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The Drywalls up and the Floors are almost complete

WOW! We can finally take a breath...but not a large one because the fumes may kill us!! But it seems as though everything is almost coming together!

But I don't want to speak to soon though.... Here is a picture of our new floors, they should be complete by Friday and We get to pick up the Cabinets on Saturday so hopefully I'll have more for you to see by Monday!

NEW FLOORS in the KITCHEN

REFINISHED FLOORS in the TV ROOM
DRYWALL in the KITCHEN

I can SEE clearly now!

I can see clearly now the walls are gone!

Well one of my main hang ups about this house was the teeny weeny hole about the sink. It was literally a 2x3 foot hole that you could not see anything through... definitely if your 5'2"!!

Well I can officially say it is gone for good. I can now see out both the front and back windows and the TV while I'm in our soon to be kitchen!

Here is the before and after!!!

The Bathroom - COMPLETE

As the Demo on the kitchen started the thought of not having a finished bathroom loomed over our heads......

It was a crazy mess, taking way longer than we ever imagined working nights and weekends and even during the Holiday though we were able to get it complete...minus a few decorative touches.

(FYI - Every time I say 'we' I mean 'Michael & TJ' I usually only provide moral support and spend my time making several steps to our favorite store.......)

Well here it is!

NEXT --- A few baskets, towel bars/hooks and we are really in business!

Demo-Tastic

Well - Thanks to a lot of help the Kitchen could now be anything! It is completely bare... right down to the studs. We had a ton of help, me excluded, Michael, Gene, Tommy and TJ all pitched in and by the time I was back I was greeted with a very large green dumpster!

Here are a few photos of the current Kitchen and Helpers!

Next to come..... 1. The New Opening 2. The Drywall 3. New Electric 4. New Cabinets and Sink 5. New Appliances 6. New Counters 7. Backsplash 8. a Little Paint and ...... We will have a new kitchen

Ohhhh ... what a weekend

Well after a wonderful Friday out we were welcomed home by a SKUNK. One that had gotten under our back porch and let out a hell-of-a-stink. We have slept with the windows open all weekend and yes it smells horrific!

FYI - If your house gets sprayed there is nothing you can do. I have tried everything... cooking tomatoes, using the peroxide/baking soda/ dish soap mix and of course my new best friend Glade "Crisp Linen" Air and Fabric odor releaser!

After the initial shock of it we did manage to get things done around the house. The bathroom is well on its way, crossing our fingers for before Turkey Day and we re-did our bookshelf!

Here is a before and after of the bookshelf. I have not decorated yet since the floors in this room are getting redone in a few weeks, no need to have two dust more than necessary!

It's getting there

Well we now have Drywall, insulation and even some tile!!

It is getting there and starting to look like a bathroom again. Thanks to Michael and TJ I will soon have a mold and smell free bathroom with a vent that is going to be so perfect!

Here is an updated photo of the subway tile we will be using in the shower:

It has not even been grouted yet but I love it!

Bathroom Update

The past two weeks the guys have managed to really get the process rolling... starting with installing the shower basin in... Which of course took a little longer due to having to fix some plumbing. But if you want to save some time a pre-molded basin is the way to go. For a little less than $100 we have our shower floor.

Within the last two weekends they have been able to work on the drywall/backer board. Of course, this was after they replaced shut off valves, re-insulated the wall facing the exterior of the house, since the moisture deteriorated everything, and replaced all of the sub floor.

Well this is where we have been....... Bathroom disaster

To start off it was a wonder week. We had a company come out to fix our toilet and our garage door and everything was working perfectly, until Saturday morning....a few weeks ago. I was on the floor checking to make sure the toilet was not leaking anymore and it wasn't BUT that is when I discovered this horrible smell and had Michael come and inspect!! Of course the toilet had been leaking for who knows how long and the sub floor had began to well for lack of a better word decay! We decided, oh well we will shut the door and at least get the kitchen finished before we decide to use fix the bathroom. BUT of course before we evacuated the area I had Michael climb up and rip off a piece of wallpaper that looked weird and here is what we found.....

MOLD!

Of course be being paranoid I could not have this growing in my house so we decided to rip out the bathroom, which made Michael tickled pink!

Here are a few shots of the bathroom before hand. Sorry Michael is in the pictures because literally as soon as I said lets do the bathroom he was Demo-ing.

Well as the story goes, we ended up having to rip out everything! There was so much moisture built up that all of the drywall was moist and we discovered there was no bathroom vent which did not help the moisture situation. The good thing... the Mold had not spread and looked like it was most likely from an old leak!

Here is the bathroom completely down to the studs:

We originally though this would be a quick 5 day project (about two weekends).....We are currently on our third weekend. More to come....

Halloween on Hillcrest

We were so lucky this year that Briar and Cam could come trick or treat in the neighborhood. We all had a blast, I think I may have enjoyed it a little to much.

Here are a few pictures of the boys and there costumes!

Here is Briar in his costume at the neighbors house. Everyone was all decked out and in the Halloween spirit.

Here is Cam striking a pose before we leave the house!