Retiring the Recessed Florescent Light

It's been a while since I posted anything - maybe because I haven't been finishing many projects now that I don't have a deadline anymore post housewarming/birthday party..... I have been bouncing around from project to project not really getting very far on anything. This is the last project we completed about a month ago. I love it so much! It is really hard to take a picture of a light fixture where you can see it for the 4 super intense light bulbs when you have to have the light on to see it in the first place! Anyhow, here it is. 

finished kitchen recessed light

Here is the back story on this light.  The ceiling already had the recessed 4 ft by 4 ft light box (I guess you call it) with 2 florescent lights inside. Whoever put it in did a good job. The sheet rock was completely finished and textured with that oh so lovely glitter popcorn throughout. When we started talking about what to do with it the guys (David and Shipp) asked me if we were just going to cover it with sheet rock and go on with our lives. This is what it looked like before:

First of all I knew there was no way I could make the new drywall match the rest of the ceiling and even though we are going to remove the popcorn texture at some point we are not ready to do it now (because we would have to do the kitchen, dinning and living room at the same time - there is no threshold between these rooms) and I could not live with the ceiling not all matching. I also had a feeling I could find something cool to do here. I did some Pinterest searching and found this awesome trimmed out-tin tile-can light thing. I thought it would add some really cool detail to just a regular light fixture without adding a crazy light fixture. 

David did all of the work on this besides the painting. Bless his heart, he worked in the attic cutting through studs and beams for the can lights and wiring them in for a little over a day! Then the trim...... It was a doozy to say the least. The vertical walls of the recessed area were not square to the horizontal parts. He had to shim the base layer of trim so the corners would work without a case of caulk. We ended up using 1 inch thick pine lining the vertical side walls with 5 inch base first, then crown molding on the inside corners, then a decorative outside corner piece.  I got the tiles from Wayfair for super cheap. They are faux copper finish which will go really well with the chandelier that I found for above the sink - one day when it gets put in...... David did a great job and I just love it so much!  

4th Quarter

We are down to the last few weeks and the end is in site! Construction in the master bathroom started last week and it is beginning to take form. Tile and sheet rock will be going up this week and the countertops for the kitchen are coming to their new home tomorrow.  I started priming the cabinets and the floor in the girl's bathroom and the hall are ready to stain. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.

Vanity and toilet will be on the right

Entrance to the shower. Adjustable height shower head (for me) and bench.

Shower will continue around the corner to the left with fixed shower head and rain head in the middle.

I'm scrambling for a vanity for this bathroom.  The dresser I was planning to use is in worse shape than I thought and will not work. I really want an awesome dresser or console, but I'm getting impatient! I'm hoping one turns up soon.

This is the girl's bathroom after the feather finish on the floor. The base coat of paint is going on tomorrow.  I cannot wait to show y'all the finished product!

This is the hall. Paint and feather finish are done. Ready for stain and trim.

Cabinets are so tedious! This weekend will be devoted to priming and painting so countertops can go in next week.

Master Suite

Master suite BEFORE

 

 

Here is the master bedroom before we started working on it. All of these projects are kind of going on at the same time. Bedrooms, bathrooms livingroom and hall are racing along while the kitchen will be last, so I am trying to decide if it is better to post the room after it is all finished or in phases together: construction/remodel/repair first, filling paneling/drywall, then texture walls, followed by painting the walls then the floors.  So here is a preview of what is probably going to be my favorite room! 

 

 

 

 

These pics are taken standing at the entrance from the hall. The door on the right goes to the carport.

Sneaky lil photo bomber

 

 This counter and sink are just inside the room - or were. We took this out. The vanity knook in the spare bedroom is kind of cool.... this one not so much. The door next to the counter is the bathroom and the other door is the closet.

The bathrooms in this house had panel board walls... like in a trailer house with wall paper already on them and strips to cover the seams.... No idea why. It looks like they started to remodel and pulled up the old vinyl on the floors and the wall paper off of the panel board then stopped. 

 

Both of the shower inserts were in good shape, but we decided to take this one out and have a locker room style walk in shower.  

This became a joke - to photo bomb mom's pictures

 Behind the bathroom door is (was) a cabinet thing. with counter top only about 8 inches from the bottom of the top cabinet.... ? It is gone now also.

I outran her this time. But instead got Pawpaw

This is during the spackling phase. I discovered after doing the girls' room that drywall spackling is better than joint compound to fill the grooves in the paneling. It is more like a paste and does not shrink near as much as drywall mud. It is a little thicker and harder to work with, but after the first coat you can add water to it and do a skim coat that is much more workable. Sanding between coats is much less messy as well - spackle causes less dust YAY!

 

 

 

This is Shipp - totally unaware that he is about to be famous HEHEHE!

 

So, we had a change of plans once we got the shower inclosure out. I say we - David and Shipp - discovered a second drain in the floor, which was probably the origional. The bathroom had been extended into the closet for the shower stall and the cabinets behind the door took the space where the tub must have been. So they decided to extend the rest of the bathroom into the closet and make the shower twice as big! Two drains, two shower heads and an additional rain head from the ceiling. I am SO EXCITED!

For this room we got out the texture sprayer. That is the way to go! Much easier and thicker than you could do with a roller. The sprayer was not as messy as I anticipated. Definately worth the $60! I sprayed the texture in this room. Here's a tip: the hopper is really heavy. Let someone help you. 

 

I had been so excited to use the paint sprayer. I sprayed this room the day after the texture and I will say that I need some practice with that thing. But I am determined to be good at it. It's just going to take me a little longer on this than most other stuff. I love the color though!

The Princess's Bedchamber

This is the before picture of the girls' room. I've never seen grooves so deep in paneling before like what's in this house! I floated the room a couple of times with joint compound and sprayed kilz on ceiling and walls. Then I rolled texture on and painted the room grey. I felt like the needed some color in there so I had David pick up some turquoise paint - he did pretty good!

This is before we did the floor.

The. First picture above is the floor after Shipp (our carpenter extraordinaire!) Floated the feather finish layer of concrete.  It is almost the same color as the stain I picked out! We decided to go ahead and stain it the same color anyway to give it a more finished appearance.  The second and third are after the sealer was applied. Can't wait to get the trim and moulding on and start decorating in here!

Concrete floor MASTERS!

I got to stain the concrete floor in the living room! I really love how it turned out.  We originally planned to scrape and sand of mastic off of the concrete from the original vinyl tile, but our carpenter suggested a feather finish layer of concrete. He floated two layers (during and sanding between layers) and it looked amazing even before the stain. The color of the finish was almost exactly like the color of stain I picked out, which was Valspar semi-transparent concrete stain in driftwood. So David put the first coat of stain, driftwood, on the floor and about 4 hours later it was dry enough to walk on without shoes. I used a darker color - vaquero for the second coat and applied it with a texture sponge roller.

A New Beginning

Buying a house...... Much like life, it is scary, stressful, exciting, heartbreaking,  exhausting and seemingly out of our control. When you finally decide to jump into the market, you look and look and look. Then when you find something you want you go after it thinking "this is it!". Then, you are heartbroken and totally confused when it doesn't work out. It's like your first boyfriend. You believe somehow that you will be with this one forever. Then after you go thru a couple, you figure out that you just have to keep trying them on until you find the right one. Don't get your hopes up because the odds are, it won't happen anyway. Timing is so crucial, especially if you are selling your house at the same time (thank God, I didn't have to deal with that). I just had to decide to sit back and enjoy the ride and remember: IT WILL WORK OUT EXACTLY THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO! I've been saying this for years about every aspect of life, pretty much. When the time is right and the circumstances align, whatever is meant to be will be.

So, after lots of looking, all over Texas pretty much, I found THE one. Me and the girls and David were on our way to Sunday dinner at the Crookes Farm and decided to check it out. I had seen it on all of the real estate website, but it just didn't appear to be what I was looking for. 30 acres sounded like too much for me and the house needed a lot of updating. But when we climbed over the gate and walked to the pasture I absolutely fell in love.  My realtor (who is the BEST realtor EVER! Amber Hamilton with Keller Williams) showed us the inside a few days later and that was it.  I saw so much potential in that house. The land is breathtaking. A creek, pond, hay field, equipment barn, storage shed and years of neglect. Despite the age, its beautiful. And I am determined to make this place a home. Here is what we are starting with: 

Pray for me!  I need creative genius and productivity! I'll keep you updated........