8 posts tagged “remodel”
If you remember we are currently in the middle of another remodel project. We just finished our master bath and kitchen remodel and about a month ago we started a complete remodel of our back yard.
In Arizona, the back yard is very much an extension of your home. Our backyard was VERY boring so we decided to invest some money to make it a place of beauty, serenity and comfort.
The center piece of the remodel is this beautiful Tuscan fireplace. It is somewhere around 14 feet wide and perhaps 7 feet tall. It is constructed of brick and re bar with a stucco finish. It also features beautiful red apache sandstone trim.
Another exciting part of our remodel is this barbecue and bar area. This thing is large enough to comfortably seat 4 people at the bar. It features my Tec grill (now built in) a refrigerator to keep the drinks cold and beautiful slabs of apache sandstone counter tops.
As you can see there is also glass block which will be softly illuminated at night. The fireplace and bar structures also have "down lights" strategically placed to create more mood and soft landscape light for night.
I, therefore, asked our contractor to put in some drains (3 of them) and move the water away from the house. He found a drain already there which ran underneath the wall, in the back of our yard, and moved the water outside the wall.
Evidently, one of the neighbors, on the other side of the wall didn't like this idea and made a complaint. This resulted in a call from the Association with a "cease and desist" order.
Our contractor is now meeting with the Association to show his concerns for the water problem and find an amicable solution to our problem. Our hope is that we get their blessing and can commence construction right away.
I suppose some would be upset with this little intrusion. But actually, I am happy that the association is working hard to enforce the community guidelines. They are a very important part of living in a gated community and shows me that this community will be a great place to live for many years if we so choose.
We are adding a large fireplace to enjoy on cold nights and a large cooking area/bar/sitting area.
As you can see, they have a good deal of the block work done. Once the hard objects are complete, then we are give the whole backyard a face lift from a plant/landscape perspective.
Stay tuned!
Here you can see that she has painted one wall in the kitchen a milk chocolate color. We are trying to avoid replacing the cabinets. This color has seemed to remove the yellow look to the cabinets and given them a much richer feel.
As you can see, she has also painted the underside of the bar a metallic copper color. I certainly admire her adventurous spirit with color.
I am completely convinced that she (and all the decorators that helped) was the reason we were able to sell our Michigan home in 5 days in the worst real estate market I have ever seen. Homes in our price range were selling in 1-2 YEARS not 5 days. I am also convinced that the good Lord has his hand in that as well. For those of you who doubt, call me, I will share an amazing story with you.
You can enlarge this photo (click on the photo and then, click to the right of it for a still larger version).
Carol spent her Sunday afternoon touching up her painting and I was studying a 162 page text on my new Nikon Digital camera. Come on over to my flickr account to see some of my newest photographs.
What a nice day! A beautiful place! A beautiful wife! A relaxing day of learning for me and expression for her.
Life is good!
The flash on my camera doesn't do justice, but it will give you an idea. The kitchen was all old white appliances with white surfaces. Oh my...it was hard to look at before. Very warm and friendly now.
Hurray! The contractors are finally out of our house!
We have been living with these guys in our house for about a month. It is nice to have our privacy back.
We are very pleased with the finished product however.
The photo to the immediate left is the old and the photos above are the new. We replaced the shower, new granite counter tops, new sinks, new mirrors, lighting, and a new whirlpool tub.
Our bathroom is now a much warmer place to retreat too and I am sure that we will enjoy it for many years. Thanks Judith for your designs and Jarrod and Steve for putting it together.
We are told that everything should be done next week! Yahoo!
We are getting weary of having people in our home.
I thought I would give you an update on our remodeling project. It seems like we have been living in dust and having strange men in our house for weeks! Actually, the guys are all good guys and doing a great job. We are just ready to have our privacy back.
The granite and the sinks were installed today. The plumbing should be done in the next day or so as well. Then the only thing to do, I think, is for the tile guy to complete the whirlpool area and the back splashes in the kitchen.
The shower came out beautiful The picture makes it look pink, but in reality it is an off white color with granite diamonds cut from the granite on the counters. The glass for the shower should be started as well in a week or so.
Hopefully all will be done in no more than two weeks and we can begin the outside patio. If you recall we are going to add a fireplace and built in cooking area to our patio complete with a nice seating area to enjoy the fireplace and pool.
When these things are done, I suspect that we will just live in the house for a while with no major changes.
Carol has also been very busy making drapes. Everyday she sits at the kitchen table sewing her little heart out. I am amazed at the talent this woman has.
Well....the new year is here....we have lived in this house only a month and we have already begun to tear it up! It seems that we just can't live in a home without giving it a face lift.
We are completely redoing the bath and kitchen. The bath is starting first.
The top left picture gives you an idea of what the bath looked like to begin with. The bathroom was full of outdated materials and had a inexpensive shower that was leaking into the wall and creating mold.
Therefore, we are replacing the whirlpool, putting in a nice tile shower, installing granite counter tops and replacing the sinks and faucets. The area around the whirlpool is all coming out as well with new tile to highlight the new tub.
The design for the tile work was done by Carol's cousin Judyth. I will share photos with you again, once it is completed.
For now....we will be living with workmen in and out of our house for the next month or so. ARG!
