basement progress: concrete pour
I really hope this is our last post about concrete.
Yeah, I suppose there’s the initial thrill of the pour (or “placement” if you want to be all technically correct) – working against the clock, crossing your fingers that everything goes according to your carefully laid plan. But really, it’s just a lot of work and it’s messy.
So let’s begin.
We stayed up late on Friday night doing final preparations for our Saturday morning pour. Because we couldn’t waterproof under our existing slab, we opted to put down a plastic vapor barrier between the old and new concrete. Kyle also ran a string line around the perimeter to use as a guide for how far we should pour.
Next, Kyle installed the rebar and welded wire mesh for the bathroom slab, with a series of 2×6 planks to walk across during the pour. (The new concrete in the bedroom was just to level things out and didn’t require reinforcement.) He also made a frame out of pressure-treated lumber to box out around the future bathtub so we’d have some wiggle room with the actual drain installation.
Our friends Chris and Julie offered to help out on Saturday and were at our house at 8:30 a.m. to make the trip to the rental place where we’d be procuring our “mud”. About 30 minutes later, Kyle called to tell me that the rental place had lost power temporarily and thus there was no concrete. So he came home and we waited…for about five hours.
Fortunately for us, Chris was also working on his house that day and was able to shuffle his schedule and come back to help in the afternoon. By 2:00 or so, all systems were a-go.
We rented a metal concrete chute that went from the concrete mixer in the driveway, through the window and down into the basement. We hung the low end with a loop of plumber’s strapping fastened to the joists.
The initial idea was to fill 5-gallon buckets and then transfer them to the two slabs…
In the end though, we reconfigured the chute so it dumped straight into the bedroom slab area and then later repositioned it for the bathroom pour.
We started out with a 3/4 yard of concrete that came pre-mixed in this cute little trailer. There’s a small door at the back that opens up and allows concrete to pass through with a little human guidance from our friend. Once the wet concrete arrived there was no time (or clean enough hands) for photographing, so you’ll just have to pretend. The mix didn’t flow quite how we hoped, so we came up with a method where Chris would push it down about 1/3 of the way with a trenching shovel and then Kyle and I would pull the remainder down the chute before spreading it across the space.
The boys were way too dirty to take photos, but I did manage to snap this one with my iPhone during a quick break (31 weeks!). There was no way I was fitting into my normal paint-splattered work jeans, so out came the ol’ track pants tucked into black rubber boots. Stylish!
After the trailer was empty, Chris and Kyle got to work spreading and leveling out the wet mix and I was able to peel off my gloves and take some action shots.
Wet concrete has to be worked into place and we found that metal rakes were the most effective.
When the concrete was fairly level and even, the boys troweled the mud for a smooth surface. To better distribute their weight and keep from sinking in, they knelt on pieces of leftover rigid foam as they worked their way across the space.
We picked up another 3/8 yard for the bathroom slab and repeated the same process, only this time we relied more on filling and dumping buckets since the chute wasn’t long enough to reach across the basement (no heavy lifting for me, I filled the buckets and Kyle dumped them).
We had a little bit of concrete leftover, so we filled in the area around the sewage ejector pump (the cardboard tube you see below acts as a form that is later removed after the concrete cures).
Done! (This photo was taken Saturday afternoon and by that evening it was cured enough to walk on.)
As Kyle and Chris finished up and returned the equipment, I rinsed all of the tools, buckets, boots and gloves before the concrete had a chance to harden.
So what started out as a morning project turned into an all-day affair but we’re just relieved to be done (and incredibly grateful to have had some help!). Kyle did some framing and picked up more supplies yesterday, but today has been largely unproductive. And we’re ok with that. Next weekend.
basement progress: prepping for the slab pour
Sure enough, after the last marathon weekend of working in the basement Kyle caught some type of flu-like funk and was out of commission for a week. But by last Monday he rallied enough to pour the concrete footings and finish prepping for our plumbing inspection.
On Friday, the inspector came out to sign off on our rough-in. Despite Bailey’s skeptical expression, we PASSED! (Phew.) Afterwards, Kyle got to work covering up all his hard work in preparation for the slab pour.
Earlier in the week, Felix performed his own preliminary inspection.
Anyone who has done their own plumbing knows how complex it can be. We’re visual people, so Kyle created this color-coordinated plumbing diagram to help figure it all out (and serve as a shopping list of sorts). All this for one modest-sized bathroom. Crazy town.
By Saturday morning, the basement was a hot mess of tools, empty boxes and misc. items that needed to be moved to the crawl space. So we took an hour or two to organize and reassess. Bailey and Felix supervised.
Laundry center turned work station…
…and stair wall turned temporary tool storage. It felt good to get organized and did wonders for our motivation.
Ahh, much better. Along with the new concrete slab for the bathroom, we’ll also be pouring a thin slab over the future media/guest room floor to create a level surface. (Nothing says “basement” like a sloped floor right?)
After cleaning the space out, the next step was to install sill plates and rigid insulation to the concrete walls.
But first, a Saturday evening trip to Home Depot to pick up supplies.
1 cart, 2 carts, 3 carts, 4! I hereby give Kyle the award for home improvement store endurance (he single-handedly loaded everything onto the carts and then into Orange Crush, our old work truck). For large trips like this, we typically order supplies from our favorite local lumber store, but Kyle was motivated enough to start framing on Sunday so our options were limited.
Our poor truck…oh hey, our new Japanese Maple!
In addition to the wall insulation and framing lumber, Kyle also picked up the DRIcore, an interlocking subfloor with a dimpled plastic on the underside to protect against any moisture that might come up through the slab. (We are definitely taking a “belts and suspenders” approach to the basement because the last thing we want are any moisture-related issues that can be so common to these types of spaces.)
Before we add 2x furring over the concrete foundation walls, Kyle installed 1 1/2″ rigid insulation. This serves as a thermal break between the concrete wall and wood wall and has a higher r-value per inch than batt insulation. (In the end, we’ll have a combination of R-7.5 from the rigid plus R-13 from the batts, equaling a code-compliant R-21 for basement walls.) The insulation (which was installed with a special adhesive) is going in now so Kyle can pour the new slab up against it.
At the juncture between the media/guest room and the “hallway” at the bottom of the stairs, Kyle installed a couple of stacked pressure-treated 2×6′s as a curb for the concrete and sill plate for the new wall. Even though our existing slab slopes about 6″ from one end to the other, creating one level slab throughout would have significantly reduced our ceiling height. So we decided a better strategy would be to create different floor levels for each zone – the three zones being the guest room, hallway and bathroom. (For the rest of the basement we’ll keep the floors as they are.) There will be a slight step between zones, but nothing that will be annoying or a potential tripping hazard.
Kyle knocked out most of this work on Sunday, while I was upstairs hosting a bridal shower brunch that had been planned for a few months. The muffled sounds of drilling or the compressor firing was somewhat comical, but no one seemed to mind. Bonus – there’s nothing like leftover croissants and mini cupcakes for a little construction break snack.
So, next step – concrete pour! For this one we pre-ordered a fresh batch of concrete for Saturday morning….because what other way would we start a 3-day holiday weekend?
zerbebe nursery: odds and ends
We’ve been in a bit of a lull with the nursery progress. With the main pieces complete (or yet to be built), I’ve been focusing on textiles and other odds and ends instead. Lots of decisions to make, but no real progress yet. So, a status update of sorts:
1. Curtains - I still like the idea of doing a modern yellow fabric for the wardrobe curtains but finding the right pattern has been more challenging than I expected. Frustrated by the selection at the handful of local fabric shops I’ve been to, I’ve started looking around online for options. My mom has used Fat Quarter Shop for quilting projects and I found a few contenders there during a recent search. (I also still like this white and yellow chevron pattern too.)
Or what about these curtains from Land of Nod? (They’re actually reasonably priced!) I’m not sure how well the lighter gray would go with wall color though.
For the two windows in the room, we plan on keeping the roller shades but need some type of blackout option for napping. Our windows just have a fir jamb casing so I’ve been thinking about something like a simple roman shade. But we have non-standard window sizes, so…fabric hunting again.
My mom actually had the idea to choose a color that more closely matched the walls so that the shades wouldn’t become a focal point in the room. I found this charcoal-colored felt (above)…
…and this grayish flannel. Could one of these work? Has anyone made their own roman shades?
I’d also need to figure how to mount them. Right now, the roller shade hardware sits just inside the window jamb. Even though the shades were an investment, we’ve always been a little disappointed in the quality of the chrome-painted plastic hardware. Maybe there’s a way to create a minimal valence for the roman shades while also hiding the cheapy looking hardware? Two birds with one stone, yes?
Despite my textile indecision, there is one thing we recently decided on.
2. Glider - We went for it – the Monte Luca glider in charcoal. (My siblings are actually getting it for us as a baby gift…yay for big families!) I ordered it from Land of Nod on Friday during a local 20% off sale and we pick it up next weekend!
3. Dresser - We still like it, but we don’t love it. It’s not quite long enough for the space and we’re not sure about the color (but can’t justify painting it either). I’ve been keeping an eye on Craigslist but no luck. I’ve also been trying to think outside the box – we don’t necessarily need a dresser, just something that can work as a changing table and provide additional storage. One option is to eventually install drawers in the adjacent wardrobe and use whatever goes here for toys, books, etc. So maybe a credenza or sideboard instead? Is there something we could make or hack?
MORE INDECISION.
4. Art - I love the modern fairy tale posters by artist Christian Jackson and was reminded of them a few months ago when Mariane left a comment about The Princess and The Pea print and how the colors resembled our palette. I confess, I remember being slightly confused by this story as a kid and after a conversation with a coworker last week neither of us could remember exactly what the moral of the story was supposed to be (apparently it’s about not judging people). Anyway. I ordered a 10×16 print and I think it’s going to look really sweet in our little girl’s room.
We have a few other ideas for art, but all will be revealed in due time.
5. Odds and Ends - I saw this the other day while at Land of Nod. Kyle and I have a thing for squirrels and I like the color. When I showed it to him he asked if the squirrel was standing on the Arc de Triomphe. Clearly. =)
I know felt garland is everywhere these days, but I like this version of it. Yes, another thing I could feasibly make myself. My sewing machine continues to taunt me.
Then there’s storage baskets for the bench cubby that Kyle is going to build. I love the plastic lace baskets that Nicole used at her house but sadly they don’t seem to be available anymore. Maybe something like these fabric baskets instead?
Ok, that’s what I got.
file cabinet
With about two months left to bake, I really wasn’t expecting any celebration or big to-do for Mother’s Day this year. I mean, I’m all for thoughtful actions and nice gestures, but I hate the idea of forced consumerism, especially when you’re sorta pushing the bounds of eligibility as it is. So I didn’t bring it up with Kyle but his co-workers and friends certainly did, reminding him that he absolutely had to get something for his baby-mama-to-be.
So, he got me a file cabinet.
Just kidding. He actually got me a gorgeous new orchid for the Boskke planter in the living room (the first one is still alive but just dormant) and a super cute card from Bailey and Felix.
Ok, I was actually only half kidding about the file cabinet. Moping about a dismal experience with Craigslist, I scored this $10 file cabinet a while back after receiving a tip from a reader (thank you!) about the University of Washington’s surplus store. Since then, it’s been hanging out in the carport in various levels of completion, until yesterday when Kyle finished her up and let me loose into organization bliss.
[Apologies for the crappy before photos, apparently I don't know how to deal with the sun when it makes a surprise visit.] A giant warehouse with all sorts of office supplies, furniture and other random stuff, the surplus store is open every Tuesday afternoon to the public. It’s also not far from my office so for a few weeks in a row I went during lunch to scope things out, crossing my fingers for a sweet deal. While they consistently had 30-40 four-drawer cabinets, the two-drawers were virtually nonexistent. On my third or fourth attempt I finally saw this guy. It was dirty and ugly, but I could tell it was well-made and just needed a little TLC. And for $10 I figured I could always resale it if things didn’t work out between us.
The first thing we did was haul it onto the back deck where we pulled out the drawers and hangers and hosed everything down and removed any stickers or grubby remains.
Next, Kyle transferred it to the carport where he gave it several coats of our favorite automotive primer (the same thing we used for the sliding door track, loft ladder, side table and loft desk brackets). I really did consider doing some type of bright color instead, but we couldn’t agree on anything so safe-gray it was. Whatever, gray is the new black.
The primer (in “hot rod gray”) has a matte surface that is easily scratchable so he used several coats of a clear finish as a final step.
My original intention was for the file cabinet to fit underneath the desktop, but turns out most standard file cabinets are too tall for a 30″ desk height. Doh.
So for now she sits in the corner, all by her lonesome. She looks sexy though, huh?
At first I wanted to paint all the hardware the same gray color, but I now think the original silver color is a nice touch. [The locking mechanism at the top was all mangled so Kyle just took it out.]
I started organizing files back in January when we first had the idea to turn the loft into an office/studio space, so everything was more or less ready for its new home. We’re using the top drawer for personal files and the bottom drawer for house-related paperwork. This is the result of some serious purging and it feels good to finally have everything in one place. [We sold our old (and much larger) IKEA file cabinet on Craigslist in under 30 minutes.] As you can see, the cabinet is incredibly sturdy and doesn’t topple over when the top drawer is fully extended. Always a good thing.
I couldn’t justify buying pretty new files, so I reused ones that we’ve had for years. But don’t kid yourself, I totally made new file tabs. And I didn’t just hand write them. No, no, no – I made a template in InDesign, filled in all the text, printed them on a sheet of 8.5×11 paper and then carefully cut each one using a straight edge and an Exacto knife. Ack! I am such an architect and such a NERD!
The bottom drawer is not as pretty, but holds all of our remodel-related files. [I organized everything into categories like "electrical", "furnishings", "plumbing", "sketches", etc.] I originally considered putting together a giant homeowner’s manual of sorts, but soon realized that even after purging we had way too much to fit into a 3-ring binder.
So if you’re taking on a full-fledged remodel, I highly recommend some kind of system for organizing all the pamphlets, manuals and info sheets that you’ll inevitably collect along the way. After all, the key to a successful DIY is often directly linked to maintaining sanity (which is directly linked to being able to find stuff when you need it). Words to live by folks, trust me.
And that’s the story of our new file cabinet. The studio loft is now fully functional but will continue to evolve over time and maybe someday it will be accessorized enough for a proper reveal. In fact, as I sit here and type I’m staring at a rectangle on the wall made from blue painter’s tape. Several weeks ago Kyle had the notion to add a window out the gable end (if we did, we’d likely have a peek-a-boo view of the Olympics). It’s low on the priority list, but you know he’s not going to just let the idea go. =)
basement progress: adding a bathroom(!)
Earlier this week we showed you how replacing our old washing machine and dryer turned into this epic project and now we’re back with round two of “Zerbeys Gone Crazy”.
Here’s what happened: while planning for the new laundry area we decided that it might be a good idea to go ahead and rough-in the plumbing for that second bathroom that we thought we’d add someday. SOMEDAY.
Well, someday is today. Sort of. (Let’s just call it male nesting.)
Even though we’re not planning on having a finished basement bathroom for a while, roughing in the plumbing feels like 80% of the job, especially when you’re dealing with the challenges of a below-grade loo.
First, we had to remove the existing basement slab. In lieu of removing the entire slab, we could have jackhammered out trenches in which to run the new plumbing, but because the space is so small and we needed some extra ceiling height anyway, we decided to just go for it. So Kyle rented a concrete saw (like this one from last summer), snapped some chalk lines and got to it.
Our slab is unreinforced, but still about 3″-4″ thick so it was no easy task.
See the joy and excitement in his face? It seems like every time we work with concrete we get through the ordeal by saying, “well, at least this is the last time we have to do this!”. HA.
After cutting the concrete, Kyle returned the saw for a jackhammer and busted out and hauled away the rest of the slab.
The soil under the slab is extremely hard (good for our foundation, bad for Kyle’s back), so Kyle rented this spade bit attachment for the jackhammer to help loosen things up.
To get a 6′-8″ ceiling height (code minimum in Seattle), we had to remove about 8″-9″of dirt (plus several feet for our sewage ejector pump, but more on that in a bit).
Kyle found that the best method for removal was to shovel the loosened dirt into 5 gallon buckets and then transport them to the back of the truck via the future bedroom window (turns out egress windows aren’t just for humans…they also allow 5 gallon buckets to exit safely).
Because our sewer line is above the floor level of our basement, we needed a way to get drain water and, err…”waste” to flow upstream. After a bit of research we decided on a sewage ejector pump that would be located in the future closet adjacent to the bathroom. The pump is pretty hefty in size (like a regular size keg) and thus required a sizable hole to reside in.
Kyle LOVES digging! (Actually, the seriousness of this photo is counter balanced by the fact that Kyle is wearing Bailey’s “Furry 5k” bandana.)
But after countless hours of back-breaking labor, the digging was done! (I kid you not, a couple of weeks ago I had to talk Kyle down from tearing out the basement slab under the future bedroom too. Something about “you’ll be digging dirt and changing diapers…”.)
The next step was to build and install the formwork for the new footing. To tie the new concrete into the old, Kyle drilled holes into the cut face of the existing slab (you can see one in the top middle of the photo above) for rebar that would connect to the new footing.
Next, Kyle cut 12″ lengths of #3 rebar and used two pipes to bend the bars into 90 degree angles.
I do love a good simple machine.
And where you find rebar, you’ll usually find concrete. The pour was too small to warrant ordering pre-mixed concrete, so this was option #2. [If you were wondering just how many bags of Quikcrete you could fit in the back of a Volkswagen, it's apparently 20.] It’s still 1200 lbs worth of concrete. Ridiculous.
The formwork for the footings mostly came from scrap that we had lying around, but Kyle also used some plywood to scab a couple of smaller boards together.
When you grow up in a state with a distinguishable shape, you see it in all forms for the rest of your life.
Yes, our house is fully detailed in AutoCad and we use it as a construction tool to check dimensions and measurements as we work. I guess it’s one of the perks of being both the architect and the builder.
Here is an above shot showing the formwork in place and rebar set for the new footing. The right angle pieces that you saw earlier are now epoxy-doweled into the existing slab and then tied to long horizontal bars that wrap along the perimeter.
Here’s a quick shot of the sewage ejector pump in its new home. The manufacturer recommends using pea gravel to set it (instead of concrete) just in case it ever has to be removed.
Felix’s litter box keeps getting displaced depending on where we’re working and once we saw that Bailey had discovered its new floor location (so disgusting) we had to relocate again.
This is the remodel life Kitty, get used to it!
…and then we realized that just two feet away we had constructed what looked like a giant litter box. Oh, you can tell he’s thinking about it. Fortunately he didn’t follow through.
In the photo above you can see the stub outs for the supply, waste and vent lines poking out to the right of the dryer. After the footing and slab are poured, we’ll build-out the furring walls and install the rest of the plumbing rough-in.
We need to get an updated floor plan on here, but the basic idea is (from left to right in the above photo): tub, toilet, sink. Kyle used pea gravel (from our backyard stash) to help set the slope of the ABS pipes against the weight of the concrete.
The next steps are as follows:
1. pour footing
2. strip formwork, prep for slab pour
3. pour slab
4. frame out furring walls
5. install rest of plumbing rough-in
6. get final plumbing inspection and close-out that permit!
7. move on to the original basement priority (the guest/media room) and hope we can finish before the baby comes(!)
I’m crossing my fingers for co-gender nesting super powers.
basement progress: laundry + scope creep
[A quick note to say thank you all for your support and votes in the Small Cool contest. Even though we didn't win the big prize, we're glad Daniel did and can't wait to see what kind of awesomeness he creates with all that moolah.]
Ok, the basement. It’s been a while since we’ve given you an update but that’s not to say there hasn’t been some major progress. Get comfy, because we’re about to dive in.
Back in early April we talked about getting a new washer and dryer to help with Kyle’s allergies and the upcoming onslaught of baby laundry…
…and while I was out of town the following weekend, Kyle did just that.
But as that post alluded to, buying the washer and dryer was the easy part – actually installing them involved new plumbing, electrical, framing and for good measure – concrete. (Because what’s a project without a little concrete pour?) To jog your memory, we last left off with the installation of that steel channel (that you see in the photo above) and the removal of a pesky interior column that was getting in the way of a more efficient use of the space.
Column gone, concrete curb still there. How was that for a blog post cliffhanger?
Nothing a little jackhammering couldn’t take care of though. (We later filled the hole with fresh concrete.)
Next, to create a level surface for our fancy new appliances to sit on, Kyle poured a concrete plinth (using welded wire mesh for reinforcement). The washer and dryer come with adjustable legs, but we had too much wonkiness in the existing slab.
Oh Bailey…we know. It’s your “what the hell guys?” look again, but just trust us on this.
For the formwork, Kyle used some scrap pressure-treated lumber that we had on hand. We also had an old floor drain (covered by the concrete above) that we decided to plug. The drain was more of a nuisance than anything, especially since our sewer line tees into our neighbor’s before connecting to the main line in the street. A few years ago, when a bunch of college-aged guys were renting the house, they had a back-up in their basement bathroom which resulted in a back-up into our basement. Not cool. Actually, it was pretty disgusting.
To deal with the indentation of the slab where the drain was, Kyle used a strip of flexible black sticky flashing to keep concrete from seeping out between the old slab and formwork. A quick float, a little canine supervision, and it was done.
With the slab in place and cured, it was time to frame up some walls and start on the plumbing. We eventually want to semi-finish the laundry space, so it only made sense to run all the new plumbing through a framed furring wall instead of the willy-nilliness that existed before. Because of our shared sewer line, Kyle also installed a backflow preventer in the main line (it’s the thing under the neon green level). Basically, it’s a one-way valve that lets our drain water flow out but keeps our neighbors’ (or anyone else’s) from flowing in.
Before all this magic could happen though, there was a lot of researching, diagramming and code checking. And I have to give full credit (and a huge THANK YOU) to Kyle for being both the brains and the brawn behind this operation. We generally take a tag team approach to remodeling, but with the baby timer ticking we’ve delegated out entire projects between the two of us and are on a go-go-go schedule till d-day.
That being said, taking on plumbing as a DIYer is no easy feat. Not only do you have pipes that supply hot and cold water, but you also need pipes to vent out of the house and pipes to take the waste water away. Of course, you also need power and a way to vent warm, moist air from the dryer. Oh, and all these things must coexist within a relatively small space. A washer and dryer are one thing, but since we were already subjecting ourselves to this level of complication and head-scratching, we decided to also plumb for a utility sink…
…and a future bathroom(!) (Hello scope creep!) It was quite an effort to coordinate everything, but we’re glad we did. It might not seem like it now, but planning ahead will save us time, money and sanity.
To support the new countertop, Kyle installed some steel angles along the back wall and then welded up this steel bracket support for the end. (We needed to be able to pull the washer and dryer out periodically, so the countertop couldn’t sit directly on top.)
As usual, Bailey was on hand to provide support and supervision.
The small portion of basement next to the exterior door is quickly becoming our mechanical/electrical room. Kyle installed the supply lines and drain hose for the washer in this zone so that they could be easily accessed after the laundry room walls get covered up. Hot and cold water (the red and blue pex lines) tie into water hammer arresters, which are common to laundry areas and act as shock absorbers as water flow starts or stops abruptly within a cleaning cycle. Flex lines then run from the arresters to the washing machine and the gray hose is a flexible drain line that runs from the washer back to the black drain pipe which connects to the main sewer line.
In a nutshell, clean water in, dirty water out.
(He also relocated the thermostat for the tankless hot water heater. It’s the small box between the drain hose and Apple Time Machine.)
For the utility sink, we bought a basic 36″ IKEA cabinet box. The stainless steel sink was actually purchased a few years ago as a maybe kitchen sink (we ended up finding another one on Craigslist that was a little bit better quality), so we were glad to finally find a home for sink #2. In lieu of the flimsy cabinet back that comes with the unit, Kyle used a piece of plywood with a generous cut-out to allow room for the sink p-trap and access to the plumbing beyond if we ever need it.
With everything finally in place and all systems a-go, Kyle installed the cabinet doors (we used the affordable Applad line from IKEA). As you can see, the washer and dryer are quite a bit taller than a standard counter height of 36″, so Kyle built a wood plinth that the sink cabinet sits on top of. To give everything a more seamless look, we purchased an extra drawer front, trimmed it down a bit, then glued it to the front face of the wood plinth.
The countertop is a 3-0 x 7-6 birch door that was cut to fit and then coated with a few layers of polyurethane. A space to fold clothes that’s not our bed? Winning!
The faucet and soap pump are Kohler (the model is Simplice). It’s a great faucet that’s well-made, affordable and has a pull-out spray for hand-washing clothes or ornery cats. We considered it for our main kitchen sink but I could never come to terms with the slightly flared handle. For the basement, it didn’t seem to bother me as much. As mentioned earlier, we bought the sink a few years ago off Craigslist. It came from a generic supply store south of Seattle and actually has no brand or product name on it. The whole thing seemed a little sketchy, but we bought it anyway. Because we had plenty of depth but were crunched on width, we decided to install it perpendicular to how you normally would. We’re crazy like that.
So here’s our “finished” laundry space, for the time-being at least. Of course it all took longer than expected (which was especially challenging for me and my limited wardrobe options), but after a week or so we finally ran the first load. Bailey and Felix both made an appearance for the inaugural run, mesmerized by the swishing and whirling behind the clear plastic portal. I was just happy that I would not have to resort to wearing sweat pants to work.
But we’re not done. OH NO. I couldn’t cram everything that Kyle’s been secretly working on into one post, so we’ll be back later this week to talk about our current endeavor. Hint: it involves busting up concrete and digging dirt - inside our house.
Oh yes we are!
zerbebe nursery: progress sneak peek
As planned, the big task on last weekend’s to-do list was to paint the nursery. Before writing this post I had secretly decided on the color “abyss” (Kyle didn’t have a strong preference either way), but I soon found myself rethinking every option and ultimately chose “baby black seal” instead (which seemed to be a crowd favorite).
Yeah, we love it.
I’ve tried to show it accurately in these photos, but to be honest, the color varies considerably depending on the light and can read anywhere from a dusty gray-blue to a deeply saturated black-blue. (I took these photos today, in overcast evening light.) I opted to leave the ceiling and base trim white, which I think provides a nice contrast to the dark walls and floors and fir trim (and really, I hate painting ceilings).
I didn’t really take any photos of the painting process, mainly because there’s nothing too terribly interesting about it. In general though, I did two coats using Benjamin Moore’s zero-VOC Natura paint in an eggshell finish. (We used Natura for all the walls/ceiling/trim in the living areas and loved it!) For this room, I decided to give cutting-in by hand another try, but soon realized that was a bad idea. (Seriously, is this a special talent? Is this why I can’t paint my own toenails either?) So out came the green Frog tape, which added a little bit more time, but certainly saved my sanity. I used an angle brush to cut in at the ceilings, corners and trim and then used a 9″ roller brush everywhere else. (For the second coat, I used a smaller “cigar” roller instead of the brush for a smoother finish.) Kyle and I are probably the only DIYers that really dislike painting, but we try to ease the pain by sticking with high-quality products and tools. It may cost a bit more, but after one bad experience with cheap paint and rollers it’s become a worthwhile expense.
The wardrobe is also in its final place, but the plan is to remove the doors and do a ceiling-mounted curtain track instead so it feels less like a free-standing piece of furniture.
Oh hey, we also picked up a dresser (+ changing table) off Craigslist. (Huge thanks to Amy for sending me the link!) We’re not sure if we’re 100% in love (I was hoping to find something slightly longer and a little blonder), but we’re going to let it have a trial run in the space while we scope out other options. (If we keep it, we don’t know if we’ll paint it or stick with the existing finish. The main parts are solid wood, but top is the classic wood grain p-lam so we’ve also talked about doing a new white p-lam on top, similar to what we did on the stair cabinet.)
I’m not showing you the other side of the room because it’s currently a hot mess with the TV, couch and all the stuff that was in the wardrobe piled on top. =)
We obviously still have a ways to go, but it feels good to at least have the painting part done.
In other baby news, I’ve officially entered the third trimester…less than 3 months to go!
