Back deck

We "cut twice and measured once" a few times, but managed to piece together a cover for the hole in the deck

Then the rest of the deck was powerwashed and you can't even tell where we made the changes! Ha! No one will notice the mismatched seams and different pattern by next year when the new wood has aged.

Now that its done, we can use this part of the deck again. Until the mosquitoes come along, then I'm going back into the screened section.

The back deck wreck

This tree and this deck are the reason we own this house. When Jeff saw it online, he begged me to go look at the house even though it was so far away from our city life. We bought the house and the 200 year old Copper Beech tree came with it.

We learned these trees are very susceptible to drought, one of which we had a few years ago and it stressed the tree. So, we took care of the tree and also removed some of the decking that was choking the tree.

Then we had a nice deck with a huge hole in it.

Once the tree rebounded, we started to think about the best way to replace the deck. You can see the way the boards are warped where the tree;s growth has pushed the planks.

We are going to carefully replace the boards in a way that will make it easier to adjust when the tree grows.

But we aren't going to fully rebuild the deck this year, I'm sure in a few years we will have to revisit this, as you can see the tree is totally touching and growing over parts of the deck beams.

Summer of the Exterior: New windows

We are making lots of changes to the exterior of the house this summer. The first big project is replacing the bay window in the family room with 2 double-hung windows.

The bay was a more recent addition to the house, and isn't a style consistent with the exterior. Plus, it is very drafty.

Here's the view from the exterior. Removing the bay will also gain a few inches of space on our side patio, off of the kitchen. The slider to the left is also coming out, details coming in a later post.

The goal is to add some energy efficiency and make the side patio usable as a place to sit and watch the neighbors walk by.

Like the back of my hand...

We've lived in this house for over 8 years and just realized the garage has 2 different doors. Good thing we are calling 2013 the "Year of the Exterior".

After: Master Bath

I realized I never shared the real "After" photos of the bathroom.
I wanted a 1920's feel and Shelly Van Rozeboom helped make my vision come to life. I love the antique brass medicine cabinets, lights, faucets, and cabinet hardware.

Here's what you see from the hall/closet area. The toilet is behind the wall to the right.

Double vanity! Antique brass campaign style pulls and handles, and brass faucets. The vanity has tons of storage. We each have 8 drawers and a cabinet. Most of Jeff's drawers are empty.

We went with rectangular sinks and faucets with the cross-handles. the medicine cabinets are HUGE. We each have 2 sconces giving plenty of light.

We added an outlet to the inside of the cabinets to keep things like hair-dryers, razors, and toothbrushes out of sight.

The wall tile was simple subway tiles, with a thin black pencil line, and a beautiful piece of tile trim at the top. I think that's my favorite part.

The floors have radiant heating (which is truly luxurious right now in winter) under the carerra marble tiles.

And, last but not least, the SHOWER! Here is where we really went nuts. We have a pretty carerra basket-weave tile with a border on the floor and white subway tile around the entire area. We went with the usual wall-mounted shower head, then added 2 body sprays, a waterfall on the ceiling, and a hand-held. We also upgraded the glass to starfire glass so it wouldn't have a blue/green tint. I wanted the tile to look white. There is a little seat/shelf in the corner too.

It was a rough summer filled with construction, but it was worth it.

Front Hall Upgrade

The front hall is finally getting a new coat of paint. It was painted a blah yellow color by the Previous Owners.

After the floors were finished, I realized it was time to finish the area. Here are the before shots, notice the pretty floors!

I painted it Benjamin Moore Gray Mirage. Its a nice color with sage and a little blue in it.  I am going to paint the upstairs hall a lighter color. Eventually.

I painted the trim BM Decorator's White. I love crisp white trim. I also bought a new rug from Overstock.

Now all that's left is to pull up the carpet on the stairs, paint the treads, and replace the front door!

You can never have too much closet space

As part of the ever-creeping scope of the master bath project, we bought a closet system.
We talked to almost every company out there. The space is odd, with the low ceilings and the fact that this is really a hallway. We ended up going with California Closets. Since we walk through this hall several times a day, I realized these closets would be more like furniture and I wanted something nice that would stand the test of time. We chose the dark wood finish b/c 1) it matches the bathroom vanity and 2) it was on sale!

It was installed yesterday, and I wanted to post pictures before it was cluttered up by our clothes.

 

Above is my new set of shelving and drawers,

hanging space,

And Jeff's set of drawers and hanging space. I still need to order handles for the drawers, but now the master bathroom renovation is finally complete!