Laura's Renovation Adventure

I am trying very hard to persuade my parents to move down here. They live about 100 miles north of here, in the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks. Understandably, they are reluctant to leave. My mom has lived 90% of her life there. She lived a few years in Kansas City, MO when she was a young child, and hated it. She did not leave again until college, and finished that in 3 years. Her first teaching job was in the mountains, too, but they were Ouchitas and could not compete with her beloved Ozarks.

But then her mother died.

And she got cancer. (In remission, by the way).

Now her knees are bad.

So, especially after the ice storm this winter, I am getting a little concerned about them living 35 miles from anywhere and 100 miles from me.

So we house stalk. Today, they finally walked into one. It is FSBO, but it is really, really lovely.

Curbly is a blog dedicated to DIY home decorating. Articles range from button paperclips to The Laziest Slipcover Tutorial Ever.

My own advise for inexpensive decorating is this: fall in love with an era where people built catalog furniture out of real wood. Springs are usually shot, but often there is enough wood around the springs to lay plywood over the top. This makes the furniture feel like a padded bench rather than a spring-y new sofa. But in my house, with three kids, nothing feels new and spring-y for more than 15 minutes anyway. Almost any design ill can be solved with black paint and slipcovers.

So tonight, I was at my parents' house for dinner, which is unusual since they live a couple hours away. I was in town for a funeral, and ran into my mom there.

Anyway, I told my dad what we had gotten done in the master bath, and he was most impressed with us. :) And best of all, he says that he can help us replace toilets later this month. Our fixtures are old, and they weren't top of the line when they were installed in 1978. And the college aged male renters did not improve them along the way. If things go well, this should be a really quick change-out. Of course, things hardly ever go well...

Being back to work, I can't really get my bathroom finished. The paint is spotchy in places, even though it is Benjamin Moore. I don't think a one-coat paint exists. Around where we had to repair the medicine cabinet, the Spackle is not as nice as it could be-- I may just texture that area & forget trying to make it smooth.

Spring break is over, but not my renovation project. Parts of it are done, though. The new vanity is in. The new faucet is in. The shut-off valves are replaced (they are compression valves-- I am not brave enough to solder copper). The sink has a drain-- I replaced the trap and ran it into the drain. The trap is pvc, but the pipe in the wall is ABS. This required a connector and a glue that the man at the hardware store sent home with my husband. I've talked before here about men not believing that I know anything about plumbing, so I sent the pieces with my husband and told him what I needed (because he really does not know anything about plumbing).

The bright side is that once I finish the painting and the edging on the floor, it is pretty much done.I have not started with the floor by the toilet, yet. The joy of peel and stick tiles is that I can do part of the project, and then stop. ;) The toilet needs replacing, but I am kind of afraid to tackle that without my dad around for moral support at the least.

Last week, I spent $80 on bamboo matchstick blinds for my breakfast nook, so my window treatment budget is pretty tapped out.

My six year old, however, whose room is on the decorating list because she is sweet about it, needs something other than the nasty mini-blinds that came with the house. My co-worker, however, posted a link to a diy roman shade tutorial last week. I, however, am only seeing it this week since I now have to leave my home with my nearly-complete bathroom to breathe air and see the rest of the world.

I'll post pictures of both projects when if I ever get done.

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.