Guest Posting at Design Build Love

Today I’m guest posting over at Design Build Love about the makeover Robert gave our front porch ceiling, so be sure to check that out. (And don’t forget to check out the rest of Ashley’s awesome blog if you aren’t already familiar with it!)

And a big welcome to anyone who is here for the first time! Thanks so much for stopping by! We love new readers!

Guest Bath Redux: Pay it Forward

Yesterday I gave an update on our guest bath purchases, and today I spent the morning taking inventory of all of our purchases in the storage closet guest bedroom and listing anything we won’t be using on eBay. We have been fortunate to score some pretty great deals thus far in our remodel, so it only seemed fair to sell what we have decided not to use. Hopefully we can help someone else out with there own updates or remodel.

some of what we scored: tub & shower handles from eBay  (shown with shower diverter escutcheon from Period Bath)

So, in case anyone is interested- up for sale are:

A Delta Victorian faucet spout (we were planning to pair it with the metal cross handles purchased from ReStore in this post but changed our minds). Spout and seals only, does not include valves or handles. $15

A vintage porcelain shower diverter escutcheon (not needed, since we splurged on one from Period Bath). Period Bath actually has the same escutcheon selling for $75, and I’d bet this one would look just just as good after a short soak in boiling water. $20

Look familiar to anyone? If you answered “hey, isn’t that the programmable thermostat you just bought?” you would be correct! Funny thing, that eBay. Apparently some sellers do not feel the need to be specific about which model of the Honeywell Vision Pro 8000 series they are selling and they don’t accept returns. And some buyers are Buy-It-Now happy when seeing a thermostat for $50 less than retail price. True story.

Anyway, this is the TH8110OU1003 model. Otherwise known as a 1 Heat, 1 Cool model for Conventional and Heat Pump systems, so long as they don’t have auxiliary heat from heat strips. Our house has heat strips, rendering this useless to me. $90 (or willing to trade anyone with a TH8320 or RTH8500 model they don’t want).

I also may be willing to sell these two light fixtures:

former guest bath fixture, as seen at the top of this post

bought for the guest bath but may be too small in relation to mirror

So there you have it. We’re definitely not trying to pressure y’all into buying anything, most of this is already listed on eBay, but I figured I’d mention it here in case anyone is interested. (And if anyone is interested, feel free to comment here or email me at thehernandohouse@gmail.com for more information.) We’re not looking to get rich off of any of these items, just recoup what we spent on them. Anything that doesn’t sell will be donated to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Guest Bath Redux: A Few More Purchases

Absolutely no work has been done on the guest bath since the last time I talked about it. Unless you count all the hours of overtime I’ve put in at work to save up the funds to work on it again. Fortunately the nice chunk of change from that has eased the spending freeze on the bathroom a bit.

That being said, I finally ordered the faucet and tub spout because today the price on the faucet was down to $158 again (from $176) and Overstock had also sent me a coupon. For $180 with free shipping they are both on their way into my hot little hands. Now on to bigger and better things like drywall vent fans.

You may notice that I also changed our floor tile choice on the design board. We perviously chose white hex tile ($5.95/sq ft), but the about the same time I was falling in love with this lantern shape tile ($6.95/ sq ft) I noticed that octagon dot tile was only $2.57/sq ft. Fortunately we liked all three choices equally, because we’re saving quite a bit of money by changing our minds. Also, both our local Home Depot and Lowe’s carry this tile in store, so we can buy only what we need, rather than ordering full cases (unless they let you order partial cases? I didn’t get that far in my research).

Also, anyone who follows me on The Twitter knows that with the recent cold snap (record lows this time of year for sunny Florida) I have been complaining nonstop about the frigid tile in the hall bathroom. Here’s hoping I can convince Robert that we should add radiant heat to our list of things we want for the bathroom (and eventually hall bath, kitchen and laundry room). Maybe he will agree because I have been so good at saving us money on big ticket items thus far? And because I’ll let him keep the thermostat lower in exchange for toasty floors?

Here’s hoping.

And for those of you playing along at home, here’s a round up of what we’ve spend so far.

Costs Thus Far:
Shower Arm: $22.99 (eBay)
Sink: $20 (local home renovation outlet)
Shower head: $25 (local home renovation outlet)
Toilet: $149 (local home renovation outlet)
Mirror: already owned (HomeGoods)
Shower Diverter Escutcheon: $65 (Period Bath)
Vintage Porcelain Faucet Handles with Escutcheons: $20 (eBay)
Shower Diverter Handle: $5 (eBay)
Bathtub: $124.99 (ReStore)
Sink faucet & tub spout: $180.87 (Overstock.com)

Total:
$665.89 (includes sales tax and/or shipping)

I’d say we’re doing pretty well on budget (we’re hoping to keep things below $5,000. Hopefully way below.)

Still to Buy:
Sconces
Recessed lights
Vent fan
Curtain rod
Tile (walls & floor)
Caulk & grout
Drywall & green board
Paint
Tape & mud
Insulation
CPV & other misc plumbing bits

Anyone else working on (or recently finish) a complete gut job of their bathroom or take on any other big projects? I’m loving Our Humble A{Bowe}d’s kitchen reno. Who thinks I’m crazy for wanting radiant heat for a bathroom floor in Florida?

Let’s Be Honest

It would seem that fall is a terrible time of year for us when it comes to working on the house. Robert and I are both working so much overtime that we haven’t done a project in weeks. Or rather, we haven’t completed a project in weeks. We have several small half-finished things going on, approximately 50,000 pictures on the memory card to go through (why are boys camera-happy during tree removal? I guess it must have been the crane. and the bobcat.), and several things we completed in months past that I never blogged about. I did also add more links to the sidebar (and updated the graphics on a few pages they lead to). On certain monitors the grays don’t match. I’ll fix them when I fix them. Don’t judge me. (Yes, I did want to put a hash tag in front of that, thankyouverymuch.) Ooh and ahh over them anyway, won’t you?

With the weather recently (rainy, cloudy, and generally gross), all I’ve wanted to do after work is collapse on the couch to watch How I Met Your Mother and Criminal Minds. Football is not exactly dead to me right now, but we won’t speak of how all the Florida teams are losing (ok, the Gators can lose all they want, I bleed garnet & gold). Although when I’m not feeling like that I want to gut our kitchen or repaint the entire house. I’m completely drained and antsy at the same time. It’s terrible.

Aside from that, I mustered the energy to order a few things on eBay (like the thermostat below, which I picked up for half the retail price). I’ll never understand why I can bring myself to buy a thermostat on eBay but not the faucet & tub spout on Overstock that we need for the guest bath. Or drywall. Oh well. One step at a time, right?

In other news, I’m coming at you live from the Blueberry Office. And if you couldn’t tell from the lovely moniker (and the paint chips), I’m having a love-hate relationship with the Closet Office. And its wire spaghetti. Right now it’s mostly hate, but when I took the pictures it was mostly love (minus the wires). My shirt that day was the exact same shade of blue (see my arm?), so that may have skewed my opinion.

I might like it better when we add shelves and replace the chair with this.

Which started out life (with us) like this.

But I’m not holding my breath.

I may feel better about doing projects once my car doesn’t look like this anymore. (Though technically I don’t have to see it, seeing as it’s at the body shop. We’ll be reunited once some insurance red tape is taken care of.)

I really want to tackle a carport soon, but we just haven’t had time (or sunny weather). I’m thinking about something like this (yes, I realize that’s a pergola) off this site that Britt recommended a few posts ago.

Please tell me I’m not the only one feeling like this?

I’m sure it’s nothing a latte, my new $6 rugby stripe scarf (some cold weather- I’m looking at you, North Florida), and a weekend off won’t cure. And it wouldn’t hurt if a certain team could beat the pants off our former division rival.

Dancing in the Rain

Today on my lunch break I read through the archives of  a blogger who lives in my city. As I read, I found myself becoming increasingly jealous of all the things her house is in walking distance to, and the pretty views in her neighborhood. I spent a few minutes anxious about getting on with renovations to our house, and almost wishing we had bought in her neighborhood instead. Despite that, I continued reading. I was reminded that being in walking distance to restaurants and an overpriced coffee shop does not spare you from unexpected plumbing disasters, illness, or the bad things that happen when trees decide to fall over/drop their limbs. Also, your driveway is not automatically paved in gold, and the Lollypop Gild doesn’t dance & sing songs upon your arrival.

Probably.

After work I came home and was greeted with an overwhelming feeling of  “oh yeah, that’s why we bought in this neighborhood”. Our house is in biking distance to its own overpriced coffee shop, Publix, my parents, and the houses of two couples we hang out with. We love our neighbors, and we’re closer to Lowe’s & the elementary school our possiblefutrurekids will attend. And have I ever mentioned that on Friday nights in the fall you can hear two high school bands from our (unfinished) back patio? (You can hear church bells playing Christmas carols in the winter, too.) Tonight while taking the dogs out I took a moment to dance like an idiot in the rain to the drum line.

The experience reminded me of the things we listed for our realtor when were just starting to look for a house.

Musts:

• 3 bed, 2 bath
• 1200 square feet (or slightly larger)
• Wood floors
• Fireplace
• Near my parents
• Closer to Robert’s parents (we were 45 minutes away before)
• Good schools
• Older home with some updates
• Move-in ready

Would be nice:

• Fenced-in (or easily fenced-in) backyard
• Garage or carport (this was actually a must for Robert, but we decided the house was otherwise too good to pass up)

I might be forgetting a few things, but that was the gist of our list. And we got almost every single one. Two rooms had carpet (and still have, but we did buy reclaimed wood for them from our local ReStore), we didn’t get a garage (though there was a shed, that we’ve since upgraded), and two sides of the backyard needed fencing. Also? We our house has one more bedroom and 650 more square feet than what we figured we’d end up with.

Did anyone else make a list of wants when house hunting? (I assume that’s pretty standard, but maybe I’m wrong?) What do you love about your neighborhood?

Things Not to DIY

File this under “You got me a what for our anniversary?”, “I hope he was really good at that big claw game at the arcade”, and also “Please don’t drop that.”

Happy Tuesday!

Three

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. Never much for tradition, I’m working and Robert is supervising removal of the jerk tree. I guess you could say we’re keeping things low-key. Last year I bought him a Jeep. (And the year before we had just finished moving into out house.)

Happy anniversary, honey!