[Bob in St. Louis]

 I've got my "maan cave" home theater room in the basement, but now the wife wants hers.
So.....

Here's the story of what I've been up to, the pictures (with captions) will follow. The kitchen was linoleum, the living room, dining room, and family room were builders grade (very cheap) tan carpet. My wife has been wanting wood floors for MANY years. I recall starting a thread here a few years ago asking for comments and suggestions about wood floors. After all these years, we're just now doing something about it.
- She now has almost 900 square feet of laminate wood floor.

We had painted the four rooms in two tone colors of light (bland, boring, and very conservative) colors and highlighted them with a wallpaper border that splits the various shades mid point horizontally. Like a chair rail almost.
- She now has very BOLD, very striking colors.

The television was a 53" (4:3 ratio) Sony from 1995. It's seen better days, that's for sure. It's incapable of presenting a picture that doesn't look like it was taken in a fog. It has been a wonderful machine for many years, but it's time to go.
- She now has a 50" (16:9 widescreen) Samsung Plasma

The couch (sofa), loveseat, and two end tables are "hand-me-downs" from over a decade ago. It's time we choose and purchase our own furniture. We deserve it after 20 years of marriage.
- She now has a sectional. Complete with two recliners and seating for several people.

The kitchen stove/range had two burners incapable of boiling water. That is, if you're wanting hot water in the next couple of hours.
- She now has a glasstop.......I'm actually very impressed with this unit. Much more user friendly than the electric burner unit we've had.

The kitchen island, although a very nice size, was shaped inappropriately for those of us that actually like to COOK.
- Remedy...... And I really LOVE this one........ Demolish and rebuild the kitchen island, complete with a built in 50" plasma.   

This can now be seen from the other three rooms previously mentioned. Before the remodel, the TV could only be seen from one room.

By some bizarre act of stupidity (twice), we've managed to heat glassware on the range top (stove top) to the point of explosion. This has caused small shards of glassware to melt into the vinyl linoleum flooring. My wife has been most successful in faux painting the charred areas, but you could still tell.
-Remedied by the near 900 SF of laminate wood floor I've installed.

The house was definitively divided into three sections; The cooking area, the seating area, and the sleeping area. With this remodel, we have made it two sections. Essentially turning it into "bedrooms" (individually private) and the rest of the house (public, open and airy). 
- Remedied by me cutting a hole approximately 30 square feet in size. This, in essence, has opened up the house to the point where you can almost see "anything from anywhere". This was the wifes idea. I'm surprised at how much of an improvement this made opening things up. She starts the process with a sledgehammer. 

The trimwork and casework was MDF (medium density fiberboard / "particle board") with a vinyl "woodgrain" appearance.
Need I say more? 
- Ok....Well ..... I'm still using MDF, but the baseboard is now painted white. Nothing I despise more than a cheap looking plastic "woodgrain". At least the white paint looks better than the plastic "wood".

One last comment..... As much as I hate "fake", in any aspect of life....I've decided to use a laminate wood flooring. For those that are unaware of the true definition of "laminate", it's essentially an MDF core with a vinyl (Formica?) coating. I put a solid oak flooring sample through it's paces and it just can't stand up to the rigors of several children (my wife babysits other peoples kids). It's purely amazing how much of a beating this flooring can take.

So....
Here we go with the before and after:

This is the wall from the perspective of the dining room. The old TV was directly on the other side of this wall. I gave the wife the small sledgehammer and told her to "open a can of whoop-ass".
-Note;
The light colored walls.
The dining room table covered for future use as a workbench.
The wrinkled cheapo carpet
The thin, cheap baseboard
White 15 year old, second hand loveseat
You can barely see the kitchen island on the left


"That's just WRONG"......The wife didn't like beating on the walls with a sledgehammer as much as I thought she would. I honestly can say I've never seen that look on her face in 20 plus years.
-Note;
The Sony TV that will be gone soon.


I'm standing in the kitchen. The island can barely be seen on the lower right of the picture.
A good overall image of the four rooms being modified.
-Note;
The wall behind the TV. Most of that wall will be gone soon. Look closely and you can see the pencil marks in the drywall. The 6' level seen in the last couple photos was used as a guide.
Also (again) note the light (boring) color of the walls. That will change (drastically) very soon.
The six panel door on the right. That's another plastic version of "real" wood. That will change soon as well.


Big Mess!!
Note;
The new wood flooring on the far left.
The linoleum kitchen flooring on the foreground, bare subfloor in the aftground.
The wife is a real trooper. She removed ALL 900 feet of the linoleum, carpet and tackstrip! 
Kitchen island on the right (now a workbench)
The "hole" I made in the wall behind where the TV was. This made a HUGE difference in opening up the house.
Very bold colors


Another shot of the mess


The kitchen island being dismantled
-Note;
The walls are a dark paint now.
The two doors on the right are still plastic (the left one goes downstairs to the basement, the right one is the laundry/utility room.
Half shattered pendant lighting fixture hanging above the kitchen island. Wasn't planning on changing that, but plans change....ya' know?   
Linoleum flooring, still there....


More mess.
Note;
The small hole in the floor, foreground right side. Was where the 120Voltage came through the floor to power the outlets on the kitchen island. I've since moved the location of the 120 (two white wires) to the large square I've cut in the sub-floor. Also note the addition of RG-6 cable (black wire) to supply video signal to the new plasma TV. 
Small amount of new flooring on the left.


Nap time. 
Note;
Two rooms have new flooring (I'm standing one one to take the picture so you can't see it)
Two different wall colors
Wife doing nothing (I told her I was going to blackmail her with this picture)   
The large hole I cut in the wall. Now has a small bit of red oak trim surrounding the cut out.
The TV has shrunk into a 21"    We sold the couch, loveseat, and TV. They're now GONE!!!   


God is in the details;
Note;
These little pieces seemed cheap enough at the time. So I decided to use them throughout the remodel. I've used just a touch of Gorilla Glue and a few 2" pneumatic nails since they're located on the outside of the wall corners. This exposes them to the numerous children that have chosen my home as the one they want to destroy. The glue is the last line of defense I suppose.


We're now impressed with ourselves.
Note;
The new 50" Samsung Plasma is now sitting in the floor (also note the DishNetwork Blues station playing)   
Three rooms now have new flooring
Trim (casement) has been removed from the two plastic doors. One door is now gone. Yea....please ignore the nasty mess in the laundry room. I dare you to photograph yours.      
A couple pieces of new baseboard can be seen.


A real mess.......
Note;
This is the forth and final room to be finished. Unfortunately, this is also the room that has accumulated all of the crap (and childrens toys) from the other three rooms. Call it a 'dumping ground', if you will.
The wife is painting. Much to my surprise, she dug out my several year old gray paint that was used to color my home theater room. To say that I was in shock when I saw her using this color would be a severe understatement.
The other three rooms under construction are in the background of this photo.


More detail.
Note;
My favorite part....The cool stuff.  Not sure what these are called, but I've bought a few dozen of them. Hand painting them was more of a pain that I could have ever imagined,  but worth the effort.
On the left we still have a plastic door, the right, a door is still missing.


Getting better
Notes;
Cabinets for the kitchen island are in place.
Plasma TV is in approximate location  where it will live it's life.
I'm standing where the dining room table would be. China cabinet slightly on the left of image.
Also note, I've now totally broken the light fixture above the island. All that's remaining is a pole and a light bulb. 


Closer
Note;
Close up of the future island/TV area.
The masking tape on the floor is roughly where the new island will be.
New stovetop can be seen in the background
Reflection in the TV screen is the fireplace stone surround (with a couple toys)    .



OHHhhhh BABYYyyyyyyy.....!!!!!!   
The wife has a new toy!
Note;
New paint. New baseboard. New flooring, and....The sectional. Need I say more? 
This is where the wife (and family) will sit when watching a movie.


Yea. 
Note;
The kitchen on the right
The dining room on the far left
Sectional in foreground left. (also note, that's the 'hole' I made in the wall above the sectional)
Two new wooden doors on the right.
Carpet in background will soon be replaced.


Time to use my creativity and imagination.... 
I told my wife to have faith in me.....    .....That I could design and create a new kitchen island that could house a large TV. Now's the time to get it done.
Note;
I stapled several blocks to the floor (under the area where the island will be) in a large, sweeping arc.
Then stapled 4.5" tall lengths of 1/4" plywood to these blocks. This will be the front of the toe-kick. 
The masking tape on the floor will be the outer perimeter of the arc of the island.
Also note the paint tray and small roller to spread the wood glue. I'm using three layers of 1/4" plywood to form the base of the island. This requires a LOT of glue!!


Ohhh!! 
Note;
The cabinet pieces have been put back in place. Mainly to ensure my measurements are correct. 
Inner layers of laminate to hold the base. This base will not only form the foundation of the cabinet area above, but will also determine the height of the base of the plasma TV.
Also note, the kitchen countertops have been overrun with items normally housed inside the previous island. Cooking a meal with not only a diminished counter top area, but also an island that's now non-existant has become a bit of a challenge. 
Another note; The frozen mug of beer. There have been a LOT of these used during the construction.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ok, you remember that plywood curve I had on the floor?
Well, that curve has three layers of 1/4" (totaling an obvious 3/4" thickness). I then placed a second curve to form the base of the toekick. I made what looked like little sailboats out of scrap 1"x3" pine. These I pneumatically nailed to the new wood floor (which, as you can well imagine drove the wife NUTS as I nailed into the new floor.....    )

As I glued each consecutive layer of thin plywood to it's companion, the "sailboats" helped them to maintain their final shape. A couple of 2"x3" board to connect them ensure my intentions.
Here's the picture of the toekick/base and it's resulting "floor" which is made from good ol fashion 3/4" plywood.
{sorry for the horrible shadow. This unit is so big, it won't fit on any part of my deck with the sun shining on all of it.}
This is the bottom:


Once I put that base into place, nestled up against the backside of the cabinetry, here's the result:


Then, I've made a temporary base for the plasma. Just making sure all this stuff is going to fit where I (hope) think it's going to fit.
Yes, I've left the plastic "wrap" that surrounds the TV. As many times as I've been moving it into and out of it's new home (to ensure proper fit), I didn't want to scuff it:


This is the view from the kitchen side. The MDF on top will eventually have a Formica veneer.
To take the photo, my back is up against the sink and dishwasher.
It's what I'd call the "business side" of the kitchen. Also, this is the "high point" during the project when the wife thought I was the coolest man on earth. You can't beat that. 
When she asked how I managed to make MORE counter space from the same "footprint" as the old counter, that's when I gave her the mystic supernatural line of B.S. and finalized my thoughts with the comment: "That's why you married me honey".    

Also note the four hole toaster behind the plasma. Not something you see everyday. 
I've also got a toaster oven next to the right of the toaster (not in picture). One of my pet peeves is to fir up a large oven to cook something small enough for a toaster oven.



Ok, the next two photos are visible from the dining room, living room, and family rooms. The plasma will be able to be seen from all three rooms as well as the entire island. On the left of the image, I've placed a door from the old island that will be used to make a line of doors across the front of the island. This is a radical change from my original idea. That was to have a large expanse of decorative wooden veneer across the face of the front of the island and nothing else. Well, nothing else except for the TV, but otherwise, that's it.
So....I saved the six door panels from the old island cabinets.  I'll be making the cabinet "face" with bulk oak, but reclaiming the old oak doors.
So, the face of the front of the island will be an array of doors so she can store seldom used things like crock-pots, food processors and the like. I'm leaving the cavity wide open. It will be large enough that an adult could crawl inside, and travel the length of the front wall all the way from the left side to behind the TV, without barrier.
Note; the single door I've placed on the left side on the island.
Also note, I've use pieces of the laminate flooring as a base for the DVD player (and whatever other electronics gets stuck in there). And also, laminate flooring on the "second deck" underneath the TV:


and:
You can see the double layer of laminate flooring under the DVD player and the TV.


My apologies for the less than decent photographs. When I'm shooting these, I'm either covered in sawdust and thought "this would be a good time for a photo" and didn't want to take the time to properly set up the shot. Or, I've been working so many hours and have just finished for the day that I'm ready to fall asleep standing up and didn't care much about photographic quality.
Either way, that's what you get. Not much in the way of great photography, but it gets the point across.

[Bob in St. Louis]

- The toe kick fascia has been installed.
- The "surround" cabinet for the plasma TV has been built.
- The shelf the TV sits on, and the shelf the DVD player sits on are perfect (previous pictures showed them simply sitting there). Now they're plumbed, leveled, glued, screwed, and nailed.
- The front of the island now has all four doors
- The counter top had a seem I wasn't happy with. So I laminated a 1/4" layer of Luan on top of it (with the seem running 90 degrees to previous). About a quart of wood glue and (literally) over 1,000 one inch brad nails. Now feels much more solid and the seem issue is gone.
- Adjusted the door alignment on old and new doors.
- Replaced all of the old (and installed new) door and drawer "bumpers" on island and the rest of the kitchen.

We found a perfect match for the Formica laminate as the rest of the kitchen. It has been ordered and will arrive at the end of the week.

Still need to:
- Fill the big nasty gaping hole left of the TV
- Build a new hood over the range. I removed the old metal white one a few weeks ago.
- Build new bullnose (that the right word?) for the front edge of the counter top.
- Build new trim fascia for the TV surround cabinet
- Replace the BRAND SPANKIN' NEW halogen light bulb in the new light fixture that burned out after less than a week.   
- One more room of laminate flooring and baseboard.   :doh:
- Too many small odds and ends to list.   

Here's a few shots. Including one when the wife is cooking my dinner ( ...     ...) and my daughter is doing my job.
I'm sitting in a chair drinking a beer playing with a camera.
"That's right women!!!! Get to work!!!! " 

[Bob in St. Louis]

First shot; On the left is the countertop with a coat of contact adhesive on it. In the middle you can see a little tan colored wedge. That's the already glued down Formica for that side. On the right is the Formica (upside down) with contact adhesive on it. After letting them sit for 20 minutes or so (and a few coats later), you carefully place it on the wooden dowel rods. That way you can slowly pull the rods out one by one. This contact adhesive bonds to itself instantly. There isn't a second chance for realignment. 
Unfortunately, the largest you can buy Formica is 5'X12'. This island from corner to corner is 6'x10'. It was unavoidable, I had to have a seem somewhere. So I decided to run it right up the middle at a 45 from the front edges of the counter. That way it looks like I did it on purpose.   
I'm SUPER proud of my seem, it's nice and tight. I was worried about that.



Second shot; half way through installing the laminate. Notice the sticks of wood keeping the opposing layers of adhesive from touching until I'm ready. The roller is for ensuring a solid bond and to work out air bubbles.

Next I got the router and trimed off the excess hanging over the edge.
That made a HUGE mess.  I had the wife holding the hose from the vacuum up against the router, but still made a mess.



Third shot: I ran the router around the top. Nice sharp new edge. Next to do will be to start making the red oak edge "cap" to fit the rough edge of the countertop.

Last night I made the first meal on the new island....which, by the way, the wife now refers to her "oasis", not merely an island.
That comment didn't merely make my day, it made my friggen YEAR.   
Yea....that's what I wanna hear!

Two pizzas for the family on the new Formica/countertop/island.
The oven is warming as I shot the pic and the red wine is breathing.

[Bob in St. Louis]

In all there's about 36 linear feet of countertop edge banding I needed to build for the island. Since I'm matching the existing edge that is on wall section of countertop, I had to custom make the profile. This meant purchasing 1"x2" bulk Red Oak and turning it into a thin 'band' about 3/8" thick and making a half dozen passes through the router to create the profile.
 
After one coat of Polyurethane, and 36' of wood, here's what I've got. The tiny piece is there to show the profile:




And here's where four doorways converge in the hallway. The flooring is done, the baseboard and casement has yet to be finished. All these little "custom" pieces of wood are a pain in the ass. I can do an entire room of laminate flooring in the blink of an eye, but when each and every piece needs to be measured (twice) and cut, then it really sucks up the time.
Sorry for the silly assed lens used, but it's the only one I have that can get the entire hallway in one picture.

[kgturner]

Pretty nice work, Bob. However, I would like to officially petition to change the name from "woman cave" to "ma'am cave".

Kevin T

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hey Kevin,
I'll ask Tina about the name change. I'll letcha know what she says. 

All of the kitchen island trim/edging has been routered, polyurethaned, and cut to rough lengths. 
On the top of the photo, the Oak trim has been damped with water, and clamped to a "dummy" piece of wood. This piece of wood is a replica of the curve on the kitchen island. When it dries out, this weekend, I'll glue and clamp it to the island. 
The bottom piece of Oak trim has Gorilla Glue and (heavily) clamped to the wood. This particular piece of wood is the one that will "cap" the plasma TV.



Here's the "filler" panel between the doors and the TV. This was one of the hardest parts of the entire project....filling a hole and making it look like you meant to do it that way. The appliqué is one of those $6 Home Depot pre-made things. It happens to match the one over the range, so again, it looks like "I meant to do that". 
In addition, you can see the "swoopy" thing I made with MDF, Formica and the oak trim. The custom oak trim was a bitch. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I was matching the trim that was on the rest of the countertops, that was the hard part. Also, making red oak bend at that radius wasn't the easiest thing in the world. As opposed to using nails I used towels soaking in hot water to soften the wood, clamps and Gorilla Glue to achieve the bend.
The "swoopy thing" is the 'cap' that contains the new 50" Samsung plasma. You can just see the black base of the plasma in at the bottom of the photo.



Another shot of the "swoopy thing" from the kitchen side.
Note the two outlets for the appliances. Someday I'll build an appliance garage to house the toaster and toaster oven. It was my intension to build this as part of the project but the various delays have gotten other things in life backed up. So......the garage will have to wait.


This is the island and kitchen from the dining room view. Here you can see the filler panel with the appliqué (matched the one over the range hood), and overall shape of things. Sorry about the lack of focus, not sure what happened there, my apologies. 
David Gilmore is entertaining me on the TV.


Here's the kitchen and island from the family room view (just to the right of the dining room).
Not much to describe here.
I need to use some flat black paint behind the TV to hide that rear wall. There are things that don't need to be seen. The camera flash intensifies it, but it can still be seen on a bright day with the shades open. Due to the flash, the filler panel is too bright and the appliqué is all but gone (once again, an amateur photographer). Also notice the (very inexpensive) rope lighting above the wall cabinets. Those are neat, and highly recommended.
Extra points if you know what movies this is.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ok, that's all. Not more pictures....Ta daa!! 

[TomS]

Bob,

All I can say is    I just tore up 800+ sq ft of flooring and the whole kitchen a couple of weeks ago. The words mess, chaos, havoc, etc are all that come to mind at my place. You make it seem so hopeful that an end may be in sight some day 

[poseidonsvoice]

Bob
 

I couldn't do half of the stuff you managed to do. I feel lucky that I have a builder, because short of the usual audio diy, I can't go for big reconstruction as you have done.

Hat's off truly.

Anand.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Tom, very glad I could show you the light in the tunnel. 
There were a few times I thought I had bit off more than I could chew, that's for sure.
Ultimately, things turned out great. The place looks awesome and the family is proud. That's all a guy can ask for.

Well, that and some new knees.   

Anand, thank you Sir! 
Not just this, but I can DIY some open baffles too. 
Given the tools, time and funds, you might just surprise yourself what you're capable of.

Bob

[ArthurDent]

Wow Bob    , words fail me, and I'm bushed just looking at all you did.   Truly stellar work.
JD

[satfrat]

I would be happy with just 1/4 of your ambition Bob, then maybe I wouldn't be such a lazy SOB couch potato.    Thanks for taking the time to take pictures and formulate this thread. You're definitely da man. 
 
Cheers,
Robin

[mcgsxr]

YIKES, just over a year ago I documented a plasma install in my family room adjacent to the kitchen, and the subsequent hardwood flooring install.

I recall well the pain of removing carpet, tack strips, and pulling all the staples etc. 

You have done a marvelous job bringing that vision to life.  NICE!

Now the zinger - where oh where do the OB speakers for that install go?   

[ebag4]

Very nice job throughout Bob  .  I love the island.  I will definately NOT be showing this to my wife  .

Best,
Ed

[thunderbrick]

Ahhhh, you're just showin' off, Bro!     

Seriously folks, I visited Bob's place a few times and his photos don't do it justice,  but I have two questions..........

How in the world did you get the man cave FIRST, and the gal cave second?

And has Tina finally put the baseball bat and stun gun away?     

[Scott F.]

Very nice job Bob  Now I know why you've been so scarce 

[poseidonsvoice]

Extra points if you know what movies this is.

Xmen?

Anand.

[WGH]

What an amazing transformation. Great job Bob!

Wayne

[SlushPuppy]

Dude, you have mad skillz!