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First Home, Many Projects

864K views 260 replies 27 participants last post by  Fishinbo 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm 22yrs old, and my wife and I just bought a house. It was built in 1977, all brick. Has a nice front and back yard, and so far the wife and I are painted all the rooms. Here is a list:

Painting:
[x] Living Room - Navy Blue / White Crown Molding / Lime Green accents (ex: candle holders/picture frames)
[x] Master Bedroom - Hot Pink / White Crown Molding (Unfinished) / Black accents
[x] My Man Cave - Red / White Crown Molding (Unfinished) / White & Black accents
Friend's Room - San Diego Charger Blue (that's what he calls it)
Kitchen - Light Brown / White Crown Molding / Brown Accents

Frontyard:
Expand the driveway - Only 1 car port, would like to have a wide driveway to park cars without a hassle
Solar Panel Lights - The small ones just to light up the drive way / walk way
White Picket Fence (Maybe)
2 car garage - I've never seen a 2 car garage in NC, and I'd like one if possible.

Backyard:
Privacy Fence - Would have to talk to neighbors, and don't know if I'd DIY on that one, ha.
Porch
Outside Bar
Solar Panel Lights

Inside:
Our kitchen area is like a small rectangle, and it doesn't make sense, the sink and dishwasher are across the room from each other, so the wife and I are thinking about knocking out the wall that separates the kitchen and dinning room, then expanding the kitchen cabinets and moving the dishwasher next to the sink and what not. She also wants like a breakfast counter type deal. We're having a Home Depot guy come Sunday morning to give us an estimate on how much it would cost.

---

Master Bedroom:





Man Cave:
Here is my unfinished Man Cave that the wife help paint and setup. Forgive me for the iPhone pictures, can't find my camera still.

Entrance:


I'll probably have a workout machine in the corner:


Can't really put anything in that corner:


This is where the 32" that is on the floor will be mounted:


This is the new 27" iMac that I just bought:


This is where my couch is going:
 
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#89 ·
I'll be putting the smart house networking aside right now. Got a huge problem, we have 2 puppies that are almost house trained, but it seems their piss has ate away the glue under our plastic tiles and are lifting up, so now I have a new project and would like to lay down wooden floors, how would I do so?
 
#91 ·
Looks good and thanks for the site! The wife and I are deciding to use the same flooring that we have in the kitchen, it's Pergo Cherry Plank and they sell it at Home Depot and ifloors.com, which one do you think would be a better price (I get a 3% back for using my credit card when going to Home Depot)

Here is what it looks like:


We plan on doing the whole hall way and living room, living just the bedrooms with carpet and bathroom with laminate tiles. This should be a simple DIY job, right? Just stick these together and hit them together with a rubber mallet?
 
#92 ·
Hmm, from what I can see that's a laminate. I didn't see it on IFloors. It looks like it's about 2.60 a sf? The reason I went with bamboo was durability. It's tougher than any hardwoods, and it's not a laminate - it's solid. Check out reviews of solid bamboo vs anything else if you think there's a chance you'd consider this route. Also, it's cheaper. So, two problems going this route - it won't match what you've already put down. And, this stuff needs to be glued down and would be quite a bit more work to do than a floating floor. So, I guess it all depends on what you want to spend vs durability vs matching vs work. IE:

Bamboo: cheaper, stronger, doesn't match, tougher to lay
Cherry: more expensive, not as durable, does match, easy to lay

The floor I put down was my first - so I have no doubt you'd be fine if you did a little research on laying it before diving in... :yes:

Otherwise - go with the cherry. :yes:
 
#98 ·
While I was gone, I was coming up with a few more projects. Now here's the hard part, which project do I start to work on first?

- Replace carpet with wood in living room.
- Cut opening/remove wall in kitchen and dining room to open it up more.
- Backyard deck

They are all costly projects. I think removing the wall in the kitchen would be the least expensive, just removing the wall.
 
#99 ·
My Thoughts

We recently had our real estate agent out to show him all the stuff we did in the past year and get some guidance on future projects. Ideas like a family room renovation, master bath redo, finishing the garage, landscaping the yard, rewire, replace the furnace, and more. They all sounded fine to him, but he reminded us that in the end, kitchens, baths, and front yards (not backyards) sell houses. So we are prioritizing the front yard (cheap and easy but big impact), the kitchen (because we use it the most), the bath (because it's a bath) and postponing the others. Though I do plan some work on the family room because I can't stand its current state, but just some minor work. Likewise, I might insulate the garage ceiling so I can use it in January but I'll leave the walls and floor alone. We don't plan to move soon, but one never knows. Maybe next year I get laid off. Maybe we have another kid. Maybe I get hit by a bus. Life happens.

So -- I suggest the kitchen first, living room second, deck last. But if you really desire a deck and you never use your living room, then maybe do the deck second.

RST
 
#105 ·
The easiest way to tell is to ask an architect or engineer. :laughing:

Seriously now - my layman's understanding is that load bearing walls are generally perpendicular to the ceiling joists while non-loading bearing (aka partition) walls are generally parallel to the ceiling joists. Load bearing walls should always be 2 x 4 or greater while partition can be smaller. If you try to cut through a stud on a load bearing wall your saw may bind up.

If the wall is load bearing the steps for removal are trickier... that's not to say it can't be done, because it is done... but I would recommend calling a professional or someone who knows what he/she is doing.

Robert

P.S. Re BFH, I'm guessing B stands for big and H stands for hammer, you can probably guess what F stands for... :whistling2:
 
#111 · (Edited)
HVAC was fixed, called my realtor and only had to pay $60 for it to be fixed. They said my thermostat wasn't giving power to the unit, and then the breaker box outside for the unit was inoperable.

An oppertunity came up which allowed me to make some good tax free money and put a nice down payment to the house along with getting some projects completed, I volunteered to deploy and should be leaving very shortly. So, while I'm gone, I'll be doing research on the projects that my wife and I would like to have done to the house.

1: Wooden floors in living room + Hallway
2: Projector Home Theater in Living room
3: Backyard Deck
4: Front yard fencing (for the dogs)
5: Bigger backyard shed
6: Remodel kitchen

Everything will be DIY except for the kitchen remodeling. As for the projector home theater, does anyone recommend a good projector? We never use the living room, so it'll be mainly for movies when friends come over. We'll most likely get an 80" white screen and we'll need HDMI for Boxee or AppleTV (which ever one we get).
 
#113 ·
Thanks. Well had since I have quiet some time to get stuff done, and have a new friend who does house renovation to his own house, he motivated me to take down the wall in my kitchen so I can open the kitchen and dining room up. Here are some pictures, then all I have is a question about 2 things.

Here is the wall:


Here is what it looks like now:


Are these support beams? They are just two 2x4's put together.

This is the end of the wall near the opening to the kitchen and dining room.


This is the roof.
 
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