Friday, December 6, 2013

Concrete Raised Bar Top

Here is the second of my two concrete bar tops. Thanks to an old friend Brant Jahnke for helping me custom fabricate the bent steel plate that supports this +/- 150lb countertop.

I went to him with an idea I had of an industrial-looking support that could make the counter top seem like it had a really clean cantilever to it. I loved the idea of having exposed fasteners and the clear-coated steel color went right along with my beloved gray theme.

Also, check out the over-bar light fixtures! If you haven't been to my parents new loft (their build project was happening at the same time as mine was) they have almost identical ones - I wasn't aware of this when I purchased mine - so it makes for interesting back and forth harassment.

Enjoy.







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More Teasing.

To all of my family and friends who keep harping on me to share final photos of my renovation project: I am sorry, but if you want to see the final product, you must come see it in person.

Since I love you all so very much, I want to see all of your pretty faces! Come down and check out the house whenever you can - I'm glad to share the whole story to anyone who is willing to listen. It has been a fun and exciting project to work on, and I have learned many things along the way. There are still many little things left outstanding to be completed but I have been living in the home since early October. It's a really great feeling to have something of my own, something I and many of you have helped me with. Thank you all who helped and gave support along the way, I needed and appreciate it. 

However, I do have a few things to share today, so I hope this makes you all happy!



After we got all of the drums, amps, speakers, monitors set up in the studio, my intuitions of it being a terrible acoustic space were realized - so I had to act!




I did some research on how to make acoustic sound panels, and immediately went out and got the material




A little bit of dense fiberglass insulation set into a wood frame



5 pieces of insulation came in a bag, so that's the number of panels I went with (for now). Building these was pretty quick and painless. 




Now, for a fabric color. Since I have never done any upholstery work, I wanted a color and a pattern that wouldn't show if I had put it on crooked or not, but I also didn't want a big solid color either - so this is what I went with. It was pretty cheap, thanks to Hobby Lobby and their amazing coupons. 





The first one all put together 





All 5 are ready to hang! I put some simple picture frame brackets on the back and hung them all over the studio (but of course no final photos of this, you must come visit!)




Got a super killer deal on this stainless gas stove - finally I can cook a proper meal!





Abby enjoying some fine home cook'n




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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Backsplash



I haven't ever done this before, so naturally I am struggling - again. However, we are making progress.

I'm definitely NOT a plumber



Since I am an idiot - I totally messed up my toilet soil pipe system when I thought I had to raise it up to get the drain to sit on top of my new tile in my bathroom. Well, rookie mistake. I totally screwed up the existing drain system, and had to cut it out and completely replace it. However, I'd say the patch job was pretty good considering I really had no idea what I was doing. 

Mad props to Phil who was able to explain this whole process over the phone to me, again, I could not have done it without him. Thanks!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Drumset, Engage







If your imagination can remove all the clutter in the room, this drumset really makes the room sparkle. It is loud as hell in this room, just how I like it. 

Concrete Top


Before.



After.



This is the first of two concrete tops that will be installed, they look incredible - I could not be more happy with them!







Knock'n











Shout out to my brother Josh for creating this gnar door knocker! Now I just need to get this door painted...

Monday, October 14, 2013

Now I'm Just Teasing

A lot of things have been happening lately on my home, most importantly I would say, is me finally moving in. Now, I should preface that with 'I live there now, but by no means is my project complete.'

There are many things still to be done - and I am wayyy behind schedule on just about everything. Having said that, things are still moving on rapidly. Unfortunately for all of you followers, I don't want to give too much away anymore - I will just be giving up small updates from here on out. If you want to see the finished product, you will have to in person - hah!


Here's a couple updates of what has taken place recently.





Countertops in the kitchen have been installed!




















Carpet cleaning and vent cleaning has been done, the dust smell really went away after this got completed. 






I got a big boy fridge!






I may have hung at least one picture. 






I missed kwon...






Abby put in a bunch of hard work on the front entry walk - check out those granite pavers!






We tried to mimic the design of Abby's sign in the paving pattern, staggering it a bit - nice, contemporary, SHARP. 













Pops and I started siding the garage! It was a bit more work than we were expecting, and unfortunately could not get it all accomplished in one weekend. But, getting very close to finishing this project!













My pops is a stud. 






Laying the base for Abby's sign, running electrical conduit to it, and adding an anchoring system for it so all you thieves can't steal it so easy :)







Thursday, October 3, 2013

Week 6 update

Whew how time flies!

Apologies to my passionate followers -- Cory has been busy working on his home and not writing his blog!

Last week was full of ups and downs - but mostly ups. We started laying the tile in the kitchen, but disaster happened when the tile wasn't sticking correctly, ugh! The mortar bed we had laid was just the wrong type for my big 'ol tile (12"x24"). We had almost the whole kitchen laid, then had to make the fortunate/unfortunate decision to rip it all up and lay it all down again.





On a similar note, the wood floor refinish had a very mirrored story. I had the entire floor sanded down to bare wood, stained, then polished but when it was all finished I had strange dry spots everywhere, and the stain didn't seem to be consistent. Long story short, I had to have my wood floor guy repeat that process all over again a few days later. Though I was planning on moving October 1st, it got pushed back until October 5th because of these unfortunate mishaps.







On a brighter note, Everything now looks great! I couldn't be happier. Photos of the finished wood floor coming soon.



Last weekend was what I will commonly refer to as "The weekend Phil happened."

Abby's stepdad, Phil, came allllll the way down from Hudson, Wisconsin to help me work on my house project, and man -- is that guy ever talented. We tore through the small list of things I thought I could get accomplished and then did a bunch more. Phil is crazy talented in just about every way possible, and it was amazing to watch him work. From plumbing, to electrical, trim, concrete -- he can do it all. And, did. Thank you so much Phil for helping me out, I'm not sure how all of this work would have ever gotten done without you.



We got all the cabinets set in the kitchen! (This comes with a surprise, however -- the cabinets I thought I was getting looking almost nothing like these, except the color - we are still trying to iron out those details to see if I can get the cabinet doors I really wanted).














































Saturday Morning, 6 am -- The granite from 801 Grand arrives on site. And, since I have awesome friends, they woke up early to help me unload 4 pallets full of them. Shoutouts to my brother Ryan, John Wells, John Volz, Brandon Volz -- and last, but first in my book, my little booger Abby for orchestrating this whole thing and getting me all this gorgeous material!



























Getting prepared to make concrete countertops!
These countertops won't be my entire kitchen tops, but rather accent pieces on my raised bar, as well as my small dry bar in my dining room. I can't wait for these to finish casting so I can put them in place!


Mixture materials



Mixture -- we put a little bit of dark stain in the mix to dry and give the concrete a darker gray look -- Duh, Gray. 


Raised bar all casted in place




Phil troweling the top that will go over my dry bar. So excited!



Pops and I got the side window in the Garage in place!






Oh, with all this work going on, I still had a show that weekend too. And, it was amazing. 








Starting to lay the tile out in the kitchen (again)












Shoutout to my new neighbor Brad who came by and taught me how to lay tile -- his help was greatly appreciated. I really love my new neighbors!





Just about done -- yes, it needs to be cleaned. 







Paint in the sunroom has started (now that most everything is cleaned out of there)






Dry Bar Cabinets in the dining room have been installed - now just impatiently waiting on the concrete counter to sit atop them








Abby painting the back stairwell to the basement on homemade scaffolding








Both garage doors have been installed and both function automatically (and flawlessly, might I add)









We are still however, making big messes






Big bro spent some time getting muddy in the front yard removing the old bushes that used to sit here -- making way for Abby's sweet sign and the new landscaping that will bring you to the entry door!









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