See What Real Renovations Really Cost - and How to Avoid Contractor Horror Stories

Today I'm collaborating with a Canadian company that offers services which anyone planning to renovate will find incredibly useful!

From creating solid maple counters from scratch to tiling a kitchen backsplash to building our own bed, Hubby and I have tried a lot of projects ourselves, but we definitely turn to the pros for certain jobs.  Sometimes it's for jobs we hate and other times it's because we know our limitations.  Even though we've tiled, we HATE it, so we hired out the tiling in both of the bathroom renovations we've tackled, and then handled other parts of the project ourselves.  As much as we love DIY, sometimes it just saves a lot of time and money to hand over certain tasks to experienced tradespeople, but the problem is that Hubby and I have had both good and bad experiences.  The folks we hired in Ottawa were great but, if you remember, we had some issues with the tiling company we hired in our current city.

Sadly, that one bad experience actually made up scared to hire out jobs again! 

My unfortunate experience is why I was so interested in Reno-Assistance, because they help connect you to contractors who won't waste your time and money - or bungle up the project!  The company's president founded Reno-Assistance because of his own unpleasant experiences (like stolen deposits and terrible work), something his impartial contractor referral service can help his customers avoid.

It's a really unique business model which offers lots of free resources to homeowners - even useful information for anyone not in a city currently served by the company.

The most unique aspect is that Renovation Advisers work with you to discuss your project, review your options, and send up to three verified contractors to provide a quote.  It's such a fabulous service for first time homeowners, for whom the whole experience can be really overwhelming.  With Reno-Assistance, you get a real life person walking you through the process, which can help prevent costly mistakes.  Plus, the service is free - it's the contractors who pay, which means that you're getting quotes from serious contractors who really want your business and want to make sure they keep you happy to ensure that Reno-Assistance keeps sending clients their way.  

Reno-Assistance will set up appointments for you and even send you a report about each contractor, so you know what to expect.  And after you receive your quotes, a representative will help decipher what they mean and help you choose the right contractor.  If, for some reason, you're unhappy with the work or the contractor, there's even a process to help come to a resolution.

There are also checklists and tips for every kind of project, from who you might need to hire to what steps you should take to ensure the project progresses smoothly.  There is a growing library of articles weighing the pros and cons of certain materials and things to think about before starting a renovation.  You'll find lots of great bathroom and kitchen ideas, but there are tons of resources for every kind of renovation.

Perhaps the most interesting part is that you can see real renovations and what they actually cost.  Although I love blogs for design inspiration, with brand collaborations the real cost of a renovation to a blogger is blurred.  With Reno-Assistance, you can see real renovations done in real homes - paid for with real money!  I have been obsessively scrolling through pages and pages of beautiful room makeovers - I just LOVE seeing what people really paid, especially the bathroom renovations because I've got three of those under my belt.  It's strangely refreshing to see a renovation where nothing was perked or comped.  

Frankly, I cannot wait for them to expand because I desperately need something like this in my small city!  We are currently getting quotes for a new roof and it is agony to get anyone to commit to coming out here.  So many roofers have flaked or complained that they're booked solid - plus I have heard horror stories about bad roofing jobs.  I've been Googling "DIY Metal Roofing" because we might have to install our own if no one will even come out for a quote.  I would love a service that books these quotes for me and only sends pros who have been vetted and want my business.

I'd love to hear what you think of this service - and feel free to share your WORST - or best! - experience with a contractor... Anonymous comments are always welcome.

This post was sponsored by Reno-Assistance, but all opinions and words are my own.  I genuinely think this is an exciting service - especially for first time homeowners/renovators.  However, I fully admit that I may be totally biased because they recommended teal as a kitchen trend for 2018...

DIY Water Color Stained Plywood - Inspired by Wood Aquarelle

If you follow me on Instagram you probably noticed that I've finally started using Instagram Stories!  I used it to share some photos of how I made my plywood floor, but now I'm finally sharing the process on the blog too.

I've broken the how-to into two parts: today I'm chatting about how I created this watery look, the inspiration behind this crazy idea, and some troubles I ran into.  Stop by the lakehouse next week to see how Hubby and I ripped these plywood boards into floor planks and laid a DIY plywood floor.  I'll also give my honest thoughts on what a plywood floor feel like - you might be surprised (I was!).

Here's a little teaser of the finished floor, if you missed it:

In a very rare moment for a DIYer, my plywood floor idea actually turned out how I envisioned it.  Mostly.

But let's backtrack a little and talk about why I decided on a plywood floor - something I had been very dubious about in the past.  My plans for the fish room floor had three requirements: cheap, easy, and cute. 

I wanted to cover up the disgusting old vinyl floor and considered a few options: paint the vinyl (easy and cheap, but wouldn't disguise the gaps and bumps), slap on some peel and stick tile (cheap and easy but I had a bad experience with a peel and stick tile that wouldn't stick), install some kind of floating floor (easy and quick, but probably too thick), or do a crazy DIY plywood floor.  I couldn't think of a down side: it's fairly inexpensive, pretty easy to install, and would cover the old floor nicely.  Plus, because we could get super thin ply, we didn't need to worry about it not fitting under doors, etc.

Sold.

But I wanted to have fun.  There's often that little voice in my head that encourages me to make a simple project decidedly less easy.  I had seen some painted/stained hardwood floors I loved and contemplated a solid teal stain or maybe a fun pattern.  I was tempted by the idea of mimicking an expensive floor tile I loved with paint and I even considered marbling individual planks (but that looked like SO much work - even for me).

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I really wanted something with a similar, organic feel but a little easier to produce.  Right now I'm just loving any kind of design that's irregular and inspired by water - ice dye, marbling...

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So dreamy.

I had kept this dip dyed clay tile on file in my mind for a long time, tucked away in the recesses of my brain for DIY inspiration, and I started to wonder if I could make something like it for my DIY floor (this Home Depot tile is really different, but has a similar watery boho vibe).

After seeing this "wooden aquarelle" method of dyeing wood vibrant hues with blurry swirls of color, I had pinned it to every board for "someday" and decided to try something similar for my plywood.

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The artist, Meike Harde, uses liquid pigment that is trapped on the plywood with a waterproof frame and as it evaporates, it creates this ethereal, organic design.  I struggled trying to recreate this technique Harde clearly perfected.  I tried different pigments and sometimes they just sank in, leaving a richly, and solidly, dyed surface, but eventually I came up with something easy that created a really different look than her beautifully stained plywood - but created what everyone says looks like topographical maps or aerial shots of the lake.  Perfect! 

Here's What You Need:

• Keda Wood Powdered Wood Stains (Blue and Yellow)
• Plastic Container (5 packs of stain make 5 quarts)
• Stir Sticks / Wood Scraps
• Good One Side Plywood (I used 1/4" Maple)
• Water Spray Bottle
• Gloves (but I totally didn't use them and had smurf hands for a job interview!)

How to Create a Watercolor, Marbled Effect with Wood Stain:

Keda wood stains are super interesting because they come in super saturated, vibrant colors and can be shipped in a powdered form (genius!).  You mix the powder with water, so you can create a lighter or dark stain (I mixed it pretty much according to the instructions).  You can also mix colors to create a custom hue.

I bought five packs of blue and five packs of yellow but when I even added the tiniest bit of yellow to my stain, it started to look very forest green - not the look I wanted - so I ended up mixing only half a pack of yellow to five packs of blue and after the stain dried, I realized I really could have added more yellow because it dried more teal than green. 

Each plywood sheet ended up taking the stain differently and in some cases the blue did look more teal on the blond wood.  It was an interesting (sometimes nerve-wracking) experiment.

Here's my jug-o-stain:



My plan was to pour on the stain and move it around the plywood but first my application was a little ugly.  I was too splashy and got this effect, which looked more like I spilled my stain by accident!

I learned to crouch down lower to the plywood and gently pour the stain on, as opposed to hurling it on from a standing position, and then it started to look more organic and swirly.

I used a spray bottle with water to create some areas with a thinner stain and I also moved the plywood sheets around, coaxing the stain into settling into certain areas.  I used scraps of wood to prop up corners and help control the stain to keep it from just pouring off the edges (mostly).  With such thin plywood, I could curve it gently to help keep the stain pooling in areas.

Here's a look at one pooled spot:

I tried to create a mix of some pooled stain and some thinned out stain.  I tried to vary it but I also just let the stain travel where it wanted.  Areas where it pooled, I let it evaporate overnight and that method left behind inkier areas.  It was fairly easy to do, but it did take me an afternoon of coaxing stain around.  It was a beautiful fall day though, so I can't complain.  After I was convinced I would ruin it by touching it more, I let it sit until evening, then Hubby and I carefully dragged the sheets into the garage to dry overnight, safe from the looming rain.

Here are the finished plywood sheets:

Each one turned out so differently and I was even able to re-stain the first splattery one (which ended up creating the gorgeous teal/emerald pieces in my floor, which are everyone's favorite!):

Problems I Encountered:

Now, with this method, the stain isn't removed as it's designed to be (brush on, wipe off excess), so I tried to really "burnish" the wood once it dried by rubbing it briskly with a tack cloth.  However, I was too ambitious with the minimal amount of time I let it dry and so when we cut it the next day, it did turn out fingers blue from handling it with sweaty palms.

The biggest problem I encountered - which I knew would happen - was that the water-based poly finish I used kind of re-activated the overdyed wood planks and muddied the bare wood areas.  I did some tests with a scrap of wood because I suspected this would be a problem, but hoped for the best anyway!  To circumvent this problem, I called my Mandlebaum Mom the night I was clear coating and she drove all the way out to help me finish the floor.  We used a few different brushes and different plastic containers of poly to separately brush on finish to light/dark areas separately to minimize the blurring but some still happened.  It meant that I had to brush on the entire first coat as opposed to just rolling it on (which took three hours of back breaking work!), so I was grateful for my Mom's help!  Even with our careful work, some muddying occurred because as it touched overdyed areas, the the poly turned pale blue and tinted many of the natural wood areas but it actually works with the watery vibe.  Luckily, after the first coat the color was sealed in perfectly and then I easily applied the second and third coats with no issues - and way more quickly.  I'll talk more about the clear coating process in my post about the installation.   

If I did this again, I would definitely do it in the summer, when it's warmer, and let the sheets dry a good week.  I immediately started working with them and the cooler, damp days didn't help my drying time.  Alternatively, I could have sprayed a first coat of finish onto each board individually, even before install, to prevent the blurring and seal in the color. 

Other than this little issue, I love how my watery plywood panels turned out.  Stop by next week to see these planks transformed into a really eye-catching DIY plywood floor.  I'll be sharing our tips and tricks - and what we learned the hard way - for creating a plywood floor, handy for anyone thinking about doing it (whether or not you're tempted by this marbled, watercolor stained wood).  I am just putting the finishing touches on the fish room and I am so excited to show you! I don't even recognize this formerly ugly little room and it feels so much more like an actual part of our house now.

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The Fish Room: "Before" Photos, Plans + Progress

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Do you remember the "Fish Room" from my lakehouse tour?

It's a weird little room that's narrow and super small, with two exterior doors (why?), one window (lake view though, lol) and a sink.  The whole set up leads me to believe it was designed for gutting fish.  That sounds weird, but everyone on this bay of Lake Superior fishes, so I think it makes sense to have a special fish gutting room?  I cannot think of any other purpose for this odd little room THAT CANNOT BE ACCESSED FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.  Yep, you read that correctly.  This room is attached to my house but only accessible from the outside world.  Because of the shabbiness and the inconvenient access, this room has sat pretty much unused since we moved to the Lakehouse.  I cleaned it, but I didn't even paint the walls - I just shoved in some paint supplies to keep them from freezing in the garage and then I managed to make this room look worse by spray painting on the floors and splashing resin around.  It was kind of handy to have a heated space I could use for messy DIY projects, but my need for that kind of room has really abated.  

To help you get your bearings, this room is located behind the fireplace in our living room; it's where we load the firewood into the firewood cubby (that part of the floor plan is genius).

The little bump out in the picture above is behind our TV, to the left of the fireplace (see more photos of our living room here):

I recently came up with the CRAZIEST idea for this room, which will help maximize the modest 1300-ish square feet of space we have.  It's a long term plan (which we won't have the money for until after we do the roof and siding next spring), so I have some time to figure out the specifics. 

This is my rough plan:

1. Tear down the fireplace wall and re-build a more modern, efficiently designed fireplace with room to mount the TV above it and - are you ready for this? - a SECRET door to access the fish room.

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I'd like to keep our handy wood cubby system, so a hidden door would likely be incorporated to the left of our fireplace.  I haven't seen anything exactly like what I want to do so I've just been pinning asymmetrical fireplace designs and working on my own sketches and ideas.  I'm thinking that large panels of walnut could hide a door nicely - but with some kind of sleek stone/tile near the wood burning fireplace.  The following fireplaces all look so different, but they're inspiring some ideas as I noodle on this...(if you spot an idea that could work, put a link in the comments, tag me on Instagram or send me a pic on Pinterest).

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2. Seal off the weird second door (on the side of the house) in the fish room and re-do the drywall for a seamless wall.  Let's get rid of the popcorn ceiling too!  One fewer door means way more space for cabinets and storage...

3. Move the washer and dryer out there and build a DIY dog washing station too.  I am so excited about planning a pretty laundry room!  I'm dreaming of pale turquoise cabinetry - or maybe classic white/walnut, with a statement-making tile in my favorite color.

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4. Add sliding doors and shelves where the laundry room curtains (hiding the washer and dryer) are right now, to create a massive, epic storage pantry stretching the length of the wall, floor to ceiling.  I'd really like to get the same glass front doors we have in the bedroom. 

We don't have a full height basement, so step four would be amazing! 

We would then use the fish room as a mud room of sorts too, letting the dogs in and out there and further confining the mess, even better than my current solution.  This plan would add so much function to our home: providing another entrance, carving out a proper mudroom, adding a massive walk in pantry/storage closet, making the laundry room less visible and also larger, and creating a place to wash the pups.

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Plus - SECRET DOOR.  I can't stop using caps, I'm really excited.  I've been pinning laundry rooms, mud rooms, fireplaces, and crazy good tile ideas.

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But you won't need to wait to see me give this room some love!  We're actually working on it right now, giving it the patented Dans le Lakehouse spit and polish, aka the Phase One Makeover.  The kind of makeover where we use phrases like, "load bearing paint," and "don't we have something in the garage we can use?"  Until my laundry/mud room dreams come to fruition, I'll be using this room as shared craft/sewing storage with my Mom.  Our sewing supplies were spread out over multiple spaces in both of our homes, so we sold some supplies at a yard sale and streamlined a little, and now the plan is to house it all in one convenient space (and that space is, conveniently for me, my fish room).

I'll be sharing the progress we've made soon, but I wanted to give you a better look at the "before" first and share my long term plans because I'm bursting at the seams with excitement over them.

Okay, tour time... 


This overhead fluorescent light?  Already gone!

The janky cabinets that refused to close and the even jankier sink?  Gone!  I actually contemplated keeping and painting just that one cabinet with the sink but, in the end, everything in here was just too old and damaged to salvage.  

 

Old stained vinyl floor? Gone! Well, sort of. We're just covering it up for now (I've been sharing sneak peeks on my Instagram stories!), but we'll rip everything out when we renovate for real.

Here's a sneak peek of the new DIY plywood floor:

There's the one door (the one whose days are numbered):

And then, three feet away, there's the other door (the one we're keeping):

It's a short tour because it's a tiny room, but I can't wait to share the transformation of this room with you - follow me on Instagram to catch my progress updates.

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