Tag: Living room Page 1 of 5

Installing Recessed Lights to the Main Floor

On 2022-05-01

Since last time we were in the kitchen together, we have crossed a couple big ticket items off the to-do list:

~~Demoing the kitchen and the dividing walls between kitchen and living room. All existing tile, drywall, and floor will be removed including soffit.~~
~~Demoing the hall closet space for housing the fridge.~~
Running utilities – installing new gas line for the new gas stove, adding new plumbing and waterline for the fridge and dishwasher, modifying plumbing and waterline for the new sink and garbage disposal, rerouting the hood vent in the attic.
~~Slav wiring for outlets and switches.~~
~~Tiling the floor.~~
~~Adding exterior insulation and installing drywall; repairing ceiling drywall and skim-coat the existing walls~~.
~~Installing stair railing~~.
Priming and painting all the new drywall in the kitchen and stairwell.
~~Installing recessed lighting for the kitchen and the living room.~~
Cabinets installation (90% done!).
Countertop template and installation.
Tiling the backsplash and finish window trims.
Appliances installation.
Installing under the cabinet lighting.
Finishing the room with door trims and baseboards.

Yes, you read that right. We are almost done with the cabinet installation! Our contractor still needs to put on some trims and decorative moulding. And I will come back next week to show you the complete installation. What I want to talk about today, is the work Slav has been working on during the past three weeks: installing recessed lighting for the kitchen and living room.

Installing kitchen recessed lighting

We have been wanting recessed lighting for the main floor ever since we installed them in our basement suite. They are so nice to have when you want to brighten up the space for activities and gatherings, while the dimmer function makes moody lighting possible. The question has always been how many to install and what the layout should be. Now we have set on the new kitchen design, we could finally pinpoint where these recessed lights should be.

After discussing the lighting location, we marked them on the ceiling, then Slav drilled from below and used utility flags to mark the locations in the attic. We decided to install six of 6″ cans over the 10′ x 11′ floor space (without the cabinets), plus two 4″ cans directly above the two windows as task lighting.

With the flags poking out of the insulation in the attic, Slav were able to locate them quickly and cut the openings from above.

He then attached the cans to the bottom chord of the roof trusses, and wired all six of the 6″ cans in a daisy-chain fashion.

It took a whole afternoon to complete all the wiring and installation. And this is the final results!

When Slav wired for the kitchen electrical a couple weeks ago, he prepared switches for the recessed lighting with wires going into the attic. After all the can lights were linked, he connected the circuit to the switch, and everything worked immediately:

The two tasking lighting above the windows were put on a separate circuit. These lights are turned on by a switch next to the sink, while the six bigger can lights are controlled by two 3-way switches installed at each end of the kitchen.

Living room recessed lighting installation

The following weekend, Slav repeated the same procedure in the living room:

The above picture showed 12 markings, but we ended up installing only eight recessed lights. These 65W-equivalent recessed lights provide pretty good coverage. If we ever want to make the room brighter, we could upgrade the lights to 75W- or even 90W-equivalent down the road.

Typical Slav, repurposing my wine (plastic) cup for less drywall dust. 🙂

Here is the final results! It took only a few hours to install all eight lights in the living room, but probably equal amount of effort to patch these 12 holes. Ha!

The living room did not have overhead lighting before. Per fire code, there needs to be some form of light that can be switched on at the front door. So the previous owner wired a wall outlet to a switch next to the front door, and connected a floor lamp to it. It is a rather creative approach to satisfy the code, but not very practical in my mind. Since we had to open some drywall to add switches for the new recessed lights, Slav took the opportunity to rewire the outlet so it stays constantly “hot”.

As you can see, now we have three switches at the front entry: the leftmost switch controls the outdoor porch light, and the rest two are for the two new circuits for recessed lighting.

The two cans closest to the front door are on their own circuit. The recessed lighting we installed in the living room has a night light function, so we can keep the front door area lit for the night if needed.

We have been living with all sixteen recessed lighting in our living space for a week. They are pretty nice! The living room felt a lot bigger at night now it is well-lit. For darker lighting we could simply dim all the lights, use the night light function in the living room, or just to leave the task lighting on. There are so many combination already, and we still have the under-the-cabinet lighting to add into the mix!

Finally, a mirror in the main floor bathroom!

Speaking of lighting, Slav also added a backlit LED mirror in the guest bathroom. The new mirror offers several light colors with different brightness, and an anti-fog function, all of which are controlled by the three touch buttons on the mirror.

The clivia miniata started blooming a couple days ago. I think the mirror and pretty blooms completed the bathroom quite elegantly. Don’t you think?

What’s in store next

As I speak, our contractor is finishing the cabinets installation, and we will have the countertop templated tomorrow! For the countertop installation we went with a local mom-and-pop stone shop, which operates a lot quicker than big box stores. Our quartz countertop will get installed in just a week after template appointment, then we can start tiling the backsplash and installing appliances. 🙂 We feel so relieved now we can see the end of the finish line, and personally, watching the to-do list getting shorter is so satisfying.

Here is what is left to do in the kitchen:

Countertop template (tomorrow!) and installation (in a week!).
Tiling the backsplash and finish window trims (targeted to finish by mid-May).
Appliances installation.
Unpacking the kitchen (the part I am most looking forward to!).
Slav installing the under-the-cabinet lighting.
Trimming doorways and completing baseboards.

I can totally see us cooking in the new kitchen on the Memorial Day. Maybe not everything on the current to-do list will be complete, but I think the kitchen will be functional enough by the end of May. What do you think? I cannot wait!

Cozy Up for Winter

By Alison

On 2021-12-05

In Furnishing and Decor, Small Upgrade

We are very much home-bound these days. It seems that modern culture does not orient towards home, but rather having fun outside of one’s home. To a lot of people, home is a spring board to bounce off from. But the pandemic came and changed lots of us. Home are now the center of many people’s lives. I also never felt so compelled to cultivate a nice atmosphere at home. After all, only a nice atmosphere at home can foster a good attitude for life, do you agree?

After refinishing the hardwood floor and trims in our main floor living space, I got into a nesting mode. I spent every weekend cleaning, organizing, and furnishing. It felt particularly important now the days are shorter and we spend more time inside the house. We made quite a few small changes to the living space, some small upgrades you might say. Let us take a look together, shall we?

Creating a front entry

If you have been to our house, you would know that we go in and out the house through the garage. 99% of the time, the front door is just a glorified watchtower for our dogs. But this has changed since Slav installed a keyless lock on the front door:

I like how the stainless steel hardware looks on a white door:

It turns out that all it required for us to utilize the front door is being able to open it without a key. OMG, I felt like such a sluggard…Anyway, we now use the front door everyday. Inevitably, shoes and handbag started to accumulate here:

We wanted to add some storage for this space, and this bench in IKEA looked like a perfect solution:

PERJOHAN Bench with storage, pine, 39 3/8 "

We actually went to our local IKEA to purchase it. This was the first time we visited IKEA in two years. Unfortunately, it eas out of stock in our local IKEA even though the website said otherwise. Let me tell you, the disruption of IKEA’s supply chain is real. On top of that, the shortage of workers made the customer service so terrible. After driving 60 miles, we still had to pay $6 to have it shipped to a local pick up place. But at least we were able to see it in person before pulling the trigger.

Such a small bench, fits perfectly in the space underneath the coat hooks.

It is big enough to hold our daily shoes. I like that it provides a surface to put down my backpack and lunch box before taking off my shoes.

This drop zone is at a corner of Slav’s office, just off the front door.

This is what this corner looked like before getting the bench. The (also IKEA) rolling cart provided some storage, but not big enough for shoes and backpacks.

Our beloved boot/glove dryer lives nearby. We use this boot dryer 24/7 during winter months for drying ski boots and gloves. I also use it to warm up our shoes and gloves in the mornings. There is always a pile of stuff next to it. I think this bench will be very helpful in holding all the wet gear.

To complete the front entry, I added door mats inside and outside of the front door. The tan door mat inside is from LL beans. We have another one of these in the kitchen which held up really well, so this is a returned purchase. The one outside with tree pattern is from IKEA:

Let us keep the front entry dry and dust free!

Organizing my desk

With more and more people working from home, our houses became not only the hub we recharge, but also the place we create. Slav and I each have an office on the main floor which we use often.

Slav’s office

Next to his desk, this IKEA cabinet houses our printing supplies and stationary. It is a beautiful piece of furniture, which I envy. But it would be a overkill for my office.

There are all the stuff I keep around my desk. A small drawer would be nice.

I also could use a monitor stand.

We spotted this monitor stand in IKEA and decided to give it a try:

ELLOVEN Monitor stand with drawer, white

It took no assembly. The monitor sits on top, and my laptop can be stored underneath. The charging wires come out from the back. It is like someone designed this monitor stand just for me.

All the stationery fit into the drawer. I also like how the white/bamboo color pairs nicely with my desk.

This is how the computer corner looks now. Even Slav said it was “a nice setup”.

And the rest of the desk is clean!

New plant stand

I also picked up a new plant stand for my retreat room. A couple years ago, I got a three-tier plant stand from IKEA and have been happy with it.

This time, I got a similar one in different shape:

They match well when standing side by side. The new plant stand has a bigger capacity – I can now lift almost all of my plants off the floor:

A clean and organized plant corner for winter!

Adding comfort with a ceiling fan

Lifting the plants higher helps them to get more light. But winter can be tough for indoor plants also for the dry and still air in the house. I set a humidifier near the plant stands, but still wanted to more air movement. After discussing with Slav, we decided to replace the ceiling light with a ceiling fan:

This low-profile Hunter ceiling fan works well with our low ceiling (92 inches). It is apparently very popular – we wanted the white color and it was sold out everywhere locally, including in Home Depot and Lowe’s. We eventually got ours off Amazon.

It comes with a remote for turning on and off the light as well as adjusting fan speed. It is fairly quite and the lower settings provides nice air movement without bringing chills. Since it was installed, I have been keeping it on the lowest fan speed during the day, and I think it helps to unify the temperature and humidity in this room.

Kitchen gadgets!

IKEA is famous for its small kitchen gadgets. It is almost impossible to walk away without taking any home. This time, I picked up this small tea infuser. We both drink loose-leaf teas, and the old tea infuser we have, the “duckling”, is too small for the fruit/flower tea Slav loves.

The IKEA infuser easily holds a whole tablespoon of tea leaves, which is perfect for brewing fruit tea.

I also like the long handle design for it to sit inside all the drinkware.

Including Slav’s favorite water glasses. It is an IKEA favorite for only 79 cents.

I prepared cold-brew tea with it and it was a success. Slav likes cold tea. Before, I always had to brew hot tea for him, then wait for it to cool down. Now I can simply take two teaspoons of Slav’s favorite fruit tea into the infuser, submerge it into room-temperature water for 15 minutes, then top it off with ice cubes.

The duckling tea infuser now becomes my dedicated “Sichuan pepper infuser”. I cook with Sichuan pepper often. Slav enjoys its aroma, but hates to bite into them directly. With the help from the infuser, I can no longer need to pick every these pepper out before serving.

Another small gadget I got for myself is this little milk frother. I start my morning by a cup of coffee. I am not picky about the coffee beans – anything freshly-ground beans brewed with a moka pot will do. But I do crave a good latte once a while. This milk frother allows me to have a quick latte with little effort and almost nothing to clean after. It is really a game changer.

The soft things

The last thing we picked up in IKEA was a king comforter for our bed. Our old one has been with us for longer I am willing to admit, and it stopped holding its warmth. We selected this “slightly warm” comforter from IKEA.

I use it with our beloved flannel bedding. So far, we like its weight and breathability.

It came in this fabric packaging in good quality. I kept it for storing extra blankets in the guest room.

With the new comforter we no longer need our old comforter and the king size flannel blanket. I washed them and sent them to a local homeless shelter along with some lightly-used winter clothes. Colorado winter is harsh. While we are fortunate to stay inside, we wish the same to all the unfortunate people that are force to camp out. Slav told me about an old Christmas tradition in Poland, which is to set an extra plate/seat on the dinner table. It is for a homeless or unexpected traveler who shows up at the door. But then he added “however in Poland, there is no homeless people… Everyone is taken care of.” This is certainly not the case in our country. People here do not have minimal security for life, and anyone, even people like us can become homeless one day because of illness, investment mistakes, and other misfortune. I hope our donation could help at least one person stay warm this winter, and I surely hope that the culture in this country could change for everyone to live without fear of losing their homes!

Have you been preparing your home for winter?

Trimming out the Main Story!

By Alison

On 2021-11-02

In Renovation

Last month we refinished all the hardwood floor on the main story. Let me tell you, it made such a difference. The old floor had a yellow/orange tone and made the whole living space felt dark and dated. The new color no longer has the same amber tone, but more of a light wood color. It made the white wall paint feel cooler and the whole space feel cleaner.

We did plan to upgrade some furniture. But before bringing stuff inside, there is another big task to tackle first – installing baseboards.

The “before” look without baseboards

As you could see from the pictures, We could really use some base trim to cover all the imperfections along the floor line. In addition, the baseboard vents and returns were all exposed.

We also need to add baseboard trims in the closet and murphy bed area in my home office.

The floor finishing crew we used was very professional and kept everything clean for the most part. However, there were still visible marks on the wall where the sander scraped the paint. These marks needed to be painted over.

Painting and installation

We are fully aware how much baseboard and trims elevate a space – it is like the lipstick on a full makeup – without it, even the best finishes can feel sort of a blah. But once you put it on, you have gotten a master piece! The same week of our floor refinish, Slav picked up all the baseboards on Friday and painted them early Saturday morning, so he could jump on the installation over the weekend.

While Slav was painting the baseboards, I washed all floor registers and touched painted all the walls.

Slav has installed baseboards in our basement. He worked from the longest piece/biggest space down to those itty-bitty pieces. We have quite a few problematic areas where the floor heights are different, or where the wood trims meet the white MDF baseboards.

The results are quite impressive indeed.

The new baseboard trims butt against vertical door trims, and Slav cut returns around all the vents:

The little hallway between my home office and main floor bathroom took a lot of time to complete. For one, it has three doorways, two closets, and a couple turns. Slav made as many cuts for the hallway alone as for the rest of main floor.

The kitchen doorway was also a pain in the neck to finish. The tile floor on the kitchen side was almost 3/4″ higher than the finished wood floor. We also took out a couple boards right against the kitchen tile and left the subfloor exposed.

We have decided to tile this portion in the future kitchen renovation. So for now, Slav patched this portion with two layers of plywood subfloor.

Then he cut the baseboard trims to accommodate the floor differences.

Installing bathroom door trims

Since the nail gun was out, Slav also finished the trims on the bathroom pocket door. I have trimmed out the bathroom door from the inside, but the outside trims were never installed:

The main reason for not installing the outside trims was that the drywall here needed repair. We have resize the doorway during the pocket door installation, so on one side and the top, there was some drywall missing.

On the left side of the pocket door, the drywall was uneven too.

Slav scraped the drywall all around, and started smoothing it out using drywall compound.

It took 4-5 rounds of sanding and mudding before the drywall was smooth and the corners were sharp.

He actually did the drywall work over a week before the baseboard install, so we could put up the vertical trim first. The baseboard should be butting against the vertical trim.

Now the hallway is finished!

The finished baseboard

It took Slav two full days to install all the baseboards, plus a few days of drywall work in the hallway, an evening of buying the baseboards, and a morning of painting them. All the baseboards cost us $400, including the white pre-primed MDF and a couple pieces of wood ones. We had the paint, nails, and glue to begin with.

The following weekend, Slav caulked the baseboard and filled all the nail holes. After a bit of paint touch-up (we use Behr Ultra Pure White in semi-gloss on all the trims), the living space was ready for furniture! I think the dogs are just happy that all the floor sanding and nail gun noise are finally coming to an end. As soon as we rolled out of the carpet, Roxie planted herself right on it.

We are considering getting a couple new furniture pieces. But for now, even with the old furniture, the living space feels fresh and vibrant. As the weather gets cooler, we are forced to work on garden clean-ups, which are fairly labor-intensive. Having a clean and comfortable place to rest again at the end of the gardening days has been very therapeutic!