# Some home improvements
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133
**Category:** Builds
**Created:** [November 13, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133 "2008-11-13T19:35:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@turbociv](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/turbociv)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/1 "2008-11-13T19:35:20Z")
well, figured since everyone has been sharing ill share as well. I moved into my home about a year ago and took 2 months before i moved in to remodel a bunch of things.
There was blue carpet throughout the whole house i ripped it out the second the realter handed me my keys.😃
after pulling the carpet i decided that i would refinish as much original hard wood as possible and install hardwood where it wasnt.
here is the living room which is also attached to the 3car garage. I decided to go with a brazillian cherry from home depot. This is the locking engineered hardwood. Very hard surface and withstands 80lb pitbull.🙂
There was previous blue carpet as mentioned before so i had to do somthing with the surround the fireplace. I decided to morter in the surround and finish it off with some left over t molding.
along with finished product.
and then finaly furnashed.
OK, now that the old carpet is out we figured the house will still need some carpet to help hold some warmth. We went with a nice champaine beige with the premium padding. This we had contractors install since this i didnt wanna tackle myself. Nice bullnose on all stairs as well.
now onto the kitchen. The kitchen was very dated and needed alotta work. There was a horrible blue fermica(spelling) counter tops that were stained and horrible white (but yellowing) tile backsplash with yet more horrible floral patterns.lol I do not have any pics of the previous but i do have some carnage pics.
I ripped the fermica off and ripped down all the backsplash. I replaced with new drywall, and prepped the counter top surface for garnit tile.
I replaced the old sink with a matt black granite sink.
I went to a some wood place(forgot name) and decided i liked some chair molding best and cut it down and stained it one coat of cherry and it matched my cabinets perfectly. I was very surprised.
I will post final pics when i get chance. These are very old cell phone pics.
Now, my kitchen over looks the dining room and the living room. Its raised up higher. I have vaulted ceilings with 4 skylights. Probably 14ft ceilings in living room and 12ish ft in dining and then the kitchen is normal.
There was a pointles fermica covered island thingy that looked over the dining,living room from the kitchen. I decided that i wanted to make it somewhat usable. Almost like a bar/island thing.
here it is torn apart
then i started to frame it in about 12 inches higher then before.
then i started to install the tial backer board and 18in granit tile.
I used the same chair molding here as the counter tops to match the rest of the kitchen and stained it with one coat of cherry.
After that fun i also had to refinish the hard wood upstairs. there was 2 bedrooms. The original hardwood was a light burch color so i sanded the top layer and cleaned it good.
Then to save time and work, i installed a 2 part poly+stain coat. I used cherry again and 2 coats, with steel wool sanding inbetween.
results from the larger now computer room.
and results from the now nursery for my baby girl which is expected in a month or so.
and lastly every house needs a good guard dog. errr, hey wake up stupid.😃
I will take some finished pics when i get a chance. the house has been done for almost a year, im just too lazy to take pics.
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### Author:  [@93dx\_hatch](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/93dx_hatch)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/2 "2008-11-13T19:40:40Z")
So you took pictures and Mrs. Turbociv did all the work :mamoru:
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### Author:  [@ILC](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ILC)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/3 "2008-11-13T19:41:07Z")
Badass DUDE
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### Author:  [@deebo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/deebo)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/4 "2008-11-13T19:44:09Z")
you def have many things now your daughter can hurt herself on lol
what does the rest of your kitchen look like? i think the cabinets would look better if you restained them darker
it would add more character to the house as well, maybe put in 2 4 glass doors to replace the solids ones above
everything looks great :tup:
edit: you seem to have a lot of cabinets and drawers lol, that seems like it would be a huge pain in the ass.
and the floors upstairs look fuckin awesome
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### Author:  [@turbociv](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/turbociv)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/5 "2008-11-13T19:48:17Z")
> [@95LS1t](#):
>
> you def have many things now your daughter can hurt herself on lol
>
> what does the rest of your kitchen look like? i think the cabinets would look better if you restained them darker
>
> it would add more character to the house as well, maybe put in 2 4 glass doors to replace the solids ones above
>
> everything looks great :tup:
meh, next time i touch the cabinets they will be riped out and new ones installed. However this is my irst starter home, so i will probably sell before i do anymore serious installs. The cabinets are normally darker then the picture shows. Everything is usually darker, my phone sucks at taking pics.
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### Author:  [@bigtymer7463](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bigtymer7463)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/6 "2008-11-13T19:51:14Z")
looks awesome in person.
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### Author:  [@deebo](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/deebo)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/7 "2008-11-13T19:52:13Z")
> [@turbociv](#):
>
> meh, next time i touch the cabinets they will be riped out and new ones installed. However this is my irst starter home, so i will probably sell before i do anymore serious installs. The cabinets are normally darker then the picture shows. Everything is usually darker, my phone sucks at taking pics.
lol thats why i edited 😉
how many sq. ft is your house? lmk when u want to sell lol
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### Author:  [@LUKE\_L](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LUKE_L)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/8 "2008-11-14T05:38:49Z")
Very nice work. I have a couple questions.
When you went from this:
To this:
Did you grout the tiles or use silicone?
What did you use for backer material, how thick?
What tool(s) did you use to make the cutout for the sink?
I really like your work :tup:
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### Author:  [@Willybeen](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Willybeen)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/9 "2008-11-14T05:40:24Z")
:tup: good work, i love seeing these home improvement threads.
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### Author:  [@Choda](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Choda)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/10 "2008-11-14T05:50:33Z")
:tup:
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### Author:  [@Mr\_T](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Mr_T)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 7:51am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/11 "2008-11-14T07:51:49Z")
Much better :tup: looks like a great start. Trust me you think thats all your gonna do for now but it never ends lol. Fixing up houses is just as addicting as modding a car if not more.
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### Author:  [@TurboTSi](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/TurboTSi)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 9:16am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/12 "2008-11-14T09:16:36Z")
The refinished hardwoods in the nursery look great. How did you sand it, with a floor sander or another way? I need to refinish the hardwood in my livingroom.
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### Author:  [@BREETIME](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/BREETIME)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 9:30am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/13 "2008-11-14T09:30:24Z")
always classy jonny
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### Author:  [@Jam](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Jam)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 10:10am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/14 "2008-11-14T10:10:54Z")
damn son lookin good!
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/15 "2008-11-14T10:18:22Z")
looks nice. How much was the granite tile?
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/16 "2008-11-14T10:20:21Z")
I’m confused…How does this make your car faster?
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### Author:  [@9c1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/9c1)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/17 "2008-11-14T11:34:33Z")
That kitchen counter looks tits. Nice job. :tup:
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### Author:  [@turbociv](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/turbociv)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/18 "2008-11-14T15:05:40Z")
thanks for the compliments guys. As far as counter prep goes, i left the existing fermica on since it was glued down pretty solid. I scuffed the fermica counter top with a gritty sandpaper so the tile adhesive had something to grab onto. I used “thin set motar” for porcelin and stone tile. Then i used a 1/8in trevle knife thingy lol to spread the motar. I used 3/16 spacers and used 12in tile. I think total price for the granit tile was around 500-600bucs for both counter tops. I used the same mortar for the backsplash. I rented a tile saw from home depot to make all my cuts including the cut for the sink.
When i redid the floors all i did was scuff the floors realy well with sand paper till it was hazy. Then i used the minwax 2in 1 stain and poly. 1 coat of stain then wait for it to cure. then sand with a very fine steel wool. Then clean and wipe floor and apply 2nd coat. when cured in 24hrs you have a VERY strong finished floor. I ride my computer chair across the floor and i have yet to mark the floor.
on the island thingy with the 18in granit tiles i used the actual hardy board for tile with the same thin set mortar i mentioned before.
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### Author:  [@ericvw7989](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ericvw7989)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/some-home-improvements/58133/19 "2008-11-14T15:09:41Z")
looks great john