Ring in the new year to the sound of hammers....

We stayed in all weekend and destroyed our bathroom!! We found a lot we didn't expect. Like there is double drywall between our unit and our neighbors... so we had to carefully rip out the first layer, cause we didn't want to shell out for 2 layers and go through all the hassle that would involve. We replaced the old moldy drywall with green board so it will resist mold. We sealed everything we could then yesterday I started the actual tile work and E did all the dangerous cutting. It was WAY more time consuming than we anticipated, but we think it's coming along nicely. Here are the photos!

And on a lighter note...

Stupid Kisses tricks!


(you'll need quicktime to view)

First near catastrophy

We were caulking the windows and the drapes came loose - so E brought the yellow step ladder over and was hoping up to help me put them back on their hooks. Next thing I know I'm nearly hanging from the ceiling and E is spauled on the floor over what used to be a ladder. Stupid "uni-frame, welded" ladder. Luckily he wasn't hurt and he managed to fall on the broad part of his arms instead of his palms. Little bruised and surprised that he could destroy a metal ladder... but everything is OK.

See the carnage:

Flushy Flushy

The plumber was here this morning and thank all that's holy the toilet went right back on the wall! He said it was close, but close enough to line back up with the pipe. He also changed out the supply line and flapper and inside thing (so technical). He said it's like a brand new toilet now - I say he knows how to make a 20 minute call in to a 70 minute call! But whatever - at least we know it's all good. He even poked a hole in the wall to make sure it wasn't leaking (guess who gets to fix that).

Second photo is the vanity we picked out last weekend to replace our discontinued model... not 100% sure if I like it yet... I did buy a narrower medicine cabinet to go with it - and the cabinet is black so it will match better. You can see the scar from the old vanity - it's about half as deep almost as wide.

Unclean (yet still an improvement)

The tile is done. The guy our neighbors recommended was totally great. They even cleaned up every mess they made! But the floor is finished, and I think it's more level than it was before! Tile will be sealed tomorrow then we couldn't get the plumber till Wednesday (darn it) so as you can see - we are unclean! But E is going to have to move the toilet tomorrow - washing your hair in the sink isn't the easiest thing to accomplish. Then today we went out to Lowes to get our vanity and they were sold out and what we wanted was discontinued. (damn it) So we compromised on a smaller vanity without the vessel sink - it has kind of a modified pedistal top on a regular vanity. good news - it's smaller so I think the bathroom will look bigger in the end (we'll see - not throwing away any packaging till I'm convinced though) Here's some pictures:

And it starts....

Thanks to our neighbors we found a tile guy that is affordable. But we can still save money by doing the demo ourselves. So E started knocking the tile out from the floor today. Hopefully the tile guy will be here Wednesday to do the work on just the floor, then we'll tackle the rest in a couple weeks.

doing the demo

large tiles for the floor and brick tiles for the tub, glass tiles for the vanity surround (colors match better in person)

The mark of a successful party...

If the mark of a successful party is that everyone ends up in the kitchen... well I guess it was a success! Some people from my new job came, the immediate Muellers came by and a few more friends saw the new kitchen. Everyone said it was great - and that was really gratifying after all that work! The best part is that for entertaining the space works really well now. Before people would clump up in wierd places since the layout wasn't very centralized. Now it is easy to get all the way around the island and mingle. There is nothing really blocking the view in any direction (inside) and I think that really helped with the "flow".

What people liked best:

The automatic trash can lid
The custom pot rack (thanks Mom and Neil!!!)
The fact the cabinet insides were IKEA ("this doesn't look like IKEA at all")
and the granite (better for how much it cost!!!)

after a few weeks rest - E and I are tackling the bathroom then we're moving up and out!

:)