I've been shopping

Long days at work are easier to bear when I know that I will have a package waiting on me at home. They are even easier to bear when I order said packages at work. Not that it happens all the time or anything...
I'm definitely addicted to Overstock where I constantly check for new items (because I have looked at everything else). I also have an eBay problem. I like to just look at art that is cheap and "ending soonest". That's how I scored this awesome castle drawing in a gold frame. The owl was 4 bucks at T.J. Maxx. Love this owl!


And here is a runner rug I found on Overstock. It's a little small for this hallway. maybe I should have measured first before impulsively clicking. Oops. I still love it though and kitty avoids it (which is a plus). Yes, I know my floors need cleaning.

Oh and my chairs. Sigh. Overstock again. Sorry for the tile mess in the background. It really distracts from their awesomeness. These were about 60 bucks a piece which is amazing if you compare these to similar chairs out there.


Well, that's what I have been doing besides pulling up crabgrass. I hate crabgrass.

Found: One French Drain

Luke and I said goodbye to winter and starting doing some work on the outside of the house.

This photo sums up what we have been doing. I have been planting, and Luke has been french drain hunting with his metal detector. I planted some lady ferns in the planters by the porch stairs. It's been 2 weeks and no sign of baby ferns. I am so impatient.

Luke started messing around in the gravel driveway and found the hole that the gutter is supposed to run into. He rented a snake and got out his metal detector. I knew that thing was eventually going to be useful.

He used the metal detector to find the end of the snake and started digging. He eventually found the exit point in the drainage ditch by the road. We hooked the gutters back up and now our Porte Cache/Carport doesn't turn into a pond when it rains...which has been a lot lately. Why would someone cover that up?

A Shiny New Shower Pan

Things are really coming along now in the master bath. Bill started building the shower pan, putting up the Hardibacker, and tiling the floors and walls. Check it out!

First he laid down a layer of concrete and made a nice slope to the drain.

Two days later he came back and put down blue plastic and the 2ND layer of concrete. It sounded so complicated when Luke and I looked it up online. If we knew it was that easy...


He started tiling the shower walls this weekend. I think I like our tile. Okay, I do. There was just so much to choose from, and I can't help but question my decisions. I'm no professional designer. I wish we could have done the entire shower in the glass tile, but it would have pushed the budget beyond our means.

Here is a close up of the glass tile. It actually looks pretty good against the porcelain here. Maybe I do love it?

Oh, and we got a new window. It's super energy efficient and it lets in a lot more light. It cranks out towards the master bedroom deck... just in case you ever want to toss something at someone in the tub. This custom window was ordered and installed by Ted Tolen at Unlimited Windows. Want one? Call Ted today at 615-254-6700. His service and expertise are unrivaled in the Middle Tennessee area. Oh yeah, he's my dad too.

So Long Racist Laundry Mat Lady

I didn't know you very well, but the way you whispered "The Mexicans" said it all. Sure you washed and folded my clothes for a mere 80 cents a pound, but you also stole my plastic hangars. Well, no more! Our laundry room is finally done.


Our tile man, Bill, came earlier this week. It only took him a few hours. It would have taken us at least 2 days.
We spent Friday night painting it and Saturday touching up the paint and installing the baseboards. It should have only taken one coat, but we were idiots and bought cheap paint. Never again.
Bill loaned us his saw and nail gun for the job. This was Luke's first time installing baseboards and I think he did an excellent job.


Here is a picture of the room before. This tiny bathroom was useless, and I hated the white tile and black grout.

Here is a better picture of the tile pre-baseboards. As you can see, I won the diagonal vs. brick pattern argument. We had originally chosen a lighter grout color, but Bill convinced us to go dark. I think it looks great!

The Office/ Library

At least one room in my house is getting closer to completion. It's going to be the office, but we have been calling it the library because of the wall of built-ins that the previous owner built. It was never completely finished though, kind of like everything else they built/remodeled. Nail holes weren't filled in and they used pine instead of Oak which would have matched the rest of the moulding in the room.




As stated in my previous posts, I am planning on re-staining most of the wood work in the house. But in this room I decided to just paint it. I wanted to paint the bookcase and I thought it would look a little weird if I didn't paint the trim too. The bookcase took a total of 3 weekends. I scrubbed, sanded, caulked, and filled in holes of 2 days. Then I took another two days to prime, and the last weekend I painted. It wouldn't have taken so long if the shelves were removable, but everything was nailed in so it was quite a task. I went with a color called Zurich White from Sherwin Williams. I'm a sucker for paint names and I think Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places in the world so Zurich White was an obvious choice.
Painting the windows was just as much trouble as the shelves. I debated on scraping instead of taping, but knew I would probably procrastinate on scraping so I chose the big blue tape. When I ran out of tape half way through, a relative said that the blue tape was overpriced and the contractor white painting tape was just as good so I went for it. Maybe he was right, but Blue tape is so much easier to remove. The White tape just wouldn't peel off and I ended up having to scrape it. Take note future window painters!
I somehow convinced my sisters to help me finish the room. They love all of those DIY shows too, so it wasn't to hard. Here is my sister Allie finishing off the windows



My other sister Katie rolling her little heart out.
Notice how I left the doors in their original state. I think it's better that way.



Here we are together. I cannot thank them enough!
The color is Blackberry Farm from ICI-Sinclair. I totally stole this color from one of those Flipping shows. This was the color in Jeff Lewis's office on "flipping out". It's pretty dark, but I think it looks great with the white trim plus this room gets a lot of light.

So here is the finished room! I still need to scrape off the rest of the tape, Add some bamboo roman shades, refinish the floors etc.
We replaced the ceiling fan (why so many in this house?) and put up a retro looking pendant. We got it on sale at the Home Depot Expo for 19.99! It was originally 129.00. I'm not sure it really fits in this room, but this was the only room ready for a new fixture so we just went for it.
In the rubble around me, it is nice to have just one room that is almost finished.

Kitty in the House

During a torrential downpour a couple weeks ago, Luke went to the basement to check out the sub pump. While he was down there he heard some strange noises. He thought it was an intruder but it wasn't (well in a way it was)...It was a cat! We thought it was an outside tomcat (we have a lot of those around here) but as we were trying to put it back outside we noticed it had a collar. We called the number only to find out that the cat belonged to our neighbors two doors down and had been missing for 2 months! Two days later a lovely basket full of organic groceries was placed on our doorstop. I'm loving this neighborhood more and more.

And here is a picture I snapped while Luke was trying to catch the frightened kitty. She ran up some duct work and dug into some newly insulated pipes. It's perfect for a "hang in there" inspirational poster!

Master Bathroom Progress

We are only one (or two) steps away from master bathroom completion. Hurry up tile man! We actually haven't completely decided on tile yet. Our vanity is black. Our sink and tub are white. All of our fixtures are chrome. So what color complements those choices? We still have a couple weeks to figure that part out.
Anyways, I finally found my USB cable and I can now post pictures of our progress...

It took a while to get to the sub floor. On top of it was hardwood, two layers of linoleum, and laminate flooring. Then there was the sand. I guess they used it to even out the laminate flooring. What a pain.
Once the demo of the old kitchen was complete we reinforced the floor joists (to support the weight of the tub) and hired the plumbers. We definitely aired on the side of caution with the floor joists. Now it is the worlds strongest bathroom floor!

Here is luke in the newly plumbed room. You can see the copper shower plumbing to his left and the new vanity wires in front of him. Working simultaneously with the plumbers and electricians was complicated. There were live wires everywhere. One day a plumber shocked himself and turned off all of the breakers in fear. Unfortunately he turned off the sub pump as well causing our basement to flood. Just another bump in the road I guess.
Luke used this floor lamp to light the bathroom while he was working in it. What a trooper!

I love our new tub. It's an Americh Air bath. Instead of one or two jets hitting in you an awkward place, an Air bath provides an all over body massage. It's kind of like sitting in a bubbly glass of champagne. You can also put anything in it, even mud. After the tub has emptied, hot air shoots through the holes and cleans out the system. Well, all that stuff should happen...unless we broke it moving if through the bathroom door.

I have no idea how Luke knew how to build the tub deck. I'm not sure he has built anything like this before, but it looks great. Luke built it, so of course it's extra strong.

Now this is really looking like a bathroom! Luke finished off the tub deck and built the frame for the shower. My best friends brother put up the drywall. Instead of pulling down the paneling on the ceiling, we drywalled over it. The new recessed lighting looks great. I thought that 3 cans and two vanity lights wouldn't be enough, but it seems pretty bright in here.
Now it needs a new window...

Tudor Ranch and Trim

Yesterday I showed a picture of the house to a friend who said, "Oh it's a Tudor, no it's a ranch. It's a Tudor ranch!" Finally I know what my house is. It's a Tudor- Ranch! Luke got his castle and I got my mid-century ranch. Now how am I supposed to decorate it? There has to be a cross between a suit of armor and an Eames chair. This is going to be a challenge.

I started re staining the trim this weekend. I didn't want to go to all of the trouble of stripping and sanding so I have been using Minwax polyshades. Seen here:
http://www.minwax.com/products/onestep/polyshades.cfm
Of course the darkest color that Lowes carries is the Antique Walnut. Over the old stain it looks a little darker than the sample seen on the website. I see that they have a color called tudor which would have been awesome! Since I haven't done the second coat, perhaps I can go with that color over the walnut. But, I don't know if I feel like driving all over town looking for it.
I really want to get it over with. I can't paint the walls without finishing the trim, and I can't refinish the floors without painting the walls, so I'm really settling for whatever is the easiest.
Originally I was going to paint all of the trim white. It would have been just as labor intensive, but can I really bring myself to paint over wood trim? I decided to compromise and paint the upstairs trim white and just re stain the downstairs trim. Pictures to come soon!

The Upstairs

The upstairs is a former mother-in-law apartment. We thought it was a converted attic, but I found out from a neighbor that it is original to the home. I'm not sure if it always had it's own kitchen. I'm guessing that the kitchen cabinets were salvaged from the downstairs when it was updated. Luckily the plumbing has already been run up here because this is our future master suite!

At the top of the stairs are two doors. The one on the left leads to a small bathroom. The right door goes to the laundry and kitchen. We plan to turn the bathroom into the main laundry room and the kitchen into the master bathroom.

As you can see, the washer and dryer do not fit here. But they are new. The washer actually has a Handwash cycle. Yeah! We have measured, and they fit perfectly in the bathroom. Having the laundry off of the master bath will truly be a luxury. I'm not sure having the laundry upstairs would be as valuable to a large family considering the other bedrooms are downstairs. Since it's just us...I don't care!
The old laundry room will now hold the toilet. Plenty of room for a magazine rack in here! It's actually the easiest and most economical place for the toilet since a 4 inch pipe runs through the the left wall.

Here is the rest of our new bathroom. A tub and shower will replace the cabinets. I've always wanted a walk-in shower and separate tub. After days of drawing up designs, Luke and I finally came to an agreement on the layout. Luke and his brother completely gutted this room and now it's on its way. I lost the USB cable for my camera in the frantic move so I don't have any new pictures up.
We have seen so many home improvement shows where the renovators happily break things with hammers. It's not that fun. there were two layers of wood paneling and three layers of flooring. Luke needed a saws-all to remove almost everything. I wanted him to save the cabinets for the basement or laundry room but they were all nailed together. I was only able to salvage one small drawer unit and a piece of wood counter top. Hopefully it will fit in the new laundry room.

This room will make a nice bonus room. I'm going to paint the trim and ceiling white. The ceiling fan must die!

This is the view from our master bedroom. It's so private up here. Unfortunately this is the only room in the house with wood paneling. It's real sturdy though, so we shouldn't have a problem drywalling over it. I can't wait to sit out on that deck and enjoy the spring. It's so cold right now...

Tackling the Interior

Finally! Here are some pics of the inside (pre-boxes)


The living room is great except for the fireplace. The brick isn't real or original. It's actually only 1/4 inch thick and cemented to the drywall. The piano is beautiful but it dosen't work. Keys are missing and every C is broken. Luckily our movers took it off our hands for free! My cousin is planning on giving me a working piano that belonged to my Grandmother. I haven't played in a long time. Hopefully it will all come back to me.



I love the stairscase! We plan on refinishing all of the floors. Of course I want the stairs to match, but we have heard that refinishing them will be very labor intensive. Maybe it's something we can tackle on our own. If we mess up we can just throw down a runner!


I don't love this kitchen but remodeling it is the last thing on our list. I really am getting used to working in it. It is extremely functional - especially when it's only a quick turn around from the stove to the sink. The gas stove is awesome! All of the lower cabinets have pull outs which is great. Perhaps I will paint them white, but for now I will just replace the light fixtures and hardware. The gold really bothers me.

The Bathroom was updated before we moved in. I don't plan on changing anything but the paint. This color beige is awful with the white bead board.

Getting rid of the trees

I'm a little embarrased to say that I am addicted to "Flipping" shows. Flip That House, Flip this House, Propery Ladder, Flip it Back, The Real Estate Pros...you name it I've seen it. One of the first things all of the professionals do is remove the landscaping that hides the house. So, that's what we did. I love the large Oaks in the backyard, and I would never think about touching them. But the Bradford Pears in front of the garage had to go! Removing them revealed the two story garage, and a window that needs a fresh coat of paint.

Other home

The home we originally wanted (see entry below) just hit the market. It's the same price as it was unfinished! WTF! I'm trying not to have any regrets, but it's hard. I just have to keep reminding myself that we paid way less for way more square footage, and we have a porte cache. Oh well. Now you can see the influence for our current home!

Here is a picture of the front of the house (pre-new roof) The house is long and narrow. We aren't sure what to do about the metal awnings. They do kind of serve a purpose on the covered patio. New trim color is definitely in order!
The stone on the exterior is very unique, and we recently found out that it is called Crab Orchard Stone. The only place in the world to get the stone is Crossville Tennessee. The stone was a favorite of Frank Lloyd Wright, and he used it on many of his later designs.

Crab Orchard Home

In our quest for larger place close to work we came across a historic stone home on a highway north of town. The home was mid-way through it's renovation and still needed air conditioning, plumbing, etc. Our realtor (The Great Jon Brown) said it was way overpriced and showed us some comps in the area. The first MLS sheet he showed us caught our eye. "Why does that house have a hole in the middle?" "What is behind those trees?" My husband did a drive by the next day and took me by the house that evening. As soon as we started driving through the neighborhood I became excited. 60's ranches, Tudors, cottages, and even new construction lined the streets. It was exactly what I had been looking for. We pulled up to the house and I immediately recognized it. We had seen it online before, but weren't wowed. It just goes to show that pictures can be deceiving, especially pictures taken by a tired old realtor. The house spoke to me. That hole, Described by the MLS sheet as a carport, was actually a porte cache! The garage attached was two story but not visible in the pictures because of the large Bradford Pears littering the yard.

The next day we walked through the house and immediately made an offer. The home was being sold "As is" so we knew we were in for a little bit of work. We were surprised when our offer was immediately accepted. Now...the inspection.
Everything was going fine until we saw the crack. Okay, its more of a fault line running through the stone. Luke and I made lists, fought, cried. Finally we negotiated the price a little more and signed the papers.
Now here we are 5 months later and what was move-in ready is now a disaster zone.

First Blog

Hello. I'm at a loss for names of this blog so "Luke and Abby's Home Re-do" it is. I really wanted to start posting pictures and stories of our home renovation somewhere other than Myspace. Mostly because I don't want creeps from high school judging my handiwork. I will post my first pictures either tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy!