transformation in progress: bathroom (day 5ish)

We’re going to compile all of the work done in the last five days into ONE… day 5! Poor Curtis has been working like a dog, but he’s only been able to do so before & after his days as a full-time student and husband/father. He’s even been seen getting up “in the 5’s”, as he calls it. Wow.

For Curtis, the week was spent doing lots and lots and lots of drywall work and Evan did some more plumbing as well. While most of the work was not camera-friendly, there is one big change that is super exciting and visually impressive!

 
This is where we started on Monday morning.

 

 
Wall tile started to go up! We chose a clean, white tile for the bath, which will be such a new world after the ancient PINK tile from before.

 

Look at that hottie in action, putting up the border tiles like a pro.

 

I caught him just as he was finishing up the last piece. And, voila!

 

The gorgeous shower tile, just before the grout was added.

 

 
And then the beautiful end result!

 

 
I just took these pictures tonight, and I hate that I had to use the flash. It makes it so washed out. You can’t see the details that show the evidence of hard work!

 

 
That helps a little! By the way, didn’t I (with Kelly’s help) do a fabulous job picking out the tile? :)

 

The floor tiles will match these border tiles, though the picture makes them look lighter than they are. I can’t wait to see it all come together, and to show you!

There you have it! The boys have put in lots of hours and it is surely paying off. Curtis is on his own this weekend (Evan is at home in Durham), but I know I’ll still have lots to report.  Oh, and one more thing…

 
The toilet “nook” is fully drywalled! This is a big deal both because all of the drywall is now complete and because that means that all of the plumbing for the tub/shower is finished. We have running water again! Woo hoo!

transformation in progress: bathroom (day 4)

Curtis and Evan certainly did not get a true Sabbath yesterday. While Cooper and I went to church, they stayed home and kept on keepin’ on….

 
They finished putting up the last of the drywall.

 

 
Unfortunately, the work doesn’t stop there. Drywall is such a process. There was a lot of this tedious work going on.

In the middle of it all though, there was something unbelievably un-tedious and dramatic. I came home from church to find the frame of….

 
… a linen closet! Can you believe that?! Out of nowhere!

 

 
Old houses aren’t exactly known for an abundance of storage space. We aren’t going to know what to do with all of that shelf room! Okay, so maybe I have a few ideas.

 

 
Not only had they built a closet, but they had put the vanity in it’s place. All of the sudden it was looking like a real bathroom again!

 

 
Speaking of the vanity, we need to give a HUGE shout-out to our friends Brooke and Dave. Not only did they generously give us their old vanity, but Dave searched for and found FREE faucets for both our sink and our bathtub through his job!  We can’t thank them enough. And it’s all going to look amazing!

 

Also amazing? The amount of dust and dirt that exists in my house right now. On Saturday, after I took a shower, I had to put on my old flip-flops to walk around downstairs. I determined that they were indeed cleaner than the floor. Woe is me, right?

 

Curtis and Evan will probably be working a little bit each night (after school, work, and family obligations), so I will probably do a cumulative update at the end of the work week. But don’t worry, there is plenty more to come! We are ALL going to be sick of this project by the end.  :)

transformation in progress: bathroom (days 2 & 3)

Apparently, chronicling a project is not my strong suit. Despite my spotty photojournalism, Evan and Curtis have been HARD at work! Here’s what’s been going on:

Day 2 (Friday)

By midday Friday, this is what was left of the bathroom floor. They ripped up all of the laminate and plywood floor…. goodbye pink roses!!

 

 
After a massive trip to Lowes (thank goodness for Evan’s truck and expertise!), the reconstruction began. They began cutting and laying the rockboard, piecing the floor back together.

 

 
Several months ago, we bought a one-piece bath/shower insert at a clearance lot (for only $25!). We were pretty excited about the money and time saved by not having to tile the shower. However, our doorframe did not like the idea- the insert wouldn’t fit through. Oops! Result- a lovely new white tub and another trip to the tile store by me!

 

Cooper LOVES (I repeat, LOVES) to watch the action in the bathroom. Before the new bathtub was put in, he kept holding his hands up in an “I don’t know” gesture and saying, “bath?”. Pretty confusing for a little guy.

 

Day 3 (Saturday)

 
Curtis got an early start on Saturday, cutting and attaching some sheetrock to the walls. Evan joined him shortly and started working on the (many) plumbing issues.

 

This is what he had to work with. Can you see that?? They assured me that this was the drain pipe so I wasn’t quite as disgusted. Needless to say, though, the pipes needed a lot of love. Evan spent most of the morning dealing with those.

 

 
Thankfully, the boys had some extra help. Our friend Ben generously volunteered his Saturday, spending most of it helping Curtis hang drywall. I even had some extra help too! Kelly, Evan’s fun wife, agreed to help me shop for tile. Since I am the world’s worst decision-maker, it helps to bring someone along who will give me a firm opinion. I love that!

The workday ended a little early. Curtis and I took yet another trip to Lowes and made it back just in time to join Evan & Kelly and watch Tennessee hold their own against Florida. Our great friends Seth, Katie, and sweet baby Emery even came over to watch part of the game with us! All in all, I think it was a much-needed boost for the boys’ weary souls. Of course, a win might’ve been an even bigger boost. :)

More on today’s progress later… slowly but surely, we’re getting there!

transformation in progress : bathroom (day 1)

I absolutely hate doing things out of order… I think it is the bit of OCD with which my parents blessed me. :) This was too fun an opportunity, though, not to let you be a part of the process.

First, let me introduce you, just the way we were introduced 4 years ago…

 
The downstairs bathroom. The pink bathroom. When we bought this house, I swore that this would be the first room that we renovated. The first. *Drapery alert!*

 

With gold, cream, and pink as the main decor, it was about as 60’s- and unacceptable- as you can get.

 The gold trim on the cabinets had been hand painted on. To coordinate with the staircase, perhaps??

 

Now, let me show you the bathroom today. Or yesterday, to be exact…

Wait. That can’t be right. Exactly the same?

Yes. Exactly. Hold on. No. We did take down the draperies.

 

But, finally, it was time. Time for transformation…

 
Curtis (my excellently handyman of a husband)  and Evan (our roommate/personal contractor) tackled the paneling first.

 

And there was lots of carrying OUT. AWAY. It was so good for my heart! First, the cabinetry.

 

 
Then, the pink 15-gallon per flush toilet.

 

 
They even managed to get the pink cast iron tub out and into Evan’s truck! Of course, it took two extra sets of hands and caused some slight property damage. But it’s gone. In fact, the scrap metal place paid $20 for it!

 

 
They ended the day just in time for Thursday TV night, which is pretty sacred in our house.

 

 
Not bad for 1/2 a day’s work!

Hopefully, I can post on today’s (Day 2) work later tonight.

transformations: cooper’s room

I discovered this picture after I had already posted about the loft and was kicking myself for not including it… so I’m including it now. :)  This is the loft as it was during one of our pre-purchase visits to the house. I didn’t want you to miss out on the window treatments in all their glory. They will be in full effect throughout the house, so be excited.

 

The second bedroom upstairs (I think of ours as the first) has been through a few evolutions since we moved into the house. It started like this:

Unfortunately, this is the only picture that I took of this room before we bought the house. Please please don’t miss the DRAPERIES. I feel like “draperies” is the only appropriate word to use in this instance. They were heavy dark curtains that extended all the way from one wall to the other. Again I ask, “really??”

 

We ripped down the draperies as soon as possible, though the removal of the rod took a little more work. It seriously took chunks out of the drywall on both sides of the window, which I then had to patch. Check out that nice golden light fixture above!

We then primed the walls and ceiling, painted the ceiling, and had new carpet put in. Since we weren’t planning on kids for a few years, we deemed the bedroom a game room. We even bought a foosball table for it (off of Craigslist, obviously)!

Not long after we moved in, Curtis had to go to Africa for 2 weeks and was gone over his birthday. I decided to finish the game room in style for his birthday present. I painted the foosball table black (instead of the tacky bright green pattern that it was before), tried several paint colors until I found an appropriate “Carolina blue” for the walls, and gathered all of our Carolina and UT paraphernalia (jerseys, flags, posters, newspaper clippings, knick-knacks, etc.) to use as decor.

 

 
I am sad that this silly picture is the only one I have because it was at the beginning of the process and really shows nothing of the room. Who am I that I didn’t take a single picture of the finished product?! By the end, it was a sight to see.  To take it up a few more levels of craziness, I bought a UT lantern light to hang in the dormer, framed pictures of Michael Jordan and Peyton Manning (in their college years, of course), a dartboard, an orange trashcan and two orange beanbags. Curtis may have been a bit overwhelmed when he came home, but he definitely liked it.

When we found out about Cooper, the room began another transformation. First, the trim was finally painted white (note the dirty tan color in the above photo). Then, we painted the walls tan and created the nursery… albeit very slowly over the next two years, which means that it wasn’t actually done until Cooper was probably 1 1/2. Poor kid.

This is the room in all its finalized glory!

 

If you look to the left immediately as you enter his room, this is what you see. It is the dormer on the front of our house, and provides a cozy nook for this twin bed (Cooper’s “big boy bed” someday?). Otherwise, it’s pretty boring and utilitarian- the only time we use it is to change diapers.

 

On your right as you walk in is the highlight of the room: “Marmee’s quilt”. Curtis’ talented mom (aka Marmee aka Cathy) made this quilt especially for Cooper. I wish you could see it in person because it is amazing… lots of textures and cool patterns thanks to her free-form quilting. Amazing!

 

 
Cooper’s bed… where he’s spent about 1/2 of his life so far. Crazy!  His room is an African safari theme, I guess. Don’t you love the cute animals? You’ll notice more (of the stuffed variety) around the room.

 

A close-up of the bedding: Cathy also helped me in the fabric-choosing process but ran out of time to make the bedding herself, so she got a little help. It turned out fabulously!

 

 
Most of our book-reading takes place in that rocking chair, mainly before naptime and bedtime. It is literally the only wakeful time in Cooper’s day that he is still. His favorites right now are “Llama Llama Red Pajama” and just about anything that has the word “truck” or “tractor” in it. Any suggestions?

Last FYI: one of my very first sewing experiences (with a TON of help from my mom… the other talented seamstress in my life) was adding the fabric to the top and bottom of the curtains. Anyone who wants to tell me how incredible that looks, please don’t hesitate. :)

Thanks for checking in! Now I’m off to pack for Windy Gap Women’s Weekend. So, so excited!

transformations: stairway and loft

Like I said, we’ll start upstairs. Or, at least, on the stairs. When we bought this house, the rail up the staircase was one of the most strikingly awful parts.

 
It was a wrought iron handrail, painted white and then spray-painted with gold polka dots. I mean, seriously?

 

If you had walked up those stairs four years ago, this is what you would have seen. Please note the carpet. The lines you see on it? They were odd, dark streaks of dirt on top of already filthy carpet, maybe in the seams (?). My guess is that the carpet had not been vacuumed in years. Literally. Maybe 12.

 

Standing on the other side of the loft and looking back at the stairs, you get another view of the railing. Still hideous. We had just taken down the box frames from around each of the windows. I can’t remember what one calls that “design element”, but they were awful. The light fixtures, as you can tell, weren’t much better.

 

One more, just so you have a full understanding of this “before”.

 

So, we got to work. Curtis tore out the iron railing and lugged it out of the house (with a lot of help). I removed the carpet and carpet pad, which literally disintegrated as I tried to pull it up. I am not exaggerating when I say that I had brown stuff in my nose for days from breathing in that stuff. Gross.

 

Cathy (Curtis’ mom) along with a few other family and friends, helped us with the massive amount of priming that had to be done to the walls and ceilings upstairs. Seriously- EVERY wall and ceiling in the whole house had to be primed and painted. Every one.

 

 
This shot was taken a few months later… we aren’t the quickest to finish a project. It often seemed like the work it took to make a space livable and decent was all that we had in us.  That, you will notice, is a theme in our family’s renovation technique. And not necessarily a good one. Anyway, you can see here that the railing is gone, the hardwoods have been refinished and a carpet rug put down.

 

Fast forward to 2009: the completed space.

 
The beautiful, heart pine staircase.

 

 
Check out that beautiful railing installed by Curtis!

 

The view from the top of the stairs.

One thing I love about the loft is its conglomeration of furniture. The couch and side table are from Curtis’ parents. We bought the armoire on craigslist for $30. Curtis nabbed the chair in college from friends who were throwing it out (what were they thinking??). The small bookcase was a freebie from an old job. The large bookcase, as seen in the next pic, was given to us as a part of the DIY show done in our garage. Much more on that later.

 

 
Looking towards Cooper’s room.

 

 
Standing at our bedroom door looking back towards the stairs. We debated long and hard, but eventually decided to replace the light fixtures. :)

 

 
Standing at Cooper’s door. Note the beautiful light coming through the windows. I always thought I would buy some roman shades or something, but I actually love the simplicity of the bare windows. And window treatments are expensive! :)

So… that’s the loft! Next: Cooper’s bedroom.