New Carpet

My husband absolutely loves carpet.  I love it too, mostly.  I love the way it feels beneath my feet, and how it helps absorb sound in a room.   The carpet in the house was green and had been home to a dog previously so we decided it may be a good idea to replace the carpet in our new home before we moved in.  Obviously if you can, it's nice to get this done before there's furniture in the house so nothing has to be moved or disturbed in my opinion. Pictured right is a pretty good example of how green the carpet was.  The entryway tile is a wood-look tile, which actually looks good with the green.  I love the tile so I wanted to make sure that we found something that would go well with it. 

So after looking around, we decided to go with a carpet we found at Home Depot in the Home Decorator's Collection called Kensington:
   Home Decorators Collection - Kensington  


I loved the warmness and how well it complimented the tile.  I was a little worried about how it may look with grey accents, (I LOVE grey) but decided I would cross that bridge when I get there!  One thing that we knew for sure was that we wanted the best carpet pad they had available.  We wanted extra padding for added comfort.  At the particular store we were at, it was a half-inch foam pad:

Prime Comfort 1/2 in. thick premium carpet pad 

So long green carpet!  It was so nice to see it go. 

We've gotten a ton of compliments on how comfortable the carpet is.  We love it.  Just like the paint, I feel like the carpet has helped to really transform the space and make it more inviting.     

Fireplace TV Mount

We decided that we wanted to mount our 60" Sony flat screen above the fireplace.  We noticed that in all of the realtor pictures, the previous owners had TV stands in front of the fireplace for their TV.  And we did our research to find out all of the reasons against mounting above a fireplace to make sure we wanted to do so.  The heat and soot are two good reasons not to mount your TV above the fireplace if you plan to use your fireplace often.  We, however, live in South Texas and our winters aren't very harsh so we felt pretty confident in our decision.  We knew that given the configuration of the room, it was the most logical decision and I didn't want to face our couches any other way.  Never having had a fireplace in a home before, I absolutely wanted the fireplace to be the focal point of the room.

We discovered that the studs in the fireplace behind the drywall were not consistent, There was one stud just to the right of the middle, and no others except outside of the recessed area.  My husband bought a 2x12, textured and painted it with Wool Skein to match the rest of the wall.  Then cut it to fit inside the recessed area.  Then he used long screws (2 on each side, top and bottom) to secure it to the studs on the side, and then attached the mount to the 2x12.  He also used 2 lag bolts into the one stud we found in the middle, JUST to be on the safe side.  This was the only way we were comfortable with mounting a TV that large.  It look a little modification but we got it done!  Then he ran electrical from a light switch that is on the wall on the side of the fireplace and put an outlet behind the TV.  He also ran CAT5e and coax to plates behind the TV as well.

  Lucky for us, we have that cubby beside our fireplace so we were able to cut a small hole in the top of it so we could see what was going on up there.  The stud finder really had us scratching our heads since the studs weren't consistent.  It was alerting on some areas that weren't actually studs and it really helped to be able to see in there without cutting a huge hole in the wall!




I would definitely recommend that if you plan to mount your TV above your fireplace, or on any wall for that matter, know what you're dealing with.  And if you don't feel comfortable with the project, hire a professional!  We consulted one on this project and confirmed our plans to make sure this was an acceptable method.  Know that there will not always be studs available to attach to, and a Plan B may be needed.

He also mounted a sound bar under the TV.  I love this look!  So much cleaner than TV stands and cables!  Our big city remodel is starting to come along nicely!

Living Room Paint

We knew that we absolutely loved the bones of this home. There were a few design choices that we'd like to change to better work for us.  The previous owners were sweet enough to leave their old paint remnants in the garage for us, which saved a TON of guesswork on what colors or types of paint they used.  That was an absolute lifesaver.  We also had plans to replace the carpet and we definitely wanted to get the paint done before the carpet was installed to make things a little easier.
(PS, we also needed to make sure the paint was DRY before the carpet guys came in!)

First of all, there was one large accent wall that we knew we wanted to cover in the living room.  I definitely knew that I didn't want to keep this orange, but I didn't exactly want to paint the whole living room.  Luckily, all I had to do was go out to the garage and find the can of paint used on most of the living room walls.

We were also worried about the high ceilings.  We didn't know if we'd need a scaffolding to get up there, but our little giant ladder was just tall enough to get up there to reach the high spots thank goodness!  We bought ours from Costco and LOVE it.
Little Giant Ladders

I liked the main color well enough so we decided to go ahead and use it to paint over the orange.  The color is Wool Skein SW 6148 - Yellow Paint Color - Sherwin-Williams.
Here's what it looks like after we covered up the orange:

What a HUGE improvement!  I feel like we just changed the whole attitude of the living room.  It feels so much warmer and more inviting.

If you notice on the picture to the left we also removed the mirror and shelves above the wet bar and painted behind it as well.  We have big plans for that wet bar, but we'll talk about that in another post.

I love how paint is such a small thing to do but can make such a HUGE difference!  I'm getting really excited about this remodel!

Our new city home!

It's been quite a while since we've been able to work on our mobile home renovation, we have been renting over an hour away in the city and decided to go ahead and buy a home here for future investment purposes.  We're very excited!!!!

This is a 3 bedroom 2 bath single story home with a small office space off the living room.  There's also a Florida room in the back and hot tub which I think was the main selling point for my husband!  It was built in 1986 and we know that there were at least 2 previous owners.  The most recent owners made some great upgrades to the home and we are looking forward to continuing where they left off.   The inspection came out very good, and we already had big plans to start as soon as we got the keys. 

We fell in love with this house, but there were some changes that needed to be made. We'll be painting, replacing bathroom vanities, getting new counter tops, sinks, carpet, and trying to customize our new house as much as possible!  I will be posting about colors, design and kitchen organization (man, that is one SMALL pantry!) throughout the process.  Can't wait to get started!

New ROOF!!!

Yep, that's right.  We're having to put a new roof on this mobile home renovation.  We won't be completely tearing off the old roof, we'll just be putting a new roof over the top of the old one.  And the reason for our haste is because with the recent rains that we've had, we discovered leaks coming in through the roof.  In all of our replacing of rot, tearing out and re-framing of the interior and exterior walls, the roof has flexed so much that things just aren't as sealed and connected as they were before we started.  We knew this was coming from the beginning, we were hoping to be able to do it later but with these new leaks we decided that before we put new materials on the walls like insulation and drywall we should probably fix the leak situation.  We definitely don't want for any of our new materials to get ruined because of leaks! 




Pictured right is our roof before. The new addition roof on the left and the old mobile home roof on the right after 2 coats of aluminum protectant. You can also see Mike up there helping TJ get the measurements lined out. We're so thankful for his help!












The first step was to set a 2x4 ridge on the peak of the roof.  As you can see, these are blocked with small cuts of 2x4 to connect each piece together.  We used 3 inch ring shank nails.  We used 10 foot 2x4's, and the ridge took about 8 2x4's.



These rafters were placed directly on top of the existing rafters in the ceiling of the house.  We used the same 3 inch ring shank nails to nail these rafters through the roof into the existing ceiling rafters.  Since the existing roof metal was in such bad shape, not all of the new rafters were able to sit flush, as you can see the gaps above.  So 6 inch lag screws were used on every other rafter to screw them into the top plate of the exterior walls.  This is to ensure the wind doesn't budge our new roof.  These rafters are set roughly 2 feet apart to match the existing rafters in the ceiling but not every rafter was exactly 2 feet apart.  We used roughly 80 10-foot 2x4's for the rafters.  The overhang you see above will be trimmed in the end to accommodate fascia board, but we plan to leave about a foot overhang to help with water runoff.



The notch pictured above was cut in every rafter in 4 spots to support the furring strips.  These cuts made the job very time consuming.  A miter saw was used to make these notches.  We went with 1x3 furring strips to save on cost. 



Above you can see the furring strips running across the rafters.  They are 1x3x8 and about 120 of these were used.

Here's the roof with pretty much all of the lumber in place!  Now we're ready for metal! 

Above you can see the overhang before we added the fascia. 



And above you can see the overhang after it was trimmed, and fascia was installed.  This is just added protection for the rafters from moisture. The fascia was made out of 14 foot 2x6's.  A router was used to cut a groove for the soffit.

 

We used 50 sheets of 9 foot R-Panel to cover the roof, 25 sheets on each side.  They were fastened to the furring strips with metal roofing screws. Close to 1,000 screws were used.  Each sheet of metal was fitted from the bottom up using a piece of 2x4 to get exactly 1 1/2 inch overhang past the fascia, to help with water runoff.  Each sheet of metal has to be screwed down to the furring strips, so for that reason, and for safety purposes, it's best to only put in place a couple of sheets at a time while you are screwing them in.  This will help you to keep track of where the furring strips are as you are putting in your screws.

  There are 2 plumbing vents, 1 in each bathroom that sticks up out of the roof.  Holes had to be cut in the metal to accommodate these.  We used a rubber flashing to seal these vent pipes to protect against leaks.  They applied a bead of silicone at the bottom of the boot and put in lots of screws to hold in place.

 Pictured above is the house before the new roof.

And here is the house after the new roof.  In total, it took about 10 days to install.  We love the way our new roof looks!  And best of all, we have added piece of mind that we shouldn't have any more leaks (we'll have to wait for a good rain to check!), and HOPEFULLY it'll help with our electric bill.  We're putting a lid on this mobile home renovation a little at a time! 


Plumbing - Inside

In planning the inside plumbing for our Mobile Home Renovation, we decided we would move where the water comes in, because we wanted to move the water heater to the addition.  Before the renovation the water heater was in between the 2 spare bedroom closets, which was taking up much needed closet space from our little girl!  So we tore out the old water heater, re-framed the closets to make them bigger, and re-routed the outside plumbing to come into the new pantry/utility room in the addition. 
We used 1 inch PVC from the well to this point, then reduced it down to 3/4 inch PEX with a ball valve.  We're told the ball valve is more reliable than the gate valve, allowing more control to stop flow. 
We decided to go with PEX because it was cost effective, flexible, and fast to roll out.  This made the project easier, especially in a mobile home.  This also meant TJ got to buy more tools!  In order to install PEX you have to have special crimpers for installing the fittings. 

 

This picture shows the handoff from the pipe coming from the well to the tubes that will go inside (with a shutoff valve).  The water will actually come in to an area for a proposed water filtration system, then go to the water heater from there. 

 

 

There are pipes laying on the ground right now because they come up into the house from the floor, then run up through the walls where it's needed (utility room, kitchen and 2 bathrooms).  These pipes will eventually be strapped down to the ground which should provide warmth and ease of access later on.     

 

This first picture shows the new utility room/pantry from the doorway.  TJ built a platform for the water heater, washer and dryer to sit on so they aren't so low to the ground.  You can see the placement of the water heater there where it sits in the box.  

 

 

 In this picture you can see the water heater removed and the lines and valves for the washer and dryer put in.  I love these colored tubes, there's no mistaking which is which. 

 
This picture shows the plumbing for the water filtration system that we will be installing.  It's a complete circuit right now until we are able to install the water filter.
 

Plumbing for the tub in the master bathroom

Plumbing for the tub in the guest bathroom

 

Plumbing for toilet and sink in guest bathroom

 

Since we are plumbing in a mobile home I believe it makes things so much easier to be able to run plumbing up from the floor directly to where we need it while leaving the majority of the pipes under the house.  We've discussed adding small access panels in a few areas to be able to access the plumbing for the showers/tubs from behind in case of problems in the future.  The majority of this plumbing job is done!  This means our little mobile home renovation is still moving along! 





Plumbing - Outside

We decided that we wanted to replace the entire water infrastructure from the very beginning due to rust problems we've had for the last several years.  One of the first things we had done was have the well pipe replaced from galvanized steel to PVC.  Several years ago we replaced the tank which didn't fix our issues (the submersible pump was replaced as well).  We also decided that we would replace all of the pipe in the ground leading from the well to the house.  TJ rented a trencher and installed and buried the pipe. 

 

The trencher cost him about $100 for a day.  He trenched from the well to the house, with a few detours off of that to the back of the house for a garden water faucet, and the front of the house for a water faucet out there as well.  He also trenched from the well to the electric pole so that we could properly bury the romex for the power cable for the pump.  We don't want to be hitting that with the lawn mower anymore!

 

The new faucets are also a welcome sight!  I'm definitely going to want a faucet close to the garden, and the front faucet will be great for watering grass and plants. Hopefully now we'll also be able to burn trash and tree limbs and things with water close by.  

Since we're running a completely new plumbing system, TJ will have a plumber friend help him to make sure everything gets done right inside and out.  One of my big concerns with all new pipes, etc. is to make sure that we get enough water pressure in the house.  We may have spoiled ourselves a little bit by living a few years in the city.  You can definitely take things like good water pressure for granted!

 

 

 

I'm super stoked about our new water pipes!  Eventually I'd like to look into maybe changing out our well pump with an above ground solar powered pump and a large secondary storage tank.  It would be super cool to have a decent water reserve and not have to pay for electricity to power the water pump!  But those upgrades will need to wait, I'm just glad to be getting plumbing in the house!  That means our mobile home renovation is progressing!