Author Archives: Kellie W

I thought of just saying Halloween as that is all this blog entry is about this time but opted for October 2022 as by this time next year, I hope I’m sharing all of the before and after photos as we will be 100% complete. We spent last year working on the outside of the house for Halloween and a little inside. This weekend we finished the inside. Yahoo! I will post next week photos from the Halloween party as there are few things that only come out on party night. We will be taking it a little easy this month as I do not want any construction dust/debris on the Halloween stuff. Enjoy the fall and Halloween season!

This weekend was pulling out the carpet in Ciera’s bedroom and starting the wood flooring. The only carpet left in the house is what is on the stairs and the master bedroom. Those won’t get ripped up until after Halloween as starting next weekend, work things will move outside or be only painting inside as all of my Halloween decorations will be up and I definitely do not want to be cleaning construction dust off of everything! You will see below that the original paint color was a blue/green. Ciera did paint the room herself, but Chad it going to give it one more coat (he is WAY OCD with his painting). Anyway, her room is coming along very nicely.

Let me answer that for you… TOO MANY! I’m sure Chad would disagree, but I swear we have multiples of all (roofing, brad, finishing, and I’m sure there are others). I think he thinks up new things to add as we go just so we can go get another nail gun. He claims that the brad nailer he had was one from Iowa and doesn’t work, but I really thought we bought another one of those about a year ago. Whatever, he has another one regardless. Naturally, this was needed to put the trim up around the door and windows in Ciera’s bathroom, so a purchase that was needed (as we know there are MANY more trimming to be done in this house). I think this bathroom is the never-ending project, I’m going to blame Ciera for moving out and taking Mr. Binx as he would keep Chad moving (it was opening NFL weekend, so I was very little help – or nagging)?

If you didn’t have to wait for tile to set and grout to dry, Ciera’s bathroom would be done. The positive, the end is in sight!!! Ciera’s shower tile is all up and grouted, tile is down in the shower area (just needs to set and then we can grout). After that, just put up the fixtures, the door frames, crown molding and a good cleaning – which means that is easy-peasy for next weekend. We did discover a trick that I wish we had found many tiling projects earlier. For anyone who has done tiling, it is pretty easy, but the worst part is removing the excess grout and getting all of the haze off. This is black tile, and the haze was ridiculous. In a moment of “what the heck do we have to lose moment” (for those who know us quite well, yes add in the colorful language and a few more phrases). I pulled out a paper towel and said, “try it”. Well damn, it works FABULOUS – pics below!

This weekend was meant to be low-key, but we did get a little work in there. Chad got his cortisone shot on Friday, so we purposely try not to do much as the meds need to do their magic. Chad did get the rest of Ciera’s shower tiled, now we need to grout it. We did find a ‘new’ way to do this for showers and going to try it out on Ciera’s. Fun ahead for next weekend. Chad also put up another garage light. We had one up when we first moved in and the other side of the garage did not have a light box, so we just did the one. After a year of thinking it was still too dark, we finally added the 2nd box and light. As for the fun, it was probably only fun for me… Halloween shopping started. I got a few things bought, a few things sitting in online carts and best of all…. invites and cups have been ordered for this year’s Halloween party!!!

Psych, we aren’t moving, Ciera moved! Ciera moved back out on her own this weekend. Most of the weekend was helping her move, but Chad did get a little bit more of the tiling of the shower completed. All I can say, is when we redo our master bathroom, there WILL NOT be subway tiles! It is looking fabulous, but so time consuming. Since it was moving weekend, not much more to report this week but next weekend should be a lot better!

I know it has been a couple weeks, but it seems like no progress is being made, even when I know it is. Ciera’s shower has been a killer, part of it is because she wanted subway tile, so a lot of area to cover with little tiles, but I tell ya, I did not think it would take this long. We are getting there although very slowly.

Ciera still doesn’t have a shower, but she does have the Hardie board up, new no-more-popcorn ceiling and it is all painted. Now we can start on the tile both in the shower, windows and floor! Instead of watching the paint dry, there is never a dull moment, so the trim board is all done upstairs, and we opted to do a trim rather than sheetrock/mudding on the one entryway. We also got the sun blocking shades up in the living room to try and keep some of this heat out. Just little things that needed done that are small and don’t take up too much time but needed done (rather than watching paint dry).

LOL! Really, she doesn’t have a shower, so she is stuck showering in mine until we get hers all remodeled. We tore out her shower and the flooring (Minus what is around the stool as we did get her a new stool when we moved in. She will have the new flooring all around but leaving the stool, so she doesn’t have to come all the way downstairs to use the restroom until it has to be taken out for the new floor install). We took out her shower, the tile and what did we find? They put the tile up with concrete mixture and chicken wire (well that is what I’m calling it) to make the base on sheetrock before they tiled it. I guess Hardie (or cement board) was not a thing in the 80’s? Regardless, it is GONE! We did seal up the insulation for the time being with Tyvex as we had extra laying around from the garage and termite repair. Look at the initial plumbing too – like what the heck? New plumbing is in and need it to set to ensure no leaks (initial test – no leaks – yahoo!) and then we can get to it the rest of this week and weekend. We did have to scrape the ceilings and fix where they had an exhaust fan – when I say exhaust fan, that is so you know what I’m meaning, it was more of a heater not an exhaust. I have to ask, we live where it never gets below 50…why do I need a heater? Whatever, it is GONE now!

We spent the 4th of July weekend back home in Nebraska, but Chad can never sit still! Karen had a ramp installed almost a year ago, but it wasn’t treated, so it could get slippery going up or down. I know this as I tried it with flip flops and well…it is slippery. Chad offered to paint it with the non-slip paint. A small project, but nonetheless, a project that needed done.