Keeping the cold out

Now that winter has finally set in here in South Carolina the tile floor in our kitchen has become unbearably cold.  The problem is that there is no insulation under the floor also there were two large openings in the foundation that just had lattice covering them.  This allowed cold air to blow under the kitchen and out the other side.

I opted to use some sheets of foam insulation to cover the openings and reduce the amount of air flow under the house.  We do plan on adding insulation between the floor joist as a longer term fix for the cold floors but this has all ready made a huge improvement in the kitchen.

The large openings under our kitchen

 

The foam cut and fit in the crawl space

Stay warm

~Drew~

Master bathroom refresh, vanity replacement.

Our master bathroom needs some work.  The corner shower unit we have is the cheapest of the cheap and dosen't drain well.  The vanity we have while a nice American Standered piece just didn't flow well or look right.  Finally there is a lack of storage space that needed to be addressed.

Vanity replacement

While a very nice vanity the why the pips are in the floor it forced it to be about 4 inches off the wall.  Also because of the open design there is no nice way to put anything around it.  As you can see we put a few things around it to use a storage.

Cassie has been trying to find a new vanity for quite some time and happened to see a discounted Allen and Roth one at Lowes.  It was missing the matching back splash but after a little wheeling and dealing we picked it up for half price.  We also scored an Allen and Roth linen tower that was missing its marble top for half price as well.  If you see something with a clearance tag even at the big box stores it never hurt to ask if they are willing to go lower.

The old vanity next to the new one.

On the new vanity I had to cut a little in the back to clear the drain and water lines coming up through the floor.  With the area cut out the vanity could slide back to the wall.

The linen tower we picked up was missing the top so we stopped by a local granite counter top store.  While they didn't have a piece of black granite to match the vanity top that would fit he did have a piece of white travertine stone that would work.  After we paint we will be using a white marble for the sink back splash to tie it all in together.

The finished project

The next step is to remove and replace the corner shower unit followed by a full paint and hardware swap for the towel bars and such.

~Drew~