Operation New Bathroom Part I

19 Jan

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We’ve got some great momentum going in the renovation of our upstairs guest bathroom. Not without a unforeseen setback, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Just to catch everyone up, here is what the bathroom looked like when we moved in.

Due to a leaking tub, we demo’d it completely pretty quickly and then it sat like that for a while.

I created a mood board of what I want this bathroom to look like.hall bathroom mood board_edited-1

So here’s what she’s looking like as of today with drywall (the mold-resistant kind from USG), tile backer, electrical and plumbing.

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We had the electrician come in to wire for sconces which will go above the vanity and put in can lights and a fan.IMG_2200

You might be asking, “what fan?” It’s actually built in to one of those can lights. Cool, right? I’m not a big fan of the look of bathroom fans so when I saw this one at Menards, I was sold. It just blends right in.

Everything was rolling along nicely, until Ben found this.

photo-79Yep, our copper pipes were corroded. Both the waste line (seen here) and the vent pipes. Luckily that huge hole was on the top of the pipe so no sewage could get out.

To fix the pipes Ben tells me he needs to rip out a huge hole in the downstairs bathroom wall and kitchen ceiling. I was thrilled!

But actually it wasn’t bad and he had it all done and cleaned up in a few hours. But we do have some remaining holes in those rooms.

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Next up in the bathroom will be underfloor heating and then tile. We debated the underfloor heating but all our guests absolutely loved it in the last house (and we did too). We found a good deal on the size we needed which was only $99 from Menards. That doesn’t include the thermostat, but that shouldn’t be too much online. IMG_2202We’d like to do a tutorial of how to lay this stuff, so stay tuned for that.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! It’s a long one for me because of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday so I am pumped.

The New Roof

11 Jan

I finally get to post photos of our new roof. We got this done mid-December but then it snowed the very next day (good timing?) and it’s been covered with snow up until yesterday. I didn’t even get to see it completed in the daylight.

It has been in the 50°’s the last couple of days, so all the snow melted, and ta-da a new roof is underneath!

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Here’s the before:

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It is hard to tell with the angle of that before picture, so here is a view from the back which I think demonstrates the change even more.

Before:

Back of house and pool

After:

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We used architectural shingles from CertainTeed. The color is “Moire Black” which is actually a dark gray/black mix, not pure black. The architectural shingles give it a lot more dimension. We’re really happy with it.

And guess who installed it?

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My Dad! He comes highly recommended.

Right now, it is full speed ahead on the bathroom. So far Ben has laid the Durock, installed the new tub (it turned out to be cheaper than re-surfacing the old pink one), and built the shower niches.

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We picked out tile (12×12 marble from Home Depot), toilet and ordered the vanity from Home Decorators. And the electrician is coming Monday to wire the room for can lights and sconces.

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Stay tuned for bathroom updates, plus we finally have the doors in upstairs. Photos to come.

 

20 Christmas Trees & Ice Skating in the Pool

5 Jan

First there were 12 Oaks, now we have 20 Spruces! Yep, we planted a whopping 20 six foot evergreens, and no we are not starting a Christmas tree farm. We bought these to line the area of our property that backs up to a busy-ish road. A natural fence and sound barrier if you will.

We got a great deal on them from a nursery down the street and actually bought them before the snow hit, but just got them in the ground this week now that Ben is finally feeling better.

So here we were unloading them in December, with the help of an excavator Ben borrowed from his client/friend, Rick.IMG_2057

IMG_2059Ben wasn’t the only one who had fun on the big machinery, though. He taught me how to drive and operate it, it is actually easier than it looks and a lot of fun.

Here’s a few of them today. They are staggered 15 feet apart (the recommended distance) so they should grow together nicely in the future.

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We put straw around the base to keep them from freezing. There is still a lot of scrub which needs to be cleared out. But all that will have to wait until Spring now.

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Doc is really loving the property and of course is always there to lend a hand paw.

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We also had a blast ice skating for the first time on the frozen pool this week! We didn’t even have to buy any ice skates, the old owners left a bunch of pairs that fit us.

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We got a kick out of watching Doc relentlessly try to dig out a tennis ball frozen in the ice. Poor guy.

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Plus, I think I found one sport I am better at than Ben! Yeah that’s right I can skate backwards and he can’t.

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I’m sure there will be much more ice skating throughout the winter!

 

Homemade, Sentimental Art

28 Dec

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We spent ours with my family in Rockford. It was a great holiday other than Ben having the flu for the past week. He’s on the mend now but missed out on some yummy meals.

This blog post is about my favorite Christmas gift this year. Ben surprised me by converting a sign that we made for our wedding into a piece of sentimental art!

Here it is hung in our dining room:

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The trees are a pair of Pohutukawas (Native New Zealand trees) that we used throughout the wedding on the invitations, programs, welcome bags, etc.

Here’s what the chalkboard sign used to look like, at the wedding:

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We built it with cedar and chalkboard paint, and loved it so much we knew we would keep it and incorporate it into our home somehow.

I kind of forgot about it, so was pleasantly surprised when Ben showed it to me on Christmas. The white trees are actually a sticker that Ben had made from his t-shirt/sign guy. He made some similar ones, just smaller, for the bags set we had made for the wedding. So Ben just painted over the chalk and put on the sticker and viola! A gigantic piece of homemade and sentimental art.

I also like how it helps balance out our large, new light fixture, the Arturo 8 Light Chandelier from Ballard Designs that I wasn’t sold on before but now I love.

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It makes me smile. What do you think?