Backdoor Secured......

So our backdoor leading to the garage has been a bit of a problem for awhile now.  You see the metal thingy that clicks the lock into the frame fell off, and all the screws I bought for it would not hold it in the frame..... Therefore, I had my handyman help me correct this problem.  You see, I wanted to be able to lock the garage door just in case a robber broke into our garage..... I had a more genius thought too..... Since I had an extra deadbolt from our front entry door project, I decided to have the handyman install this said extra deadbolt to the door leading to the garage.... This way, I will be doubley secured.....

Before (Inside View)

 Before (Garage View)

 After (Inside View)

 After (Garage View)

 View from the Laundry Room

It took the handyman about 30 minutes to cut the hole in the door, and do the additional work on the door frame for the deadbolt.  It looked rather easy if you knew what you were doing.  I am very happy I farmed this project out since I was really worry about screwing up the garage door, and then having to replace it because I cut the whole in the wrong spot or something.

Therefore, this future mommy is very pleased to have her backdoor all secured from any potential robbers that may lurk.  I think I will add painting this door to my list of future spring/summer projects too.... I am really liking the black doors that everyone is posting in blog world especially since this door is so hard to keep clean......

Display Your Family Proudly

For some time, I have wanted to display some of our family pictures in our home.  However, as you know, I have had a bit of a lack of courage when it comes to pounding holes into the walls.  You see, we have freshly painted walls finally, and I didn't want to gunk them up with extra nail holes.

At any rate, with my courage flowing, I got my hammer on.  The wall below is located directly across from the main floor bathroom, and is the pass through hallway from our foyer to our Great room.  This angle is from the foyer.

This angle is from the Great room.

Here is the wall in a "in progress" shot.  The post-it notes display a description of what picture goes into what frame since I hadn't printed all the photos I wanted to display when I started placing the frames on the wall.

I used the Ribba frames from IKEA in various sizes.  I like these frames because they look great, but are much less expensive than comparable options at Pottery Barn.  My hope is that this wall with grow with us as our family grows.  I wanted a balanced look, and I think I achieved the look I wanted.

Angle 1

 Angle 2

So what do you think?  I have been debating adding some stripes to this wall too to add a little more drama, but I have held off since I am in my third trimester. 

Front Door Gets Some New Bling!

Our front door has needed a facelift for some time.  As many of you out there, we are still struggling through the transition from brass hardware to satin nickel.  The other struggle our door has endured is having two holes where the former owners had their custom door knocker.  For two years, I have struggled to find a door knocker that would fit the two predrilled holes, and for two years, I have failed at every attempt until now...... See the sad holes..... Since winter is fast approaching, I wanted to get these holes filled.....

While browsing through Restoration Hardware's catalog, I found this beauty: The Ring Door Knocker.  What I loved about this door knocker is that the top and bottom part of the door knocker is two pieces.  This rocked my world because I had been struggling to find a door knocker that would fit my custom predrilled holes.  I had to have it on the spot.... At $50, I thought it was reasonable enough for a door knocker.  Of course, I went to purchase it at the store to find out it was not available in the store, but luckily I was able to order it and avoid shipping charges.... Yeah, but had to wait for a week for it's arrival... Boo!

It took no time to get up.  I did have to widen the predrilled holes a little more to get my hardware to sink into the door, but after about 15 minutes, the door knocker was up.  See below......

 Once I got the new door knocker, I new it was time to update the brass lock and kickplate.  I had been contemplating this for two years as well, but I wanted to keep my finish options open just in case the perfect door knocker fell into my lap (a girl can hope).

For awhile I have been really interested in upgrading our lock system to a keyless entry option.  With the new baby on the way, we will have a lot of guests coming in, and since most of our guests will be coming from out of state, there is always the chance they arrive when we are caught at an errand or something.  A keypad entry therefore would be ideal for us.  I did a bit of research, and decided to move forward with a Schlage keypad deadbolt.  I liked the flexibility this offered to us.  You can program the lock to hold 19 codes (not sure why you would want that many), but the more attractive option is that you can delete the codes very easily.  Therefore, no need to leave house keys for guests or contractors outside of your home.  Just give them a code, and delete it once their visit is complete.  The programming seemed to be easy enough, and the lock runs off a battery that supposedly will last for three years (we will see) so no reason to worry about the door not opening during an electricity outage.  There is also the back-up key option that can be used if the battery dies......

Therefore, I moved forward with purchasing the keypad deadbolt.  What I found once I reached the store is that the keypad deadbolt is sold separately, and you need to buy the bottom half handset to go with the deadbolt.  At Lowe's the customer needs to purchase the bottom half handset without a deadbolt by special order.  The interesting part about this option is that the bottom half handset that is sold separate (without a deadbolt) cost more special order from Lowe's than the whole front door handle set (which leaves you with an extra deadbolt).  I probably could have shopped around online and found a deal, but I am impatient, and just wanted to get this project complete.  Therefore, I went ahead and bought the keypad deadbolt, and the whole front door handle set.

The guy at Lowe's told me installation would be easy, but I decided to have a handyman come over and install it for me (worry-free).  Since I am 39 weeks pregnant, I could go into labor at any time so it is really important that my front door be able to lock at a moments notice.... Therefore, I just wasn't comfortable with the stress of possibly screwing up this project, and then having to try to put the old lock back on....... I am sure I could do it, but I had him help me with another project I will share in my next post.... It took the handyman about 45 minutes to install, and he said everything installed very easily..... :)

So without further adieu, here is our brand new door with it's new door knocker, lock, and kickplate.....

 Lock and handle set up close

 Keypad even closer

 Close-up of Door Knocker with Winter Wreath

I am just tickled with the transformation.  It just took me over 2 years to get the right items to get it done.  Of course, I still need to get a new wreath hanger because I did not realize until I looked at my picture that it is still brass (shame on me)...... In the spring, I would like to give the door a new coat of paint too, but that can wait until after the baby.....

As far as the keypad goes, it took me less than 5 minutes to remove the two factory codes, and replace it with two individual codes my husband and I picked.  I love the flexibility this will offer us, and can't wait to use it.

Linking up to......

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Alarmed.....

Most of you are most likely aware that October is National Fire Prevention Month.  Many of the home improvement stores have fire alarms on sale to help homeowners better protect themselves.  One thing I did not know, is that most fire alarms need to be replaced after 10 years.  This fact was important to me as our home was built in 1997, and with it being 2010, that meant that most likely most of our fire alarms in our home were overdue for replacement.  Also, I am in my third trimester of pregnancy, and my nesting instincts have really kicked in.  Therefore, my husband and I checked all our fire alarms, and found that most of them did indeed need to be replaced. 

Before

Once we determined we needed to replace our smoke alarms, we decided to do a bit of research as to what type of alarm to install.  We quickly learned there are two type of alarms: photoelectric and ionization.  So what is the difference you may ask?  Ionization sensors may respond slightly faster to flaming fires, whereas photoelectric sensors may respond slightly faster to smouldering fires.  Both meet federal and state safety guidelines, and the verdict is still out as to which one is better (from my research).  Therefore, it is recommended to enhance your fire safety prevent, that you install both type of alarms as you can not predict what sort of fire you may have.  We decided to go one step further, and choose some dual purpose fire alarms that also have carbon monoxide detectors.  Therefore, we installed six new fire alarms.  Four are battery powered, and two are hard wired to the house electrical system.  We added additional fire alarms to each of our bedrooms in the interior of the room as none of our bedrooms had fire alarms inside of the room.  It is recommended that you have alarms in your hallway, and then in the inside of the bedroom if you sleep with your doors closed (which we do). 

After (Hallway)

 After (Nursery)

All and all, the replacement units and install of new alarms took a little over a hour.  It was easy work, and I am very pleased to have this knocked off our list.  It is reassuring to know that all the alarms are functional, and will alert us if the need arises. 

Outdoor Lighting Update.....

Let's face it.... Our outdoor lighting had seen better days.  After 13 years of 365 days out in the elements, the brass fixtures had begun to wear away.  In some places, the finish on the lights were blackened. 

Close-up Before

Side of Garage Before

Therefore, last weekend, the time came to update the jewelry on the house.  It took some time to find a replacement.  We wanted to find an option that would allow for the lightbulbs to be easily changed.  The old brass model were a bit difficult becasue there was a piece you had to unscrew two screws before you could access the lightbulbs.  Also, because I have a height disadvantage, I always need a chair or ladder to access. 

On a trip to Menard's, we found the above option.  The look was right on, and the lightbulb access was through the bottom of the light.  They were also a decent price at about $35 a piece (this was important since we needed four for the garage, and one for our front porch).  Luckily, we were able to find the five lights we needed: Score!

Once we got home, my husband got to installing them under the direction of our neighbor.  This was my husband's first go around with installing lights, and he completed like a champ.  After about 2.5 hours, all the lights were up.  They are now ready for their close-ups.....

Now, that is so much better.  Instant update.... It is so refreshing to pull into the garage now, and this wonderful bling hanging from the house.

Master Bath Reno: Part 8- Towel Bar Progress....

Let's just say, I was hopeful to have more to update you on this week than towel bars, but let's just say I am starting to slow down now that I have entered my third trimester of pregnancy.  At any rate, I don't want to rush through finishing the space so it may take a little longer to accessorize than I thought..... As I weed through figuring out how to complete my space, let me remind you of the desperate towel bars we once had in our bath....

It is a bit embarassing to admit this, but these towel bars have been hanging out of the wall for at least nine months.  Because I knew I would be replacing them in the future with brushed nickel updates, I just couldn't bring myself to fix them.... Therefore, they just sort literally hung around..... Until now.... I spent about a hour replacing them, and let me just say I am so excited to have towel bars that are brushed nickel that do not hang out of the wall...I went with the Moen Glenshire towel bar line.  They were on sale for 20% off at Menards last week resulting in a bit of savings.  The template that comes with these towel bars is wonderful.  It makes installing the hardware a cinch....

Before

After

The towel ring took less than 10 minutes to put up... Easy Peasy, and boy is it conventient to have a place to hang your towel again.

Installing the towel bars by the shower took a bit more time.  I needed a place to hang three towels.  Of course I require two towels myself, and my husband needs a place for his.  Before, we used to have a towel bar on our glass shower door, but we went for a more seamless option without a bar.  Therefore, the Moen Glenshire double towel bar and single towel bar fit perfectly (well almost perfectly).  You see, the double towel bar comes in a 24 inch length, but my wall space would not allow for this which meant I needed to cut the bars down to size.  I went with the 18 inch length as the single towel bar was already this size, and the template that came with bars would be perfect for this (no customization needed).  Therefore, I marked my rods for 18 inches, got the hack saw out, and cut them to size.  I must admit, the cutting took a bit more time than I thought it would, but I think I got both rods cut in about 20 minutes or so.  Once I got the rods cut, then it was time to get the templates on the wall.

After drilling a few holes in the wall, I was able to get the hardware up.

I am just over the moon with the completion of this project.  Before the update, we only have one towel bar on this wall, and the other one was across the room.  It is so nice and convenient to have our towels an arm length away.  Makes showering that much easier...

Master Bath Reno- Part 6- Light Selection

Good bye Hollywood...... Hello engery star lighting!  I am so excited to say sahari to the old brass Hollywood lights that just about everyone has in at least one of their bathrooms.  Hollywood served it's purpose, but everything has a shelf life, and it's life has come to a close.                                                              Before

Close-up

Choosing a replacement lighting option was a bit more challenging than I thought it was going to be.  I searched all the local hardware stores, and your usual suspects online.  I wanted to choose something that had an Energy Star rating with straight lines that was well priced.  Luckily, after about my third week of shopping, I stumbled upon the below option at Lowe's.  It is one of their new options on the floor, and I was excited to find two available for purchase.

Installing the lights were relatively easy once we were able to center the lights on the wall.  The challenge part came in when we needed to repair the giant holes in the walls left by where Hollywood had left it's mark.  Lots of spackling and sanding involved, but it was well worth it.

The bathroom project is coming together quickly.... Look for an update on paint this weekend. :)

Master Bath Reno- Part 5- Marble Flooring

We made great progress with our master bath this week.  The awful carpet is a thing of the past, and the gross tile in the toilet room is out.  Yeah!  Below is the how we got the job complete.....

Before

After (with Durock down)

We selected Turkish marble in a 16 in x 24 in size for our master bathroom.  In the spirit of working with some of the existing items in the bath, we needed to go with a pattern/color combo that was neutral that would work with our off-white fiber glass shower bottom, but would also work with our more white with gray specks countertops.  Of course, there was all the white tile to consider that surrounded the shower and bath tub.   Our bath is about 135 square feet, but there are a lot of crazy angles in the bathroom.  There were very few tiles that did not need to be cut to size. 

The Turkish marble color scheme is a milky cream color with grays and tans swirled throughout.  It is not polished which makes for great traction which is very important in a room where it is inevitable that water will be splashed on the floor from time to time.

We did hire our for the installation for this project since the bath is anything, but a standard size.  Below you will see a picture of the marble in, but not grouted.  It took our contractor one day to get the marble laid.  We choose to have the marble laid in a brick pattern. 

Here is another angle without the grout.

Our particular marble tile needed to be sealed before the floor was grouted.  The contractor used Aqua Mix Sealers Choice Gold.  This product claims to be low VOC, but it left quite an odor behind once applied for a low VOC product.  After airing the space out for a few hours, the flumes were gone, but we were quite disappointed with the stench it left behind for those few first hours.

View from the Master Bedroom with birch grout

Another view from the Master Bedroom (grouted)

Closer look at the Marble Brick Pattern

Angle from our Master Closet

So there you have it, after 2 plus years, the nasty carpet is gone, and we could not be happier with our marble selection.  Next on tap is paint..... Stay tuned!

I am linking up to the following parties.....