We Have a New Tub!

The tub in our guest bathroom is finally installed (thanks to my dad)!!! Now, we are ready to get things going to tile the bathroom! We also got the first layer of paint on in the stairwell (and this was not an easy task). It looks like it will take a second layer....which should be fun.

All of my "before" pics are on at a friends house....so I'll have to post true "before" and "after" pics later. For the time being...here are some "after" pics.

Our new tub in the upstairs guest bath!!

Preview of the color for the upstairs guest bath (the blue...not green)

Tom getting ready to paint the stairwell

It was not easy!

Almost done!

I'm Back!!!

It's been over a week since I've posted a blog.....so I think a new blog is well over due. I've been out of town for the past week, but a lot got accomplished at the house :) Both the downstairs bathroom as well as the laundry room are completely done in terms of tiling (pictures are below). We also got the plumbing re-worked in the upstairs guest bath and got working on the plumbing on our garden tub in the master bath (ended up having to tear out tile to get to the pipes). My mom also finished painting the fireplace, the doors, trim around the front door, and window sills. Lastly, we picked up our new (to us) refrigerator today. It took forever to figure out how to get it out of our friends house...but we got it done!

This week should produce a lot of progress as well. If we stay on track, we might be able to get our carpet installed next Monday (August 3rd)!

Also...Happy Birthday to my friend Shaina today!!! Hope it's a happy one!

Here are some pics of this weeks progress!!

Tiling in the laundry room!

Almost Done

Completely Finished!!!

New plumbing in the upstairs guest bath

Newly painted fireplace

The master bath tub all torn up (not in the original plans). We had to tear out some tile to get to the pipes to replace the faucet. We're still trying to figure out what to put in its place when we rip out the rest of the tile in the front. Any suggestions???

Trying to figure out how to take the doors off to get it out of the house!

Tom putting it back together at our house!

We're Almost Done Painting (We Hope)...

I am making a vow now that as long as we live in this house, we will not be painting a single door again. My mom and I have painted almost all of the door frames and doors. Each one had to be primed and painted on each side. All we have left now is the front door, back door, door coming in from the garage, and the master bath door. My mom has been a life saver in getting these doors done (THANK YOU!!!).

Other than painting, my dad and I tried to get the new bathtub in today, but it looks like we're going to have to re-work some of the pipes and cut some more wall out to get it into place. Hopefully we can get this done soon so that we can get the tiling going in this room.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days!

The fireplace with a layer or primer...ready for a top coat.

We found more wallpaper :( At least its not as bad as the basement bathroom.

The tub waiting to be installed :)

I had to spray paint all of the door hinges....we chose to do this rather than buying new ones.

One of the new lights installed in the basement!

The new hallway light installed (the one I spray painted in an earlier blog)

Look at all of the patching I'm having to do (upstairs guest bathroom)

My squash is growing :)

Next year I think I'll stick to just a few squash plants :)

Pictures From This Weekend!

So I realized that it probably looks like I don't do anything...but I do...I promise :) I just take the pictures...hence the reason you never see me in any.

Here are the pictures I tried to upload early today....

Cabinets I found at a garage sale on Saturday. We got them for $15 (and the guy delivered them)! They're in great condition (just old) and will be great for a work area in the garage. We're going to put our old kitchen counter tops on top of them.

Doors all laid out to be painted. For some reason this creeps me out...feels like its bodies laid out in a morgue or something....

The walls in the basement bathroom....we're having to patch TONS of places from where the drywall ripped off when we pulled off the old painted over wallpaper. The big white area is where the mirror used to be (we ended up having to get a new one-not in the original budget...lol)

Tom and my dad working on getting down the mirror. The one upstairs broke...but this one remained intact.

Tom nailing down the backerboard in the laundry room. We'll get to start tiling in there on Monday :)

Renovation Day #54

Wow....we've already been renovating our house for 54 days! One thing I have already learned is that you will most likely never finish in the amount of time you thought it would, you will run into problems which turn into money, and you will almost always come in over budget- that's been the case for us...

But anyway...yesterday (Saturday), we got a lot done with the help of my mom and dad and my friend Jonathan. It was definitely a team effort. Collectively, we took down two bathroom mirrors, finished priming doors, finished painting window sills, removed the old dishwasher, finished applying putty all over the basement bathroom, cleaned the nasty downstairs bathtub and began working on the clog, and laid down the backer board for the tile in the laundry room!

Today we're hoping we get just as much accomplished (even though we are off to a late start). We hope to replace the drywall in the basement bathroom, spray paint all of the door hinges (one thing we chose not to actually replace), and work on priming the closet doors for the guest bedroom.

We found out that both our carpet and hardwood is in and ready to install. Now, we just have to finish everything we can do before we have them install our flooring....so we're trying to get everything done as fast as we can.

Well...I've tried about 10 times to upload pictures but I keep getting an error, so I'll try to post them again tonight.

We Have New Windows!!!!

YAY!! Our new windows were installed today and we LOVE them! We bought the "Sun Defense" windows by Pella (they're the best energy efficient windows that Pella offers). We replaced all of the windows in the front of the house as well as the window in the finished basement room. They are fantastic. We can already tell a difference in the temperature of the rooms that have new windows (especially when the afternoon sun hits those windows). They're tinted (for energy efficiency), so they have this cool blue tint to them.

I took a ton of pictures today...so hope you enjoy scanning through them :)

And the process begins with pulling out the old windows!

Cutting right through the frame

Pile of old frames

Old windows that you can barely see through

Yay for energy efficiency....which means energy bill savings :)

The old windows (master bedroom) that you could barely see out of because of the moisture stuck in the panes.

After!!!


Even more moisture in the panes (Dining Room)


After! (we went with two solid windows vs. two windows with two small windows on top)

Before (basement window)- we didn't have to replace this one, but we wanted to have a window that opens....and I'm glad we did replace it.

After!

Before (office window). More moisture in the double panes.


After!!!

Before

After!!!

Before

After!!


And of course....we have to have an update from my garden. Look at the VERY tiny squash that are growing :)

New Windows...Tomorrow!!!

First of all... Happy Birthday Mom Cheryl!

Today, we spent most of the day working on more trim work. I also tackled the built-in bookcases in the basement...they were in dire need of a paint job.

Other than that....we're just trying to get all of this painting done...

Here is a preview of our windows we're having installed tomorrow :)

Oh...and look...now it looks like my squash are trying to escape...ha ha.

Window Issues

Well...the window installers showed up about 9am this morning ready to install our new windows....but of course....they had problems. Apparently our windows were originally installed in our house differently than most houses. They were afraid ripping out the windows the way they usually do would damage the brick in the front. The first two installers had to call in a third guy who wasn't even sure if the windows I ordered would even fit correctly....so they called someone from Lowes who came out (along with yet another person). They finally decided that they could install the windows we had ordered, but they would need more installers to get the job done in one day. So, the plan is to have 4-5 installers come on Thursday and hopefully get all of the windows installed in one day....cross your fingers for us :)

We finished actually laying all of the tiles in the downstairs guest bath last night. All we have left to do is grout. We are very happy with the way our first tiling experience turned out!


Other than that, my mom and I worked hard today painting wood work....she tackled the door frames while I worked on the rest of the baseboards.

2 Questions

Today is another two blog day...

First of all...can anyone tell me what this weed is called and how in the world I can kill it?? I have pulled them (root and all) and they still come back...I have sprayed them with Round-Up and they still wont' die...AND I have poured Preen all over the flower beds and yet they still come back. Please help me!!

They deserve a bigger picture than usual...I want to make sure you can see them....just like I see them EVERYDAY in my flower beds :(

Secondly...I need some opinions....We're painting all of our doors. Currently all of the door hinges have been painted over white. Should we re-paint them white where they'll blend in or match the hinges to the door knobs (which will be brushed nickel)?? Any opinions??

Here's what they look like currently: