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Monday, February 27, 2012

New Shower Door

The new shower door was just installed. It MAKES the bathroom. It looks so great, with clear views into and out of the shower, no obstructed view because of the stupid curtain. I love it. Have to wait to use it until the morning, but it looks FANTASTIC.



Thanks to Allied Glass for the door and install, great job, very friendly, highly recommended.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A to Z

I copied this from @insidedog because it's a cute idea and an easy way to get a post up. I still want everyone to read and adore my super awesome master bathroom remodel, but we must all move on I suppose.

A to Z

A. Age: 35

B. Bed size: KING and I just got notice that my new comforter shipped. Yay Overstock.

C. Chore that you hate: Grocery shopping and laundry. Both are never ending.

D. Dogs: Two puppies, Molly and Lucy, shih tzus. They're ok.

E. Essential start to your day: My alarm. Without it, the day is crap at 730am.

F. Favorite color: Green.

G. Gold or silver: Both. Depends on the piece, but I like both.

H. Height: 5'6.5".

I. Instruments that you play: I used to play the piano, I suppose I probably still could a little bit if I tried.

J. Job title:Web Developer (ya ya, my title is also Mom)

K. Kids: Sophia age 9, Alexis, age 4.

L. Live: Iowa

M. Mother's name: Karen (but we aren't speaking...) mother-in-law Judy

N. Nicknames: Missy 

O. Overnight hospital stays: Two babies, 2002 and 2007. Tonsilectomy when I was 10. 2010 when Lexi had to be admitted for dehydration, worst thing ever.

P. Pet peeves: When the idiot puppies don't just go do their business and come back. I have a lot of these, I'll look petty if I list them all. So let's pretend I have none.

Q. Quote from a movie: "You done smoked yourself retarded!" Half Baked 
No I am not a pothead, and I think pot is awful. But that line sent me rolling.

R. Right or left handed: Right

S: Siblings: Two brothers 31 and 27, and a sister 30.

T: Travel favorite: Aruba and Maui, very nice, child free vacations.

U. Underwear: Thong. You asked.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Squash. I don't love peas.

W. What makes you run late: Toddlers that have to poop the moment we need to leave.

X. X-rays you've had: just dental x-rays. No broken bones for me.

Y. Yummy food that you make: Well, generally I don't cook, which is best for everyone, but I think I can make a pretty decent spaghetti if necessary. And I can make nearly anything out of a box .

Z. Zoo animal: Meh, zoos kind of smell and I don't love herding my kids through all those other kids and don't get lost and don't touch that it might be poo and get your face off the glass and gah, let's go home. Tigers.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Master Bathroom: The Reveal


Over the past month-ish we've been working on the master bathroom. From now on, when I say "we" I mean the husband. I did help grout and stain some woodwork, but 99% of the work was done by him. He deserves the credit. The end result is a masterpiece.

Let's start with the before. The bathroom is approximately 5 x 8..not a bad size, but not gigantic. The vanity and toilet were fine and usable, but the shower...the shower was not more than 3x3 (if that!) and one person could barely fit in there comfortably. It was also HELL to clean. I mostly gave up truly cleaning it the last few years. It just wasn't possible. Even though we're the first owners of this house, we didn't build this house, or choose the finishes, so we have to assume the builder went with the cheapest selections. The shower was awful, after Christmas we decided to remodel - which is good, because I was ready to stop showering it in, remodel or not.  The builder also decided to build a cabinet to the left of the shower. Super deep, super not useful (other than to hold a crapload of towels) and otherwise wasted space. We are going to take back that space.

Before: Shower and cabinet

Before: Cabinet and sink

Before: Vanity and light

The floor was linoleum, not bad, but not interesting. After ten (plus) years in this house, we decided to make the bathroom over. First...rip out the shower and cabinet. Then rebuild the area with niches between studs for shampoos and soaps.

Goodbye shower
Hello larger shower with fancy niches

  
Next - durock (cement board) the whole thing.
Durock/ Cement board
And then, because we are doing this thing RIGHT. Waterproofing. Vapor barrier is in place here behind the durock. We also used a TileRedi shower base which was really excellent for us. Tiled right on top of that no pouring cement or leveling, TileRedi is awesome.
Hello dark green waterproofer
And now...time to tile! also, see that cute little light he put in the shower too, so awesome.  He started with the floor, and then did the ceiling (which was NOT his favorite part) and the walls and niches. It all took quite a while, but he pushed and pushed and got it done. It looks awesome.
 
Tiled shower with a bit of a grout haze


 Then it was time for the rest of the bathroom. Fixtures, and a new toilet and new base cabinet and vanity top. I stained the medicine cabinet because the options to match the base were not optimal for what we need to store, and it looks good. I'm also working on staining the window in the bathroom and its casing. We took down the mini blind and frosted the bottom half of the window, which brings in light and doesn't leave a blind that just gets caked with dust and shower steam.
Hello Eljer Titan 4 Tall Round toilet

Beautiful Chelsea cabinet by Magickwood
Dark walnut stained medicine cabinet and new light fixture
I turned the light fixture upside down. I didn't want the light shining down on top of the cabinet so pointing it up seemed to work. there is plenty of light in the bathroom, especially with the extra shower light. And the shower light is connected to the fan in the bathroom, so it makes it easy to keep the steam down and therefore the mold potential.
The view from the master bedroom
We just went out to Allied Glass today to look at their doors so we shouldn't have to deal with the lame curtain and rod for much longer. I'll post another picture when the new door is in place. My shower this morning was awesome, I didn't want to get out.

UPDATE: The shower door was installed this morning (Feb 27) and it looks FANTASTIC.


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Darn. They grow up.

Remember when you were in school, and time dragged on and on. And then in high school, and you thought you'd never be done and never escape the rules and study. It seemed to take forever for me, and I didn't mind school. I wasn't in any hurry for it to be over really. But it dragged on.

Why is it that the time with my children isn't dragging on as well? How did I get to already have a third grader? She's halfway through the year, we're almost into fourth grade...and then middle school..and wtf slow down! And the little one..preschool this year and next and then she's into it also. Why is it going so fast when I'm not the one in school.

Damn. They grow up. And so fast is not even accurate..they grow up at the speed of a blink. In the blink of an eye. Before you know it. Right in front of you. All the clichés.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Out back

Last weekend we were trying to decide where to take the girls for dinner. We'd like to go to restaurants, but unless there's a kid menu and/or chicken in kid form, it's not a very safe bet. The husband mentioned he'd like to go to Outback and the 4yo heard him. Daddy, you can't eat out back!

Oh the things the children say.

In other good news, the master shower looks fantastic. I have pictures to show and such but I want to wait until the whole room is complete before I write it up with pictures. The shower was the biggest part, he tore out the old one and put in a new pan, new plumbing and tiled it up beautifully. There are niches for our shampoos and two showerheads. TWO showerheads. And enough room to turn around, do a dance AND shave my legs. I can't wait to use it. First we need to rip out the vanity, toilet, paint the walls, tile the floor, and install the new vanity and cabinet and pick out a toilet. THEN I'll have the whole story to tell. It's going to be awesome, though, I just know it.