Tiek Built Homes » Our House Projects

Tiek house update

Tiek Built Homes — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:02:46 +0000

I think we are long overdue for an update on our own house. And we’ve made a lot of progress since our months of dishes in the tub. The kids were the best little helpers!

First, our floors. We went with white oak #2 grade that we took up the stairs and down the hallways. We had the installer space the planks to give the floors an old look and feel and to really embrace what is already natural for wood to do (shrink and expand). We also did a herringbone pattern in the entry which is my absolute favorite detail!

And please forgive the terrible quality of pictures.

Steve wanted to try something a little different to finish the floors by fuming them with Ammonia. This naturally darkens the wood and is probably a more common practice with furniture and smaller areas. And did we find our house is very inefficient with its old wood windows making it take about a week for the fumes to do their work.

Finished product with a sealant mixed with gray and white.

And then our marble. Just the most incredible slab! From MGS by Design.

And our cabinets…

See this post for our design shots and this post for the before pictures of our kitchen. We clearly have a lot of finishes (tile backsplash, some hardware, base and case, light fixtures, and of course, paint) to complete. and Steve is just dying to get started on the trim work.

And if I had to pick a favorite piece, it would be this one..

But I could use some help deciding on hardware. The blue tape just doesn’t cut it.

Cabinets by Benjamin Blackwelder. Designed by Ben, Steve and Allison. I helped.

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DIY Entertainment Center

Tiek Built Homes — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:23:36 +0000

Naturally part of any remodel is demolition. Most of what comes out during demo isn’t worth keeping. Of course there are exceptions…
This piece may have seemed outdated with its scalloped trim but with its inset doors and solid wood throughout, it was a keeper.

All I did was… big breath… cut it apart to make a breakfront, cut a footer detail, trim paneling around around each of the sides, a 1 inch crown around new countertop, a 2-step 4 inch crown on top, replace hinges with restoration hardware hinges AND then with painted it white.
Unfortunately, we did not get professional pictures so you’ll just have to use your imagination. It’s pretty awesome in person.

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And another update.

Tiek Built Homes — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:07:36 +0000

Our project is also coming along. The month of December we took a break from construction and put our efforts into the design (those efforts were mostly made by Steve, of course). We are still trying out different cabinets doors and colors but this is our latest. And there will also be a nice big island.

Although we’ve just recently been figuring out the details, we’ve had the Master Plan for our kitchen ever sense we bought the house two years ago. So any project we worked on had this layout in mind (for example, adding an attic furness to move ducts, making an extra large window well for the pop out, etc). Creating a Master Plan eliminates double work and allows to do work in phases.

This week drywall has been going up and it’s been exciting to see the the rooms take shape. Here’s the entry and mudroom. The mudroom is going to be an awesome transformation.. can’t wait..Office opening that will someday be paneled and have sweet barn doors. And little C on my iPhone.

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Some inspiration..

Tiek Built Homes — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:01:32 +0000

It’s important to keep the end in sight when you’re living in a construction zone. I often think about our inspiration pictures when I’m doing dishes in the bath tub. You can see how they keep my spirits up ..check out our kitchen inspiration board on pinterest.

We have completed the framing, rough plumbing and electrical, wired for speakers in the kitchen, living room, office, backyard and garage (so excited to throw some parties!) and rewired the house with cat-5, and installed new windows.

Now just imagine these how the pictures on the right will someday look like the ones on the left.

We’ll have open shelves for over our sink and then an awesome archway from the entry into the kitchen. And yes, that’s our kids enjoying a little indoor picnic. Steve even made this remodel fun for the kids with the maze throughout the house.

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Our House .. Phase 3

Tiek Built Homes — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:19:22 +0000

We moved into this house over a year and a half ago and have spent a lot of time dreaming up the things we will do to make it awesome. We are very excited to have started our main floor remodel. But first, some before shots…

In phase 1, which was before we moved in and while I was a very 9 months pregnant (yes, this is Allison, not Steve), included this opening (it was a solid wall), a few can lights and sconces, skim coated most of the walls to get rid of the awful orange peel, some paint, a new window in the dinning room, and a few other little projects.

Then the backyard was Phase 2. See before here and after here. And it looks even better now, but now is not the time for backyard updates.

So the inside main floor… here are all the before pictures:
Kitchen (worst layout).

Stairs in the entry and hall from the dining to the garage door.
Powder Bathroom and Laundry Room

This is the before floor plan… The issues we’re addressing include: a very small inefficient kitchen, huge garage door hallway with no real purpose, bottle neck hallway from the entry to the kitchen, office space that is cut off from the rest of the house, and an oven in the worst spot ever.
And here’s our new floor plan.. 2 foot kitchen pop out, actual mudroom with lockers, opened up office space and hallways with lots of sweet builtins and great details.
Progress pictures to come..

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