Author Archives: Lisa

About Lisa

Pinning the wilderness of my imagination, one Pin at a time. I love hiking, camping, watching my boys fish, and taking long walks with my yellow labs, Taylor and Mandi. I enjoy cooking when the mood hits, and not only have I published novels, but I'm the master of redesigning just about anything. I’m the DIY author who has made Idaho her home for 27 years, and I can't wait to spend another 27 years here.

Project of the Day – Living Room Makeover, Part 4

It’s getting closer, it really is. This past week was a bit crazy with the hardwoods refinishing starting, and being forced out of the hour for 3 days, but the finished floors are worth it!

Just take a look for yourself:

I can’t believe how rich and warm they look. The hubby was a little scared with my color choice, but as always I told him to trust the designer, and he did. He’s quite happy with it, and now it’s on to putting the trim up and moving the furniture back in. Can’t wait to show you the final pictures when it’s completely done. It won’t be long now!
Toodles! 

Project of the Day – Living Room Makeover, Part 3

We’re getting closer, like seriously closer to having the living/dining room remodel done! I can taste the saw dust in the air, no really I can! They start sanding on Wednesday, and it can’t come soon enough…well, okay it’s coming soon enough and it means I’ll be removed from the house for 3 days. That part I’m not happy about, but what can you do? Nothing…

Anyway, the hubby and oldest son helped remove the remaining furniture from the spaces, and all I heard was their complaining that I picked the heaviest pieces ever! Yeah, right, blah, blah, blah…I get it with the hubby complaining, he’s moved the furniture around several times with me, but the oldest? Heck, I’m teaching him valuable life skills here and I get no appreciation for it! Kids!

And before I digress…

Here’s the empty slate just waiting to be completed.

I’ve got tons of other projects going on as well, like say cleaning up/sprucing up the backyard. Here’s just a few outside projects that have taken place in the last two weeks while I’ve been getting bids on the refinishing project.

And now I think I need a vacation…until next time, laters gators.

Project of the Day – Stair Remodel

Can I just say that I have been waiting forever for this remodel? Like…FOREVER! I’ve wanted on many occasions to rip into the staircase when the hubby was at work or gone away on a business trip, but I did because #1 – I needed to have funds available, and #2 – he likely would have been just a touch upset for ripping out the carpet.

Well, the years of patience has paid off! This past weekend he finally listened to the designer (me) and ripped out the spindels! With a chainsaw no less!!! You think I’m kidding, just watch the video below!

Okay, so he started off with a chainsaw just for fun, and because he wanted to use the pun, “Fixed the newel post!” from Christmas Vacation. What can I say? I have a crazy fun life over here with my boys.

He quickly moved to using the reciprocating saw and cut out the remaining spindels.

 Before:

 
During:

So I used a gel stain called java, but once I applied it the hubby said it looked black. Of course an argument ensued that I was the designer and he should listen to me. It wasn’t black it was java…I didn’t win and then the next step was to make the hubby happy…
Let me tell you that once you apply a stain heavily, like I did because I was lazy, it’s not easy to get it to come off. Not easy at all. 
Why was I lazy you ask? Because years ago when I was yet again trying to have my stairs remodeled and the hubby didn’t want to, I got the crazy idea to paint it white. It looked great for the first year, but then the paint decided to wear off, mainly on the newel post, the round knob to be exact. So one weekend my son, Coley, and I decided to get crazy and strip the paint off…that was over 4 years ago. It’s funny how paint could wear/rub off in certain spots on the banister, but I couldn’t get it off in others. The newel posts to be exact. So thus why I put the gel stain on heavily. Gel stain is one of the few products that will and can be applied over paint without any adhesion issues. And let me tell you it stuck good, like real good.
So I proceeded to use a restore product that removes stain and restores wood to it’s natural color without sanding. Bahahahaha, oh wait, that wasn’t meant to be funny, but it is somewhat. It did do part of the job of removing most of the stain, however, not all of it. Sometimes you just have to know when to quit, which is what I did.
So here’s the new mahogany stain I had the hubby pick out, and the old java stain below. So maybe he was right, but only to a certain degree. The java did come out darker than what he wanted, which gave it more of a black appearance, and the new mahogany is more of a true brown. 
All in all was it worth my time? Of course, I made the hubby happy and that’s all the matters since he is helping with the work and that means I don’t have to. The designer in me compromises from time to time, but I’m not backing down on the floors… 

Project of the Day – Living Room Makeover Part 2

A lot has happened since my last posting on the living room/dining room makeover on January 20th, and a lot hasn’t happened. I know, it’s funny to say that, but it’s the truth.

We took on the project knowing a few things:

  •  We weren’t going to kill ourselves to get this done quickly like we’d done with the rental remodels. 
  • Since we had a whole list of projects to get done before may, we’d just accomplish them one at a time.
  • We’d teach our boys more “life skills” as we like to call it, or as they call it “free labor”. Whatever way you want to look at it, it works.
We’ve spent the last month working on the floors off and on. Mainly on the weekends, but also sometimes in the evening. Like when the hubby comes home after a rough day at work and says, “I need to destroy something!” Work seems to get done faster when that occurs. 
Anyway, here’s the progress we’ve made:

Before: 

During:
Can I tell you how dusty it was when they used the jack hammer to pull up the tiles? And can I also tell you that I never thought we’d be the one pulling up the tiles after we laid them over 15 years ago? And can I tell you yet again that we went a little crazy on the screws with the backer board?
Yeah, that was a real joy…
Completed: (well, sort of)
So when I say completed, this is in the looses sense of the word… The hardwoods are laid, and we almost had enough to complete the entire living/dining room with the salvaged floors from my parents remodel. That made the penny pinching Hubby very happy, in fact, since we only had to buy additional wood for about 1/8th of the remaining flooring project, he decided it was worth it to pay a professional to refinish them. Let’s just say I did a little dance of joy when he announced that to me! 
I’ve also been testing out stains for the flooring and I think I’m gonna go with the Java finish. In the last two rental remodels we went with something similar, and I liked it. It’ll add a richness to the floors that will accentuate the other colors I already have in my home. 
Stay tuned, before we have the floors refinished in April (fingers crossed), I’m remodeling the stairs and upper hall as well so we can have them refinished all at once. And the banister, after almost four years of being partially stripped, will finally have it’s day to shine. 

Project of the day – Living room makeover – Part 1

It’s one of those posts where you wish you’d taken the picture before you actually got rid of the furniture to make the most dramatic presentation…so, you get a partial picture from back in 2007. It’s good enough I guess.

This weekend marks the start of another long neglected project, the living room. In actuality it’s the living room and dining room. The carpet has long ago seen better days, and it’s time to update to hardwood with the rest of the lower level. 
What started this you ask? My youngest graduation in the spring. Yup, he’s graduating from high school and the hubby and I wanted to get things in order before we have people come through the house for his party. Why don’t you just have the party at a park or something you ask? That would be a great idea, however, having the party at the house provides me with motivation to get these projects done before May. And also provides me with the excuse to get the hubby involved too. Sneaky I am.
You see that awesome table I made from a garden gate? My husband hated it, I say hated it because it’s long been gone. I thought it was shabby chic, he thought it was a gate that should’ve been thrown away long ago, and not brought into our home to look like trash. Hubby’s, sometimes they have no taste. 
So look here for more posts over the coming weeks of updates I’ll be doing all for the sake of a graduation party…well, sorta of, but that’s the story I’m sticking with now.