A Little Demo For Your Day

The downstairs bathroom.

A lovely combination of peel and stick tile, wall paper, and shelves. Lots of shelves, invading your walking space.

When you walked to use the toilet it was like walking to your death. It was a long hallway to get there. "The walk of despair" (very much the same as the pit of despair, if only I had this guy to greet me.)

I am not normally one for getting rid of shelves or storage space. Normally it seems like a bad idea. In this instance, however, it was the first thing that seemed right.

It was probably the fact that there is another closet right behind the main door. 

That coupled with the fact that every time I opened one of those bi-fold doors they either wouldn't close or the door would fall off. It's like they were begging me to take them down.

The funny thing is, the bathroom sat like this for a couple weeks.

Shelves open and empty and begging to be destroyed.

Then one night after we had put the kids to bed, Blake and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when all of the sudden I say "Let's go tear down some shelves!"

It was probably a little out of the blue, but when you get a wild hair you go with it.

Whoever built the shelves in the bathroom cut out the back wall of sheet rock. Don't ask me why...I have no idea.

So we realized that we were down to the studs in one part of the bathroom. Mind you, we have never sheetrocked anything...but that doesn't seem to deter us. Now, we think that we will actually remove all of the sheet rock and redo the entire bathroom.

That way we can check the plumbing and make the ceiling so that it is the same throughout.

The rest of the bathroom is going to the garbage too.

We already found a pedestal sink of KSL for $35, which will replace this vanity.

The toilet is new...so it will be staying.

I think we are going to remove the shower door but leave the shower for now, as long as we don't find any leaks.

I removed the peel and stick tile one day while Blake was at work.

I have become quite proficient at it.

Originally we were just going to paint the floor in the bathroom. Then, I read that if you paint a cement floor that you can't tile directly over the top of it. Something about the thin set not solidifying enough...

We picked out a tile for the bathroom in lieu of painting. For now, however, it is looking like this.

Now I just need to convince Blake to take the plunge....into becoming a sheetrocker.

Still on the list:

remove sheetrock

soffit in pipe from ceiling

remove sink and replace with pedestal

tile floor

replace light fixtures

fix shower and bad caulking job

build shelves in other closet

paint

Deja vu

I am in the middle of a couple bigger projects but I am trying to get caught up with the things that we have already done to the house.

We finished this one before we moved in. When thinking about things that we needed to do before moving in we used a couple of questions to graph importance.

1.  If we don't do it now will we do it in the future?

2.  If we are living in the house, how much harder will it make it to do it?

This fit both of those requirements to do before we moved in.

The storage space.

In the basement, if you walk to the back of our laundry room is the storage space.

When we were buying the house this is what it looked like.

Like a lot of places in the house, it was stuffed to the gills. 

Truthfully, Blake and I figured that we would just gut this entire room and set up our metal shelves that we have from Costco.

Once it was cleaned out, it seemed like even though it was dirty and stinky, that we could figure out a way to make it work.

The shelving was painted a avocado green color and the flooring, which only extended half way in, was peel and stick tile.

But the shelving was sturdy and nicely built so we decided to keep it.

While I was cleaning in there I couldn't help but think that I had smelt a room that smelled like this before. Smell-ja vu?

Growing up, my Mom's parents had a room in the basement of their house right to the left at the bottom of the stairs.

I don't remember going in there much as a kid. I do know that it held some food storage items, and had one of those old machines that had a belt on it that you would put around you and it would shake you. I think it was supposed to be for toning or something.

It looked a little like this.

So I am standing in our new storage space and all of the sudden it hits me...and I called my sister. 

"Sarah. Do you remember the room at Grandma's house that had that little belt machine in it?"

Well, I don't really remember what was in the room but I totally remember the smell. 

"Our new storage space smells exactly like that room!!"

The only way that I could describe the smell was a mixture of old house, dirt, rotten food and maybe molasses? It was gross with a hint of sweetness.

I removed the peel and stick tile while Blake was at work one day.

It was probably one of the hardest things that I have done so far. It was back breaking labor. I think the tiles were stuck on with "Superman glue" as Canon would call it.

I scrubbed down the floor and then we were ready.

While the Home Depot Tile Man was tiling our floor Blake primed the storage space. We used Kilz primer so that it would seal in any odors or stains and so that the paint would stick and not chip later on. 

After Blake was done priming he used the paint sprayer and went to town.

Ceiling. Walls. Floors. You name it it got painted.

Surprisingly our stuff fits in there nicely with still room to spare.

There is even a space for all my extra, probably highly unnecessary, dishes.

For now this little space is done. 

Check that off the list. 

One room done.

Chugging Right Along

Surprisingly the house is coming together. Slowly...but still.

Should I refresh your memory with the living room?

Bam!

Carpet, floral furniture, drapey curtains...

Dining Room?

More drapey curtains, lots and lots of hutches, dangley chandeliers.

Living room looking at the pony wall?

Awesome hanging light, more carpet, more dirty walls.

We left down the carpets in the rooms while we painted the ceilings and the walls.

We had thought briefly about listing the carpet for free on KSL to see if someone wanted it. We decided against it. One, because it was easier to paint with out having to cover everything. Second, it smelled like cat pee and we couldn't in good conscience even give it to someone.

Although we did give that bed to someone for free...so I guess our morals aren't that high.

Laney loved this light. Not so much because the light is awesome, but more because it has jewels on it.

She is easily swayed by shiny things.

Pulling up the carpet was quick and uneventful.

Although we later found ants that had been crawling around under the carpet and into the heat vent.

A call to the bug guy remedied that real quick.

Removing the big drapey curtains however...was a beast.

But once all of it was out of the house it improved the smell.

Well, that and paint.

The living room and dining rooms are still the only rooms in the house with pictures on the walls.

We are not completely done decorating but for now it works.

Living room

Dining room

Living room with pony wall

I recently finished painting the baseboards in the living room and dining room.

I am always shocked at how much it makes the room look cleaner and more finished with a new coat of paint.

Granted they started off with about 4 different colors on them.

Ahhh. Better. Clean crisp and all one color.

As for the light fixture that was hanging in the entry way?

It may be getting a make over...coughspraypaintcough.

We will see if it works out.

Otherwise we are just going to go without for a little bit.

One more time just for fun?

Before.

After.

Still on the list for the rooms?

replace the windows (maybe in a year or two)

replace all of the outlets

hang a photo collage of some sort on the wall opposite the mirror

hang curtains in the dining room

Entry

It seems like I do stuff pretty sporadically. Even more so now that we are living in the house and I have become a nonstop chauffeur to all our kids in school. Most projects, I try to accomplish a little every day. If I am able to put it away at the end of the day...all the better.

Our stairs started out a beauty of rust colored carpet going up and cream carpet going down. 

Since we were removing the carpet upstairs it seemed logical that we would remove the carpet on the stairs too.

Have I mentioned how much dirt I found under the carpet?

Just chilling, hanging out under the carpet.

We were really hoping that the stairs were going to be hard wood.

If they weren't it wasn't going to be the worst thing that has ever happened...it was just going to be easier.

Turns out...they weren't.

But they were in pretty good shape and had already been painted before.

Now I know what you are thinking...

That is some sexy tile.

Try not to be jealous.

For now, the tile is staying...even though it resembles something you would find in an elementary school bathroom.

I filled the holes and dents in the stairs, and removed the gazillion staples they used to hold the carpet in place.

Then they were primed.

And they stayed that way for a long time.

No really.

Probably a good couple weeks.

Then on moving day we removed the banister to make it easier to get our furniture in, only to realize that we really liked it gone.

It really opened up the staircase. Since our kids are old enough to not go falling off of the edge of the stairs anymore it doesn't make us nervous.

I painted the riser part of the stairs white and the top portion a dark grey.

As a happy coincidence it actually makes our tile look not quite as bad.

I still have another coat to do on the stairs and then a top coat. I am only doing the stairs going up for now, and down the road I will do the stairs going down.

I have become increasing more agitated that not a single room is done in the house. I know that this is the path that we have chosen, and I am really happy to be doing it...I just want one thing to be done.

So I figured that the entry way is the smallest room in the house, hence, the easiest to finish.

We removed the curtains that were on the windows beside the door.

I also scrubbed the door and was left feeling like it was less then stellar.

The trim is dirty and scuffed up and just gives you the all around heebees.

The fastest way to make a house seem like it is not owned by an old man anymore?

A bright blue door.

Plus as an added bonus the scroll work on the door seems to stand out more.

I painted the door the same blue color on both sides. I was hoping that it may give our little entry way a little bit of character. It seems to have worked. Many people in the neighborhood have complimented on how much they like it.

I removed the storm door that was on the front of the house which reeked havoc on the surrounding trim.

I plan on touching that up and painting it white soon.

The inside trim around the door got a fresh coat of white paint.

Making it seem instantly not as dirty.

Walking down the stairs now makes me happy.

Sure the entry isn't 100% done. But it is good for now, and that makes me feel like I am accomplishing something.

Still on the list for the entry:

replace light switches

replace front door handle and lock

new tile

hang coat hanger on wall (in progress)

finish last coats on stairs.