Let's See Your House Projects!

[MPOWER5266]

This is kinda embarrassing but since doing the reno and addition on my house, the basement has become a catch all for crap. My wife has a booth at an antique mall and we buy and sell a lot of MCM furniture so the basement has turned into our storage area/work shop and it has gotten out of control. We started organizing and cleaning last night and our first area was the work bench.

Before.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And after an hour and one giant trash bag later.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Then we started cleaning of my project car and the surrounding area. This started Sunday actually, when I moved my tool box from the basement to the attached garage.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

My 1974 Bmw 2002 storage unit..... This poor thing needs some attention.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And cleaned off and pushed as far back and out of the way as possible, taking up the space where my tool box used to sit. This will soon be leaving the house and heading to my dads shop once the e9 is finished and we sell the Jeep XJ wagoneer and Cherokee Chief.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

We still have a long way to go but it was nice to start getting this re-organized.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by MPOWER5266

This is kinda embarrassing but since doing the reno and addition on my house, the basement has become a catch all for crap. My wife has a booth at an antique mall and we buy and sell a lot of MCM furniture so the basement has turned into our storage area/work shop and it has gotten out of control. We started organizing and cleaning last night and our first area was the work bench.

Before.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr
.

whoa! that's crazy how it looked before and after! great job!

[yellowssm]

Finished my home gym a few months ago

[ToddBlack88]

Reno of my laundry room I did about 2 years back.

Involved complete gut. New flooring, new larger window and put in the middle of the wall. Restructured the wall to carry upper floor load due to much larger window. New pot lighting and wiring. New plumbing and relocating upper plumbing.(kitchen directly above)

Before




After

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by ToddBlack88

Reno of my laundry room I did about 2 years back.

Involved complete gut. New flooring, new larger window and put in the middle of the wall. Restructured the wall to carry upper floor load due to much larger window. New pot lighting and wiring. New plumbing and relocating upper plumbing.(kitchen directly above)

Before




After

Wow! Nice!

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by ToddBlack88

Reno of my laundry room I did about 2 years back.

Involved complete gut. New flooring, new larger window and put in the middle of the wall. Restructured the wall to carry upper floor load due to much larger window. New pot lighting and wiring. New plumbing and relocating upper plumbing.(kitchen directly above)

Really nice job there. Need to be sure my wife never sees those pictures.

[ToddBlack88]

Thanks folks.

It was pretty easy to make it look better than it was. Lol.

We bought the place in 2006 during the first market boom here. One open house, 20 bids.

Original shape 1967 house, with condemned decks due to rot. First project I did was the decks.

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

So I need some ideas. Tree fell on the old deck/stairs and it's all replaced now, but we never had an "awning" or gate at the bottom. That cross member needs something

The gate will have to go with the first snow

Bro do you live in the woods?!

[ToddBlack88]

A year before that laundry reno, we did the landscaping and I built a treehouse for my son.

Levelled back yard, hedge, trampoline pit, treehouse with attic and decks, terraced front yard, new pathways and stairs, and irrigation throughout.

Before....small pics





After









The other side of the back yard I build a large river rock pit with a trampoline, but I can’t find a picture of it.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by infinitekidM2C

Bro do you live in the woods?!

A few times a year. Dad's cabin above Lake Isabella/Wofford Heights.

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

A few times a year. Dad's cabin above Lake Isabella/Wofford Heights.

Nice! Does he rent to fellow BMW enthusiasts?

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by infinitekidM2C

Nice! Does he rent to fellow BMW enthusiasts?

Not any more. He actually auctioned it off a few years to fellow Lions, but they refused to follow winter shut-down procedures (drain water to protect pipes) and we had to make the 3-hour each way trip to do it for them

Also, we can't find the keys to the ATVs Honda says we have to swap the ignition. I don't have the manual dexterity to do that in 20 weather. So it may be next Spring before we can ride again.

Originally Posted by ToddBlack88

Reno of my laundry room I did about 2 years back.

Nice!

Where did u get the cabinets from?

[ToddBlack88]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

Nice!

Where did u get the cabinets from?

Ha, believe it or not, they are IKEA.
I made higher “support feet” for them, so I could get them high enough to put the counter right over the washer and dryer. Counter is about 1.5” higher than normal.
I had to make my own kick plate under the cabinets due to increasing the height.

[hybrid_eg]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

The most similar thing I can find online would be this.

Although there is a Bed Bath and Beyond going out of business near me. I went in and asked what they were doing with their fixtures, ended up buying a whole wall of their industrial display boards. I also got a few boxes of all of the different attachments for hanging things like the baskets and whatnot. I got ~320 sq ft. of this and more hangers than I will ever use for under $200. All in all, quite the steal. I also have a 4'x8' board down over my workbench for most of my tools.

that was a steal of a deal! Slat-Wall all the way for organization in the garage imho. I went with www.pro-slat.com their PVC model is more affordable than aluminum, then again it depends how much area you want to cover.

Originally Posted by ToddBlack88

I had to make my own kick plate under the cabinets due to increasing the height.

Awesome, nice work!

I'm guessing the paint color for the kick plate was custom matched to the cabinets?

[ToddBlack88]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

Awesome, nice work!

I'm guessing the paint color for the kick plate was custom matched to the cabinets?

Yeah I took a panel to Home Depot to match the off white colour, and sprayed it with my little sprayer.

[spazzyfry123]

For those that have used general contractors for renovation work, what has been your process for vetting? We're looking at purchasing a fixer-upper in a great neighborhood, but unsure how to find the right guys for the heavy lifting in a new city with no references. Our real estate agent has a few lined up, but curious if there's a catch all website to track testimonials and track record.

[IllSic_Design]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

For those that have used general contractors for renovation work, what has been your process for vetting? We're looking at purchasing a fixer-upper in a great neighborhood, but unsure how to find the right guys for the heavy lifting in a new city with no references. Our real estate agent has a few lined up, but curious if there's a catch all website to track testimonials and track record.

Angieslist.com or homeadvisor.com have ratings/reviews for local services

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

For those that have used general contractors for renovation work, what has been your process for vetting? We're looking at purchasing a fixer-upper in a great neighborhood, but unsure how to find the right guys for the heavy lifting in a new city with no references. Our real estate agent has a few lined up, but curious if there's a catch all website to track testimonials and track record.

I would not rely on website testimonials to select a contractor and I would not rely on a realtor for anything. I’d be much more inclined to ask neighbors and friends / family / co-workers in the area, which will give you contractors to call and others to avoid. Diligence in finding a contractor is far more involved than looking in one place.

The first step is being sure you know what you want to do so you can talk specifics. Think about walking into a car dealer with no idea what you want or what cars should cost vs. being an informed shopper. Same concept applies. Houzz is a pretty good place to get some ideas, as well as some example costs.

I usually meet the contractor in person to get a sense of their attitude and attention to detail. When we meet I establish what I am looking for in a bid / estimate. If they can’t give me a reasonably detailed quote of cost and time in a timely manner I don’t bother calling them back. Once you have an contractor and estimate that seem reasonable, get references and call them. Ask at least one reference if they wouldn’t mind showing you the work the contractor did and look at it in detail. You’ll also want to check their license and BBB status. You’ll be surprised how many contractors you’ll need to call just to get to this point with 2-3 of them.

Personally, I also try to find at least some of the subs and buy some of the materials myself. Some GCs won’t allow that so they are also out. We have a carpenter, electrician, painter and plumber we like. I want to pay these subs directly rather than being forced to use someone I don’t know that a GC forces on me to mark up their costs. We renovated our master bath for $32K but had numerous estimates that exceeded $50K. I also try to heavily back weight payments to when work is 100% done but am generally ok with progress payments. That said, don’t try to nickel and dime someone with a reasonable quote. They need to make a profit and as long as they are earning it, I have no problem paying it. I just don’t want to pay unnecessary markup on subs and materials that I can avoid with minimal effort.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

I would not rely on website testimonials to select a contractor and I would not rely on a realtor for anything. I’d be much more inclined to ask neighbors and friends / family / co-workers in the area, which will give you contractors to call and others to avoid. Diligence in finding a contractor is far more involved than looking in one place.

The first step is being sure you know what you want to do so you can talk specifics. Think about walking into a car dealer with no idea what you want or what cars should cost vs. being an informed shopper. Same concept applies. Houzz is a pretty good place to get some ideas, as well as some example costs.

I usually meet the contractor in person to get a sense of their attitude and attention to detail. When we meet I establish what I am looking for in a bid / estimate. If they can’t give me a reasonably detailed quote of cost and time in a timely manner I don’t bother calling them back. Once you have an contractor and estimate that seem reasonable, get references and call them. Ask at least one reference if they wouldn’t mind showing you the work the contractor did and look at it in detail. You’ll also want to check their license and BBB status. You’ll be surprised how many contractors you’ll need to call just to get to this point with 2-3 of them.

Personally, I also try to find at least some of the subs and buy some of the materials myself. Some GCs won’t allow that so they are also out. We have a carpenter, electrician, painter and plumber we like. I want to pay these subs directly rather than being forced to use someone I don’t know that a GC forces on me to mark up their costs. We renovated our master bath for $32K but had numerous estimates that exceeded $50K. I also try to heavily back weight payments to when work is 100% done but am generally ok with progress payments. That said, don’t try to nickel and dime someone with a reasonable quote. They need to make a profit and as long as they are earning it, I have no problem paying it. I just don’t want to pay unnecessary markup on subs and materials that I can avoid with minimal effort.

That's what we did on our house in Atlanta. A good networking base to help establish the good from the bad. This go-round we live in a different state many hours from those contacts. We are in an apartment now while we finish up the house hunt. Our friends and neighbors are typically within the apartment community with no family nearby and we both are home-based for work. We're on a bit of an island unfortunately.

I'm tempted to play general contractor; this is what I did on my last remodel. Saved about 50% on the overall cost compared to what the GC's quoted in initially. But I knew the subs. So far my best recommendations in our new town are coming from realtors that are probably getting a kickback and what I've been able to find on the internet (which I read as, who gave Google the most money).

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

looks great! where did you buy the panels and what's it made out of?

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

The most similar thing I can find online would be this.

Although there is a Bed Bath and Beyond going out of business near me. I went in and asked what they were doing with their fixtures, ended up buying a whole wall of their industrial display boards. I also got a few boxes of all of the different attachments for hanging things like the baskets and whatnot. I got ~320 sq ft. of this and more hangers than I will ever use for under $200. All in all, quite the steal. I also have a 4'x8' board down over my workbench for most of my tools.

I used Gladiator Wall Track for mine. Not horribly expensive and it comes up on Amazon at a good price every now and then. Plus, you can get the 4ft sections from Lowes and Home Depot (as well as order the 8ft sections). There is a Garage Store kind of not horribly far from me that I can get them at, too. I had put up Gladiator stuff in my last garage and kept my cabinets so I'm baked into their mounting system.

I'd previously posted what I put up in the corner near the Moupe. This summer, I put some up by the other cars. I haven't gotten to completely organize things yet, though, and plan to order another small cabinet for near the Moupe. Al the shovels (so many shovels...more than shown here since the pix are old) and landscaping stuff are now hanging from the newer section.