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?

Why cats don't like remodeling

Don again. OK...this is a little out of date, but here is a picture of Simon (the cat) being somewhat perturbed about the attic insulating part of our remodel that, from his point of view, is invading HIS space.

Going, going, gone...

Don here...reporting on the demise of our venerable but quite ugly old cast-iron bath tub. After we decided to replace rather than refinish the old tub, we pondered options for getting the old tub out of the bathroom, and decided to use the 'brute force' approach--a big sledge hammer and wearing lots of safety gear. By the way, there are lots of YouTube videos of tubs being broken up. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Visible Progress

So much we do is not visible, such as research, planning, and shopping. But this week we have made some progress that can be seen. We have removed everything in the upstairs bathroom down to the studs and the rough floor. Only our old cast iron bathtub is left. Don has outfitting himself with ear, eye and face protection in order to go after that with a sledge hammer.

The Journey

In terms of our remodel, we have decided that it is about the journey, and not the destination. Well, okay it is the destination too. But since we are doing much of the work ourselves, it had better be about the journey, because will we be walking down this path for a long, long time. And so far we have been enjoying the journey. It keeps us thinking and learning a lot; about color, about the geometry of ceramic tiles, about materials properties. Don has learned how to work one-handed lying on his stomach in a very tight place (when he hooked up the bathroom ventilation fan in a tight spot under the roof). Okay, okay, maybe that wasn’t quite so much fun. But, it is nice to know we can still do it!

Work hard, play hard

Don is climbing up and down a ladder, through a little crawl space into the attic, adding a walk-way (actually a crawl-way) and R-30 insulation above the blown-in insulation that is already there. That will bring our insulation up to the recommended amount.

It's hot up here!

Filling up paint cans with old paint

I am removing several layers of paint from the interior window trim that Don removed as he installed our new windows. What a time-consuming gunky mess! But the pay-off in pretty wood is a nice reward.

Often, like yesterday evening, we can’t muster enough energy to work, so we go out to eat, listen to good music, and share a glass of wine.

Tony Starlight's Supper

This is what happens next.....

Nap time