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.

Experiment: The Cleaners

Never in a million years would I consider paying people to clean my house. That's for rich people. I am perfectly capable of cleaning up after my family. Or so I thought.

I don't like to admit when I can't do something or when I'm overwhelmed and need help. I'll typically forge ahead no matter how painful it is for me. It's totally against my mission of simplyfying and saving money. How could I possible agree to this frivolous service?

John and I have both reached our limit. We need help. Something's gotta give.

So...we hired a cleaning company to clean our house on a biweekly schedule. It's affordable and reasonable.

They came for the first time on Friday 2 weeks ago. I walk into the house after a long day at work, baby on hip, shoulder full of bags. I just stop and look around with my mouth wide open. My house had never been clean all at once. Half the house is typically clean while the other half is in a shambles. Just as you un-shamble one half , the other half starts to fall apart. A completely clean home was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a very long time. I walk from room to room and for a while it didn't seem like my house, it felt eerie. I open the microwave and it was spotless. I look at the faucet and it's shining. I walk across the floor and there are no crumbs.

John is definitely the one who is most concerned about the state of our home. I could probably live in disarray and be fine with it. I always tell him I'm so glad we met in high school because if we would have met later in life and I invited him to my apartment, it would be a pile of clothes, shoes, papers and food and he would take a look and run away. It's not that I don't care about cleanliness, I do. There's just other stuff I'd rather be doing...but I'm growing up now and my kid can't live in a trash can. Still, my focus is more on spending time with Evan than worrying about dishes in the sink. Does that make sense?

We were impressed with the results and we got to spend more time with little man without the worry of "I've gotta mop the floor," etc. I was also amazed at how having the house clean made me feel less stressed, like it took a little bit of weight off my shoulders. Plus it's kind of luxurious to come home to the t.p folded like that. Ahhh, like a hotel. It doesn't stay that way for long. I eventually have to use the bathroom. BUT it's fun to come home to.

It's not forever, just for a bit. Of course, if I were home I'd clean my own house but until then...I need help. 

In what ways do you get help at home?

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!