Subway Tile Laundry Remodel

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Winter is a good time for the small, indoor project.  Its cold outside or the inversion has set in and I prefer to hang out inside.  My house has a pretty good sized laundry room and I did a little updating when I first moved in by adding some cabinets (recycled from one of my Dad's projects) and a laminate counter top.  I love subway tile and am thinking of adding it to my kitchen, so I thought the laundry room would be a good place to practice.  

If I were doing this again I would have repainted the wall before tiling...the pale green peeks through at the bottom near the counter and the top near the ceiling (like any 60 year old house, no level walls).  

I already knew that I wanted to replace the wire-rack shelf with a thick wooden shelf.  I debated the order of installation, but decided that I'd get the holes into the studs done first, and then tile.  It worked out great (if you pull the shelf out, you can see a couple gaps in the tile, I cut out some notches, which was easier than drilling a hole through the middle).  

I used 5/8" threaded rod (12" long).  I found the studs and drilled 3" into the stud.  Be careful to stay really level while you are drilling--you need the rods to point straight out of the wall (not up or down).  I had to use some pliers to twist the rod in 3" (mark the rod with a sharpie at 3" mark so that you know when you have reached the right depth).  

The hardest part of this project was drilling the 10" holes in the back of the 14" shelf.  I bought a 1.5 inch thick board at the home center and had it cut about 1 inch shorter than the width of my room (again, walls are not level and having the shelf 1" shorter meant I could finagle the placement).  To drill the holes, I measured the location of the rods (my wall did not have 16" on center studs...so I measured the distance between the rods and transferred those measurements to the back of the shelf. 

My drill has a level built in that helped me keep going straight into the board.  I opted to use a 1" bit, which gave me enough wiggle room to slide the shelf over the rods in the wall.  

Once I knew the shelf would fit, I took it off and started on the tiling.  You always tile from the bottom and move your way up the wall.  Use a level to draw a straight line.  I checked for level every single course, just to be safe.  I chose to use premix mastic rather than thin set (because I was pretty sure I would spend a couple days on the project).  I bought an inexpensive tile saw at Harbor Freight and a nice diamond blade.  My first course started with a full tile and the next row I started with a 1/2 tile--and I followed that pattern up the wall.  

I debated on the grout color.  I really wanted the gray, because its so in-fashion, but I worried about it being too trendy.  But I decided to do what I wanted, not the safe choice--and I'm glad I did!  I love the gray.  

I repainted the walls a soft gray and the cabinets are now white with dark hardware.  The last update was to the counter top.  Eventually, I'll have a new top made--but for now, I spent $8 on two rolls of marble-look contact paper (Lowe's).  Measuring and unrolling slowly, I smoothed on the sticky paper.  It looks amazing and its held up all year with no trouble (I use the counter for folding, unloading laundry).  

 

Including the cost of the tile saw, the entire remodel cost about $240

Wood for shelf-$20

Rods-$15

Stain -already had some $0

Extra long drill bits-$9 (Harbor Freight)

Tile saw $45 (Harbor Freight with coupon)

Diamond Tile Blade $15

Subway Tile (Lowes) $35

Mastic $20

Grout $20

Gray Paint $22

White Paint $22

Contact Paper $8 (Lowes)

Cabinet hardware $5 (super clearance find)

Oversize outlet plate (to hide cut tile) $4

Mailbox Re-do

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I'm lucky enough to live in a neighborhood where our mailboxes are up on the house. Mine drops right into the garage, which is very convenient and secure--but the brass mail slot cover has never been pretty. I can't believe how long I lived with it! Many times I've eyeballed new boxes, new covers. I guess either I couldn't find what I wanted or didn't want to pay for what they cost. So, I removed the 4 screws holding it in place, sprayed it with gray primer then a spray of Rustoleum black satin. I made up the vinyl decal on my Silhouette (its only about 2 inches). Even the junk mail will look better with this mailbox.


Really, this project took all of about 10 minutes of work time (maybe 15 if you count the time the Silhouette was running)--plus overnight drying time. I had to find something to do last night because my internet was down!

Hallway Gallery and Repaint

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Why does even the smallest painting project seem to take over the house and take so LONG? I've been in my house for almost 9 years and the hallway is the only spot left that I have never painted (mostly because I didn't have the right kind of ladder to get up to the top of the stairwell). Well, I've had the right ladder for at least 3 years, so I can't use that as an excuse anymore.

Before:


The prep for painting takes so long! I re-textured the ceiling first and painted the ceiling. Then I got the walls painted in Sugar Wafer by Kilz (sadly, Walmart no longer carries this brand of paint, so I had it color matched at Lowe's). Of course, I had to repaint all the trim and door casings (I resisted the "while you're at it...." temptation to replace the casings to match the ones I did last year in my living and family rooms...but its on the list now). The hinges on the cupboard doors had been painted too many times to really work right, so I used a spray on paint stripper and cleaned them up. I then sprayed them with primer and some black spray paint and they look brand new and cost me nothing.



Most folks probably wouldn't notice much difference in the before/after, but I sure do! And, after a couple weeks I started working on my photo gallery wall that I've been wanting to do forever!


For the photo gallery I didn't want to put nail holes in my newly painted walls, so I used the Command Picture Hanging Strips--and that was slick! The strips say one will handle up to .5, so I used just one on the smaller pictures and 2 on the larger ones.



I uploaded some of my favorite vacation photos to Costco and printed them in black and white. I also spent WAY too much time weeding and placing vinyl on my knock off of a Ballard Design sign. Check out Infarrantly Creative's laundry version at http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2010/09/ballard-inspired-laundry-sign.html . I think I spent about $7 in photos and the frames were .95-3.95 each, so less than $15. The canvas was a DI find that I repainted. The good news is that there is still space for more photos, so I guess I better get traveling.

New Outdoor Lights

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I've had really ugly brass (corroded brass at that) light fixtures outside on my garage. I've finally gotten around to replacing them. Eventually I'll do the ones over the front door too, but not today.

The first fixture took about 40 minutes, the second one about 5 minutes! Swapping sconces is pretty simple.

Turn the power off at the breaker box.

Unscrew the old fixture from the wall.

Undo the wire nuts and pull the fixture off.

I had to add a new mounting bracket since I didn't have one with the old fixture, but if you've already got a bracket, just skip to the next step.

Match the black wire from the new fixture to the black wire in the wall and screw together with the wire nut.

Match the white wire from the new fixture to the white wire in the wall and screw together with the wire nut.

Wrap the plain copper wire (sometimes coated in green plastic) around the green "ground" screw.

Cover it all up with the new fixture and screw it in place (depends on the fixture on how that is going to go).

Ta-da! So much better don't you think? I got these cuties from Lowe's for less than $20 each!

Fireplace Redo

Pin It I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having a gas fireplace! Turn up the thermostat and, poof, instant fire. Makes January just a bit more bearable. Thought I'd share the process with those of you who may be wanting to swap out your 1960's woodburning fireplace.

Before: A giant fireplace that I never used. The brick measured almost 7 feet across.


Taking all the brick down was the easy part. It came off with a pry bar and hammer with no problems...getting rid of it a few bricks at a time in the garbage can took months (sneaking a few into the neighbors cans when it looked like they had space helped).

Built a new surround for the gas fireplace using Wonderboard in preparation for the new tile. Then thanks to Bennion Fireplaces (note: they have since closed their shop) in Salt Lake for the install of the gas insert. If I had liked the brick, this whole project would have taken about an hour...but I didn't, hence the giant construction project.



The original plan was to fill in some of the hearth space with wood floor from pieces salvaged from a neighbor's remodel to create a smaller hearth, BUT when I discovered an overabundance of concrete under the brick, I had to change my plan. Instead I laid new slate-looking black tile over the concrete. I also put the tile up above the fireplace opening leaving them whole, and then cut the decorative wood piece curved, just tricking you into thinking that I cut each of those tiles into nice curved pieces. I also spent a couple weeks patching the holes in the drywall left by the extra-wide brick that I tore out.


My super talented brother Steve came from Idaho Falls to help me create the surround of my dreams (I drew the pictures, and helped hold things up while he used the nail gun). The mantle cost a total of about $60-used a piece of MDF on the side and top, a piece of hardboard and poplar trim for the square pillars on the front and a bit of crown molding across the front. The tiles were about $40. (the gas fireplace and install was quite a splurge, but the pretty parts of the trimout were a bargain). Some sanding, caulking and 3 coats of semi-gloss white paint and I've got a fireplace that is timeless.