Thursday, May 24, 2012

Had a wonderful day today!  Christina came over with Ryan and Amelia this morning.  The kids exhausted themselves running and playing!  After lunch and a trip to the backyard for some more running and climbing, everyone was more than ready for nap time.  Poor Cooper was a little difficult to get down...and the Kirby sales woman about met my wrath (not really, but I was really annoyed!)- she came knocking very loudly on the door- I answered it Cooper in my arms- I had just gotten him to fall asleep- I was hoping I could keep him that way... but then she talked- and oh so loudly!  Cooper was wide eyed...  They she got snippy when I told her I wasn't interested!  Don't wake my baby up!  Anywho, I finally got him back to sleep and enjoyed some hands free time getting little things here and there taken care of around the house. 

I don't really have any pictures from today, so I figured I'd show you some before and after shots of the upstairs bathroom project!  It's been complete for a while, but it did take us quite some time to do it.  We gutted it, with Cheri and Kari's help the weekend we moved in- yes, that's how gross it was.  We didn't really get around to starting the remodel until right before I was due with Evan...convenient and great planning right?!?!  Not so much.  Actually, funny side note, I was overdue with Evan when I tiled the shower walls.  Some nest, some tile.  (Brett would say that I'd been nesting as soon as the pink stripe appeared.)

So here they are.

Before:
Laundry Nook
Shower- love that mustard yellow tile
Are you digging the wallpaper?!?!
Vanity
Okay, so on the surface, it's not that bad...  well until you look closely, then when you start gutting it...oh my...  Let me also mention that none of the plumbing in here worked.  And you know the term "can of worms" - this project was not an exception.

Tearing it down:
Oh, this picture reminds me of the flood...  Yes, flood.  We called Brett up to take the toilet out of the bathroom.  He went to turn off the water supply and the whole thing just came out of the wall!  Water went shooting out everywhere- actually our house is extremely crooked, so it flowed to the lowest corner in the room, and out the door.  Brett flew down the steps to turn off the water to the house.  I grabbed towels to stop the river.  Water even made it through the wood floors and into the bathroom below this one.  Ha!  Let the fun begin... 
Here are Cheri and Kari helping the demo process.  We couldn't have done it without them!  We found some unpleasant surprises - dead mice, mouse homes- during the demo.  I guess it really shouldn't have been a surprise since the house is so old, but it still was not fun!  Yuck!

The photo below needs some explanation... When we were taking out the baseboard and plaster, walnuts came pouring out...it seems squirrels had some stashes tucked away in the walls... (We would later find many more too!)


Building it up:
Dad Leedy helping with the drywall.

We replaced the old horse hair plaster walls with beadboard and drywall.


Needless to say, we replace all the plumbing behind the walls.  As you can see we now have a full bath, not just a stand up shower.  I really wanted a tub, since we had babies coming.  To fit the full tub in, we closed off the door from the nursery into the bathroom.  This also allowed us to rotate the location of the vanity.  We kept the toilet in the same location, because it works and we didn't have to move the drain (major bonus).  We used white subway tile in the shower and accented it with a fun bright blue recycled glass mosaic tile.  We also added an exhaust, a major upgrade as none of the bathrooms had them.  I used a school house light for the main light...I'm still think I'd like to change this, but I'm not sure what to use.  I really struggled on what to do for a vanity.  I knew I wanted a furniture style one, something simple, but I also didn't want to spend a lot of money on one.  Well, I scored big time!  I stumbled on the perfect dresser at HomeGoods on clearance!  A few modifications and instant vanity!  Score!  I love the vessel sink- simple white.  The window divider is one the old window sashes from the house.  The faucet, well I love it, but boy was it a challenge.  I had something different picked out before, but decided I liked the wall mounted one better...well the wall was already built...  So Brett had to take the wall apart to install my newly chosen faucet- is that patience of what?!  I'm glad we did it!  So here's the final product!
















2 comments:

  1. Gosh I had forgotten how bad that bathroom was!! It looks sooooooo good now! My favorite parts are the vanity and that blue glass tile accent! I also love the storage you have in there by the laundry. Yall did such an awesome job Em!

    PS...I'm also so glad that you are posting past projects. You have A LOT of catching up to do! Maybe you'll inspire me to do the same :)

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  2. Thanks! :-)
    Oh, yes you definitely need to do some catch up too! You guys have transformed your place!

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