The floor goes in

The tile has arrived! The house is covered from dust from all the drywall sanding, but no use in cleaning until we are done with everything, since it will just get messier. Chad has a poker game on Feb 21 so this is the working deadline to have an operational bathroom. However he notes that guys will not mind using the skanky bathroom downstairs, and so perhaps it is not much a deadline afterall. A girl can dream. Meanwhile it is -40 outside and showering downstairs with no heat is quite the adventure. BRRR.

We are adding heated floors to the bathroom since there is not a heat vent in there. For such a small space, the heated floors are pretty affordable -- about $500 for the bathroom, and most of this is for the thermostat unit. The heat is electric and is provided via a mat on the floor.

Laying down the electrical mat for the heat.

Then, you mortar over the wires and then lay tile over that. Now, the wires are all hidden in the mortar:

And we can lay the tiles down! I love the little floor tiles. They are .6 inches. If tiles could be cute, these are! We were thinking of going with a hexagon tile to have more of a period style, but I really like these little square guys. I believe that it is a honed marble, so it's not shiny. The color is an off-white with some variation.

Tomorrow, the grout goes in. For now, the tiles need to set.

Work in progress

Chad is kicking ass on this project so that we have a working bathroom up and running soon. He is taking time off from working at the furniture shop, which is his winter job, so that this project gets done before landscaping starts off.

Bringing in the new tub:


The new tub resting on it's legs:



The new built in shelves behind the tub for shampoo, etc. You can also see the new glass block window. Can you believe that Chad did all this so fast?

Framing in the tub:


After a long day of drywalling.
The cut out for the medicine cabinet:
The built in shelves all drywalled:
The built in tub:
The view from the hallway:

Whew! That was a lot of work!

The tub has arrived

We had a hard time finding a tub that would fit in a 30 x 66 inch opening. Most tubs today are 32 inches wide atleast. Our old tub was 30 x 60 x 14, which is very shallow. The new tub is roughly 30 x 66 x 18 -- giving us 24 more cubic inches of soaking room. It is a European tub made by Duravit and designed by Phillipe Stark, which we bought from tubz.com. Luckily it was in stock somewhere in the U.S. so it did not have to be shipped from Germany, where it is made.

Rrrrr! Sassy! Hold on there!
Here is our old tub, for comparison. Of course, there was not usually a toilet in it, but you get the gist. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the new tub is a lot more roomy.

This is actually the thing I am most excited to have with the new bathroom. The old tub was so small, we never took baths in it. The new tub will afford us bathing luxuries!

We were considering going with a jacuzzi tub.. but I read that on average, people use them 4 times a year. And all and all, it was not worth the extra cost for me. I am however ecstatic over our newly acquired 24 cubic inches.

But Emily, you have a one bathroom house. What are you doing while you remodel the bathroom?

Luckily, the original residents of our house installed very makeshift plumbing facilities in the unfinished basement. We think that a teenager lived in the basement at one point. We never had any reason to use said facilities until the day we accidentily began remodeling the bathroom. All it took was about $30 worth of plumbing to get it up and running.

It is not pretty. And it is cold. But if we didn't have it, I would be living with my parents while Chad could just step out into the backyard. Entertaining at our house is now limited to events where minimal beverages are served, and which last two hours or less. See what I mean?




Another hazard of remodeling is that you might kick your foot on a toolbox that is accidentily left in the hallway, and then have to hobble around and bail out on cross country skiing because your toe hurts. Right third toe, the bruise is halfway down my foot:

We are accidentily remodeling the bathroom

One little leaky faucet led to all this...

Another Break....

We're on home remodeling vacation again, but this time, it's because Chad is going to be featured on the HGTV show Landscape Smart. Read about it on Chad's web site. We are super excited!

Now that the landscaping season is almost over and the TV episodes are wrapping up filming, I am hoping that we can focus back on our house. Our projects to finish include:

Kitchen:
-baseboards
-frame out back doorway
-stain and refinish door
-new light for over the sink
-pulls on cabinets
-install IKEA rails on backsplash

Finish Back Entry Way

Living Room
-replace trim
-crown moulding
-replace trim on floor

Porch
-refinish floors
-new trim


A lot, but we are ready.

The Front Yard: Year two

We re-did our front yard in August, 2005. So this is the second year for the plants. Here is how everything is doing:



We are having a major squirrel problem, note the sumac in the front which is dying from being chewed apart by a squirrel. We have sworn revenge.

Remodeling Vacation.

Ahh, vacation from remodeling. Hanging out with friends. Enjoying the last bits of summer. Booze cruises on the pontoon boat. A blow out 30th party for Chad. August has been great! Soon enough, it will be back to work for us. There are a number of items left with the kitchen, but we are close. Here are the latest pics:

The Great Armwrestling Competition

Chad Freedom Fest 2006

You are invited: To the Chad Freedom Fest 2006. Join us to celebrate Chad's freedom from:
-Our kitchen remodeling project (see the finished product)
-His 20s (It's his thirtieth birthday!)
-And from his credit card debt of ten years!

Hope you can make it!
BBQ starting at 4pm
We're hoping to line up live music, if we can get our neighbors to agree
If you are so inclined, bring something to share (food or drink). Otherwise, just bring yourselves.
Please invite anyone I missed.

Please let me know if you can make it.

The Wall Color Debate

We debated about what color to paint the wall looking into the kitchen. I wanted orange. Chad wanted green. We could not decide. I told him it was his choice, but when we went to the paint store, I said, what color would you pick if you didn't pick green? He gave in. We picked blue. I painted the wall blue. We both hated it. I told him he had to pick the next color, and I would paint. He picked yellow, the color of the mustard at McDonalds. I painted.



We both hated the yellow. What were we thinking? I came home one day and Chad had painted a dark gray, a color we had in the basement. It looks lovely.

We are starting to tile:
And we have a few of the cabinet pulls on:
The microwave is in, but not vented, and there is no electicity.

We are getting close. To celebrate, we will be holding the Chad Freedom Festival 2006 at our house on July 29. The party is to celebrate chad's freedom from his 20s (it's his 30th birthday), freedom from the kitchen (we hope) and freedom from his credit card debt. Woo hoo! Hope you can make it.