Bathroom progress

This is a before photo. We have since removed the old vanity, bathtub and plywood as well as the sheet rock on the wall with the window. Dad added insulation to that wall and put up a vapor barrier so I will stay warmer in the winter. Thanks Dad!

Mama and Papa moving the bathtub into position.

The new tub is in! It is white, but appears blue due to a protective film on the surface.

Yay for a new tub! Now I'm working on finding a new narrow depth vanity...

Unfortunate turn of events

I just received a call from Mom. She said a tree fell on 121Wilmoth in Ames. This is the Iowa house I proudly posted pictures of a couple weeks ago when we finished it. Mom and Dad are going to survey the damage tomorrow and will hopefully get me some pictures to post.

This is obviously a before photo. It was the tree on the left side of the photo that fell across the garage and fireplace room. We already know the overhang on the garage was sheared completely off, but are unsure of any other structural damage.

Our beautiful house that we worked SO hard to fix up...

One month of home ownership

And what a month it has been. We made lots of progress on the house today with the help of Mom, Dad, Andrew and family friend Shannon. Dad hauled one dump trailer load off this morning and then a second dump trailer load this afternoon! I envision more dump trailer loads in our future as we are not done tearing apart the basement. The upstairs bathroom is completely gutted and ready to have the sub-floor reinforced so tile and the tub can be installed. We have accomplished a lot in the past month!

New photos!

I took these with my cell phone, emailed them to myself, downloaded them to Picasa and then uploaded them to Blogspot. Whew! All for your viewing enjoyment. I sure hope my old fashioned digital camera works again soon!

The sub-floor in the kitchen and the walls where the paneling used to be.

Dad sawed the plywood into chunks and then we used brute strength to pry it up. It was nailed into the sub-floor and for good measure they put probably 500 screws in it, too. Not fun!

The tile in the bathroom is almost gone. The vanity and awful tub are going on Friday. The plywood will also come out on Friday.

Because the sub-floor in the kitchen was very weak in many places, we need to reinforce it from below. So that meant the sheetrock in the bedroom below the kitchen had to go. Here is the before picture...

...and the after picture! Clearly we need to address some wiring issues and also some water issues.
The pile of junk we tore out of the bedroom below the kitchen. It is going to the dump on Friday!

We've slowly but surely been making progress and will soon be able to start the process of putting the place back together. My kitchen tile is on back order, but it should be in soon. We are looking to start painting soon and then redo the wood floors.

Tile has been ordered

Just got back from ordering the kitchen tile at Lowe's! It has blue undertone (blue is my favorite color) and will look next to my natural maple cabinets. Dad also purchased the tile backer cement board and plywood for reinforcing the floor from below. Can't wait to put it in!!

No more kitchen

The last cabinet was torn out this afternoon around 2:30pm!

Other highlights:
Got one piece of plywood off the kitchen floor and decided we'd wait until Dad had the Skilsaw along for the rest.
Purchased a new bathtub and tub surround at Menard's!

Doesn't sound like much, but I was of no help with my back injury and Mom left at 1pm to go babysit the munchkins. So Dad carried the team today with his Sawzall and cabinet demolition skills. Thank you Dad!

A trip down kitchen memory lane!

Since I can't get my camera uploader to work (keeps saying "device not found" - have tried everything to no avail - please email me if you have any ideas!), I thought it would be a fine time to pay tribute to the kitchen that is no longer. The cabinets, appliances, floor and paneling had many good years together, but alas they are on their way to find new homes. Enough of the drama, look at these pictures!

That tribute to ingenuity that was the added counter space (on the far left) was first to go. What a bunch of tired looking cabinets. They were so dirty and covered with years of grease - disgusting.

The mis-matched cabinets, tile with wandering grout lines and wall that says it was last painted in 1984. Shudder. For the record, I was born in 1982, so that paint is almost as old as I am!

Really hope to post new photos soon!