Stylish Entry Overhang for Under $500

I had been wanting an overhang to protect my entry door and people from the weather as they enter the house for many years. A couple years ago we were able to make it a reality. I’m so glad that we did! It has added not only practicality to our home, but also some depth and style. Since this project was done a while ago, I went on Home Depot’s website to check prices and this project can still be done for very little cost, under $500. We began the project by cutting the siding where we were going to add the three pressure treated support boards. After my husband cut the siding with an oscillating saw I stained the boards black. I chose black to match our aluminum fencing. If I could go back in time, I would have stained the pressure treated boards before we put them up. It was a little more difficult to stain them while in place and some stain got on the siding. At the time we thought that we would reside the house so it didn’t really matter. We never got to that project, oops. Then we used lag bolts to attach the boards to our home’s frame. We used the nails already in the sheathing of the house as our guide for where to put the lag bolts.

The photo above shows one board stained.

We made all of our triangle supports and stained them ahead of attaching them to the main support boards. We created the pitch fairly steep to shed the snow off since our home is in Maine. You can make the pitch align with your weather and needs.

Once the stain was dry we attached our triangle supports to the main supports with long lag screws and finished off the two end triangle supports with corner brackets for added support. We predrilled the holes for the screws so that the pressure treated 2x4s wouldn’t split. We capped the front of all of the triangle supports with a stained pressure treated 2x4 to create stability and uniformity.

We then cut the strapping, stained, and attached them to the tops of triangle supports. Next, we added corner flashing by tucking it under the house siding and laying the other end over the structure. We attached metal roofing sheets on top of the strapping and under the flashing. Lastly we added J channel around the whole structure where it met the house siding. This project was a fairly easy project that is worth the efforts for the benefits it provides.

After two years it still looks just as good as it did when we built the overhang!

My Intentions Were Good

It has been several years since I have written an article for this blog and now that I have retired from education, I have some time to focus and catch up on projects like my home improvement blog. Over the last few years my husband and I have improved our properties and I have taken pictures of the projects. I will begin posting projects again recapping what we did and how we saved money doing what we did. We are currently selling our lake house that most of the former posts on this blog were about. Our plan is to simplify our life so that we can travel. We will still own two properties, a duplex in Maine and a condo in Florida. We have plans for projects at both places. In fact this weekend we are starting the process of building our first ever 24x24 ft. garage. To give you a tease for future posts I am going to share with you some photos of projects that I will write articles for. 

Modern Farmhouse Bathroom Part 2

Wow!!!  It has been four months since my last post. The last few months have been a whirlwind so it took me awhile to get to this post. I listed my house on Zillow in February for the heck of it. We planned on listing with a realtor in May, I figured why not see what happens. We were hoping to sell mid summer. Plans changed in a good way... We had a showing in March and those people decided to buy our home of 15 years. Needless to say, our then senior in High School daughter was not very pleased. We did it anyway and closed on the house mid May. What it meant was way less work that we had planned to do to that home before we listed with a broker. What that also meant was that we had to pack up and get rid of 15 years worth of stuff because the house that we bought and have been renovating for two years is a smaller home with very little storage. If it had gone according to plan we would have had our garage built at the lake house before we sold the other home. Plus we had to finish this bathroom that I am writing about today. It is the only full bath in our lake home and we were to soon have my son and his girlfriend back from college for the summer. This meant five people for 1 and 1/2 baths when we were used to 2 full and two half baths. That has been a HUGE downsize and somewhat of a challenge. Anyhoot... I am in love with how the bathroom came out even though it took a lot longer to finish than we thought.

I hope to share with you some of our challenges and inspire some creativity as well.

Remaking the closet was fairly easy. We removed the plywood shelves, painted pine boards left over from other projects, painted the walls, and inserted the boards.

We installed the Schulter membrane system according to Schulter instructions.

The half wall was a challenge. When we first built it, we realized it was too wobbly and therefore once tiled the tiles would eventually crack and break. The wall really needed support from floor to ceiling. We then purchased a cedar post and attached it to the half wall. It made for a nice look so we added to the design and did not cover up the post.

We used pine boards to cover the framing of the wall. I left the pine boards natural and coated them with three layers of poly.

I added hooks to hang towels and wash cloths on. My original plan was to hang two towel racks, but unfortunately it interfered with the door opening up fully.

The cedar post inspired us to add cedar to the ceiling. We used tongue and groove cedar.

We cut all of the floor tiles for the shower ahead of time and placed them systematically on the floor so that we would be able to put them back in the correct place when laying over mortar. 

Shower floor tile success. I absolutely love the basket weave!

Another love in the bathroom is the tiles that are the backdrop of the niches. They sparkle and help the rustic bathroom display a bit of bling.

After the floor was finished, we were able to tile the walls. First we covered the floor with cardboard. Then we tiled all of the walls. This step took much longer than we anticipated, but it was well worth it.

Time to grout. We went with a dark grout because I liked the look, but I also thought it would be easier to keep dark grout looking nice. We used a light grout for our very first tiling project and it is looking dingy after two years.

I also feel like the dark grout leaves less of a film on the tiles because you can see better what to wipe away.

This shower brings a smile to my face every time that I use it!

We also added a barn door to close off the toilet for added privacy in a bathroom that sees a high volume of visitors.

There are two more things that I want to do before the bathroom is really finished. We plan to make and add a door to the closet plus I want to frame out the mirrors with pallet wood. I will write a short post for both of those projects once they are completed. Right now those projects are on hold because I have been recruited to help build our garage for the next few weeks and then once the outside is done, my husband and I will be insulating, sheet rocking, and finishing the garage/workshop/game/guest rooms of this 32x26 two story building. In the end we didn't really downsize, except bathrooms. We made this move to live on the lake and here is why... (just took this pic tonight)

Mudroom Makeover on a Budget

We had left over tiles from our lake house projects and we had been wanting to tile our mud room at our home for at least twelve years. Saddled with tiling experience from the lake house we purchased the mortar and grout to accompany our tiles. This is what we started with...

Tiling on concrete was a tad easier because the subfloor was ready to go. We did not have to add cement boards. If there are low spots, you should level them out with concrete leveling. 

We laid out a few rows of tiles to take measurements in order to figure out the best starting point. It turns out that the width of the room was even from wall to wall for complete rows. It is not recommended to start along a wall, however in our case it made a lot of sense to save time and tiles. We only had a certain amount of leftover tiles and we were crossing our fingers that we would have enough to complete the room.

So for very little money we tiled the mudroom and painted it. It is amazing what a little paint will do to freshen up a room!

Modern Farmhouse Bathroom: Part 1

Modern Farmhouse Bathroom: Part 1

This post will be a two part series. The work done so far was done 

during a week off during school vacation. A bathroom renovation 

instead of vacation! My husband calls it a renoCation.

The fun stuff... demolition!

We put the reciprocating saw to good use.

Clay cut through the studs to create a place for the insert that will be a nice shelf for shower supplies.

Before the cement board is attached, the walls need to be shored up with support for any place that there will be a seam. Plus you need to get all of your plumbing set and frame out any inserts that you may want.

We wanted to create an in-wall shelf system to hold bathroom supplies. A much needed addition to a space with limited storage! Clay cut out the 2x4 going through the center of the opening. Then we attached 2x4 support all around the edge of the opening.

Once we cut out the space we measured the opening and created a box using 1x4s. I attached the trim, sanded, primed, and painted before attaching the insert into the opening.

We purchased a rough cut 4x6 hemlock ($20) post to frame out the opening for the toilet area. I needed a flat surface near the ceiling to attach the sliding barn door that we will build. We rip cut the post to save money and to save on not eating in too much of the entry space. 

Next we set out tiles and cut the ones that needed cutting, prepped with some thin set, layed the Wonderboard, taped and filled the seams, slapped down more thin set, layed the tiles, washed away the film with a wet sponge, once dry wiped the tiles with a dry rag. After 24 hours we could walk on the tiles and I washed them with a vinegar and water mixture.

We cut ship lap to the length that we needed to fit on the wall behind the bathroom sink. Then I sanded, primed, and painted the ship lap.

Start at the floor, check for level, and use finish nails or screws to attach ship lap to the wall. I drew a line on the drywall to locate the studs easily. I used a quarter and a nickel to space the boards evenly. 

Once I got to the light holes, my husband drew a circle for the space and cut the hole with a jigsaw. 

I absolutely love the look of ship lap. I filled all of the nail holes with white wood putty and added one more coat of trim paint. ($60 total plus I have left over ship lap for another project.)

Once the paint dried Clay installed the lights. Exterior lights work well and you can find more rustic options. $30 at Home Depot.

$200 for all flooring materials.

We purchased the bathroom cabinet and vessel sinks at IKEA. This is one of the more expensive parts of the remodel. 

The cost of the vanity was $349, the bamboo counter $110, and the vessel sinks $100 each. All purchased at IKEA. Not in photo... we purchased oil rubbed bronze faucets for $89 each from Home Depot.

1/2" Wonderboard needs to be installed on all of the walls and inserts of the shower. Make sure to use the screws that are made for cement board. Use tape and mortar for all of the seams.
($100 total)

Clay purchased a shower pan on-line from Home Depot for $570. We spread the mortar and placed the pan in place. Then added the drain piece.

We built a half wall using 2x4s and purchased a cedar beam ($80) that we are connecting to the floor and a truss above the ceiling to give the half wall more support.

This is where we ended after our week off from our professions. The rest we will find time to complete during then next few weekends. Time to go back to our day jobs!