New Water Feature

There really was only one large project in the backyard this summer.  This was to remove the small garden and build a new water feature.  Where the water feature was going to be located was on the side of my house where it really wasn't very private from the neighbors.  Because of this, I wanted to make the water feature have a built in pergola so it would help block that side of the house.  I started out by creating a 3D rendering of what I wanted to build to make sure all of the proportions would be correct.  Below was that rendering.

The next step was to build the frame work for the pergola as well as the bracing for the water feature.  Since the ground does slope on this side of the house, I built everything level and accounted for the slope when I add the other pieces.  The vertical posts that hold everything together are buried three feet in the ground and set in concrete so that nothing will move from all the weight of the water.  For a reference of size, the top board is 16 feet long.

Since I would be putting a plastic liner in the pond area, I went ahead and completed the painting first so that I would not have a chance of puncturing the liner working around it.  

For the back of the water feature I used cement board and then covered the board with 18" travertine stone tiles.  Inside the stone there is three 24" stainless steel spillovers.  I found these on eBay for about $40 each.  It was a little tricky, but I cut the spillovers into the pieces of stone so that it looks like the water is coming right out of the stone.  The black liner is made for industrial ponds so it has a lifespan of about 20 years.  Below is a picture once the liner was installed. 

Once the liner was installed, I decided to try it out.  Below is a short video. All the plumbing for the fountain is what is used for pools.  I have a 3,200 gallon per hour pump attached to the spillovers and all the pipes are run in 3" PVC so that there is plenty of water running through the system.  I even hooked up the pump to a controller so I can turn it on inside my house or from my iPhone like all the rest of the lights in my house.  The pump is actually about 20 feet to the left at the corner of my yard so you cannot hear it when it is running.  

Since this water feature is right next to the patio with the fireplace, I mimicked the arbor and stone columns.  The way I built the columns was a little different because everything was going to get wet from the fountain.  This meant that all trim would need to be made out of PVC or cement.  The white top cap on top of the pond liner is actually cement siding that will hold up very well to the elements that was then painted with an epoxy paint so that if snow sits on the surface the paint will not come off.  I also used cement siding for the front of the fountain since it comes in contact with dirt and could get hit by the sprinkler.  In the below picture you can see that I have started adding the stone so that it will also match the fireplace.

As I was getting closer to completion, I decided that I really was not liking the front of the pond.  It was just looking too plain.  I changed this by adding some PVC strips to add some texture.  It really made a huge difference for literally $12 of PVC trim.  You will see in the below picture that the dirt is not yet built-up to the bottom of the water feature.  I planned to bring in about 5" of dirt to help make the slope of the ground not look so much on the right hand side.  

Part of the project also included adding underwater lights.  These were purchased off Amazon and I tied them into the low voltage landscape lighting I already had in the backyard.  

The last part of the project was finishing the trim and adding the last of the dirt.  Next summer I will add plants and mulch, but since this was not completed until just a few weeks ago it did not make sense to do it this year.  I will end this blog post with a few more pictures of the finished product.  It took about four weekends but it really turned out the way I wanted it and added a ton of privacy to my yard  

Entry & Stairs Renovation

One of the last main projects for the first floor was the renovation of the stairs and entry.  A prior post showed all the molding added to the entry but this post will show all the remaining projects for this area.  First a little background.  The stair railings were not the original railings for the house, but they just were not going to fit in with all the changes.  They were nice and solid oak, but there was really no use for them so I gave them to one of my neighbors to re-do their stairs.  Below are what the original stairs looked like.  

Part of this project was to also add a set of french doors on the second floor from the smallest bedroom into the entry to make an office.  I thought about taking the wall down and making it a half wall, but for re-sale value it was better to just add a set of french doors to where the office could still be considered a bedroom.   

The first step was to lay out where I wanted to place the doors.  I bought the doors and frame off craigslist from an abandoned storage unit for $60.  Below is the frame laid out in the new office.

I then went about the act of cutting out the hole and adding a header above the door.  This wall was not load bearing, but I still needed to have something to mount the door frame to.  This was challenging because all work was on the second floor open to nothing below.

I then added the frame and doors.  I am not sure where my brother was for this project, but for some reason I decided to install the doors and frame myself.  I just remember almost falling through the hole while trying to install the solid doors.  It was not my best decision to do it myself.  Below are the doors installed.

The doors were going to be the wrong color to match with everything else, so they needed to be re-finished.  Since the doors were solid wood, I sanded the old finish off and then gel stained the doors a dark espresso color.  All the pictures in this post make the color look black, but it is actually a dark brown color.  I had to tape off all the glass to be able to gel stain.  You can see below that I went through a ton of tape!

Since the doors would open, there needs to be a railing on the other side.  This would be part of the stair railing upgrade.  

On the first floor, right off the existing kitchen, there was a door that led to the basement.  

I felt this area really closed off the first floor, so I decided to remove the wall and add a railing to match the rest of the entry.  The stairs are attached to a header above, but I decided to reinforce under the stairs anyway just to be safe.  This is why there is still a post in the corner.  I also had a light switch to relocate on the wall.  Below was that progress.  

After all this was completed, it was time to work on the stairs.  Before the stair treads of the stars were wrapped in carpet on the ends.  I wanted a more modern look, so I created solid wood covers to go over the ends of the treads where the carpet used to be.  I cut the carpet back and I stained these covers the same espresso color as the french doors. I will be getting all new carpet in the house once all the drywall work is done, so all this carpet is just temporary and it will be fited correctly when it is replaced.

 Below is a picture with most of the covers installed.

I then started changing out the main newel posts.  I found these solid oak posts at Lowes and they were just what I wanted.  I was going to make my own but for the sake of time and cost, the Lowes option was a great choice.  These posts I also stained with the gel stain.  All stained pieces also received a minimum of six coats of satin polyurethane to make the finish more durable.  

I removed the old railing and I was able to use the top railing again even though I did have to cut it down to fit the new newel posts.  This was also sanded down and stained.  

Where most spindles are normally vertical, I decided I wanted to make mine horizontal to get that modern look.  I used 1.5" square tube aluminum that I used a metallic paint on for my cross pieces.  I then re-assembled the railings.  There are special fasteners I had to use including bolts to hold in the posts down into the stair treads, but even if you had a running start the rails would not go anywhere.  This railing is even stronger than the prior one with all the metal used.  Below are completed pictures including where I added a railing in front of the french doors.

Lastly, I added the railing over the opening I created on the first floor.  This included addling a stained wood piece next to the bamboo flooring so that it would match the stair tread addition.  

This project took quite a bit of time because of all the wood working and staining involved, but it really did make a huge difference to the entry.  The next post will be about the living room and then that will complete the first floor.  Thanks for checking out the progress.  

The Family Room Renovation

Now that much of my home renovation is completed I can finally start posting some completion posts.  For this post I will show you everything that was completed on the family room.  In some prior blog posts you will see where a small divider wall was torn down, french door added, and windows added.  For a refresher, here is what the family room originally looked like.

Below was after the windows were added.

The first step was to remove the original molding over the fireplace.  I then started pre-wiring the family room for audio and video.  Below you can see I had already started adding the ceiling speakers.  I have an A/V closet built into my pantry that holds my media server and tuner, so all cables had to run down through the crawl space and then back up into the kitchen.  

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures for much of the process of re-building the fireplace.  I started out by building a new frame for the fireplace because I wanted a more substantial looking focal point.  This structure was built out of wood and drywall.  The columns on either side also hold the electrical to get to the tv and all the audio and video cables. Like all the rest of the home, I also re-textured the walls and re-painted.  While I was as it I also added can lights throughout the family room sine there was only one bowl light in the center of the room before.  

I had crown molding left from the kitchen so my brother and I used it as the molding on the fireplace so it would match.  The floating shelves on either side of the fireplace are all solid wood that I stained to match all the other trim.  I then added quartz ledger stone to the fireplace surround.  The mantle is actually made from five different pieces of trim.  All of the trim is stained wood so I had to be very careful with the cuts since you cannot fill any gaps with caulking.  

Since my plan was to mount a 55" TV above the fireplace, I reinforced the wall so I could add a TV mount.  The decorative background behind the TV is stained furniture grade plywood squares.  The metal is actually aluminum roof flashing since this brushed aluminum matches the hardware in the house. Below is the finished fireplace wall and it turned out to be a huge change from what was in the home before.  Since I used extra trim, the cost of this fireplace was only about $250 and half of that was for the stone around the fireplace. 

The next step was to lay down the flooring.  The old family room had carpet but I really wanted to try hardwood.  I decided on a solid bamboo flooring that was hand scraped so if it gets scratched it just adds to the character.  I picked the almost 800 square feet of flooring up from Floor and Decor.  Below is all the flooring getting acclimatized before I laid it. 

While I was pulling up the old flooring I found the original vinyl flooring from when the home was built in 1978.  It is crazy to think all the flooring used to be brown and gold.

The flooring was completed over two days but it really only took about 6 hours to do the entry hallway, nook, and family room.  

Below was the final product with all the baseboard installed.  

Since I now had all the flooring completed, I could finally go buy a couch and a dining nook table.  I still have a few pictures to hang but my family room is finally pretty much done.  Below are a couple pictures of this area and the nook since that is now completed as well.  

It has been a long time coming but my house is turning out better than I thought it would; even though it has taken a long time.  I have a few other projects completed as well so I will be uploading those in a few days too. Thank you for checking out the progress!  

The Kitchen (Part Two)

For this post we will be looking at the rest of the steps that I took to finish off my new kitchen.  Just as a refresher, here is what the kitchen looked like before:

Where we left off was right after installing all the cabinets in the kitchen.  

Once all the cabinets were installed I then needed to get counter tops.  I thought about just using a stone tile but after all this effort I decided to splurge on granite.  I found a company not too far from my house that sells slabs of counter tops that are already partially fabricated.  This saves a ton on the cost because you normally have to pay by the linear foot for stone counter tops to be fabricated.  This kitchen took four 10 foot long pieces and only cost me $3,600 installed.  The other quotes I had received were all around the $6,000 range.  The company I used was www.amcbuildingsupply.com/ They came out one weekend and took measurements and installed the next.  They really did a great job. 

The granite I decided on was called White Ice.  It has mostly tan and gray tones but also small veins of black.  Below is the kitchen with the granite installed.  

 
While the granite installers were at my house they also installed my gas cook top and a deep double sink.  The faucet I chose was a modern commercial type faucet.  We have been putting these in the kitchens of the apartments that my community is remodeling.  They are normally about $250 but I found one with an open box on amazon for $60. 

Once the counter tops were in, I needed to find a back splash tile.  There are some very neat back splash tiles on the market but it seems that they are very trendy and can start to look dated after a few years.  They can also be upwards of $15 a square foot.  I do not want to always be changing my back splash so I went for a more timeless gray subway tile.  The entire kitchen only cost me about $150 too. Below is all the tile installed.





After the tile was installed, I was ready to add my exhaust hood for over the gas stove.  There was no hood in this location before so I had to run new ducting across the ceiling to the outside.  This hood was an amazon purchase as well for about $120.



Before I could finish up all the cabinet trim I needed to lay the tile floor.  I looked at many flooring options but actually decided on a tile from Home Depot.  I found a nice gray tile that has a little pattern that matched great with the counter tops.  There is a little over 150 square feet of tile in the kitchen and nook area.  





The grout is actually a darker color than above, it just had not been sealed yet.  The next step was to finish all the toe-kick molding under the cabinets as well as the paneling on the back of the island. I ordered extra paneling and trim pieces and then I just cut it to fit so it would match the rest of the cabinets. The last step was adding all the cabinet hardware.  I ordered all the cabinet hardware on e-bay since it was a lot cheaper.  I used multiple sizes depending on the door height to give the kitchen an even more custom look as well as used brushed stainless steel to match the appliances.  Below was just part of all the hardware. 

 

Below is the completed product.  It turned out better than I ever expected.  It was a ton of work but really did change the whole feel of my house.  



 

I have been working on the master bathroom, family room, and stairwell as well and am almost done with those projects so I will have quite a few new posts soon.  

It is kind of crazy that many of the big projects are almost done and the end is in sight.  After nearly two years of construction I hope to be done about June.  I realize this project has taken forever but I only get to work on my house on the weekends and my plans became much bigger after I started.  I really am excited to be done with the construction but after two years of working on weekends on my house I am not sure what I will do with free time.  Maybe it is time to look at buying another house :)