Casa: the one where I talk about tiling

Oh dear.

This story begins with a lovely carpeted living room.

Oh, my lush carpet with a souped up carpet pad that we paid extra for. You make the room cozy and you're only 4 years old. My husband John doesn't like you because you collect dust and stains and pet hair.  So you must go.

I was never 100% on board with the removal of the carpet and replacing it with tile. But I obliged and, to save money, suggested we do the install ourselves. I looked over some articles and watched some youtube videos, it didn't look like rocket science. John wasn't confident in our abilities but I just kept saying it would be okay.

John and I took Thursday and Friday off to do the install of a basically square 16' by 16' room. Surely it wouldn't take longer than that. The weekend before we had gathered our supplies as well as ripped the carpet up and prepped the slab.

Evan was off to the sitter's. We were set.

Before:

 Carpet removed:

After coffee we dove in. Since we were just adding on to existing tile, we started in a corner against the existing tile. We worked our way clock-wise around the room, planning, so that we didn't trap ourselves. We each tried our hand at being the tile-setter and the mortar-layer. I ended up being more skilled at the mortar while John was better at the tile setting. So, I laid 256 square feet of mortar WITHOUT knee pads. Savage. It was pretty easy on day 1. Once you get going it goes pretty fast.

I was being extremely frugal so no knee pads, no mortar stirrer....I used a paint stirrer and well....my old and cheap kitchen mixer....yeah. Anyways, lay some mortar down, use your notched trowel to level it, slap a tile down, use your level to make sure it's flat and adjust the tile as needed. Easy peasy.

John caved and bought knee pads

Day 2: A different story. We were very sore from the day before. My mortar laying went more slowly because my hands hurt. Our knees hurt. We didn't finish by the end of day 2, it continued into the weekend.

In the end, it was worth it. I had fun listening to music and chatting with my husband and getting my hands dirty. Saving $700 on labor was awesome, too. Of course, we aren't pros, there are blemishes and areas with issues but I'm sure no one would notice unless we pointed it out.

To date, the tile has been nice, easy to care for, pet messes and people spills are easy to clean up. Yet, I do miss my plush carpet now that Evan is more active and cruising.

Nitty Gritty

Supplies:

• notched trowel
• mini notched trowel for tight spots
• bucket for water to rinse rags 
• bucket for mixing mortar
• bucket for mixing grout
• sponge
• rags
• gloves
• level
• 15 boxes of 18"x18" tile from Daltile, Village Bend in mushroom 
• grout in bone
• borrowed wet saw
• patience
• time

So, there you have it. And we all lived happily ever after.

DIY Media Center

We looked high and low trying to find the perfect (yet reasonably priced) media center that was around 20" tall and 82" long (we wanted to cover the outlets and cabling for a more polished look), but we were unsuccessful. The dimensions were hard to find. If it was tall enough it wasn't long enough, if it was long enough it wasn't tall enough and if we did find the right dimensions the price was outrageous.

After reading a series of posts from younghouselove.com regarding their DIY console table (here's their finished product), I was feeling inspired. I showed my husband and I immediately saw the wheels start to turn. He, of course, was enamored with the tools he saw YHLer John using. My John started sketching up ideas for his custom media center dream. Once he realized we didn't have to be limited by what's on the market, he let his imagination run wild with visions of cable management/concealment and organization/storage paired with his love of sleek simple pieces.

So, here's the story.... of a lovely media center:

John used google sketchup to bring his vision to life.

We let a couple weeks pass before moving forward with the project because we were timid on biting the bullet and buying the Kreg Jig ($140 at Lowe's). BUT I reasoned that we were going to attempt more projects (shelves, a desk, a console table etc) so I surprised John with it! As soon as he could, he went to Lowe's to find the wood and have it cut to his specifications (since we don't own a saw). He settled on using a combination of white wood and pine, purely based on price (wood cuts are listed below). He also picked up a Skil router tool that cuts edges and corners to make the piece more kid friendly.

He began by making the pocket holes with the Kreg Jig and then attaching the 2 sides to the bottom piece. At this point, he stood back with his fist by chin and his other fist supporting his elbow, and said he had some concerns about his design. So, we thought for a bit and I suggested having 3 sections in rather than 2. That we should have a center section to house the actual media devices with 2 sections flanking it. John agreed and adjusted his vision then headed back to Lowe's to get the additional wood needed for our changes along with some Kreg screws.

These are the wood cuts used:

2 pine boards for the top and bottom at 20"x 82"x 1"

4 pine side boards (2 outer and 2 inner sides) at 20"x 18"x 1"

4 white wood pieces to be used as facing attached to each of the 4 side boards at 20"x 2"x 1"

2 pine boards to be used as shelving in the center section at 20"x 18"x 1"

2 pine boards to be used as shelving in the 2 side sections at 28"x 18"x 1"

To prepare the boards, John used his router tool to cut the edges of all the boards that would be seen or touched by little baby hands. The facing pieces were attached to all of the boards that would be facing the television viewers. Here's the prepped wood:

First John attached the 2 side boards to the bottom piece, then attached the 2 inner side boards. He argued with himself about whether to attach the shelves by screwing them into the side boards or to use shelf pins and he chose the latter. The top piece was attached and then the shelf pin holes were placed and tested.

It was stained using Miniwax stain in ebony. In order to get the dark finish that we were looking for, the stain was left on for 15 minutes then wiped off. It was SUPER smelly so it was applied outside in open air with a mask. The next day the clear satin polyurethane finish was applied to protect the wood. After everything was dry, the shelves were placed felt feet were installed on the bottom to make it easier to move around on the tile floor and allow for any floor levelness issues.

Then, as John and I stepped back to admire his handy work, we envisioned baskets to help with organization and storage but still have a clean look. He headed out to Pier One after finding they were having a sale on baskets. We got 4 medium and 2 small.

Tah Dahhh!

I am so impressed with my husband I can't even tell you! He is not a carpenter or wood worker. This was his first project and we love it and really enjoyed the process as well. To add some finishing touches we'll be attaching some thick fabric (maybe canvas type?) to the back in order to completely hide the outlets and cabling and also adding some simple decorative grass in square vases on either side of the tv for some color. The baskets are holding the few DVDs that we own, controllers, remotes, Evan's toys and instruction manuals.

The finished product measurements: 22" tall and 82" long and 18" deep

Project cost (not including tools, since they'll be used in infinite projects to come):

wood $120
shelf pins $8
screws $5
wood stain $8
sponge applicators $2
polyurethane $8
felt feet $5

Total cost for a custom media center: $156
The boost in confidence: priceless!

Sewing Projects Continued

This weekend I took Friday off and relaxed and did some more projects! It was nice not to have an agenda. I made a couple of things and surprised myself that they actually turned out!

I made 2 cloth diaper covers. In the first picture you can see the bottom cover has the pattern turned upside down....that was my first try and I did a better a job on the second cover. They are cute but it's good to know they'll be covered by clothing!

I made another boppy cover. The striped fabric is the bottom of the cover and I ended up adjusting the design a little because my original cover was hard to put on the pillow. This design was MUCH easier to get on the pillow. I just moved the opening to one of the legs when originally it was in the middle of the U.

I made a nursing cover, too. I was really disappointed to find that something so simple ran around $30 to $40. I liked that I could just make my own that would fit me and be unique in fabric pattern. I was SO proud that I did this because I had no pattern and guess how much it cost me to make it......$1.75. The fabric was on sale and I didn't need that much and I had fun making it. This was the first time that I made my own button hole and it worked out! Now, if you were to look closely you could see how awful my stitching is BUT it is still functional so I'm not crying about it.

I have 2 other projects that I am working on today and hopefully I'll have something to show for it by next weekend. This hobby that I have come back to after so many years has proven to be fun, satisfying and a great way to beat the heat. It has also helped me forget that we have put cable on hiatus!

More to come soon: more project results, nursery pics and 36 week belly pics!

Projects!

This weekend John and I worked on baby projects and I think they turned out to be awesome! John came up with the idea of customizing Evan's name for a wall hanging. He painted the letters, lined them with ribbon and glued on the little guys on the top of each letter. This is huge because he picked everything out which means he had to go with me to Michael's (the craft store) and this is a place he despises. He must really really love his son. I think his project is so cool!

John's favorite character is the dinosaur and mine is the cute little pup.

I took on a sewing project. I use to sew a lot but haven't touched a sewing machine in like a year and a half. I decided to make a boppy cover because I didn't want to be limited to the designs they offer in the stores, plus they are outrageously expensive in my opinion. I was so proud to spend only $12 to make a unique boppy cover! I was inspired to do this after watching a youtube video from spindletosashes.com it looked so easy and quick and they sell their pattern for download for $5! I was so excited that I actually completed the project and that it is functional, I want to do another one! I have literally become obsessed with STS that I want to try a few other sewing projects before Evan arrives.

We recently (like 2 weeks ago) put satellite on hiatus since there were no shows that seemed worth watching plus we have so much to do, there isn't much time to be wasting in front of the tv. I am happy to report that I have not missed tv at all. It has allowed me to explore other hobbies that I have abandoned in order to watch Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I have actually had time to read, research baby notions, explore crafty projects and actually go to sleep at a reasonable hour!