Our Backyard Progress

My original plan for a big backyard reveal post was squashed when I realized I have about 12,537 pictures documenting the makeover process. So… I'm going to show you the final steps of our fence, patio, and sod- and then I'll post early next week with the final pictures. So annoying right? But this was a lot of work and I don't want to squish it all into one post. Sorry mom! (She hates it broken up)

You can find out backyard plans in this previous post.

Once the ground was tilled and leveled, Nathan and my brother Ben (huge help) started digging the holes for the fence posts. This was not very exciting, but obviously needed for some fence building.

 

 

Next step was our patio. After they placed the gravel, they rented some mystery machine to flatten it all out (I don't remember the name!).

 

 

 

 

We ordered concrete pavers from Home Depot and had them delivered to our backyard. Thank goodness the fence wasn't complete or we would have had to carry them in one by one through the gate!

 

 

I originally wanted a red brick patio, but we quickly found out it would not only be more expensive, but more time consuming. But since I still wanted the classic look of red brick and a white house- we found the next best thing. These 16" x 16" red concrete pavers have the brick look I'm going for. They are also pretty inexpensive and much easier to put down due to their large size. Small bricks would have taken forever- and nobody has time for that when you have a deadline. Ha! I was a little apprehensive before we started the process because it was obvious the pavers weren't legit brick, but once they were placed I was very impressed with how they looked! Much better than anticipated. #CheapoForTheWin

 

 

 

 

After the patio was placed, Nathan and Ben finished up the fence. I didn't have much say in how the fence was built other than which way the gate would swing. I'm glad he took this on because he did a fantastic job. I honestly think this is some of his best work he has done on our house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may wonder why our back fence is 6' high and the side is an 8' privacy fence. Well... our new neighbor's back deck sits pretty high and every time they walk out they can see right into our yard-  plus they have a ton of tree overgrowth. (Understatement). Privacy was top priority and a necessity. Nathan built a 6' fence all the way around the yard- and then added 2' high trellis with trim to separate us from our neighbor's jungle. That trellis is now my FAVORITE part of our backyard.  It not only gives our giant wall of China some beautiful character, but it was actually less expensive to do than a standard 8' fence. The back fence remains at 6' tall which is nice as it keeps it open and not too closed in. 

 

 

 

 

Next step was adding landscaping behind the addition and laying SOD! We thought we were doing well with our To Do list and timeline, but then our original Sod lady stopped returning our calls. We only needed about 70 square yards, so it was obvious we weren't her top customers....Thanks! We were wanting to lay the sod by the next day (Saturday), but Friday afternoon we had nothing. I called about ten sod farms in the area on my lunch hour (I had no idea there were so many!) and finally got a hold of Bramer Sod in East Louisville. The guy was awesome and basically told us to show up the next morning at 9am with a check and he would have the sod ready for us.  We picked it up on Saturday morning and by noon (with the help of friends) the sod was down. Crisis averted. Instant Gratification. It's held up great since then with regular watering and plenty of sun!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure this wasn't a very exciting post, but I like to keep our renovation process for our own records. I'll be back soon with full reveal! Below is a little sneak peak of our patio area!

  

 

-Tricia  

 

My New Bathroom Obsession: The Floor Tile

The final task Nathan's dad helped with (before he was released from our 2 week hold) was the tiled floor. You can check out the tub tile here if you're interested!

You can see the old floor tile in the picture below. It was probably the least awful thing about the old bathroom- but it still had to go in order for us to renovate the room.

 

The floor tile came from Lowes (although Home Depot has pretty much the same thing at the same price). The octagon tile came in 12 x 12 sheets, so it went pretty quickly once they got started.

 

I LOVE this tile and it is one of Lowes' most inexpensive options. It's a classic and definitely is a throwback to the 1920s when this house was built- which was my goal when starting the bathroom redo- I didn't want anything too modern.

 

 

Another token shot of Nathan on the blog. 

 

The sheets of tile were priceless. Can't imagine doing any of this one-by-one!

 



 

 

 

 

All the tile is down and ready.

 



 

And then Nathan grouted.... but I have no pictures to prove it because I think I went to bed. God bless him.

 

Here is my new obsession- our beautiful floor!

 

 



 

We ended up going with the "Warm Gray" grout and I think it's perfect. The gray contrasting with the white tile really shows off and compliments the design AND I don't have to worry about dirt getting in the grout lines. Win/Win!

 

 

We also used a mixed in sealer for this and it seems to be holding up to dust and dirt pretty well. We've had a lot of dirt with housework lately so it's already had a lot of practice.

 

Both tile jobs were probably the more tedious tasks for the bathroom… but well worth it. Sometimes I just want to lay on the floor and take a nap because it's so glorious… or maybe I'm just that tired. Who knows.

 

 

Will be back soon with the next update!

-Tricia

 

The Tub Gets a Tiling Job

Finally back with a bathroom progress post…. (You can check out the previous posts here and here) We've been taking a nice long break this week from anything house related, but I figured getting a post in is the least I can do.
 
Soooooo secret's out- As of this past Sunday (Mother's Day) the bath is done! OK- we still have one or two finishing touches, but I'm considering it complete and it feels so good! That being said, it was still such a monster of a job that I refuse to just show you the finished product without the steps that it took to get there. (And I've been too lazy/tired/preggo to take any of the final pictures yet so a big reveal post is not really possible at the moment….)
 
This post is all about the tub tile. Nathan's dad is pretty good when it comes to this stuff. His parents redid their first floor bath last year and it looks awesome so having him here for the tile component was HUGE. The tile was also one of the last things he helped work on before escaping his 2 week imprisonment with us, so we were lucky that we were able to fit it in.
 
The first tiling job they took on was the tub surround. My goal was to keep the look of the bathroom classic so we went with white subway tile. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with that choice and it can be pretty affordable, so it was a no brainer.
 
Before any tile was placed, we applied a waterproof barrier... that's the dark teal stuff on the wall in the pic below... 
 

 

 

Once dried, it was time to lay the tile.

 

 

 



 
Now, it wouldn't be one of my projects without making it a bit more difficult. Instead of just slapping the tile on in the typical layout, I wanted to add a little bit of interest. We decided to frame out an inset of the long wall and lay a smaller scaled tile within the tiled frame. (By the way- there really isn't a synonym for tile so I'll be using that word a lot here). I originally wanted the center tile to be even smaller scaled than what we chose, but the price of the smaller tile we looked into was just unreasonable and not worth it… so this was going to have to do. 
 
Here's a lovely iPhone picture showing the framed-in area pre tile.
 

 
And here is the tile all set in... but before grout.
 

 

 

 

  

  

Once the tile was in, it was grouting time (which I think happened during Derby weekend- it's all a blur!). I finally was able to get my hands dirty and help Nathan with this portion. We ended up choosing a white grout and mixed in a sealer which Nathan's dad suggested…. it's awesome because you don't have to go back and apply sealer to every grout line. Time saver for sure!
 
Here's the big guy grouting away. He loves when I put pictures of him up on da blog. I made sure to show three of him for extra measure.
 

 

 

What a difference grout makes...

 

 

 

 

 

Once the grout was dry, we wiped it clean and then caulked the corners and edges.... and to top it all off we added the shower head, faucet, and hardware. It definitely finished the look.

 

I think I'm in LOVE....

 



 

 



We actually cheated on Lowes and purchased the tub tile from Home Depot. The reason? The tile we found at Lowes wasn't as white as the floor tile we already had picked out. The Home Depot option ended up being a better color match so we went with that. Blasphemy I know.

 

 

 

 

It ended up turning out great and is definitely the look that I was going for. The detail is subtle, but I think it gives it a nice effect and makes it look like we spent a little more time and thought into how our tub was going to look (which we did- to Nathan's dismay).

 

 

 

 

 

And that's the tub tile for ya- turned out pretty great and I've been happily enjoying my bubble baths in a nice, fresh, clean bathtub. It's a far cry from showering in this thing for the past 2 years....

 

 

 

Next up is floor tile- probably my favorite part of the entire bathroom!

 

I'm going to take a bath now. Later.

 

-Tricia