Fireplace Makeover

2009-05-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

When purchasing our home, we knew that the fireplace had to be updated. Fireplace looks original to when the house was built, traditional 60's fireplace. Made out of bricks with an undersized mantle. Since the fireplace is long and ends toward the wall on the right, we thought we needed a beefy mantle in order for it to stand out. Below shows the steps that we undertook to transform the fireplace into a modern piece

( click images to enlarge )

Original shot of the fire place prior to moving in. Notice the bottom right of the hearth, it's a hole that is filled with fake plants. This was used to place wood logs to feed the fire

First the wallpaper comes off. Didn't realize they wallpaper over wood panels, made removing wallpaper easier though. Here you see all the remaining glue still on the drywall. Next, had to scrap the glue and patch up any dents and holes left from removing the wood panels

Demo is always fun and quick. Carpet is removed, patched the wall up with drywall compound, and the mantle is gone. Our first thought was to make the fireplace a normal size instead of the long version. Started removing some of the bricks until my girlfriend changed her mind to leave it alone. She was doing research and saw other fireplace online that was similar to ours. Leaving it long will allow the mantle to really stand out and giving us additional wall space for decorative iron work

To make it easy, I decided to cover entire fireplace with backerboards

The wall of the fireplace was covered with backerboards as well. My girlfriend tackled the job of covering the backerboard with a clay material to be painted over later. Since it is large area to cover, we needed to make sure it was smooth and straight as possible. You'll noticed I had to replace the bricks I took out earlier

Backerboad and covered it with the clay material 4 inches into the opening of the fireplace in order for it to look transitional

Left side of the fireplace opening

Another shot towards the bottom wall and hearth

Don't like the opening of this fireplace. Need to fix it later on, was thinking of covering it up with a glass door with a decorative iron trim. Need to research more on this topic...... moving on for now

Wide shot of the fireplace taking shape. Noticed we had our laminate floors installed already.

Fireplace wall painted, "Arabian Sand" and started outlining all the tile pieces on the hearth

Better shot of the outlining of the tiles and dry fitting them for now

Check out all the spaces on the wall for our iron decor....... but back to finishing the tile job first

Installing the tiles after cutting and dry fitting each one

Starting on the mantel, noticed the date of when the picture was taken. Deadline to finish the fireplace was before Christmas. Inside of the mantel build up, using 2 layers - base molding and crown molding. Took forever to find the perfect pieces for the look I wanted. The base molding is 7 inches tall and flipped it upside down to use the decorative section. Only reason why base molding is 7 inches tall was looking at going with a third piece for the build up. Top molding piece would sit on the ledge and the crown for another layer effect. Decided it did not look right and did away with the third layer.

Long shot of the mantel build up
Building the crown molding on top of the base molding

Took forever to find the right base and crown molding to my liking for the build. Crown molding is also 7 inches tall........this is going to be a massive mantel and will stand out even with the long fireplace.

Long shot of the mantel build up. Notice the base molding towards the bottom and the crown layered on top of it for additional details

Wide shot of the mantel build up coming together. Noticed, we started playing around with different iron decor for the wall.

Tile finally completed, grout and all

Can you say..."Massive"

Finished the project just in time, noticed the date. For the top piece of the mantel, purchased a 2in. x 24in. x 12ft. lumber and cut to size. For the decorative edging of the top piece, used two different router bits to get the look I wanted.

Close up shot of the finished mantel. Notice towards the bottom, that's the 1st layer of the build up using base molding. 2nd layer was the crown molding. Top piece decorative details

Finished product

Before and after shot

Major Kitchen Renovation

2009-01-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

( Click on Images to Enlarge)

Pictures of the kitchen prior to move in. The second picture shows how small that window is for the entire kitchen, does not let enough natural light into the area. Knew we wanted a larger window for more natural light during the day. So the journey begins.......................

(before demolition)--- ------------(after demolition)

First off, carefully removed all the popcorn ceiling. Didn't quite work that way, made so many dips and holes from scraping and removing the wood beams.

(before demolition)--- ------------(after demolition)

After the removal of the popcorn texture, removed the bulkhead and raise the ceiling above the kitchen up to same level as the dinning area. Started ripping out all the joists and beams (made sure of course that none were load bearing).

(before demolition)--- ------------(after demolition)
Next, destruction of the old cabinets.

Started with the wall cabinets first and left the base cabinets for another day. Needed to figure a way to function in the kitchen during the weekdays since we only have time during the weekend to work on the kitchen.

Base cabinets are out and so is the drywall, exposing all the studs. Now, I can tell what I have to work with for the gas pipes, water pipes, and electrical. As you can tell, I figured a way to function by creating a make-shift kitchen sink stand and some counter space. For some reason the 2nd picture cracks me up every time I see it....LMAO!!!!! The blue tape on the floor are layouts of the new base cabinets

The first diagram shows the floor plan of each cabinet placement. Second diagram shows what the layout will look like with all appliances in.

Two additional view from different angles.

As expected, mixture of different pipes for the water lines. Copper combined with old galvanized steel pipes. Looks like whoever upgraded the pipes back then only replaced ones that were accessible. Need to redo plumbing too now. At least the gas pipe was OK and is easy to extend underground to the island for the new gas cook-top.

Hot water line running on the left side of the window. 1st picture shows combination of old galvanized and copper piping used.

Next, the sink main sewage drain. Made of cast iron, strong and very study. Decided to keep the main sewage drain and the "Y" extension for the vent pipe.

1st picture shows the removal of the P-traps and the down vent. 2nd picture shows capping off the cold water line running down the right side of the window. 2nd picture also shows the cut vent pipe for the kitchen water drainage.

Temporary support wall goes up in order to start removing the old 3' x 3' window and make room for a larger 3' x 6' window

First few studs going up for the rough frame of the new window

Toughest part was cutting the hole through all four studs for the new vent pipe, especially getting the angle correctly for it to fit perfectly

Re-routed the vent pipe around the larger window. Since the vent pipe is for proper water drainage, it didn't matter how it is routed as long as it is not blocked or clogged. Didn't want to move the existing hole for the vent since it mean cutting another hole through the roof and patch the old one up (too much additional work and not necessary)

Attached the new vent pipe to existing steel vent pipe going through the roof using compression fitting. Doesn't need to be water tight since it's only for air to travel down the pipe to allow proper drainage.

Completed installation of the new hot and cold copper water pipe lines. Ran the hot water line down the left side of the window.

Cold water line running down the right side of the window.

New 20-amp electrical circuit and water line for the fridge.

Close-up shot of the sweating of the copper joints job. Didn't have one leak while sweating all the joints.

Completed installation of new 3' x 6' window,vent pipe, and water pipe lines.

Even had time to install a window ledge before screwing window in place. This way, the window will match the rest of the other windows and ledges. Notice the gap towards the end of the ledge, spacing needed for drywall to fit later on.

Next project was to cut into the foundation to create a channel for the downdraft vent going to the island gas cook-top. Since the gas cook-top is going to be located on the island, we decided a traditional hood draft would not work. The hood would take up valuable space in the middle of the entire kitchen, we wanted the kitchen to feel open as possible.

Had to cut about 5-6 inches deep in order to get to sand below the foundation. 1st pictures shows the sand through all the mud created while using a wet concrete cutter. There goes my white sneakers!!!!!

This "grave" that I was digging (that's what I called it) will house the vent draft in the middle, the gas pipe line on the right side, and electrical underground feed (UF) cable on the left side. I am running gas and electrical down here to the island as well.

Pictures of "The Grave" after running the vent system, electrical line, gas line, and filling it back up with concrete.

Close-up shot of "The Grave"

Electrical completed.....Woohoo!!!!!

Old electrical circuit keeps overloading and tripping the breaker when we used our microwave and toaster oven at the same time. Ran new 20-amp cables for all new receptacles (outlets). Wired a two-circuit receptacle for all outlets that will be supplying several high-amperage appliances. This will prevent the circuit from overloading when we use our microwave and toaster oven at the same time. Each one will be on a different circuit using one 12/3 cable to make up the circuit.

Ran new 15-amp cables for all the recessed lights and pendant lights over the kitchen island, kitchen sink, and dinning table. Installed a new 240-volt circuit for the electrical wall oven using armored cable

Noticed, I completed the down draft vent on the 2nd picture. I ran the vent through the foundation up the wall, to the attic, to connect to existing opening in the roof.

(Insert Circuit Diagram Here)

Decided to rip down the ceiling on the other side of the kitchen in the dinning area too. Going to be much easier to install new drywall than fixing all the dips and holes created earlier when removing the popcorn ceiling.

Drywall going up!!!!!

Drywall lift made it so much easier installing drywall to the ceiling. Only $20/4 hours rental at home depot. Check out the 2nd picture, in the background.....you can see I ripped down the drywall to get to the back side of the main circuit panel in order to run new cables to it.

Such a pain cutting out all the holes for each outlet. Took forever measuring the placement of each box on the panels and cutting it out.

Put up insulation on the wall facing outside. Sun sets on part of the kitchen wall and it does get hot out here, especially in the summer. Might as well, since I have access to it.

1st coat of drywall joint compound.

Check out the smiley face.

Isabel taping the joints and the nail heads as I install each section. One more wall to finish up.

Fiona aka "bugface" wanting to help......I guess not.

Finally finish taping all the joints, applied 1 coat of primer, and textured the walls and ceiling with orange peel texture.

Another shot of the finished work....coming together nicely.

Close up shot of the orange peel textured applied on the walls and ceiling.

Applied 1 coat of primer on the window ledge. Noticed how the end of the ledge extends 3 inches....will be putting up a window frame around the window and will sit nicely on the end of the window ledge.

Re-installing the laminate wood floor. Using a 3 millimeter vapor barrier underlayment to protect the laminate wood from the concrete subfloor. Took me two full days on the weekend to finish putting the floors back in. Went through the 5 extra boxes of laminate wood that I save when I initially installed the laminate wood through out the house.

Pictures of the inside of our new fridge before taking everything out and off. Realize that our new 29.5 cubic inch french door fridge was not going to fit through the doors to our kitchen.

1st picture is of our bottom freezer. 2nd picture are the doors, shelves, freezer removed. It was easier than I thought to remove everything, especially the doors. Assemble was very thought out by Samsung for removal of all the components.

Our bare Samsung french door fridge after everything was removed. Fridge was so much lighter, was able to move it by myself with a dolly.

Our very first cabinet going in.

These will be our pantry cabinets surrounding the fridge.

Thinking of putting in a flat screen TV to go on top of the fridge in the cabinet. Our new stove will be located on the island facing that direction....figure it'll give us something to watch while cooking. Already ran the TV cable line inside the wall, behind the fridge, to the top cabinet, all I have to do is plug and play.

Rest of the base cabinets assembled already, spread across the kitchen floor. Notice that some of the cabinet's frame faces is still the birch color while some are medium brown to match the doors. 2nd pictures shows Fiona and Bobcat playing in the maze of cabinets. They tend to explore the entire kitchen floor plan after each weekend when I am done working in there. Seem like it changes every weekend to them.

We noticed that once all the cabinets are assembled and in place, the doors when closed does not cover the entire face of each cabinet. Since the birch veneer shows at some areas behind the doors when closed, we decided to fix the problem by applying a stain-able wood edging and staining it to match all the cabinet doors. 1st picture shows the before and after. 2nd picture is a close up of the 1st coat of stain, came out pretty close to the color just after 1 coat.

Bought a roll of Pressure Sensitive Edgemate at Rockler Woodworking and Hardware in Orange, Ca. The roll cost around $50 for 250 feet of edging. Application process was fairly simply, the edging has real wood on one side and a glue application on the back. Used a regular iron to melt the glue while placing the edging in place on the frames.

1st pictures shows the pantry cabinets with the wood edging in placed and stained. 2nd picture is a close up of the edging (left) next to the panel on the outside (right) of the cabinet. This was just after 1 coat of staining, still have one coat to go and a top coat of polyurethane to protect the finish.

Dry fitting all the base cabinets to check placement. The long cabinet still on the ground is the wall oven cabinet to house our new electric wall oven and the microwave. Everything looked good up to this point. Miscalculated the 240-volt outlet and the microwave outlet, ended up short at the end of the cabinet run and is not directly behind the wall oven cabinet. Had to move both outlet 1 feet to the left now. Not looking forward to working on the drywall, cutting out new holes, and climbing into the attic to feed the wires down. Everything went so smoothly through out the entire process without any hiccup until this point.

Home Renovation Projects

Fireplace Makeover

Major Kitchen Renovation