Today we are sharing about one of our first unexpected trials of home ownership, a busted water pipe.
When you are a home owner there are two types of home projects, the projects you choose and the projects that choose you. The former, the home renovation projects you choose to do, are the ones you plan and save for and then tackle based on your own schedule. They are the fun projects or at least worthwhile ones where you can look at the finished project and feel good about spending the money on it and have something to show for all your hard work and dedication.
The latter, the ones that choose you, those are the pain in the butt projects that happen when you least expect it, when you can least afford it, and when you have the least amount of time to tackle them. They usually demand immediate attention because something is broken, busted or damaged and they most likely affect something that is a pretty important aspect of your dwelling. They most likely require a lot of hard work and/or money but you have nothing really to show for it. “Hey! I spent all this time/effort/money to fix what was already there and working fine yesterday. Yay!” And just to show you how much of a pain in the butt they are, these projects will probably choose you at the end of the longest workweek of your life where you just worked all 7 days of the week for 55+ hours at 9:00 at night.
↑ Money just going down the drain. Our water bill next month should be interesting.
Sunday night Brent walked in the door from work. He told me there was a lot of water coming down the driveway. I was surprised because I had been working out in the garage a few hours earlier and had the doors open and didn’t see anything but when I went outside to look, water was gushing down our whole driveway, rushing down the street and down the drain. Thanks goodness our house sits higher than the street and all the water was going away from the house.
↑ I think we found our leak!
Our yard was flooded and so was the valve box where we needed to turn the water off. It was deep and filled to the brim with water. So much so that Brent couldn’t find the valve to turn the water off in the dark. We initially called our utility company because at that point we weren’t sure where the water was coming from. We roamed around the squishy yard in the dark with our phone flashlights trying to look for the source. We finally found the source and the cause. We had a busted water pipe close to the house and we were pretty sure the crape myrtle right next to it was the culprit. There was not much we could do that night except let the nice man from the utility company who came late on Sunday night and scooped all the water out of the valve box turn our water off.
You know you never realize how much you use your water until you can no longer use your water. Luckily this just so happened to be a time that our water cooler actually had a full jug in it. We always forget to replace them but thank goodness we did this this week. We washed our faces and brushed our teeth with bowls of very clean drinking water that we filled up from our cooler and planned our trips to the bathroom sparingly. It would be another 24 hours before we would have our water turned back on again.
↑ We knew this tree was going to be trouble when we moved into the house.
Brent worked half a day on Monday and then came home to fix the problem. Everyone told us that hiring a plumber was a waste of money because it was an easy task and inexpensive if we did it ourselves. I am sure they are right. If they had to dig around all the stuff Brent had to dig around it probably would have cost us a fortune!
Obviously neither of us are plumbers but Brent is not afraid to get his hands dirty (literally he spent the majority of this project covered head to toe in mud) to figure out how to get the job done and with the help of our family and neighbors and a lot of humor we managed to get through this heck of a project and even got to accomplish a side project in the yard that we have been wanting to do since we moved into the house over a year ago.
This is not a typical project post but we thought we would share what we have been up to the past few days. This unfortunate and unexpected project took away time from our planned project that we were going to share this past weekend. Sadly, all of our projects can’t be exciting here at Gray House. Sometimes they just include being knee-deep digging in mud to fix a busted pipe.
Here are a few highlights of this dirty project:
↑ We called the city to have all of our providers come mark where all the lines were underground so we didn’t hit any while we were digging. After they all came, our yard resembled some sort of art piece with all the bright color little flags stuck everywhere and spray painted lines in the grass.
↑ After lots of digging, Brent found the pipe and the “root” of the problem. Pun totally intended because the root of the busted pipe problem was roots! We are guessing there was already a leak and then all those crazy roots from the crape myrtle wrapped all around the pipe causing enough pressure to make it burst.
↑ The majority of Brent’s time was spent digging and then scooping out the water that was still in the ground that would continually fill the hole back up. It was a slow and painful process. I had to resist every urge to jump and splash in the mud, just for fun. I had to keep reminding myself that would not be a productive use of my time on this project.
↑ Brent dug a moat around the crape myrtle to prepare it to be ripped from the ground.
↑ Our next door neighbor was so nice and used his truck to help us pull the tree out. We don’t have any vehicles capable of that kind of task but his truck made it look easy. We did a celebratory dance once it had been removed.
↑ Sorry crape myrtle, you know what they say about payback. It was a nice tree just planted in a not very nice spot. We are perplexed why the builder would plant a tree that close to the garage, another tree and where all the lines go into the house. It had to be removed from that spot so we didn’t have this issue again. We have been wanting to remove this tree for awhile now so at least something good came out of this whole mess.
↑ Brent came up with a great solution to get the water out of the hole. He started building dams to block off the areas he was working and then put one end of the hose in the hole and the other end in the street next to the drain. He used a Shop-Vac to start the process of siphoning the water out of the hole and down the yard into the drain.
↑ Yes, the mud hole got five times larger, but I promise this was progress. Finally, we got to the point where we could actually fix the pipe. My dad was nice enough to come over and bring some PVC pipe pieces so he and Brent could rebuild the portion that had the leak. They finished just in time before it got dark. We had to let it sit for a few hours but we did get to turn our water back on that night!
↑ The following night we went and got several bags of sand to fill in the hole. Brent worked well after dark scooping the sand and dirt back in the hole to make sure it was level. Several of our neighbors stopped to ask what he was doing. I guess it looks suspicious to be digging in the dark at 11:00 at night. We were in a time crunch to finish because the forecast called for rain the next couple of days and the last thing we wanted was for our mud sink hole to get any larger.
We still have to replace the grass in that area but the pipe is fixed, the hole is filled in and we have water so project completed. Please house, we’re begging you to let us choose the next project. I promise it will be more fun that way.
Stay tuned because this weekend we will be sharing the project we had planned to share earlier in the week, how we built frames for our bathroom mirrors.
Have you guys had any daunting or dirty home projects that chose you? We would love to hear them!
We have family coming to visit and stay with us in less than a month and that got me thinking about our guest bathroom. This room has been marked low priority on our list of home renovation projects because it doesn’t get a ton of use, unless we have company over. But remembering we are having guests come soon, I stood in the doorway of the bathroom the other day visualizing things I could do to make the space more inviting. It was then that I had the realization that we definitely need to show a little (a lot of) love to this room and preferably soon. I’ll just be real and admit there is not a single decoration in there. There is a shower curtain, a soap dispenser and a hand towel and that is it. We are talking very bare bones decor wise. Not to mention it has the same theme as the rest of the house when we moved in, “Bland”. The tan tile, off white walls, white cabinets, white countertops and white tile in the shower all run together and when I stare into this small narrow room my eyes hurt trying to adjust to the bland abyss. Okay, I am being a little dramatic. At least we are working with just builder grade neutral choices and not pale blue tile, floral wallpaper or a pink toilet.
I can’t wait to paint the bathroom. We are planning to use Utterly Beige from Sherwin Williams, which is a tan-gray shade and is the same color we painted the guest bedroom since similar elements will be incorporated into both rooms. We have some bigger scale projects that we would love to tackle right away like replacing the tan tile and redoing the white cabinets to be a darker color but that will have to come a little later when the budget allows. So for now I am focusing on a few smaller scale projects and decor pieces that we will be able to add to the room sooner and will enhance the look of our guest bathroom.
Faucets | Kingston Brass Faucets from Amazon
Changing out the silver faucets is a must on our list. We got a killer deal on these Kingston Brass faucets on Woot! last year for our master bathroom and I have been really pleased with them. I will be stalking Woot! from now on to see if they ever offer them again. Amazon also sells them for around $88 dollars which is not bad at all considering some bronze faucets can run you an upwards of $300 for just one.
Pendant Lights | Portfolio 13-in W Oiled Bronze Standard Pendant Lights from Lowe’s
In an effort to rid this bathroom of all that is silver, we plan to change the light fixture as well. However, we already know we are going to have the same problem we ran into in our master bathroom so this will be a more complicated process than just replacing the old fixture with a new one. We would love to rewire the lighting and patch the hole in the wall and then drop these awesome pendant lights from the ceiling, one over each mirror. It is going to be a little extra work but it will definitely be worth it.
Framed Leaf Print | Botanical Palm Leaf Digital Print from RepublicaDeCali on Etsy
We really want to incorporate some bright colors and art into the bathroom to liven it up and these leaf prints are the perfect solution. I want to frame one or two of these and set them on the shelf we will be building over the towel hooks. I love that they are minimal, colorful and will tie in perfectly with the shower curtain without overwhelming the small space.
Wire Basket Storage | Charlotte Lined Wire Baskets from Cost Plus World Market
I have my eye on these wire baskets from World Market. I have been gravitating towards wire baskets for multiple rooms lately but what I like about these is you get the wire look but the lining discreetly disguises bathroom contents. I plan on placing a few of these on the floating shelves we will be building over the toilet to store toilet paper and air freshener. That way it is in close reach and available out in the open to guests but not as noticeable and detracting as the toilet paper tower situation that we currently have going on in there.
Shower Curtain | Rainforest Shower Curtain from West Elm
I purchased this colorful shower curtain from West Elm before we even moved into our house and I am really exited to actually put it to use. It sparked my idea of having a tropical themed guest room and guest bathroom. (I use the term “theme” loosely because Brent is not a fan of themed rooms. I on the other hand had a themed room from the time I was eleven until I graduated college so we have had to strike a compromise and agree that I will add just a few tropical “elements”). This shower curtain is bright and fun and different than most of the neutral items we have in our home.
Floating Shelves | Making our own
We plan on building two floating shelves over the toilet area. This will be really helpful for organization purposes and allow us to utilize all that empty wall space. I like the idea of having washcloths, towels, etc. readily available to guests stored in baskets on these shelves so they can comfortably use it at their leisure and don’t have to ask how to find everything they may need.
Towel Rack with Shelf | Making our own similar to this Wall Coat Rack from Wayfair
I am really excited about building this project. I don’t particularly like the idea of having a towel bar in a bathroom where multiple guests may have to hang up their towels. I would rather have hooks but I wanted the hooks to be displayed in a more interesting fashion than just plain hooks stuck in the middle of the wall. I couldn’t find a great example of exactly what I am thinking (luckily Brent can decipher my sketchy descriptions) but this coat rack from Wayfair is similar to what I am envisioning just with different hooks. I would love to have hooks on a mounted board and then have a wood shelf attached to the top so that I could add a few more decorative items in the bathroom without cluttering the countertops.
Vase with Split Leaf Philodendron Leaves | Vase from Crate & Barrel and Artificial Split Leaf Philodendron Leaf from Quality Silks
Adding a few Split Leaf Philodendron leaves in this really cool white vase from Crate & Barrel would allow me to subtly tie in more tropical elements and add some greenery in the bathroom. I love the contrast of the bright green leaves in the white vase. I could see this sitting on the shelf above the towel rack with the leaf prints.
Framed Mirrors | Making our own similar to the ones we made for our master bathroom
Last but not least we will frame our mirrors that we recently recycled by cutting the original large mirror into two pieces. We did the same thing in our master bathroom. Having two narrow mirrors rather than the one unframed large mirror made a huge difference in the feel of the room and I have no doubt it will be the same in this bathroom as well. We will most likely stain it a lighter color than the ebony stain we used on the frames in our master bathroom. I predict this will be our first project in this space because we currently have no mirrors hung up in this bathroom! They are sitting in our garage ready to be framed.
Over the next few months I suspect we will be sharing quite a few of our guest bathroom projects. There is no realistic way that we will get it all done before our guests come, but any progress in this room will make me feel better about having guests use this space.
At the front of our house we have your typical formal dining room and formal living room but we don’t have much use for a formal dining room and our vision for our house is anything but typical so we decided to think outside of the box with what to do with the space that would allow us to get the most use out of it and fit our needs the best and a formal dining room just isn’t what we need or really want. We are both book nerds and love reading so we decided to instead take the formal dining room and turn it into our home library.
This room sat empty for quite awhile and then temporarily housed our treadmill and gym equipment. After that we stored Brent’s musical instruments in it for a bit. It has been full of mismatched stuff and doesn’t really give the best first impression when guests walk in our front door. This month we are finally ready to start our transformation from a blank catch all room to a cozy home library and I couldn’t be more excited about it!
First things first we our planning our home library and what items we want to incorporate into our home library. So far we have put a fresh coat of paint, Mindful Gray from Sherwin Williams, on the walls and that has already made a huge difference but we are really pumped to add some furniture in this room so it finally feels like it has a purpose.
Shelves | Built by Us
After we painted the library, the first project we worked on was building our large bookshelf that spans the entire length of one of the walls in the room and includes seven large shelves that go almost all the way to the ceiling. This project has taken us several weekends to work on but we love the results. The shelves will be the focal point of the room as they will display our books and collectibles so we wanted to custom build the shelves to fit the exact dimensions of the wall. We will be sharing a whole post dedicated to how we put together the shelves soon.
Pendant Lighting | Rose City 6in. Classic Schoolhouse Pendant from Rejuvenation
How cool is the bronze pendant light? We are wanting to replace our elaborate and ornate light fixture that is currently in this space with something more sleek and simple and I think the Rose City Schoolhouse Pendant light really fits with the style we are going for in our library. We want something unique that adds character to the room without being overly industrial or distracting. We love how this pendant light is simple with a vintage vibe. This one has definitely been added to our wish list.
Coffee Table | Library Coffee Table from West Elm
This coffee table from West Elm is awesome and it is even named the library coffee table, so it seems as if it is meant to be! Honestly, Brent will actually be building our coffee table because we want it to match with the craft cabinet he will also be building in the room next door so it all ties together nicely but I am quite fond of the idea of using this piece as inspiration. I like the simple design, worn look giving the impression our library has been around for a long time and gotten lots of good use and the storage options.
Art | Created by Brent
Brent created this piece for an art show while he was in graduate school a few years ago and it is one of my favorite pieces he has made to date. I think it fits with the style of this room perfectly and I am so excited to incorporate it into our library.
Sofa | Charcoal Gray Nolee Folding Sofa Bed from World Market
We have been back and forth on trying to decide if having a sofa, chairs or a sofa and chairs would look the best and be the most functional in this room. Finally, we decided that having just a sofa would be the most comfortable and fit the space the best as to not overcrowd the room. When I found this folding sofa bed at World Market, it went to the top of our list as the sofa I would like to have in this room because it is modern, a great color and it folds out to be a sofa bed which is always handy to have when you have extra guests come to stay. I wouldn’t mind if we got this sofa sooner rather than later!
Wire Baskets | Wire Baskets from HomeGoods
I bought the wire baskets a week ago and consider them a MAJOR score. Brent has a pretty good sized record collection but the records won’t fit on our shelves so I suggested getting some baskets to store the records in that would fit under the shelves. I browsed the internet for a long time but it wasn’t until a spontaneous trip to HomeGoods that I found these wood/wire baskets that match our shelves perfectly. They are the exact right size to fix under the shelves and hold the records. Plus, they were only $16 a piece which was a lot cheaper than any of the other baskets I had been looking at online were.
Floor Lamp | Warren Pulley Task Floor Lamp from Pottery Barn
Every time we go into Pottery Barn we drool over this floor lamp and we think it would be a perfect addition to our library to add some extra reading light and provide some character. I am hoping this can be the one item we splurge on for the library.
Tree | Blue Ridge Fir Executive Japanese Maple Tree from Wayfair
I would love to have a live large plant in this room to add a some life and color to the fairly monochromatic and neutral decor we are planning in this room but the truth is we don’t get a lot of light in the one free corner where the tree would go and I am horrible at keeping plants alive. So, this realistic Japanese Maple Tree would be a good alternative to add a little warmth to the room.
Rolling Ladder | Antique Original American Library Ladder from 1stdibs
Ah, the rolling ladder, what library wouldn’t be complete without one of these cool things propped up against the shelves to access those out of reach books on the top shelf? This Antique American Library Ladder is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I don’t think our budget allows for spending $1,200 on just a ladder. So we are using this one as inspiration to build our own. Having a rolling ladder will really complete the look and and feel of our library.
Another large project that we want to do is to replace the carpet with hardwood floors. That will transform the look of the room from blank and bland to cozy and interesting. However, we have tile throughout the entire house that we want to replace so it is kind of an all or nothing type of project that needs to take place at one time when we are ready and can afford to rip all our floors up. Hopefully that time is coming up soon.
I love window shopping and planning out how a room will come together. These are a few of the key pieces that we like and will make our library feel like it belongs in our home. It will be a place we want to host guests when they over and visit or just relax and read. We will continue to work on this room and share updates on the space as our projects progress.
Do any of you use a room in your home for a library? What are some of your favorite pieces that you have incorporated into that space? We would love to hear them!
We have been receiving a lot positive feedback from one of our very first home renovation projects: our wood barn door Brent made from scratch that is in our master bedroom. Thanks for all the kind words! This project was a favorite of ours and was one of our lower expense projects that came together fairly easy. In case you missed it, you can read more about our wood barn door and see the finished product here.
Before Brent started building the door, he designed and created wood barn door plans in SolidWorks to reference once he got into the shop.
Today we are sharing the wood barn door plans he created. If you are interested in building a DIY wood barn door but not quite sure how to go about it, you can download our wood barn door plans below to get started. We chose a dark stain and dark hardware to match our bedroom furniture but how you customize your wood barn door is completely up to you! As always feel free to leave any questions you may have below.
On another note, a few weeks ago we were approached to be interviewed for the DIY April podcast. Of course we said yes! It was such a fun opportunity to chat with the lovely April last week. We discussed why home renovation was a natural choice for us and how we came to start the Gray House Studio blog. We also highlighted two of our favorite projects so far and talked about how we came up with the idea to incorporate the wood barn door and reading nook into our home and our process of putting them together. Plus, we share a few fun facts you might not know about us.
Many thanks to April for having us as guests on her podcast. We had a blast!
Check how this quick home DIY tutorial for adding shelves in bathroom cabinets. This simple update creates more storage space to organize all your bathroom essentials.
This morning Brent and I worked on a quick little organization project that really made me happy! Our project was adding shelves in the bathroom cabinets.
I don’t have a ton of beauty products but I do have the typical necessities and not a lot of places to store them. Don’t most bathroom cabinets seem to have so much wasted space at the top?
All of my stuff was just stacked on top of each other in one big pile on the bottom and if stuff got pushed to the back of the cabinet…well…it might as well have been lost forever as far as I was concerned.
I’ve tried to organize this area multiple times but I have found that without the proper set up, such as a designated space for each item, it doesn’t matter how many times you organize it, it quickly turns into a big messy pile again.
I am kind of embarrassed to be sharing this photo but for the sake of showing the drastic difference I feel like the shelves made, I’ll do it. Below is the disorganized mess it looked like before.
Brent built me two shelves in my cabinet using stuff we already had in our garage. Score! He built me one on the bottom and one at the top.
We decided to take the faux drawer above the cabinet door and add hinges to it so it could open up to a shelf we would install behind it where I could store my hair dryer and curling iron.
We have seen a few photos of this floating around on the internet but wanted to attempt to figure out our own Gray House style of making it happen.
FYI: This post contains a few affiliate links to products we used to make this project. Gray House Studio does receive commissions for sales from these links but at no extra cost to you. We appreciate you supporting this site. Read our privacy and disclosure policy. You can also easily shop our recommended products here.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE
1. First we popped off the faux drawer. It came off really easy.
2. Then using pliers we removed the brackets and staples from the drawer face and the cabinet.
3. The 5/8″ cabinet hinges we bought came with instructions saying that the center of the hole should be 2 centimeters from the edge of the board and the diameter of the hole should be 35 millimeters.
So Brent measured where he needed to drill and then used this forstner bit and drill to drill the holes for the hinges.
4. Brent marked a hole for the plastic screw anchor.
5. Then he used a piece of tape to mark the depth of the cut so he would know when to stop drilling.
This would prevent the drill bit from going all the way through the drawer face.
6. With a soft faced mallet, Brent hammered in the plastic screw anchors and then attached the hinge to the drawer face with the screws.
7. After centering the drawer face on the cabinet, he attached the other side of the hinge to the cabinet frame to make it a functioning door.
8. Then Brent started building the shallow shelf that would sit behind the hinged door.
He used a piece of scrap wood that came from a shelf we tore down in our garage. We found this white laminate shelf that you could use that is very similar.
Bonus: it was already painted white! That was a huge time saver. He measured the width the shelf needed to be to fit in the cabinet in front of the sink.
9. Next, he cut the shelf to size using a miter saw.
10. He flipped the shelf over and clamped a Pocket-Hole Kreg Jig to the board and then used it to drill a pocket-hole on the bottom of the board.
A close up of what the pocket-hole looks like.
11. Finally, he installed the top shelf behind the hinged door. He used the same steps above for the bottom shelf as well.
I am now storing my hair dryer and curling iron behind this secret little door. I like having these items up higher and within reach so they don’t fall towards the back of the cabinet.
After Brent installed the bottom shelf, I finally got to organize this area like I have always wanted! I was able to add another inexpensive baskets now that I had two shelves.
As you may be able to see, I found another use for my chalkboard tape!
I found these little glass containers left over from our wedding and added some chalkboard tape labels to them and am now using them to store all my hair ties and bobby pins that were laying all over the place.
Hopefully by adding shelves in bathroom cabinets and having a place to store these things will keep them from getting lost and me having to buy new ones all the time.
It was a small project with a transformation that has a huge impact on that space. I am so happy with the results of adding shelves in bathroom cabinets and grateful Brent took the time to work on this with me. I love that each item has a designated spot to be put back and that all the space in the cabinet is now being utilized to it’s max capacity.
If you have any questions about adding shelves in bathroom cabinets, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.
As 2014 comes to a close and 2015 begins, we thought we would put together a list of the home renovation projects we would like to tackle in the upcoming year. We finished quite a few cool home renovation projects in 2014 that really made our house start to feel like “our home”. 2015 marks the beginning of our second year in the home and we are hoping to take on a few larger home renovation projects and more woodworking and furniture building projects. It’s time to step up our game.
The Five Home Renovation Projects on our Project Wish List:
1. FINISH PAINTING THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE – We are close to having all the rooms inside our house painted. It is our goal to finish the last few rooms in 2015. The front entry way and front rooms will be painted gray (of course). We also need to paint our front hall, guest bathroom laundry room and garage and then we will be done! If our house has no more off white walls by the time 2016 rolls around, we’ll call 2015 a success! Below are the paint colors we plan on using from Sherwin-Williams.
2. FIX UP THE GARAGE – Speaking of the garage, 2015 will be the year the garage sees a little attention. Last year it was used more as a storage room (and not one of those organized kind). Since we plan on doing a lot more woodworking and furniture building projects this year, we will need the garage to be our workshop. We managed to get it cleaned out, now we just need to clean it up! Our plans include painting the walls, staining the floor, building a workbench and cabinets – we’re talking about a complete makeover here! Brent is especially excited to get this remodeling project started.
3. PAINT THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE – Another home renovation project we would like to get done this year is to paint the outside of our house. Currently, is an off white color that is boring and plain so we want to paint it a welcoming gray color (are you seeing a trend here?). The house is 12 years old so the original paint is chipping in places Adding a fresh paint of coat and replacing some of the trim will really bring the outside of the house back to life and add to the curb appeal. We had to submit our colors to our HOA to be approved and they finally gave us the okay! So now it is a matter of actually getting out there and painting. We are dragging our feet on this one because it will be a lot of work but the results will be awesome. We’ll take on this challenge in the spring or fall.
4. REMODEL THE BACK PATIO – Our backyard is such a cool spot and one of the reasons we like this house so much. It is small but backs up to a greenbelt with lots of trees. We have two slabs of concrete back there but not very many places to sit for entertaining. So we would love to make this space a more inviting. Our plan is to eventually remodel the back patio to have a wood deck with custom built seating. The front yard got all the love last year so we hope to give a little more attention to the backyard in 2015. We are looking forward to taking advantage of the great space outside.
5. FINISH UP THE MASTER SUITE – We would love to finish the last few renovation projects in our master bedroom and master bathroom so we can call those rooms good and have two rooms updated and under our belt. There are still quite a few big and small projects that we would like to work on in these rooms including building a headboard and second nightstand in the master bedroom and putting in a new slate title floor and cabinets in the master bathroom.
So if things go according to plan, this time next year we should be able to report back on the blog that we were able to cross all these tasks off of our home renovation wish list. I’m sure several other projects will pop up that will be a blast to work on, like that awesome craft cabinet! But these are our five shoot for the moon home renovation and interior design projects that will pack a big punch on the look and feel of our home this year. We’re ready to get started right away if only the budget allowed it. After we re-coup a little from Christmas, we’ll get started right away!
Hope you have a Happy New Year 2015! What are your home renovation plans for the coming year? We would love to hear them!
