Master bedroom before

The first picture shows the dull wall color and beige berber carpet.  (Along with my dad and my daughter.)










Below, you can see the new wall color and new door into the den. The den has lost it's paneled wainscoting and it's wall paper.

Bedroom, with no carpet, but with new paint color.

It's been a whirlwind. Liv and I spent a lot of time last week just prepping paint. The carpenters, on the other hand, took out a closet and built a door from the living room to the master bedroom. The door will be wide enough for a wheel chair to go through if needed. Because Mom was confined to a wheel chair in the six weeks of her life, we want to make sure that the house is handicap accessible. When mobility goes, it can go really quickly, as we learned. I just made sense to dad and me to make sure the house was accessible before he moved in.

 

Since we are hiring People to do the master bath, we have to get the components picked out and ordered. Dad asked me to pick out some pieces to show him, so he can choose. Since I've done the work, I though I might as well share with the whole class.

He doesn't take tub baths and we discovered what pain tub sides are when Mom was having trouble getting around. So, he plans to replace the tub in the master bath with a nice, big shower with an integrated seat. What he hasn't decided is whether to tile it or to use a fiberglass base.

KOHLER Tresham White Acrylic Shower Base (Common: 32-in W x 60-in L www.lowes.com

There is also the "ready to tile" version:

Base'N Bench Made for Tile Molded Polyurethane Shower Base (Common: 36-in W x 60-in L) www.lowes.com

Photo from http://www.nationalcarpetmilloutlet.com/gallery-custom-showers/

DreamLine Unidoor 59-in to 60-in Frameless Hinged Shower Door from Lowes.com

I also like this vanity from Home Depot: 

Claxby 36.5 in. W x 19 in. D Vanity in Cream with Stone Effects Vanity Top in Winter Mist with White Basin & Mirror

And this one:

Lancaster 24 in. Vanity in Amber with Alpine AB Engineered Composite Vanity Top in White with White Basin

It is a little smaller and might fit better in the tiny master bath. 

I've mostly been living in my house instead of planning new projects. Then my mom got sick and then she passed away.

BUT I have a new project. My dad has bought a new house in the next subdivision over. He got it for a song, which always means there is work to do. He called a contractor and had them come in and provide an estimate. It came in way higher than he wanted to pay. Or that made sense to pay. The estimate was 12 grand to move a couple of doors, remove some wainscott made of 1980s paneling, remove wall paper and paint. $7000 was just for removing wall paper, wall repair and painting.

Here's the thing. I can do the cosmetic stuff. Granted, I can't move a door. Or remove a closet. Or build a closet. But I can take off wall paper (even though I *hate* it) and I can skim coat and I can paint.

The kitchen and breakfast nook, before:

So, yesterday, Liv and I spent about 5 hours total and stripped (most of) the wall paper from the kitchen and breakfast nook. And we skim coated. It still needs sanding.





Wallpaper removed. Skim coat on.

We've started working on the house again. It kind of started when the hot water heater started leaking. All under my Pergo flooring in my hallway and carpet in my living room. Of course, it molded. Then I got pneumonia, which, for me, is almost always triggered by allergies. So Todd took up the Pergo and cut out the moldiest part of the carpet. That was wonderful of him. However, there was then a huge swath of cement floor exposed in all its nastiness. The cement had drywall compound on it as well as other surface irregularities. We almost stained it anyway, but ultimately, having to move out of our house for the three days it would take to stain and seal the concrete was more than we felt that we could handle.

We ended up buying light duty commercial flooring from Sam's Club. It is really thick, so it doesn't feel as "clicky" as some laminate. Obviously, it is not hard wood, but we are pretty pleased with it. We still need to finish up the trim and the thresholds, but we're really pleased with how things have turned out.

I've decided that we need to paint a couple of room. Our bedroom, for one. It is a pumpkin orange color, and is depressing. I'd like to paint it something lighter, like Purple Lace.

Also, I want to paint the bedroom that my son had before he moved out. It is a really dark brown with patches in the wall because our son is not exactly careful. But even if the paint were in perfect shape, the dark brown kind of makes it feel like a cave. I am thinking about a light teal or pale green for that room. Maybe one like this? Or I could take the coward's way out and paint it Montgomery White like we did our youngest daughter's room. Regardless of what color I paint it, I'd like to turn it into a craft room. To that end, I've been collecting images on Pinterest to inspire me.

Before
After

We also made her a doll house for her American Girl dolls with an IKEA Pax shelving unit:
Her doll furniture is from a number of sources. The bed was a family project. The pink wardrobe is a Build-a-Bear product that we found at a thrift store. The dresser is a couple of unpainted wood pieces from Hobby Lobby that I stacked. The bench is from Salvation Army, as is the table. The hutch in the "kitchen" began life as a couple of jewelry boxes that I primed and painted white. The horse and the baking set are from Target.

I love American Girl accessories as much as the next mom, but my little darling is not terribly careful about her toys, so I don't want to always spend the kind of money AG requires. So we improvise. :)


Speaking of "improvise" you can see a "during" photo of the jewelry boxs' transformations.

So taking out the old vanity in my bathroom was a four hour job for three people. Evidently plumbing standards were "plumbing suggestions" in 1978. I can hardly believe the mess this thing was. And to get to anything, we had to ooze through layers of mold and rotted caulk. Oh, and the builder used regular drywall behind the sink instead of green board or cement board like someone who is not an idiot. So I also had to patch disintegrating drywall. Now, of course, it needs painted because it looks like patched drywall.

And since we got the old vanity out (in pieces), we see that one of the shut-off valves leaks. We have to fix this before I can start on the floor. Because there is a big vanity-shaped patch of cement in my bathroom, with no flooring. Around it are three layers of flooring, each more horrific than the last. The bottom layer is thankfully past my ability (interest) to dig out. The second layer is bright almost-Williamsburg blue. The top layer is mauve. I don't know why, because it clashes with the pumpkin colored walls. If there were ever a room crying out for a neutral, it is this one.

I just have to thank God that we escaped the harvest gold bathroom fixtures.

Just finished up the master bath. I had it kind of botched, really, with two different shades of green and rough drywall. And the top two feet of the walls were siding that was peeling and not very nice. So I scraped peeling paint and textured the drywall. And filled rough spots. And primed, and painted.

I hurt.

And the ceiling is still peeling. We are just going to put up new bead board and be done with it. I cannot scrape and sand 100 square feet of ceiling. Just can't. I can already hardly breath from the sanding, etc. that we have already done. Mea has been a trooper, doing what work that she could and keeping me company when she couldn't.

The color is an awful pale apricot. It looks so... boring. But it is done. And it looks more "finished" than it did before. There is some fiddly bits around the shower to sort out, probably with caulk. I sort out a lot of things with caulk.

My closet is located inside my bathroom-- not the best plan, but it is an old house. Much of it does not appear to be planned. Anyway, now all the stuff that I pulled out on Tuesday has to go back in. And the house needs to be straighted up, because I have so not been picking up since I started on the latest round of paint. So there is laundry to be done and kid stuff to hide.

And a trip to the mother-in-law's to pack for.

Yes, gentle reader, my husband has scheduled a trip to see his mother. Neil Gaiman canceled his reading in Tulsa, so he figured that it couldn't get much worse, so we are packing up the minivan with all three kids and my husband's breathing machine and heading to southeast Missouri in the heat of the summer.

And tomorrow, I must finish the tile in the other bathroom. Todd finally put the cement board around the window so I can (did I mention that I started this job in April?), so I need to get that done. Why the push to finish up all my home improvement projects? My classes start on Monday. Only six hours this summer (as opposed to nine last summer-- that was insane). Oh, and I have an article to co-write in the next two weeks.

It is after midnight, so I suppose I should go to bed. So I guess I will.

Not the television show, but my life. Our toilet started hemorrhaging water last week, so we had to replace it. We wanted to replace the bathtub that had the big (filled) crack in it that felt like it was falling through the floor. We wanted to do that while the toilet was out.

So we did. The bathroom is still in pieces as we try to get a 60 in tub in a 60.5 in slot. That is what we have been doing all day. I cleaned (and bleached) the area under the tub because the old tub had been leaking so there was mold. Lots of mold. Dad came to help, which was a god-send. We really could not have done this without him (at least partially because Todd was temperamental and I was just mental by the end of the day.)

We got a lovely cast iron tub, but the problem, of course, is that it weighs 300 lbs.

My son just came dancing through the house singing, "It's in! It's in! It's in, in, in!" so I am guessing that is it in...

Just went and looked at the tub. The bathroom is shaping up to look really nice. We splurged a little on the fixtures (not that we went crazy, we bought like the second cheapest thing instead of the dead cheapest). Of course, the new fixtures look so pretty that I think we need new flooring... And new faucets would be nice, too.

Truthfully, I am just excited that the toilet will flush without having to hold the handle down. And that nothing leaks. I am not so excited about having to tile the surround. Anyway, there is still work to do, so I am off.

We have a new toy. Rather, Todd has a new toy. We bought a second-hand eMac today from a co-worker who is retiring. This will be *his* computer, since I swiped the desktop that I built in the fall. (I needed it for class ; >) He is ooing and awing overing it right now. It is beautiful.

I primed our cabinets in our kitchen so I can paint them. Then I need to paint the walls. I am pretty sick of renovation at this point. We are getting the house appraised next month so that we can start making payments (oh, joy of joys), but also so we can also quit buying building materials. So that will actually come out to be close to a wash. I love the way old houses look, but I am so sick of repairs that I could cry right now. When we get our closet project done, then we have to fix our bathroom. Fix is not a strong enough word, I am afraid "gut" is probably the more accurate word. We *have* to have a new bathtub and toilet. The old ones are just not salvageable, since they leak. Then of course, the new tub needs a shower surround tiled, and the floor replaced. All before the appraiser comes. *sigh*

The house needs new siding and a new furnace and air conditioner. But those are not on the top of the triage list, at the moment.

Today has been a catch up day. Yesterday we were without water. Not because I forgot to pay the bill this time, either. We were installing the new cabinet and nicked the water line and it was the next day before our plumber could get here. That was fun (not). All three kids and no water. And it was a wasted day because we couldn't do any more work on the cabinets. And I could not do laundry.

I did, however, work on my web portfolio. It looks kind of nice now, and needs to be translated to a brochure. A guy at one of the computer shops in town was asking me if I had one...

My cousin Joshua gave me the address of his Myspace where he has a couple of awesome songs that he has been working on. It always shocks me when someone I have known forever does something so cool...

I did get the Christmas tree taken down before we ripped up the kitchen. I guess that is something. And I did get Olivia's defective FurReal pet returned. She spent the money on a bike helmet and elbow and knee pads. She is a happy as she can be. She *loves* riding her bike. And Todd loves riding with her. He has so much fun with that.

We are really closing on the house tomorrow. We were supposed to close on Wednesday, but the termite inspection did not get done. None of the termite companies could inspect until all the garbage was pulled out from underneath the house. The seller wanted us to take $500 and ignore the garbage and sign off on the house without knowing whether or not the house had termites! Sometimes I wonder just how stupid people think I am?

Todd is hopeful that we can get the house ready to move into by the first of August. That would be really lovely. We really need to be moved by the 14th of August, as that is when Todd reports for school. On the 21st, I have to be available for meetings, and whatever else comes up. We really need to have almost all of our stuff out of here by then. Possibly just some stuff here to prop the place and possibly not.

Anyway, by then, we need to have the floor joists fixed, the foundation repaired, the sub-floor in the laundry room replaced, and the roof joists replaced. And the inside needs to be painted and the floors refinished. No pressure, right?

We went to the bank today to talk to the loan officer about the house. We're approved, for both loans. So we should be able to get some of the house in Conway repaired before we have to live there. The first things that have to be done are the piers corrected under the house and the floors sanded (well, after the carpet comes out). We got a book from the library that illustrates how piers were made in Arts and Crafts houses.

The roof joists need to be repaired as well. Todd and Dad think they have figured out a way to do that effectively, but it means the room that is there will have to be torn out. So Mea will not get "her" room for a while, but will have to stay in the Winnie the Pooh room.

So today we put a bid on a house in Conway. And tomorrow someone is coming to look at our house. I would LOVE for this to work out this quickly...

The house we bid on is on Oliver and needs bunches of work. We are under the impression that the work is cosmetic in nature. But there is a lot of cosmetic work. The carpet has to all be pulled up and the flooring either finished or replaced. The kitchen countertops don't match, but there are lots of cabinets. The hot water heater needs to be replaced sometime soon. The living room walls are paneled, and the adjacent dining room walls are orange. The original baseboards have been replaced in the bedrooms, but are still in the living room and dining room.

The outside needs work as well. Siding to be finished (we're never getting away from that are we?). And soffits. And places where the "older" roof does not match up perfectly with the "old" roof." But I love the brackets on the roof. And the bungalow roof line.