Bathroom Update

Howdy folks!  It's been a while since I blogged about a project.  That's because they have been few and far between.  When I do start one, I forget to take pictures.

April 2015
Well, our downstairs bathroom is almost complete.  There are three major things that we still want to do, and we've just about finished the first.

1) Build custom shelving to fit in the corner.

2) Custom order glass for the shower.

3) Put wainscoting bead board up on the wall.

The second is pricey, and since we already have two fully functional bathrooms upstairs it's been on the back burner.  The third is purely aesthetic, but it will be a nice touch once everything is complete.

The first is what my husband has been working so hard on this past few weeks.  He is so talented, and I am proud of what he's accomplished.  He bought a biscuit joiner and absolutely loves what it has allowed him to create.  His next project will be a large table for the back lanai!

Here are some pics to take us down memory lane and how far the bathroom has come:

The vanity before.

The bathroom before.

The jet tub that wasn't to code.  Notice the engraved
family portrait on the wall to the right!

Demo day.

Making my hubby proud :)

Gutted.

We had to take it a step further to redo the plumbing.

Reframing and a window.

Mikey building the slab for the shower.

Work in progress.

A shot of the bathroom before drywall.

Drywall and Durock is up.

Paint applied.

Almost done.

Shelving being fitted.

Shelving painted.

Shelves in.

Doors on and shower curtain up!

August 2015

After getting an estimate for the custom glass, we realized the shower wall wasn't enforced properly.  This meant we were going to have to bust out some tile and restructure some things.  We decided it wasn't worth all the fuss, so we put up a shower rod and curtain instead.  The wainscoting will have to wait too.  With another baby on the way, this is probably as nice as the downstairs bathroom will ever look :)

A Day of Thankfulness

It’s been so long since my last update.  For anyone who’s following (which is probably nobody at this point), I apologize.  Life has been very busy, and I have been lazy.  I started coaching soccer with a friend from school back in October, so I usually don’t get home until around 7pm every night.  The season goes through December, so only a few more games left!  It’s been a fun experience and I enjoy working with the girls in a setting other than school.  It creates great bonding opportunities, but coaching is a big commitment too. Thankfully, I'm just an assistant coach!

HOUSE NEWS
We have finally moved into our house, but haven’t unpacked yet!  The first few weeks of November were a little rough.  We showered outside by the pool.  The water was warm, but the air outside a bit nippy.  Now we are happily showering in our upstairs guest bathroom which has beautiful six inch tiles for the tub surround.  I splurged on a cute shower curtain from Bed, Bath & Beyond and look forward to the day I get to add the finishing touches to everything.  We are still waiting on both the upstairs vanities and have to decide what we plan to do for countertops.  The last thing before carpet is finishing up the master bath tile work. 

The carpet is scheduled to be installed on December 6^th, so hopefully all of the construction is finished by then!  Once that’s in, I think it will feel much more like a home rather than a construction site.  We are currently sleeping on an air mattress that we borrowed from someone at our church.  It’s really comfortable, but I can’t wait for carpet!

We are hoping to buy a dishwasher this weekend and an over-the-range microwave.  We’ve decided to wait on a stove and refrigerator.  The white will have to do for now while we save up for stainless steel.  They both work perfectly fine, so it shouldn’t be an issue.  We had our sink hooked up last night too, so I finally have a place to wash dishes now if the issue arises J

There are so many other things that can and will be done eventually: trim throughout, touch up paint, cleaning windows and screens, crafting mirror frames, window coverings, closet and pantry shelving and doors, pressure washing the back pool deck, staining the front door, decorating (everything), etc.   The good news is that none of that is essential to living here.  They are all things we want to do eventually, but can also wait until we save up more money and have more time. 

BABY NEWS
In addition to decorating and putting the finishing touches on the house, I now have a baby room to think about.  Mike and I found out that we’re expecting a little one in early June!  It’s all very exciting and overwhelming at the same time.  I have been feeling extremely exhausted these past few weeks as the baby is in the cooker.  I wouldn’t say I have morning sickness, but I get queasy when I smell certain things or don’t eat often enough.  I haven’t actually thrown up yet, so that’s good J  I’m thirteen weeks today on this lovely Thanksgiving, and I have so much to be thankful for! 

More news later.  Enjoy the pictures J

Downstairs bathroom before the vanity and toilet.

Baby Wolfe :)

Kinda blurry... but you get the idea ;)

Cabinet news

I've been feeling a little sick lately.  Yesterday I woke up feeling really achy and I have these really itchy bumps on my legs!  I tried to rest most of the day, but by 3 or 4 I was getting antsy.  Itchy legs and all, I decided to go up to the house to do some work.  Uncle Frank and Mike had also just arrived.

Here's some updated pics of the bathrooms:

Durock is up!

Uncle Frank putting up the RedGuard.

What I had to do yesterday makes me sick to my stomach...

Let me back up a bit.  So, in order for our bank to approve our loan for the house, there were some things that we had to pay for up front for the house to be in "livable" condition.  One of those things was to rip out all the drywall and pay someone to remove mold and do all these air samples in the house.  Then, we had to pay someone to put brand new drywall back up and semi re-install the kitchen cabinets.  Since we didn't own the house yet, we we're allowed to do it ourselves.  It was one of those things that we just had to deal with.  At that point, we hadn't thought too much about remodeling ideas because we were so focused on actually getting the house.

With the beam having gone up a week and a half ago, it was time to talk to the electrician about kitchen lighting.  Mike's had a rough plan drawn up in AutoCAD for a while, but we couldn't measure things out until I decided on the layout and we ordered the cabinets, etc.  Finally, we had the electrician come scope things out again.  Guess what he told us?  We have to remove all the brand new drywall from the kitchen [sad face].

So here we are, back to square one in the kitchen.

Last Thursday, Kim helped me take all the top kitchen cabinets down.  The next day, Jordan and Mike removed the bottom cabinets.  After than, we finally finished demoing all the tile downstairs so we could visually lay out the kitchen.   With everything out, it was easier to see the vision.  I'll post a few pics to give some perspective.  

So that's what I spent my time doing yesterday--removing the brand new drywall in the kitchen.  On a positive note, I will say that Mike's Dremel multi-tool is pretty awesome for the job!!  It's cuts drywall like a beast :)

Back in March or something when we got all the mold removed.

Kitchen still intact.

Cabinets are out and tile is demoed.  Sink remains.

Here we go again.

I had to cut this side out to make my pantry wall!

I tried to make large cuts for easy clean up (July 2013)

Trying to sell the remaining cabinets on Craigslist.

On a positive note, we went to C&C last weekend to order the cabinets.  It can be hard to communicate with the employees there as most don't speak English very well.  However, we talked with a very helpful and knowledgeable girl and were very satisfied.  Luck of the draw I guess :)

Here's a rendering of what the new kitchen will look like.

MOONGLOW out by the pool :)

Demo Master, Guest, and Downstairs Bath

I know I've only been posting house stuff lately, but it's kind of been all-consuming.  Friday, June 7th was my last day of school!  I have to go in Monday and Tuesday to clean out my classroom and re-organize for next year.  With juggling end of the year school stuff and final grades, it's been hard to properly document details of the renovation.

I'm really going to try to do better and stay up to date with our projects.  So, without further ado... here are the three bathrooms and the progress we've made so far.

Downstairs Bathroom:
This lav has a unique story.  The original blueprints say that this is supposed to be a half bath.  The previous owners made it a full bath, but didn't get it properly permitted.  Basically, it was a disaster.  They put REALLY nice fixtures and went all out with expensive hardware--jet tub, can lights, mood lighting, picture window overlooking the pool, and even an engraved family portrait in one of the tiles. I guess it was supposed to be their spa get away.  The only problem was that they did it all wrong.  There was no access panel on the tub or shut off valve in case of a leak.  The wall was built on top of the already existing wall among other things.  Our plan is to demo the entire thing and start from scratch.  We want to put in a shower and move everything around.  Of course, we had to test it out... so here are our first (and last) test subjects who were cold from being in the pool outside... 

Who wouldn't want a giant window right above them while they were naked in the spa? 

Master Bathroom:

The master bathroom has a lot of potential.  The space is a bit small, but we're going to turn the tub into a shower.  We're getting a new vanity, new toilet and leveling/concreting/tiling the shower.  When we first looked at the house, it was NASTY.  Mold and mildew had completely taken over this shower.  Now we have completely demoed the entire master bath and we've even cut the hole through the ceiling to move the drain.  

Guest Bathroom:

The guest bathroom is a fairly simple remodel.  We plan to take everything out, buy a new tub, toilet and vanity, tile the floor and tub surround, then paint and add bead board to the bottom half of wall.  We're trying to salvage anything worth salvaging (mirrors, fixtures, etc.), but there's not much to salvage.  Here are the before and during pics.  The "afters" will come much later ;)