Southwest Home Improvement Thread

[oliveurban]

Nice job. I actually really like the solid gray, too. I think it gives everything a more modern, sharper look.

Will be nice to see updated pics when the area is accessorized with additional landscaping and such...

[DowntownDweller]

I've done 3 now. Here is the first:


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[Vicelord John]

hmm some of those you just put in new furniture but the ones which you really changed thigns up look good.

My suggestion, add some art on the walls to really make it seem like home and less like a rental.

[DowntownDweller]

Above is the garbage I had to start with. The furnishings are the
previous owner's on my walk through, NOT mine. Below is what I proceeded to do after 2 months of living in the house.

[DowntownDweller]

No pics online of what I've done to the current house, but here is the current project I started 93 days ago.

As shown:

[Vicelord John]

nice work, but do you get claustrophobic using that shower?

And are your pictures taken with some sort of fisheye?

I wasn't trying to say the furnishings were yours, but in that one pic of the spare bedroom, it doesn't look like anything changed other than furniture. The work in the bathroom and that closet both look great.

Something is seriously wrong with the home that has all the crazy paint and plywood shelves. Who thinks this is an appropriate thing to do to a home!?

[DowntownDweller]

Any time I see ceiling tiles, I know the plaster is fawked, and I was not suprised to see this:



Firring strips were only thing holding it up in spots.


Sooo.... Removed it, and 10 cubic yards of rockwool.




Rewired the entire original part of the house. No more Knob and Tube. All 12-ga Romex.


Demoed all that crap in the master too.


New 5/8" Rock hung in the orig part of the house. Put in R30 fiberglass insulation while I had the ceilings opened up.



When they closed in the windows on the W. side, they didn't do it properly, so I had to open one back up and start from scratch:





Going to brick it in and restucco.


Took opportunity to add 3 new outlets to each room. (only had 1 outlet per bedroom originally)





Could you tell there was a window there?

Demoed out that hideous bath and the jetted tub.

That's right, tile, over tile, over mortar, over plaster, over brick.

That took a while



Lovely 2" galvanized and cast iron(failed) vent stack, which needed to be replaced (along with 6' of the 4" Cast iron under the house)



Goodbye 1980s kitchen.




And a few days ago before I put up the 5/8" sheetrock.




About half of the original oak pulled up in the kitchen to be used to patch termite damage in the living and front bedrooms. 3/4" T&G sub going across the entire area, and 5/8" Oak going on top of that.

[Vicelord John]

your craftiness is astounding.

[DowntownDweller]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

your craftiness is astounding.

I've been taking 3 day weekends to burn off PTO, so I've been getting quite a bit done. I'm dead-beat exhausted though. Only got to see the kids for about 30 mins yesterday too. Something's gotta give, but I NEED to finish this place in the next 30-60.

[TAZ4ate0]

Somehow I have missed the past few updates to this thread.

@PHX31 - Good job with the decking and the pavers. It looks nice.

@DowntownDweller - Great remodel on the 1st home, looking good. I like the hardwood flooring in the family/living room area in particular.

[combusean]

You had knob and tube of all things? I suddenly don't feel so bad about my 67-year-old cloth-covered crap and the junction box from hell. The developer actually put new plaster over it when they "rehabbed" my place in 2007. Perhaps if I am still here I'll feel a bit more adventurous about demolishing the place from the inside like you did above and rewiring it...

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by oliveurban

Nice job. I actually really like the solid gray, too. I think it gives everything a more modern, sharper look.

Will be nice to see updated pics when the area is accessorized with additional landscaping and such...

I've done a bit of updating/accessorizing lately, actually, about 5 months ago, I guess I forgot to post.

I installed a patio lighting scheme that I really like. It's along the lines of the "outdoor cafe" look, but IMO, a little different.

Basically I wanted to cut down the horizontal monotony of the grey wall using some greenery and verticality. I decided to install 4 wooden posts (kind of like a half trellis or something) with green vines to grow up each post. On the top of each post a string of nice outdoor lights i ordered online (not wal-mart specials) would attach and connect on the side of my house at a single point. This covers the entire seating area with the string of lights. The whole thing is hard-wired to one of my electrical circuits and is turned on/off by a water-proof switch on the back side of one of the wooden posts. So you don't have any plugs to mess around with.

Here's where I left you last:



Here's the patio area now (really a few months ago):


The lights are attached to a cabled guy-wire so they don't sag or get all twisted or something.



The vines have grown up some since this pic:



Here is the back side of the posts, the on/off switch is closest to the camera half way down the post. The two top boxes are GFI receptacles, so you could plug something in up there if you want to, like a radio or tv or tools who knows what (they look like they are leaning, but they're not):



This is a sh!tty cell phone pic at night during a poker game a few months ago with a couple friends. The lights give enough light to see, but it's soft enough to not be bright and annoying.

[Vicelord John]

Cool patio dude!

Anyone here do any gardening? I just started back in April with some assorted hot peppers, watermelon, and some eggplant. The only one that hasn't produced is the watermelon but with the recent rain it grew out of control and I have some baby watermelons now!

[SunDevil]

First of all this thread may be very important to me soon as I have begun looking at a house to buy.

Second, I was wondering what neighborhoods near Osborn and Central any of you would recommend, if any, in the 110K range? So far I've been looking around 12th St between Camelback and Indian School

[Vicelord John]

for 110 why not buy in a real neighborhood? You can easily get something coronado, story, roosevelt, and a few others for that moeny.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

for 110 why not buy in a real neighborhood? You can easily get something coronado, story, roosevelt, and a few others for that moeny.

I've been on the MLS listing everyday for 2 weeks, they aren't as easy to find around that price as you might think, especially one I could live in while working on it.

Lots of nice houses in the area I have been looking though, I don't know if that area is getting nicer or worse.

[PHX31]

What size of a house are you looking for?

There's a really nice house 2 houses down from me that was selling for just less than 100k. It's 2bd 1ba and previously renovated. It still has a great amount of its historic character inside (hardwood floors, nice fireplace with niches and original sconces, original doors/door knobs, original windows, etc.). The yard could use some work and i'm sure there are other things you could work on. Plus IMO, my street is the best street in Coronado.

The house was for sale for a pretty long time but just recently the for sale sign was taken down. I thought I heard a human bought it, but looking online on the assessors web it shows it's owned by a bank (although that info is a bit old), and I've yet to see anyone move in or even go to the house. You may be able to look into buying it still, maybe the bank doesn't have it listed anymore for some reason but would still sell. PM me if you want more info.