Almost There

We have been working for the last month on the main floor bathroom. Of all of the rooms it will be the most changed when we are done. It is a different shape and size than it was, and everything in it will be new. The one thing that remained the same; the window, had to be almost entirely rebuilt. Plus we installed a translucent, decorative pane of glass in the bottom. This room is also entirely our own layout and design. We are getting close to completion. Here are some photos of its evolution...

BEFORE: 

• There was a funny little folding door that did not give people the maximum about of privacy.

• The toilet was wedged between the shower and the wall, and the floor tiles around it were cracked.
  

• The shower had a sliding glass door that shattered a few years ago.

• The little sink did not give a good stream of water and was stained. The press board cabinet and the little wall-hung shelf unit were the only storage.

In this photo taken during the structual work in July, the old shower pan is visable in the lower right-hand corner. The entire wall between the bathroom and kitchen was removed down to the studs. One of the big challages was reworking the plumbing and electrical in this wall to accomodate the new ellements of both the bathroom and the kitchen. The north and west walls were also removed and rebuilt to add square feet to the bath.

In the last couple of posts there are photos of the bathroom's interior rebuild. The wainscoting and related trim took over a week to install. Don measured, built, and fitted each piece. It took tubes and tubes of adhesive and hours working on his knees.

 

Then it took lots of spackle and sanding.

Finally, after hours hammering brads in by hand, Don visited Harbor Freight and got a power tool that cut the time installing trim to a fraction of what it had been. Finally Sami primed and painted the wainscoting and touched up the blue wall where all of the work left problems - two more days of work!

Only 4 check marks (of the origional 40) are left; install quarter-round oak trim at the floor, install toilet, install sink, and intstall towel rods, etc. Can't wait!

What's New?

Two lights, that's what's new.
We still have a lot of plaster work to do, so their ability to be cleaned will be tested. But after all of the work choosing them, we had to see how they looked, so up they went.

Progress Report

To gauge how much progress is being made we have a 230 item task list of things we need to accomplish before we are all done. Some tasks will take a few hours, some a few days. But, each time a job is complete we check it off. The list is not all-encompassing, because we began it well into our part of the project. But it is a great motivator. It feels wonderful to add the little check marks. We missed a lot of tasks when the list was first made, so we add to it when we think of those things. Even though the list grows longer day by day, the check marks outpace the additions. Every few days we do the math and see what percent of the project is done. Right now we are at 38%.

There are 40 tasks to be done for the main floor bathroom. We only have 7 left to go.

It will take about five days to get just one check mark; "install wainscoting," perhaps by the end of the week.

When it is installed, it may only take a day of work to check off "paint wainscoting."

Finished this Tuesday. Repairing the cracks in the plaster walls and ceiling, and painting the ceiling and walls allowed us to check 3 things off.

Not Our Favorite Job

We move ahead on two fronts; the main floor bathroom and the entryway. We're excited about the bathroom, as it is coming together beautifully. We have towels and washcloths already to move in, and hope to do so in a week or two.

The entry is a different story. There it is all about plaster repair. Sami has done some of the work, but Don has done much more.

NO fun!

No fun at all.

Keeping it out of the rest of the house is impossible.

Here, There, and Everywhere

We have been working hard. Every day we check off one or two items from the to-do list. Don built and installed the trim around the two custom kitchen built-ins, and Sami spent hours painting it all. When the time finally came to put the shelves, drawers, and doors back on the cabinets, we found that each drawer was a slightly different size (!*?!**!). That meant the drawers would not fit into the trim on the bottom, and would not close all the way. So, Don took the bottom drawers apart and made new faces for them. Then they had to be primed and painted again. Now they fit, but it was a lot of extra work.

This cabinet is what became of our old "phone nook."

This is the pantry that sits above the stairwell to the basement.

To keep up with the projects we must buy more supplies every few days. Last Friday we spent time at Home Depot and Wink’s Hardware deciding on kitchen drawer and door handles. At a glass shop we ordered the window glass for the kitchen built-in and the privacy glass for the bottom pane of the bathroom window, then another trip to the paint store for another gallon of primer, trim paint and sand paper. We are doing our best to keep the economy healthy.

These built-into-the-wall shelves are like the ones Don built in our upstairs bathroom

The main floor bathroom window required a lot more work than first anticipated. To make it right, Don has had to almost completely rebuild it. He also spent time building both sets of shelves and the trim for them, which gave Sami more work; painting, painting, painting.

Pretty soon the wainscoting can be added.

As if that were not enough, Corey is back and he is laying a new cedar floor on the deck outside our living room. Don built the deck about 22 years ago and lately the wood has deteriorated badly. Luckily, the supports are all still in good shape, and did not need to be rebuilt.

Corey works in almost any weather.

Our motto continues to be; 

"Work hard, play hard."

We find that every so often it is time

for a much deserved Hammerhead.

Cheers!