10.15.18

Last day with the shower stall that I hate. :) Demo on the upstairs bathroom starts tomorrow.

Last “before “ photos:

9.10.18

We're starting another remodeling project--this time the first and second floor bathrooms. Rather than start a new blog for these remodels, I will post the updates here. After all, it will be the removal of the last pink item in our house—the bathtub on the first floor.

 We're starting with the first floor bathroom. I’ll post the before pictures here.

This is how it used to be decorated:


Truly, this flamingo shower curtain was the only thing holding the bathroom together.

Dark green walls, red towels, pinkish tan floor, 

White toilet, marbled brown sink, light wood tone vanity and medicine cabinet and lights

Here are some photos of the empty bathroom the night before demo began, so you can see the mishmash of colors and patterns and general yuck:

Impressed at how well the off-white tile has held up. Keeping the glass block window, as it's in fine condition, too.

But that bathtub! omg. The hideous peachy pink, and the scratched, stained bottom that had been scoured so many times it couldn't be cleaned. And plumbing that's a tight J-trap and probably completely blocked with who-knows-what.

 We put in that vinyl--over very pink tile to try to tone down the pinkness.

I really think that photos don't do it justice. Fingers crossed that the things we picked out will look okay together. :)

11.21.16

We did have one small project that we wanted to do in the kitchen, but we kind of ran out of money before we could do it:  installing a tile backsplash.  (It's pretty pricey and the installation is really expensive) Several friends said it was easy to do, and when one of them (Margaret) even offered to help and to loan us her tools, we decided to give it a try.  No time like the week before Thanksgiving to rip apart your kitchen, right?  :)


Before pics:

During pics:

After pics:

I absolutely love it!

All told, it took about 21 man-hours and cost just over $200.  Totally worth it.  :)

6.25.16

And we're done!

I guess we were officially done on 6/8/16 (almost exactly 4 months after we started the remodel), but this has been my first chance to post the final before-after pics.


I'm a little disappointed in the "before" pics I took as I realized I didn't capture all the things that were bad about the house before (like the whole back side with peeling paint and warped siding), and didn't take pictures of the living room/entryway either.  Oh, well.  Take my word for it--what we have now is definitely an improvement.  :)

But here are the side-by-side before and after pictures I put together.

Siding and windows and soffits/gutters/downspouts

Siding and windows and soffits/gutters/downspouts

windows, patio door, siding--this one shows the most accurate colors (pink to brown)

patio! the before shot is actually after they'd put in the patio door, so ignore that ;)

Door and window and stoop and sidewalk removed--replaced with flowers; siding replaced

window, door, stoop and sidewalk; new siding on front and side

siding replaced; trim and garage door painted

Doorway widened; door removed; paint; cabinets

cabinets and countertop, paint, floor, appliances, window taken out

stove, floor, cabinets and countertops, window gone, sink and faucet, dishwasher

sink, paint, cabinets and countertops, window/patio door, floor

cabinets and countertops, floor, paint

cabinets and countertops, window/patio door, paint

cabinets and countertops, floor, paint

Cabinets and countertops, paint, floor

carpet, paint, curtains (and furniture rearranged)

5.15.16

Well, we're making progress, at least.

We picked out new flooring.  The majority of the house will be cork, but the entryways will be a wood-look tile.  Here's the samples near each other:

OK, I think I might actually like these better than our original bamboo choice

Here are the images from the website or store, to get the idea of how it looks when installed: 

The flooring is all ordered and supposed to arrive this week.  Installation was originally scheduled for June 6th, but we said that was not acceptable.  So somehow they found time for us the week of May 23rd.

We also found a rug that we like:

We got curtains and put them up, but the curtain rods we ordered bent under the weight of the curtains.  Not heavy curtains--just flimsy rods.  But we have newer, sturdier rods for them now.

We're starting to put things back up on the walls.  Here's the photo ledge:

The painter suggested all black frames, so I might start collecting some.  Can't afford to buy 25 at once.

We painted our formerly-wood toned key caddy and shoe caddy black:

And we're preparing for the outside stuff.  We plan to use the stones from our old patio to make a walkway to the front of the house.  The guys pulled them all up yesterday because the patio company is coming tomorrow to start demo.

The side of the house with the useless step and sidewalk are what will be pulled up tomorrow.  Not sure how long it'll take for the rest of the work (patio and step and repair on our front step).  They're also bringing dirt so I can finish my raised garden bed from mother's day: