Den Makeover: Bamboo Floors and Wall Colors

NEW POLL: Help us with Kitchen Counter Tops! Poll is on the upper right of blog!

 This is what the room looked like before installing the bamboo flooring. I finished painting the walls. The back wall will be a 'feature wall.' I plan to panel over the paneling with non-groove panels. If that is a total failure then I will rip them out and paint the wall. It is always good to have a backup plan.

 The bamboo is in and we are very, very happy with the results. We debated about carrying the wood into the kitchen but opted not too. We are going to install a black and white checked tile with a diagonal pattern.
I think the bamboo looks smart and it blends very well with the existing hardwood leading down the hallway - the only place where there might be a mixing of wood issue.

 Sedona inspects the new flooring. She is pleased and promptly falls asleep - a sign of feline approval.

 Jerome, the grumpy one, seems less pleased but he finally came around and fell asleep.

 Cramer came out of hiding long enough to say, "What the heck did you do to my floor?" Then he fell asleep.

 I don't know why I included this picture but what the heck it's our blog so I am sticking it in there.

 Please ignore the orange cable in the photo below and the fact that I haven't installed the trim yet. But we like the overall effect of this angle/view.

House Numbers!

I finally got the house numbers up. I used some left over bamboo flooring from our den as the backing for the numbers and then created a black wood frame. I think the effect is quite nice. So now everyone knows - we put in bamboo flooring in the den, and it looks amazing! I will be sharing some photos soon but I wanted to get the new house numbers online.

The Carpet is Now Gone

Ok first off sorry for taking so long between posts but sometimes life gets in the way of, well, life. Also, sorry about the mess in the first few pictures. I am about to rip up the carpet and the room is a bit of a mess as I get ready to get the carpet out. Hopefully K will forgive me for this one. As you can see from the picture above that the carpet simply had to go. I have no idea why people put carpet in homes. K and I are hardwood people through and through.
** Please note that we have a poll just to the right at the top of the blog. We are trying to decide what sort of flooring to put into the den. If you haven't voted yet let us know what you think!!




Let the ripping of the carpet begin!!


Carpet is heavy. I learned the lesson from watching all that HGTV - cut your carpet into smaller strips when removing it. You will thank me later!


I have absolutely no idea why I am wearing an apron - beers maybe? I don't know really. But I had to get rid of all that carpet tacking.


We figured out why the back den is funky shaped - trapezoidal. Based upon the sub floor there was at one point a mud room of some sort by the back door. Interesting. Ripping that out was a good idea but it also means that we probably cannot strip the ceiling of the popcorn as the ceiling will not be uniform all the way across and we'd have to drywall it. So we made the command decision [can two people make a command decision?] to leave the ceiling alone. Often the most cost effective thing to do when remodeling is to do nothing.



And here is what we have at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to get the flooring in soon -once we decide what kind of flooring we want to use!


Sedona and I celebrate a job well done with a much deserved recline.

Our latest art acquisition. Unfortunately we didn't find it at an estate sale!

We also planted the truest symbol of yuppie home ownership - The Japanese Maple. K has named him [all plants are boys to her] Haruki.



Hopefully I won't take so long between posts! Have a great Super Bowl weekend everyone.

New Acquisitions & New Poll

We've acquired a few items over the last few weeks and I thought I would post them. This end table we found at an estate sale. Everything else was totally granny and nothing worked for us. Then we spied this table by the bed. It was listed for $30 but I went back the next day for 50% off and scored it for $15. Not too bad as it is in near mint shape.

** Please note that we have a new poll just to the right at the top of the blog. We are trying to decide what sort of flooring to put into the den and the kitchen. We are definitely interested in what y'all have to say about the flooring so please vote and let your voice be heard!

This painting was another estate sale score. I was walking around the house and I looked up on the wall and had an 'Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' moment. What solidified the deal was the piece of blue tape that said it was $7 and we were on 50% off by that point so I scooped the painting up for $3.50. For some reason I have an affinity for nautical works of art and we have been looking for some good [relative term I know] 50's art that won't set us back an arm and a leg.

We have been landing some really great deals lately at estate and yard sales.

And finally I received these two cool candlesticks for an early birthday present from L. They look really groovy on the TV credenza and we have definitely been putting them to good use.

Demo of the Built-In

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't posted anything in forever but sometimes 'life' gets in the way of hobbies. Things are going well but slowly at the house. We are now beginning to re-do the den and kitchen so there should be some big changes coming up! Hope you will tune in to see what happens.
This time we removed the countrified built-ins. I know that is a sin but there was no way to modify them in a way that would be acceptable to us. We are not fans of mid-century country - not by a long stretch.

When I peeled away the bookcase we discovered more of the 'half record' ceiling plaster pattern. Now we have a dilemma. We are almost 100% sure that the den was originally two rooms so we don't think that the plaster pattern continues across the entire ceiling.

Our original plan was to scrape the popcorn off but I am not sure that it is possible to do without damaging the plaster. And the plaster doesn't go all the way across - why else would they popcorn the ceiling if it did? So if we remove the popcorn we would have to drywall over everything anyway. So it looks like the popcorn will be staying for the moment.

Oh yeah the original ceiling was a pinkish putty color - yikes!

Under the built-in desk we find the original flooring - some tacky paper linoleum of some sort, which is not salvageable in any way.

Of course Sedona slept through the entire demolition process.

Eventually the desk will live here and I will build a new bookcase to go over the desk - I have to hide the exposed plaster in the ceiling.