I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

So here is our finished bathroom. For before picture go to this post.

Bye bye yellow toilet! Hello sweet new one!

Oil rubbed bronze is so cool!

These are the shelves the Lyle Cole built for me. See the candles that I decorated!

Derek worked his magic to give us our great new shelves and mirror!

The hook board towel rack that started the whole color scheme!

My beautiful tile!

The refinished vanity with the black paint and oil rubbed bronze knobs.

My awesome sink and faucet! I love it all! To really appreciate it you should come over and see it.

Tell Me the Stories Tuesday- Remodeling Woes

So the big bathroom reveal is almost here. Derek should be finishing today! YIPPEE! So I thought I would share with you some of the little problems that have showed up along the way. The first problem happened when Robert started the demo process on the floor. This is what he found around the toilet.

It turns out that the inlet valve to the toilet had been leaking for who knows how long. Now we knew why the linoleum was lifting. So he ended up staying up until about 1 in the morning ripping out the subfloor in addition to everything else.

We then decided we could save some money by refinishing the vanity instead of buying a new one. I thought a lot about how I wanted it to look and then remembered this hook board that I had bought for the bathroom whenever it was finally painted. I loved the colors on it so I decided to match the finishes to it. So I took the board to different paint stores hoping to match the color. Well apparently none of the computers could match it.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but the wood is a very dark brown (the color name is espresso) with some burgundy undertones. The stores kept thinking it was a black color. We finally ended up going with a high gloss black paint since that was the closest we could find.

So I then went and painted the vanity and medicine cabinet in the black. Then we went to go find a counter top and sink for the vanity. We found out that all the counter tops were either too big or too little, none fit! The day before Derek had joked about making a tile counter top and now we figured we would have him make it and we would buy only the sink. We started looking for a sink and none of them fit the hole in the counter top for the sink and the hole couldn't be enlarged since it was up against the side of the vanity already. We were then left with the option of buying a new vanity or a vessel sink. We went the cheap route and bought the vessel sink and had Derek tile the counter.When Derek put the medicine cabinet back in we found the next problem. It no longer fit! With new lights and the sink issue we had problems. The lights rested right on top of the medicine cabinet. So we ended up going with just a mirror and some great shelves Derek then had to build. (By the way in anyone needs a medicine cabinet we have one).

When Derek was going to replace the toilet, he was going to replace the inlet valve to make sure we no longer had any leaks, but he couldn't find the shut off for the cold water anywhere. We then called a plumber who had replaced our water heater and found out our cold water has to be shut off at the water main. Our valve ended up being fixed instead of being replace.

When we bought the faucet for the sink we worked with the sales clerk to make sure it would fit the vessel sink. When Derek went to install the sink we found a different problem with the faucet, the drain. Most sinks have an overflow so they have an overflow valve on the drain. Vessel sinks don't. So we tried to find a drain in the finish of our faucet and couldn't find one. We found that we would have to special order either the drain or a new faucet with a minimum cost of $80 for just the drain! I came home and decided to look online for an alternative. We ended up finding a drain and a faucet for about $60 cheaper than the faucet we bought in town. Score! They arrived, fit the sink, looked great, but the base didn't have a strong connection. Derek first tried to fix it with silicone and when that didn't work he was able to fix it with Gorilla Glue.

So it has been fun and crazy redoing the bathroom, but it looks great!

Remodel Update #1

So last weekend Derek finished the front entryway. The tile looks great and I am so excited about it. Here are a few pictures of the transformation!

Sneak Peeks and Before Pictures

So all the sudden we have some major projects in the works. It will be nice to get them done, but I hate paying for them!

So the first thing to be done will be finishing our master bathroom. Last year we had our shower remodeled, but knew we needed to get more done. When we moved in we had the linoleum in the bathroom replaced but the person doing it did a bad job and just 4 years later (and only about a years worth of shower use) the flooring around the shower is coming up. In order to prevent the floor getting totally ruined we knew it was time to re do it. We had some tile left over from the shower so that will be our new floor. We were waiting to do the floor because we want to replace the toilet and vanity. Well now it will all get done. So long golden yellow!

The next thing to be done is the front hallway. As you can see in the following pictures the linoleum is falling apart. All the seams are lifting and breaking. So we will be getting all of this done in the same tile as the bathroom. We were going to put it in hardwood, but after thinking about all the wet traffic in the winter, wet clothes, and possible washer accidents we decided to have tile so as not to ruin the wood. Our friend Derek will be doing both of these jobs for us.

Another project we are working on is finally fixing the fence. Three years after it first started falling apart we are hoping to rip out the old fence and replace it with chain link. I think my dream fence would be wrought iron, but oh well. We are doing chain link because I want a no hassle fence. No paining, no staining, no cracking with vinyl. This project Robert will be doing in his spare time since he used to install fences for a living.To go along with the fence we will be making some raised garden beds to be put along the fence. This will allow us to garden at our home while minimizing the impact on the yard. Our big dilemma right now is whether or not to do the fence first (which makes sense but costs a lot of money) or put in the garden beds and replace the fence later. Who knows what we will do. Either way there is a lot of work to be done around here!Boards for the garden beds.

Tile for the floors.

We Are Finished!

Well after a few weeks of chaos around our home, things are finally back to normal. The floor is finished, the walls are painted, and the furniture is moved back in. I am loving my new living room. K.C. did an amazing job on the floor. The pictures I posted before were before the finish was on. Once he put on the finish it really brought out the colors in the wood and it is great how closely it matches the wood trimming.

My friend Carmen came over and helped us paint the room next. When picked a pomegranate (burgundy) color for the accent wall and cappuccino (beige) for the rest of the walls. After we had it all painted we noticed that the beige walls had a very strong pink tint to it. YUCK! So the options was to repaint the walls. The new beige color (basic beige) is lighter than I wanted, but at least it isn't pink.

Jesse was great at helping and painted several of the walls for us on the first coat of paint. Faith was wanting to be right involved also.

Here is the finished project (one picture I used flash on because it was evening when I look the pictures). The floor looks great with all the furniture and the new paint.

What Else Can We Cram In?

So this has been a crazy week around our home. It started last Saturday when Robert and Tyler headed off to cello lessons at 7:30 am and I headed to the kitchen to begin baking. I spent about 5 1/2 hours making 20 pans of cinnamon rolls, 3 loaves of bread, and two pans of rolls for Christmas dinner.

All during this Robert and Tyler began packing up the bookshelves in the living room. Over Christmas vacation K.C. Littlewood is going to put in some Red Oak floors in the front room and dining room. This will make preschool so much easier as things are spilled daily on the carpet and they are getting quite disgusting. The plan was for us to get the bookshelves moved out, then once preschool was finished we would move out the rest of the furniture, then Robert could rip out the carpet so K.C. could start the Monday after Christmas.
After I was done baking, Robert and I delivered cinnamon rolls and then he took me out to lunch. We got home in time to spend a few minutes as a family before Britain, Jesse, Faith, and I went to the ward Christmas party, Tyler went to a performance for JMS Jammers and Robert headed to work. That night I tried out an idea I found online of making a cookie dough log for people I still wanted to do something for. They were fun and easy to make.

So on Monday I taught preschool and then just as preschool ended I got a call from Jesse's school that he had a big melt down at school and was suspended for the rest of the day. He has been struggling the last week (I don;t know if it is because of the excitement of Christmas or what) and this was his biggest problem so far. So I spent the rest of the day dealing with him. When Robert got done with work he called and needed me to go jump his car since his battery died. Then he took me car to work so some friends could borrow Rob's car and our friends trailer. Well I forgot Tyler needed to go Christmas shopping that night for her friends because something was happening all the rest of the week. Luckily our friend Tanya saved us by letting us borrow her car to get it all done.

Tuesday was nonstop as we went from preschool to visiting teaching to buying the hardwood with K.C. (finally getting lunch for Faith at 3:00 in the afternoon), scouts for Jesse and me, Christmas concerts for Tyler and Britain, and enrichment meeting for me. As we were getting the wood, K.C. let me know that he could actually start this weekend if we could be ready in time. After talking with Robert and asking Tanya if we could have the preschool Christmas party at her house, it was decided to speed up the timetable on the floors.

Wednesday was pretty normal, with me taking everything that I could out of the front room. On Thursday after preschool was over I took everything but the couch, piano, and table out of the room so it could be ready for Robert to rip out the carpet that night (his only night off). While I was at the temple working that night, Tyler and Robert finished moving out the furniture (Thanks Jacob for help with the piano and Tanya for watching the kids) and ripped out the carpet.

Friday we had a fun Christmas party at Tanya's for preschool, having kids home early from school, and movie night with the kids. Saturday we were up nice and early for K.C to start installing the floor. Robert had to work both jobs, so he was gone all day. Our friend Jacob helped K.C. as well as each of the kids helping at some point. I had choir practice, some house cleaning, and a few trips to Home Depot throughout the day, but the craziness was winding down. Now the floor is installed and K.C. will finish up with the sanding and finish on Monday and Tuesday. I am trying to convince Robert to let me paint the room while everything is out of the room, we'll see if I make it.
I was excited Saturday night when after Faith's bath she came up to me and said she wanted her hair done. It gave me plenty of time to do a cute new creation on her. She must have known there wouldn't be time in the morning because of the snow storm. What a smart girl!