Condo Renovation: Part I

So three years ago, though still in graduate school, I was  lucky to be able to purchase a home of my own, a 730 sq ft, bank-owned condo in Sacramento. It was not in the best part of town, and it certainly needed some work, but it was mine and I loved it.

I have since moved in with my significant other.  I recently finished  the renovations and handed the keys over to a renter.  A lot of hard work (and not just on my part, thanks mom!) went into making it what it is today. I hope to document the renovations here in multiple posts over the next several months.

I think it seems appropriate to begin with the entryway. The condo was built in 1983 and had not really seen any renovations except for an ill-fated attempt at laminate flooring that will be discussed later. Having grown up in the 80's, I was plenty familiar with the odd love of brass, etched glass, mirrors and dark wood (and cocaine I guess, hmmm, correlation?). It was definitely time for new door knobs and a coat of paint at the least.


The moulding around all the doors was very plain and pretty banged up.  All the base moulding was missing. I assume it was removed to install the laminate flooring and just thrown out. The doors were re-trimmed with new moulding and everything was painted nice clean ultra-pure white. I don't know if I would usually choose such a true white but it worked really well with the laminate and the new wall color in the main room (Mountain Haze). We also replaced the old brass knobs with brushed nickel.

Before

The original light fixture, a brass chain ending in a smoked glass globe (thanks again 1980's) still hung in the entryway. I just replaced the glass globe with a white paper lantern from World Market. This was originally a temporary fix but I ended up liking it so much that I left it. I think it contributes to the "zen" feeling I was trying to cultivate. Hey, grad students need a good place to relax!

Getting ready to extend the laminate into the entryway.

Changing the flooring was the most challenging part of this job.  I didn't mind the tile itself except that the two patches of tile from the fireplace and door were close together, leaving an odd notch of laminate in between and breaking up the space.  We decided it would look nicer if the tile was ripped out and replaced with laminate in front of the door.  There was one small problem, we didn't have any spare laminate.  Perhaps there was never any extra or maybe it went to the same place as the old moulding.

Obviously tearing up all the laminate and buying new flooring didn't sound like a good option. In the end, we made the decision to remove the laminate from the dining area and use it to fill in the entryway and replace some badly done patches in other areas  Because the dining room is mostly separated from the entryway/main room, we could put different laminate in there later and it wouldn't be noticeable. 

So, I got to work prying up tile and mortar with my trusty "wrecking" bar.  I also tore out the tile from the fireplace, but that is for a different post.  This went well except for a few reticent tiles that wanted to take parts of the concrete floor with them.  Next we put down underlayment salvaged from the dining area followed by the laminate itself.  Even before it was completely finished it was very clear we had made the right choice.   

 

Finished!

Now the only problem was where to get rid of all the tile removed from the entryway and fireplace...

Hearts

Last Friday night while I was falling asleep I had an idea for a watercolor painting, a half red heart with bold black lines.  The next day I was still thinking about it so I went ahead and decided to paint it.

I have done watercolor in the past, but I have always had a hard time forcing myself to put a lot of pigment down on the paper so I never get  bright, bold colors.  To make the red of the heart, I mixed red with black, brown and orange and put a good amount of paint down.  I sprinkled some salt on the watercolor paint while it was drying.  I have tried this effect before without much luck.  In the past I think I used coarse salt but this time I used normal table salt and it worked out really well.  After the red paint dried I finished the painting with the black, using the brush almost as one would if doing calligraphy with black ink.

"Heart Half Full"

I was loving the heart theme and the bold colors.  In the past I think I would have limited myself and thought "I have to try something different".  Instead I just had fun making more paintings of the same type.  I am really happy with the results.  Even though the paintings are very simple, I definitely learned a little bit more about working with watercolors.  Perhaps more importantly, I am getting better at letting my creativity flow instead of trying to control it.

"Carried Away"

"On the Line"

"Sweet Heart"