Downstairs Bath

Check it out! The tile work has been done. Some caulking, some of the fixtures still need some installation and tweaking but it's basically done. The vanity, mirror and lights are installed and artwork hung. Again, caulking still needs completing but it will happen shortly. Curtains will be delivered shortly and we will get the shower curtain rod installed and a few other things need to be installed yet, but it's coming along and it's usable. Yipee!

As a reminder from previous posts, we bought an antique oak dresser and modified it to be a vanity. We bought a piece of stock oak and routed it, etc., then stained it for a back splash. We mounted it to the vanity with steel plates. We purchased the antique oak mirror at an auction never thinking we would put the two together but realized they were perfectly paired. To install the mirror we used a slotted angle at the top which is not visible and then the bottom of the mirror we used chair braces in an antique bronze finish which connected the mirror to the back splash. The lights were from Renovator's Supply that we purchased quite a while ago. It was good to get them from storage and get them installed. I'll add more pictures once the bath is all done. Let me know what you think!

The tiling in the upstairs bath has been completed, too, but I don't have the pic up yet. We are getting there folks.

Will the Bathrooms Ever Be Done? Yup!

We had planned to tile both bathrooms this last weekend but if you've been following along, you know nothing ever goes according to plan. However, that being said, we did get all the cement board up in both bathrooms so we CAN do the tiling - probably next weekend.

Downstairs Shower

Upstairs Shower

Earlier in the week we attempted to install the cement board on the angled ceiling in the upstairs bathroom. Even after cutting more and more off, it still didn't fit right, got jammed and we ended up damaging the drywall. It is actually worse than in the pictures. It will get replaced at some point but it's not a showstopper--thank goodness.

The following picture shows how we inserted a base on the floor of the shower so that if something fell on it it wouldn't damage the shower floor. We will keep it there through tiling. Another thing I want to communicate to you is that for the cement board in the downstairs bath, we did NOT countersink the screws. Because of that the screw heads are elevated so the tiles won't be flat. We need to go back and sink the screws. We made sure we did it upstairs. Now we just need to tape, etc. and we'll be ready for tile. I can't wait.

A little pick-me-up

Earlier in the summer my son helped us out by doing some landscaping for us. We didn't have much of a budget but we only had to buy the plants, he did the labor for free. What a great kid. He is in the process of mulching around all our trees and maybe next year we will plant hosta gardens around some of the larger trees. To mulch everything we needed about 10 yards of mulch. We planted hostas, hydrangeas - regular and tree form and also an oak leaf hydrangea, some petunias and I think that was it. My son also pulled a very large, overgrown arborvitae on the corner of the house and pulled up all the weeds and out-of-control ground cover. Here's how it looked after he finished.

Someday in the future we hope to replace the front porch with a wooden porch and steps and a nice railing and columns. I would also like to make it a little bigger. The siding and shutter colors probably will also change. What colors do you think Hardy House should be? Keep in mind there is a big red barn off to the right of the house.

Tell me what you think.

 

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have a working upstairs bathroom!

Well the shower still isn't working but that's okay for now. It's being worked on. Here are a few pictures of the upstairs bathroom. The sink and toilet are working. A mess still, yes, but I can work around it.

Dave insisted on the toilets that we installed - super water savers or something. I feel they were way overpriced and I don't particularly like the style for these baths but during a remodel you need to compromise so that's what we did.

The shower shows the plywood screwed up. That has since been overlayed with the Swanstone. We were petrified we might break it installing it but we didn't. It was a bear to install - very heavy.

This week we have been putting up cement board at the tops of the showers so that we can tile. We are planning the tiling for next weekend. Can't wait! Once the tiling is done we can get the plumber back to hook up the showers. What a grand day that will be!

More on the downstairs bath...

Here are a couple more pics of the bathroom vanity - installed. We still have to modify the drawers but have figured out a way to waste as little as possible. We are really happy with the way this turned out. It was a lot of work but we like that we could selvage an old piece of furniture AND get a unique vanity.

We also have an antique oak mirror that we will install over the sink.

The toilet seat is still not on yet - I'm not sure why, otherwise we would be using this bathroom as the water is connected.

New Website Launch!

It's official! My new website has been launched. Please take a look - you can link back here from the Blog link -

http://www.BetsyLewisWrites.com

You can also LIKE me on Facebook (Twitter will come a little later). (FB=Betsy Alderman Lewis)

Summer!

It's been a really hot summer and a lot has been going on.

I've said this before and I'll say it again - during a remodeling project like this, life often takes priority and this summer has been no exception.

I am sorry to say that my beautiful mother passed away on July 17, 2012 after a valiant battle with breast cancer. She was the strongest, bravest person I have ever met. May you rest in peace, mom. I will love you forever.

About the same time my mom went into hospice we moved my dad into a dementia care unit at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center. He is being well cared for and I see him regularly. That being said, a couple of nights ago he fell and broke his hip. He also has pneumonia. We expect he will have surgery in the next few days. I also have great love for my father.

I have several pics and comments to post about our remodel and, well, I will get to them as soon as I can.