I guess this first project, isn't exactly minor...it just wasn't very complicated. But it did make a major difference in the house. I started this blog the day after we bought this house and the very first thing I did was take the carpet out of the entire place. I had to...cats had gotten in and well...it wasn't smelling rosy. This didn't bother me a bit because I was all over having polished concrete floors. Where I made my mistake was I should have either done it or had someone do it right after I pulled up the carpet. Because, as you can imagine, as soon as I had the keys the GF and I were both eager to start getting in here and before you know it...the place is filled up and she's not going to be happy with having concrete dust on and in everything... So, I held out for a long time but eventually came to the conclusion that I was going to have to put something on the floor.
Ultimately, I had the idea for carpet squares and the GF was thrilled. Then, just as I was trying to figure out what I wanted, Shaw came out with a new oblong 18"x36" carpet tile and that was it...had to have it. And we did. The living room is gray and yellow...actually 3 tile types; a gray striped, a gray and yellow striped and few yellow solids thrown in for fun.
Just to add something to it, I went with a solid gray (actual sqares) band down the circulation path under the low soffit. Before we put the carpet tiles in we decided it would be a good idea to paint. The whole place was this dingy beige color...maybe a little pinkish...just bad. We went with the carpet colors for accent, gray and yellow, and the white everywhere else. The hallway is entirely gray and yellow on opposite walls and we painted the doors opposite the walls...so if the wall is gray, the doors are yellow. Get it? The Living Room and Hallway took about two days to put the tiles down. We had the GF's parents and brother over helping and we knocked out the bulk of it the first day. I did the rest in the next couple evenings...all the cuts in the hallway into all the doorways was time consuming...but well worth it. It is amazingly easy to keep clean, too!
We also got a couple pieces of furniture...a little credenza from a thrift store and a new (but retro-modern) entertainment unit from BDI. Both in dark walnut. We didn't do this at the same time...but over last year or so since the last time I posted. You can see we painted the kitchen too...obviously we like color...
For the bedroom, we went with a black and blue theme, again with 3 different tiles. The bedroom took the GF and I a day to do from start to finish.
And lastly...actually firstly because we did it before the carpet, we put down some italian porcelain tiles in the master bath. I got this for $0.50 a foot on a closeout from Construction Lots in Phoenix. The thing everyone comments on, though, is the marble threshold. We did these all the time in St. Louis (where I'm from) but you don't see it as much out here. They were pretty cheap though. I bought 2 so I can do the other bathroom someday and it as somewhere around $10 from Dal-tile. The whole bathroom floor cost me less than $100. I actually bought $100 worth of this tile, including some in a lighter blue, and I still have enough to do the floor and an entire wall in the other bathroom.
Once we had the carpet and the paint taken care of, the house feels amazingly more complete. I don't see a "project" everywhere I look, now.
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