Saturday, April 28, 2012

Friday Night Working Hard!

Time to fill up those raised beds! We had garden mulch delivered and Kyle and I filled up those beds in no time!


We also found out from the hardwood re-finisher that we needed to paint the stair risers before they started sanding, so my mom and I quickly taped them off and started painting. She got the first coat on in 15 min - go speed painter mama!


We loaded up Kyle's car with a load for the dump, put our garage sale stuff in my car to deliver to my mom's garage sale in the morning, inhaled subway sandwiches, and put the second coat on the stairs before heading out. It was a good night of work!
Kyle tackling the mulch pile

 yippee for raised beds readying for planting!

 super-speed painting

Second coat on

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Entryway Tile Demo

I have to say - one of my favorite parts so far has been the demo work! We found out on Friday night that there were hardwood floors under the tile in the entryway so we decided to save some money and remove the tile ourselves. Since our hardwood floors are being refinished this week - we had a limited window to get the tile out. Our good friends Dory and Jarod loaned us a tile scraper, sledge hammer, and pry bar...(my new favorite toys) for the job. 


My mom wouldn't dare miss a chance to demo so the three of us got to work hammering along the grout lines and prying up the tile piece by piece. We were really excited because we immediately discovered that the tile was on some kind of felt backing so it came off without leaving a huge layer of mastic. As we worked our way from the living room towards to hall we were cruising.....


Then down came the sledge hammer...a different noise....that would be because only some of the tile was on hardwood....the remaining part of the entryway was tile on tile. I was disappointed because I was really hoping for hardwood floors throughout, but hey - more demo work because we got two floors to remove for the price of one! We worked until about 9:30 pm getting the first layer of tile up. The next night we removed the rest of the tile so it is ready for the hardwood refinish and a new tile entry!


BEFORE pictures of the entry way tile

 My mom and I prying up the first layer
 leather gloves, safety goggles, pry bar, and hammer = DEMO TIME!
 Hardwood floors under the first layer of tile!
 The end of day one....ready for bed!
 Day 2: Kyle with the tile scraper
 Bye bye tile!
Now we get to pick out new tile!

All hands on deck

Our family has been a HUGE help in getting the house ready for fresh paint and refinished hardwood floors! Thank you so much!!!
They helped us remove the fluorescent lighting and false ceiling from the kitchen, tear out old plastic molding, remove bathroom vanities, take down window coverings, remove lighting, and get rid of our numerous mirrored walls!!!


Here are some pictures showing their hard work:


 Kitchen BEFORE: with lovely false ceiling 
 No more false ceiling!!!
Steve is our super handyman
Another view showing the open kitchen ceiling
 One mirrored wall GONE
 Kyle hard at work
 My mom Pat removing MORE mirrors...these nice mirror tiles 
were attached with double stick foam pads
 Kyle's mom Carolyn with the power tool!
 Steve finding the mystery security system connection 
(and our temporary power DO NOT TOUCH sign)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Raised Cedar Garden Beds!

This weekend we decided to build cedar raised beds for our new garden!
I would highly recommend Shurway lumber - great prices, helpful staff, and they cut ALL of the wood for you!  


We decided to use 2x10 cedar to build two 4'x8' beds. The before picture does not do it justice because it was taken before most of the bulbs came up, but we had thousands of bulbs to clear out before we could put down our raised beds. We also moved a rhododendron and hostas to new locations in the yard. 


After tilling up the entire area (and almost cutting through a sprinkler line!) we loosened up the dirt and filled up two yard debris containers with bulbs. At this point I was completely fed up with the bulb situation, so we picked up some geotextile fabric and covered the whole area. We dug out the post holes, lined them up...thought Kyle might kill me during this step....the engineer in me went a wee bit crazy and did not want these beds more than 1/2" off from front to back or side to side...but we made it and they are ready for dirt...and then seeds!


 Before....this was about a month ago...before the bulbs EXPLODED!

 Raised beds with geotextile

Ready for dirt delivery!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Welcome to Ranch Renew!

We are excited to track our journey of buying a 1959 ranch house in Portland, OR and our path to making it our own. There is a long road ahead, but we are excited to get going with the projects!


Here are pictures of our ranch - BEFORE:
 Out front

Entry way - with a wall of mirrors


                                                       Dining room with more mirrors!

Kitchen

          Built-in for the dining room  
     Living room

 Living room fireplace

Stairs with a glimpse of the doorbell 

Master bathroom

 Check out the triple mirrors in the master bath

 baby blue master bedroom

 retro pink bathroom

 pink guest bedroom

 Hallway

 daylight basement family room

 family room with dry bar

 office

 downstairs work bench

 downstairs bathroom

 downstairs bedroom

 downstairs exercise room

 backyard
deck