The Beginning of the Beginning

Don has completely demoed the upstairs bathroom, including digging out the rotted wood in the subfloor and replacing it. It is all ready to be put back together.

Six years ago we fell in love with some ceramic tile that we found in a little store in Seattle imported from Tonala, Mexico. We bought eight tiles, figuring they could some how be used in our remodel. As it turned out, our entire bathroom design has revolved around those eight tiles. It has not been easy because they are not a standard size or thickness. We visited many, many tile shops and web sites to find other tiles that compliment the bird tiles and fit our budget. Plus, our plan now calls for twenty more bird tiles. So this Tuesday I will take the train up to Seattle to pick out the additional tiles while Don stays home accepting delivery of our new tub, sink and toilet. I guess you could say we are finally at the start of putting something back together! The beginning of the beginning.

water-damaged and rotted wood replaced

Don with his "multi-function tool," Sami wields a hammer

 The fabric on the left in this picture, will be framed and hung on the bathroom wall. It is a piece of embroidered Chinese silk, which we think it is pretty with the fanciful bird and nature motif of the Mexican tile.

China and Mexico

The Command Center

Our refrigerator door serves as the Scripter Remodel Command Center. Right now it includes sketches we have made of our upstairs bathroom design (yea - we finally have one!), an insulation upgrade diagram, and an upstairs floor plan showing what walls will be removed to add wiring and insulation. There is a detailed step-by-step to-do list for the bathroom, and a more general to-do list for the entire upstairs. These help us to not forget some vital step in the remodel process, and they help us remember decisions made. There is a floor plan of the main floor remodel, to help us remember our ultimate goal, and a table Don made about the window installation, to help him keep track of all of the steps he goes through to permanently install each window. Many hours and a lot of thinking has gone into creating those little lists and diagrams.

About once a week we get out a yellow marker and mark off things that have been accomplished. It is easy to think about the huge list of things left to be done and ignore what we have accomplished. Seeing all the little yellow marks makes us realize that progress is being made.

Do real contractors have a refrigerator door?