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Those here for the Halloween content can check back a little later, since I’ll be writing something on that subject later this afternoon. :) When we bought our house, the powder room off the den was decorated in a frightening shade of dull cocoa brown. It had no mirror, the same brown asbestos tile that was in the laundry room, and a brown toilet that took at least 8 seconds of holding down the lever to flush! The only nice thing was that the previous homeowners had replaced the old faucet with a shiny chrome one. We not-so-fondly nicknamed this bathroom “the poo room”, for obvious reasons!

A few years went by and I painted the room an apple green — a reject color that I had purchased for the dining room, but ended up opting for something darker for dining. At least it brightened up the brown a bit. Then I got a mirror and put in a little tile backsplash because I noticed the wall was always getting wet. But then I never grouted it… I also bought ceramic tile and all the accoutrements to to do the floor, but never got around to starting that either. Notice a trend?? I am LAZY!

When we had the upstairs bathroom re-done, we ordered a second toilet in the hopes that some day we’d replace the old toilet down in the powder room. Fast forward to last weekend when my parents were visiting. We’ve been planning to bite the bullet and do the floor ourselves in preparation for the upcoming party (I guess this is about Halloween after all). So my dad offered his expertise and moral support for doing it ourselves. The hard part was laying the tile and I’m glad he was here to guide us through that process. I did the grouting/sealing during the week thanks to Tim the builder and yesterday we installed the toilet and a brighter overhead light. Violá! It’s a totally new room now!

Maybe I’m feeling like I need to fill the gaps between freelance projects, but I’ve been making a mental list of the things I’d like to do around the house this summer and beyond. That’s not to say I’m not busy with freelance, but since I’m at home all day, every day, I get ample time to ponder the “imperfections” around here. Then I start thinking about what I can do for cheap, if not free. I’m going to have to be VERY resourceful since we have NO money; but that’s part of the thrill.

The list includes the following:
1. Tile the downstairs bathroom (I already have the tiles, I just need to tear up the old floor and do it). Then put in a new toilet (already purchased and sitting in the garage).
2. Find a cool use for my leftover upstairs bathroom tiles… perhaps the countertop to the bar??
3. Clean up the laundry room. The walls are still bare studs, and the floor is horrendous. We saved linoleum from the old kitchen, so the biggest problem is removing the washer & dryer to get it in there. Of course, I’ve wanted a new water heater… and I wouldn’t want to go putting the vinyl down before that happens… but alas!
4. Paint and repair the upstairs hallway… It’s seen better days! Plus, I still have to finish repairing the hole from the yellow jacket incident.
5. Sell all the old crap in the garage. I’ve wanted to either have a garage sale, or put everything up on craigslist. It’s LONG overdue: I can barely walk in there.
6. Revamp the closet doors in my bedroom. I saw this idea on DesignSponge. Basically, they wallpapered the faces of the doors. I don’t like the pattern they used, but I think I could do something cool with them. I can’t afford new doors, and while there’s nothing physically wrong with mine, I hate them. They’re old, scratched up, and the color is sooo dark!
7. Clean up and organize the spare room upstairs. Remember the Marsha Brady wallpaper?? I never repainted that room, and since we moved the office downstairs, it’s been both a dumping ground and cat refuge.
8.One of these days I’m going to get out in the garden to actually clean up and get all those pesky weeds out — and there are MANY. Also, I have a few things in in pots from last year that I still haven’t planted!
9. I’m sure I could go on and on with more, but that’s all for now.

As I write this, the bathroom is 99% done. All that remains are the accessories: towel rods, toilet paper holder, etc. Unfortunately, they’re on backorder from the supply company and won’t be in until next week. Had I known they were backordered, I would have picked something else. Oh well!

Yesterday, the mirror guy came in the morning (before the contractor, who showed up at 1). I can’t emphasize enough how much of a difference the mirror makes! The room feels so much bigger. Today’s work included installing the shower fixture and putting on the the vanity knobs.

I put in the new shower curtain, rug, and old trash bin.

Note the matching faceplate that I installed!

Shower fixture is finally in! No more raw pipes.

Cabinet hardware. Once he put the door back, I was kinda bummed because our doors are so shabby.

With a mirror that big, it’s hard to take a picture and not be in it. I had to squat on the floor for this one.

I’ve been a major slacker on the bathroom updates for the past few days. SORRY! Tiling began sometime late last week. The huge 12 x 24 tiles needed to be installed a few days at a time because the sheer weight of them just kept them from being done all at once — plus they’re a 1/2″ thick! What the hell was I thinking?! Lesson learned there! Also, the girl at the tile shop didn’t order enough grout for the wall, so I was lucky enough to borrow from someone else’s order (they didn’t need it right away)!

So since my last post, the guy put in the baseboard tiles, finished installing the ceiling fan, and tiled the backsplash and wall. Enjoy a few pics!

The backsplash tiles went in first to set the height for everything else.

Ginormous 12×24 wall tiles. The idea was to have less grout to clean… now I’m not entirely sure it was a good idea.

Day 14 and the first round of wall tiles.

Day 15: the wall tiles are in… mostly. Alcove still needs to be done in this pic.

The fan opening.

Day 16 and grouting has begun. Check out the nifty piece of molding I suggested he make for the backsplash. I think it looks nice.

The grout makes the brick pattern disappear, but that doesn’t really bother me.

I love these tiles so much.

So what happened on days 9 and 10?? Hell if I know, but there was nothing truly photo worthy. All he really did was start working on the new ceiling fan—which he promptly abandoned because the exhaust pipe was the wrong size. He also moved the light fixture about a foot to the right.

Yesterday (day 11) he primed the wall for painting and took raw materials to his shop to fabricate the custom skirt and leg on the vanity. I volunteered to paint after he left since I really didn’t want to sit around for another day waiting for paint to dry with nothing happening in there! Some time around 4:30 I decided to start, but found the walls to be kinda rough and uneven… since he already primed, I broke out the spackle and started all over. I had to stop for 2 hours for choir practice, and between waiting for the spackle and then primer to dry, I wasn’t done until 1:30am. UGH! Even now, there are places I’m still not happy with, so I will have to go back for touch-ups at a later date.

Today, I saw more progress than I’ve seen in a week. At this rate, I suspect we could be just about finished by Friday (not holding my breath). He brought his son to help out, which really got the ball rolling, but we still have no shower tiles. No worries though, we now have a working toilet and sink! My faith has been restored.

Check out some of Days 11 & 12:

Wall prep and the relocated light fixture.

My awesome paint job. Grr!

Look! We have a toilet.

He starts installing the vanity.

Lighting fixture that I bought at Lowes doesn’t look too shabby.

Glamour shot of water coming out of the faucet. Check out the new toothbrush holder that’s holding the tiles in place (for effect).

End of Day 12.

End of Day 12. Check out the fancy outlet on the side of the cabinet! I’m definitely going to change the plate cover. Other than that, I love it!

More end of Day 12.

George comes in to inspect the work.

So, in two days all the guy got done was the floor. He worked half days because the floor needed time to dry, etc… not to mention the fact that he was involved in some kind of volunteer project that took precedence. Hmm, can you say irritating? I have to say tho, the floor is purty.

Here are the photos!

Day 7 was grout day.

More grouting.

Probably the only pic you’ll ever see with the contractor in it. I try to avoid being in his way when I’m taking pictures. Day 8 was sealing.

The sealer.

Gorgeous!

The project rages on… and I still can’t shower in my own home. It’s OK, but it’s definitely wearing thin. After considerable time monkeying with the electrical outlet, the contractor started on the floor. One thing I didn’t bargain on was the fact that the tiles have so much color variation — not that it’s a bad thing. I assumed the tiles would all be around the same color as the sample I borrowed. Instead, they range from cool moss green, to slate gray, to warm green. After I overcame a mild panic that I ordered the wrong tiles, I realized the effect of the variation was really attractive.

I may have annoyed the guy by standing over his shoulder, but he assured me it didn’t bother him. I’m planning on eventually tiling the downstairs bathroom myself, so I wanted to watch the master. Plus, I secretly wanted to supervise the placement of color.

Documentation of day 6:

We made room in the garage for the tile cutter by bringing in the vanity pieces.

More patch work, and the electrical wiring.

Tiles! YAY.

They look so pretty.

It seemed like Friday was plumbing day, so most of the contractor’s time was spent installing the plumbing tub drain and putting in the shower pipes. Before he left, he closed it all up with cement board.

Pictures of Day 5:

New PVC pipes under the tub.

Fancy color-coded plumbing.

He also spackled but you don’t see it in this picture. Bring on the tile!!!

Well, it didn’t seem like much happened on Day 4 by just looking at the pictures, but I swear the contractor was making a lot of noise for a good part of the day! Also, the replacement part that I ordered came in a day early and he was able to get the tub in and the drain started, although it still looks like we won’t be able to shower before early next week.

Documentation of Day 4:

Blocking in the walls to support the backer boards and tile.

My Kohler Archer deep soaking tub. Isn’t she gorgeous!? Since the contractor was working alone again, I had to help him bring the tub upstairs. I definitely should have worn gloves when carrying it; I ended up cutting my hand on the exposed fibers and bleeding on the tub.

The water-tight alcove box for our shampoo and what-not.

The pretty chrome drain. The best part is it just bops open and closed with your foot…

The beginnings of the cement backer board for the tile.

I’m going to start off this post with a little story about my cat, Bella. I assure you, it’s totally related! Yesterday morning at 5am, while Mike and I were still slumbering away, we awoke to a ruckus in my closet — which is on the opposite wall behind the bathroom, and used to be a powder room until we took out the toilet and put in shelving. Except we haven’t closed up the hole where the toilet used to be. Shortly following the ruckus, Bella appeared in our room and let out a bizarre cry. I booted her out and groggily went to the bathroom to investigate. The large plumbing hole where the tub used to be was totally uncovered but the access panel to my closet was secure. Tired and confused, I covered the hole with a piece of mounting board I had hanging around, and went back to bed.

After I woke up and was more lucid, I went down to the laundry room to check out the hole from the lower level. The only way Bella was able to end up in my bedroom was by crawling down the large hole from the bathroom, climbing across a precarious ladder of pipes and wires, and finally squeezing her fat butt through the 5″ hole in my closet floor where the toilet used to be! She’s kinda chubby, so no wonder she made such a ruckus. Fin.

Enjoy some pictures of Day 3

Rotted out floor boards have been torn out. (Photo taken from laundry room.)

Rotted out floor boards have been torn out.

New boards installed.

Heat register rerouted to the wall.

Installation of cement backer.

Cement backer complete.