So close, almost there...

The contractor finished his part of the bathroom job on November 2, which means we've spent the last two weekends taping wall cracks, spackling, and priming and painting the cabinets and walls.

Bryan really let the girls step up and have a hand in helping.

We added two little cabinets for toiletries on either side of the mirrror, but the girls can't reach them. (oops)

And we added a cabinet over the toilet to hold towels. We still have to find towel racks and decide where to put them and buy some colored towels. Though we'll likely just put our old towels in there and continue our favorite mismatched look.

The girls brushed their teeth in the new bathroom this morning. I lost a lot of drawer space with these cabinets, so I've got to be creative in thinking of new ways to store all their things. The boxes are still packed in the dining room. I hope to get them unpacked by this weekend, if I get a free evening.

Bigger problems this week. We came back from the wedding Oct 27 and the washing machine motor burned out, and since it cost more to replace a motor than to buy a whole new machine, we got a new machine. When we hooked up the new machine, it drained harder (?) than the old one and we had sewer backing up into the kitchen sink.

Today a plumber is digging a60' trench in our backyard and tunneling 8 feet under the house to build a new drain from the kitchen sink/water heater/washing machine to the main city sewer in the backyard. (I checked, it's not covered by homeowners insurance.) Merry Christmas.

What's wrong with this picture?

Monday night we came home a little after 6 p.m. and Cameron discovered something was wrong in the bedroom.

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you guess which thing is not like the other, before I come to the end of this song. (If you don't know this song, you've probably never watched Sesame Street!)

Allen did something to the walls on Monday (and Tuesday, I think) and he had to tape up the light plates, the doors, etc. The toilet was uncermoniously put outside the bathroom door next to her bed. AND HE LEFT IT THERE. It's filthy! Covered with dust from the demolition, and looks nothing like my nice usually clean toilet. I'm really curious why he thought a little girl would actually sleep with her head next to that toilet. Bryan carried it out into the hallway (and it dripped water all over the carpet.)

The carpet - you don't even want to see the carpet in my house now. In the hallway just outside the bathroom door, Allen put down some drop cloths. Great - but then he walks to/from the backdoor and yesterday he had something white and sticky on his shoe and it's left a trail across the living room.

Tuesday I came home unexpectedly early and found a dog running around my house. We don't have a dog, so when the girls walked into the house and started screaming I was more than a little startled. Allen & his girlfriend left very quickly, even though it was only 3:30 p.m. (Yes, his girlfriend sits in the house all day with him. The first week she called to ask permission to watch the television, but apparently bringing her 12 yr old dog into the house isn't as important?)

This is ending week four and I can tell we're getting close, but I'm so ready for this job to be finished. Because then Bryan and I have to get in there and prime/paint the new cabinets, pull down the old wallpaper border and paint the walls. Then install the mirrors and upper cabinets. Then we can start work on the other bedroom.

But first I'm going to have to find some money to pay to have the carpets cleaned. I just hope they'll look okay so I don't have to buy new carpet.

Update on bathroom

Well, it's been a busy week and I haven't updated about the bathroom on a regular basis, so this might get a little long.

Some days you can see where a whole lot of work has been done, some days more of the work is detail-oriented or hidden, and not easily visible/noticeable. Coming home every day is an adventure - yesterday the attic stairs were pulled down in the garage. It's a regular thing to have every clock in the house blinking or maybe the dishwasher power is turned off at the breaker box. I'm also always sniffing to see what new smells have been introduced. The dust has settled over the house, even though he's not doing any more demolition there is a definite layer since I cleaned last week. Did I mention I need new vacuum cleaner bags?

So what does it look like? When last we left you, we had sinks though no hardware.

October 4 which was .... what.... Thursday? We came home and most of the upper shower had been tiled and the new shower liner added.

While we had the shower wall open, we found definitive evidence of termites. We tried 2x to have the exterminator come out and treat for carpenter ants (we've seen ants in the shower for the last few months) and to check out the termite damage and help us determine whether it is new or old. Each time the exterminator came out there has been no one here! We don't know where the contractor was - and I was out of town both Friday's.

Finally Jon came out on a Saturday and declared it possibly old damage - especially since we didn't see anything alive or crawling, and we know the house has been treated in the past (holes drilled in the patio and a treatment sticker under the kitchen sink). He sprayed all over the open walls and up into other opened parts.

This is what termite damage looks like with the mud knocked off and the damaged wood exposed. If you ever tear out a wall and see mud on the studs, you have a termite problem.

Allen cut this piece out and replaced it for us.

So far he's moved the light fixtures from one point to two separate lights over the two sinks. He's started work on making the one switch that controls the shower light and fan divided into one switch for each thing. In the front part, the sinks are in, the hardware is in there, and he started splitting the plumbing from one sink dividing it to handle two sinks.

He grounted the shower tile today and put in the shower fixtures. I could smell the grout the minute I walked in the door. Bryan had to buy some more bullnose tile so he can finish some trimming.

He's raising the ledge from the floor to the shower a little higher for more depth.

This photo shows on the left the wall where the termite damage was located - all closed up and tiled over.

And this is where it stands tonight. I don't know if Allen will be here tomorrow - he hasn't been here on the last two Fridays. So this is the end of week three. I'm very very very very very ready for this to be over. I don't know if it's four people sharing one bathroom, or the tools and buckets, mats and tarps, or the wet tile saw out back or the miter saw in the garage.

But I would love to be able to park my still-new Odyssey IN the garage again. I would like to vacuum and come home and it still be clean. I would like to get the front bedroom all fixed up again. This week has just seemed to drag on and on even though we clearly see progress.

We have sinks!

Biggest thing I've noticed about these cabinets is they are bigger - meaning taller and deeper - than the original 1964 cabinets in this space. Cameron could brush her teeth without a stepstool and Brenna could wash her hands. I'm fairly certain when this is all completed, both girls are going to need step stools for both tasks.

Seeing the tile set out around the sinks I think I would have prefered a smaller tile (these are 6"x6") on the countertops, but no way am I complaining about it now.

Allen also made progress on the shower.

He's added insulation and the board on the top. He cut in a small shelf for soap and shampoo bottles. You might not be able to tell from the photo, but the bottom of the studs are in pretty bad shape along the back/outside wall. Bryan is going to ask Allen if he can replace a section of them. We're not sure whether it's bug or water damage (or a little bit of both). The exterminator was supposed to come out on Monday at noon, but I don't know that he made it. I should probably call them tomorrow to verify - before Allen closes up the wall.

On a slightly different note - we sold my Jeep to Carmax tonight. While signing the paperwork I noticed that the odometer only read 99,744 miles, making this the first time we've ever sold or traded-in a car before it reached 100K miles. Hopefully selling the Jeep will lessen the insurance burden (need to shop that around and find a better price) and we can use the money from the sale to pay either the Lowe's bill or Allen. I surprised myself by not being all nostalgic over the Jeep - I loved that car. We brought Cameron home from the hospital in that car. I still had my Galveston resident sticker on the windshield.

But time marches on - and we're in a different phase of life. Minivans, road trips, and so on. I even picked up a t-shirt that says "Soccer Mom!"

What's in Floor?

What's in a floor? Dirt, Concrete Slab, and now ceramic tile.


Thursday evening we could not venture into the bathroom because tile had been laid out, properly spaced, and glued. Sometime Friday or Saturday, Allen set the tile in the back half, applied the grout, and began setting in the cabinets.

Uh-oh, now the toilet is in the shower! How many times I have told the girls not to use the shower for a toilet??!! LOL.

Look Ma, no cabinets!

Came home today to an empty bathroom. Today Allen ripped out the original cabinets (built in 1964) and they do look like they were built to fit that space. No sides or back - just a bottom piece (two long flat boards), front, some side braces, and the top where the tile was applied. I've posted a before and after picture below.

It's been very interesting how many little things you can find out about the house as you take a room apart. What was painted where, etc. I never realized before that tile was put on with (what I call) chicken wire and mud. Below is what's left of my cabinets.

I hated losing the cabinets because there were good solid wood, and I had just painted them back in July.

Day 2: Demo and a wall

We came home today and Allen was still working. He hauled off one or two trips of trash, started tearing out the shower, and was putting up the bedroom wall, taping, and ... floating?


Today I definitely noticed a fine dust in the air (cough cough) and coating various furniture. While dinner cooked, I ran around the house with Pledge and a dusting rag wiping down...well everything. Bryan is changing out the AC intake filter (thanks Dad for the suggestion!) so hopefully that will help a little with the dust.


The shower demo is moving right along. It is gross. Allen said that the walls behind the tile were wet. STILL!? We haven't used that shower in over a week. He's going to pull out and replace all the old insulation below a certain point. I left a message with our exterminator to have someone come out and spray for ants while we have the wall open. (We did see 3 ants in the stud.)

Allen will install the mildew, mold, moisture resistant wallboard in the shower. He's had a fan blowing in there all afternoon trying to dry it out.

Look at the soap dish in the tile - it's broken off. When I think of all the times I told the girls not to hang on that.... We'll have a new soap dish built into the back of the shower. He was going to put it in the front or on the side and I said, "Why not put it back here?" When it's up under the shower head or on the side it always get wet, collects water, the soap,melts and gets yucky.

Bryan went to Lowe's tonight and bought... everything. Tile for shower floor, 12x12 stone for the bathroom floor, 6x6 tiles for the shower walls, countertop, floor trim, unfinished oak cabinets, mirrors, faucets, sinks, light fixtures, shower faucet fixture, and shower door. (Thanks Mom for the 10% off coupon!) Our Lowe's didn't have one of the cabinets, two of the shower tiles, and the bullnose tiles. So we'll have to go to the other Lowe's tomorrow night. All of this will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.

Day One Demo

The first thing I noticed when I came in the door was the smell. Eww... kind of a stale smell.

The wall is down in the guest room. You can see the back of the shower (gross!) and all the plumbing for the bathroom sink - and this odd water pipe that went sideways, and we stood there looking at it until Bryan finally snapped his fingers and said, "The water faucet on the side of the house."

(This photo is where the girls were tearing down the wallpaper in the previous post's photo.)

Surprisingly the wood studs are in good shape - I don't know how much Allen cleaned when he took down the wall, but it doesn't look as bad as I expected (well, except the back of the shower! Who knew?!)

The upper towel cabinet is gone - and there are moldy spots on the ceiling and a small hole.

The tile is out on the countertop and the floor is gone. Leftover pieces of it are stacked on the front porch by the front door.

Tomorrow I presume will see the end of the shower.

'Twas the night before....

Renovation!

After two water leaks in the girls' bathroom, we are faced with renovation. Serious renovation. The kind that leads you to wonder why you bought this house, where you'll get the money to pay for the work, and whether a two-week job will really be longer?

This weekend we packed up the guest bedroom/playroom, and the girls' bathroom. First off I'd like to state up front that we have way too many books. It's my fault - and apparently I've infected my daughters. My next house will have a room the size of our master bedroom used only for a library. With a closet. And shelving. And THEN we might only need a few extra shelves in another room. Seriously.

So the room looks funny without the curtains, bedding, toys and books.

The wallpaper has been peeling in places under the window corners, so we finally just grabbed a section and pulled. We let the girls help - and together we pulled off the wall paper from two walls. What to our wondering eyes should appear? Another layer of plain, white, wallpaper - applied sideways. We grabbed and pulled and surprise!

Wood paneling!! On at least two of the walls! We couldn't really get the white wallpaper off entirely, but enough to see the wood. You can also see it slightly under the light switch plates. How odd is that!?

Today the contractor should have started his demo work. I'm a little scared to go home and see what is there.