Unappreciated Details: Cabinet Interior

After we finished making the outside of our bathroom cabinet beautiful the inside looked a little, well, gross.  The paint was yellow, there were stains, and the floor of the cabinet had some previous water damage.  So we decided to give the inside a makeover as well.  

Before:  Yellow, stained, and water damaged

After:  Clean and Bright

First we pulled up the water damaged floor of the cabinet, and discovered that the AC duct simply let out under the cabinet.  The air wasn’t shunted toward the vent at the front of the cabinet at all.    The floor of the cabinet also had VERY little support from underneath.  Firebeard fixed both of those problems by installing floor supports on either side of the open duct and vent, reducing the space that the air could fan out.

Removing the floor of the cabinet 

Discovering the open duct and lack of floor support

We decided to replace the very thin floor with slightly thicker plywood, but that gave us another problem.  The new thicker flooring didn’t bend.  We had to cut it into 3 pieces to fit it into the cabinet.  Fortunately we had already planned to cover up the plywood flooring with vinyl, click together “wood” flooring that would protect from future minor water leaks better than wood alone.  My parents had given us some or their left over vinyl flooring so this part was free.  Since the new plywood floor and vinyl flooring was thicker than the previous flooring the cabinet lip no longer covered it.  We installed some quarter round shoe molding to take up the additional space.  We also painted the inside of the cabinet to freshen it up, and cover a few stains.  

Installing the New Cabinet Floor

Since we don’t have a lot of floor space in this bathroom, I placed a small laundry basket inside the cabinet to collect clothes after bath time, and I still had enough room under the cabinet for extra towels and a few supplies.  I will admit I had to get rid of a lot of older towels to make everything fit, but it was worth it.   If you are looking for a place to donate your gently used towels, shelters (either human or animal) are often in need of them.

Stocked with Supplies

We have Floors in the Office!

Office to Do List:

• Remove old gross Carpet and Carpet Pad - Check
• Pull out the 12 Million Staples that were used to install the old carpet - Check
• Tear down old cat hairy window treatment and Discover Missing Piece of Crown Molding - Check and Check
• Remove base boards - Check
• Remove piece of crown molding next to missing molding - Check
• Scrap/Strip/Sand Peeling Paint from Molding - Check
• Patch holes and Prime patches - Check
• Prep Ceiling and Walls for paint - Check
• Paint Ceiling and Walls - Done
• Install Flooring - Done
• Sand and repaint Base Boards
• Reinstall Baseboards
• Install quarter round molding
• Reinstall Crown Molding with the addition of Missing Piece
• Finish Painting All Molding
• Make Pretty!

The last I left you in our home remodel saga, we had just finished preparing to paint the office, and now not only has the office been painted, we have floors.  Glorious floors that are neither covered in cat hair, or possessing an odd smell!  Is it weird that this makes me feel like a kid at Christmas time?

The flooring is glue together tongue and groove that does not click together.  We installed it completely on our own, and it was our first time installing this type of floor.  We had read or watched every single tutorial on the subject we could find before we started and read the full manufactures directions, even so, when we first started installing it, we started questioning the sanity of doing it ourselves.  By the time we finished (DAYS later) it had become easier, we we had become faster, and now the idea of doing the next room doesn't seem so bad.  I think I may go into the detail of installing it a bit when we do the next room and share some of the mistakes we made and the solutions we found.

Now that the floors are in, I feel like we have rounded a serious corner in our office remodel and we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The walls and ceiling have been painted, and the floors are installed.  It is looking like a room again.

Ok, I will admit that there is still plenty of work to do, but it feels like I am almost there.  I feel motivated to hurry up and finish up the rest of the tasks on my list, so I can start to move furniture in!