Let there be cake!

There's a birthday in my house today.  With cake.  Chocolate cake with cherry filling.  I think my favorite thing to do for one of my kids' birthdays is bake the cake.

This little sweetie turns 25 today!

The Scholar...who is no longer a student but a teacher of students.  She was a couple months shy of her 3rd birthday in this picture.

Happy Birthday!

Wrapping up Phase 2: The bathroom.

The bathroom remodel was as done as it was going to get while I was in Florida.  We are missing the shower door and walls....which have been measured and ordered...and a vanity top and sink.  Surprisingly, in this day of modern tools...for example a RIGHT ANGLE...the wall that forms the water closet does not form a 90' angle with the outside wall of the house.  Go figure.  So, the vanity top by that wall needed to be templated so it is taking longer than the other one.

While picture arranging isn't working out so well....here are some before and after shots.

Or after and before as the pictures are appearing.  I placed them side by side but my preview shows them one after the other.

It's hard to see how substantially different that is...trust me...night and day. 

Maybe you can see how crooked that wall is by looking at the gap on the left side of the vanity.

The showers can't even be compared.  Plasticy-yuck vs. beautiful earth tone tile.  We used stone on the floor.






I did not do a good job of getting a picture of the new empty space created by the removal of the tub or of the door being removed from the water closet.

The best I have is one taken during the work.  

I can reach the blind cord without having to climb into the tub.  Yeah!

I do have a before and after of the door to the bathroom.   The before is taken looking out of the bathroom and the after is taken looking from the bedroom towards the bathroom.


No door...

...door.

Ironically, we saw lots of houses with no door to the master bathroom.  What's that all about? Seriously?  If nothing else, the bathroom gets cold being all wide open like that.  Brrr.  During the winter, when it really isn't all that warm in Florida, I'd turn the heat up just so there would be warm air coming out of the ceiling vent when getting out of the shower.  

It's hard to describe how happy a clean and fresh bathroom makes me.  

There are more jobs on the list but I'm not sure what exactly will be next.  Possibly some windows and sliders.  Or maybe one or the other as they will be huge jobs.  We have 4 sliders and floor to ceiling windows.  Step by step.

Pam

The end of week 1 brings us to this...

...both vanities are in and the shower wall is taking shape.

This side is still waiting for the sink and counter top.

The electric work is complete and the walls have been retextured.
It's the texture that hasn't dried yet that looks gray.

Finally, a working door.

Tiling has begun but there are tools everywhere and tarps draped all over so we'll have to wait for new photos.  

Pam

Day 3

Wednesday, week 1,  was a full day of construction including a door! I've now broken even in the door department.

I was not home when they left but got a text saying...'don't shut the door.  We need to work on the latch'.  Meaning maybe they wouldn't be able to open the door.  When I came home the door was shut, though. Maybe blown shut because the sliding door was open across the bedroom.  Luckily it opened right up.  Made me think about what sort of night I was going to have imagining everyone being locked out of the bathroom.  Would they have to break my new door down?!?

Breaking even in the door department means the one on the water closet is gone.  Gone, gone, gone.

The electrician was here putting up lights and installing outlets.

Other things that aren't so pretty happened...like the cement that goes under the shower floor.  Needs doing...just doesn't look like much.

Time to settle in for another day.  I cut fabric for another of Moda's Frivols.  This pattern includes hundreds of little half square triangles.  Everyone's favorite...not.

Pam

Day 2...

...does not bring much to see.   Mainly it was a very noisy day.

But, I do know that the behind the scenes work is the hardest and longest part of any job.

Mostly there were patches to the drywall

The big holes next to each vanity have been drywalled and the marks from the mirrors patched.

The biggest job was moving the plumbing.  We were surprised to find the plumbing coming up through the floor under the tub.  Since that area will be open floor space it needed moved over.  They also built the half wall to shape the shower.  Our floor is cement so, as you can imagine, it was a noisy job.

There is also care being taken to preserve the tile floor.  Little bits had to be broken away to widen the previously narrow shower.  That is a slow careful job.

Today the electrician is here.  I also think they're starting to build the frame for the door.

I mostly fill my time either reading or sewing.  Today I might slip out for a bit of time at the pool. We'll see how it all goes and if I think I can be away.

Pam

Day 1 of Phase II

Demolition is complete.  They told me the weight of the debris was 3000 lbs!

Bye bye ugly hideous tub.

It looks so much smaller out of the room.

A brief look at the bare space.

 First vanity and shower....

 ...where the shower and tub used to be...

...and the second vanity space.

Today starts the rebuilding.  I joked that they'd be done by Friday.  Ha ha.  Nope.  This job is scheduled for two weeks!  Tiling the shower will be slow.

Pam

Florida Renovation Phase II

I wasn't going to chronicle this job but I've had so many questions...so here goes.

We are having our master bathroom in our Florida house almost completely gutted.  Today is day 1. Today is also the most likely day to be confronted with problems that can alter the plan.

Renovating anything can be stressful on all involved.  I have years and years of experience...both in old houses and in building our new house.  I have driven north and south, ordered in one state and shipped to another, ordered online and trusted others to do their part while I gather all the necessary supplies.  As far as I know it is all here.

As demolition begins...here are photos of the original bathroom.

Upon stepping into the bath to the left is the first child sized pressed wood (is that the word?) vanity.  I mean, who did they think was living here?  8 year olds?  A common way for the builders to 'cut costs' (cheap out) was to use the smallest vanities available.  When we ordered new ones the salesmen told us they don't even make them that low anymore.

Continuing along the same wall is the shower.  Cultured marble.  Supposed to be fancy?  I guess.  Feels plastic to me...and I can't get it clean after all the years of someone else not getting the soap scum cleaned, I suspect.

Straight on from the doorway is a garden tub.  Yuck and ick.  I'd never ever use it.  It's going.  Never to be seen again.

Turning the corner is the 'toilet cell' as I call it.  I hate a toilet in a little closet all alone.  Our NY house plans called for that, too.  Didn't happen. There isn't even an outlet in there so I can put a nightlight in.  One of the other features I have not gotten to is the fact that the bathroom has NO DOOR.  So, turning on a light in the middle of the night is an all or nothing move that is over bright in the cell and/or illuminates the bedroom.  The only change to the toilet cell will be an outlet and the removal of the door.

Along the same wall as the toilet cell is another child sized/pressed wood vanity.

Looking out of the bathroom down the hall to the bedroom.  Minus a door.  A door will be installed before this job is done.

The workers are here and the house is encased in plastic....let the demolition begin.

Fun.

Pam

The latest framing.

Last week I picked up my latest framed pieces.

Light The Way Home by SamSarah Design Studios.

Prairie Schooler's Harvest Time.

Love seeing pieces framed.

I still have too many small pieces to finish.  I should organize them better and create a work space.  Maybe seeing them and having items at hand would help?  Can't hurt.  So, maybe that's what I'll work at next.  Maybe.  Once I'm home from Florida.

With an April like this...

...who wouldn't want to head south?  It snowed again today, will snow tomorrow and maybe on Friday.

Pam