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Thanks guys! We are going with a dark grey grout. We couldn't find a premix brown as dark as we wanted. I hate mixing the crap up :D

Also, the tiles aren't sealed yet, so the colors will be even more vibrant once I do that.

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Anyone wanna get a little dirty tonight? I could use a man hand to hang a few sections of paneling to cover up some insulation.

Also, anyone familiar with how to hang doors? I'm not letting my contractor back in for any more work and I don't want to hire someone else for just this last section.

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what happend with the contractor?

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Spill the drama, lets hear it.

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Simply put, the people he's sourced to do the work just haven't cut it. I've saved roughly 4 grand by doing some shit ourselves and going with a guy who has been lower than everyone else we talked to. But now we have a painted cement floor in the basement that's stained with drywall, outside deck stained with drywall, insulation on the backside of walls that's just hanging loose cause it's not cut to size, stairs that got torn up and had to be sanded down on the edges to avoid splinters and such (looks retarded) and left over cry wallk scrap (little pieces) in the back yard from him tossing the scrap out the window for easier removal.

Not once was plastic used to cover anything during ther mudding and sanding process so we had a TON of cleaning to do even after they attempted to clean it up. It just hasn't been a great experiance and now we are just doing the minimums to make the room in the basement finished for living and use. We'll revist a remodel in the next year or two for the rest of the basement.

The 3 or 4 car garage and privacy fence is priority to get planned, designed, and hopefully up by spring if all goes well.

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Got another update on the bathroom. It took forever for the thinset under the slate to cure, but it finally got good over the weekend. I got the back wall tiled around the tub. The cutouts on the left are for built in corner shelves. Things are going pretty smooth so far. I hope to get both side walls done tomorrow night.

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It's looking really good, Jet! I may have to hire you when I want my bathroom re-done. ;)

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Thanks Jana!

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After a "break" from the bathroom to stain the fence and deck, paint the garage, shed and bottom of the house, put up a new column in front, new mailbox and paint all the trim, I have finally been able to get back at it the last couple of days.

In the last pic you will notice there wasn't any trim. Well, I got so carried away tiling late at night that I forgot about the trim section! I got the tile taken back out and got the trim up. The back wall is all done and I finished up one of the side walls tonight. I still have to trim the edge of the side wall that goes towards the rest of the bathroom. It was a pretty difficult job, but I love how it looks. The tile and trim still need to be cleaned up and grouted, but you get the idea.

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Looking good Jet! When I get home I will be finishing up my room. All I have left is some misc crap, and to get the closet made. Once that is done, I will be researching what to do about my entry way. I'm pretty sure I'm going to tile it, but completely unsure what color, or what color to do the walls, if I should leave the trim as is or spray it white like the bedroom. I can't wait!

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Thanks B. How big is the entryway? You might want to look at granite or a real hardwood in the entry. It is always good to make a good first impression. Marble is nice, but scratches pretty easily. Onyx is starting to catch on a little too, has a ton of character and is pretty hard.

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Im going to be doing some home improvements next week.
Gonna paint almost every wall in the place, install a projector and screen, new window treatments and a new shelving to hold the dvd player and other stuff.

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Ok so everything is pretty much done. Here are the specs of my home theater system.

First we have the Epson Powerlight Cinema 400 projector. 720p Native Resolution, Epson 3LCD Technology, 1500 ANSI Lumins, 5000:1 Contrast Ratio.
The screen I built myself, the ones i was looking at were just getting too expensive so i found online how to build my own (i.e what fabric to use and plans). The Screen is 8 feet x 4.5 feet, 110 inches Diagonal.
The surround sound i used a home theater in a box by Onkyo, The HTS800. Its really a great unit with HDMI Passthrough, (projector has HDMI as well but currently im using Composite). Its a 7.1 surround system that has a butt load of features. I mounted all of the speakers and ran the wires through the ceiling, crawling through the attic and shit.
I will be picking up my new HD DVD player after work. Its a Toshiba HD-A3 with HDMI, and the output for 7.1 Dolby DTS. It upconverts my old DVDs to High Definition. Woot. (it also comes with 300 and the borne identity on HDDVD)
Tonight the first movie to be watched will of course be Transformers!!!!
Ill eventually post pics.

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Sounds good Tom!

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Derek has the camera right now, but I'll post up pics later on. Finished up a couple minor things. Got the new $7 shower head and pipe put on the shower, along with a little shower caddy. Put in a new $8 light fixture in the bedroom since it was just bare bulbs.

As for more major things, I went to Ikea last weekend and got a new bed, a new dresser, and also a small dresser that will go in the closet. Also bought a little shelf and some battery powered, sticky, LED lights that I placed on the bottom of the shelf so there is some kind of lighting right next to the bed. All I have is a crappy cell phone pic, which I put as the 2nd attached pic. You can just see the new bed, and the little shelf with the 2 lights on next to the bed. You can kinda see my $8 light fixture on the ceiling too.

Today I started on the closet. I just realised I never took a BEFORE picture, but if you look at the 1st attached picture, you can see on the left where there is an area that is indented but completely empty. Well that is what I have decided to make into a closet. Basically it was just a large empty area that is recessed back a bit. The 3rd attached pic shows what I did today. It's a crappy cell phone pic because it's all I have for a camera right now. Anywho, that big top shelf is going to be where I put my TV. It's a large, deep shelf though, so the rest of it will be used for storage, such as summer/winter clothes stored in some big Rubbermaid bins. There's tons of space up there to store stuff which will be great because there isn't much room in this small bedroom. And since it's so small of a room, there really isn't much room for any sort of closet door to open up. So we left about 3 inches in front of that shelf, where a curtain rod will go. And I will just put some nice drapes there to act as a closet door. The shelfs on the back wall will be for clothes. They are 15" deep shelves. Then under the shelves, you can see my laundry basket on wheels. To the right of that laundry basket will be the other small Ikea dresser. In front of those shelfs, you can see a clothes hangar with one hangar hanging from it right now. This closet is very deep, so in front of those shelves is where I will hang anything I need to hang. We made sure to leave enough room so that the hanging clothes won't touch the drapes or the shelves. So that's the basic idea, and I'll put up pics when it's all done.

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Well the bedroom is pretty much done. Finished up the closet this weekend. Just need to build the little dresser that goes in it. But went and got some cheap curtains to act as the closet door. Found an area rug on sale. Found a new TV that I haven't put up yet, but it will go up on the shelf above the closet. So for all intensive purposes, my downstairs bedroom is complete.


Here's the before, and after pics for those who forgot what this room started out as.

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My next project is my entry way. I'm basically going to keep it somewhat simple there as well. I don't want to get too fancy and spend too much, because this is just a townhouse afterall. But then again, I don't want it to look cheap and tacky. I just want it to look nice and clean and welcoming. I will not be painting the trim, I will be keeping it the way it is, the staind wood color. I will tile the floor, not with expensive our extraordinary tiling, but some nice clean and affordable tile that will be able to take the amount of traffic that the entryway sees. Walls will be painted in a color that will hopefully hide finger prints a lot better then the current White color does. The doors will be repainted, and probably new door handles will be put on. New light fixuteres will be put up since the current ones look kinda cheesy in my opinion. Should be a much less involved job then the bedroom was, except for the fact that I'll have to remove the trim this time. Other than that, should be a lot quicker then the bedroom was, I just need to make up my mind on everything. I'll put up some before pictures of what it looks like right now a little later on when I'm closer to the time I'll be redoing it all.

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Looks very nice, Brandon! The bathroom turned out really good. I see you were already making Sexy Time in the new bedroom! :lol:

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Looks awesome B! But be careful with those Ikea beds.. they arent as sturdy. Mine is still holding up though! haha

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looks damn good brandon. im going to have to call you for tips when i start my bathroom remodel. the two bedrooms in my place and just getting paint and some small things, nothing fancy.

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Thanks!

I'm actually really happy with the bed. It wasn't cheap at all, and is very sturdy. I'm happy with everything I bought from there. Their bedroom stuff doesn't seem to be all that bad.

Pete, let me know man, I'm willing to help out as long as I'm around.

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Crap, I forgot to take a before picture. I just tore out the fiberglass corner shower in our master bath and I'm putting in a full slate tile shower with no door or glass. I had the shower out and the sheetrock out in a few hours, now I've framed in a wall, replumbed the shower lines and need to frame in a cove for the shampoos and soap. I'll start laying the cement board this weekend. 6 months no payment, no interest at Home Depot rocks!!

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Get tile backer instead of cement board, it will hold up to moisture much better. It wasn't much more expensive either. Instead of the paper on the outside it has a stiff plastic material with ridges for the thinset to grab on to.

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Here is what the entry way looks like right now. As you can see, it's livable, but kinda ugly. The floor is starting to peel up at some of the seams slightly. The walls are covered in dirty finger prints. The light fixtures look like butt.

I'd like to have it done in a month or so. Basic idea is:

- remove trim along floor
- remove old crappy linoleum flooring
- remove any glue that I can
- tile (12x12 or larger)
- paint the walls
- reinstall trim

Shouldn't be all that difficult really. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to start ripping the trim off any day now. Just need a little pry bar.

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Demolition has begun.

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I am almost done with my shitbox

http://rabeb25.mikesdecks.com/HOME/NEw%20Basement/

Will be for sale this spring in Albertville.

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Looks good guys.

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Just picked up some tile. Having a tile/paint shindig at my place tonight and tomorrow night, whoop whoop!

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The fun has begun!

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And our slave driver

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Looks good. Pretty sweet how much tile can change the appearance of an area and it really isnt that hard to do. It isnt cheap but compared to linoleum or carpet it is well worth the cost.

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Looking good man! I put up a new light fixture in our spare bedroom/office and took down our last FUGLY ceiling fan. Install was bout 15 mins, had to climb up in the attic because there was a wireless remote for the old fan. Easy peasy, and the new light was on sale at menards, $36.

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Looks good B, tile really spruces things up. I'll have to post up some pics of my shower progress, it's coming along nicely. It helps to have a sweet tile saw.

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Our tile saw we're using right now really sucks. The one we used for the bathroom was sweet though. Anyhow, I hear ya on the light fixture Scheides. I just bought a pair of light fixtures the other week for my entry way for $18 for the pair because the old ones are fugly. They make a nice difference

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Got a little bit more done today. Slowly but surely!

Thanks for the help ricer pete!

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I spent the day ripping the tile up out of the kitchen and patching up the walls in the bathroom (damn wallpaper ripping off paint) at the Fridley house. I finally got the new one in working order. I will be painting the bathroom tomorrow and sealing the slate. I got a nice surprise when taking up the tile in the kitchen, they put it down with thinset cement right on the plywood. I figured they might have. That will be a blast to get off so the hardwoods can go down.

Looking good Brandon!

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That looks really nice B!! If I were in town I woulda came and helped slave drive. haha I love the type of tile you used!

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Thanks guys!

I just found 2 tiles that didn't stick too well so I pulled them up and will have to redo them. No biggie though. we cut a lot of pieces today to finish up the unfinished edges by the front door/stairs/hobbit room. So really what's left is the walkway by the garage door.

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Wow, I just spent all day at the Fridley house. Thinset straight on plywood sucks ass!! In about 6 hours I got a 8'x10' area chipped up. I am not quite 1/2 done with it. This is by far the worst thing I have had to do as far as remodeling. Even worse than shoveling out the old landscaping rock and putting mulch down.

I did get the bathroom painted too. That is coming along nicely. I'll have to grab the camera and take some pic's.

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my pleasure. sorry i couldnt stay longer to help out. i really like that tile you picked out.

damn jet, sounds like youve been busy too. for sure post some pics of the progress.