Cedar Mailbox

new cedar mailbox header DIY

It was really about time we replaced our old mailbox. Parts of our house may be falling into disrepair, but hey! check out that sexy mailbox. Abra Kadabra, Distractya! The new mailbox makes us feel a little better about the rest of our messy situation at least. And we’ve gotten a few compliments from passersby. Most improved mailbox award goes to … us!

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Movie Room: Walls, Doors & Floor

movie room walls and floor

Basement Remodel: Walls, Doors and Floor

Before the holidays, we left you with a sneak peek of the start of our movie room remodel. Probably not the ideal time to dive into a remodel, but we made it work! We’re now pleased to say we’re nearly finished and have been fully enjoying the new space. Where we left off, we showed you the barn door addition. That was really our launching off point into this room. From there, we tackled the walls and the floor. I’ll walk you through some of our design choices and the whole DIY process.

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Bathroom Remodel: Hardware Details

hardware header

DIY Bathroom Hardware

There were a lot of little choices we made throughout the process of renovating our basement bathroom. Those little choices can add up to made a big difference in the overall feel of a room. Nothing about them are make or break, but they definitely make the whole space feel uniform and tied together. I always love hearing the stories behind other people’s design choices, so I hope you get some value out of this when deciding which finishing touches to add to your own room! The details are my favorite.

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Bathroom Remodel: How to Tile a Shower

shower tile header

 

DIY Shower Tile

Tiling a shower is where the fun really comes in. We’ve been so excited for this phase of the bathroom remodel. And for good reason! It’s actually starting to look like a shower. Joe’s dad gave us a huge hand so we were able to knock out all the tile in a weekend. Check it out!

 

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Bathroom Remodel: Plumbing, Electrical & Exhaust Fan

bathroom remodel lighting, plumbing, fan

 

Status Report

Joe says we’re half way done with the bathroom! I’m wary of this prognosis; I think we’re still a little shy of the halfway mark… Luckily, it’s basically uphill from here. We’ve done most of the dirty jobs already. Very dirty indeed: Demo, rerouting the drain, reframing, and now we’ve finished up the electrical, plumbing and the exhaust fan.

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Hardware: Modern Bathroom Vanity, Sink & Shower Ideas

Bathroom Hardware Header

 

Time for Ideas

It’s never too early to start thinking about the finishing touches, right? But honestly, we need to start ordering what we want, so we need to decide on styles we like. We’ve picked out most of our tile, so that’s all taken care of. The hardware is taking its cues from the tile color. For the bathroom entrance, I’m in charge. For all things shower, Joe’s the man.

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Bathroom Demo | Phase 2

Bathroom Remodel Phase 2

Bathroom Background

Let’s back up a little and talk about this bathroom remodel. If you missed the first video, pop over to that and come back here when you’re done watching. Here’s a little intro of us getting hyped up to start, and me swinging a sledge hammer for the first time! Awww, my first (intentional) hole in the wall.

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A Zamboni for Pond Hockey

…Or lake hockey.

DIY zamboni

Right after the first snowfall Joe was looking for deals on hockey nets. And it’s about time we got some snow! Everyone has been waiting on edge to get out there.

We have a pretty slick four-wheeler plow attached to the front Joe’s dad’s four-wheeler that we use to shovel the driveway. Wayyy faster than snowblowing. So we used that to shovel off an oval-shaped area for the rink on the lake, just offshore.

But when Joe told me he was making a zamboni, I honestly thought the idea was one big joke. He’s not actually serious, right? Silly me. I should know better by now… He already had the blueprints in his mind within minutes. So, now we have a redneck ice resurfacer.

The Supplies

It only took him 4 hours. Here’s the materials you will probably need:

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Ring of Fire: Building a Bonfire Pit

how to build a bonfire pit

 

How to Build a Bonfire Pit

One of the second things Joe wanted to do after moving in was build a backyard fire pit. It was one of the easiest projects to date, and took less than a day! We love the bonfire pit kits – I know it’s not 100% DIY, but there is still plenty of elbow grease that goes into this.

Here were the steps:

  1. Collect the materials
  2. Build a perimeter around the area to fill with sand
  3. Build a fire pit in the middle
  4. Fill the area with sand
  5. Enjoy bonfires

Simple enough, right?

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Behind the Scenes

Spring Cleaning

 

Elbow Grease

It was truly March Madness for us – A month for the record books. We put an offer on a house, had it contingently accepted, had to make a mad dash to sell a house, and a bunch of aftermath that we’re currently weeding through. There were many, many things that needed to take place in order for everything to fall exactly into place. There was probably some divine intervention, because whatever took place was of superhuman effort. Good thing we know some pretty super humans 🙂

This is a sampling of what we needed to do. The majority of our work was taping, mudding, prepping walls, painting walls, shampooing carpet, getting everything into boxes and out of the house, repainting coats of paint and generally polishing and deep cleaning every square inch. Joe’s house cleaned up pretty nicely! But few of us got to be behind the scenes. Lemme tell you, it wasn’t so pretty. But it was all worth it in the end.

To-Do Lists

to-do list page 1

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