Installing a Runner

We officially have a runner installed and are in LOVE.  This project took about an hour from start to finish and the difference it makes is huge!

We purchased two of them from here for the project. We also purchased a Bostitch Electric Staple Gun...by the way works AMAZING.  We also used no slip under carpet padding and no slip carpet tape.

We measured out the middle and cut out strips of tape to place on the treads.

Two per tread.  The tape helped keep the carpet pad and the edges of the runner in place.

The hubby then applied the no slip under carpet padding down the entire set of stairs.  The double sided tape helped keep it in place and then came the fun part....runner installation.

This project was ridiculously easy and made a HUGE difference.  All he did was make sure the runner was evenly placed and got to town stapling it in.

***One word of advise:  We used a permanent marker and covered the top portion of the staples black.  That would help hide them within the runner.  If you don't have any black in your runner try to match up the color of the permanent marker with a color in your runner.

When it came to transitioning from the first runner into the second runner we made sure to have the end of the first runner and the beginning of the second come together under the lip where the tread meets the riser.

The material for the runner was SUPER easy to cut, didn't fray much at all and was easy to work with.

See you can't even see the transition between the two runners!!

So far so good, we have had it installed for a few weeks now and haven't had any issues with the runner.  It's definitely dog approved, they love running up and down the stairs and seem to have no problem with it! 

When we moved in this is what we started with:

And once I was sick and tired of it I went to town with my paint brush:

And we could have just been content, but that's not how we roll.  Things are finally taking shape:

We are in love with how this has turned out!!!

Tiling Over Vinyl Flooring

We finally figured out the flooring for our basement.  We had the hardest time trying to find decent flooring.  Finally, after deciding against sheets of vinyl flooring because we would be wasting SO much money with excess, our epic fail with peel and stick tile that didn't stick and thinking we found the right vinyl flooring and it was too dark, we did it, we found the perfect tile, got it installed, grouted and sealed and are now one step closer to being done with the basement.  Our fourth trip to Menards was a successful one.  We actually weren't even there to look at flooring, but I decided to pop on over to see what they had as a last desperate attempt to see if they would have anything that we could use.  The tile we fell in love with was a ceramic tile and purchased from Menards, it was awesomely priced at 50 CENTS a square foot (approximately) and was made through Innovatile.  It has definitely held up to the traffic constantly on it and we love the fact that it didn't break the bank!!

Originally we talked about ripping up the vinyl flooring that was already down, but opted against it once we realized that we would be trying to peel it up forever and found this stuff.  Apparently it is supposed to work wonders and we have no complaints so far.

The vinyl flooring also acts as a barrier between the tile and the concrete floors, so we figured it would do more good than harm to leave it.

We managed to turn this:

Into this:

This project was pretty quick.  The tile was laid in one night and we grouted the next.  Bam. Done!

So to get this project started, we pulled up some of the vinyl flooring that was having commitment issues with the floor.

From there we figured out the "middle" was and got prepped.

 We used TEC Sturdi Flex Thin Set Mortar and went to town laying the tiles.

Slowly but surely we were able to see the light at the end of the tiled tunnel...

 And after lots of measuring, double checking the measurements, marking the tiles, cutting the tiles and laying them in, we were done.

It was beautiful....

And it was EVEN MORE beautiful once we got everything grouted.  We used TEC AccuColor Premium Sanded Grout in 915 Light Smoke .

Actually tiling was cheaper than our original idea of vinyl floors....

Here's the breakdown:

$35-tile

$13-mortar

$11-grout

Grand Total: $59.00

Now I'd say that is definitely a win for us since the original vinyl flooring we wanted would have been over $100.00

Basement Project Stage 1

When we first bought our house we loved the idea of having a partially finished basement, especially since we couldn't really of made one work with our old house. The thought of being able to eventually host parties and have another place to relax was awesome, the only thing stopping us was this:

Hot mess, I know. I was reminded of it several times a week when I would have to go downstairs to do the laundry and have to walk pass it.

I woke up determined to get that room cleared out, I meant I was determined to get the hubs to help me take care of it..  So after a few hours, we managed to move, organization and throw away a ton of stuff, which then left the room looking much better:

Then we got busy painting the walls from the salmon-ey color to Dutch Boy 'Water Fowl' (C15-3):

And you're probably wondering why we painted the walls before installing the ceiling.  Well we do things when we have time for them and frankly installing a ceiling didn't fit into our time frame at the moment, plus we were not sure exactly what type of ceiling we wanted.

All the holes in the trim were filled, sanded and a nice coat of glossy white paint sealed the deal.

From there we had plans to work on the vinyl flooring.  It is beat up and desperately needs to be replaced.  We wouldn't normally go with peel and stick tile, but for this area we didn't want to fork out a ton of money right now and wanted a temporary fix.  So off to our second home Menards we went because I really wanted this vinyl flooring:

But it can only be ordered in sheets and cannot be custom cut.  With that said we would have ended up wasting money, plus we realized the color wouldn't have matched. 

Round two. Back at Menards looking for something reasonable and we stumbled upon pre cut rolls of vinyl flooring for $20 each and we found two that matched thinking it would be perfect.  We brought them home and that was epic fail #2, the flooring was WAY too dark.  I took a picture, but accidently deleted it.  Trust me, way too dark.

After that fail, we went back, returned the rolls and found this tile:

We were kind of hoping to crank out this project, get the quarter round down and check off another thing on our list, but the thing about peel and stick tile is the only way it can work is if it sticks.  The hubs laid down one tile and it popped right back up. (Yes we took off the backing on it too, so it wasn't operator error).

So back to the store we went...again.  Crappy peel and stick tile returned and we raised the white flag.  We decided that the gods were working against us and took it as a sign to take a break and not worry about the floors.

We were able to make some progress besides the fact that we totally failed the floor and managed to get some can lights installed.

What's next?  Drywall.  Even a healthy Emily is not strong enough to help with the drywall, so we will have to enlist the help of a friend or two to assist the hubs in finishing that part.

Our Current House:

When we walked through this house we LOVED everything about it. The layout. The fact that it has an attached garage (no more walking slipping on ice to bring the groceries in). The location. And most importantly, the potential!

One thing we learned from our old house was to take pictures as soon as we moved in, or even before. We didn't do that with our first house and seeing the before and after wasn't AS dramatic since our house was a completely clean slate. Without further ado here is the newest addition to our lives:

Exterior (Before):

Front Entry (Before):

Kitchen (Before): 

Office/Bedroom #1 (Before):

Dining Room (Before):

Living Room (Before):

Bathroom-Full Bath (Before):

Bathroom-Half Bath (Before):

Bedroom #2 (Before):

Bedroom #3 (Before):

Bedroom #4 (Before):

Hallway (Before):

Basement (Before):

Basement-Finished Area (Before):

Basement-Laundry Area (Before):

Basement-Work Bench Area (Before):

Basement-Creepy Crawl Space Area (Before):

Now the hubs and I are going through the 8,153 (or so it seems) boxes and trying to see how our furniture will work in this house, which is exciting and a struggle at the same time!!