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.

All About Me!

Brenna had her first official kindergarten homework, to create a posterboard called "All About Me!"

The flyer sent home says, "Please HELP your child create a poster using items which they will be able to share information about to their classmates. Be creative and have FUN! Make it a family project." (The all caps were on the flyer!)

Now, understand that I've seen these posters in the hallways before, and there was no way on God's green Earth I was even going to attempt to compete with the Scrapbooking moms. Oh yeah! That's how elaborate some of these posters can get!

So all week I've been hinting to Bryan that we need to work on this before Sunday. Naturally, Brenna resists any attempts to do this. I bought the posterboard, and got to work on the birthday party.

This morning Bryan outlined Brenna. We helped her make a list of things that defined her. Then I printed the photos and she cut them and placed them on the board and pasted them down.

Here is the finished product.

Brenna did quite a bit of this herself. For those who won't get the presentation, this is Brenna. Her favorite food is cheese pizza; her favorite television show is "Handy Manny" (I have never seen her watch this! I didn't even know what it was.); she is a little sister; and she plays with a pink soccer ball.

Her Potawatomi name is Kishke kwe (and the picture is from her naming ceremony). At the bottom she drew a picture of her family: Daddy, Mommy, Cameron & Brenna.

HSM Birthday Party

Cameron celebrated her 8th birthday with a High School Musical birthday party with seven of her classmates. We played a trivia game, matched up our favorite characters, and then settled them down to watch High School Musical 2 while munching popcorn and Chex Mix.

Several of the girls sang along, a few grew bored and wandered into another room to play with toys. We paused it about 3/4 through for cake and presents.
Cameron received a monkey and a panda Webkinz, a jump rope, two HSM games (HSM 1 DVD game, HSM2 CD game), a book, and a few other little items. After presents, all but two of the girls wanted to go outside and play - so they did. The other two got comfortable to watch the end of the movie. After that, some stayed outside, a few straggled in and out.

Overall I think everyone had a great time.

Cameron is 8!

Happy Birthday to my big girl - who really is growing up too fast!

For the past few years we've been spending her birthday weekend, which also happens to be Labor Day holiday weekend, out at SBR with the family. Cameron was born on a Thursday, and I remember we came home from the hospital Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, so it's appropriate that her birthday falls fairly regularly on that weekend.


We celebrated with a pan of fudgie brownies topped with marshmallows. It makes a gooey mess, but every crumb was eaten, the pan finger-licked, so that should tell you how good it tasted.

Cameron opened her pile of presents. She received some clothes, the High School Musical 2 soundtrack and Hanna Montana /Meet Miley CD, the animal print binder matching her school bag, and books (from Mom & Dad).

I think her favorite this year is the pink MP3 player from Nana & Papa. Monday night I loaded all her new CDs and a few older ones (Carrie Underwood, HSM1 and Hanna Montana 1) and she's been listening every afternoon (after school) and evening.