The End

I put the finishing touches on the bathroom today. Julie came over this afternoon to help me re-hang the door. That was really the only part of the entire renovation I needed help with. Here are the before and after photos.

BEFORE

AFTER

Nearing the End

I've made a good bit of progress with the bathroom. The crown moulding is up and all the touch ups have been made.

I added moulding around the mirror. It's amazing the difference it made.

I started tiling the floor on Monday night (mistake #1). I finished laying the tile around 10:30 (fully knowing I had to work the next morning). I was in PAIN when I tried to go to bed that night. Note to self: I'm getting too old to be kneeling in the bathtub in order to lay the tile. I have a few touchups to make but I hope to get the grout on my early next week. For my first time, I think I did a decent job.

Brook Trout

I finally started painting the bathroom today. All I had time for was cutting in. I still need to do the trim along the ceiling but I didn't have time today. Here are a few updated pictures. Sorry for the mess. This is a work in progress...

Sometimes You Just Have to be Innovative!

I've been working on my bathroom floor for close to a week (on and off) now. It was getting frustrating and tedious. I've been scraping and scraping and scraping for days. I had gotten to the point where I was attempting to scrape off the adhesive but I was getting up more concrete chips than anything else. Today I decided I would scrub instead of scrape.... and it worked. It took me about 5 hours of intense, frustration relieving scrubbing but I was able to get the floor clean.

Bathroom Renovation: Day 2

I had a great day driving all over town (prior to the storm) looking for tile. I finally found what I wanted, took the plunge, and made the purchase. I am now the proud owner of 25 sq ft of hexagon tile sheets.

I spent a good part of the afternoon/evening trying to remove the adhesive left behind after I removed the linoleum. I used some pretty gnarly chemical adhesive remover that got about 50% of it up. I'm going with some non-toxic route the next go round. Hopefully I can have all the adhesive gone by the end of the week so I can get started on laying the tile.

Bathroom Renovation, Stage One: Demolition

So I've finally decided to start blogging again. I guess I finally feel as if I have something to chronicle.... my bathroom renovation. I'm starting small... space and budget! I'm not changing everything, but I am changing the walls, the floors, and the fixtures (I don't DO brass). This is the hall bathroom, but it is a full bath. Today was demolition day. I ripped up the linoleum on the floor as well as the base boards and the toilet. I feel rather accomplished for my first day and I found a great outlet for relieving stress. I also found some really disgusting stuff underneath the toilet. Do you know what happens to a wax ring over time? The pictures don't even do it justice!

These are the befores! Not very exciting. Functional... that's about it!

This is the after.

Let the games begin!

The Simple Things

The older I get, the more I realize that the simple things in life make me the happiest. When I buy a new pair of shoes, I'm only happy when i buy them. When I get my credit card bill, I'm extremely unhappy.

Last night I decorated my Christmas tree while Julie and Whitney were making holiday treats (and quite a mess) in the kitchen. It was fun; we were silly.

My tree has absolutely no rhyme or reason. This year I bought a fake tree. I realized I just wasn't in the mood for watering it and having a huge fire hazard in my living room. I bought the really HUGE light bulbs to decorate the tree. I love them. They make me feel like I'm 8 and should be wearing footie pajamas and drinking hot cocoa with a few too many mini marshmallows crammed into the top of my mug. My ornaments are random. They are a conglomeration of ornaments people have given me over the years and a few I have purchased on my own. I also have some really old Winne the Pooh ornaments that my brother and I had on our trees growing up. Eeyore is missing an eye but I still love him.