in the professionals. Most importantly though, if you think it’s just a drip, think again. Turn off the water, and get it taken care of before you find a flood elsewhere in your house.
  • Dining Room Recap

    Dining Room Recap

    I wanted to pull our Dining Room remodel into one recap post. It’s so neat to see the before and after shots next to each other!  For me, it just doesn’t even look like the same room anymore. I love our new Dining Room!
    It started out as a simple floor to ceiling pantry project.  Building this half wall up and into a pantry.
    It soon took over the whole Dining Room when Termites were found. Keep in mind I consider this lucky, since we found them before our roof caved in!
    Our simple project became a massive one. But we learned some cool things a long the way – like how to add temporary support beams to your ceiling.
    and how to remove layers of wallpaper and paint
    and how to tape and mud.
    Since I was mostly told to stay out of the kitchen at the end, due to all the chemicals from primer and paint, I got inspired by pinterest to make a hanging drum light.
    We took a special family trip to pick out this artwork. We wanted a Venetian feel, and I feel like we got that with the wall color, and this photo.
    And finally we were done! If I haven’t said it enough yet, I’ll say it again, I love our new Dining Room! I love the pantry that allows me to see what we actually have! I love that we can all fit around the table, and there’s enough light to see by!
  • DIY Drum Light

    DIY Drum Light

    DIY Drum Light

     

    We felt our dining room needed different lighting. The dome light just didn’t give adequate light. In fact, I kept it off more often than on, because it made so little difference, and I saved the money. Since we were remodeling already, I figure a new light was in order as well. 
    While browsing Pinterest, I came across this DIY Drum light tutorial over at From Gardners 2 Bergers.  Although I really liked how she made her drum light, she also linked over to another tutorial at The Keylor Family.  I felt my talent for craftiness was best suited with The Keylor Family’s tutorial. 
    With the dining room remodel accomplished I decided to add my finishing touch with a drum light, in pure hopes we’d get much more light in the room than the current fixture gave.  A trip to the thrift store for a hanging chandelier, then to Hobby Lobby for the biggest Embroidery Hoops (23 inches)available, plexiglass, and some muslin and I was ready to begin.

     

    DIY Drum Light

    The materials:
    2 Large Embroidery hoops
    Plexi Glass – long enough to fit around the hoops. I used 3 sheets
    Fabric
    Chandelier
     
    Lay your plexi glass down and tape together. Carefully wrap the glass in between the hoops inner and outer hoops. Tighten the hoop, and flip it over. Attach the glass hoop to the 2nd embroidery hoop. 
    DIY Drum Light
    Lay out your fabric, and carefully glue it over the edges to the inside of the embroidery hoop. Having 2 hands helps to hold the fabric tight and straight. 
     
    The real hard part came next. Figuring out how to hang the light inside.  Through a collaborative effort with Mark, we got this.
    DIY Drum Light
    A piece of wood sandwiched between a section of the light, and resting under the embroidery hoops. Our first attempt was wire hangers, but they weren’t sturdy enough.
    DIY Drum Light
    And finally the light was hung! In my personal opinion, it’s pretty awesome!  Mark thinks it’s a little too big, and in truth it could be smaller, but hey it gives us a lot more light now!
     
    I don’t want to leave you just hanging there so here’s a grand look at our finished dining room, complete with a DIY drum light!
    DIY Drum Light
     
  • Remodel update

    Remodel update

    I know you’ve all just been dying to see wha’s going on in the Dining Room!  Gosh it’s been awhile since I last shared our progress with you. Last I left you, we had the wallpaper removed, and the sheetrock up.  Since then we’ve plastered, painted, put the pantry shelves in and hung the pantry doors. Check it out!

    Hmm, I think someone prefers I leave him out of the pictures, lol. But since I can’t paint (remember baby in the tummy), he’s stuck being showcased.

    Sorry for the dark pictures. The flash on the camera went out, and I’m not sure if it’s fixable yet.
    Today I mopped the floor, which has already made a big difference in what this room looks like. I believe Mark’s plan for the evening is to put up the trim, and perhaps fix the floor (did I tell you about that? Hot iron on a vinyl floor don’t mix).
    If all goes as planned, I should be able to spend tomorrow rearranging dishes and food, and making the room all pretty. I may head to the craft store to get the items for the pendant light as well!

    Shine Your Light

  • Dining Room Overhaul

    Dining Room Overhaul

    Today felt like we were on one of those HGTV shows with how many people were in our dining room working. Many things got accomplished at once, and I’m seeing more of an end (while wishing the end was already here). Here’s a look at what got accomplished this week.

    Continuation of the wallpaper stripping and washing of walls

    My sister in law, her fiance and his kids came by to help. This is E doing some cauling in the pantry. She was an awesome help!
    Mark and Jeff got the ceiling and wall sheetrocked, taped and mudded in the family room.

    And with lots of help the dining room got taped and mudded. 
    Now we wait for it to dry….sigh. It may be worse than stripping the wallpaper, at least my hands were busy then.
    Linking up to

    Shine Your Light

  • Wallpaper Stripping (WW)

    Wallpaper Stripping (WW)

    2 Days of Stripping Wallpaper, and I’ve got almost 1 wall down. We had some friends come by last night to help, which was wonderful! The plan (hope) is to have the wallpaper/paint off the walls by saturday so we can start the painting process.
    Being pregnant, we’re trying to find ways that I can help safely.  Instead of getting heavy duty wallpaper stripper, I’m using equal parts mix of white vinegar and water.  Spray it on, and start scraping!
  • Kitchen Remodeling Update

    Kitchen Remodeling Update

    Mark has been working hard on our kitchen remodel, and has gotten quite a bit done. Saturday my dad and brother came up and leant a hand.  Sunday, Mark took a break for Christmas, but he has hardly left the kitchen since. Here’s some pictures to update you on our progress!

    Mark putting the new support beam in

    Dad and Uncle C ripping the old support beams out.  They were attached pretty darn good.

    When Mark dropped a piece of the Shop Vac under the kitchen floor, Princess V made a very brave attempt to recover it. She made it just under the floor, before fear won over. We were very proud of her attempt. Mark had to cut more of the floor out, and shimmy himself and a broom under there.

    Starting to lay the new flooring so the pantry could be framed.

    Pantry framed, and putting up sheetrock

    Tearing up the rest of the top layer of flooring, so we can lay down the new stuff!
    I’m headed off now to offer assistance in laying the new stuff down.  We opted out of bamboo flooring for a number of reasons. It required additional layers underneath, and there was none in stock at the stores.  I let Mark make the decision, and he chose a vinyl flooring styled to look like bamboo. It’s not the normal big sheets of vinyl, but rather interlocking panels.  I’m quite excited to help with this part of the remodel! I’ll have new pictures tomorrow! 
  • Dining Room Remodel day 2

    Dining Room Remodel day 2

    I took the Princesses to the mall to search for a last minute gift and to get some play time in, while Mark stayed home and got some work done undistracted.  After yesterday, today was much more calm, as we had more of a plan of what needed to be done. 

    First on the list – Check under the kitchen flooring for termite damage.

    As far as we can tell, none! The support beam however goes all the way to the ground so the buggers must have climbed straight up it.
    Second on the list – Remove ceiling and add temporary support beams so we can safely remove current support beam.

    Check and Check!
    Third on the list, await help from other men to safely remove beams and put up new ones. Sadly, plans fell through, and no help came. Thankfully there will be 3 extra men over tomorrow (yes on Christmas eve) to lend some hands and get this part done! 
    Then it’s on to the flooring. We’re looking at bamboo.  Any advice, experience, or preference, I would love to hear it!