The OTHER Bathroom

Our house is a 2 bathroom house, though currently

the downstairs bathroom is under going

a complete tear out and renovation.

So that left us with the ugly upstairs bathroom.

You'll recall I painted it last year.

If you can't recall, you can read about it here.

Anyway, here is what it looked like prior to painting the walls a peach color.

Here is a photo from just the other night.

Yes the walls look lovely, 

(and so does the brand new window behind the blind)

but I want you to focus on the flooring.

The yellowish flooring with the creases that held

decades of dirt and grime

that no matter how much, long or hard I scrubbed 

on my hands and knees

would never look like it was completely clean.

Plus, it just didn't match.

But I don't think yellowish grimey floors match anything, really.

So, I was walking the aisles of Ollie's Bargain Outlet at lunch,

looking for cheap good stuff

when I came across some flooring.

Long story short, I ended up finding 6x8ft sheets of vinyl flooring.

I measured the bathroom and sure enough, with the exception of a small strip

behind the toilet, 6x8 ft would work.

So I talked Big E into putting in vinyl flooring.

Oh, I forgot to mention it was only $20!

I was expecting to just slap that puppy on top of the existing floor, but Big E said the old floor had to come up.

This is where it gets a little hairy, 

and I'm not talking about Big E's chest hair.

I, in my "I found $20 easy to install flooring" high,

assumed that I'd cut the caulk that ringed the flooring

and that old floor would pop right out.

I've been involved with several projects in this house, 

and not one has gone completely as planned

so I can't really tell you why I thought this was going to be a piece of cake.

Other than the $20 piece of floor euphoria.

There were 3 distinct layers of flooring in the main floor areas.

The yellowish one, another one that was whitish with flowers or something and a blue/green

old linoleum tile with the tar backing.

And under that, 

original hardwood floors.

Even stranger was the cement or plaster I found 

in the floor.

At first I thought it was the part of the original wall

before the house was added on to.

Turns out it was a chunk of plaster.

It was used to fill a hole in the floor.

I'm not sure what someone does

to cause a hole in hardwood floor 2 inches or so deep.

It added more work because we now needed to fill the hole properly.

It took about 6 hours, 

but I managed to get all the floor up.

Over by the toilet I found 2 other types of floor that were 

nailed in place.

The toilet was also raised up for some reason.

Seriously, even the tar covered wood floor looks better

than that yellowish floor.

It took a little longer to get the floor clean enough for adhesive, 

but it finally got done.

Definitely an improvement,

and worth the hours of labor.

Just a couple of decorative touches and it'll be good for a long time.

Irons in the Fire

This past weekend was pretty busy, 

and the week promises more of the same.

Big E is away for the week, 

so I've kicked my projects into high gear.

I figure this way he can't stop me from ripping something out

or painting something

won't have to worry about getting sucked into a job.

First up, we got us a 'coon trap.

So far, no raccoon, though he did eat the bait and trip the trap.

Current thought: he's a biggun and

I think we need a bigger boat, er, trap.

Or an elephant gun.

There is also a lot of stripping going on since Big E left.

Paint, I'm stripping paint.

I plan on stripping this old farm table and staining the top

and painting the legs.

It's going to be used under the windows in the dining room for photos and plants,

but also be available for more table space should I ever get anything finished enough

to have more than about 5 people over for dinner.

I'm also stripping the 100 years of paint off the transom window.

I really hate the design on the glass.

Big E really hates the design on the glass.

So, I'm going to measure the glass and start hunting up prices for stained glass.

I'm not even 100% sure this is the original glass.

And honestly, I'm not sure this is even the original transom shape.  

More on that when I get to the whole post about the stripping and painting of the transom window.

Also going on is the sanding, priming and painting of the hallway door, entryways and living room windows.

I will finally have that chore marked off the list.

So, when I get a moment to sit and breathe,

and maybe take some better photos,

I'll share more detailed info on what I've done,

and the products I've used,

and what works and what doesn't,

and what not to do.

 

Moving Along

Apparently the bathroom elves

visited the house while I was on vacation.

Or it was my dad and my brother.

We have one wall nearly completely insulated,

and we have a ceiling with a light and vent installed.

Currently, I'm searching for a shower base 

in the dimensions we need.

We decided to have one that is 36" x 42",

but I need the threshold to be on the 36" side and I can't seem to find one.

So, the other option is 36" x 36".

I imagine I'll have to make a trip to Lowes.

Bathroom Progress

I finally got some photos of the bathroom.

I happened to stop at the house in the afternoon while my dad was busy working on it.

I was able to help him out with some of the renovations.

Ok, so really I stood on the stepladder 

and held the measuring tape so he could measure the width of the ceiling.

We have some insulation up.

And the window that overlooked the laundry room has been closed off

and framed out.

And we have new electric wires run

for outlets and light switches.

The pipe in the corner has also been framed out.

We will be losing some ceiling height in the bathroom-

it will only be about 8'2" in there.

The ceiling will basically drop down to the underside of the new 2x4 in the photo.

There were never any exhaust fans in the bathrooms

so we're adding those and that requires venting them to the outside.

And that required a loss of some ceiling height.

Not a big deal in the bathroom.

The bathroom downstairs used to be some kind of porch in the past.

You can see the old transom above the doorway. 

I would love to be able to restore the transom somehow,

like with a stained glass window that doesn't open.

But currently, the kitchen ceiling comes down over the opposite side of the transom

and we are nowhere near ready to do the work to raise the kitchen ceiling to its former glory.

I'm hoping when we are redoing the kitchen, perhaps we can revisit the transom then.

Our bathroom sink will be located where the other sink was which is to the left in this photo.

The door will be switched to swing open on the other side

so it won't interfere with the sink.

I measured the spot for the shower stall, 

and I don't think a 42"x42" base is going to work.  

So it's back to the drawing board for that.

It doesn't look like much has been done here, 

but it has.

I can't wait for the finished product!

Bathroom Progess

It feels like forever since I've posted,

but that's because, well, 

we've been busy.

The downstairs bathroom has been nearly completely gutted.

All that is left is to pull out the plywood and

rip out all the old plaster and lathe.

And the floor.

My dad and I took 700 pounds of nasty old bathroom to the dump yesterday.

(I took pictures but I'll spare you).

Eventually, there will be a custom shower stall in the far right corner

with the toilet on the left.

The sink is a pedestal sink and that will be in the front right corner (sort of out of view).

The floors will be a white hex tile 

with the walls being white subway tile 3/4 of the way up

and a turquoise-ish blue above.

Can't wait to have a downstairs bathroom!.

 

Current State of the Bathroom

Bathroom demolition has begun.

My dad tore out the large closet last week,

and Big E took care of water shut-offs and started ripping out 

everything else this week.

So far the vanity is gone and studs are being exposed.

The whole bathroom has to be gutted down to the studs.

The new toilet and pedestal sink are waiting in the garage.

I can't wait to share the before and after on this one!

Laundry Room

The laundry room had some serious carpet issues.

Not only was it an unattractive color,

but is didn't smell very good either.

And it was glued to the cement.

At one time, the laundry room was a porch.

They left the siding on the former exterior wall.

This turns out to be a good thing for us.

When we convert the upstairs apartment entrance door to a window, 

we can use the siding from the laundry room

to fill in on the exterior where the door was.

So, we got rid of the old fridge and began scraping 

up the carpet backing
(we seem to do this a lot).

And from what we can tell,

we'll be doing the same thing in the upstairs.

Anyway, we scraped the floor.

After removing all the carpet and padding, 

I scrubbed the floor to try to get rid of the odor.

Nothing seemed to work with that 100%.

My thought is that a dog peed in there on the carpet

and it soaked through to the porous cement.

The game plan is to seal the cement with a primer that locks in odors.

I primed the walls,

and chose a minty green color called Witch's Brew

for the room.

Yes, I chose it mostly for its name.

So, I planned on finishing up the trim paint
and priming the floor
before posting any kind of reveal.
Then Friday, Big E got home early.

 And he decided it was a good time to rip off the aluminum siding
from the former exterior wall.

 Underneath is old asphalt siding.
If it were in better shape,
 I would have painted it white and leave the brick-like effect,
but there are too many holes.

Big E also took out the bathroom window.
We're preparing for demoing the bathroom,
which is what prompted the whole window and siding removal.

So the laundry room is not finished,
and the big reveal will have to wait until we have
fixed the back wall and closed in the window
and put down the laminate flooring. 
So much to do!

The Garage

First, I apologize for the not so great photos,

but the garage is not well lit and it was dark.

Last night, Big E and I began working on organizing the garage.

Right now, it's a hodge podge of cabinets, replacement windows, scrap metal,

paneling from the house and various pieces of wood slated to go to the burn pile.

No room for my car,

or anything else for that matter.

Plus, I'm anxoius to get my laundry room cleaned up, 

and Big E's tools need a place to go live other than my laundry storage cabinet.

So, it was time to try to get things picked up.

Once again, we've managed to save and reuse items.

For his work shop area, 

Big E salvaged the cabinets from the former upstairs kitchen.

I'm quite pleased with how much we've been able to reuse so far.  

It saves money and it keeps the stuff out of the landfill-

win for everyone.

Anyway, we got the biggest (and heaviest) into position, got ready to screw it into place

and the drill battery died.

While annoying at first, 

it gave us a moment to rethink placement of cabinets and discuss where my gardening stuff is going.

So tonight we will move everything around and get the cabinets up 

and the tools out of my laundry room.

I'm hoping I get to claim some space for gardening items.

I might just have to forgo space for my car.

Hallway Reveal

Somehow, I managed to miss posting about the hallway makeover.

Here we have the before photos.

The hallway wasn't really in bad shape,

it just needed some updating and color.

As you can see, 

we decided to go with blue.

I believe the color was Oatlands Pale Flowers

or maybe not, I don't remember

but it is one of the historical paint colors offered by Valspar.

And here is the finished product.

I haven't touched the stairs yet.

I'll need to chemically strip the paint off the steps and the hand rail

because of the lead paint that is sure to be lurking there.

We're also waiting to find someone who can replace the section of railing

that was cut off during the conversion to apartments.

Plus there is the discovery of the ornamental scroll work

that was once on the steps.  

I discovered it on the upstairs edge of the hall,

and I found evidence of it on the steps in the hallway.

I'm hoping to be able to replicate the pattern in paint.

I'm really happy with the color and

with the light that pours in front the front door.

Now to work on finishing the laundry room.

It Takes a Village

The saying "It takes a village to raise a child"

holds true for house renovation too.

It takes a village to get crap done.

This past weekend was a very busy one.

Windows were measured 

for replacements.

Thanks to the window sale at a home improvement store, 

we'll have replacement windows soon.

My dad and husband did the measuring, 

and they'll be installing the windows too.

There was a lot of painting going on as well.

My mom and my cousin came to help.

I would not have been able to get as much

accomplished in the painting department if 

I didn't have the help of family

(you'll remember my cousin and aunt helped with the hall and the living room).

These are just teasers of the paint color in the kitchen.

I'm still working on finishing up last minute touches,

so I don't want to share photos until I'm done.

It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do. 

Painting the trim and doors white made a massive difference

in their appearance.

We managed to get the laundry room painted too.

I just need to finish the trim work, 

but the walls are done.

I've been looking at decorating ideas on all the rooms

that have been painted.

And we can't forget all the work on the electrical wires in the house.

Without the help of our friend,

it wouldn't have been done.

So we measured windows, painted 2 rooms and had 2 separate

electric meters converted to one.

So a big THANK YOU

to those who have helped.

Even the dog helped.
You'll notice the white on her ear.
There's also white on the end of her tail,
and she has a red food.
She was oh so helpful.

Rewiring the House: Day 2

A husband, a dad and a blind electrician walk into a house.

No, really, it's not a joke. 

Our electrician wasn't blind, 

but he had broken his glasses so it became the joke of the day

(especially when I used day of the dead skull duct tape to "fix" them).

Anyway, it was a day without electricity in the downstairs of the house.

Dinner was interesting.

The crockpot was plugged in upstairs cooking all day

and the mashed potatoes were prepared at my parents' house, 

brought to my house,

and kept warm on top of the gas heater in the laundry room.

We ate by oil lamp.

My neighbors must think we're really romantic

since we seem to use oil lamps and candles whenever we use the dining room.

 There used to be shelves at the bottom of the basement steps.

I came home from some errands,

 and my dad told me there was an earthquake that took down the shelves.

I imagine he must have thought I wanted the shelves, 

but I had already come ot the conclusion they weren't worth keeping.

What was amusing was that yesterday evening there was an earthquake

centered in a location about an hour and a half away.

The shelves had to be removed to make way for the new larger circuit box

(or whatever it's called).

The guys worked well into the night

and even had the electric company come out.

Nothing like have a giant electric company truck 

in front of your house with flashing lights at 9pm.

At the end of the day 

(really, it was like 10pm when everyone left)

the house is now all on one electric meter instead of two,

and I don't have to walk around with a headlamp. 

This doesn't mean we're done with the electric, 

or that we've gotten the hard part done.

We still need to replace old outlets with new ones,

and run new wire for some things.

And figure out the whys and hows of the work that was done previously.

Like the mysteries of the kitchen outlet that is on a 220 circuit but it's a 110 outlet 

so the 220 has been split and we don't know where it splits to.

Fun times.

It was a pretty crazy busy weekend of house work,

so stay tuned for all the other updates on painting and whatnot.

Primed and Ready to Go

This is the kitchen.

There used to be a "built in" table

under that light that was made out of cabinets and counter top.

And against this wall where the folding table sits

used to be a large wall cabinet on the wall.

The plan is to build a ceiling to floor 

pantry here.

Hopefully this summer

as there is basically no pantry space and it's driving me nuts.

This coming Saturday,

myself and my merry band of painters

are tackling the kitchen.

Because the plaster walls behind the paneling 

(the wallpaper is paneling too)

are in very bad shape and we aren't ready to tackle that yet,

we're painting over the paneling to freshen up the kitchen.

That means priming the walls.

Last night I managed to get 2 coats on the walls.

I still need to put a second coat on some trim,

and I have some spots of something 

(grease?)

 bleeding through that I need to try to cover.

(you'd think 2 coats of primer would take care of it)

Even just the primer improves the space.

I can't wait to see the transformation!