So, Chad having a real job again and him needing to spend some nights in Houston, kinda leaves projects on hold for the weekend. I messed up our Saturday “working” as I was tired of not having local channels, so had Dish Network here most of the day (I won’t go into that chaos)! All is good as it was up and running by Saturday evening so got to see most of the Husker game (yes, this is why we lost as I started watching – according to Ciera) and had my Red Zone for all the NFL action today. The new closet floor is in, trim is up and shelving is built. We just need to paint the trim and the shelving and we will have 1 more room completed! Yahoo!
shelving prep – painter’s tape is fabulous to figure out where you want your shelves.
So we should have completed the Harry Potter’s closet (tanning room), but had to take care of some outside work instead. Chad cut down a couple trees in the back and a whole bunch of bushes. We were going to make a run to local landfill to get rid of the debris but have two more trees to take down and thought the debris could sit for a week and then we could have one big load. Well, Rodney decided that was not going to be the plan. Rodney LOVES to hunt “critters” and well, one decided to come visit the back yard (thinking due to the debris) and Rodney made sure to let me know about that critter around 3am Saturday morning. I HATE critters – so change of plans. Below is what happens to a gutter if a critter is trying to get away from Rodney – he’ll just chew the gutter closed, good luck getting out! The picture below is after Chad pulled some of it apart, I’m shocked Rodney didn’t cut his mouth!. We now have a new partial gutter, guess that is a good thing? The debris – well that went to the landfill on Saturday.
We did get the closet textured and painted, so although not done, progress was still made.
Since Rodney is now involved in the process – above is Rodney!
Well I don’t know who would put a twin bed in a closet, but that is what we found when we closed. This is not under the stairs like Harry Potter, but I do feel bad for whoever had to call this closet a bed room. We got rid of the bed, tore out the carpet and decided this would make a perfect tanning bed room (at least I don’t sleep here). Before we tackled this project though, we put up a “temporary wall” in what I thought would become my office – heck it still might, but the room off of the Harry Potter closet is an open area that will either become the exercise room or my office – I need walls to decide exactly where my office will be. Until I get that decided, the temporary wall will give me some work privacy.
just some cheap paneling that will come down very easy for real walls or to remain open
Believe it or not, this closet had a closet (you can see in the pic with carpet), well we tore that out and because there is no power on the north wall, Chad ran the wiring – I’m all set to get a good tan (well once we get it painted and a new floor).
We finally finished the half bath and laundry. For the most part we got these done during the week, so we rewarded ourselves with a “chill” weekend – which meant hanging pictures, figuring out the next project and Chad starting to change all of the plug-ins and and light switches to white modern styles (the almond has to go!). Scroll down to see the before photos and here are the after. The laundry room will have a counter over the washer and dryer, but during the weekends I need to get laundry done, so Chad can do that on Monday. Wednesday he starts his new job, so I won’t have him working on things 24/7. He claims going to work will be a vacation – I don’t think I’m that bad. HA!
It is 8:40pm and FINALLY a load of laundry was able to be completed. Is the laundry room done, oh heck no…. why? Well, let’s just say there was a VERY low spot between the hall door going into the laundry room. We cheated with the 1/2 bath with the backer board, but that was not going to work here (check out the photo with the level). We had to come up with the next best thing – liquid level. The downside, well you have to let it dry before you can tile, so that delayed things. However, after a week of no laundry being done, work clothes were starting to get slim and did I really want Chad to use my towels? Ok, married forever, this should not be a big deal, well… it is! HA! So the washer and dryer are in, but not without 2 tiles “dying” along the way – so if you look close enough, 2 tiles need to come up this week. It’s all good – laundry is getting done. If you notice there are 2 hand weights in one of the pictures too. Trick to note – if it seems you didn’t get enough glue under a tile, hand weights are PERFECT to help setting them overnight.
As you can see – not done, still need the rest of the tile, trim, shelves and cupboard, but we are getting there. The other “thing” we realized was the ‘old’ smell – remember this house sat for almost 2 years, but as Chad took the doors off to sand and paint this week, he realized that the ‘old smell’ was in the wood….well enough said, new doors it is. By end of week, new doors will be installed too.
Well the best laid plans are not going to work with the house, not that we are surprised…but sometimes you just want it to go right so you can move onto the next project or just stand back and say “this project is complete”. So the tile I had picked out and bought for the 1/2 bath isn’t going to work as somewhere along the lines they moved the toilet and needless to say, WAY to much concrete patching work that any type of tile I thought I would go with would have made the tides coming in jealous. We had to go with plan B (thank goodness we didn’t make it to plan Z). We ended up with backer board or cement board anchored to the concrete so we had a level playing field (ha – floor). Here is what we have – not grouted yet, that is a quiet project Chad can do while I work this week.
While this was going on, of course, we cannot just sit and wait for glue/thin set mortar to dry, no, we have to keep destroying. So here is the laundry room… ready for destruction and then what we found (but this one we expected).
Gotta love the 80’s vinyl flooring…um, no! However, notice once again we have sheet rock down… the first weekend in the home, we noticed that the water pipes to the washing machine were leaking. Knowing we had a couple weeks before we were really ‘moved’ Chad fixed it enough so it wouldn’t leak, but not right. Hence we knew this would be part of the laundry room project so here it is… new pipes, valves and moving the dryer vent as naturally this is NOT set up the right way. Builders should really ask me how a washer and dryer should be put in correctly. (kidding!…but my way is right).
Not to think this was enough for the weekend, on one of our MANY trips to Lowes/Home Depot, Chad started the front sprinkers to find that one decided to break and cause a small water bubble under the grass – so we had to solve that real quick! I have 2 videos, but just found that this site doesn’t allow for videos to be posted. Ugh! If you want a good laugh, let me know and I’ll text them to you!
This was not supposed to be the first project. Generally the 1/2 bath and laundry are the last things on my list. However, the stool in the 1/2 bath was loose. Chad went to tighten it and low and behold, not only would it NOT tighten, but found it was leaking at the back of the stool to the baseboard. Well, since it is right off of the laundry, that meant I wanted both rooms to have the same look and feel, so this has now become project #1.
Before look:
Before sink and wallBehind door storage
The destruction has begun on the half-bath. The laundry is right across the hall and that will start once the half-bath is completed.
tile is out – notice there is still some tile glue on the floor. Had to do a dinner stop! Best way to get tile glue off is with an oscillating tool and if you keep a shop vac by the grinder, then not a much dust to have to clean up. (which does get ALL over the house, no matter what you try to do). Rotting 2x4s due to the stool leakage – naturally going to be replaced!If you look close to the right, SURPRISE! The water pipe sticks out of the wall. Chad noticed this when he took out the old vanity, and well…looks like they made houses in the 80’s as they did in the 2000’s…lets just put up the sheet rock and let it bow out, no one will notice. Ummmm Chad will! So lets see how we fix this….
Chad and I never originally set out thinking doing home improvement (or rather in our case, tear it down and build it back up) would be our thing. Other couples do movies, nature trails, sports, well, for us, we just destroy and build it all back up. We have done this many times over and upon many requests from family and friends, have decided to chronical what I’m calling our “forever home”. We recently bought this home in Victoria, Texas and for me, this is our last project home. Chad laughs, our daughter laughs and pretty much anyone I tell this to laughs as no one believes this to be our last project home, maybe forever “home” city, but not the house. We will see! Come along and join us on our journey of remodeling every aspect of this this home from the outside in. This is one house that there isn’t a single thing we are keeping the same, that is a first! I’ll try to make sure to include tips and tricks as we go and if you have any questions of us, just ask!
Bones to Beauty 