Something had to go wrong at some point. Right?

Up to the point of this picture things has gone on with out a single problem. Really, I was amazed. The floor had been finished. Dad and I had stayed late Friday night to finish it. I had also gone by Lowes and finally picked out a window for the back kitchen wall that was actually going to work.

As we were preparing to clean up and head out. We decided to measure the opening in the wall were the window goes. And--- Dad stepped on the freshly laid tiles. We didnt notice it the first time he stepped on them, and man! it ruined the setting of at least 5 of the tiles. We had been focused on the window and measuring... we should have just gone home and worried about it the next day.

So here we are, loosing day light and trying to re-set these four tiles. It had looked so pretty before, we did the best we could to fix them and just let them set, and all we could do was wait an see what they would look like in the morning.

In the morning. Dad didn't like the way the tiles set. So, we had to take them up. Apparently there isn't any other way to pull up a tile than to break it. So, we broke two of them. The picture above shows one already gone, and the one on top broken and about to be pulled up. Since the tiles only cost .49 each its not that bad. And remember, when buying tile, always buy at least 10 % more than the square footage you are covering. For times like these, or if you happen to crack one somehow, you have some left over to replace it. It goes along the lines of saving your left over paint to do any touch ups.

This how ever was not the end of our problems. Notice anything missing from this picture? Well you may not be able to tell from this angle, but, the kitchen sink was sitting out there on the porch "airing out". Its gone now. Just when I had come to terms with using the old sink instead of buying a new one. Well now I guess I should add that $100 to $150 back into the budget.

On a more positive note: Look at that window! we got both the windows in the kitchen done now. They are 46 inches off the ground which allows for cabinets and appliances to be placed underneath them.

There they both are. Yes, one is slightly bigger than the other. But well, that couldn't be helped. I like how they look, its a lot of detail work setting into the frame and making adjustments.

This is the end of the day picture. Covering the outside with some plywood. This will then get covered with the siding and painted gray.

The siding drives me nuts, and i need to keep reminding myself that once I save up the $$ i will be replacing the ugly, broken, drab siding for some lovely, happy, one. All in good time...

Kitchen: floors and windows!

Today continues the progress in the kitchen. The floor has been started with the whole pieces going in first, then we will add the edges that require cutting. This allows us to do all the cuts at one time and not have to stop and cut every row.

The kitchen (and livingroom) floor is a lovely 13inch brown tile.

Im liking it more and more every day. Its got lovely brown tones, and it contrast with the yellow paint color I picked quite nicely. It looks quite grimy with the mortar dried over it. But dont worry, once its set, a quick mop over it and its good as new.

The door way at the top of the picture is the doorway to what was the closet when this room was a bed room, and what will now be the kitchen pantry. Im still unsure of what I will do with that doorway: leave it open, put a pop of color with a screen door, put a curtain, the pantry has a window in it, so id like for some of that natural light to get through. Im glad I dont have to decide that anytime soon.

Windows in the kitchen. Because the room used to be a bedroom, the windows come down pretty far, which is not the best for putting kitchen cabinets infront of them. So, Im going ahead and putting new windows in. This should raise the bottom of them up higher than the counter top. At least thats what I'm hoping will happen.

On this picture you can see the 2x4 frame that we are placing to set the window into. Its going to need some sheetrock on the inside and siding on the outside. On the inside you wont be able to notice at all. On the outside how ever...

You will be able to notice. If you look closely to the window on the left, you can see were this window was raised up (same thing i'm doing to the big empty space on the right) and the siding has a break in it.

I'm not worried, in my long term plan I'm thinking of re-doing the siding. With some stone or brick accent walls out front. But Ill have to have the funds first.

This last picture shows the widening of the entryway between the kitchen and livingroom. Its not much, but it will make a difference. This will be framed and the front wall will actually get a new layer of sheet rock.

What Im thinking and hoping it will look like.

There really is no way to know what the kitchen will acutally look like. But I spent a good time yesterday working on this rendering of what I have pictured in my mind. I know it wont look exactly like this, but im aiming for as close as i can.
A big thanks to LOWES virtual room designer. It has everything I needed.

Everything at once.

Thats the kitchen sink, which means the old kitchen cabinets have come out. The sink is the only piece im keeping, mostly because its a still in good condition stainless steel. I will be getting a new faucet, but a good cleaning and the sink will look as good as new. There is now empty space in that corner. That room is slowly starting to look like a living room. yay!

Here are the old cabinets, in pieces, junk now.

Here is a picture of the corner where the kitchen cabines used to be. Now just empty and kind of grody looking, its amazing how much dust and grime gets stuck behind the cabinets. A good reminder to work hard on that spring cleaning.

In the room that is slowly becoming the kitchen, the under floor concrete has gone in. And dad will probably start laying the tile tomorrow. which is a lot sooner than anticipated.

And today I stopped by Mill Creek to pick up some of the tile that is going in the kitchen and living room. I had forgotten what it looked like, and when i saw it, I remember why I went ahead and bought it before we even closed on the house. And at .49 cents a square foot, whats not to love about it.

Bathroom floor, kitchen floor and paint colors

Here are some better pictures of the bath floor. Got a chance to mop up some of the extra mortar that was left on them. Looks better every day.

Also, the preparation for the floor in the kitchen.

Didn't actually think we would be getting to the kitchen this soon. Things are moving along quite quickly. Yay!

So it's almost time to start thinking about paint colors. :) I think I have it narrowed down to 3. Which is pretty good.

Bathroom floor - tile is in!

It looks messy right?
Well, i guess that's all part of it. I'm thinking now that maybe i should have picked the white mortar mix to put underneath. I still need to pick the grout color and grout the lines. Im thinking a tanish color so that it doesn't show up as much.

There are still a few pieces that need to go in. And the cuts around the plumbing look rough, but they will be covered by the actual toilet and sink pedestal.

I picked 1/18th spacers so that there isn't a big space in between the tile for water to seep through or grout to get stained. Doing this smaller space will help me see what it looks like and be able to decide on stuff with the rest of the house.

Thank you dad! he got that all done while I was back at work yesterday. I honestly could not be doing this big a project if it wasn't for him.

The living room: raising the ceiling.

The ceiling in what was the kitchen and that im turning into the living room had a false ceiling. Well, thats going out, and Im using the original ceiling, and that means more sheet rock. That stuff is so handy to cover everything. I honestly wish it was more durable. But its what is used, so I guess its what I use right? (its hard coming from a culture that used concrete and cement instead of wood and sheet rock)

So, this will mean that Ill have to get some lighting adjusted. I'm thinking a ceiling fan in the middle, and then some recessed lighting around to make the room nice and bright. This room needs good lighting, because knowing myself, its will be the room were I work on my sewing projects, I'm an old soul on the inside, a creative old soul. I love it.

Plumbing!

Plumbing so far has been interesting. The stuff wrapped in insulation is the old plumbing. The nice long copper tubes is the new stuff going in. The old plumbing was pieced together with several different types of tubing. This will be no more, its one continuous piece, with copper for the hot water and PVC for the cold. Plumbing is like putting together a puzzle with tiny pieces, that has another puzzle mixed in together. Ill be glad when were done. This has been the most return to the store to get a different piece project.

On the same yet slightly different theme. Since I'm moving rooms, what used to be the kitchen will now be the living room. The picture below shows the washer and dryer hook ups. The question I keep asking myself is if I want the laundry in the living room.

If I leave it there, the plan is to build a nice unit over the washer and dryer to sort of disguise it from plain view. Such as these ideas I found on pinterest (love that site!)

A simple over the top table. With some storage. Could put some lovely curtains over the front to hide them a little more. Or like the pictures below, where the are behind cabinet doors and completely hidden.

Or, the other option is to remove the hook ups from the upstairs and move them down to the unfinished basement. That I have to go outside to get into. Not so bad since really I only do laundry like once a week. Ideas or comments?

The bathroom: floor

Today Dad and I got the sub-flooring for the tile down. I was in charge of the screws, look how nice and square and even they are. That sub-flooring will not be moving anytime soon.

This is another angle of the floor.

This last picture shows the tile I choose for the bathroom. The idea is that its not to light and not to dark. Originally I had got enough of the tile going in the rest of the house, but its a bit darker and I wanted something a little different also. Im very happy with these choices.

The back yard: getting started

The back yard is pretty big. Which is nice because I can add a back deck/porch and still have plenty of room.

I'd love to have chickens, but I dont think that will happen :( but maybe I can have bees instead. Can you imagine, fresh honey. I guess Ill need to do some research on that. The picture shows the north edge of the yard, it has a pretty big pile of branches that will need to be cleared out, and at some point Ill need to mow back there. I dont mind mowing, Ill just need to borrow a lawn mower. :)

The back yard goes all the way to the "alley" before the shed, kind of following the power lines that run along the back. Technically the house sits on two city lots, and the house in pretty far forward, so that leave plenty of room in the back. Once things are cleaned out, the next step will be to get a garden going. Not super big, I'm thinking basil, tomatoes, and I'm gonna be starting berry bushes at some point. Any ideas on what else I should be thinking of planting?

The bathroom. Making decisions.

As we got near the end of phase one, it was time to make some decisions. Right after I bought the house, I found a lovely tile on sale, its a nice brown, (ill post pictures later when I talk about paint color) and I got enough for the whole house for under $300. What a deal! That includes the bathroom. But as I was acually in the house, I got to thinking that a tile that was different would be nice for the bath. So since tomorrow we will most likely be able to maybe start on the tile in the bathroom floor, I had to decide if I wanted a different tile or not. And I decided I did.

So, off I went to lowe's, and really didnt find anything. So then I crossed RangeLine over to the Home Depot. Here, I found a few to many options.

These two were the first I found. To get an idea of what they would look like with the sink and toilet (which are white) I found myself going back and forth from the tile section to the sink displays to see what they would look like together.

I wanted a tile on the lighter color spectrum since the bath is small, and we want to make it feel bright and big. These two were hard to pick between. So...

I picked this one, which in my head was between the color of my two favorites. Somehow it makes sense in my head.

It was a total of $40 for the 45 sq ft I have in the bathroom floor. This cost does not include the prep materials, grout, etc. But its a fairly good deal still have the total tile of the house for under $300, (I now have extra of the brown tile from the rest of the house, but Ill find a use for it)

The bathroom phase 1

These pictures show the progress. Each time some new thing is started, there are many surprises waiting for me. Its all part of it. right?

Removed the old ceiling. And what did we find, well for one, an access to the attic, which is good to know were its at. The bathroom is an addition to the house, so its a little different than what the ceiling is going to be in the rest of the house. Dad found that there wasn't much insulation above what was the ceiling, so he made sure it was well insulated before he put up new sheet rock.

Removed the back to the shower, this picture shows the new pipes that dad put in, the before was a conglomeration of tubes, including a car whose section, I couldn't believe it when Dad told me about it! a car whose to connect your water to the shower, what was that person thinking when they installed it. Crazy! though i guess it worked. Needless to say, it was removed and the adequate pipes were installed.

This shows the floor with the toilet gone, and it gives a good view of were the sink used to be. This was the view right from the door.

As we covered the walls with sheet rock. Dad decided it was important to open up the wall behind the shower, and leave it open in a way. It will simply be covered with either wood or a thin covering of some sort, why? so that if something ever goes wrong with the plumbing, its easily accessible and you don't have to open up the whole wall to know were the shower connections are. Smart i think. Most homes have this, but it blends in so well with the surrounding that most times we don't notice it.

At the end of the phase one, you can see to the left the drain for were the new sink is going to be. Right next to the toilet on the same wall. And also, you can see the new layer of sheet rock that we just about finished today. I got to try out working with the mud over the nail wholes and on the corners some. Dad took over at the end, he is much faster that I.

The bathroom! Before

The Bathroom. Its the smallest room in the house, so we (dad and I) are starting here. These are the pictures of how the house was before I bought it. Things quickly have changed in this room. Sorry about the darkness of the pictures, but there was no power in the house at the time I took these on my phone.

The sink, I took it all out, and instead i got a lovely white pedestal sink that I have moved to the wall next to this one, so its not in front of the window, and to allow more room as soon as you enter the bathroom. Taking it out has opened up the feeling of the bath, so far, good decision.

The shower, at this point in time, it will have to stay, but that ugly wall all around it got a new face of sheet rock. And with a lovely shower curtain, no one will even see the tub. So that makes me feel better about how ugly it is.

This is the wall the toilet is on, to this wall I am adding the sink, right under were the mirror is. Im loving the new look of the bath. I still need to pick up a new mirror, I'm thinking a white framed one to match the sink and toilet.

The side wall. It has a new layer of sheet rock. We took out the non-useful wall heater and there is no sign that it even exited.

Said Goodbye to the old toilet fairly quickly. In its place, I picked out a chair height (still a little unsure about that decision), water saving, new toilet. Cant wait to get the floor installed so I can get a picture of the sink and toilet next to each other.

I picked out some new light fixtures, stainless steel, none of this old-school bronze and gold. Those will probably be the last to get installed. Also, took out the big time ugly ceiling and now it has new sheet rocked ceiling.