218 south

Sold As-Is – Making it as ours

So many projects and only 23 more weekends left in 2008 July 18, 2008

Filed under: Green, remodel, yard — 218south @ 10:40 pm
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So it could maybe possibly be my fault that we haven’t posted in a little while, but we have many projects to come. . . We’ve been working on our yard, rearranging our furniture at 1:30am on a school night and contemplating how to improve the bathroom on a super small budget.

We’re thinking about using rubber mulch and permeable pavers to help finish off the front yard and driveway. I was looking at Marmoleum earlier tonight for the bathroom and despite the website saying that it “is all natural and comes in a rainbow of beautiful colors,” I’m not really liking any of the fabulous colors.

We also just met with a green architect this afternoon to get a better idea of what an addition might cost and ultimately look like. The meeting was pretty interesting and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we might be able to build a little something Josh and Tanya friendly for our wee budget.

Thanks for reading and we’ll be posting yard photos very very soon. . . pwomise.

 

Low VOC Paint June 26, 2008

Filed under: Green, remodel — 218south @ 1:37 pm
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With all the action of painting, molding, and unpacking we wanted to give a shout out to our paint, Olympic Premium…woot!  It might take a couple coats on the plaster walls, but it has no VOC and is Green Seal “Class A” Certified.  With all of our projects around the house we are trying to do them as green as possible, on a budget since we are both dorky veg*n’s who care about the environment all on non-profit salaries.

Olympic Premium

What does that all mean?

“Paints and finishes release low level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. The source of these toxins is a variety of VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) which, until recently, were essential to the performance of the paint.

New environmental regulations, and consumer demand, have led to the development of low-VOC and zero-VOC paints and finishes. Most paint manufacturers now produce one or more non-VOC variety of paint. These new paints are durable, cost-effective and less harmful to human and environmental health.”

The Olympic Premium is zero-VOC, though there is some slight confusion wether the paint colorants (the color pigmant they add to create your shade) is zero-VOC as well.  Either way the pain is zero to low VOC, made in the USA and about the same price as regular paint, which is handy to our non-profit wallets.

We bought our paint at Loews, it took us talking to two different people at the paint area (one said they did not carry low VOC paint), and a bit of investigation on our own to find out they carried enviromentally friendly (friendlier?) paint.  From what we have read this is pretty common.  Even though green living is a buzz word, many times the stores have no idea if they carry green products… so strange, especailly at the yuppy feeling Loews.

Both of us would highly recomend the paint, especailly for the budget conscience who can not fork out the big bucks for the fancier smaller brand green paints.  Added bonus, Olympic has a zero-VOC primer too!

Links:
Olympic Premium Paint
Green Seal

 

Gaps are gone, molding is on. June 21, 2008

Filed under: remodel — 218south @ 11:08 pm
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Oh what a little paint and one WEEK of fiddling with molding, and by fiddling I mean cutting, painting, nail gunning, caulking gaps, and repainting… who knew molding would be such a long process and make such a big difference.  Check out the before and after pics below, it is pretty amazing what a difference it makes.

  • living room north east before

lvrbefore

  • living room north east after

lvrafter

  • living room north west before (check out the dingy before color, ick)

lvrwbefore

  • living room north west after (ooh yeah snowy mountain white and a nice dark silvery-gray)

lvrwafter

  • bedroom south wall before, HUGE GAP!

bedroomsouthbefore

  • bedroom south wall after, clean and nice

bedroomsouthafter

  • and the west bedroom wall before

bedroomwestbefore

  • west bedroom after, much much better

bedroomwestafter

  • and check out the bedroom steps before

bedroomstepsbefore

  • and after, the clean white paint doesn’t hurt

bedroomstepsafter

 

Pics on the way? June 12, 2008

Filed under: remodel — 218south @ 7:50 am
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Oh where oh where is my camera’s docking station? Somewhere in a box I guess…  Once I find it pics will be posted.

So far this week we have finished painting the living room (except for two small areas that need some primer and a coat or two of paint due to kid drawings ont he wall), and we have in the house all of the molding for the living room and bedroom ready to be cut and painted this weekend, plus some goodies for the backyard… busy weekend ahead. I will make sure to track down the dock so I can post the pics I have promised.