Remember This?

This is what the bathroom in my basement looked like for well over a year.

And now, after several months more. . .

It looks like this!

(The shower is behind the fully tiled wall)

The funny thing about this bathroom?

After all the time and energy I spent on the upstairs bathroom. . . Which, although it doesn't look it, is very white and bright. (Chandra tells me it has something to do with how a camera reads the gray scale?)

Everybody likes the downstairs one better!

Summer To Do list

I made up a To Do list before my summer 'holiday' (ha!) began.

At the top of the list was sorting and purging the entire house. (I never said my To Do list was realistic.)

Bathroom renovations have made this impossible until now since I was to busy shopping.(ugh)

Earlier this week I finally found time to at least make a start.

I decide to start with 'my' room. I redecorated it over the Christmas break a couple of years ago and called it the garden room.

The kids however just call it the computer room. (For obvious reasons.)
As you can see I was hard at work until a passing tail caught my eye.
Oh look. Jada's friend Diesel has dropped by to visit.

What are the two of you up too?!
No wrestling in the house! Sigh.

So. . .

What's on the agenda for today?

After having been awaking by the doorbell and Jada's frantic barking at 5:30 this morning,( someone sent a cab to the wrong address) I've cleaned my kitchen ( no way am I showing you pictures of the before on that one!) and I had breakfast in the front garden.

As all the commotion woke Henry up early, he took Jada for her morning walk giving me more time to work (not too sure that was a favour.)

I'm working in the basement today, which considering how hot it's going to get, is probably a good thing.

I had started putting together these new storage shelves and then realized that if I put them up, my contractor wouldn't be able to get stuff downstairs once he started working on that bathroom (early next week?)This makes organizing all the 'stuff' in the hallway much more difficult and means I have no choice but to do the one job I've be avoiding.

Cleaning out the cold room under the stairs.

There is no picture of this room as I'm convinced that the smell of whatever has died and/or is rotting under there would come at you through the computer (it's that bad!)

I just couldn't do that to you. It's bad enough that I have to do it! (shudder!)

See that bit of purple at the end of this hall? It's the doorway to what used to be Crystal's room.

Looks like Jesse has a To Do list of his own!

Someone's happy to take the wall down.

Finally. His room will be larger than a small closet.

Have a great weekend everyone!

* Update

I'm a coward! I still haven't opened the door to the cold room. I'm cleaning everything but!

SIGH.

I'll let you know when I've conquered my fear.

The bathroom's done! For the most part. . .

Well, it's done.

We switched some things and now. . .

I love it.

I still have to spend a day scraping little grout clumps off my tile (you get what you pay for, which in our case was a nearly free tiler) and then sealing all the tiles, but otherwise, all that's left is accessorising!

Tips to pass on. . .

All white bathrooms show dirt.

And hair.

And bits of paper.

And hair. Every hair that lands in a white bathroom is immediately noticeable.

But I still love it.

Although I will be doing a lot more tidying and wiping as I go.

But I love it.

However. . .

If you have small kids . . .

Pass on the white floor.

P.S. Can anyone tell me why this very, very white bathroom looks somewhat dark when I take pictures of it?

Drumroll please. . .

Well, as promised, I am posting pictures of my bathroom so far.




The shower curtain is not staying. I have a great white one, along with some interesting shower curtain hooks that will go up once the bathroom is 'fixed'.

I don't like the huge difference in height between the medicine cabinet and the over the toilet space saver, so we'll have to do something about that.



As you can see I have another problem. The mirror is too high for me, but the cabinet itself comes down quite low and sticks out just a little too far, making it difficult for Henry (and the kids) to lean over the sink to wash their face.

Here is some thing I do like though (aside from my tile ,which I love!)

My bath fixtures look awesome and. . . the shower now has great water pressure! Whoohoo!


My contractor is back at work on a previous job and probably won't get back to us until late next week so I won't be doing anything more with it right now.

You'll be the first to know when it's finally finished though!


Now, it's time to get back to my next project.

I'm sorting, purging, and cleaning up my basement. Thankfully that only means the hallways, (my storage area at the moment!) hall closet and the cold room that's under the stairs. I've already been out and purchased some storage cupboards to help me in this task.


Time to haul them out of the truck and put them together.

*upate
My contractor just called. He's got time to come by tommorow and may even be able to change things!
Whoo hoo hoo hoo!!!

I'm still here!

Wow! I just noticed that I haven't posted since the 11Th!

Yikes.

Well, I'm still here, but with my mom visiting until Saturday, crystal moving home, a back tooth (rather what was left of my tooth) pulled, allergies aggravated by the drywall dust. . . . .

Well, I could go on and on, (couldn't we all ?) but needless to say I just haven't had time.

The bathroom is now ready for tile. Hopefully the tile guy will be able to come in the next few days.

Our contractor will be at his family reunion next week and when he gets back we hope to put all the fixtures in.

WHOO HOO!

It is going to look great.

Now I'm off to paint the bathroom before the tile goes in.

This afternoon is a break for fun, as my mom and I will be going to Fort Edmonton this afternoon.

It's one of my favorite places so I will be taking pictures.(although they may not get posted until next week!)

I hope you are all having a great week.

Day 4

Today was a short day, as our contractor had a dentist appointment in the afternoon.

He did get the fan wired, installed and then vented to the outside. (The vent for the previous fan had fallen from the ceiling long ago and the fan just vented into the attic.)

He also managed to drywall the ceiling with a little help from Jesse and Jesse's head (which he used to hold the drywall up when the second brace proved a little short.)

This was all quite exciting .

I was, however, totally fed up with the hunt for the 'perfect' vanity.

As you may know, I hate to shop.(Unless gardening is involved. But that's totally different. )

We had chosen, and purchased, our tile, sinks, and faucets over a year and a half ago. I still needed a new toilet for upstairs, a vanity, medicine cabinets (or mirrors), storage, towel bars etc.

I figured that shouldn't be too hard. However, as Tamara commented, the hardest part is getting everything to look as though it belongs together.

I started out just fine.

While in Canadian Tire I found a cute medicine cabinet with a matching over the toilet cupboard ( of the non tacky variety) and a really great light fixture.

The medicine cabinet and the storage cupboard were on sale, so I decided to by them for both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms.

The light fixtures made me feel a little guilty because they were not on sale and I already had two fixtures.

I had spent a lot of time over a year ago trying to find something I liked and I just couldn't find it so I finally settled on something that would be, good enough.

Then my friend N gave me another fixture she had purchased for her own reno that didn't work for her. (The light, not the reno.)

So, really, I did have two lights that were okay.

But in Canadian Tire I found a light fixture that I loved!

And it went with the other things I had just picked out.

Hmmm. . .

What to do?

How to justify buying new lights?

Well. . .

The lights I had were brushed nickle.

Everything else was chrome.

That would look kind of stupid.

Kind of stupid looking isn't good for resale.

YES!

I had no choice.

I bought two light fixtures.

But still. . .

NO VANITY!!

Every hardware/ big box store in town and most of the kitchen stores were searched and. . .

Nothing!

I really do hate shopping.

Day 3

Day three was all about plumbing .

You can't see where the shower head will come out in this picture because we've put it up nice and high so Henry won't have to duck down while he's showering!

And. . .

The bathtub's in! (Which also means that the hole is covered. Whew!!)

Ahhh. . .

A few candles, a nice book. . .

Bliss.

Day 2

Here are the bare bones of the bathroom.

Did anyone notice that hole around the pipe in the corner?

What do you think you might see if you looked down?


Oh, my. . . !!!

Umm. . . I think I'll make sure I go to the bathroom while I continue my search for the elusive 'perfect' vanity. I've had no luck so far, but. . .

All those stores do have bathrooms!



I did however find the 'perfect' bathtub.

The right price with the right style and depth (Henry and the boys are looking forward to having a bath in a tub deep enough to cover their knees. Well, maybe not Henry's knees.)

I can hardly wait until I can soak in that tub.

Bathroom day one

Well, day one was all about ripping stuff out.
Jesse was happy to help. (for $10 an hour!)

Now what do you think we found behind the tiles?

MOLD!

Gross!!

What a messy dirty job. (Glad I got to go shopping while they worked. And I don't even like shopping!)

Almost the end of day one.

By the time they finished for the day, everything was cleared up but the stuff in the bathtub.

They saved that for day 2.

Before we could start our bathroom renovation

Before we could start ripping out the bathroom upstairs, we had to make the downstairs bath somewhat usable.




This is what we have.

This shower stall is up temporarily and it's not too bad as long as you don't brush up against the hot and cold handles. They turn very easily and it very easy to burn yourself!

This little area started out looking neat and organized but. . .

Well you know what it's like!

It didn't help that all the banging in the upstairs bath caused stuff to rain down from the ceiling.

Ah well, at least things have gotten started!

Downstairs bathroom

Well, as promised, here are the pictures of our downstairs bathroom.

We will be using this bathroom while the upstairs one is being renovated.

We purchased a metal shower stall that will temporarily be mounted on top of the old shower base.

Henry put stacks of bricks underneath to hold the shower bottom up and our renovator is coming tomorrow to put this together. (the shower bottom will be glued down to the base to prevent any unfortunate accidents!)

We will also have to use water from the shower to wash up as there is no sink. ( The red bucket is there to catch the water that leaks down from the shower upstairs.)

We're in for a real adventure!

Wish us luck. Henry was already aggravated because he couldn't find his razor after I had emptied the upstairs bathroom.

This should be interesting.

This and that

Well, it's been a busy week already.

The temperatures have been hovering around 30 degrees C or 86 degrees F.

Neither Henry or I function too well once it starts getting that hot, so it's slowed me down somewhat.

I've been busy watering my pots, the veggie garden and Ev's garden (It's looking good Ev!)

I picked my first spinach harvest and Henry enjoyed it in a delicious salad.

Yesterday my neighbour dropped her dog Diesel off. He and Jada have known each other since they were about five months old and go for a walk together most nights.

He and Jada will be having a sleepover until Saturday.

The poor little soul had been rather badly abused before they rescued him, which has left him fearful of a good many things.

Laundry folding, open garage doors, axes, loud noises, teenagers. . . and the list goes on.

This became a bit of a challenge as I have started purging and organizing this week.

Yesterday I started on the kitchen. I tried to work slowly and quietly and he did much better than I expected.

Today, Jesse and I started work clearing out Crystal's room, as she is moving all her stuff home on Saturday.

While Jesse was at the physiotherapist this afternoon, I ran over to Canadian Tire to check out bathroom cabinets and what have you.

I found several things I liked and they are on sale ( I love it when things are on sale!) until tomorrow. After talking to Henry, I decided to do both bathrooms in the same cabinets and light fixtures. The only problem I'm having at the moment is finding a vanity for the upstairs bathroom. We are putting in a pedestal sink downstairs but we had originally intended to reuse the upstairs cupboard and I had already purchased the sink. (over a year ago!)

Most vanities seem to come with the sink as part of the package these days. I could probably go to a bathroom store and order something but. . .

That's when jobs slow down!

I do not want to wait 6-8 weeks for something to come in!

I will have to run around next week.

It's looking like the work will start then too. When my mom is scheduled to come for a visit.

Oh my.

Well, I guess we will be going on a lot of outings while she's here. . .

Pictures tomorrow.

Mouse poop is gross!

* This picture has nothing to do with my post. I'm sure you'll understand why.



I've started working on decluttering the house.

Crystal is moving back home in a few weeks so everything we've stored in her room for the last year has to find a new home.

A lot of the stuff is actually for the bathrooms. Tile, fixtures, sinks and what have you.

Henry suggested clearing out the bench area in the garage. This is where I used to store my gardening supplies before he made me my lovely potting/bike shed.

I started clearing things out.

I found lots of pots, bowls, old tools, etc.

I also found. . .

You guessed it. MOUSE POOP!!!

Ugh.

I ran to the house to scrub my hands, put on plastic gloves and refill my water/bleach bottle.

Shudder. . .

The mice themselves don't bother me, but cleaning up the poop!

I sprayed all surfaces heavily with the bleach water.

Now I'm letting it sit.

I think it needs to sit until tomorrow. You know, for the best possible disinfection power.

Truthfully I'd rather not face it tonight so I think I'm just going to make a cup of tea, and take that along with my book and the shortbread cookies I made on Thursday to bed.

Henry told me that he had known about the mouse poop but decided not to tell me and let me discover it for myself!

I think he was worried I'd make him clean it up.

Two more days of school left!

Whoo Hoo!

The Upstairs Bathroom

Well, as promised, I am posting pictures of my main bathroom. The basement one will have to wait until I figure out a way to light it so you will actually be able to see something!

As you can see I have a bit of a mold problem as well as a rust issue. ( the grab bar has rust all around it)

What you can't see (thankfully) is the fact that there is no glazing left on the tub, which means that it always looks grubby! The tiles aren't in much better shape.

The paint is peeling right down to the plaster.

My light fixture only works one one side. I was going to replace it as it's something I've done myself before, but. . .

As you can see it has a plug outlet on it.

This is the only outlet in the bathroom and I have no idea how to do anything about that!

So. . .

It's all going to go.

We will be starting fresh.

And I wanted to say thank you to Jenny and Lynn. Their comments reminded me just how blessed I am.

I have been worrying (and praying) about all the things that needed fixing for so long I seem to have gotten into a bit of a negative mind set in regards to home renovations.

But. . .

No more!

I'm going to have new bathrooms and it occurred to me that I'm not the one doing the work!

Which means I should have time to do some of the things on my list.

And to blog about it.

Gardens, Renovations and Home keeping

Well, I've been somewhat delinquent in blogging everyday and I'm afraid that will likely be the norm this summer.

It's not that I won't have lots to blog about. There will be plenty!

However I'll be so busy getting things done, there won't be a whole lot of time to blog about it!

About a year and a half ago we ripped out our downstairs bathroom, intending to redo it ourselves.

Well. . .

We ran out of both money and know how.

A toilet, trouble light (the kind you use when you need to look underneath the car), plus a box of wet wipes was all that was left of our second bathroom.

In a house with six people. . . three of whom are women.

Now our main bathroom seems to have sprung a leak. Every time we shower, water leaks into the downstairs bathroom.

So, what to do?

We no longer have a choice.

Both bathrooms must be ripped out and redone.

Thankfully the value of our house has gone up significantly since we bought it. That means we can use some of our equity to get things done and we found someone who can start very soon.

But once you start thinking about renovating and money is available, what happens?

That's right!. . .

Well. . . while we're at it. . . we might as well. . .

In our case, the furnace is the same age as the house. 48 years old. Every winter we wonder if this is the year it will give up the ghost. And say a little prayer, that if it does, it's not -30C!

Then there are our windows. We just had a major storm last night, with high winds and driving rain which caused water to come in around the edges of our kitchen window. The same window that freezes up every winter and who's opening mechanism is no longer attached fully to the window, which requires paper toweling to be stuffed in the resulting hole.

I hope we don't find anything else we might as well do, because this is more than enough for me!

The storm didn't drop any hail here at our house but in the garden plot where I have started a veggie garden ( another post I haven't gotten to yet! Sorry!) hail flattened a good portion of our garden .(Ev and I are doing it together)

The only bright spot is the fact that as we hilled up each bed, they were not underwater like many of the other gardens!

I still haven't weeded the gardens at the school across the street that I put in over the last few years, but thankfully Ev and her friend managed to get to that, as well as planting more plants for me. (Thanks Ev!)

And then there's home keeping. . .

My plan had been to spend the summer ruthlessly purging anything I haven't used in the last six months with the exception of seasonal items. I had also hoped to try out new recipes for meals as well as baking .

I wanted to preserve the harvest, learn to draw and putter in the garden.

For now though renovations come first.

I'll blog when I can and. . .

I'll have a guest blogger over the summer!
My friend Jurrina is going to Holland soon and will blog about her family's adventures while they are gone and I can't wait to read about it!

Oh, no! I just looked at the time and I have to leave in a half hour! I haven't even cleaned the kitchen yet, never mind the huge piles of clean laundry waiting to be folded!

Got to run, but tomorrow I'll try to post pictures of the garden and bathroom (you may feel the need to cover your eyes for that bathrooms though.)