My New-Found Love: Painter's Caulk

I'm still sort of a beginner when it comes to painting, but I'm starting to learn some tricks. Just recently I discovered the wonder of painter's caulk. It all started when I decided to repaint the dining room. If you remember, the dining room started out looking like this (Realtor's photo):

I wasn't a big fan of the white-beige color on the bottom part. This was actually the first room I painted, before we even moved in. I had painted the bottom part a creamy white but left the chair rail unpainted. So for the past six months, it looked like this:

Until we finished the basement, this room was set up as an office. But now that we are finally using it for its intended purpose, I wasn't quite satisfied with the paint job. I decided to try a crisp white on the entire bottom half, including the chair rail.

So I started out by sanding the chair rail so that it would have better adhesion with the paint.

Using painter's tape to create a ledge to catch dust is a trick I learned from another blog (forgot which one).

I used an oil-based primer as a first coat on the wooden chair rail. I let that dry for a full 24 hours (oil-based paint takes a lot longer to dry than latex paint). I didn't bother taping if off because I am now convinced that it is easier to create a straight paint edge free hand. After the primer, I applied 2 coats of latex paint. Here's what it looked like after 1 coat of latex paint:

Clearly it needed that extra coat.

At this point it looked pretty good... until you got close.

See the problem? There was actually a gap between the chair rail and the wall. It wasn't as obvious when the chair rail was dark, but the light color just accentuated the gap. This is where the painter's caulk comes in. I got some pretty standard painter's caulk from Home Depot. I cut a really small hole in the top of the bottle and applied a bead of caulk just large enough to fill in the gap. I didn't try to prevent it from getting on the upper beige part of the wall since I figured I would slop up on there anyway.

I didn't end up with the smoothest surface, so I knew I would have to be very careful when I painted over the caulk. I used an artist's brush with fairly stiff bristles so that I could get good control.

It took quite a while, but I ended up with a pretty good finish. See the difference?

Before:

After:

After taking this photo, I realized it needed 1 more coat to fully cover the caulk. Now it looks really awesome. (Sorry I don't have a final photo yet, but I promise I'll show you soon along with what the rest of the room looks like now that it has actual dining room furniture in it.  :)

So, anyway I'm a convert! From now on, I'm gonna use painter's caulk any time there is a crack or crevice that I want to disguise!! (And I'm going to use it BEFORE painting.. to save myself a lot of work)!

Let's Talk Money

Those that have been following my blog know that we recently finished doing a two-room basement remodel (and when I say remodel, I mean totally gutting everything and starting over). If you missed out, you can read how we ripped everything down (and had an encounter with mouse skeletons and a live raccoon), added stud walls, lights, insulation and drywall, then taped the drywall and added texture to the ceiling, put some color on the walls, added finishing touches, and finally got carpet and blinds installed. Whew, it makes me tired just thinking about all that work.

Some of you may be wondering how much all that stuff set us back. So, here's the breakdown. Remember we didn't hire any of this out (and we borrowed almost all the needed tools), so materials were our only costs.

First was insulation. We added beadboard (kinda like Styrofoam) in a layer around the basement foundation. We also added layers of rolled R13 bats to the center walls in the bedroom to give it some sound-proofing (so the next door washing machine, dryer, and furnace wouldn't be so bothersome). The grand total for insulation $209.38.

Next we have the stud walls and sheetrock supplies and taping materials. This was really the big bulk of materials we brought in for the project. The total for wall-making materials was $581.39.

Lighting, electric, and ductwork are obviously very important parts of a room though you may not think much about them. The ductwork we were mostly able to re-use, but the lights and electric we entirely replaced. To make the room tall-person-friendly, we wanted to make the lighting as high as possible, which meant recessed lights. In total, the 'guts' of the renovation cost $357.55.

Fun fact - it takes a LOT of fasteners (nails, bolts, screws, wire staples, etc.) to refinish a basement. A grand total of $63.26.

Paint and supplies (this includes primer, wall, and ceiling paint and many supplies that can be reused) cost a total of $368.04.

For interior and closet doors (& hinges and a door knob), we opted for 6 panel doors because we think they give a lot more style than a standard flush door. This splurge set us back $156.24.

Finishing touches (baseboard, door casing and window shades) set us back $221.34.

Carpet was a bit of a splurge for us. We ended up with a very soft, high pile carpet that I just love walking around barefoot on. Total cost for carpet was $1,200.34.

In summary:

As you can see, our 2-room basement renovation cost just $3,157.55! I honestly have no idea how much we would have spent hiring someone to do this for us, but I am certain it would have been at least double. So I can definitely say that I am really glad we chose to DIY. We put in a lot of time and sweat, but in the end we have an awesome basement to show for it!!

Bookcase Bonanza - Awesome Ikea Sale

A couple weeks ago, we went to Ikea during one of their free food sales. Basically if you spend over $100 on home furnishings, your food purchase is deducted from the bill. So.... we treated Eric's whole family to lunch and spent $84 on food. (The Swedish Meatballs are excellent if you were wondering.) We planned to get two expedit bookcases (normally $70 each), which put us at $140, but... subtracting out the food, we spent just $56!! For anyone in the Twin Cities, I think the Ikea here has two more free food weekends coming up this month.

Anyway, on to the bookcases.... First, remember what it looked like when we bought the house?

And after adding the bookcases, an Ikea poang chair (we found it in a garbage pile while we lived in Chicago), 2 storage ottomans (wedding gifts off our Target registry) and a sofa (hand me down from Eric's family), a new fire screen ($7 at Goodwill... the old one was too brassy and beat up) and some books and accessories, here's what we've got: 

Not bad, huh? As you can see, the area near the fireplace is set up with a little seating area. We're planning to put up a big world map above the mantle with pins to show the places we've been. We also want to get a slip cover for the sofa (still deciding what color would be best) and some fun accent pillows (okay, maybe that is just me... Eric's not so in to accent pillows). 

The other side of the room is our office area. Eventually we want to get a big wrap around desk to share or two matching desks. But for now, it is working out pretty well. My desk is the one facing the center of the room, and I really enjoy being able to look out the window while I'm working during the day. 

Gizmo likes the new arrangement too! (I think he would sleep on my lap in this chair all day if I let him.)

The really exciting thing about finally moving furniture down into the basement is that our dining room can now actually be a dining room (rather than the office it has been for the past 6 months). I'm just now finishing up painting that room and am on the lookout for a Craigslist hutch for some extra storage. We haven't figure out what artwork to hang there yet, but I'll show you the progress soon!

Sunny Cabo

Last week we had a bit of a break from home improvement projects in San Jose del Cabo. The city is near Cabo San Lucas, which is on the southernmost tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. The area is very dry (the first real desert I've been in)... last year it rained just 2 days. We traveled with Eric's family and stayed in a condo right on the beach! Just take a look at the balcony:

The beach was pristine and very sparsely populated. 

We were warned that swimming could be dangerous due to the undertow, but as it turned out, the surf was just about perfect for wake boarding!! (thought the water was fa-reee-zing.... thus the wetsuit)

We enjoyed a bunch of activities while we were there - snorkeling, parasailing, and horseback riding (not to mention a lot of lazing around)!

Oh, and we enjoyed some of the local food, including tamales from a street vendor and churros from a Mexican fair (where they were also inexplicably selling large quantities of blankets...?)... Anyway, the churros were pretty exciting:

All in all it was a really fun trip!

Since we've been back, we're already hitting the home improvement stuff hard. I'll post again soon to show you our new Ikea purchases and a great Craigslist find.

Help me decide: basement windows

I need some help.

I ordered bamboo roman blinds from Overstock.com. $17.99 each for 48" width blinds!

They may or may not have sat around in the entryway for a couple of days before I got around to hanging them. They were pretty easy to hang (I actually did it myself). I just pre-drilled some holes in the wooden window frame so it would be easier to mount the brackets. Once the brackets were up, I simply attached the actual shades to the brackets. Here's what I ended up with:

I really like the color and the natural look! Now here's the issue:

That is in the fully retracted position. See how much of the window is still covered up? I'm worried that they cover up too much of the window, which is something I really want to avoid doing in a basement. (Obviously less cave-like is desirable.)

So while I really do not like the idea of shipping these back, I'm thinking of returning them (though I really do like the look...) Can you tell I'm conflicted?

I've come up with a couple of other options, either going with plain white mini-blinds, like these from Home Depot:

Or white roll-ups, like these from Ikea:

So, what do you think? Any other ideas I haven't considered? You can add your answer to the poll below and leave a comment if you have other ideas. Thanks for the input!

We've got CARPET

Well the moment I've been waiting for is finally here - the carpet has arrived! I love it! It looks great and is super soft to boot. After the installer guy left, I was literally just sitting/laying down there on the new carpet, working on my laptop. Remember what the rooms looked like when we moved in? Here's a refresher.

Family room before:

Family room during:

Family room after:

Bedroom before (unfortunately I only have the realtor's pic):

Bedroom during:

Bedroom after:

BAM!! I just love love love the transformation. Thanks so much dad for all your help on this. Seriously.

Gizmo had to check out the new carpet too...

He literally walked all around the perimeter of rooms with very careful placement of each paw, like he was walking across gravel or something sharp.

I think he'll like it after he gets used to it. I on the other hand, am enjoying it quite a lot already. We moved the computer desks down there already (which means that my dining room can now really function as a dining room - score!!). 

I'll leave you with one more before and after comparison.

Before (realtor's shot):

After:

Not bad, huh? Now for some furniture.  :)

Everything but the Floor

There has been a lot of work on the basement going on this weekend... in preparation for carpet installation Monday morning! I am sooo sooooooo sooooooooo excited to get the carpet installed!!!

So, I'll give you a peek of all the little details we have been working on lately.

Probably the most important item was adding a door to the bedroom.

Ha! If only it were that easy. It actually took a fair amount of shimming to get it lined up properly.

We also added all the little details, like electrical outlets, covers for the outlets and light switches, register covers for the heating vents, and trim pieces around the recessed lights. It was pretty amazing just how much more finished the room looked after adding each little piece of the puzzle. Just look at the difference after adding the trim to the lights:

Before:

After:

The baseboard was one of my favorite parts. It looks great! Here's a peek at the transformation in the bedroom (don't worry, we'll be painting the closet door handles white to match the doors).

Before:

After:

Isn't it amazing how finished it looks? Now we just need the carpet... well and a few other minor details... like adding a door knob on the door into the bedroom, filling in the nail holes in the baseboard, hanging blinds and painting the window trim white. Who needs things like doorknobs, blinds, and painted trim anyway?

Wish me luck with the carpet installation tomorrow.