Living room, dining room, hallway and music room.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Bathroom Project Part 6 - The Final Touch Up
In the final days of bathroom renovation I've painted the drywall part with white, removed the grout haze with phosphoric acid, installed the moldings, attached the shower panel to the wall, install the shower rod and curtain and put silicone to the gaps and patched some part of the tub that got chipped.
I also had to replace the main trap in the tub drain, wax ring in the toilet and bathroom lightings (yes, I know some basic plumbing and electrical at this point!)
The most challenging part here was the shower panel attachment. Porcelain tile is the hardest of all tiles and I had to get both the carbide and diamond bit to drill where I would put the screws in. With proper pressure it took me more or less 30 minutes just to drill 6 holes, can you imagine! Also the shower panel hanger were off few inches from the tile that's why I had to relocate it by making new holes as seen on the picture.
The Bathroom Project Part 5 - Tiling
The nightmare began. I installed this 24x12 glazed black tiles and was unsatisfied with the result. It was too shiny, it didn't suite our taste at all. We lose $300 right there. I bought the 24x24 unglazed porcelain tiles and my wife told me to have it cut to 24x6 so we went to this fabricator in Sunland and have them cut for $100.00. I installed the tiles for the second time and it came out unaligned. Its because the fabricator didn't cut the tiles in equal width. Wall tiling is way more difficult than floor tiling and with lack of experience disaster is inevitable.
This time I seek help from the pro. Tony has been doing tile installation all his life and that made him the perfect man for the job. Since his son is a good friend of ours we got charged at a very reasonable price. My wife and I had to replace the old wonderboard while Tony cleaned each tile with a grinder before it can be installed. It took Tony the whole day to finish the wall tile and I took care of the floor and tub tile on separate ocassion. I then did the grouting afterwards.
The Bathroom Project Part 4 - Plumbing
This was intermediate plumbing, at least for me that's why Jose helped me out on this one. The new shower panel I bought from eBay needs to be connected to the hot and cold water valve only so Jose did his magic and rerouted the piping as shown in the picture. He also installed the new tub drain, created a new power line for the tub and assembled the fixture in our new vanity. Together we secured the tub to the frame.
The Bathroom Project Part 3 - Installing Wonderboard And Tub Frame
If we are to install tiles drywall needs to be replaced with wonderboard so cement will hold to it.
As for the tub frame, Zen and I purchased this $399 whirlpool tub (whirlpool usually runs from $800 and up) at Lowes first so I could measure it precisely before making the frame. I also had to buy this 22 caliber pistol use for hammering hard concrete. Its scary to use it at first, ricochet can cause serious injury on my part.
The Master Bathroom Project Part 1 - Introduction
Probably the most complex project of all. This project came to a point where I was about to give up. Its tiresome, its messy and sometimes tedious. The once so called hobby I used to enjoy was becoming more of a job that needs to get done. In the end it paid off well. Seeing the result have replaced the frustration with pride and joy.
We weren't suppose to renovate the bathroom at all. During the summer of this year the bath started leaking and it flooded our bathroom. The adjuster from our home insurance gave us $2700.00 to replace the carpet for the entire ground floor and the lower part of bathroom's drywall. We've been eyeing good deals over the internet for vanity and shower panels. As long as we do almost everything ourselves, we can renovate the entire bathroom using the insurance money plus minimal funds from our own pocket. Since carpet isn't that bad we could just hire a carpet cleaner to clean the entire ground floor carpet.
These pictures will give you an idea how the bathroom used to look.
Some Minor Upgrades - Master Bedroom Door
We got this frosted glass door with wenge frame from The Sliding Door Company to match our sliding door in the hallway. I had to replace the entire door frame to fit the new door. Good thing i was able to invest on a mitter that makes cutting a perfect 45 degree angle an ease.
The Guest Bathroom
The part that I did on this project was the door. The vanity and slate installation were done by Boy and Tony. We got this door for $300 from Simi Valley w/c my wife have found on the website (Italian doors usually runs from $700 and up). I bought this door kit that drills the knob and latch hole in its accurate position which made my life easy. We bought this modern looking knob from a store in Burbank.
Some Minor Upgrades - Walk-In Closet
Since the parts are all modular, planning and measuring is an integral part of this process. Also, not all screw fall exactly on studs that I have to use anchors on many of the screws.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Some Minor Upgrades - Hanging The Plasma
Mods helped me on this one, this was definitely a two man job because the plasma is too heavy. This is the TV and receiver from upstairs. I also rewired the old surround speakers from upstairs.
Some Minor Upgrades - Shelves On Laundry Room, Cupboard And Storage
I installed shelves in the cupboard. In order to maximize this tiny triangle shaped room I have to put 6 level on the right and 3 level on the left. The left part is where all the stock of toiletries are while the right are for the shoes. Also files from my business has to be stored for at least 6 years so we put it on the shelves behind the sliding doors. Laundry room needed some shelving too for detergents, fabric softeners and etc.
Some Minor Upgrades - Sliding Door
This used the be just curtains that covered the laundry room and shelf cabinet. We had this installed by The Sliding Door Company which we found out from the Dwell magazine. Its kind of expensive but its worth it because it gave the hallway the new modern look. I also had to replaced the shelving behind it because the previous one doesn't have enough support underneath and was about to give in. Too bad I forgot to take pictures of those.
Some Minor Upgrades - Front Door
Heavy rain had hit southern California few years back and we were forced to change our door to a fiberglass resin one because its waterproof. Since this is an 8 foot solid door I've had to hire a professional to do this, the door was just too heavy for me. We installed the knobs and painted the door and its molding ourselves. We also replaced the F sign with the sticker one.
The Kitchen Project Part 6 - The Finished Product
This is the kitchen from all angles. Chris created a dedicated power line that runs from the room downstairs all the way up to the kitchen to power up the oven because it requires a huge amount of watts. Since I knew nothing about hard wiring we just bought this 99 cents stick on ceiling lamps and put it underneath the bar's wall cabinet. We installed the blinds as our finale.
The Kitchen Project Part 5 - Cabinets And Fixtures
My wife and I bought the kitchen set from IKEA. But before we did, I downloaded the AutoCAD-like software from IKEA website to design the kitchen with all the right measurements. With all the pipings and limited space to put into consideration, we were able to come out with the plan that maximizes the small space available.
I had to put the rail first making sure they are perfectly leveled so I can install the cabinet on the wall just by myself. All I have to do is hang the cabinets once the rail is ready and tighten the screws that holds them together. We got lots of dining and kitchenwares we received as a gift from our wedding and since china cabinet is too old school for us we prefer to keep them in a multi-level wall cabinet taking advantage of our high ceiling. My wife and I did all the cabinet assembly.
The last part was putting the appliances and fixtures into place. I know nothing about plumbing at that time so Boy and Tony assisted me in installing the heavy microwave oven and dishwasher and leveling the floor cabinets. The countertop people wont install the countertop unless the cabinets are perfectly leveled. Saul helped me install the sink, the waste grinder and the faucet.
The Kitchen Project Part 4 - Floor Slating
This was a bit of a challenge for me because aside from the fact that it would be my first time installing tiles, I have chosen the most difficult media - the slate. Slates have irregular shapes and height that doing it perfectly leveled with one another is almost impossible. Also slates are natural stones with no glaze coating that's why grouts can easily penetrate and would be very hard to remove once it dry out.
I've had to invest on wet tile cutter for this particular job. The cutter was easy to use but very messy. The slates needs to be all layed down the floor because once you've mixed the thinset with water you really have to act fast for the cement will dry out easily. The hardest part was the grouting. You don't want the grout to dry on your slate and constant scrubbing with sponge and water after 15 minutes is the only way to prevent grout haze.
The Kitchen Project Part 3 - Painting
Whenever we do some home renovation we always go from the top to bottom so any mess caused by doing the top can be cleaned up on the bottom. So my wife and I painted the ceiling first, then the walls. The painting preparation (taping, patching and sanding) always takes longer than the actual painting.
The Kitchen Project Part 2 - The Demolition
There's no skill require on this, you just need your adrenalin all pumped up and of course being extra careful won't hurt. I've had to get my tetanus shot before I started the demolition just to be on the safe side.
The Kitchen Project Part 1
This is the pre-renovation appearance. The flooring used to be dark green with gold lining. I replaced it with vinyl temporarily.
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