#ladydianereno - Guest Bathroom

The guest bathroom has been nightmare after nightmare! But isn't that how it goes when you remodel a 30 year old house? With only a few things left on my list here's the latest update on the guest bathroom... 

The new door (that needs to be painted) and the new trim (that needs another coat of paint)

One day I'll get around to hanging floating shelves to the left of the vanity. 

Double hand towel bars

I spy a little helper...

The finished patched strip of tile!

Sources for the hand towel bar, faucet, mirror, light fixture

It's hard patching new into the old and there are probably things I would do differently if I had to do them over. I'm trying to make mental notes of those things when we move on to the next project. 

So what's left on the to do list: 

- baseboards

- paint door

-paint trim

- decorate

-crown moulding

I think our next project will either be the laundry room board and batten or updating the front porch columns. But maybe first... a little project break! 

#ladydianereno - Guest Bathroom (Update)

I'm finally cooled off enough to write out an update on the #guestbathoverhaul. 

When I removed the linen cabinet and vanity from the guest bathroom there was no tile underneath. This was something I was expecting and luckily we had found a box of leftover tile in the garage. Unluckily it was the original tile they installed when they built the house over 30 years ago and I couldn't find any more of it anywhere. There wasn't enough to completely cover the space I needed to patch. So I figured out where my vanity would be and patched only where it would show. 

I was feeling pretty good about our work. Figuring out the puzzle and spacing out the tile just right. Fast forward to Thursday of Spring Break. Surplus Warehouse was having a 20% off sale on everything in their store. Jonathan waited in line for HOURS to purchase our new shower/tub unit, toilet and vanity top for the guest bathroom. We had the plumber come out and remove the rest of the old tub we couldn't get out and he couldn't do anything else except cap off the pipes before the new unit was installed. Then I cut out the drywall so he could have access after we installed it. 

Jonathan finally got everything purchased and loaded up and brought it home. We had to take off the bathroom door and some extra drywall to get the one piece tub unit to fit, but it fit!! We successfully got it out of the truck. We successfully got it through the front door and down the hall. We successfully got it into the bathroom and lined up to be pushed in place. We ended up having to take off more drywall to be able to push it back.

Jonathan removed all but the back wooden support pieces and then handed me the drill to do the last one. He told me to hold it with my other hand. I thought he meant the screw and I didn't ask for clarification... can you see where this is going...
I didn't hold the wood support with my other hand and it fell into the brand new bathtub my husband stood in line for hours to purchase. And it cracked the tub. I was devastated for days. I will be able to patch it and you shouldn't be able to tell.

It was all a downward spiral after that. We got the tub in place and called the plumber back, but he couldn't come back out until the following week. And even though I swear I measured the tub we were left with a 3" gap between the existing tile and the new tub. Remember how I said we only had one box of tile? And couldn't find matching tile anywhere online?

After going round and round about what our next step should be... I decided to try to remove the matching tile in the boys' bathroom to see if I could get enough pieces to patch that 3" strip. I wanted to redo their vanity and remove the built-in cabinets one day anyway and that would require new flooring.

 So I pulled out the built-ins to find...water damage and mold. I can not win.

  Then I discovered that those little strips of tile would fit perfectly in that strip I needed to patch. I'm thinking "no problem they're little they should pop right up". I only got one of those perfectly sized pieces up in one piece. Ugh. I moved on to the next row of tiles. First tile...shattered. Second tile...shattered. Third tile.. shattered but left enough to cut a piece!

All of this happened on Thursday and Jonathan and the boys were leaving Friday morning to camp all weekend with his brother and his son. So Friday, I ran away to Palestine to see my sister and BIL before they headed back to Midland. I also ended up going to Waco on Saturday with my SIL and our girls (couldn't let our boys have all the fun). It was a good trip. A good chance to get away from all my missed shots. Get some inspiration and just not dwell on the failing projects back home.

And then today came. A Monday no less! The plumber came and installed the new pipes and my shower faucet. I forgot to get a drain that matched before he came so he just installed the chrome one he had (we'll switch it out when I get the matching set), but I don't care. I'm calling it a WIN!

Then during sister's afternoon nap I took another try at the tile removal. And the first tile that I tried to get up CAME UP WHOLE!! And it just so happens that I can get two pieces out of this whole tile and that's all I needed to have enough to patch the 3" strip!! For the championship!!!

Still left in the Guest Bathroom To Do

- remove built-in / vanity / toilet / bathtub unit

- patch tile under the vanity / built-in

- scrape popcorn ceiling / paint ceiling

- install new bathtub unit and new shower faucet

- patch tub

- patch drywall / tape / mud

- update door

- paint walls

- install new baseboards

- install new toilet

- build new vanity / paint / install

- install new vanity top / sink / faucet

- update light fixture

- update blinds

- install farmhouse trim around window

#ladydianereno - Guest Bathroom

It seems as if our Spring Break project has become clear... remodeling the Guest Bathroom. This has been on my to do list, but there were several other things I wanted to do first. But when you discover several cracks/holes in the tub the project gets bumped up on the priority list. 

So, here are the before pictures of our Guest Bathroom. 

  

  

   

To Do List: 

- remove built-in / vanity / toilet / bathtub unit

- patch tile under the vanity / built-in

- scrape popcorn ceiling / paint

- install new bathtub unit and new shower faucet

- update door

- paint walls

- install new baseboards

- install new toilet

- build new vanity / paint / install

- install new vanity top / sink / faucet

- update light fixture

- update blinds

- install farmhouse trim around window

Check out Facebook and Instagram for our progress pics!

#ladydianereno - Boys' Room

Our house was originally a 2 bedroom, 2 bath house. The people we bought the house from added on 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom and a playroom. So we decided that the original master bedroom was perfect for the boys to share and they would have their own bathroom. I was excited about our guests not having to share a bathroom with the boys...

Before (pink walls and flowery wallpaper and all!):

First thing to go - popcorn ceilings and wallpaper border. We painted the ceiling and the walls. 

In Progress:

 Another project I had been wanting to do for the boys was building them pipe beds. Those are so popular right now and so expensive at furniture stores. I was on a tight budget and I was having to make two! I started with these plans and made it my own for the boys. It was a little tricky figuring out how to put them together because when you start connecting the pieces, you're tightening one side while simultaneously loosening the other. It took my mom and I a while to figure out the method. And the boys loved the outcome!

#ladydianereno - Entry

The Entryway is one area in the house that I was really excited to see the transformation. A little before picture to get us started (that's my dad modeling for us)...

I wanted the shiplap look for the industrial farmhouse style I'm going for in this house, but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. 

You can find cheap DIY shiplap tutorials all over Pinterest. I used a combination of blogs for inspiration. We ended up using 4' x 8' sheets of this thin plywood from Lowes. Jonathan cut each sheet into 5" strips using the Kreg's Rip-Cut guide. I will add that he cut many sheets before we got this tool and he did an awesome job!

 

We got the strips up and painted (and fast forward weeks of touch and go progress) and here you go.

I also wanted to bust up the mismatched tile.

The large tile goes through our dining room and kitchen. It was not installed well and is painful to walk on when we are barefooted. We won't be putting down new flooring until we rework our kitchen, but I would rather walk on smooth concrete than stub my toe on corners of tile that stick up too much. I've been looking at this mismatched tile for too long... It just stared back laughing at me. It had to go. Bye Felicia. 

In an attempt to contain my mess, I just started with the smaller tile in the entry. The boys even got in on it! 

And because it's a house project we hit our first speed bump pretty early. The mastic under those smaller tiles was original to the house (over 30 years old). I don't know what they used but it did not want to come up. We tried all kinds of things to no avail. Finally we bought an air hammer. How could you go wrong buying a new power tool?? It got it up, but it took so long and drained us and the air compressor fast! It took us a few weeks to get everything up. But finally...

We changed out the dated light fixture to a more industrial farmhouse looking fixture from Shades of Light. 

Added a new console table and a few knick knacks, but haven't fully decorated. I'd love to hang a large chalkboard over the table. Here's where we are today!

To do list: 

remove walls

remove tile

add shiplap

change light fixture

change out electrical outlets

lay new flooring

add baseboards
texture ceiling

replace front door

#ladydianereno - Closet

I know that title doesn't exactly pull you in... a closet redo? Really? Yeah a closet! A closet that didn't exist now exists! And who doesn't want more storage in their house?

We'll start with a few before pictures.

Honestly, I can't even believe these pictures anymore. Now it looks like this...

We built a wall! Not like Donald Trump...we paid for this wall. We didn't ask Mexico to pay for it. How could I not go there when we built a WALL?!? Any who... I digress. 

So this new wall creates a new built-in space for the fridge (creating better work flow in the kitchen), creates more space in the laundry room (Hallelujer!), and it creates space for a new closet! I guess technically it can be a linen closet, but we're using it for board games and movies.
(If you want to see more details about the wall you can check it out HERE!)

Here's the progression of the closet. 

  

 

We framed in the rough in (and turns out we didn't leave ourselves enough extra...it was a whole thang) and then added drywall. Then mudded and taped all of the seams. And after each layer you have to sand them down. That's not fun. And that doesn't show up on progress pictures so major bummer for me there. Then I painted the closet and Jonathan added the shelves. Then we installed the door and painted it and installed the hardware.

Here's the deal. When you are beginner DIYers and you have three kids it takes FOREVER to get one tiny little closet done. Because after school, soccer practice for both boys, small group, other ministries, work, and throw in nursing a baby in there a few times... there is no time to mud the corners of a closet. You don't realize how many seams a tiny little closet has until you have to mud all bajillion of them. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic.

I still have to add the farmhouse trim around the door. And paint the walls in that alcove, but I'm waiting until we can texture them. And when I say "we" I mean we will hire someone with the right equipment who is a lot faster than me.

So that's our new closet. I'm really excited to have it finished and functional to take advantage of that new storage! Woohoo!

Next up...more shiplap. I couldn't get enough so I'm adding more to my dining room! :)