Home Improvement Thread

Post by **LITT** » Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:53 am

Does anyone have a recommendation of someone that provides glass shower doors? We pretty much have everything ironed out but are having issues with our current door/vendor

Post by **Miami Vice** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:26 am

My home offer was accepted this morning. So assuming no snags happen between now and June 5th, this will be my home improvement project for the summer:

I will be putting a 96"x54" acoustically transparent screen in, and over by the bar mounting a 37" tv on the wall. I also intend to paint the walls a dark shade of blue (not the woodwork, at least not yet) and add carpet squares.

Post by **LITT** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:40 am

also, does anyone have experience with having trex deck/other composite material decking installed?

Post by **meow** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:43 am

Our deck is trex deck. It was simple because we made sure to plan the size to use the full length of the boards so not much cutting was required.

Post by **LITT** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 11:51 am

what was your price per SF for install if you dont mind me asking

Post by **tifosi77** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:11 pm

Heading into our third summer, we decided to finally personalize our outdoor space. We got a larger water feature, stained the planter beds, will be adding better lighting (and misters), are going to order new color coordinated cushions for our furniture, and yesterday we ordered $700 worth of grills and related accessories. Woohoo.

Post by **meow** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:12 pm

LITT wrote:what was your price per SF for install if you dont mind me asking

I installed it myself.

Post by **Miami Vice** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:24 pm

This is what my kitchen looked like when I bought it:

We decided to use the checkered floor to inform the whole room design.

and to start on lacquering the cabinets:

we ordered red hardware and a neon red and chrome cocacola clock for it

Post by **shafnutz05** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:46 pm

We currently have a wood deck on the back of our house that has seen better days, we definitely want to get it replaced in the next couple of years. I initially was pretty set on Trex or something similar, but I'm also entertaining the idea of having a decorated concrete patio. Really for several reasons...easier to clean, no weeds underneath (our house is on what used to be farmland, so weeds, especially thistle, is a constant problem), and I think it would be cheaper.

I really like what you can do now with the patterns and whatnot...has anyone had any experience getting these installed and can maybe offer insight on price?

Post by **columbia** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:53 pm

I like that kitchen.

Post by **Reveutopique** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:58 pm

Wow it's very mid century modern.

Post by **LITT** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:04 pm

can granite hold up outside?

Post by **Miami Vice** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:10 pm

this picture was our inspiration

I would like to add an 18" dishwasher under the right half of the kitchen sink. Replace the double basin with a single, and cut out the cabinets to squeeze that in.

Id also like to dump the glass cooktop range for a gas one. But the stove/oven is brand new (the oven has never been used). so its hard to justify doing that right now.

Post by **shafnutz05** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:16 pm

LITT wrote:can granite hold up outside?

Not sure, I'm thinking my best option might actually be paver stones. They seem to be tremendously strong and immune to the elements, and you can have a really nice-looking patio as well.

Post by **shmenguin** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:18 pm

barf...we're paying people to paint our walls next week. it's a tough check to write, since it's something i can do and have done adequately. but with our kids and our schedules, it would take us weeks/months to do it.

and i hate painting.

Post by **tifosi77** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:19 pm

shafnutz05 wrote:
LITT wrote:can granite hold up outside?
Not sure, I'm thinking my best option might actually be paver stones. They seem to be tremendously strong and immune to the elements, and you can have a really nice-looking patio as well.

Not only 'hold up' outside, it's actually the best option.

I'm trying to remember what I saw on one of the DIY Crasher shows........ I think you want to avoid a slab that has a lot of veining, because the epoxies or resins or whatever have a bad reaction to UV rays. And there's something about honing rather than polishing, but I can't remember at the moment.

Post by **grunthy** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:20 pm

Granite can be used outside. Be careful of using really dark kinds though.

Post by **DigitalGypsy66** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:22 pm

shmenguin wrote:Source of the post and i hate painting.

If I could have someone come in and tape/drape/cover everything, painting isn't bad. It's just the setup and cleanup that sucks the life out of me.

Post by **tifosi77** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:23 pm

Also, you want to go with a lighter color granite; darker colors will hold on to heat more and cause owies. (To nobody's point)

Post by **shmenguin** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:28 pm

DigitalGypsy66 wrote:
shmenguin wrote:Source of the post and i hate painting.
If I could have someone come in and tape/drape/cover everything, painting isn't bad. It's just the setup and cleanup that sucks the life out of me.

yup. but also, my back sucks. painting just for a couple hours causes me hobble around for days.

related notes:

a) why the f*** are there so many paint colors? i'd shop at a paint store in a heartbeat that consulted a designer and just filtered down to the ones that people should use. i have 8 freaking shades of gray all over my walls right now for review. i have similar thoughts about light bulbs.
b) sherwin williams gives you a MINIMUM of a quart - even if you just want samples. i might need an ounce of paint at most to put up a test swatch on my wall.

Post by **LITT** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:28 pm

shafnutz05 wrote:
LITT wrote:can granite hold up outside?
Not sure, I'm thinking my best option might actually be paver stones. They seem to be tremendously strong and immune to the elements, and you can have a really nice-looking patio as well.

this wasnt in regards to your question. i am exploring options to building a table for the big green egg when it arrives. was thinking about a granite top if it could the weather well enough. or i could get some wood and lacquer and seal it up

Post by **RonnieFranchise** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:31 pm

Miami Vice wrote:We decided to use the checkered floor to inform the whole room design.

On Friday we will be two weeks into kitchen remodeling hell. They are painting and will be putting the cabinets up tomorrow, so progress is happening.

When we moved in in 2002 we laid a laminate floor over terrible yellow 1975 era linoleum. Pulled both layers up and found a similar black and white checkerboard floor that likely dated back to original construction in 1951. Likely asbestos tile so it's being sealed and re-covered with engineered hardwood.

My comment on it was that now that type of floor (well, except the asbestos part) is retro-cool but in 1975 was probably hopelessly out of style. Told Mrs. Franchise that we should keep it and she had better start wearing a dress even on days when she doesn't work and have my dinner, beer, pipe, slippers and newspaper ready for me when I get home. Got a one-finger salute, naturally.

The yellow lino though, if that ever comes back into style I'll gouge my eyes out.

Post by **Miami Vice** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:35 pm

If we stay for a long time then eventually we would redo the kitchen to take better advantage of the space, but for now we are just trying to have some fund with it.

When we did the home inspection the inspector noted a board above the furnace ductwork that to me looked like drywall - he was fairly certain it was asbestos used to insulate the duct - so it will be exciting to get that the hell out of there.

Post by **eddy** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:40 pm

I was going to buy a section of fence to cover where the garbage cans are on the side of the house. I'm now working on doing the job with a palette which was free.

inspiration:

there are a lot of cool things you can do with palette boards and Lowes is always looking to unload them.

Post by **robbiestoupe** » Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:05 pm

Miami Vice wrote:Replace the double basin with a single...

I'm surprised you are replacing a double basin with a single. I don't get the appeal of a single basin. The house we just bought has a single basin, but we can't justify a double since our space is too small. Perhaps I'm missing the appeal of the single. Care to persuade me?