Rehab overgrown area by curb and build stacked stone wall

New rock wall and tree neaten up our entrance

Two old, large maples have graced the sides of our front walkway until recently. Unfortunately, over the past few years we noticed that one of them was being eaten by insects. Apparently the department of transportation is responsible for the trees along our street, so I contacted them to check out its health. One day I noticed that the tree had been marked with spray paint -- apparently VDOT came and decided that the tree could not be saved.

Poor tree was marked for its demise

Several months passed and one day there was a crew in my yard, ready to go. They were worried about nearby wires, and I gave them the green light to do whatever they could to avoid them, even if that meant our old fence might get hit.

Tree being taken down carefully, to avoid wires

I knew it would not be a pretty sight when the tree was gone, but what greeted us was downright ugly. The falling limbs did take out part of the fence, which was already dilapidated -- but it never concerned me because it had always been hidden. Several Rose of Sharon trees along the fence had been heavily pruned. The old tree's wide stump remained. An overgrown old planter was full of weeds and was falling apart.

Yuck

This area of our home was not on my radar as needy. Now every time I came home I saw an eyesore. I had to do something. But what? I was not going to hire pros, so what could I do to make this look better?

So welcoming...

The first thing I wanted was a new tree to bring life back to this area, and maybe a little privacy. Our backyard had never been so visible in our years in this home. The weekend after the old tree was chopped, my brother in law left his convertible at our house in exchange for my car. I had a brainstorm: without a top, this could be useful to transport a tree! I packed my kids in and we headed to our local garden center.

The staff was skeptical and kept asking how far I was going to drive the tree

We picked out a nice, tall arborvitae and carefully drove it home. I dug a hole while the kids sort of helped, and we plunked it in. Already the spot looked a little better.

Tree helps a bit

The rubble in this area was difficult to remove. The weeds I could pull out, and I clipped back some Rose of Sharon sprouts. But there were lots of bricks and rocks and some cinder block shards too... lovely. The long wooden posts bordering this garden bed were nailed together and proved impossible for me to remove: I tugged, jumped and pried to no avail. They would have to wait until my husband could help.

Had to call in the big guns

It ultimately took two of us plus a saw, an ax, a sledge, and a shovel to dislodge those messy wood borders. A lot of daylight was burned and I worried that it could be weeks or months before I had another surge of energy and the time to act on it. I pressed on, with the help of my daughter, who loaded up some of the stones I'd bought a month or so ago for the park benches on our corner.

Busting her hump to earn her keep

I liked the idea of a stone area by the benches, but the rocks I'd laid were not flat enough. They wobbled when we walked on them, and I was afraid this area would not be good for someone without firm footing. Rather than wait for the stones to eventually sink in, I would re-purpose them as a retaining wall.

Starting to lay the stones

I scooped away some dirt so the garden bed was an arc. Thankfully the soil did not cascade down and make a mess (I anticipated holding back a landslide and had a plank of wood and a stake ready). Laying the stones went much faster than I thought it would. Each rock was like a puzzle piece, and I only had to flip or spin it to see how it might fit. The shapes naturally worked together.

So much better!

I'm sore and our wheelbarrow broke while I was loading up stones, but it's done! It's not perfect, but what was an eyesore for months now looks a million times better. I'm elated! Progress! Now to surprise my kids with some Christmas ornaments for that tree.

Corner bench project with the kids to boost curb appeal on our corner

Final product gives the neighborhood a resting place

Our home is on a corner, and the previous owners planted a hedgerow between the street and the house. In our six years here, I have struggled to keep the edge of the property looking decent. Weeds grow fast and thick, and at least four types of invasive vines choke out our shrubs and trees. In my attempts to hack away at the mess, I've had bad poison ivy, been poked in the eye by a stray branch, been stung by a wasp... but worst of all, after each attempt everything springs back. It's embarrassing to have the sloppiest area of the street, but I am not intersted in constantly toiling away out there.

Overgrown, messy corner not long after I tried pruning & weed whacking

My husband made a suggestion one day, perhaps not a serious one, but it stuck in my head. He asked if we should put a bench out there. I wasn't looking to spend money on a bench outside our house and yard, when we have so many projects I'd rather invest my money and time in. But I liked the idea of a perch for the 'hood, for the parents with small kids on bikes and the dog walkers. I would love our neighborhood to be more friendly. And... what if more pedestrians meant slower traffic? I toyed with the idea of creating a cement bench, a la Gaudi or something you'd see in Seville. I'd cover it in mosaics and add a drain hole so puddles wouldn't collect on the seat.

Time passed, and one day on the way to work I was at Habitat ReStore with a donation. In the drop-off area I noticed two metal benches. Out of curiousity, I asked how much they cost. The guy working there told me he's planning to paint them and sell the pair for $75. I asked how much if they weren't painted, and he knocked a bit off the price. Still too much for my nonexistant budget.

I happened to be back at the store later the same week. Another customer encouraged me to haggle over a lamp, and I told him I was embarrassed to do so -- Habitat could use all the money they get! But he laughed at me and started haggling for me. I walked out of there with benches and a lamp for about $40. That day I brought the kids to my favorite hardware store (Ayers Hardware in Arlington, VA) and they picked out some spray paint.

Kids going to town with their cans of spray paint

We got home and got to work. They had never used spray paint and it's hard to instruct 2 kids at once, so a fair amount ended up on their clothes and skin. And mine. But they did a great job and were so proud of the results. We ended up using a roller and an old can of paint to finish the job, as the spray paint ran out partway through. (This is my third attempt to use the stuff and I think I'm officially not a spray paint fan).

Benches are situated in cleared area

I had weed-whacked the area and replanted two azeleas so there was a clearing for the benches. The kids helped decide where they should be located.

Some seasonal flair, to please my kids

Later we added some decorations (my kids always beg me to make our place more festive). My favorite are the solar lights. Because they went up long before Christmas, I'm not going to take them down after Christmas.

White solar lights last until at least bedtime if the day was sunny

To keep the weeds at bay, I stopped by a local stone shop (Sisler's Stone in Falls Church, VA) and grabbed a bunch of flat stones. I thought I had enough to make a little wall or two, too. It didn't stretch as far as I thought! Also, the stones are thicker than stepping stones should be, so they wobble. At some point I'll replace them with larger, flatter slabs.

This was an unexpected project but it makes me happy every time I round the corner. It's great to see how proud the kids are, too.

Quick refresh for dated brass hardware

Left is before, right is after

I keep hearing people suggest swapping out knobs and drawer pulls as a quick way to refresh a room. That seems like a great idea -- relatively cheap, easy for anyone with a screwdriver -- and there are so many possibilities. Glass knobs, organic twig-shaped drawer pulls, etc. My problem was choosing which style I liked the best. I decided to wait until something really grabbed me.

There have been articles in home improvement magazines about burnished brass. It has been making a comeback -- but I wasn't sure if this warm-toned metal would be a flash in the pan, so I didn't give it serious thought.

All of the knobs looked dated and worn

Then one day I grabbed one of the dated knobs in my kitchen and noticed how scratched and pitted it was. Some of the shiny coating had worn off. I thought again of replacing all of them. But an idea sprouted: could this be brass? I unscrewed it. It was heavy and there was some tarnish on the back. Those were promising signs.

Could I get rid of the shiny coating? I grabbed some fine grit sandpaper and gave the knob a swipe. The scratched, pitted shiny surface rubbed off immemdiately. A few more swipes and the surface was dulled. It looked so much better, and it felt so velvety.

Much  better!

I quickly unscrewed all of the knobs around the kitchen. It didn't take long to brush each of them with the sandpaper and reveal the soft surface of the brass. (If I had done this while the knobs were still attached to the cabinets, I would have had a hard time avoiding the wood). The metal glowed in the light.

It's been several months and the knobs still look good. I think they will continue to wear well, because there is no coating to be dinged. As long as we continue to open the cabinets regularly, the oil from our fingers should keep them from tarnishing.

The best part is, this change was small, fast and free. The knobs feel nice to the touch, velvety and solid. This was a satisfying change.

Making due with hand-me-down dining chairs

Sturdy chairs from our garage replace our crumbling set

The dining room chairs that I reapholstered a few years ago (documented here) have been slowly disintegrating. The legs were loose despite several attempts to glue the joints, and after adding metal brackets for support. Recently, pieces started to snap off; the wood was too dry and brittle. Still, I was not comfortable getting rid of these chairs because they belonged to my father in law's aunts. I also liked their shape -- they made me think of a hacienda.

Then my father in law refused to sit in them. They squeeked and wobbled so much that he was afraid they would collapse and someone would get hurt. I started browsing online for alternatives. None were a great fit, and even a set of inexpensive new chairs would cost a thousand dollars. I would rather spend that on contractors to deal with improvements that I can't hack myself. So it made sense to turn to our garage, where a set of hand-me-down chairs had been lurking for the past year.

The first thing that needed to change was their seat covers. My mother in law had tried to freshen them, but the fabric she chose would not last a week with my kids.

These cushions needed an overhaul with durable fabric

I rooted through my fabric scraps from other projects and found a few pieces that could work. These were quickly cut to size and stapled over the seats. (For more instructions on how to redo this type of seat cushion, see my earlier post).

Scraps big enough to cover the seat cushions

New fabric wrapped around the seat and stapled underneath

Now all that was left was to screw the seats back onto the chairs.

Mismatched seat covers felt cohesive enough

But I did not love the finish on these chairs. A little of that tone would be ok, but it was too similar to our cabinets and floor. Also, I didn't care for the shape of these chairs. They are too curvy, too fancy. Hmm... I could not DIY my way out of the shape, but what if I lightened up the wood?

Color of the wood was too similar to our dark cabinets and floor

I made a quick trip to our friend's store in town, Stylish Patina, to grab a can of Annie Sloan chalk paint. I chose Paris Gray because it was a good neutral, much lighter than the current stain, and when I held it up against the seat cushions it looked nice.

Paris Gray chalk paint by Annie Sloan

As usual with chalk paint, the transformation was a quick one: the first coat looked sloppy but the second touched up all of the smears and imperfections. Also as usual, I ran out of patience. It was a very windy day but I pushed through this tedious job, picking leaves off of the damp paint, and returning to the job after dark so I could finish in one day. Half finished jobs have a tendency to stay incomplete for some time in my house -- I've got to use the momentum of a new project while I still have it.

Painted chair frame, waiting for a seat

To seal chalk paint, there are two waxes: one light and one dark. I already had a tin of the dark wax leftover from my mudroom wall project a few years ago, so when the chairs were dry I blotted it on. Then I flipped each of chairs over and screwed on their seat cushions. The chairs were done.

They're ok but still not my style

I was hoping for that moment of satisfaction, knowing that I'd solved a problem. Unfortunately, it didn't come. The chairs look decent enough, but I'm not thrilled with them in my kitchen. The lighter color seems to clash with the warmer tones in the room. And the dark wax accentuates their shape -- maybe I should have sprung for a tin of the clear wax. Oh well. My father in law sits in them, and my mother in law does not seem offended that I repainted chairs that she picked out years ago. Good enough.

Cohesive lounge area in family room made from existing bits and pieces

Finished reapholstery job plus custom bench (which almost matches!)

Our small house does not have a great room. All gatherings take place in the kitchen. We'd love to have people over for movie nights but until recently our small family room has only had enough seating for 3 people at a time. Theoretically our sofa should accomodate 3 people, but who wants to brush up against the person next to them? Also, it has 2 cushions so someone would end up in the crack. The myth of loveseats eluded me 15 years ago when I bought it: while the salesman will tell you it seats 2, only people in the first 6 months of dating want to be that close!

Old vs new

The sofa is still in good shape, but the loveseat was worn, had marker scribbles and other embarrassing stains. I hadn't been able to throw away because, (a) it has a pull-out bed, (b) it's the heaviest thing in the world, and (c) our kids are not quite finished destroying it.

Sketch of idea for basic box (we deviated from this a bit)

After fantasizing about buying a sectional for years, and worrying that there was no way a large piece of furniture would fit down the stairway, I had a brainstorm. My mother was visiting, which usually helps, as she's the most handy person I know. What if I was to build a simple bench to match an existing ottoman, then apholstered that bench, the ottoman and the loveseat so they looked more or less the same? I'd never apholstered more than a simple cushion, but I saw my Mom recover dozens of intricate sofas and armchairs. I could do this!

Raw materials are ready for assembly

I did an inventory of the odds and ends that I had not yet donated to Goodwill, and found a toddler bed mattress and bun feet taken off of the kitchen benches. These would come in handy.

We did a Home Depot run with some measurements for a new box with a lid, and came back with plywood cut to our dimensions. We also bought a pack of drilless screws. I perused the sale options on fabric.com and found a cheerful geometric HGTV pattern (Tribeca) that had the right colors and scale for the surroundings. It was important to me that the fabric be durable and busy enough to hide spills and my sewing mistakes. I ordered several yards (more than my mother, an experienced apholsterer, recommended... but I was not experienced and wanted extra so I could recover from a mistake).

HGTV's Tribeca fabric found onsale on fabric.com

While my Mom was still in town, we constructed the box. As usual, I measured wrong. I had an idea in my head and sketched it several times, but I did not account for overlap. The pieces of wood overlap, but my measurements went corner to corner. So the box was slightly too big. Oh well. I'm not looking for perfection, I'm looking for progress. I was not about to stop and get a new batch of wood. We carried on.

Box is more or less complete... Old loveseat is in the background

After my mother left, the next step was to wrap the box in batting so it felt cushioned. I had a few leftover strips from when I recovered the kitchen chairs a few years ago. It was just enough to staple around the box.

Scraps of batting were added to the outside edges of the new bench

Now to create a cushioned bench top. The toddler mattress would be attached to a piece of plywood, but would it be firm enough? It felt thinner than the cushioning on top of the ottoman, which it would sit next to. I put a scrap of 3" foam under the mattress; it was a bit narrower than the mattress so it filled up the center without making the edges taller. How to attach these layers to the box lid, before struggling with the fabric? I had no batting left, but I had fabric from a shower curtain I made several years ago that was starting to fray. I cut off the ragged edges and plowed on. It felt good to upcycle the remnants of a former project rather than throwing them out.

Fabric was pulled over the mattress and foam and stapled in place (avoiding the hinges)

Pull and staple, alternating sides, with staples approx. 1" apart

Cushion with extra foam is now affixed to the new bench top, ready for apholstery fabric

It's easier to work with a heavy piece like this if it's up in the air (this is balanced on a small table)

Now that the new pieces have taken shape, it's time to start covering everything in the apholstery fabric that arrived in the mail. I start with cushions, because I've done that before and it's as simple as wrapping a present -- with a needle and thread rather than tape to keep it shut. I knocked out all of the cushions with a curved needle, which is the way to go when you don't have access to both sides of the fabric you're sewing together.

Cushions are coplete, plus the new bench and the ottoman

It felt good to see progress. I attacked the new bench and then the ottoman, both rectangles that mostly required stapling. Now all I had to tackle was the body of the loveseat. The most complicated apholstery was saved for last.

Critical mass! Most of the apholstery is done.

Because the loveseat has curved arms and much more surface area than one piece of fabric could cover, I had to decide where to start. I chose the rectangular portions first. I draped the fabric over those areas and thankfully it was wider than the loveseat. I flipped this heavy bohemoth so I could wrap the fabric around a full side and staple both ends.

Loveseat is flipped so the fabric could be pulled taut over the back portion and stapled

The arms were the last and trickiest piece to deal with. But in the end, they weren't so bad. I trimmed the fabric and slowly made my way down the curve, tucking and sewing the fabric as I went. Again, the curved needle was a lifesaver.

Not as hard as I had thought

The end was in sight. I finished the arms, screwed in the bun feet, sprayed the first layer of Scotchgaurd, and called my family in to take a look. There were some mistakes, and these will get trashed too someday, but this was a very thrifty way to rehab the seating in this room.

I did not think through how this cushion front would look. I'll probably re-wrap it one of these days.

Bathroom gut and remodel -- not DIY except sourcing the materials (Autumn 2015)

Remodeled bathroom for our 1940s home

Our small house has only two bathrooms, and they are approximately 5' x 6'. Over the years it's been tough to give the kids a bath or have more than one person brush their teeth at once. We discussed remodeling from the getgo but this bathroom wasn't broke, so we didn't fix it. Until this winter, when cracks in the bathfitter nonsense that encapsulated our walls could no longer be ignored. Rather than embark on a total gut job, my husband wanted to try unearthing the 1940s tub and tile to see what we were dealing with, and maybe get the tub reglazed as a start. We hired a firm that claimed experience removing bathfitters and they got started. Then... they called us upstairs to look at what they had found. I braced myself to see someone else's mildewy, funky tub. What I saw was... nothing.
There was no tub. The old owners must have had the old tub pulled out before the bathfitters were installed. We had been using a tub-shaped glove of plastic to shower and bathe in for the past 6 years. It was bizarre. There was nothing to reglaze. And as the bathfitters came down, so did chunks of our wall. A total gut job was in our future.

After bathfitters were torn off, the bathroom sat like this for months while we got organized

Our understanding was that bathroom remodels cost $15K on average. We don't have expensive tastes and our space is constrained, so we though for sure we'd be average or even on the lower end. $15K became our budget.

Here is the process we went through in our quest for a usable, defunkafied bathroom:

a. Sketched the bathroom with various layouts. We wanted to figure out how to obtain a more workable space than we had before. In the past we struggled with places to stow towels, toilet paper and toiletries in such a cramped space. We hoped to bump out into a closet, so our sketches included amenities like an enclosed toilet for privacy, and a shower separate from the tub. These pipe dreams were culled from years of poring over Houzz images, home improvement magazines, etc.

So many sketches on scraps of paper, toying over ideas

Powerpoint sketch for the contractors

b. Researched online. We discovered that moving fixtures was certain to bump costs way up. Also, many contractors in our area refused to tackle a project under $25K, which was almost double what we were willing to spend. We scrapped the sketch with the bells and whistles, and decided to stick with the same basic footprint. It was disappointing not to get any major gains, but the priority was to get back a functional bathroom.

c. Created a punch list for our must-haves. We listed out each feature and found 1 or 2 products online that had a style and price we would be satisfied with. The list included everything: sink, tub, linen closet, exhaust fan, tile, etc. We summed the possible supplies and felt pretty good about our budget.

List of desired features with options and sample images and product info

d. Short-listed 5 contractors that had good reviews. We relied on Angies List to vet contractors in our area and gravitated to those with images of their work that showed they had experience with the classic, simple style that we liked. We also included a contractor that came highly recommended by our neighbors. We sent them each the punch list.

e. Met with the contractors. This was the strangest part of the process. Three showed up at our house without glancing at the information we sent. One tried to convince us that "everyone in our area" was going with a certain style, which was the opposite of what we'd described. Another said he would not work on a house as old as ours for less than $27K. The neighbor's recommendation did not even come to the house, stating that it wasn't worth his time to bid against 4 other contractors. Thankfully one of the firms had read our specs, asked thoughtful questions, and came back to us with a 3D depiction of our bathroom with its current footprint, plus an aspirational 3D layout (based on a side comment during our meeting about what we'd do if we had our druthers). Unfortunately their basic model's price was the same as the others -- $25K.

Schematic provided by contractor that read our punch list and listened to us

They nailed our initial vision for this space

f. Contemplated DIY or piecemeal alternatives. Sticker shock led us to reassess what this project was worth to us. Our house is small and old and surrounded by tear-down-rebuilds. If we ever sold the house was certain to see a wrecking ball. So we mulled over our options. Could we order a tub etc. and how a plumber install them, then do the tile and drywall ourselves? Could I get some family with experience to help? This was a draining idea, with work and kids and our own skill limitations.

g. Met with the contractor we liked again. They followed up after sending their proposals, and when we told them our budget concerns, they offered to send an engineer out to brainstorm how we might be able to cut costs. During this meeting we tossed around a bunch of ideas, settling on a different entrance to the bathroom that meant less labor, plus we would find and purchase most of the supplies. That brought their bid down to $17K. Good enough.

h. Started gathering supplies. With final measurements we could go ahead and pick out a tub, sink, tile, etc. We hit online sales and checked Habitat Restore just in case (no luck for this project). The room near the bathroom became a storage area for big boxes. Our biggest score was inexpensive reproductions of cement tiles from the 1920s.

Merola reproduction tile found on Home Depot online

i. Worked through kinks during construction. There were some gotchas that came with our old house. For instance, the workers discovered valves for our radiant heat pipes that we had to cover in a way that would not prevent maintenance later. Also, the old window casing was cement that was chipped but had an interesting shape -- should we preserve or cover it? The pedestal sink arrived with a chip in it -- could we find a replacement, quick? Thankfully we had a creative crew with a can-do attitude.

Contractors rehabbed old window frame and cut floor tile to fit recessed shower shelves

A few weeks after the project started, we had a new bathroom. I love DIY for a lot of things, but this was worth outsourcing. The amount of dust from demo alone convinced us we had made the right choice.