Putting dad to work

It made a nice place for this year's photo Christmas cards, but....

...we decided the wooden slats gave the living room and kitchen a dated look. And they took up room we badly needed for our table.

So we took it all out! We'll finish off the area with a wood trim after we get the kitchen remodel done.


Also got the new floor down in the hallway. My parents leave tomorrow; my dad is probably anxious to get on the road before we put him to work on something else!

My Bday Present: New floor!

Before painting the walls. I went with a cheery yellow, which I'm hoping will mute a bit after I apply a faux effect. Not sure what yet but I'm excited to learn a new trick!


We pulled up the (fairly new but awful smelling) carpet and then everyone helped pull up staples and tack.

After getting the subfloor cleaned up, we painted down a coat of kilz primer to take care of the stink.

Two of my favorite guys, and my favorite dog, putting down our new floor!

Looks BEAUTIFUL! We made a good team, the three of us, and moved right along. Thanks guys!

A & A's Room

The girlie girl room. Right before we moved, I had started on a castle theme in their room. I just got the mural up and had to paint over it. The new room gave me another opportunity to try the castle theme, as Amelia opted for it again.


The pink tulle swags make a reappearance here; one over the closet and one over the dresser nook. The shelves above the dresser hold all the stuffed animals, and their closet floor is sufficient for their doll stuff (the other half of the closet floor is the ceiling of the stair well below). I combined the two ribbon valances from the previous house into one longer one here. Yes, I did have to untie and retie each ribbon; totally worth it for a free, eye catching valance.

Here is the new castle mural. I opted for a shadow effect with just two colors; the wall color and the accent pink. The pink goes about 1/3 up the walls of the entire room with random vertical stripes of the wall color. I left a larger horizontal stretch of the wall color above the pink, and then added some scallops for a ribbon/lace effect. The square and circle mirrors are from the dollar store, painted pink to match. The quote is the same one from our other house, one of my favorites: I know I am a Princess because my Father is King of Kings.

Knockin' holes in the walls

Our living room area has a vaulted ceiling, but the kitchen does not and the rooms are more closed off from each other than we like (think: keeping an eye on the kiddos while making supper). Anyway, one expanse of wall was just screaming to be made a pass through.


So we obliged.

It's a load bearing wall, so for now the studs will stay in place. Hopefully sooner rather than later (Christmas break?) we'll get the header put in and finish it off.

In addition to being able to view the girls from the kitchen, it makes the kitchen space feel larger and lets in more natural light. Love it!

MB Floor

While the two smaller bedrooms had original oak floors under their hideous carpet, the master just had hideous carpet. One of the first things we did when we moved in 3 months ago was rip up the carpet and kilz the subfloor. We finally put in the new laminate floor; middle-of-the-road tarkett with 25 yr warranty, foam underlay.

The girls love it! Before we moved our bed back in, they had a dance party. :)

Tada!

It's a Beaut!

Unexpected, expensive, but a beaut!

Back to regular programming...

The bathroom! Most certainly no longer putrid pink!
Here is the new vanity and sink.


A glimpse of the linen closet and tile-surround ready.

We had the thinset a bit too thin to start so we were holding the first few tiles in place. Once we thickened it up, we were able to move right along.

Finished product! Love the decorative tiles we picked out; especially the little glass pieces. On the left sit two corner shelves- they fit right in. I did all of the tiling again while Jake did the cutting. We make a good team even if such projects leave us not speaking to each other for a few hours. ;) We'll let this sit for a day and then grout. Another few days after grouting and we'll seal. Then after a few more days, we'll have a brand new tub and shower! Wohoooo! If you scroll down to the pink pictures, you will see why we are sooo excited.

We're taking a break from our regular bathroom programming to bring you this: E & O's new big girl room!


Nice little built in book shelf facing the door. I pulled the turquoise from the accent wall into the space between the shelves.



Sam the salamander's needs a space too. Basic tan (Color Place BuckThorn in satin) on 3 walls with large, hand painted graphics. Reapainted white shelf.

E's desk area and ottoman/chair: lucky clearance purchases that match the bedding.

I pulled the oversize graphics from their new bedding. Target clearance- $15 each set! WooHoo! Their artwork makes a reappearance in their new room too.

O's desk area, the repainted (again) dresser, and a sheer white panel curtain over the closet. The shelves above the desks are recycled from our previous house, as is the little lamp that got a quick paint over with the accent color. Still have valances in the works. Going for clean white panels working in some turquoise and pink ribbon.

New floor

We used the Schluter Ditra membrane in place of cement board on the floor. Light, easy to work with stuff BUT you have to work a little harder to get the surface completely flat.

My first time laying tile. It was as much work as I thought it would be, and as much fun.

Almost done. Hope to grout on Sunday and let that set for a few days before moving in furnishings. Notice the handy-dandy laundry chute? It will be under a cubbie unit that will have a hole in the bottom for us to kick our clothes down. Nice. If only there were an easier way to send all of the clothes UP to the bedrooms from the laundry room...

Drywall

Derek is a friend of ours from NWC and Jake's college baseball teammate. Even though he is a Youth Pastor by profression, he's also an experienced mudder and taper. He did a super job on our bathroom. Thanks Derek and Regan!!

Jake textured the basement we finished in our previous house, so he felt comfortable doing the bathroom. The tricky part was matching the ceiling texture, as we left some of that in place. He did a really nice job.

Now on to painting the ceiling and walls!

The Guy Weekend

After pulling up the old linoleum, Jake decided the original floorboards were too far gone to reuse so he ripped those up too. For a few days the bathroom had its floor joists showing. Here is the start of the new floorboards.

Chris wiring for the two new vanity fixtures.

This is the space where the built-in shelves used to be situated over the stairs. Since those stairs were taken out, we put in a floor and will build in a cubby/vanity area, or as I call it, a primping station. :)

One of the new light fixtures. This one is over the eventual sink/vanity. The other is opposite and will hang above the primping station.

A glimpse of the new (nonpink) tub!! Hooked up and ready to go; except for the tile surround...

The Guy Weekend

Jake's college roommates, Chris & Mike, spent the weekend helping jumpstart our bathroom rebuild.



Jake drywalled it lastnight. This side will be the pantry off the kitchen. Excited!

Then Mike and Chris added a floor and framed in the wall while Jake was at class Sat morning (how convienent honey...) :)

Here is Jake chainsawing out the stairs we removed.

In process before and after

Here is a view from the kitchen level of the staircase we're taking out.



Here is just about the same view after Jake took out the ceiling of the staircase and exposed the upstairs bathroom. We'll build a floor out here for a 2nd bathroom vanity, add a pantry from this, the kitchen level, and add a linen closet from the lower, or entry level.

Demo 3: Pink Bathroom

Just when you thought no more could be taken in the pink bathroom, we decide to take out a stair case! The top of the staircase was in this space, and above it, in the bathroom, was built-in storage. We'll be adding a floor into here and a 2nd vanity (sans sink) in the space with a linen tower next to it. So for now, the kitchen/dining area is visible from the bathroom. From the kitchen, we'll put in a pantry, and from the entry way a floor below, we'll be adding a linen closet with handy-dandy laundry shoot from the bathroom.

Took out the bulkhead over the tub as well as all of the drywall. The window has to go yet.

Removed the recessed lighting and the box that held it as well as all of the drywall around the vanity area.

Demo 2: Pink Bathroom

My man is awesome. He works a full day,

comes home and picks a fight with a 300 lb cast iron tub

and wins.

The toilet didn't stand a chance either.