So… prepare yourself, this post is picture heavy…

So, it all began one evening when Jake decided it was time to start tearing apart the kitchen.  Our plans were pretty solidified, so we felt ready-ish to have at it.

We (but mainly Jake) started by tearing out the bulkhead and upper cabinets, as well as the walls that separated the kitchen from the dining room. Oh my… how that mouse poop rained from the ceiling. Bleh…

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As you can see, the cats were very intrigued by the sudden change in their environment… This should have been an omen. People, if you have cats, don’t leave open holes in your floor!!! (more on that another time)

So we knew we needed those pipes moved if the counter top would extend into a peninsula there.  We made a quick mock up to help us visualize the new layout. It crazy how much more open it felt already!!

The next step was to frame in a new window. We wanted the counter to continue to the wall and create a peninsula, but the window was too low.  So, we found one just the right size at the Restore.

This whole process was so foreign to me. Like that we could finish it all in a day, and how it seemed like it should be super hard and complicated, but Jake whipped it out without really any issue.

And just like that the window was gone!!! As if it had never even been there… Crazy right?

Somewhere around this time we went through the process of trying to figure out lighting… If you’ll remember, there was a few hanging overhead lights in the kitchen. But, like everyone these days are opting for can lights. They just light the space WAY better.

But, it is WAY easier and cheaper to just replace the existing light fixtures than to retrofit in a bunch of can lights…  In the end, we reluctantly decided to do it ‘right’ and opt for the can lights. Super thankful we did this, because I think this made a ginormous difference in the space.

In order to install all these new lights, Jake ended up ripping out the entire ceiling. It is still up for debate on whether or not this was necessary. But, we will agree to chalk it up to a great learning opportunity

Then Jake drywalled basically the entire kitchen.  I don’t have much pictures of this process, but just know that we were both working full time and doing the kitchen in our evening up until this point. Right around the time that the can lights were going in, Jake was in the process of switching jobs and took two weeks between to focus on the electrical and drywall. Even though he had all that time to do it, when he started the job it still wasn’t finished. So you can see, this was no small feat.

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Once the drywall was in and painted, it was finally cabinet hanging time!!! We went with white Grimslov cabinets from IKEA. And overall, we loved them. Pretty simple to assemble and hang, and the customizable options are lovely.

This turned out to be a super crazy time in our lives. Not only were we going through a full-fledged kitchen renovation, we had both switched jobs and we were hosting two family members in our home.  I look back and shake my head.. but we made it And still somehow found time to make this….

Sorry, this was in with the kitchen pics and looks too yummy not to share!! Ok, back to the renovation.

Next it was time to pick the coutnertop…. Oh the agony of this decision!!! I must have looked at every possible option out there to avoid picking a granite top.  Call me ridiculous, but it seemed like everybody was getting the same granite tops and I just felt like it was trendy and would look so “2000’s” in another decade.

In my dream world I would have gotten marble countertops, but of course the hubby was staunchly opposed. And, for good reason, they tend to scratch, chip, etch and stain.  Next I tried for some quartzite varieties. But, what you may not know, is that quartzites are basically a hybrid of granite and marble. On top of them being very pricey, they also did not meet the husband quality standard test.

We flirted briefly with soapstone, only to discover that it was possibly even softer than marble. Finally quartz was a no-go for me. I LOVE a good natural stone, and I would be so sad to look at a fake stone everyday, because yes, you can definitely tell!

So I sulked back to the granite section… with no other options left. Lo and behold, we discovered a new-to-us variety of granite called New River White. As you can see below, it was grey enough (like no beige in it!) and it even had deep grey veining which reminded me of my beloved carrera marble!!!

Countertop installation day was the best day ever! After doing all the work yourself in a renovation, it feels so good to have other people come in and install something for you. And MAN! What an impact it made…. Insert all the heart eyes here.

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The final touches the kitchen needed at this point for completion, are just trim and backsplash.  So close to being done….

We picked this beautiful beveled porcelain hex/diamond shaped tile from our local HOBO store for the backsplash. The tile process went much smoother than all our bath tile, thankfully!

We were a bit concerned about grouting because of the beveling, but it wasn’t too bad.  The grout did gather in the bevels, but we were able to wipe it out without to much issue. Used a ton of grout though!

Then a little bit of trimming, caulking, and final touches later… We had a completed kitchen!!!! It was so fun getting to show it off to friends and family and knowing we had created this beautiful space ourselves.

And a few professional photos taken for our real estate listing to round this post out…

Sigh… isn’t it lovely???

The post Kitchen Renovation – Step by Step appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Watching that is so surreal for me. It’s crazy how much we managed to change that kitchen. I’m going to try to give a bit more of a blow-by-blow in a future post. But, for now, feast your eyes on a good ole fashioned before and after video (where months of work is accomplished in just minutes!)

The post Our Kitchen Transformation appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

But, it has been killing me that I have all the before pictures on here and no afters.  So… without further adieu, I give you The After. (Some pictures by me and my trusty phone, and others by our real estate photographer. And I’m sure you can tell the difference).

We didn’t end up doing a ton to the front of the house. We mainly ripped out some big evergreen bushes and did a little landscaping. You can’t really appreciate it this early in spring though…

This entryway was one of my favorite places in the house. So light and bright! We replaced all the stairs… which was a bigger job than Jake probably bargained for ;).  In the end I opted for a gray porch paint for the stair treads and we ended up loving it. Maintenance wasn’t perfect, there were some scuffs, but the effect was worth it.

We also changed out the closet door for this find from the Restore.  It ended up being *again* more work than we thought as it was slightly too big for the opening and Jake had to shave down the sides.  I painted it in the leftover stair rail semi-gloss light gray and added those glass knob pulls. We barely finished this in time for the listing!

You’ll all remember the popcorn ceiling debacle that occurred in this room, and how this was our first ‘complete’ space after we painted the paneling and floored. I ended up finding the gorgeous tufted Chesterfield sofa for only $65 at a local resale store.

Check out that hefty baseboard! That was a last minute addition as well. Finished just in time to sell. We also switched out our door for that wood tone one in the entry to add a bit more warmth and character.

So much work went into this kitchen that it’s almost hard to put into words.  We went with the white Grimslov cabinets from IKEA as well as their farmhouse sink. I had actually purchased that sink in the As Is section before we even bought the house.

Those barstools were a facebook marketplace find.  They actually came in a creamy leather. But that ended up falling apart with the high use, so I upholstered them in a white duck cloth.

Isn’t that granite waterfall amazing? So glad Jake agreed to that, it really added a huge impact to the space.

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You know, I wish I had taken pictures of the inside of those cabinets. They were laid out so nice!! In the left cabinet we had our microwave and toaster oven built in. And on the right side I had a little coffee station with my keurig and mugs. It was sublime. And… nothing had to go on the counter, which was crucial.

Didn’t Jake do an AMAZING job in here?  Like you can’t even tell it’s an IKEA kitchen because of the precision he had and all the custom trimwork he installed.

See that little jut out on the left side of the counter? That contains a whole walls worth of plumbing and HVAC, we basically squeezed it all in there to open up the kitchen to the den. We actually had to shrink that window too, in order to allow the cabinets to go all the way to the left. But, you’d never know now!

The dining room… I never really considered this a ‘fully decorated’ space. We had just bought a table to refinish and were still working on chairs. I bought that light because I knew we were listing. We painted the walls in a neutral “Agreeable Grey”.

The living room was another space that I never felt ‘finished’ with. But we got the bones done at least.

My beloved little half bath! This room was dubbed the sunshine room by my family.  And it was probably the last space I really blogged about.  Check out more on this renovation here.

Why do I love hallways so much? So blank, so white, and so beautiful. It’s nothing but white and wood. And those hex lights were a great find from Overstock. Most of the walls in white are Swiss Coffee.

Guest bed 1 & 2, as seen staged for showing here.  I never really decorated either much, but then again they weren’t used much I suppose. They are both painted in Irish Mist by Behr.

The master bedroom was so so close to being ‘finished.’ Nearly all the bigger elements were in place, it just needed a bit more accessorizing. But, I am not sure I am very capable at accessorizing spaces. I tend to focus on the bones and have trouble pulling together the little details.

Recognize that mirror, by the way??? That’s right, we painted it white. And, guess what… The buyers asked for one thing in their contract, that white mirror!!!! Pretty funny actually

And, my closet… stand back for all the heart eyes!!!! Oh how I love that closet.  It was truly a labor of love. I custom designed the entire thing, and Jake built it for me entirely from scratch. Like literally that was all plywood before he worked his magic.

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Those drawers are actually an IKEA rast hack, that may have been the easiest part of this closet makeover. This whole closet used to be only 2 feet deep. But, I had Jake basically steal the closet space from the bathroom so I could have a walk in.

On the right is my lovely shoe wall. And then the nook on the left has my little dressing station with all my jewelry and perfume-y things. You know, I thought I would wear more jewelry with it displayed like that…. but I didn’t.

This bath turned out really nice. I say really nice and not perfect, because there were a few learning moments that I would maybe go back and change. We painted the vanity to update it and found that granite piece on CL. The mirror is another CL find.

And, do you see those grey lawyer bookcases?  Biggest pains in the rear of anything we did in our entire house. We found them both for a song on CL ($100 for 2). They were from France originally, and a very honey oak color. So, I wanted them painted. This turned into a huge fiasco with the paint not drying properly to the doors proceeding to stick from the added width from the paint.

I thought they would fit perfectly in the space, but they were nearly an inch too wide, so Jake had to basically move a wall and pound them in. The doors had to all be re-cut and repainted. And the top door didn’t open because the door trim, so we had to re-cut the door trim as well.  They are cool pieces…. but basically they were the bane of our existence.

I’ll work on getting some more specifics up, like process pics and source lists for some of these spaces. In the end, we had over 15 showings in 3 days and then two offers over list price.

We will miss this home. We learned so much here! But, it was time for the next adventure.

The post Our House – The After appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

When we first moved in we took down all the doors in our house… and our home remained in that sad state for over a year.  When we moved into our home year we knew that something had to give with those doors.  They were that awful faux wood grain, hollow core, and overall in a very bad state.

My original plan (always trying to save a buck) was to somehow paint them and add some trim… but we quickly realized that approach is akin to putting lipstick on a pig.  The faux grain had to go…

So, a month into our door-less state we found some hollow core pre-hung doors at Menards for $20 a pop!  A steal, right?  And they were smooth so I could paint and trim them out.  We installed them (which was no easy feat) and began painting the door frame.

Turns out our uber cheap doors had laminate door frames that could not, would not, should not be painted.  They turned out to be a hot mess, and suddenly we realized we spent $150 to buy doors just as crappy as the originals.

At this point we are frustrated at the whole process and let it sit (still door-less, since we had painted the frames and hadn’t bothered to rehang the doors) for another two months.

We shopped around for a more quality alternative, but found that the solid core pre-hung doors start at $200, each!  Spending over a grand on new doors did not sit well with us, so we procrastinated some more.

Enter my dreamin’ schemin’ mind… I tend towards over-confidence in our abilities and am a total can-do kinda person (or at least ‘Jake can-do’ ). My heart was set on having vintage doors with character!

I knew from prior visits that the Habitat Restore had oodles of gorgeous doors ripe for the picking! Why not save a buck and get all our doors there?!? Well, because – as Jake explained to me – they are not pre-hung.  Meaning that unless you have a pre-existing frame that is not faux-wood-grain or horrible laminate, you have to make your own.

Well… how hard could that be right?  Jake did not resonate with that sentiment, but he amused me and we visited my favorite store on earth.  The Restore!!!

Wouldn’t you know it… there were ten beautiful solid core oak doors in our perfect sizes.  (They even had some scratches and dents in them!! call me crazy, but I love a lived in look, a nice patina!) At only $15 a door, Jake was convinced.  He may have later regretted it, but none the less we had found our doors and stayed in budget.

We attempted to pick out the correct doors for left side hinges vs. right side hinges. (Turns out we were wrong on two of them.. so double, triple, quadruple check which type you need!).

So we had our doors finally, but now we had to figure out how to build door frames.  For the longest time we couldn’t find a frame kit and were thinking we’d have to build our own.  That caused another month of procrastination because we would need a table saw..

Finally we gave in, bought a table saw, then out of the blue found this kit.  It was a huge relief and was the push we needed to actually get started hanging our doors.

I’ve created this step by step of how we got our doors up, and some tips and tricks we learned along the way.

Just a little warning, this project is not for the faint of heart or inexperienced DIYer.  It’s tricky work and every detail needs to be spot on, so a LOT of patience is required! But, maybe you’re as crazy as us and just really need that beautiful old door in your home too

How to Build a Door Frame and Hang a Door

Materials Needed

• A door (preferably one with the hinges facing the correct direction)
• Door Jamb Set (love this kit as it’s primed and solid wood)
• Shims
• Nail gun & air compressor (ours was came in a set and has been great)
• Hinges
• Door knob
• 3″ screws
• Screw gun
• Chop saw (we ADORE ours, find it here)
• Door Hinge Kit
• Router
• Chisel

1. First you need to cut your jamb set header to size (presumably you have normal height doorways and you will not need to cut the sides).  If there was a previous frame in place, use those dimensions to measure and cut the header piece.  If not, then measure the amount the side frame pieces are inset at the top, add that to width of the door, and add 1/4″ inch to accommodate 1/8″ space on each side of the door.
2. Secure the header to the sides from the frame kit with your nail gun. Now you should have a free standing frame
3. Attach the hinges to the free standing frame while it is laying flat on the ground.  Only attach 2 at most. If there are three holes leave the middle one off; it’s too difficult to place all three at once. And lay the door inside the frame.
4. Place a paint stick between the top of the door and the header of the frame to ensure you have adequate spacing at the top.
5. Make sure that the door and the frame are flush with the pin-side of the hinge sticking down below. To do this, you’ll need to prop up the door and frame equally. Then mark on the frame where the hinges need to go.
6. Next, use your hinge mortising kit to router out matching mortises on the door jamb.  Pre-drill and screw the hinge to the frame and at this point you have a pre-hung door (minus the stop and some other pieces..)
7. Since actually hanging the door is the hardest part, we did this next to make sure everything worked before finishing the jamb with a door stop and a latch hole.
8. When hanging a door you’ll really need two people.  Set the door and frame up in the doorway.
9. Use some scrap wood or shims to prop the edge of the door up until the top gap between the door and the header is even.  Double check that the header and door are both level horizontally.
10. You’ll first attach the frame on the top hing side and it’s very important that you check all your gaps before securing anything. Insert shims (one on each side) between the doorway and the outside of the frame just above the top door hinge, making sure that the gap between the door and the frame appears the same and that the door is vertically level.
11. Once you are satisfied with the levelness and spacing, nail the frame to the doorway.  We tried to keep our nails in the middle so that the stop will cover them.
12. At this point we removed the middle screw securing the top hinge to the frame and replaced it with a 3″ screw that went all the way through to the door-frame. This makes the door hang more securely.
13. Check your gaps again and make sure that screw didn’t over-tighten the top corner.  If it did, just back it out a little bit.
14. Insert shims on the non-hinge side just above where the latch will go.  Again, adjust shims in or out to make sure you have an even 1/8″ gap between the door and frame. Once your gap is even, check that everything is still level.  If you are having issues at this step see my trouble shooting guide below.  DON’T just try to force it, I can’t tell you how many times we ripped out and re-did our door frames because we didn’t stop and troubleshoot.
15. Nail the frame and shims into place and repeat the above steps until you have shimmed and secured the top, middle and bottom of each side.
16. Hooray! Now check that you’ve successfully hung your door by stepping back and making sure the gaps are even and 1/8″ wide.  Open your door to the middle and see if it stays (if it swings, it’s not level).  Shut the door and make sure it doesn’t catch (if it catches your door frame might be twisted). Hopefully, everything works properly, but if you have issues with the above test, see the trouble shooting section below.
17. Remove the shims that are extending beyond the frame by running a utility knife along the edge and hammering until they snap off.

Troubleshooting

My door has the wrong hinge mortises

When we realized that we had bought the wrong doors and need our hinges to swing the opposite direction, there was a moment of utter panic.  We ended up resolving this issue by switching this hinges and using square cornered ones to cover the old mortise.

To successfully do this, you will need to chisel or router out the new correct hing mortise.  Additionally, you should drill out the existing screw holes and fill them with thin wood dowel pieces.  If you leave them and create new screw holes, the door could crack and you do not want that to happen.

By using square hinges set flush to the face of the door, we were able to hide the old mortise, hang the door on the correct side, and no one is the wiser.

My gaps aren’t even / My door swings / My door catches on the frame

There could be many reasons this is happening.  Instead of calling it ‘close enough’ and trying to force it how you want, stop and evaluate the source of the issue.

Possible causes:

• the doorway and studs could be twisted or not level, to straighten out the frame use a little more shim on the twisted side
• the frame is twisted (we found the above listed frame kit to be very good, but it is possible that your frame side pieces are not all the way straight), to straighten use the shims to ‘force’ the frame piece to level out
• the 3″ screw in the top hinge over-tightened and pulled the door up, re-secure the screw without using as much force
• the floor is not level, it’s possible that your floor isn’t level causing one side to be higher than the other, to even it out trim the bottom of the taller frame side piece

I hope this guide has been helpful for you in your brave quest to frame and hang your own doors.  Or perhaps it’s led you to learn from our mistakes and just buy pre-hung doors…

Happy DIYing!

The post How to Frame and Hang a Door appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

I don’t know about you, but my drive and creativity seriously diminish when life is hectic.  That’s why I believe it’s so important to nurture your creativity and feed your dreams.  What does that look like for you?  For me, sometimes it’s as simple as 30 minutes of Pinterest and my creative juices are flowing again.

It may take more than that to get me all the way back into gear towards accomplishing my goals and dreams after this busy season of life.  But, it’s all about baby steps  Including this super fun project I did recently in our guest bedroom…

I’ve been itching to try out some wallpaper in our home, but have been leery of what I thought would be a time-heavy, sticky endeavor that would ultimately be ripped down it little strips by future home owners.

Oh was I so wrong…. I knew wallpaper is the new hottest thing right now and is back in a BIG way, but what I didn’t know is all the new sweet products they have.

When I was contacted by Wallpaper Boulevard and offered a chance to try out some wallpaper in our home, I was amazed by the selection and a product they sell called Tempaper.

It’s actually a vinyl wallpaper (though you would never tell by looking at it) that uses a special water-based adhesive which makes it extremely easy to remove. Not only is this nice if you ever need to take it down, it actually made putting it up a breeze!

If I lined up the paper incorrectly and already stuck it to the wall, no worries!  Just easily peel it back off (no residue whatsoever) and reapply.  They say it’s a two man job, and I’m sure that’s much easier, but I did the whole wall myself in under two hours and I give all the credit to the Tempaper for making it a breeze.

And can we talk about this pattern??  How beautiful is this Peonies Gold Leaf paper? I was absolutely set on doing some kind of a floral for the wall behind the bed in our guest room.  Something that really said luxury and class with a hint of whimsy.

Wallpaper Boulevard had so many pretty choices, it was hard to choose!  I’m so glad I went with this in the end though, it turned out perfect

I was a little concerned about the gold leaf turning out really brassy and tending towards the this-is-a-little-girl’s-room vibe… But I was relieved when it came in and turned out to be a subtle bronze-y gold leaf.  Enough to shimmer in the sun, but not to look too chintzy.

Nothing else in this room is finished yet.. I have lots of ideas, but just need to actually do them.  Having this accent wall up completely transforms the place though, and definitely helps set the tone and direction for the rest of the decor.

So the moral of the story is… buy temporary wallpaper and put it up everywhere. Check out these Pinterest boards with some great wallpaper inspiration: Removable Wallpaper, Wallpaper, Wallpaper Inspiration.  I’m seriously drooling over them all right now.  If you come over next month and every room in our house has a different print, you’ll know I’ve lost it and went wallpaper crazy!!

**the wallpaper was provided by Wallpaper Boulevard, but all opinions are my own**

The post The Best Kind of Wallpaper appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

As per typical me fashion, we are going with a totally different decision than my original sway.  So, fasten your seatbelts as I take you through the thought process of a wiffle-waffler and how we ultimately made our decision.

Brief recap:  I was thinking we would attempt to salvage the construction treads  and sand, caulk and paint them in an effort to save money on buying all new treads.  Then, to hide the fact that they were construction risers, I wanted to put a nice runner down the middle.

Jake usually brings grounded-ness to our decision-making and suggested that if we’re going to do this stair renovation, we should do it right and have wood treads.  (Cue the the dolla signs in my head….)  But, after some research we found these treads that were only $10 a piece!

Ok, so with these pine treads, the cost becomes bearable again.  But, Jake had concerns about the quality/hardness of pine and it holding up over time.  So, I suggested we put a runner over the pine treads as extra protection (which, I know, costs more money).  In the end this is the plan we agreed on, and I think it will be the best bang for our buck.

These are my top picks for runners at the moment.  This one is probably front runner in my mind.  I don’t know why but I just love the pattern and how it marries geometric and chic into one adorable runner!  I’ve never been an orange person, but lately I’ve really been craving more orange (strange, I know).  My concerns with this one are that it’s accent color is ‘bone’, will that clash with our hallway if I paint it white?  And what if the pattern is too large with the stairs?

This was a last minute addition, and on one hand I love it so much, and on the other I keep asking myself if it’s true to ‘me’ and my style vision for the home.  I think it’s adorable, whimsical, colorful, and fun, but… I had been picturing a bright geometric runner.  What color would I even choose? And another part of me thinks this is safer choice (gotta think about resale sometimes people).  So which do you prefer?

We’re hoping to still finish the stairway in under $400 (including paint, stain, poly, rug runner, new treads, and new risers).  It hurts to spend so much on stairs, but in the long run, I believe this investment will pay back and then some in resale value.

Now, building codes in Illinois state that the maximum variance of rise between steps cannot exceed 3/8″.  Because we originally had carpet on the stairs and landing, and laminate on the first floor, our heights varied up to 3/4″.

So, to fix that and make sure our stairs don’t cause anyone to trip, we are decreasing the bottom stair rise to bring our variance down to 3/8″.  To do that, we’ll remove the plywood construction tread and replace it with a slightly thinner version.

The other night Jake started trimming the nose off the construction treads.  Soon we’ll be replacing the first plywood tread, sanding the trim (might as well do all the messy stuff at the same time!), and making a Home Depot trip for our new treads!

The post Stair Progress | The Plan appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Focus turned to getting some actual floors under-foot, and the bathroom was left in gutted state for a month.  Then, sometime before Christmas we decided we were finally going to tackle this little beast and bought all our tiling supplies.  (Because bathrooms should have tile, right??)  Oh the tangled webs we weave….

B E F O R E

We were total tile newbies, but that did not stop us from installing the backerboard that night.  After mixing up the mortar and cutting the cement board to size, Jake commenced on screwing the pieces down ever 6 inches.  Now, this is a time sensitive endeavor and allows only a 30 minute window before the mortar begins to set.

Several screws in, Jake’s cordless power drill runs out of juice… Panic sets in, and like a madman, he screwed in over 100 screws into the cement board … by hand.  Let’s just say, this was not a joyous night in our household.

After that scarring experience, Jake never wanted to think about tile again (and neither did I)!  So there it sat, prepped for our marble tile… for another month and a half.

The holiday craziness slowed down and we decided, it was time.  We needed this bathroom to be in working order again, so we got set to tile.  Without going into too much detail, we did absolutely everything possible wrong.

The floor wasn’t entire level, so we compensated by laying uneven mortar.  We worked ourselves into the back corner of the room and grunted and stretched to finish.  We tiled in sets and had to chip out the extra dried mortar before continuing.  It was all around bad.  Then came the grout… Once it dried, realization set in.  Our tile job was bad.  There was no ifs, and, or buts.  It was just bad.  You could feel all the sharp edges as you scraped your foot across it and the tiles were all uneven.

So, one very somber evening, Jake demoed it all … while I took a hot shower and mourned our loss.  A lot of time, frustration, and money down the drain… nevertheless, we pressed on and had it floored with hardwood in just two hours.

Finally we could move forward!

The plan was to stencil the top half and install board and batten underneath to brighten and add interest.  I have been in love with the Imperial Trellis wallpaper in citrine since it first graced my eyes in this dining room.  I bought a similar stencil, and painted the bathroom yellow.  Boy, that was so much yellow!  It definitely made me nervous on the bold color choice, but once once stencil was up, I felt much better.

The corners proved to be very difficult since I was already folding the stencil at the ceiling.  I tried to do the best I could but had to hand paint most of the corners in the end.  Once stenciling was pretty much finished, we got to work on the board and batten.

A lot of people do the ‘faux’ board and batten where they just add the vertical battens and treat the wall as the ‘board’.  This works great and generally saves much time and money.  But, since we had several gigantic holes in our half bath’s walls, we decided that actually putting up the ‘board’ would be less work than attempting to patch all the drywall.

We took a trip to Home Depot to pick out our supplies, and it turned into a two and a half hour trip of indecision….  Who knew board and batten materials were so tough to decide on?  And, that they got real expensive real fast?

In the end, we went with hardboard tempered panels for the ‘board’ part.  They were only $6 for a four by eight sheet, so that was the obvious choice.  Then we picked out some strip (?) pine for the top and bottom panels, a nice primed mdf trim piece for the top ledge, and lattice trim for the battens.  Overall, it cost more than we would have liked, and I’m honestly not sure how all those bloggers out there create their board and batten looks ‘for less than $20!!’  Please… teach me your ways….

It went up pretty quick, and we are so grateful to have a jigsaw now.  How did we ever manage before?  The long cuts on the hardboard were not fun though…. next on the need list: a table saw.

I failed to mention earlier, that we were working on a deadline.. Superbowl Sunday.  I was bound and determined to have a fully functioning guest bathroom for the very first party we were hosting in our new place.  So, I took Friday off of work and painted the board and batten all. day.  It took one coat of primer and two coats of paint to cover.

Then Jake came home that night and installed the toilet and vanity and all the important little extras, like the mirror, lighting, toilet paper holder, and towel hook.

I used a thrifted gold mirror I had bought several years ago and spray painted it white to match the decor.  The towel hook is just a cheap hook in the hardware section of Home Depot for a few bucks.  I like the simplicity of hand towels that hang on a hook and look useable.

Phew!  We are 100% done-zo with this room and I think it looks like a million bucks.  Remember when I was planning it?  I don’t think it ended up too far off mark!  If you want to see more pics of the after, check them out here.  And please find all my sources below:

Sources:

Yellow Paint – Behr Hawaiian Pineapple
White Paint – Behr Polar Bear
Mirror – Thrifted and spray painted
Vanity – Menards
Toilet Paper Holder – IKEA
Light – Home Depot
Stencil – Etsy

The post Half Bath | The Process appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

Today let’s revel in this triumph and bask in the images of victory, and next week I’ll be back with all the gory battle details (and sources and all that).

As a reference point, here is the before picture.  Our little powder room was oh so beige, the very poopy looking kind.  I don’t know about you, but I like crisp white in bathrooms so I can feel as clean (and not at all poopy) as possible.

The vanity went from wall to wall which was way more storage space than we need and visually is much too bulky for the room.  The half bath is only 3 foot by 6 foot and the builders even lowered the ceiling by a foot in the room just so it wouldn’t feel so tiny proportionately.

In a space like that, we needed every space enlarging trick in the book.  I think all the white opens up the room and our vanity has plenty of negative space around it which helps as well.

I still am pinching myself with how it all turned out.  It’s pretty spot on with my vision!  Sometimes I doubt the images in my head are ever realistic enough to happen, but this gives me a little confidence booster.  Maybe my ideas aren’t all that ridiculously crazy after all

Well, this post was supposed to go out yesterday… but it’s been too cloudy all week to take any good pics, so here we are on this lovely Friday!  I think after taking 3 months to get our bathroom in a usable state, being one day late on the reveal isn’t too bad.

What do you all think?? I’m just so excited to be sharing my first ever room reveal/before and after pics with you guys!!!  Stay tuned next week for the source list and play-by-play of our half bath reno.

Linking up at: On Display Thursday, Your Designs This Time, Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, The Makers Link Party, Tutorials & Tips Link Party, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Work It Wednesday, Handmade Hangout, Pretty Pintastic Party, The Inspiration Gallery, Home Matters Link Party

The post Half Bath Reveal! appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

In my last Loving Lately post, I hinted at the Grand Half Bath Disaster of 2015.  Well…. you know that gorgeous marble tile that I’ve been telling you about for… 3 months?!? It finally went down, like all of it, and we grouted it!  And, it was anything but simple, suffice to say this was our first tile job and we did about everything wrong and made it 100 times harder than it should have been.

But, we had done it!  We’d tiled the bath!  Only to realize… that it was such a horrible tile job, we had to take it out  Now trust me, I tried hard to convince Jake that maybe it wasn’t all that bad, I doubt the unevenness and extremely rough edges would cause any major harm to a person’s foot…..  But, alas to no avail.  He was right, it was terrible and had to go.

So just like that, after three months of agonizing tile work, it was gone in two hours.  Then we floored it with wood in another two hours.  Ah, if we had only done that in the beginning and we wouldn’t have lost all that time and money… But, I suppose we have learned a great deal from the experience (like get someone who knows how to tile help you your first time around the block!)

Yes, it hurts, but it’s water under the bridge now.  We are pressing forward with the plans and are just focusing on completing the board and batten.  But, that other bath is suddenly a million times more intimidating than it was, say, 3 months ago.

In the end you live and learn and mistakes are part of that process.  So, if you ever find yourself frustrated at a DIY gone wrong, just think to yourself, at least this isn’t the Grand Half Bath Disaster of 2015.

That is all, full reveal to be on the blog next Thursday!

The post The State of the Half Bath appeared first on Naomi Bjerk.

This is the current situation.  The carpet that used to be upstairs covers the unfinished stair treads and risers.  Some people are lucky enough to rip up their carpet and just refinish the wood underneath.  But, we peeked at the situation underneath and let’s just say it would take immense amounts of caulk to fix what’s going on in there.

These are our basement stairs and give you a pretty good idea of what is likely underneath our carpet of our second story staircase.  So I feel like I have several different options floating around my head and sometimes it’s just best to parse them out detail by detail to get the best comparison.

OPTION 1: WORK WITH WHAT WE GOT

In an effort to same time and money (well, hopefully time and definitely money) we could try and ‘finish’ the construction treads and risers as they are.  This would involve caulking all cracks and gaps between the walls and the treads, and maybe a lot of sanding as well.  Then, we would likely paint everything (since we had to caulk so much) and a rug runner would be necessary to cover the ‘roughness’.

You may be asking, why don’t you just carpet it then?  Well…. that’s a good question… I just like that some of the wood stairs are showing.  It makes it feel more finished to me.

COST ESTIMATE:

Paint (30)
Caulk (25)
Rug (100)
TOTAL: ~ $155

So, I guess for this option you have minimal work (hopefully), and low cost.  But, you risk the end product looking not as nice, and have to deal with a boat load of caulking.

OPTION 2: REPLACE AND STAIN

The traditional route is to buy finishable stair treads to install and stain.  We would add a bullnose pine tread and white risers, then stain the tread.  This is a very classic look, and in my opinion, would look most professional.

This process would involve removing the current stair overhang (very dusty), cutting and installing treads and risers, and painting and staining them.

COST ESTIMATE:

Treads (250)
Risers (100)
Paint (30)
Stain (30)
TOTAL: ~ $410

Wow, this would definitely cost a lot more, but it would produce a finished result, after quite a bit of work though. This option could include a runner rug too if we wanted, and we could always paint the treads instead of staining.

Well, the numbers really hit me after putting them down here.  I think it’s time for me to do a little reading on how to finish construction risers….  I’ll leave with you my favorite stair inspiration pictures…  And as always, suggestions are always appreciated!

Image Credit

1  //  2  //  3  //  4  //  5  //  6

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