Steady moving...

I don't want you all to think that we have halted progress on the bathroom here...we are continuing to move forward with the last few critical steps. You will be happy to know (we are happy to know) that we have both toilet and shower back up and running at this point. This morning's shower at home was the best - never take that for granted. You know what else is going to be great? When I get in the shower in 5 min for my second one of the day. Can't get enough of it :)

So the big piece we are working on now is the wainscoting/trim (our attempt at masking the unsightly waste pipe that was put in outside of the frame of the wall...sweet. This finish carpentry business is tough stuff. B is doing a fantastic job of scribing, coping, and finishing things. He is much more patient at it than I would be - and he got a power sander out of the deal so things are looking up :) This part of the project is pretty important to get to look good but is also hard not to rush - all we want is a finished bathroom! That is why we are taking our time and making sure that when we are getting ticked at the pipe, walls which are not totally square, and contractors who did not put in studs at the recommended distance - we just go to bed!

Headed back to Boston for the Holiday weekend. If we make any great strides tomorrow we'll let you know - otherwise, see you next week :)

Mich

The weekend without a toilet

Is it Sunday night already? What a weekend - we worked our tails off out here pulling two pretty late nights on Friday and Saturday night. The Colorado weather was in our favor this weekend - 90 degrees with 15% humidity on Saturday (I enjoy following the weather) which helped our paint, floor primer, self-leveling compound, and thinset all dry nicely. As a result, the floor is just about done (we have a few areas to grout tomorrow) and the walls are good to go with lights and fan all installed. Woohoo! We are admittedly proud of how it is coming out - we love the tile.

After our weekly breakfast at the South Walnut Cafe this morning, we spent a few hours at Lowes picking up some wainscoting, trim, and getting our "tricky" tiles cut. I've included a photo of the Jetta loaded up with our finishing materials. I knew we left those ski racks on there year-long for a reason :) We did finally do some socializing this weekend and got out for a drink and a late night dinner of "squirrel meat" on Saturday. In all seriousness, we didn't have dinner until midnight and the late night gyro cart was our only option (darn! Honestly though, we love the gyro cart). This evening we had dinner at a reasonable hour with all 4 of the Hedges sisters which was awesome. We love having friends visit with us out here! Every day we are getting closer to a shower in our own house... :)

Mich

Grouted, Primed, wait...is that the toilet?

The fated day has arrived - our toilet is in the living room.

Kudos to the Shanahan Ridge 7 HOA for having a pretty nice little bathroom up at the pool. The next few days are looking pretty decent weather-wise and our home is relatively close to the pool so Flick, Dozer, and I can all go on "bathroom walks" together. Dozer is pumped - "why don't we always do this guys?"

Last night we grouted the shower and finished the joint compound at the drywall/cement board joint. Tonight we got the toilet out and situated in a nice spot in front of the TV. We are always short on seating so it is kind of nice. Then we were able to finish breaking up the tile floor which was previously under the toilet, sanded the aforementioned joint, and primed the walls/ceiling. We really wanted to get the floor leveler down (the solution to the stubborn thinset leftover on the floor from the previous tile) but realized that we need a special primer to put down first. Foiled again!

Keepin on keepin on over here! Having the walls primed makes it feel a lot more finished - can't wait to get that floor down :)

Mich

Now that is a shower!

Finished up tiling in the shower today...WOOOHOOO!!!! Wow, what a great feeling. Not only does it look really nice but this also means that we don't have to tile again tomorrow. We are more than ready to move on to the next step. What that next step is...well, I am not going to venture to guess what tomorrow will bring. For the record, Flick and I really tried to put together some sort of a schedule for the week but it has already been revised twice (we made the first one on Monday so if you do the math, that means we have revised it each day = we never quite get as far as we had hoped to, we apparently are not fast learners).

Here we go, lets wrap this thing up!!! (Ok so we still have a lot to do but it feels like we are right there!)

Movin and Groovin

Workin hard over here to keep things moving forward. To be honest, all that we really want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV - all we are doing is sanding down drywall joints, mixing up thinset, and laying tile. It is really one in the same, right?

Things are looking great though - got the new hot water heater in today which is something every girl looks forward to in her life. Seriously though, the water is STEAMY. We felt pretty good about replacing the old one after the plumber was lamenting about the amount of silt in the bottom - yep, we were due (thanks for the reminders Dad ;) ).

This evening, Flick and I spent a few hours sanding down all the drywall joints - we looked like we had rolled around in powdered sugar but thanks to our sweet new shop vac we are good as new in there. I am writing as we wait for the thinset to slake so I don't know where we are going to end up with our progress tonight. I am guessing we are going to finish up the walls in the shower and start in on the ceiling but not finish it (though we really want to!). That's my prediction - we'll let the pictures we upload at the end of the night be the judge. I have a strong desire to grout the shower tomorrow but I think I am going to need to wait another day. We'll see though...wish us luck!

Tiling...

Came back from CT this afternoon and got right to work. It was kind of refreshing to see the family, have some time away from "the project", and to take a shower in the same building where we were sleeping.

So before we left, we got the first row of tile up. We had been talking about tiling and staring at the wall and holding the tiles up for a few days - once it came time to mix up the thinset, it took us a minute to work up the nerve to just do it. That stuff is basically cement so there is no turning back once you get going.

Today we really got going. Finished the whole back wall and started up the first row of one of the side walls. If anyone is keeping track of the time-stamp you will notice we are really burning the midnight oil here. Fortunately we had some good naps on the plane today which allowed us to keep pushing forward. Flick is doing a great job of mixing and spreading thinset, positioning tile, and getting everything looking really good. I am in charge of spacers, managing the level and sponge, and being the second set of eyes to ensure everything is lining up pretty well. I think we are a pretty good team - we started off the evening with a little KYGO on the radio and once it got too late, I pulled out a few verses of the random songs which popped into my head. Not too many though, Flick hasn't run away yet.

New hot water heater is coming in on Monday morning and I think we are hours away from the toilet coming out...

:) Mich

Taping Seams

Happy Saturday!

Today I tackled the first round of seam taping in the bathroom. B-Flick took off on Friday for an overnight work trip to Cleveland so in order to keep moving forward I had to muster up the courage to take on this new task without a sounding board. We really talk through all of these new steps so that we make sure we are both on the same page so this was a big one for me.

I started on Friday night by realizing we had the wrong kind of tape for the joint compound - fortunately this realization was made before starting work :) Quick trip to Lowes this morning fixed that up and it took about 3 or so hours to get the whole bathroom done. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! All of the reading I did in the days leading up to this project said that this was the worst part about drywalling...perhaps those people didn't actually hang the drywall. Now I'm not saying that the job is perfect, however, this was about 345 times better than hanging the drywall. As I mentioned to Tara and Mark on the phone today (thanks for the call guys!!)...it's like putting frosting on a cake. Actually, I bet I could dominate frosting a cake right now...

If you don't hear much from us in the next day or so that is because we are sanding and applying the next coats of compound - which is probably not all that exciting for those of you who have complete bathrooms. For us, it is THRILLING. We still have some big decisions to make but are pleased with the progress to date.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms following!

Mich

Wall Photos

Just a quick note to accompany our new pics - we've got the walls up except for the one that is over the tub (will require some cement board trimming which we are NOT super excited for). Otherwise, we are looking good! Gnight...

Mich

Walls!

Both camera batteries are dead so you are going to have to take my word on this one - we have made some progress with getting the walls up! We'll get some pictures up there tomorrow - it looks good, very purple as a matter of fact. "Greenboard" (the mold/moisture resistant version of drywall) is actually a nice lavender color. It has made me realize that we did a good thing by picking out a light paint color - small internal rooms with no windows do not fare well with dark walls.

I've decided that I am going to stop trying to predict what we will accomplish during our next working session since we actually have yet to meet those predictions. :) Granted, everything is getting done, just a bit more slowly than we always think it will...

Some things that can slow down a project include:

1.) Trying to keep normal life in check (think walking Dozer, making dinner, going to work...). The hours really slip through our fingers at the end of the day. We officially have almost no clean clothes since, as some of you may know, our dryer doesn't vent to the outside (are we noticing a trend?) so it gets humid in the house when we use it - probably not good when we are trying to keep moisture out of our walls :)

2.) The existing architecture - we have spent more time shimming walls, reinforcing studs so we have something to nail/screw into, and planning how to get the drywall around this ridiculous black waste pipe that sticks out beyond the studs than we could have ever imagined. Square walls would be SO helpful!

3.) The size of the drywall that we can maneuver around the corner into our bathroom - we could have done one wall in 2 big pieces, however, they couldn't make the turn. Darn! That means more seams and screws to put in and then cover up in a few days.

4.) Michelle getting tired and staring at the wall and thinking about how nice it will be when it is done :)

We'll get those photos up there tomorrow for sure! Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Mich

Plumbing...Check...Electricity...Check!

That's right everyone - consider our bathroom fully plumbed and wired. We finished the plumbing for behind our sick new vanity and have all the switches and outlets ready to rock and roll. Guess what that means...we now have electricity back to our bedroom! Who knew that our bathroom and bedroom were on the same circuit? Well, we did after we cut power to the bathroom and subsequently had to get ready for bed by candlelight. We figure our electricity savings this month should offset those cold winter nights when we cranked the heat up to 65 degrees...mmm, balmy.

Now - just because the photos don't show any major transformations, don't think that Flick and I are sitting on the couch eating bonbons. We actually can't even sit on the couch because of all the home improvement supplies we have acquired over the last few weeks. The only time we are off our feet is when we are eating dinner and driving to and from work (ok, and while I am updating the blog). My shins were sore after the first day from spending so much time moving around.

All the behind the walls work should be pretty well squared away at this point so hopefully we can put in the insulation and get some walls up tomorrow. Wouldn't that be great? Walls...what a luxury! Well we are going to catch up on some much needed sleep here; gnight all!

Mich

Progress!

There hasn't been much "visible" progress on the bathroom as we prep the walls/ceilings/plumbing for greenboard/cement backer board...until today. We completed the backer board in the shower - major victory! I'll tell you what, that cement board puts up a good fight. It does not want to be cut, certainly does not want to be hung square on the wall, and absolutely was a pain to work with. We feel pretty good now that it is up there - it very well could stand longer than the rest of the building. Ok, that may be giving us a bit too much credit but considering this is our first go at a bathroom remodel, I think we are getting along alright.

Previously, I mentioned that things take about 2x as long as we had originally thought they would - we talked again about that today, make that 3x longer :) If we can get some more walls up tomorrow it will be faaaantastic. We have some more plumbing to move, duct work to connect to the vent fan, and one outlet that is not cooperating. Add to Flick's victory list a new pot-light over the shower, a new vent fan, and some over-the-vanity lights. He's good I tell ya! Don't worry, we are still working in some normal life things like soccer games, yoga, and breakfast with the rest of the early birds at the South Walnut Cafe (well, normal for us that is; sleep in on the weekends? Not if Dozer has anything to say about it!)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!

Mich