Basement Renovation: Framing

We are back to working on the basement this weekend. It was a weekend full of progress you can actually SEE! Framing was on the agenda.

We had wood delivered (as you can see on a SNOWY day!). 302 studs 2x4x92(5/8), 25 treated 2x4x12s, and 25 regular 2x4x12s were nicely stacked and delivered to our garage. We had the PLEASURE of carrying ALL of this wood down a flight of stairs to the basement and stacking it again nice and neatly.... 

Chad and my dad started bright and early on Saturday morning and worked a full 8 hour day framing. They got so much accomplished! This was the first time Chad or I had done any framing. We picked it up quickly. Chad was much better at it than me. I learned I don't know how to read a tape measure and I'm better at making lunch and handing people things! =) 

The stairs were difficult to frame because we took out two steps and made a landing (out of 2x10 and floor boarding.) We also knocked out the dry wall and opened up the stairs. It makes the basement much more open, especially because that hallway will be a little tight at times.

Here is the new landing! Caution: If you are really tall, don't hit your head! It's a mere 6'4'' clearing! We probably should have measured that first! Whoops...

We decided to angle the wall (above) cutting down our storage space under the stairs but this opens up the hall way and makes the space look larger!

Then we were back at it Sunday for another 8 hours to finish it. 

There are a few tweaks here and there still but for the most part we are all framed in. We aren't able to frame in the windows until our new block windows are installed (hopefully in the next week.) And we weren't able to do the side wall until the pipes, gas line and a/c line are moved (which is the plan this weekend).

It is becoming much easier to visualize all the rooms now that they have walls (kind-of). This is especially true for the spare room/playroom. We decided to add a closet in this room after much coaxing from my dad. He said when we have kids we will want somewhere to hide all their stuff. (He's probably right.) The only concern we had was this making the room too small. But really the room is a lot bigger than we thought, and that is much easier to see now with walls!

We had to build a "drop" in the ceiling for all of our duct-work and lines (which you can see above and below)

The bathroom was another tricky room to frame. This was because of all the pipes we had to frame around.There will be some built in shelving in one of the walls in the bathroom because there was a lot of dead space lost because of some of the pipes. We thought this would give us some design and storage space. 

This Weeks Costs

302 studs 2x4x92(5/8) - $810

25 treated 2x4x12 - $130

25 regular 2x4x12 - $120

Delivery fee- $80

2x10x8 - $9

2x10x12 - $13

Floor boarding - $23

Concrete Screws - $17

Free Things that were we already had

Nail gun

Nails

Table saw

Hand saw

Level

Square

Drill & bits

Hammer

Tape Measure 

Sledge hammer

Labor

This weeks total - $1,202

Project total - $1,356

Side note - We have a lot of studs leftover so we will probably be returning some of them, but we are waiting to make sure we don't need it!

My amateur advice this week Things I learned this week -  Measure twice, cut once! Seriously! You might even want to measure three times! Make sure that your boards aren't twisted or warped. Use warped boards for when you have to cut smaller pieces. If you use warped boards the wall won't be square. Crown the boards to the wall; this means make sure all the boards are bending the same way, that way you only have one bow in the wall. As opposed to having the wall bowing in and out all over the place. 

This weeks plans: 1) Move the a/c line into the drop. 2) Move the water lines into the drop. 3) Move the gas line into the drop. 4) Glass block windows measured and installed (this will probably be more like next week) 5) Frame the remaining 2 walls and the windows. 6) Decide where we want lights and outlets (and what kind of lights). 

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

50 "First" Dates Restaurant Guide

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥ I have to admit I'm not one to make a big deal about Valentine's Day in the past. This year Chad and I decided that with the money being spent on the basement we wouldn't get each other gifts. So it worked out prefectly when I thought of a great "homemade" gift: A Restaurant Guide!

Chad and I LOVE to eat out at different restaurants. We have our favorites that we frequent often but we also love to try new places we have never been. I thought that it would be nice to have a book full of places around the city we have never been to eat. I put together a book "50 'first' dates" (credit to our friend Ben for coming up with the name). There are 50 places to eat in the book and they range from fast-food-type burgers and fries to extremely fancy steakhouses with everything in between.

I started by asking our friends for suggestions of really good restuarants they have eaten at around town that they would recommend. Boy did they respond. I got some amazing suggestions. It was important that these were all places that we have never eaten before. (This seriously slimmed down our options, but that's what makes it fun!)

After that I had about 25 places our friends had suggested. (I was only half way!). I researched on cincyusa.com and Yelp for local places that have good reviews. I found another 15 places that were highly recommended. The last thing I did was look on GoogleMaps for "food" near our house. I found another 5-6 places close to our house that we have been wanting to try/looked good. I thought this was important because most of the time when we go out to eat we don't really want to travel far. So having a good portion of the places close to our house was crucial.

Then I had 46 places to eat. 4 more to go! It took me longer to find the last 4 places than it did to find the first 46. I had exhausted all my options! I am pretty sure I had gone through every restaurant in the city! Either it was on the list already, we have eaten there before, I knew Chad would not eat the food they served (i.e Thai, French, ...etc) or it was way too far away. Finally, after going back through our friends and the websites again and again I had reached my goal of 50!

Once I had all the restaurants in a list. I put the restaurant logo at the top of the page with the name, location (what part of town), what kind of food they have, any description/saying/fun facts, price range and who recommended it to us all listed below. I sorted the binder by price range and then by location. I put a set of instructions on the front and we were good to go!

The idea is that on "date nights" when we can't decide where to eat, we will go to the binder and choose a place (based on price, location...etc). I got a set of stickers (green, orange and pink) and once we went and ate at a restaurant, we would use the binder to mark whether we loved it (green), it was okay (orange) or we would never return (pink)! I left a spot on each page for "opinion" with a box for the sticker to go.

Over the years we can add to the binder and I think it will be a fun keepsake. If nothing else, it will help with the hour long battle of "where do you want to eat tonight?" "I don't care, where do you want to eat?"

He gets a recycled Victoria's Secret bag....

I had to buy the 1/2 inch binder $3, dividers $1 and colored stickers $2 for a total of $6.  It was a cheap, cute and personal Valentine's day gift! Those are my favorite.

He loved it!

I also made him some Valentine's day cake pops out of his favorite cake (Marble Fudge) and icing (cream cheese). I colored my chocolate a festive pink and added sprinkles for fun and flare!

Recipe:

1 box cake mix (egg, oil, water)

1 jar icing

Bake cake according to box. Allow to cool. Then cut up cake into small pieces. Place cake bits in mixer with jar of icing and mix away! Put remaining cake/icing mixture back into cake pan and cool in refridgerator over night (at least 2 hours). Form mixture into balls.

These are cake balls, not meatballs..... I got 50 cake balls out of my recipe but it depends on the size ball you make.

Melt chocolate in microwave (add coloring of choice). I used Crisco to thin out the chocolate, when you add the coloring it tends to thicken up. Also you will have to microwave your chocolate several times thoughout the process because it will harden up on you. Dip balls into chocolate, I used some candy sticks to dip the chocolate with, a toothpick will not work, it's not strong enough. You can use nothing but its REALLY messy that way. I recommend the candy (lollipop) sticks. Add sprinkles or design and allow to dry!

They were super easy and amazingly cute! Enjoy!

I'll leave you with my Valentine's Day Chalkboard design! I hope you all have a 

♥ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! ♥

DIY Laundry Detergent {tutorial}

Unfortunately, I don't have any basement updates for you today. We took a break this weekend. I was on matron of honor duties making centerpieces and Chad was away visiting his brother so no renovations took place! I thought I would take this time to share my homemade laundry detergent recipe that we have been using. 

Let me start out by sharing our laundry detergent dilemma. I am a Tide girl. My family has used Tide my whole life. I think it smells great and gets clothes clean. Chad is a "whatever is cheapest at the store" kinda guy. So when we got married we went back and forth between Tide and cheap off-brand detergents. I didn't think that the off-brand soaps got our clothes clean enough and Chad couldn't stand to spend $15 on a small bottle of detergent that would last us 2 weeks. I will admit, when I saw these pinterest posts about making your own laundry detergent I was a little skeptical. I needed something that smelled great but also got our clothes clean! 

Then I stumbled upon this post and she seemed to have the same dilemma as me. She promised clean, good smelling clothes for a CHEAP price. So I thought I would give it a go and I am very pleased with the result. 

Here is what I used:

one. two. three. four. five. six

Here is the recipe: 

1 (4lb) box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

1 (3lb 7 oz) box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 (4lb 12oz) box Borax 

5 (5.5 oz) bars Fels-Naptha soap

1 (3lb) container OxiClean

1 (55oz) Bottle Purex Cyrstals Fabric Softener (I used the Lavender Blossoms flavor but they have others)

You will also need a cheese grater and a LARGE tub or bucket. 

Start by grating the 5 bars of soap on the cheese grater into the tub/bucket. This is the hardest part and gives you a nice arm workout! Be sure not to grate your hand! Once all the bars are grated, dump in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. The OxiClean came with a measuring cup which I used to stir it all up. It takes awhile to get everything mixed together and it makes a TON of detergent! Save the Purex bottle and cap. I filled the Purex bottle with the homemade detergent and this was easier to work with than the HUGE tub. I use the cap to measure the detergent for each load. Just 3/4 of a cap full for a large load of laundry. 

I made this back in September (5 months ago) and I still have over half of my tub still left over. I have no doubts that this will last us a year. I do about 4-6 loads of laundry a week. 

Okay here is the best part. This only cost $33. I got everything from Kroger, most was found in the laundry isle. $33 for a year supply of laundry detergent cannot be beat. It leaves our clothes with a subtle clean/lavender scent and it really works to get the clothes clean!

I am super happy with this recipe and recommend it!

Chalkboard {tutorial}

This post will prove to you how much of a procrastinator I am! This time last year I got inspired by blogs like  littlebabygarvin and becomingthebarrs and I decided that I wanted to make my own chalkboard. I went to my local second hand store in search for a picture frame with a wooden back. I was in luck and found one for dirt cheap ($10, I think). Take a look at this beauty....

Can't you just picture this hanging in your dining room? Okay no, you can't because it's hideous and that's why I found it at St. Vincent de Paul! Anywho, Once I got this bad boy home, (which was not as easy as it may seem. I have a little car and this is a pretty big picture) I disassembled it. The wooden backing was held on by staples that were bent up holding it on. Much like a real picture frame does to the glass/cardboard. So I had to bend ALL those staples and remove the wooden back. Once that was off I proceeded to paint the frame white. I used just normal white paint (I think we had white trim paint in the garage). 

Looks much better already!

Then I sat that up to dry and started on the actual chalkboard part. For this I used a mixture of paint and grout. I mixed it until I had a good consistency. There are recipes out there, feel free to google them, but I just eye balled it. For the record, they do make chalkboard paint. And somewhere in some store it is sold. However, I looked everywhere I thought it should be (Walmart, Joann...etc) and had no luck. So I resorted to the DIY version, which seemed appropriate anyways! The paint is thicker than normal paint and you want to do a couple of coats. 

Viola, a chalkboard!

Then all that was left was to let it all dry and reassemble the backing to the frame (with the little staples). The only other thing I did, which was recommended on little baby garvin's tutorial was I coated the entire chalkboard in chalk and then erased it. This "set" the chalkboard so that when it was written on it wouldn't leave behind an imprint once erased.

Now, back to my procrastination. I was so proud of myself for making this chalkboard and so excited to use it. Then I couldn't find anywhere to hang it. So I did what all procrastinators do and I put it in a corner in a room and forgot about it. 

Until today! I finally got it out of its hiding place and started to doodle. It's nothing fancy and I need some practice with my art skills but I think it's cute and a good start for my first go at it! Yay, go me!

Now I still have to find a place to hang it!

Basement Renovation: Plumbing and Concrete

This weeks project started with running the plumbing in the new holes we dug last week. We went to Lowes and bought all of the PVC, glue and primer that we would need to get started. You have to make sure that your not flushing any toilets, running the dishwasher or laundry while you do this. We cut into the existing pipe and from there added pipes to run all the way to where we needed them. 

Plumbing run to the bathroom.

The large pipe at the end is the existing pipe that we "tapped" into.

All the bathroom plumping

After the plumbing was ran and the glue had dried, it was time to fill the holes back up! All the purple stuff you see on the pipes is the primer that allows the glue to stick so that the pipes glue together. 

Chad filling in the holes with gravel/dirt.

Obviously I'm no photographer! Filling in the holes!

 After Chad filled in the holes it was time to pour the concrete. First we had to buy plastic to cover the dirt. I'm assuming this is so the new concrete wouldn't seep under the old concrete. It was my job to cut and lay the plastic and I'm not going to lie, I was pretty awesome at it. I know it's not that hard but I'll take a win where I can get it! Then after I was done with the plastic, we mixed the concrete!

We ended up using seventeen 80 lb bags of concrete for this job.

We used an old wheelbarrow to mix the concrete. 

On a side note, we had some really cold wintry weather is week and left our hose outside. Therefore, it froze and we couldn't use it as the water for mixing the concrete. This meant that we had to run up and down the stairs and fill a bucket with water for each bag we mixed! So don't let your hose freeze, is the moral of that story!

Mixing the concrete was easier than I thought it would be. Chad was really good at getting it to the right consistency. We filled the holes and used a board and a concrete-lever-thingy (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called) to level off the concrete. Here's the finished product!

I am SUPER bummed that Chad and I forgot to put our hand prints and initials in the concrete! I totally meant to but we just forgot! Oh well, it will be covered with carpet anyways! 

This was a fairly painless and quick weekend. Overall we probably only spent about 7 hours total, over 3 days, doing the plumbing and concrete. The HVAC guy still has not come out to run some air returns and move the A/C line, so hopefully he will be able to do that this week sometime. After that the next step is framing! This will be a BIG job I'm sure. I've never framed anything before and neither has Chad (that I know of) so luckily we have my dad to teach us. We had the lumber delivered this weekend so our job this week is to clean the basement and bring all the lumber downstairs to prepare for the framing.  

This Weeks Costs

PVC Pipes - $74

PVC glue and Primer - $23

17 Bags of Concrete - $57

Free Things that were we already had

Wheelbarrow

Hoe (for mixing concrete)

Shovel (for pouring concrete)

Concrete-leveler-thingy

Some of the PVC pipes 

Plastic

Labor

This weeks total - $154

Project total - $154

My amateur advice for this week - Don't let your hose freeze outside in the snow. Then you won't have to run up and down the stairs to get the water to mix the concrete. Make sure you position the pipes correctly. We put the toilet pipe on backwards and had to cut it off and do it again. Like I mentioned before, make sure you aren't using your washing machine, sink, toilet...etc while you have the existing pipe cut or else water will go everywhere. 

PS. I'm still cleaning concrete dust off my stuff upstairs from last week! WHEN WILL IT END!

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Basement Renovation: Before/Concrete digging

This weekend we started renovation on our basement!!! I am very excited! However, in my excitement I forgot to take "before" pictures. So I have some pictures from our walk through when we bought the house. There is a TON of stuff in the basement from the previous owners so its hard to get a read on the space but better than nothing!

So if you can see past ALL that clutter, it's a pretty large space! Our vision is to turn this space into 5 useful areas. First, a room that can be utilized as a kids play area or a spare bedroom. Second, a bar area with a sink, bar stools, table and chairs and tile floor. Third, a half bathroom with built in shelving. Fourth, a theater area with couches, tv, built-in bookshelves and surround sound. Last, a storage area. 

In order to achieve this, que my amazing handyman father! He came over on Saturday to start this adventure. And the first steps were to find the pipes under the concrete and dig it up so plumbing can be run for the bar sink and bathroom. Sounds easy enough. Boy were we WRONG! This was HARD work! My dad, myself and my hardworking husband spent 7 hours sawing concrete, jack hammering up concrete, carrying about 1000 lbs of concrete up a flight of stairs over and over again and digging up gravel. Needless to say I can barely move today.  I wish that I would have taken some pictures of the concrete sawing, jack hammering and concrete carrying but frankly I was worn out! So all I got we're pictures once it was all done, and your lucky I got that much! 

 Above is the pipe that is going to feed the bathroom.

Above is the pipe that will feed the bar sink. 

Another shot of the hole dug for the bar sink. 

The bar area will be on the back wall there with a table and chairs area in front

Another before shot.

This area will be the theater area. The area behind the lovely plastic hanging on the back wall there will be storage.

This will be the where the bathroom will go. As well as a little more storage under the stairs.

My amazing husband hard at work digging up gravel for the pipes!

"Before" stairs shot.

This is going to be the spare room/kids play area.

More holes, it doesn't look like much but it was SUCH HARD WORK! 

A big "before shot of basically the whole basement. (I obviously didn't know a picture was being taken!)

So the adventure begins. Although it was exhausting work, I know it will pay off in the end and our bank accounts are thanking us for doing it DIY (even if our backs aren't) because god only knows what someone charges to do all that labor! If it were up to me, it would be ALOT! The next step is going to be actually running the plumbing, which my dad is doing himself.  Then we will need to have an HVAC guy run a couple air returns to feed the basement as well as move our A/C line that is not in the correct place. Luckily, our basement is fairly temperature controlled on its own and we won't need many returns! Unfortunately, that is something we cannot DIY so fingers crossed it won't be a large hit to the budget. 

Speaking of budget, although we have in our mind a certain idea of what this renovation might cost, honestly we have no idea. We are going to be taking this slowly and working with what we can. We will stop when the money stops and start back up when we replenish the funds! I will keep you posted on the cost of each step as well as total cost as I post. 

Concrete sawing/jack hammering: Free (my dad's friend that lent him the jack hammer and concrete saw) all labor was done by us!

Total Spent: $0

Advice for those about to take this on: Do not do this if you have a bad back, shoulders, arms, knees, legs...etc. It is EXTREMELY hard work. I did nothing but carry a small bucket of concrete up and down flights of stairs and I am extremely sore. The two strong, in shape men were sawing concrete, running a jack hammer, busting up concrete, and carrying a much larger bucket of concrete up those stairs. Also, make sure to cover anything you don't want to get dusty, have good ventilation (open windows, use fans), wear masks and safety glasses and shut any doors to the upstairs to contain the dust. I made the mistake of leaving the basement door open for even a couple minutes and I have an entire house full of concrete dust now that I must clean (yay...) 

I am not a professional and all my advice and tips are purely from my own experiences. 

Falalalalalalalala

I am so glad that the holiday season is here (it's going by too quick as usual). We had our annual friends-giving in November. It was Sooo much fun. I love getting together with friends and eating a bunch of delish food! It was a night full of wine, food, trivia and great friends that I wish I saw more often.

We got to spend thanksgiving with my side of the family this year. I got to see cousins I haven't seen in over a year and it was great catching up with them. I love spending time with family (I also love the good food.. Shhh). As usual, my 4 day weekend flew by in the blink of an eye.... And I was back to the daily grind all too soon.

Black Friday shopping was left up to the husband, as usual, while I stayed in the comfort of my home, not fighting crazy people in the malls, stores...etc. God bless ya if you are brave enough to fight the crowds, I am not. He was able to get a couple good deals, but mostly I think he ENJOYS watching all those crazy people I just referred to (himself included) run around shopping for deals. He left at approximately 4:30 A.M. (WAY before I ever think about getting up!) and got home about 11 and immediately crashed on the couch for 2+ hours. I proceeded to clean the house around him as quietly as possible (not an easy task!)

I was determined this year (as with every year) to get all my Christmas shopping done early so I can relax and enjoy the season. I love this time of year, it comes with a sense of optimism and love that fills the air and no one is immune. (Well almost no one, Scrooges!) Anyways, I was determined, so I went out one fine Saturday, with my list in hand and a plan in my head to accomplish as much as I could. Something was in the water this day because I did my hair, put on cute clothes and wore high heels, which took all of 20 mins at the mall to realize was the worst decision ever. (Scratch that -Second worst, never go kayaking in the ocean). Anywho, 5 hours and 2 very very sore feet later I had accomplished ALL of my Xmas shopping. You heard me, DONE! I will say we did buy several things online, but my shopping was done! Woohoo. I got everything wrapped as soon as I could and I have been enjoying my christmas tree with the gifts under it ever since. It's beautiful! Love!