One Down, Seven To Go

BREAKING NEWS: we have finally completely finished one room in the house.  The living room is done!  Today we stained and attached quarter round to trim our new slate fireplace hearth.  While we were at it, we scored a pretty handsome (and very inexpensive, I might add) fireplace screen and some new fire tools from Target.  And now we are done.  Please admire:

And the obligatory detail shot:

 

Now we'll take a quick look back through the various phases of transformation.  First, here's what we saw the first time we ever saw the house in June 2012:

Yeah.  Before we closed, the woodstove was removed (first off, we didn't want it for obvious reasons-- i.e., it was hideous-- and second, it was not certified so our lender required it to be out before closing). Here's what it looked like as my dad pried up the huge tile pad one week post-closing:

The removal of the giant tile pad left us with some scarred-up hardwood flooring and a bare concrete pad.  About a month later, I made a mixture of 1/2 Behr Ultra Pure White (our trim color) and 1/2 Behr Irish Mist (the wall color in the living and dining rooms) and painted the brick:

 

 Sorry about the blurriness-- at that point I was even more pathetic with the camera than I am now.  The next shot really shows off the damaged hardwood we were left with when the tile pad was removed:

 

Next step: refinishing the floor.  We went from here (don't mind me cheesin' and looking HORRIBLE in this photo, okay?):

To here:

And then we bought some slate:

 

And laid it.  And today, we finished the project.  Which means we went from here:

 

To here:

...in about five months (which is nothing to be proud of, but hey-- we work full time and we've done plenty of side projects in the meantime) and for a total cost of around $100.  

And now it's time for a breakdown (10 points to the first commenter who can correctly identify the 90's song I just obnoxiously quoted):

Removal of woodstove: FREE to us (thanks to our amazing realtor)

Removal of tile pad: FREE

Paint for brick: FREE  

(sample of Ultra Pure White in flat finish left over from our trim-color decision + leftover Irish Mist from living room paint job)

Leveling compound for hearth: $14

Tile for hearth: $66 including shipping

Thinset for hearth: $20

Stain for floor and quarter-round: $5

Quarter-round: $5

GRAND TOTAL:  $110

  I'll take it.  Just seven rooms left until we're done!  Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahah.