# My first attempt at anything more than hanging a picture...



## DIbrYan (Jan 25, 2013)

That title is a bit misleading. I have gradually trying to get better with my skills, and have a little more faith in my abilities. I worked for a custom homebuilder for a summer some years back and learned enough to be dangerous. The rest of it is from trial and error. We moved into a house in 2011 that needs some help, and I am tackling smaller things to work up to the bigger master bath remodel and laundry room addition. I found this forum after I "completed" my most recent reno. What I was hoping for was for a little advice on what you see in the pictures. I can only get better with the help of those that are really good at being part time GC's. So, please take a look and tell me what you think.

This one that I am posting is of a living room remodel. The house we moved into had a home office that ran the length of the front of the house, and a very closed of living room. The goal was to open it up, add a door from the house to the garage as there wasn't one there and make it more inviting. I will include more pics in next post


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## DIbrYan (Jan 25, 2013)

*Living room remodel*

My wife owns a baby grand piano and we have never really had a home where it wasn't in the way. The goal was to make this a good spot for it on one side of the wall, and on the other make a gym where my wife, who get's up at 5 in the morning to workout, could do so until her heart was content without disturbing the rest of us late risers. 

On the gym side I added a closet, and even though I am mostly happy with the work, I learned a few things after the fact that I should have done differently. I will definitely use a plumb bob next time instead of half a$$ing it and trying to make my own.

I wasn't thinking, and unfortunately did not get any pictures between the time I put up the drywall, taped and mudded, and the finished. I will learn for next time. It was my first time installing a pocket door, and I haven't been more frustrated in all my life. After several hours of head scratching, and trial and error, it went in. It's not perfect, and I need to adjust it a little bit but am overall happy with it. There was a definite learning curve here, and other than subbing out the electrical I did all the work myself (I know, it wasn't a big job). There is a courtyard out the front door, and within the next 2 years, that project will consist of bumping out the wall just to the left of the window about 4 feet, adding a ten foot entry way with lots of windows, a closet and centering the door. I hate using the front door now, so that one is in the works. Thanks for taking the time to look, and like I said, I appreciate any advice or comments that you may have good or bad. Let me know what you think.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

Looks much improved, good work. What did you do for the flooring in there?


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## DIbrYan (Jan 25, 2013)

It was an experiment. Craft paper dipped in glue, and then stained and 8 coats of polyurethane. It hasn't proved to be to dog proof, and I only spent about 300 bucks. It will be coming up in the next few months and I'm either going with tile or the tile that looks like hard wood, still undecided.


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