Our Upstairs Bathroom Remodel

Hello again! If you have been missing our home improvement posts as of late then you're in luck! Did you know that we remodeled our upstairs bathroom earlier this year. Sorry this is another old blog post that I am just finishing. Because our Airbnb "business" has been going well, we decided that the best thing to do was reinvest that money back into our home by remodeling our upstairs bathroom.

Before the remodel, we had a clunky pedestal sink and a clawfoot tub without a shower head, making our bathroom a very non-functional full bath. We figured that we should make that bathroom more useful, and as a result we turned it into the guest bathroom and charged more money for our Airbnb room. 

Our contractor wasted no time in getting started. After some debate, we figured the most cost effective thing for our renovation was to keep the clawfoot tub instead of squeezing a brand new shower enclosure in the small space. Anyways, if you know my tastes, I kind of liked the charm of the clawfoot tub ;) We also decided to regrout the existing tile. I decided that we should go with gray grout because I thought it wouldn't look so dirty compared to the existing white grout...

They also had to replace some of the loose tiles as well...

We ordered our shower conversion kit though Amazon and luckily it came in once piece!

Although we had originally wanted to keep our floor tile, it turned out to be in poorer condition than was expected.  At the recommendation or our contractor, we decided to have it replaced. Our contractor said that the floor tiles ripped off so easily that it seemed like it "wanted" to get removed, LOL.  In other words, the previous owners didn't install the old tile properly.

Before and after.

In order to replace the floor tile, they had to remove the tub...

So they put it in my closet room! And when they moved the clawfoot tub that's when we realized it was missing a foot! We worried that we wouldn't be able to use it, but since it was on the side that was propped up against the wall our contractor assured us that it would still be stable (with a make-shift wooden foot that wouldn't be seen ;) ).

We replaced the marble threshold since the original one had some chips in it.

Then it came time install the showerhead!

As you can see, it's comprised of multiple pieces that all connect. Here are some photos that show the showerhead, from the tub spout all the way to the curtain rods that connect to the wall. 

Lastly, we got a teeny apartment-size corner sink. We got a corner sink a long time ago at Community Forklift; however, we couldn't use it when it came time for the renovation.  It turned out that the corner sink we initially bought was too big for the space. Luckily, we found an awesome substitute with this sink pictured below.  This corner sink, although small, does the job! 

Now it was time for the finishing touches! Our contractor refreshed the yellow paint that was on the walls. I liked yellow for this small bathroom because I thought that it made it look bright and happy.  I didn't want to pick any colors that would make that room look any smaller. With the yellow paint, I figured that gray would be a great compliment. 

As for wall art, I didn't want to put any thing valuable on the walls because it's a space that is bound to get damp. Since moisture ruins art, I figured that I would put up something cost effective (i.e. "free"). I had snagged this poster from a local bar (the Brixton) a couple years ago. It was advertising its Triple Crown viewing party specials, and because this is "My Old Kentucky Home in DC" I pulled it off the wall of the Brixton's bathroom and rolled it up for safe keeping. I knew it would come in handy in the future! 

I also grabbed this African mask from our guest room and put it in the bathroom. Nothing is better than accessorizing with what you already have :)

Since there is nowhere to store shampoos and whatnot not in the tub, I bought a shower caddy that fits in the corner. I had to get some shower liners of course, but I still need to cut them down a little bit because they are a little long! I also got a pretty gray and white shower curtain to match the motif.

Voila!

Wow, I can't believe it took us almost four years for us to remodel the upstairs bathroom, but I am glad we finally did it. Next on our list is the downstairs bathroom. Stay tuned!

Did you miss me?

Do you miss me? Now that I'm gone! LOL, for some reason my blog title made me think of this song.

Anyone remember it? I loved me some Jocelyn Enriquez back in the day and even owned the CD! #freestyle

Wow, it's been a minute since I last posted. Since I had some time in the midst of the crazy holiday season, I figured I would update you on some of the awesome things I've been up to since my last post (in October, eek!)

Well...

• Justin and I hosted out very first Friendsgiving! And had an awesome Thanksgiving with my family, too!
• I ate at a bunch of delicious places...
• We did some stuff around the house! Got our floors upstairs refinished and got an energy audit of our house, too!

These next couple weeks I'll be updating you on some things that happened in the past, some unfinished posts, and other miscellany. We'll just call them the "lost files." For some reason or another, these are topics I just never got around to writing or posting until now.

Yes, it's old news, but it's new news to you, right? Stay tuned!

It's a Jungle Out There!

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! It was a bummer that it was in the middle of the week, but we still enjoyed oureselves to a barbeque and fireworks on our friend's rooftop.

Before this week it was "long time no see," but I was on vacation a couple of weeks ago for my family reunion and Las Vegas trip (I promise to post on that soon!). To hopefully continue this blogging "streak," I thought I'd give you an update on our tax refund renovation.

After careful consideration Justin and I decided that we would use the money toward a front yard fence. The reason now being that the backyard re-haul wasn't something we felt comfortable swinging at the moment, especially since we are now working with less money.  We are now putting some of that money into the "Joanne New Car Fund". After some pricey repairs, my ten year old car is starting to show its age and driving 30+ miles a day in bumper-to-bumper traffic is not helping help either. wah wah. 

So here's the game plan: 

• Use one third of the money for the fence to start construction in a week or two
• Use another third toward a fabulous international trip (time/location TBD)
• Save the last third to put toward a car for purchase by the end of the year

Okay, now break! Lol, I kid...I just wanted to give you an update because what this post is really about is the backyard, and although we can't renovate it at the moment, it is definitely on our short list of things to do (largely in part to what we had to do last weekend...). 

Although our backyard is approximately 90% concrete slab, it has the uncanny knack of growing weeds. Not your typical dandelions, clover, and whatnot. I mean seriously 'roided out weeds that resemble something from the planet of Endor (any Star Wars fans out there?). 

These weeds are as tall as our grill (under the green cover).

Justin about to tackle the weeds

And they are freakishly weird too...

Is that a carrot? Nope, just your typical weed root. Gross,huh? I pulled it out myself. 

Anyways, with a little bit of elbow grease and some weed killer, we were able to handle the situation as it went from this:

To this:

In hopes of doing some weed prevention we placed our bricks along side our driveway. After all, if we are using the bricks to cover the dirt, then there won't be anywhere for the weeds to grow, right? Or at least that's my reasoning. :)

Nice and neat (and weed free):

I must mention that compared to last year's annual fight with the weeds, last weekend's "grill-high weeds" were the least of our problems...

WARNING! The following pictures are not for the squeamish or the faint of heart...

Behold, pictures from last year's encounter with the weeds.  When we first moved into our house, you can say that the backyard was not given the attention it should have been given.  This was mainly due to the fact that we were so busy painting rooms, decorating, etc.  The result was a back yard with weeds as tall as myself (I'm 5'3").  The positives of it all was we got the "greenery" were wanted to add to our backyard; however, it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing sight a homeowner would want for his or her own back yard.  

The project took about a whole weekend to complete (considering that Justin was alone, sweating it out during the first day).  In the end, our joy of a "weed free" backyard was short lived.  About two-three weeks later they eventually came back.  By that time, Justin and I had given up (especially since the end of summer had come), and just lived with our new backyard friends until they died off in the Fall and Winter.  This brings me to my question to you all that have your own back yards, and prefer not to contract out the landscaping/yard services to another company.  How do you keep the weeds in your yards from coming back, after toiling in the heat, pulling them out, and then even spraying Round-Up or other weed killers?  Is there a certain process you have found to be more effective than just merely pulling the weeds out of the ground?  

How To Spend a Tax Refund - Home Improvement Style!

Justin and I got a pretty significant tax refund a few months ago and we have been trying to figure out how to spend it. Yes, I know that if you are receiving a tax refund (adjust your withholdings...blah, blah, blah) that means you are letting Uncle Sam hold too much of your money; however, for some reason we still get giddy when we hear that we are getting money back. We are planning on putting some of it toward a trip this Fall (location/date TBD), but we were going to use the other part of it towards what else? Home improvements.

Here are the top three improvements we are contemplating:

1) Backyard Redo

Ever since we moved into our house we knew that we would have to redo our backyard eventually. After this incident, it became even more apparent that our backyard concrete slab was unsatisfactory. Last fall I applied for DC's RiverSmart Homes Program, which gives money to DC homeowners interested in bayscaping, rain gardens, rain barrels and pervious pavers. Pervious pavers are landscaping surfaces that allow water to seep into the ground rather than in storm drains, which thereby reduces the pollution that might end up in location streams and waterways. We were interested in replacing our cement slab, and for homeowners interested in installing pervious pavers, the program offers a $1,200 subsidy.

Last month, someone from the RiverSmart Homes Program came over to do a stormwater audit of our house. Upon realizing that our entire backyard was concrete, she said that the removal of the concrete, installation and the pervious paver materials would cost anywhere from $20-25 per square foot. For an area the size of our backyard, that would be upwards of $10K! Yikes. The $1,200 subsidy definitely wasn't going to go a long way. With that said, redoing our entire backyard in pervious pavers was out of the question, but on the bright she said that including green space in our design would reduce the costs. So in a few estimates that we've requested, the designs have included grass and planter boxes with the pervious pavers. We're just waiting on one more estimate to see if this is the route we want to take.

2) Repair and Refinish the Hardwood Floors Upstairs

Although we have wood laminate on the main floor, we have original hardwood floors upstairs. Before you go into your "oohs and ahhs" about the original heart of pine hardwood floors, I have to burst your bubble and tell you that they are in crappy condition. They have always been in terrible condition and this is another thing we knew we would have to fix down the road. Some parts just need to get sanded and refinished like this part in our master bedroom.

However, other areas will also need to get repaired like this part in the hallway.

It is clearly damaged and was poorly patched. Because this area is located in front of our upstairs bathroom, I'm surprised we haven't gotten splinters from it or stubbed our toes on the jagged area more often. This area has been subjected to doggie pee (Can you image how hard it is to clean? It sucks.), but we have just learned to live with it nonetheless. If we choose to fix the floors upstairs, I know it won't be as "fun" compared to a new backyard, but it's much needed and of course it'll add value to our house.

2) Wrought Iron Fence and Hand Rail for the Front Yard

As much as we love our neighborhood, one of the worst things about is the trash. There is trash everywhere. I'm not saying that we live in a dump, but we do live on a high traffic street (between the metro station and a Safeway) where there is always an errant piece of trash laying around. Passersby just don't know how to use a trash can, even if their life depended on it.  And where does the trash end up might you ask? Our front yard and sometimes our treebox.

The trash my friend is blowing in the wind...

The neighbors to our right have a fence so when the trash gets blown around, its stops right at the fence and into our yard. During the Fall when we rake leaves, Justin always grumbles about it without fail! Come to think of it, the fence would also prevent any extra leaves from blowing into our yard as well. As evidenced by our neighbors, a solution to prevent the trash from coming into our yard would be to fence it out! Plus, we'll have a fenced in area for the boys (aka: Louie and Derby) to play in.

Get us out of here!

You must to admit that nothing is more charming than a DC rowhouse with wrought iron fence! :)

If we decide to go with the fence, we figured we might as well do the hand rails, too. Last year when we were renewing our homeowners insurance, we not only got pinged for a lack of handrail on our back steps, but our front steps as well. The insurance company didn't make us rig up a handrail for the front steps, but they put us on notice that'd we might be penalized for it in the future. I feel like a handrail would complete the look of the fence and make for a overall cuter facade!

If you were in our position which one would you choose? A new backyard to enjoy for the summer? A shiny new hardwood floor to brag about? Or wrought iron details that add instant curb appeal? I would love to get all of this done, and all of it will get done eventually, but which one would you do first?

We're Reality Show Celebrities! ;)

Hello everybody! Were you able to tune in yesterday to our House Hunters debut? If not, no worries, it'll be on plenty of times in the future, just click on the link that I gave you in this post for the next airing.

Anyway, we had a ton of fun! Our good friend Sam organized a viewing party at one of the bars on the Hill, Union Pub.  Our realtor, friends and family had all gathered in the side room for the episode. Once it aired we were all cracking up at our comments, reactions, and roommates one-liners. hehehe...It's pretty funny that I'm getting recognized around work as the "House Hunters-Capitol Hill Girl."

One of the most common questions people ask me after going through this experience is, "How did you get to be on the show?" Well, like most reality TV, you either have to attend an open casting call or submit an audition video. We did the latter. For those that are curious, our audition video is below:

PS
We were also featured on a local neighborhood blog, The Hill Is Home

The Finishing Touches

Hello everybody. Just going through my backlog of half finished posts trying to finish blog posts that I have started. But you wouldn't expect anything less than late from me, would you? My hope that is when we look back at this year, each and every story (with the help of post-dating) will fall in to place. Meaning, if Mr. Futureman were to read my blog, he would see a cohesive story, not my sporadic, backdated mess...Hehehe...anyway, at this point you know that we are already moved in. But there is still a ton that needs to be done around the house before the contractors can fully be out of our hair.

Like the mini-radiator in our kitchen. Since the renovation increased the size of the kitchen footprint (over a foot) we needed an additional heat source to accommodate the bigger space.



Also we replaced those ugly, old white ceiling fans our bedroom and living room with nicer looking dark wood fans. (Thanks Javi for installation help!)

 

With our cabinets fully installed, I had to pick out the hardware for the cabinets and drawers. I wanted to keep it simple so I went with brushed stainless steel handles and knobs. They're from the Home Depot.

But with all of these little touches inching us closer to completion, of course there had to be a huge problem brewing, or in this case...boiling...

Exhibit A...grodie (is that how you spell it?) pipe from our boiler.

That is our copper pipe coming out of our boiler.  Apparently the previous owners did not properly seal the pipes, which lead to this "rust/corrosion".  Our contractor discovered it when his workers were installing the small radiator in the kitchen (they needed to drain the boiler when installing the new radiator).  This is the reason why our basement always seems to have some wet look and smell to it, especially near the boiler.  Our contractor is looking at the price of materials to fix the pipe, but because of the stage of the corrosion, the only remedy is to replace that section of the pipe. Yup, this is yet another thing that will have to get fixed.

Week 18: Kitchen Cabinets are In

Today our kitchen cabinets were installed. As I mentioned in a previous post I boldly chose to go with cabinets with windows (to show off our collection of coordinating shamrock green Fiestaware of course!) and I think they look great! Our contractor is installing both cabinet and under cabinet lighting.

When looking from the dining room, these are the cabinets on the left side of the kitchen. You can see the space where the microwave will go.

These are the cabinets on the right side of the kitchen. We will use the large cabinet on the right as our pantry.

This is the cabinet area on the left side of the fridge. Our contractor put that coaxial cable there in case we wanted to mount a TV there in the future. Nice idea, but I don't think we'll be using it.