Diary of a Renovation: Townhouse Upgrade Week 1
Nothing is more exciting than Demo Day! I just love the sound of sledgehammers swinging. It's that time to get the ugly, outdated, and useless OUT and time to breathe new life into the space! It's soo much fun!I'm going to warn you, this project is fast paced...based on the schedule we mapped out, we should be done with construction in 2 weeks. Just this first week alone will show you all the chaos that is part of a home renovation, as minor as this one is. When I say minor, I'm not discounting the importance of the project. It's minor in that we're not gutting the kitchen and the bath...the only major demo was the flooring and the existing baseboards. Lucky for these homeowners, they hired me to do all their legwork for them. I did the research, the sourcing and narrowing down of options for them to choose from. If you were doing this yourself, you would do it all, plus manage the contractors who are doing the work and deal with all the issues that are bound to arise. This project was no exception.Ready? Here we go...Week 1.Day 1 and 2: DemoThe contractors had to remove all the existing flooring - the tile on the stairs and part of the main level (which took most of the day), the carpet in the living room and the laminate flooring in the dining room, kitchen and laundry room.
We also removed all the tile around the fireplace firebox and hearth.
Day 3 and 4: Lacquering Kitchen CabinetsWe chose to lacquer the cabinets rather than just paint them. A lacquer finish is much more durable and won't start chipping over time like a regular paint finish will. We went with WHITE by Frazee Paints Lacquer and it instantly brightened up the room. The contractor sprayed the interior of the cabinets as well which gave it cleaner, brighter, more uniform look.
Day 5: Backsplash tile install
NOTE: the microwave hood and the cabinet above it was supposed to be removed and the wall behind it was to be tiled to the ceiling. I'm guessing the contractor forgot that was supposed to happen until I reminded him, but did he admit he forgot...not a chance!
We added an off-the-shelf cabinet to this corner from a local home improvement store. This area was empty which made the space on either side of the garden window feel very unbalanced. This not only gives the homeowners more storage, but it helps balance that window wall. Unfortunately, the cabinet that was available was 30"H while the existing cabinets were 33"H. So, the contractor hung the cabinet a little lower so that the bottom of the cabinets were at the same height and he'll add trim to the top to disguise the gap above.Day 5 & 6: Ceiling and wall painted in the Living and Dining RoomAs I previously mentioned, they get very little natural light in this unit. It's the combination of the mature trees outside and lack of windows. This posed a big challenge when choosing paint colors. Colors that look relatively light in another space looked much darker on the walls in this house. As you can see from the photo below, the darker shade of gray was already at half tone of the actual color. We tried it on different areas throughout the room and the concern was that it was going to be too dark so we tried it at 50% of the color again (the lighter gray below). I liked it and the homeowner's really liked it, but the contractor thought we should go 50% lighter still. I wasn't convinced and neither was the homeowner. We went with that color and it turned out great. Perfect shade! :)
Half the battle with any project is having the right tools...check out this telescoping handle that holds a paint brush for cutting in. No ladder needed! I guess when you do this regularly, you learn how to make your life easier.Day 7: Hardwood Flooring Install BeginsThis is probably one of the most exciting changes in the space. This dark hardwood flooring completely transformed the look and feel of the space. It actually makes the shutters look better!
We found the best pricing for the flooring through an online vendor. Unfortunately, the matching stairnose and trim is not yet available. That meant I had to try to find matching trim through another vendor. After visiting multiple flooring vendors trying to find a close match without success, I had to find an unfinished stairnose without the tongue and groove detail and get it stained to match. This was no easy feat either. I ended up finding unfinished stairnose at Lowe's, but it took shopping at 3 different locations to get all the pieces I needed. I found a great furniture refinisher that was able to match the stain after 2 tries. First try looked great in the warehouse, but that was based off of a small sample piece. When I brought it to the house, it ended up being too dark. I brought him a large piece of the flooring and the second try was a success! It looks fantastic.
Are you tired yet? Last but not least for the week...I was determined to find the light fixtures for above the fireplace mantel. This area of the room is extremely dark so adding hardwired light fixtures will make a big difference. I had sourced for options online for several weeks without success so I finally just decided to buy a few possibilities that fit the budget so the homeowner's could see them in person. I posted these options on Facebook and got some great feedback. Ultimately, they chose option #3.
There's a lot more happening in the next week...stay tuned for the update!What do you think of the progress so far? Would love for you to leave me your comments below!
