The Great Bathroom Remodel of 2015

Our upstairs bathroom (the kids'/guest bathroom) has been looking a little shabby lately.  The flooring was a wood laminate that probably shouldn't have been put in a room as wet as a kids' bathroom can get.  It was beginning to peel, especially in front of the tub and around the toilet.  The vanity was really looking rough.  The walls, which we painted when we bought the house, were looking blah.  So we decided it was time for a remodel.

For the record, here are the before pictures:

(That basket is hiding a hole in the wall.)

The vanity had gotten wet inside, and the wood was warping pretty badly.

We really wanted to lay ceramic tile, but we weren't sure we had the know-how to do it.  We were right.  Fortunately, a friend told us about a tile workshop at the orange home repair store in Lexington, and we attended.  We left sure we would not be laying tile in our bathroom.  Then we found ceramic tile we really liked at about $1/square foot, and there was hardly any left, and they weren't going to order more, and we started to think maybe we can do this after all.

So off we go to the blue home repair store in Nicholasville.

So excited about getting a new bathroom

The kids jumped in to help with demolition.  Here Chloe is taking down the old towel rods.

AJ is removing the outlet and switch covers.

Dad is unhooking the plumbing from the sink.

And Chloe has had enough work and has switched to clowning.

AJ pulls out the baseboards.

And the vanity is out!  We were going to take the mirror down, but couldn't pry it off the wall, so we figured it must've been glued up there.  Fast forward to the middle of the night...CRASH!  The mirror did not break, but it did break off the drain pipes back in the wall.

Our friendly neighborhood plumber fixed things up nice, but that was an unexpected expense.

Upon pulling up the wood laminate, we found this lovely linoleum.

Amy started painting the walls.  We picked a shade of blue to match the sky in the safari pictures that hung on the wall.  (Matt took the pictures himself in Kenya.)  We only painted halfway down, because we wanted to install wainscoting all around the room.

Amy screwing down the concrete backing board

Matt is very proud of this cut to go around the air vent in the floor.

But the cutting is also very tedious work.

Down goes the tile!

Laid and spaced...about a 7 hour job.

And now grouted

Starting to cut and fit the wainscoting

We bought a new medicine cabinet that matched the vanity for some extra storage, and AJ put it together mostly by himself.

Of course, the girls wanted in on the fun too.

Finishing touches

Five people and one toilet is rough when you're used to two.

The sink has been re-plumbed and vanity installed.

And the toilet is back in place

And here is the finished project: 

Just look at that beautiful floor!

For comparison, here are the before & afters:

  

We are definitely amateurs, and it is by no means perfect, but we are happy with how it turned out and are satisfied with the hard work we put into it.

The Shed Project

Sorry for the lapse in posts.  Its been a busy couple of weeks.  The shed project has been several months in the making.  It started back in June when our next door neighbors got evicted (again, unfortunately, not the first time). I struck up a conversation with the landlord and told him the shed out back was rotting and he said he'd get it torn down.  After I looked it over, I realized, though the bottom edges and front were rotten, the main structure seemed decent.  Matt has been looking for a shed to do his woodworking in, but a new shed is not in the budget.  My family was here visiting about the same time and bored brother-in-laws like a project.

First the boys had to unearth the shed and remove the vegetation.

The men folk formulating a plan

The kids getting to work removing the junk left in the shed

The Peanut Gallery assembling to give directions

Cutting holes in the floor to access the skids

My Dad's surgeon would have blown a gasket if he'd seen him "supervising".

The Peanut gallery expands in size

My brother-in-law was more than ready to use his suburban to drag the shed across the yard.

We first dragged it forward and then rearranged the chains to drag it into place.

Getting it lined up on blocks

Fast forward to November & we finally got some time to work on fixing up the shed.

We had to first remove the lower 2 feet of rotten boards

We set the girls to removing about a thousand nails

The front of the shed was pretty much rotten so we removed all of it. Here I'm showing the girls how grunting helps you rip press board off of sheds.

Chloe still working on those nails

Then she decided that since Mom tore off a piece with her bare hands, she could too.

After not making much progress, she called for some reinforcements.

Twin power!

Apparently whenever power tools are involved, you draw a crowd.

So we put them to work

The boys giving it a try

The girls loved using the chalk line

Matt's Uncle Ron was in town for a few days & lended a much needed hand

The men ended up working into the night

Another work day-the kids lent a hand painting.

New press board going up!

Doors being put together

Sanding a bit off the bottom to make new doors fit old shed

Floor reinforced

And a shelf along the back wall to hold my gardening supplies

*UPDATE-my sister Kelly keenly questioned the addition of the shelf for garden supplies when this was supposed to be Matt's woodworking shed.  In the end, we realized that Matt needs more space for his projects and I just need somewhere to store gardening and farming supplies.  Granted this shed is farther away from the garden but we aren't moving it again so I'll just have to walk a few more steps each day. 

No siding yet but hopefully by spring!