Author: Michael Gutelli

We’ve made it to the halfway point of this year’s ORC. Wow! And boy oh boy did things get really real over here this week. But before we get into all of that, if you aren’t caught up with our full project yet make sure to get all caught up!

Week 1 – Space plan, Design Board and over all inspiration

Week 2 – Demo and electrical

Week 3 –  Drywall, Paint and Design

Also, if you’re finding us for the first time from the One Room Challenge, welcome! We’re Danielle and Michael Gutelli! And together, we’re Clark + Aldine.

Clark + Aldine is named after the Chicago streets where we first met, and was born out of a love for purposeful design and everyday functionality. What we didn’t know then was that our passion and design influence would continue to grow, and we would soon leave our established careers to pursue Clark + Aldine full time. But like they say, when you know, you know! Learn more about us.

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This week our space went from a construction site into a space that actually feels like a home. Hello new hardwood flooring! 

Flooring

Let’s get into this subject with a bit more detail, shall we. By far the biggest question we got this week is why did we lay hardwoods on top of original hardwood flooring? Well, the answer here is simple…we didn’t want to tear them up! Yup, super mic drop moment right? Honestly it made zero difference if we tore them up or laid the new floors directly on top. The only area that required a little attention was the stair nosing at the head of our basement staircase, and that was only a few minutes of work, This provided us with additional subfloor and sound barrier for the basement, saved us a lot of time and a little money. 

We had contemplated feathering in and refinishing our original floors, but they were in horrible shape. As much as we wanted to save some of the original elements of the space it just wasn’t worth the time or investment, and it wasn’t going to give us the look we were striving for. We struggled on this decision, that is until we found our new flooring. Our jaws dropped, and without seeing it in person, made a decision to go with the Anew Gentling engineered hardwood from LIFECORE Flooring. This was without a doubt one of the best decisions we’ve made in all the projects we’ve ever done in our home. We are obsessed with them…like, truly in love! 

Watch Our Process To Laying Hardwoods

When it came to making a design decision for new flooring we wanted it to flow with our overall design aesthetic. LIFECORE flooring comes in 7 1/2” planks which was a major overall selling point for us. The reactive floors have natural highlights in the wood grain pattern and are hand-scraped, wire-brushed and sawn-marked to create the most beautiful design flow we have ever seen. With having two small children, an active lifestyle and heavy traffic from our team and family in and out of our house we are always conscious of what types of products we are placing into our home. Safety comes first followed quickly by the long lasting quality of a product. 

LIFECORE floors  are certified for peace of mind, meeting the most stringent standards for low VOC, including: Indoor Air Advantage Gold, GREENGUARD Gold, FloorScore and they are certified Phase 2 Carb Compliant by the California Air Resources Board. LIFECORE floors include a nine-coat, UV-cured aluminum oxide finish. Aluminum oxide is a naturally occurring element, present in ruby and sapphire gemstones, and is one of the hardest finishes. Not only is it low VOC, but it’s made to stand up to heavy traffic and is used in higher-end floors, talk about a win win for this family. 

We almost immediately landed on the Anew Gentling. The light oak finish drew us in as we wanted to provide a calming aesthetic to our overall space. The Anew Genting is deep wire brushed, distressed and triple stained for a more natural and organic aesthetic. The flooring is created with LIFECORE’s organic reactive process, bringing out natural tannins that penetrate the wood, so the color goes beyond a surface stain. 

Breakfast Nook

This area is something we have dreamed about for a while. The ultimate goal with this part of our design was to not only maximize on the space through seating and entertainment purposes but also to make it appear as if it was part of the original architecture. To do this we are lining the builtin with Firehouse Thin- Brick from The Tile Shop and then painting the Thin-Brick with Sherwin Williams Alabaster. The main reason we plan to paint the brick is we want the look, feel and texture element of exposed brick but without the bold color. By painting the brick white all these elements will come into play. We also created a stunning built-in floating bench. You can get a full tutorial on how to create your own bench here! 

The back of the nook is lined with Tempaper’s Travertine wallpaper. Guessing now you can see why the brick needs to be painted! This removable wallpaper is where it’s at. The black and gold metallic waves not only catch your eye and draw you in they have this almost memorizing appeal to them. Clearly a showstopper in our space and exactly the element we’ve been hunting for. Some really important things to note when working with wallpaper that has a pattern you want to carry throughout you absolutely have to order extra! We like to start with 20% extra. 

Cabinets

Sourcing our cabinets was actually one of the first things we did, you know, since it is a major focal point of any kitchen! We partnered with Lilyann Cabinets, whose main headquarters and manufacturing facility is in Michigan just under an hour away from our house! It was great to hop in the truck and drive out there to get a full tour and introduction to all of their products. 

Our decision was easy. We wanted white shaker cabinets with glass front uppers, so we went with the White Shaker Elite collection and added as many custom elements as possible. Every door has soft close hinges and each drawer has soft close slides…this is a game changer for us you guys because our previous kitchen had none of that and the boys would just slam things shut. 

We carried the cabinet design across the back perimeter wall of our kitchen, over the walkway leading to our butler’s pantry, and into the dining nook space where our new coffee bar is. For the coffee bar we went with an 18” deep base cabinet as we didn’t want it to intrude too much into the dining table. 

But our island, oh our amazing new island is a little different. We had Lilyann custom paint them Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black!!! We have a black island and could not be more thrilled with how insane it actually is in person. And we have a pull out trash and recycling bins. Do you know how happy we are to no longer have those bins sitting out on the floor?!? It’s really important to note we spent a lot of time ensuring we had more than enough room in our space to accommodate an island and one of this scale. You can learn more about our process of how to know if an island will truly fit into your own space here! 

We have a ton more surprises to show you with our cabinetry…but you will have to wait a bit for that. Until then we will leave you with our full process on how to properly install and connect cabinets! 

Appliances 

When we purchased our home 4 years ago we had to replace all of the appliances, so we had fairly new ones to work with. But the stainless steel appliances just did not flow well with our new design, plus we needed a counter depth fridge this time around which did require us to sacrifice some space, and we’re 100% ok with that. 

We decided to go all in on a suite of matte white Café appliances, each featuring brushed bronze hardware. We have been lusting over these for so long and have been waiting to put them into a new kitchen space, but didn’t realize it would be ours! The dual convection gas range is nearly the same as what we had before, just a slightly updated and way more sleek and sexy version of it. But our dishwasher was a bit of a splurge as far as dishwashers go because the space is open and we didn’t want to hear it. It is one of the quietest on the market, plus it has an LCD screen on the front that will show if the unit is in use or clean! Great for teaching the boys to do the dishes.

Challenges

Well you didn’t think this One Room Challenge wasn’t going to come without a set of challenges did you?!? Overall this project has been running rather smoothly for us given the current situation with COVID-19. As many of you know we aren’t actually doing the project live this year. We started earlier to help balance the workload between client projects and our own personal brand work, as well as the most important job of raising two small boys. But week four has brought a whole new level of challenges for us. During this week COVID-19 made a major impact on our project. In Michigan our state went into a stay at home order closing down all non-essential business, including construction. Which not only meant our business was shut down, all other suppliers and manufacturers were shut down too…and we had quite a few things in the works. While this came as a total shock for us we completely understood the reasoning behind the decisions our Governor made, and respect them 1000%. 

Wondering how this made a major impact on us and this project? Well the answer to that question is countertops! You guys all Michigan fabricators are closed leaving us with no way to get counters and putting our project on somewhat of a hold! Meaning here we’ve got these beautiful cabinets now installed and absolutely no way to actually use them. No running water. No place to work on or the ability to have a somewhat functioning kitchen. All while we stay home, homeschooling two kids and trying to make sense of what this new reality means for our business. Stay with us this week as we come up with some solutions for our family to thrive in a home without running water! 

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A Glass of Bovino | Beginning in the Middle | Beth Diana Smith | Clark + Aldine | Coco & Jack

Deeply Southern Home| Design Maze | Dwell by Cheryl | Erika Ward | Home Made by Carmona

House of Hipsters | Hunted Interior | Kandrac & Kole | Kate Pearce | Katrina Blair | Liz Kamarul

Veneer Designs | Rambling Renovators | Renovation Husbands | Studio Plumb | Media BH&G

You can follow us along on our journey over on Danielle’s Instagram page. And stay tuned because tomorrow we are dropping a brand new podcast series inside our Stay True Podcast with all kinds of behind the scenes insight and interviews you aren’t going to want to miss. Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify and you’ll get the notification right to your phone!  

Much Love –

Pro Guide In How To Install And Connect Kitchen Cabinets

If you’re planning on doing your own kitchen renovation, know it is a big job. You want to make sure you’ve got a properly planned out kitchen with the perfect triangle layout. From there, if you’re adding an island you want to ensure you’ve got more than enough room and have proper lighting placement. Once you’re ready to actually install your cabinets you need to know the proper way to do that as well as how to properly connect the kitchen cabinets. We are here to give you a step by step guide with all the tools you need, and the full process you need to follow to ensure your kitchen cabinets are installed properly. 

Tools you need.

Drill

Impact driver

Bit kit

Countersinking drill bills

4 foot level

2 foot level

Miter saw

Table saw

Tape measure

2 inch grk trim screw

3 inch pan head trim screws 

Shims

Large squeeze clamps

Stud finder

Hole dozer set

Pin nailer

Air compressor 

Step By Step Guide To Install and Connect Kitchen Cabinets.

Step One: 

You will want to install your upper cabinets first. After figuring out your layout and deciding which cabinets go where (both upper and lower cabinets), you will need to measure for the distance between your upper and lower cabinets. Most cabinets run about 36 inches high. So you need to determine how high you want your uppers to be from your finished countertop surface. We recommend you install the uppers no less than 24 inches above your finished countertop. So you will be about 60 inches adding 1 inch of finished countertop. Mark this spot with a horizontal line using your four foot level and pencil.

Step Two:

You will now need to use your stud finder in order to effectively secure your cabinets. Once you have found all studs in the areas where you are mounting cabinets use your four foot level to mark them vertically from floor to ceiling. Start from the top and strike a line, then continue from middle of the wall to the floor

Step Three:

Start with your upper cabinets. To ensure your cabinets are all level and uniform the first thing you will want to do is install a ledger/support board horizontal on your 60 inch mark. This will make things much easier and ensure all of your cabinets are level. You can use a 2 x 4 for this. Next, remove all the cabinet doors from your uppers.

Step Four:

For this step we recommend you have a second pair of hands. To ensure your cabinet face frames are flush together and for extra strength you are going to need to marry at least two cabinets together at a time. You are going to do this by using your squeeze clamps and clamping the two cabinets together making sure the face frames are flush. You will want to be sure the clamps are placed so you can still pre drill and screw your two cabinets together, usually where the hinges are in order to hide the screws. 

Once you have your cabinets clamped together use your drill and countersinking drill bit to pre-drill a hole from one face frame into the next (this will ensure you do not split the cabinet face frame when screwing them together). Once you pre drill use a 2 ¼” GRK trim screw to attach the cabinets. Screw them together slowly making sure you do not split the finish.

Step Five:

You are now ready to hang your upper cabinets. Lift your cabinets onto the support board you installed previously. Since you marked the studs with a vertical line, you should know where the studs are even with the cabinets in the way. Screw the cabinets into the studs on top and on bottom of your cabinets once you have them in your desired location using 3 inch pan head trim screws. Use your two foot level on the side and the top to confirm that your cabinets are level. You will continue these steps marrying all the cabinets together two at a time until all your upper cabinets are installed.

Step Six:

You are now ready to install your base cabinets. One problem you may run into is uneven floors. But don’t worry! Using shims and your levels you can easily eliminate this problem, and your toe kick will hide the bottom line of your cabinets to ensure they look uniform. We usually will start at a wall cabinet and work our way from there. Sometimes you will need fillers to make sure your cabinets land in the correct location. You will cut your fillers down using a table saw to your desired thickness and marry them to your cabinet just as you did with your uppers. 

Once you have your exact layout of your base cabinets take all the doors and drawers out to make installation quicker and easier. As you are installing your base cabinet ensure you are keeping everything level on top and use a level on the front to ensure they are level both ways. You will also want to marry all these cabinets as you go to ensure the face frames are flush and the cabinets are strong.

Step Seven:

When you get to your sink base this cabinet is going to be the most difficult one to install because you will have plumbing to place the cabinet over. This is going to take some precise measuring. You will want to measure from two locations to find the center of your hot and cold water lines and the center of your drain. You will then mimic the measurement inside your sink base cabinet. Making sure your measurements are correct you will use a hole dozer about a quarter inch bigger then each pipe. Once you have these holes drilled you are ready to place your sink base over top of your plumbing. Once all cabinets are installed and you have ensured they are level you can use your miter saw to cut your toe kick to the desired lengths, attaching with a pin nailer.

Pro tip: If you are installing an island be sure you have enough space on all four sides. You will want to start the row of cabinets directly across from your perimeter base cabinets to ensure they are the exact distance all the way across from your perimeter cabinets. This will ensure everything stays square. You will install these cabinets the same way as your base perimeter cabinets marrying them together and being sure to keep everything level.

When we designed our new open concept kitchen and dining space it was important for us to consider seating. While we are a small family of 4 we often have family over at the house (often as in nearly every day), as well as our team, and need enough space to house everyone comfortably. We decided that we wanted to build out a space in the dining room that created a moody surprise with extra ambience and seating with a custom floating bench. So, now that we built it, we wanted to pull together a guide on how to build a floating bench. 

Leveraging the most amount of seating in a small space is difficult. A floating bench allows for more seating at any shape table – round, square or rectangular – and adds depth to any space. Whether you’re looking to add a floating bench to a space that is built out like ours, or possibly looking to add more of a banquette design, this guide will help you pull it off. 

Tools You Will Need

• Miter Saw
• Table Saw
• Pencil
• Tape Measure
• Level 
• Power Drill/Impact Driver 
• Brad Nailer 

Supplies You Will Need

• 2x4s
• Premium Plywood (such as red oak)
• Solid Red Oak (or similar) – we used a 1×5 
• Construction Screws
• Brad Nails
• Wood filler
• Sand paper (or rotary sander)

How to Build a Floating Bench

1. Measure the space where you want to build your floating bench. You will need the total width and depth of the space.

2. Mark a 2×4 at the total width and cut it with your miter saw. This will be the horizontal support board attached to the back wall of the space. 

3. Install on the back wall using your Drill/Impact Driver and construction screws. Be sure to level the board as you screw to the wall.

4. Continue by cutting 2 – 2x4s for each of the sides, and then the front horizontal support board. 

5. Measure and cut some additional center support boards that will run the distance between the back and front horizontal boards. These should be spaced out every 16 inches. 

6. Repeat the installation steps from step 3 for all the boards you have cut.

7. Once you have installed the “frame” it is time to cut the top. We used premium red oak plywood for our bench top, but you could use any plywood or pieces of wood you like. Re-measure the total width and depth (to the edge of the front horizontal support board) and begin cutting with your Table Saw (for plywood) or Miter Saw (for boards)

8. Once you have your top cut you will install with your Brad Nailer. We used 2” brad nails to attach the top. 

9. Once the top is installed, cut your 1×5 front edge piece with your miter saw. The 1×5 is a little longer height wise then the 2×4 with the added top, which is okay because it will hide the support frame.

10. With your front edge piece cut, install with your Brad Nailer. 

11. Fill all of your brad nail holes with wood filler, allow time to dry, then sand them with a rotary sander or sand paper (this will just take longer)

12. Now you are ready to finish the bench with stain, paint or polyurethane.

And there you have it. As always, please let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below. And if you decide to build a floating bench in your home, send us pictures and tag us! We want to see how you did it in your space. 

-much love

This week our vision became a bit more clear and real. All of the dust, the piles upon piles of mess, the strategy that went into rewiring nearly an entire home to legally function and give ourselves more light than we’ve ever had finally led us to an incredible moment. 

Drumroll please…

If you’re finding us for the first time from the One Room Challenge, welcome! We’re Danielle and Michael Gutelli! And together, we’re Clark + Aldine.

Clark + Aldine is named after the Chicago streets where we first met, and was born out of a love for purposeful design and everyday functionality. What we didn’t know then was that our passion and design influence would continue to grow, and we would soon leave our established careers to pursue Clark + Aldine full time. But like they say, when you know, you know! Learn more about us.

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If you aren’t caught up with our full project yet make sure to get all caught up!

Week 1 – Space plan, Design Board and over all inspiration

Week 2 – Demo and electrical

Insulation

Well this isn’t really “the” big exciting moment, but it certainly made for a quick celebration. The insulation in our 1950 bungalow was bad. Like, shiver in the middle of the day on a beautiful Fall afternoon bad. The fireplace we installed as part of our Fall 2019 One Room Challenge certainly helped but it was still bad. So when we began installing the insulation it was cause for excitement. 

Nothing really fancy here, just us knowing our home’s climate will be in much better standing.

Drywall

This is the big moment we’ve been waiting for. There is nothing quite like that satisfaction of covering all the internal components of a house with fresh sheets of drywall. 

We started with the ceilings which required drywall at ⅝ inch thickness for fire protection. And those things are incredibly heavy, but we did it without a lift. The trickiest part of installing drywall on a ceiling is nailing the exact location for your overhead lighting. Whether it be recessed or pendant boxes you need to find the center of each light. To do so we mark a center line by measuring from two sides inward. But we don’t cut the holes out before we hang. We actually hang it first, then once we have enough screws holding the drywall sheet to the joists we start cutting our holes. Using a Drywall Cut-out Tool with a drywall rotozip bit we start in the center and work our way out until the bit touches the box. From there we follow the box until our circle is cut out. This is easiest with recessed metal boxes but can be easily done with sconce boxes as well.

Pro tip: You never want to stack one sheet on top of the other, but rather stagger them center on seam. This allows for a better, more smooth and seamless finish once all is taped, mudded and sanded. 

Once the ceiling and beam was complete we moved on to the walls. To cut out the switch and outlet boxes we followed the same process as the light boxes, just on the wall. You want to start running your first sheet on the ground and stack the second board on top in a staggered manner, if space allows for that. If you are using 4’ x 8’ sheets you should be able to gl floor to ceiling with 2 rows as 8’ ceilings are most common. 

One thing we always receive questions on is why we glue the drywall versus just screw. We do it to get a better bond and hold more secure over time, which limits potential flexing and cracks over time.

Mud + Tape + Sand

Now that all of the drywall was up the oh-so-not-fun process of mud and tape needed to begin. We were dreading it. Neither Michael or Matt likes to do it, and while they are both good at it, it would take them far too long to get it done right. So for the first time ever in our ORC history we decided to subcontract that work out. And we are so happy we did. Not only did the result turn out to be stunning but we have found a solid subcontractor for all of our client drywall needs. It was a win win and the best money to spend.

Paint

It took 5 days to get all of the drywall finish work completed before we could move on to paint. But before we painted we needed a solid coat of primer on all of the new drywall. We use Sherwin Williams Multi-Purpose Interior/Exterior Latex Primer for all of our projects, and trust us when we say it is the absolute best! Looking for tips and tricks with painting here’s our approach to interior paints! We also have to mention how incredible our go to supplies are for all of our paint projects. We have been using HANDy Paint Products for years now, and they are the best in the game when it comes to paint pails and trays. Their line of liners for paint pails and trays makes cleanup so incredibly easy! We highly recommend anyone in need of really good supplies for their home to check them out here.

Now that the walls were primed it was time for paint!!! I know, you are all as excited as we were to finally put paint on these walls. After much deliberation we are pleased to announce that we went with Sherwin Williams Alabaster.  

Alabaster has a beautiful warm undertone to the white giving us the exact look we wanted. While we started the paint process thinking we were going to land on a more bright white color such as Pure White or Extra White once we had the paint samples on the drywall it became apparent those white colors were reading just too white and bright. We wanted the space to feel bright and open while warm, cozy and inviting all at the same time. Alabaster does just that. Here’s a full list of my go to white paints if you’re on the struggle bus with white paints too!

We have also landed on trim paint, which is so exciting. This process became more challenging than we had anticipated. Like white there are so many different beige colors out there. Each beige has its own undertone that provides the overall look and feel of the color. In the end we picked Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige for the trim throughout the entire space including the crown molding and into the hallway and even our home gym. Around the two window casings in the kitchen and dining room we landed on Sherwin Williams Green Black.  

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Don’t forget to check out all the other Feature Designers!

A Glass of Bovino | Beginning in the Middle | Beth Diana Smith | Clark + Aldine | Coco & Jack

Deeply Southern Home| Design Maze | Dwell by Cheryl | Erika Ward | Home Made by Carmona

House of Hipsters | Hunted Interior | Kandrac & Kole | Kate Pearce | Katrina Blair | Liz Kamarul

Veneer Designs | Rambling Renovators | Renovation Husbands | Studio Plumb | Media BH&G

Be sure to check back into the ORC tomorrow with all the amazing Guest Bloggers participating this Spring, it’s the biggest guest participation yet, it’s going to be epic, I just know it! And I have a few awesome friends participating this year and they are absolutely killer at what they do!!!

A huge thank you to Sherwin Williams and HANDy Paint Products for sponsoring this post! 

Much love –

Design Your Own Bed

There are so many amazing posts out there on how to make your bed. I love seeing the different ways designers are pulling beds together and making pillows work inside bedrooms. When I am designing for clients my number one go to thing to design around is what does your lifestyle look like? Do you love making your bed? Are pillows your thing? Do you get hot or cold at night? All things I want to know. From there I work in the right way to make your bed for you. Today I am going to break down some easy ways to create a bed that is right for you and your lifestyle.

Layers

If I can teach you one thing in today’s post it is that creating a bed that feels styled all starts with layering. From the top down and then back up. You need to have multiple layers for your bed to come together. There are 4 main components that make up these layers: top layer (comforter, quotes, coverlets, duvets) Sheets, Pillows + Throws. 

Quilts + Coverlets + Duvet

Let’s start with the top layer of your bed and work our way down. This will be the main overall color that your bed will read. It’s important to know this is going to be your base color and everything else you add on will be built around this. I am a big fan of white beds but at the same time I know that isn’t for everyone or practical either. Here are a few for my favorites both white + color for you to look through! 

Belgian Flax Linen white, slate melange, frost gray

Crescente copper + gray

Hemo & Cotton Hazy Stripe

Dobby Ladder Stripe white + frost gray

Belgian Flat Linen camo olive, adobe rose, sand yellow

Sheets

The next layer to think about are your sheets. This can add in patterns or keep the color scheme going. As you guys probably know by now I am a fan of the all white look. But I just can’t get enough of mixing all the patterns together. Here’s a little bit of all those things to add in. Keep in mind if you are mixing patterns together you want one larger pattern paired with a smaller one. That way the patterns work together instead of against each other! 

Belgain Flax Linen Sheet Set white natural flax, space -dye, iron blue 

Organic Washed Cotton Percale black + white

Organic Washed Cotton Double  double blue slate

Almore Black and White

Lani Floral 

Pillows

I love pillows so much. They make me happy and I am one for switching mine in and out based on the seasons or mood of design I am feeling in the moment. One thing I have learned over the years is that pillows on your bed is a whole other story. Why, because you take your pillows on and off every single day. That means you’ve got to rebuild it everyday. When it comes to building your pillows out on your bed you’ve got to go with what is actually practical for you and your lifestyle. Keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is for you to make your bed daily. There really is just something so nice about coming into a room at night or even throughout the day with a bed that is made. 

Agave Supply extra long lumbar pillows 

KD Home Candy extra long lumbar pillows

Woven Baja Lumbar Pillow

Colin + Finn Mudcloth Pillows

Flax + Symbol color block Pillow

Throw Blankets

I love a throw blanket on the bed. I love them so much I typically design beds with two. One that lays all the way across the bed and the other that is either a double layer or just draped over the side. I feel like the throw adds that polished look and layer. It also breaks up the bed from being on long color or pattern giving your eye another place to rest.

Hydrus Black + White

Chenille Fringe Throw

Avah Eco – Friendly Striped

Prelada Golden Blanket

Colossal Handknit Throw

Veda Striped Throw

Paint my entire house in a weekend’s time? Really? Is that even possible? Here’s our pro tip how to paint your exterior faster.

Yup, pretty sure you may be asking yourself those questions. I mean, that is if you’re like me and find yourself having conversations with yourself…discussion for another time. But yes, you absolutely can accomplish a full exterior makeover from Friday evening to Sunday evening. I know this because we did it. And I want to share it with you. So here is our guide on how to paint your exterior on a weekend. 

Step One: Prep

First, let’s be real. If you have a 4,000 sq ft house this may be a stretch. My gut tells me that your home falls somewhere between 1200 – 2500 sq ft…am I right? If so this post is for you. We started on Friday night with all of the prep work. We began by removing anything mounted to the house. These items consisted of the following:

Make Sure to Remove These Things Before Painting Your Exterior

• Mailbox
• Address numbers
• Gutter downspout + mounts
• Flower boxes 
• Doorbell (you can tape around this for smaller ones)
• Shutters
• Lights

Now with everything removed you can begin the prep work. Start by taping off your windows. I like to place the tape firmly along the edges of the window frame, leaving enough space leftover to place clear plastic after the tape is run. Once all 4 side have tape cut a generous piece of clear plastic to fit inside the space. Starting with the top corner, adhere the tape to the plastic and work your way around until the plastic is fully in place. Then place an overlapping row of tape to reinforce the plastic in place. 

Pro Tip:

Always get tape in place on the window or door first. This allows you to peel just a bit back so you can install your clear plastic. Doing this makes the process much quicker and more efficient than trying to cut plastic, hold it up in place and tape at the same time. It never works out right.

Once you have all of your windows covered go back and do the doors. Make sure to leave one of your doors accessible so you can get in and out. When you get to that door then you can break from priming or painting and cover it up good. 

Step Two: Prime

No matter if you have brick, stone, wood or vinyl siding on your home it is a good idea to apply a coat of primer before you paint. Primer provides a solid foundation for paint to be applied and adhere to successfully. It also covers a majority of imperfections. And when applying a fresh coat of paint to multiple surface types or colors, it allows the paint to blend well and last longer. This is especially true for surfaces that see a lot of weather, like here in Michigan. 

We used two different primers for the exterior of our home. For all of the brick we used Sherwin Williams LOXON Concrete & Masonry Primer/Sealer, and for the vinyl siding and wood garage we use Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond Primer. Both were applied with a paint sprayer moving from right to left, top to bottom until the entire house was primed. When you are spraying move from side to side, and when you reach the end of one side you want to make sure you flick your wrist out softly, and then softly back in. It is like a smooth sweeping motion side to side. This ensures that you smoothly transition one line to the next without paint build up. Maybe we will shoot a quick “flick of the wrist” video so you get the idea. 

Any sprayer will do but I would recommend a pro machine that can handle the amount of paint you’re going to put through it. We have a few sprayers in the shop but the one we used was the Graco NOVA 390 PC Electric Airless Sprayer. This thing rocks it out and sprays super smooth. 

Step Three: Paint

Ok, you now have everything prepped and primed. You should be extremely proud and confident going into the third step…PAINT. For us, the first coat of paint started right before lunch on Saturday and was completed on Saturday night. This included a full 1,800 sq ft house and 2-car detached garage. It takes a lot of time and patience when you are maneuvering around the entire exterior and being cognizant not to get paint on plants and flowers. Plus, paint should be more relaxing of a task…at least it is for me!

Pro Tip:

Take a large piece of cardboard or plywood, something at least 3’ x 3’, and test your sprayer. You want to make sure you have the perfect amount of pressure as you are applying your paint. The last thing you want is drippage and overspray. No need to go full pressure here…middle of the dial is what you are likely looking for. 

Now for your 2nd coat. This only took me about 3 hours to do it all because I was already prepped, had a solid first coat of paint on top of a nice coat of primer…and I had a full night’s sleep. Take your time and dial it in. You may notice some spots that need to be touched up a bit, perhaps by hand with a brush, or just a quick touch with the sprayer. Make note of those and knock them out at the end. Your exterior is now refreshed with brand new paint!

Step Four: Clean up

First, let’s talk about cleaning your paint sprayer. I am not going to go into full detail about this because Graco has already done it! Check out their video on how to properly clean your paint sprayer. Oh, and you don’t have to have used a Graco to watch this…the same applies for any brand of paint sprayer. This needs to be done after every paint job. You do not need to do this between primer and paint if done in the same day, but at the end of that day it is necessary.

Next, it is time to remove all of the tape and plastic. I like to take my knife with a fresh blade and strike a light line at the edge of the tape. This allows a clean break from the freshly painted surface and the tape, and eliminates any paint being pulled off of the surface. Be gentle and take your time…you just busted your hump to get the job done so don’t ruin it by moving too fast. Remember, patience.

Lastly, it is time to re-install all of the exterior components you removed such as your mailbox, address and gutter downspouts. Perhaps wait a full day and give yourself a break and give the paint more time to fully cure.

And there you have it. Please reach out with any questions. Drop a comment and share pictures of your completed exterior painting project! 

Contact us for home design consultations and know more about interior home design.

Well that was a fun week we just had! We have completely demoed nearly everything on our first floor…ok, we’re being a bit dramatic. The office, gym and bathroom remained untouched but everything else is gone. The ceilings, some walls, electrical, plumbing, molding, doors…it is all gone! And now we have some new things going in.

If you’re finding us for the first time from the One Room Challenge, welcome! We’re Danielle and Michael Gutelli! And together, we’re Clark + Aldine.

Clark + Aldine is named after the Chicago streets where we first met, and was born out of a love for purposeful design and everyday functionality. What we didn’t know then was that our passion and design influence would continue to grow, and we would soon leave our established careers to pursue Clark + Aldine full time. But like they say, when you know, you know! Learn more about us.

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Demo

So the first step of our project, after space planning and design, was demo. The entire kitchen and dining space had to be gutted down to the studs. Then our main load bearing wall dividing the living room and the kitchen had to come out, which also meant the living room ceiling had to go. See, we really wanted to save the ceiling as it was the original 1950 plaster cove but it cracked when we were taking the wall out. Once you crack plaster it is extremely difficult to properly repair. We should also note that our team does not have the skillset to do plaster in house, we would need to hire that out. And with all projects, budgets come into play. The budget line item to create perfect coves with plaster was just out of reach for us, but in the end it will make the space much more open and bright.

Demo Prep

Knowing that we were taking out 70 year old materials and it would get dusty we made sure to prep the entire house. We did not remove the fireplace and mantle we built out for the Fall 2019 One Room Challenge so we covered it with 5mil plastic and taped it off. We added a Zip Wall at the top of our stairs and into our office to ensure that the spaces that would see frequent traffic were minimal effects from demo. We also did something in the basement – we hung plastic just beneath the ceiling as our basement ceiling is not finished. The amount of debris it collected was wild and absolutely saved us hours of cleanup time. 

Take Out Load Bearing Walls 

Now, back to the main load bearing wall. We knew opening and then removing this wall would likely come without its own set of surprises. We were expecting to find the main electrical lines powering the second floor inside this wall, but were fortunate that those all ran through the back wall of the kitchen…BIG WIN! What we did find was an HVAC stack that made zero sense from an installation standpoint. It ran from the furnace in the back of the basement across to the front, up the wall back across the ceiling towards the back of the house and up through a second floor wall into the boys room. No wonder the temperature had a mind of its own in that room…so incredibly inefficient. This was an easy hour long fix that cost about $100. Our HVAC contractor is the best.

Ok, so once all the demo was done and the HVAC was relocated and cleanup occurred it was time for the biggest element of this entire project. No, not the cabinets or new amazing flooring…we’re talking about the massive 22 foot beam that had to be installed in order to remove the load bearing wall and support the structure our our home. Not an easy or quick project at all whatsoever. But we got it done and now the space is open. 

Build Out

And then we added a really fun addition to the space. We decided since we were opening the kitchen and carrying the perimeter cabinetry into the existing diding space we wanted to create a warm and inviting space for gatherings and family meals. We decided to build out a wall 16 inches into the dining space where a floating bench and sconces would be installed. The floating bench would allow us to have a smaller dining table but house just as many people. So, we framed it all up!

Design

Ultimately we wanted to create a nook that looked as if it had always been there, as if it was a structural piece of our home. To do this we are planning to brick the exterior of the build out with  these Firehouse Thin-Brick from the Tile Shop. We are taking many rooms and creating one big room. 

The goal for us is to design purposeful and functional spaces inside our now open concept. One way we are going to do this is by having unique design elements in each space. This helps draw your eyes to those locations and associate them together. For example in the breakfast nook, not only are we adding brick we are also wallpapering the wall and painting the brick. This will create a statement area with built in texture. I can’t wait to show how we are going to pull it all together with our lighting and coffee bar. 

In the kitchen area we are going to pull the space together through glass uppers and a backsplash that will reflect the light from our front window. We are going to have a contrast of color happening there with our white perimeter cabinets and our black island. We’ve landed on the decision to wrap the sides of our island with the slat design we created inside our main living room window to pull everything together between those two spaces. To keep the dining room and kitchen cohesive we are going to paint the window casing the same statement color, hello greenblack! 

Electrical

We needed a quick break after that install before we tackled electrical. This one was tricky because we were doing so much, and had to plan every single element out before we started. We were going from 2 ceiling lights (one in the kitchen and one in the dining room) to 13 throughout the living room, dining room and kitchen, as well as a couple sconces and a whole lot of switches and outlets. We essentially re-wired the entire first floor and used over 500 feet of electrical wire (yup, that is a ton). We can’t stress enough how important it is to pre-plan where all of your lighting and outlets will go before you run your lines. Here’s a nice guide on how to plan recessed lighting, as well as one on how to place pendant lighting.

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A Glass of Bovino | Beginning in the Middle | Beth Diana Smith | Clark + Aldine | Coco & Jack

Deeply Southern Home| Design Maze | Dwell by Cheryl | Erika Ward | Home Made by Carmona

House of Hipsters | Hunted Interior | Kandrac & Kole | Kate Pearce | Katrina Blair | Liz Kamarul

Veneer Designs | Rambling Renovators | Renovation Husbands | Studio Plumb | Media BH&G

You can follow us along on our journey over on Danielle’s Instagram page. And stay tuned because tomorrow we are dropping a brand new podcast series inside our Stay True Podcast with all kinds of behind the scenes insight and interviews you aren’t going to want to miss. Subscribe today on Apple or Spotify and you’ll get the notification right to your phone!  

Be sure to check back into the ORC tomorrow with all the amazing Guest Bloggers participating this Spring, it’s the biggest guest participation yet, it’s going to be epic, I just know it! And I have a few awesome friends participating this year and they are absolutely killer at what they do!!!

Much love –

Dimmer Switch Installation

What’s not to love about the ability to dim your lights?!? It might just be one of my favorite updates to put into a space. Once you’ve got your lighting all right, setting the mood for the experience you want is ideal. Switching out your existing switch to a dimmer switch is fairly simple. Today we are going to breakdown for you how to install a dimmer switch.

Things You Need 

Phillips Screwdriver

Wire Nuts

Non Contact Voltage Tester

Electrical Pliers

Leather Gloves

How to Install A Dimmer Switch

The first thing you will need to do is determine whether or not your light fixture is dimmable. Also if your light fixture is on a single pole switch or a three way switch.

If you determine your fixture is dimmable, you will need to turn off the power to the area you are going to be installing a dimmer switch. Sometimes shutting the main off is the safest way to go about this.

Next you will need to use your Non Contact Voltage Tester in order to be sure there is no power running to your switch

If there is no power running to your switch you are now ready to take out the old switch. First you will need to remove your cover plate. Then you will need to take the top and bottom screws out of your old switch in order to remove the switch.

Now most switches will have two wires to connect in order for them to work properly. If you are replacing a three way switch you will need to be sure you buy the correct dimmer that is compatible with a three way switch replacement. If your switch has three wires -one being red and two being black – this is a three way switch. Two black wires is a single pole switch.

Once you determine which style switch you will need you are ready to install the new dimmer by connecting both black wires with a wire nut. If your switch is a three way switch you will need to connect black to black and red to red in order for it to work properly.

You can now push the wire back into the box behind the switch and reattach the top and bottom screws in order to secure your dimmer in place. Then put the cover plate back on.

You can now turn on your power and test out your new dimmer.

Pro Tip:

Before installing a dimmer switch be sure the light fixture and light bulbs are compatible with the switch you are trying to install.

Other Helpful Lighting Post

How to install a Light Fixture

How to Pick the Right Light Bulb

Where to Place Recessed Lighting

Living through a renovation isn’t easy and when you’ve got children there’s a whole additional layer to add into the process. Our kids have pretty much come into this world knowing nothing other than life in the renovation world. Not sure why we haven’t shared our tips with you yet, but what better time than now? Here you have our top 4 tips to living through a renovation with kids.

1. Safety First

This should come first on pretty much any list with kids. But with a renovation this is beyond important. Make sure if your kids are going to be around during any form of demo they have proper gear to stay safe, or they need to stay out. Our boys love being involved in the process and we see this as the perfect opportunity to teach them new life skills. We have bought them safety hats, gloves and glasses for them to wear around the job site when needed. 

2. Embrace The Moment

Life in a renovation is already crazy. Try not to make it more by being overly stressed and embrace the moment you are in, because you GET to live through a renovation. For us this has meant several things whether it’s bunking up in our kids room when we redid our bedroom or setting up our living room without ceilings and walls, like we are now. Anyway we can embrace the moment we are currently in we do. Dance parties always help too! 

3. Set Boundaries

Kids need boundaries and guidelines. It turns out that structure is a good thing in life. When we are talking about renovations with kids, boundaries have to be set. Areas they can and cannot go into. Explain why these boundaries exist. More often than not they will be safety related and we’ve found that simple explaining to our dudes why they cannot do something helps.

4. Clean Up

Clean up is essential in our minds throughout the entire renovation process. But it is extra important when you have kids living through the renovation with you. Take the time to make sure nails are not sticking out of the walls or floor. Sweep up and vacuum daily, if not more than once a day. A renovation is messy throughout the entire process and you can never be too clean. You’ll be so glad you stayed on top of the cleaning if you do it as you go! 

Much Love –

The biggest question we’ve received throughout this ORC Kitchen process is how are you cooking? Right? Like, how the heck are we cooking with no kitchen? How are we making it with two kids and, oh the fact that we can’t just head to a restaurant due to Covid-19? So let’s get into it. We can talk all about what cooking during a kitchen renovation looks like.

Basement Set Up

Well we started with this pretty killer set up downstairs that consists of a microwave and a toaster oven stacked on top of an old dresser that I am using for my prep space. From there I have supplies I plan to use on a regular basis: spatula, tongs, knives, scissors, 4 plates, 4 cups, 4 bowls and pot holders/oven mitts. I left all my spices and oils in two boxes that are easy to access. We are using the utility sink to wash dishes and have set up a pretty amazing boot rack to dry dishes out…hey, work with what you’ve got. 

Now let’s get into how we are cooking. These have been our go to options with some solid recipes that have become go to for us! 

Slow Cooker

If you don’t have a slow cooker you need one, just don’t forget to unplug it at night! Any slow cooker meal I can prepare ahead of time has been amazing. Here are a few of our go to favorite recipe places! 

• Damn Delicious 
• Skinnytaste
• Kitchn 
• Half Baked Harvest 

Pressure Cooker 

Gotta love a good pressure cooker. Especially for when you just don’t have everything together in the morning to pull off a slow cooker meal. You can recreate almost all slow cooker recipes in a pressure cooker and more! Here’s a few of our favorite sites for recipes! 

• A Couple Of Cooks
• Skinny Taste 
• Pinch of Yum
• Food52

Microwave

Hello, we’ve got two little dudes of course we need a microwave! I mean mama needs to reheat her coffee at least once a morning! But for real this has been great for oatmeal, left overs, mac and cheese and the occasional frozen meal. 

Toaster Oven

This has worked for almost every meal I have wanted to bake or roast with. Since it is smaller than your typical oven I do have to make the sizes slightly smaller. Nothing that has had a major impact on our life than our toaster oven. 

Grill and Griddle 

Once we added this into the rotation we were golden. It brought back anything we were missing with the sautéing and grilling needs we were missing! Here are a few of our go to’s for meals.

• Half Baked Harvest 
• Couple of Cooks
• Skinnytaste

Much Love-

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