Our New Tile!

Here are pictures of the bathroom so far! Phil is working on the grout today... We might be able to use it TOMORROW!

Ladies and Gentleman… We Have TILE!

Over the weekend we made some great progress on that bathroom that I am totally excited about! Phil and I were both volunteering at church this weekend, so our time to work on projects was quite limited. My goal for the weekend was to completely tile the shower, however in order to do this we had quite a bit of prep work first! Saturday after getting home from church around 7:30pm we had to fur out a wall and put up the cement board so that we could tile the next day. Then Sunday when we got home from church we hit the bathroom hard! After a few road blocks… like not having the correct tools to cut natural stone and a trip to Home Depot … we started the actual tiling around 4pm. It started out really difficult, but after we both got hang of how to work with the stone and a good system down it started to go up really fast. My sister was our runner and helped us sort the stones and always made sure we had enough ready. Because the mortar would dry out if left out, once we started there was no going back, so we were up tiling until 1:30 in the morning! It looks awesome and both Phil and I are really happy with the way it turned out. Now I just need to stay awake at work!

Today we are going to do the grout, then tomorrow we can seal it and we will have a fully functioning shower! I am very excited for this!

I will post pictures soon... for some reason they will not upload today!

A Bathroom to Remember…

Yes it happened, we officially have no bathroom! Yes, I do realize most people would view this as a negative thing, and while I do miss my bathroom close enough to get up in the middle of the night without opening my eyes, we are one step closer to a newly remodeled bathroom!

Friday Phil and I discussed it and decided that we wanted to get going on the project and that since he is still unemployed this would be a great time to start a massive project like this. We started the project by heading to Home Depot on Friday and getting the supplies we needed.

Then Friday night with the help of our great friends, Charlie and Lindsay, completely tore the bathroom apart! It was way more work that we expected, the walls were a inch and a half of cement with a wire mesh entwined in it, Absolutely NO fun to get off the walls! By the end of Friday night we had all the walls down. Saturday we were able to finish tearing out the ceiling and floor. The ceiling was unbelievably nasty, first it was plaster, then sheetrock, then a batting of insulation, and last but not least a foot of cotton like insulation that POURED out of the ceiling ALL over us. We were totally covered with this nasty stuff. The floor was tile also and had close to an inch of cement also with mesh. Phil was amazing and was able to get it all up! Sunday we decided that the house was so unbelievable dirty we needed to take a time out and clean so that we could live somewhat normal lives amidst the construction. After a few hours of cleaning EVERYTHING, the house was back in shape. Though I am happy to report it is almost just as dirty again… sad day! Phil and Robbie, a good friend, were able to get the bazillion pound tub out of the bathroom, and get the new one in place! One step closer to new! Monday we did some electrical and put up new insulation in the ceiling and sheet rocked the ceiling. We also brought a full truck load and trailer load of construction garbage to the dump… it was over two TONS of stuff! Amazing… our house is going to be lighter! Thanks to Phil’s parents for letting us borrow their truck, we could have not done it without it!!

Ok, I am exhausted! We are both so encouraged by the work that got done and are really looking forward to a new bathroom. From this point on we will be working on tiling around the shower, sheet rocking the walls, installing new vanity, toilet, linen closet, floor and many other things.

My physical therapy appointment went really well on Friday! My therapist is awesome and was so helpful. I learned so much already and feel like this is really going to help me heal and learn how not to injure myself in the future. Even though this has been a pain I am so thankful for the people who have come alongside me and are helping me on the road to recovery.

Ok… are you ready….? Enjoy some pictures… I am sorry if you get dirty….

On our way to Home Depot!

Our Home Away from Home!

The empty trailer... soon to change!

The nasty old sink!

Lindsay putting the first few holes on the wall

I have waited for this day for so long!!

Do you like all the dust in the air?!

We put up plastic in attempts to keep the dust out of the rest of the house... kinda worked!

Trying out our new bathtub in Home Depot... yes, we are those people....

Ultimate man... pizza in one hand, tools in the other! (This was breakfast... oops)

Emily trying out the goggles we got for tearing out the ceiling... she is so cool!

A torn out bathroom with old plumbing!

Amost all done...

Getting the new tub into the house!!

The NEW tub! I covered it with target bags so that it does not get scratched up!

PD our dog hates loud noises so he hid in Emily's room with his head under her bed... very funny!

New insulation in the ceiling!

DRYWALL!!! :)

A Thursday Evening Documentary…

Yesterday was so beautiful, we just had to got out into the sun! While I was at work, Phil was hard at work at home and did some great stuff, including cleaning out BOTH of our cars! Seriously, I should have taken pictures of before and after. After the long winter thay were so dirty, and earlier this week when we went to Como Park with the dog, he tracked a LOT of mud into Phil’s car… opps, sorry again Phil!

We have had an old clothes line in our backyard that takes up more room than we would like, we last fall decided to get rid of it. Half way through it was decided it was too much work for the time we had… needless to say it was about time we finally finished the project! Please enjoy a picture story of a Thursday evening project… (Please note, I AM sitting in a chair watching WITH my crutches… yes I am trying to take care of myself… but oh it’s hard!)

Digging out the 4 foot cement footings...

 PD and me "Supervising" Yes... we did a good job!

After the hard work we grilled... yes summer is coming!

Phil and what he calls "The Best Tool Ever!"

I am off to my first Physical Therapy appointment today… I am excited to start working on the healing process and hope I learn a lot to help me be a better runner.

It must GO!

Over the weekend I accidentally dropped a large bobby pin down our bathroom sink. It already drains very slow do to very old rusty pipes so I thought we better get it out! I told Phil about this so on Sunday he started to try and get it out. :) After trying for a while from the top, we realized we would have to go from under the sink and get it out of the trap. (Aren’t you impressed I know what it is called?! Ok, well I may have just called Phil to find out the name…) So Phil got out his pipe wrench and other tools and went to work. After he got all the pipes apart we found the bobby pin, along with a nasty amount of hair and other grossness clogging our sink.
Thinking the problem was fixed he started putting the pieces back together and found that due to rustiness and old pipes they had actually just broken off, so there was no way to reconnect them. After talking about if we even wanted to spend the time, energy, and money to fix it, we decided that a run to Home Depot was worth it. We got the parts and headed home to find that the pipes are not the right size and that there is not way to fix it without spending more money than we want to on a bathroom we are tearing out in a month!

So long story short, good thing the bathroom will soon be no more! Oh yeah, and if you are at our house over the next month, sorry, we have no bathroom sink!

Happy Monday!

The craziness begins again….

After taking a break from house remodeling we have gotten the itch (ok, and the funding) to start yet another project…. Drum roll please……

This time we are going to completely tear out our bathroom, move walls, plumbing, and electrical to make our dream bathroom! Currently the bathroom has a lovely shade of PINK tiles, pinkish floor and a vanity that is way to low! Because the previous owner was a smoker all our grout is black, despite my determination to make it white again, it remains a nasty color! We have one outlet that is on the opposite wall from the vanity, making curling irons and hair dryers an interesting task of not tripping over cords. OH, and did I mention the strangest “closet”? IT ALL MUST GO!

As we thought about it, we want to completely tear everything down to the studs. We know at some point there was water damage, and want to make sure we are repairing anything that might be under our lovely walls. Both Phil and I have been talking non-stop about how we are going to do this! Thankfully we do have another bathroom in the basement, but are still hoping to get it done as soon as possible so that the basement does not become our permanent bathroom!

Currently we are in the planning stages. We both decided that we want to have everything picked out and ready to go before we tear it out so that the project can take as little time as possible! We are going shopping to pick out tile, tub, sink, vanity, faucets, and toilet this weekend (Maybe on Valentines Day! Is there something wrong with me if I would rather do that then go out to dinner?) We will actually start the demo in about a month!

Stay tuned for updates and dust!

The FINISHED Kitchen!!!

Here are the pictures of the kitchen finished!

KITCHEN!!

After three weeks of hard work and waiting, our kitchen will be finished within the next few days. The contractor who is making our countertops is coming tomorrow (Saturday) at 10am to install them. Katie and I are so excited, we kind of wish this wasn't our weekend to serve at church because we will be there all weekend which means that we have less time to install the little things like the faucet and outlet plates.

We got a new table for the kitchen yesterday that fits the setting really well, it will be great to have in there. I need to install a few more outlets for the under cabinet lights to plug into but that's a little thing that doesn't have to be done immediately.

After the countertops are in and we get the sink and faucet installed we will take a bunch of pictures and post them for everyone to see the before and after. The change is amazing, it's hard to believe that it's the same kitchen we bought just over 2 months ago.

We've been getting a lot of people saying that they got our "We've Moved" postcards, if you haven't gotten one keep an eye out for it. If we don't have your address (like if you've moved in the past year or so) let us know and we'll send you one.

Yesterday we finally took some pictures of the house all moved in (mostly!) We are really enjoying being in the house, it is still so exciting to not share walls with neighbors and to have our own yard! I am still amazed at how God lead us to this house and time and really brought so many pieces together.

Earlier this week it was beautiful outside so we went through the garage and organized everything. Phil was super excited to put up the old kitchen cabinets in

the garage so now he has a nice place to put all the stuff out there. While he organized the garage I worked on our three season porch. After moving in, it became the place to put empty box's and all other things we did not know what to do with right away so it was awesome to put everything away and get it all cleaned and set up with out patio furniture! Once it gets a little warmed I will re-paint and decorate out there.

PD, our dog, and I have really been enjoying finding great places to go for runs. There is a park called Reservoir Woods that is a block from our house that has beautiful paths that go through some beautiful woods and is about three miles long. Even on warm days I only see a few people on the path and it is so secluded you can't hear any traffic! Earlier this week when I went for a run PD was pulling me for about two miles, then he decided that he was sick of running, so I pulled him the mile home! I am really enjoying having a dog to run with, I feel much more safe and it is great to have the motivation to get out there.

This last weekend Phil and I worked with a few kitchen designers and figured out exactly what we are going to do for the kitchen. It all turned out so great and we really can't wait to get it done. After we worked with the designers we went and picked out new appliances also. This is something that I really can't wait for. The fridge and oven in the house currently work but are very old and in need of replacement. So our hope is to be done with the kitchen by middle of May!

Well, that is all for now! I'm sure we will have more updates soon!

Katie