Home Projects: Fireplace Remodel

Since moving into our home, Tony and I have been wanting to give the fireplace a facelift. Although the Texas weather creates only has a few days per year requiring of its use, we enjoy the ambiance of a fire to remind us of our colder roots.

Unfortunately, two main qualities for our fireplace resulted in it fondly acquiring the title of the "black hole" of the house since our move-in.

(1) The builder's choice of the "riptide tile" effect: Continuing the floor tiles up the wall stripped this gem of any real design benefits.

(2) The floating fire hole: maybe it is a Texas thing, but growing up in New York a real fireplace needs a decent hearth. This element particularly solidified the space's nickname.

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to finally tackle this project! We are by no means do-it-yourself experts. But, with the help of advice from a friendly local fireplace company and a little bit of internet research, we did pretty darn well with the remodel!

Tony and I enjoyed designing the project together. We chose Desert Quartz Ledgestone as the stonework, which reminds us of the local stone in San Antonio. The slabs came in pre-glued panels that made installation easy. Tony became quite the expert with a table tile wet saw, and by the end was even cutting tiny custom pieces to fill around the key insert!

Tile mastic served easy to use and kept the tiles sturdily stuck to the wall.  The hearth served to be more of a design challenge. Most of the internet instruction sites utilize preexisting brick hearths in the reface process. We had to build our own using cinderblocks and Quikcrete. Mitte Gray tiles, gray grout, and surrounding ledgestone completed the custom hearth.

Leon was a great little helper along the way.  Although he spent a large portion of the time sampling every Mickey Mouse show on Netflix, he did help carry some of the stones and watching Daddy through the window as he cut the stones. He particularly liked modeling in the before pictures saying "Leon cheese."

Despite our planning, there were a few bumps in the road.

We didn't expect the demolition for the tiles to result in ripping off large chunks of the drywall. That obstacle was met with a late-night trip to Home Depot. But, I taught Tony (through my excellent internet search skills) how to successfully replace sections of drywall. That may come in handy in the future for occasional drywall accidents that come with having children.

Also, when we purchased the Quick-Setting Quikrete, we didn't read closely to see that the cement set in FIVE MINUTES! After the first cinderblock, we learned that this aspect resulted in more rubble than actual mortar. However, we adapted to the challenge and mixed a separate sample of cement for each block. Luckily, there were only 7 in total and they were sturdy and level after an overnight!

When we reached the top portion of the fireplace, I had not accounted for the effects of gravity. Luckily, our friend Erik was visiting that day and provided an extra set of hands! We improvised in support structuring by using a piece of leftover drywall to support the center.

After letting the area set for a week, we ended up with this masterpiece!

Although Tony initially placed this project on the "Hire-Out" list, I am happy that I could persuade him to make this project our own... even with a few hiccups along the way.

The Ultimate Puzzle Box

Every year, my sisters and I anxiously awaited opening our special puzzle boxes.  Granddad would spend months designing and creating them, revealing his masterpieces to us on Christmas morning.  Throughout the year, he bounced ideas off of Grandmom, his greatest cheerleader and tester.  Carefully, he handmade and assembled each box.  Elm, oak, and cedar, selected from trees on their property, composed each box.  Magnetic apparatuses and trick openings fooled even us seasoned puzzle solvers.

Granddad always seemed to one-up himself year after year.  On December 25th, my sisters and I would compete to see which one of us could get to the hidden enclosed money prize the fastest... winning bragging rights for the rest of the year.  After we started dating, Tony also joined in on the game.  Granddad would get such a kick out of our excitement and struggles with his unique inventions.

Granddad passed away earlier this year.  It saddens me to know there will not be anymore puzzle boxes to add to my collection... that this chapter in my life has come to an end.  The holidays will be a bit less cheery.  This will be the first year he won't be at the Christmas table.  I will miss our competitions, and marveling at Granddad's newest designs.

Last month, Tony and I received a special gift from my grandparents' estate: a set of unique lounge chairs.  They were quite possibly Granddad's favorite possessions.  My mom recounts that Granddad saved up to buy 4 of these Eames Lounge Chairs in the 1950's.  For many years, they were the only furniture filling my grandparents' living room.  Fitting to Granddad, their design was one-of-a-kind: the perfect marriage of comfort and ingenuity. As a kid, I appreciated their unparalleled smooth turning capability as I spun around in them for hours.  And as an adult, I cherish them as a reminder of my special grandparents.

It was quite a process, moving these 80-pound chairs from NY to TX.  Each had to be disassembled, packed into large boxes, shipped across country (thanks, Mom and Dad!!), and later reassembled. Tony and I spent a weekend putting them together.  As we aligned shock mounts, heavy glides, and back stand-offs to wooden and metal frames, we discussed memories of my grandparents.  Tony and I recalled many college weekends, traveling to Binghamton to share good food and conversation with Grandmom and Granddad in these chairs.  We remembered Christmases.

After many hours, with the rust-red leather cleaned and the aged wood oiled, we finally sat down in our comfy new additions.

And, Tony remarked: It would only be fitting that your Granddad's final gift to us would be the ultimate puzzle box.

Welcome to the 70's?

When I lived in Buffalo, my friend Heather introduced me to HGTV.  At the time, I didn't appreciate how potentially addictive this channel can be.  During my maternity leave, HGTV provided a backdrop to the sizable amount of time I spent on the couch feeding Leon.  Decorating isn't something that really comes easily for me, but I would like to think that I am a work in progress.  I've tried to apply a little of what I have learned to my house.

Through my "decorating studies," I discovered my style actually has a name... "rustic chic."

Using the tricks of the trade, I enjoyed hunting for bargains online, at flea markets, and local shops.  But, I won't lie... a couple of the purchases were a total bust... for instance, the 70% off throw rug that I had to send back after it didn't quite come as pictured below.

The advertised "tera brown" color scheme arrived looking more like the 1970's had puked all over it... complete with lime green accents against a convict-orange back drop.

However, I would like to think at least a couple decorating wins can be found in the mix (if you can ignore the smattering of baby toys).

Renovations

When we started looking for our new house, move-in ready was a must.  And, as much as I would like to blame it all on the baby... the reality is: I just hate renovations.

I do, however, really admire the people who have the special remodeling touch… those that can see a run-down room and on their own transform it into something extraordinary. My sister, Liz, introduced me to Young House Love (http://www.younghouselove.com/), a blog about a young family that remodels homes from top to bottom.  However, I am a realist and recognize… I am not one of those people.  To me, even small projects are cause for distress.  At our first home, Tony and I spent an entire afternoon trying to change the faucet on our kitchen sink.  We managed to misread the directions three times, and temporarily mismatch the hot and cold-water dispensers.  Our excursion with changing out the doorknob on the front door wasn’t much better… we placed the handle on backwards causing repeated episodes of grazed knuckles before figuring it out sometime later.  

For our new house, the list for must-have renovations was thankfully short:
(1) Update the Kitchen
(2) Paint Leon's room.

For the kitchen, we love the open concept design.  However, the 1990’s, cracking, sky-blue linoleum counters and dated back-splash needed some adjustments.

With the help of a contractor, this renovation project went more smoothly than our previous encounters.   We enjoyed making the design choices and seeing how it all came together.  Keeping the cabinets, we chose new granite counters and stone backsplash.  We were pretty satisfied by the end result... for once, a renovation we actually enjoyed.

For Leon's room, we chose to update the room that (fondly) became known as... the Vampire Lair.  You can see why it earned its name.

Although the trim is not perfect, we transformed the blood red walls into a pleasant elephant gray color.

Although Leon hasn't been spending a whole lot of time in there yet, we think he will enjoy the change once he finally makes the transition out of mommy and daddy's room.

Home.

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when a house transforms into a home.  Somehow, over time it becomes something more than its collective furniture enclosed by brick walls.  It has to do with the the little things... finding that perfect, cozy reading spot... the moment you discover you finally can find the bathroom in darkness because you know the path by heart... the feeling you get when you walk through the front door and realize... this is home.

Tony and I have enjoyed placing our own personal touches on our house to make it into our own.  It has come a long way from the mardi-gras-themed decor we saw on our initial walk-through.  We shared the transformation process with parents and siblings, as visitors came throughout the summer.  Kit joined us in August, and I love that we live under the same roof again.  I look around and see reminders of our growing son, movie nights, lazy weekend mornings, winning (and failed) cooking attempts, decorating experiments, investigation spots for an energetic puppy.  And, I realize that somewhere over the course of the last 4 months, this house has become a home.

Our (soon-to-be) New Home!!

Although the timing may not be perfect with Baby Bean's birth right around the corner, Tony and I are excited to announce that we will be homeowners again!  Our offer was finalized this week, and we are gearing up for the approaching closing.  Our little 2-bedroom San Antonio bungalow has served us well this year.  However, we will definitely need more room for baby and visitors in the coming years.

We spent a long time searching, but finally found the perfect house for us.  We discovered the neighborhood before the home came on the market, complete with neighborhood pool, tennis/basketball courts, large playground, and rec center.  We knew it was the right place to live when you could see families walking their dogs and kids riding their bikes around the cute cul de sacs at any time of day.

 My favorite features of our new home: the open ranch floor plan, high ceilings, large kitchen, hardwood floors, gas fireplace, spacious master suite, and big fenced-in backyard with play set for our son and Butters to enjoy!

The 4 bedrooms give us plenty of room for Baby Bean and guests.  We are so happy that my sister, Kit, will be coming to live with us starting at the end of the summer.  She will be working on finishing and publishing her novel while helping us with Baby Bean.  Already, she has claimed the blue room :)

Luckily, the home is move-in ready, a big plus with having to balance moving with a newborn!  But, we are starting to think about a few upcoming projects.  We certainly will be doing a little painting before moving in (the lime green and shocking red bedrooms need makeovers).  We look forward to setting up Baby Bean's nursery in just a few weeks with all of the nice gifts from our friends and family!  Since we plan to spend a lot of time cooking, we are going to upgrade the countertops early on.  We waited until the very end of our home ownership experience in Buffalo to make changes, leaving little time to enjoy the improvements.  This time, we hope it will be a bit different.

 It will be such a good feeling to be homeowners again.  I look forward to making this house or own: filling it with our personal touches, hosting dinners with friends, hanging Christmas stockings by the mantle, and watching our son discover his favorite hiding spots.  Most of all, we can't wait for our friends and family to visit!

The (new) Sidari Collection

Tony and I have talked about getting a formal bedroom set ever since we moved in together.  We have put this purchase off for many years.  Instead, we have long used our own makeshift bedroom set… fondly known as the Sidari Bedroom Collection (trademark pending).  This unique compilation has grown to include (1) A neat Tonsu chest discovered at an estate sale (and clearly the golden gem of the collection)  (2) A spare end table (errrr… nightstand) borrowed from our living room set (3) A collapsible shelf found on clearance Wegmans and (4) A frameless (but extremely comfy) pillow top mattress bed to include mismatched pillows, sheets, and comforter.

The Sidari Collection has served us well for many years.  However, earlier this month we decided to invest in our first REAL bedroom set.  Since the bedroom decorating clearly has taken the back seat for a long time, we ended up going all-out on this project.  We found a dresser, frame, and nightstand set that we especially liked. To go with the furniture, we selected a MATCHING bed set.  This even included MATCHING decorative pillows (which made me feel so Martha Stewart)! We selected a new lamp for the nightstand and hung some prints of my photographs on the wall. And, we figured that we should also upgrade our mattress while we were at it.

Here are the before photos...

... and the after!

Our well-loved Sidari collection will be finding its new home in the spare bedroom, a huge improvement from the lone futon that has served our guests well for many years.  Now our visitors will have a comfortable place to stay when they come to visit.   Reorganizing that room will certainly be a project for next week.

No Longer New Yorkers

Today, we officially sold our house in Buffalo! The closing took place earlier this afternoon (thanks, Dad!!).  With the final crossing of T’s and dotting of I’s, we ended our reign (for now) as homeowners.  It is a bittersweet moment.  Tony and I are so happy to now only have ONE check to pay each month for housing.  We no longer have the burden of balancing 2 separate sets of utilities (it was starting to get confusing). The final step in our move from Buffalo is complete.   Today, we really feel a little bit more like Texans. 

As a final farewell to the house at the end of Walton Drive, here are some of my favorite memories of our first home.  

• The first day we moved in, we only had a few pieces of furniture transferred from our tiny one-bedroom apartment.  We celebrated the first night by watching Mall Cop on a futon mattress in the new living room sharing a pizza from Bob and John’s Suburban.  It was the BEST feeling to be able to crank the volume up on the TV without having a neighbor banging angrily on the walls.
• Not having a landlord!!!
• Our first home project together as a couple involved ripping up carpet (the previous owners had a not-so-housebroken Chihuahua) and repainting the walls (originally a puke green color) in the living room.  During the many hours we shared together in that room, we felt a great deal of pride in admiring our fine teamwork

• Cooking in our huge kitchen!  This is probably what I miss the most about the old house.  Tony and I cooked so many meals together.  We had enough space to cook at the same time, and we got making meals at record speed down to an art.  Both of us really enjoy cooking, and we tried out a ton of new recipes.  We baked homemade pies for Thanksgiving, prepared various types of chili and dip for football parties, tried our first experiments with Thai food, and greeted weekends with at least 10 different varieties of omelets.  We enjoyed sharing baking nights with friends like Erik and Maggie, which included a delicious raspberry roll recipe and a (not so successful yet delicious) attempt at tiramisu

• Romantic date nights!  We really didn’t have much money at the time to splurge on fancy restaurants, so we brought the restaurants to us!  Steak nights and lobster dinners were my favorite, sharing time together by candlelight with a bottle of wine.  Valentine’s Day 2011 was especially fantastic!

• Double dates with friends, including Heather and Bruce, Whitney and Joe, Matt and Ashley, Marc and Cassie, and Maggie and Erik.  It was fun to share movie nights, play video games, share dinners and conversations together, and of course sample different types of alcoholic beverages at our leisure.  The warm feeling that made the house into a home came from the people we shared it with
• Reliving all of the best (cheesy) action films of the 80’s with Erik
• Spencer living right around the corner.  We enjoyed many episodes of South Park and pizza/wing nights (of course, from Bob and John’s Suburban).  Tony and Spencer made some pretty epic recordings, my favorite being Deathercize 2001 (mocking P90X using a spin off style from the Powerthirst youtube videos).
• Surviving medical school with my sanity!  Without my quiet study places… the big yellow chair, my spot on the living room couch right next to the window, having a kitchen table big enough to fit all of my books… medical school would have been a harder beast to tackle. 
• Our first Halloween: We prepared with abundant outdoor decorations and were armed with 5 bags of candy... unfortunately, only one family came to the door.  We pretty much were eating candy until Christmas.
• We loved weekend visits with family.   We enjoyed reversing the roles and hosting our parents for weekend meals and get-togethers.  I had a chance to spend quality time alone with Kit and Liz.  It was great to have them each visit, where we could casually make plans together and just enjoy conversation and some girl time!
• Listening to Tony fill the house with the sounds of his bass.  I loved when Henry visited from Pennsylvania and joined in on the music.
• Celebrating Christmas!  I enjoyed setting up our full-sized tree (thanks, Lori and Mitch!!) and decorating it with both of our collected ornaments.  We watched Christmas movies all the way up to the big day.  Together, we wrapped presents for family and friends while listening to holiday tunes

• Crashing at the house after my amazing Bachelorette party (thanks, Heather!!) surrounded by my best friends
• Watching kids ride by on their bikes and scooters, and feeling so grateful to live in a safe neighborhood
• Our first snowstorm… shoveling out the driveway and then diving into the snow pile.  We never did get that snowblower!  Getting snowed-in that same winter was great… we turned up the heat, made a ton of food in the Crock Pot, and watched the snow fall
• Enjoying our little neighborhood: the Tops around the corner, Wehrle Restaurant (boy do I miss their Greek food), visiting The Friars Table in shorts (only to learn that everyone wears formal attire there), Brew Pub, and the Irishman.
• We created some of our biggest milestones in that house.  Together, Tony and I planned our wedding in the living room.  We later hosted a good chunk of the wedding party in that little house.  In December 2011, we brought home our first pet.  I loved watching our little dog make that house into his home as well. We celebrated our med school graduation with a house full of friends and family, which was a special conclusion to our time in Buffalo

It was a great 3 years.  I know we will always look fondly back at our time in that little yellow Cape Cod!