Weekend's work + Day 4 = TILE IN!!

We gave up.

Remember we were trying to use leftover tile?

Well.  6 man hours later we had half of two boxes worth of tile finished.  Here was the process:

Let the tiles soak in hot water for 1 hr +

Scrape.  Scrape.  And Scrape.
Remove grout on edges and glue on back.

After 3 hours of us BOTH scrapping, this is all the tile we had done.
At this instance, Tom was saying 'I bet these are only $1 a sq. ft.  Would cost $50 for the whole bathroom!'

I wish we could have used the tile we saved.  I think we could have, had we started the scrapping process a week ago or so.

We ended up buying the tile at $1.29 a square foot.  The funny thing was though, after holding those old tiles in my hands for hours - then picking up a brand new tile - the difference was incredible!  The new one was MUCH thinner, felt much more fragile. 

They just don't make things like they used to.

The design I came up with.
The pencil tile is new.

Justin was here yesterday for Day 4.  He did a lot of mudding and wall-work.  ALSO INSTALLED SOME TILE!  WOOT WOOT!

At least I am saving something from a landfill.

This is the mirror that my friend was getting rid of.
Going to paint it and use different colors for the ridges.

AND - in the mean time, our family of four is also adjusting :)

Pictures were requested! :)  I love these toes!!

He is adjusting rather well.  That pacifier sure does the trick!

Our FIRST time out as a family of 4.
LITERALLY - the first time all four of us went out together! 

We don't get out much because we are too busy catching up on sleep!

Day 3 - DRY WALL

I am starting to see it look more like a bathroom!

I've thought long and hard about colors, design, hardware, etc.  


We are going to be re-using my best-friends old mirror.  (I need to paint the trim).  A neighbor of ours at our old place was working on someone's bathroom, and they got rid of their old cabinet and he asked if we wanted it - of course we took it!  BUT we will need to paint it... So I've been browsing pinterest and happened to find some colors I'm kind of in love with!  I think its very soft and inviting for a bathroom!  

We are also re-using our tile... and this weekend we need to clean off all the old grout, etc.  That is going to be a CHORE!!  But, will be worth it.  Plus, we saved them from a landfill!

I'll share a pic of my shower tile design this weekend.  I'm kind of getting excited!

Happy ANOTHER WEEKEND OF DIY-ING!!  Much love to you.

Day 2 - MORE progress

Day 1's progress actually... wanted to share it right before Day 2's progress!

Plumbing takes a bit of work!  This is for the shower.

Actually, no progress from this view from Day 1.

Day 2 - Can you spot the progress here?  Here.  Below is Day 1's photo from the same view.

After Day 1 :) And... below is before we started!

Studs are 'studded' out with dry-wall... not really sure why.

This is probably where the BIGGEST progress was made.  See that valve installed for shower?
The walls got Hardibacker  placed on them.
Hardibacker goes behind the tile.  We will be using tile we saved from the Jack n Jill shower.

 Actually - I should show you that tile now!  All the photos above, the bathroom Justin is working on, is the guest bathroom.  This Jack n Jill bathroom is between the two kids rooms.  (I mean, someone had REALLY forward thinking back in 1930!  Its practically UNHEARD of for a 1930s home to have a jack n jill bath!)

That is the original Jack n Jill bathroom.  We saved as much tile as we could!

Now I remember... there was quite a bit of mold behind that tile!  Yuck.

On that note... I wanted to show you an update on that too so here ya go!

The B&W checkered tile was original tile flooring found under the white tile.
The cabinet is by Jonathan Moran.
(and has turned out to be a pain in the @$$ because he didn't make it a standard size)
Concrete countertop.  Next time we do that I will takes pics and share the steps with you!
Sink from repurposed store:  Construction Junction.
Still need to put tile backsplash in and hang the mirror.

Door still needs handles.
Trim around door needs finished (after tile work).

Oh - and one other very unfinished part of the house - but SO CLOSE to being finished - William's closet.  What a PITA! :)  (for you Becky!)

Baseboard installed.  Nail holes need filled.  Needs painted on top.
Melamine shelf needs extended and needs one finished edge.

Posting these pics make me REALLY excited for when we have our open house!  We are inviting EVERYONE we know in Pittsburgh to come check out our home!  Maybe this fall... maybe next year.  But we want to show off our hard work.  And I'm going to print out easel-sized before pictures and place them on an easel in each room!  CAN'T WAIT!

Whew - all this blogging and thinking about all this work we've done makes me tired... so...  I'm toasting a margarita to you tonight!!  

(actually, I'm going to hot yoga to forget about it all!  then maybe a margarita)

Day 1 - Set-up & Game Plan

Justin is only working 40 hours for us.  Its had to justify paying for that when you can do most of it yourself!!  :/  He worked 8 hours yesterday.

Justin KIND-of looks like Mickey... but for all my fellow soccer players I thought this looked more like him?  Can you name this old star?!?!  :)

Didn't get a TON done, I thought... but Tom said he was happy with what he did.  (Every day we will both be going up there to talk over the progress I'm sure!)  Tom said, "Well, an hour to bring up all his tools, an hour to figure out his game plan..."

Dry-wall up already!
You need to (or I guess should) use moisture-resistant dry-wall in bathrooms.  That is why this dry-wall is blue.
He had to put some studs in behind it.
And that is one interesting cut out of a piece of dry-wall

Studs added!
AND - we have LIGHT! 

Electrical lines ran... Some 'dead' Knob and Tube removed

As Tom would say 'fart-fan' installed!

Plumbing was worked on...

A bit of plumbing removed...

I had to run to Busy Beaver to get the Ball Valves (the piece with the yellow handle)
(haha, yes - that is the real name of a real store.  I think its too appropriate)
See the copper pipes to the bottom left?  Justin took those out.  Tom said he spent the better part of an hour last weekend putting those caps on it.  That is the problem with do-it-yourselving... is that sometimes you spend A LOT more time working on something when you really don't need to or shouldn't.

On a SUPER positive note?  Remember I had extra kitchen cabinets to sell?  (we got a 'kitchen set' from the warehouse... and had 11 cabinets leftover).  I SOLD THEM!!  For $750!  Yahooo!!  (the set cost $5,500)

Gotta run & get lunch ready - then taking Mary TO HER FIRST DANCE CLASS!!

Happy HUMP Day!!

I can't believe I'm saying it... we are hiring a contractor!!

Vanity to the left, toilet on the right

Through ALL of this - we have pretty much done the bulk of the work ourselves.  Of course, Josh, Rick, and Dave, did A TON of work.  But they weren't exactly contractors nor do they have their own 'business'.

So, we decided to hire some of the work out.  

Justin Knepshield will be 'roughing in' the guest bathroom (or 4th bedroom bathroom).  It is the bed/bath over the garage - the room/bath that you will be using whenever you come visit!  - Well, as long as you are not coming in the next couple of months... although you are welcome to - you will just be sleeping in Williams room.

(behind door) Pink cast iron tub we will reuse.
Shower head on left.

Entrance to bathroom.
Yes, that is exterior brick you can see through the door

Basically, Justin will get everything ready for paint and for us to install all the finishing pieces (light fixtures, toilet, vanity, tile, etc.).

If I had to guess, it will take us another 2 months to finish the bathroom... and then I should double that.

Then, onto the bedroom.

Then, Tom wants to do windows.

I will continue to update the blog... my goal is once a week.  This week I'm going to try to do a post every day!

BUT - we thought we could finish the 4th bedroom before William was born.  Ha!  7 weeks later and we still aren't even close.  :/

AND honestly, I've stopped working so I don't know where the money for all of this is going to come from!   :/   Our property taxes are also REALLY high here.  BUT - we have a great elementary school, and a new great playground!

In the outside world of this house, we pulled THE BIGGEST dandelion yesterday.  Holy moly, we have a large yard to maintain (but will be plenty big enough for a vegetable garden some day!).

We do have a lilac bush (SMELLS GREAT!) and a beautiful-unidentified pink flowering bush that I think could be a tree if we trim it correctly.

Our roses are about 80% dead though.  Yikes - wonder who will get to clean that up!

At any rate... my future posts will show a lot more pictures!  Basically, pictures of the bathroom progress!

HAPPY TUESDAY YA'LL!!