Sunday, May 29, 2011

Remodeling is not for sissies


This is the reason i have been somewhat AWOL....(also because we have been having intermittent computer issues, so far so good for now.) I really thought this remodel was going to take about 5-10  days.

After all, we were only doing two small bathrooms with all new floor and wall tile, vanities, toilet and sinks and faucets and new kitchen Corian countertops, new fans to fix our ventilation issues and repair under the house to fix our overflow leak from the tubs. It ended up being nearly 28 days. In retrospect i have no idea why i thought it would be less than two weeks.


But i love it and i love all the guys i hired from Roma Tile and Stone, Fineline Pacific (who did the Corian), Erichsen Brothers (who made our custom vanities to my specs with a drawer!)  and Drywall Paul (as i call him) who fixed our skylight and ceiling issues and redid the plumbing.

The photos don't really do justice because the color never comes out right on the Internet. I decided to paint both bathrooms two different colors so they don't look TOO twinlike. You can't tell but the tile on the floor is different from the tile on the wall. The tile on the wall is a 'linen-y' look. the floor has more colors in it. It picks up that maple from the vanities. 

The first 7 photos show the old stuff and that computer/guest room where we moved all the stuff  really tested my OCD after about two weeks. But i told myself it was like camping, which cracked up my tile guy because i think to him camping at a state park is for sissies. 

We had no bathroom sinks for two weeks and once they were in i still had this feeling that i had to brush my teeth over the toilet or kitchen sink. I lost my birth control pills one day, my blood pressure medication another day and never found my toenail clippers until i was able to put everything away.
I cannot believe that within 12 months i have painted FOUR TIMES in our little bathrooms. If you have been reading this blog you already know about my paint obsession. I swear i have probably lost about 3 inches of my square footage in the bathroom because of how many paint layers i have on that drywall! But when we were done, the blue i had painted last April did not work with the new everything. So i went with a new butter color (same as my kitchen) and love it because the skylight really brightens it. Even looking in the mirror makes my skin and hair look better because of the color with the lighting from the skylight. (If only i could bring that room to surround me all the time.)

I especially love our undermount sinks! And my new deeper kitchen sink. And Brian loves loves loves his new American Standard Cadet 3 toilet! LOL.  And my Corian is a total thrill. I chose two different colors: Willow for the kitchen and Fossil for the bathrooms. I love Corian. I love to run my hands over it. I love it's warmth. I have never liked anything shiny. (Not even patent leather shoes when i was a kid.) I have never been a fan of granite and believe that everyone just asks for it because they think they should. Same with stainless steel appliances. Someday i believe they will be as outdated as the avocado green appliances and the pink tile bathrooms. Plus it shows all the fingerprints which you never see when you are watching the HG Channel!

And speaking of appliances. I was not planning on this but I went out Friday and bought a new range and dishwasher too after much research. And because i don't like shiny, i bought straightforward white appliances. I bought a Whirlpool range (coil cause i can't do the smoothtop either because i have never ever seen one yet that wasn't scarred from misuse). I also bought a Maytag dishwasher.

I have been wanting a new self cleaning oven and our appliances are going on 12-15 years old. I figure if our plan is to sell this place in five years, why shouldn't WE enjoy the new appliances for a while? Plus i can't get those appliance faces that clean anymore and it's messing with my new Corian.

I'm only putting this up pretty much for history purposes so i know it's now a riveting new post and i won't keep it up long. But i know Barbara/eque is busy moving too and i'm wondering what the rest of y'all have been doing on Memorial Day.

9 comments:

jojo cucina cucina said...

Oh yeah, those Erichsen Brothers are the ones who made my custom built in hutch in the dining room back the late 90's. Those guys like me. Three brothers Booner, Perry and Butch. (Perry and i connected because we both flyfish).

I got those custom made vanities for $20 each. When i noticed that mistake later because i knew Booner (the brother who bids it out)bid it out as $40 a piece which i thought was cheap (because i was looking at $300 a dollars each online). So i called and told him that i owed him money because he only charged me $40 for both, he replied, 'i'm not worried about it'.

jojo cucina cucina said...

I forgot to say, they are solid maple.

amulbunny's random thoughts said...

I so miss having a vanity with storage. This bathroom has a pedestal sink, a tiny cabinet over the throne and an even tinier cabinet across from the HUGE shower.
The new house has nice bathrooms. I am so happy to see this move .

louielouie said...

Jo I like your bathrooms. Can hardly wait to use them.

When we got a new stove a couple of years ago I got a white GE electric coil model. I love it. White is the way to go and I want nothing to do with those smooth top ranges. I have never seen one that looks good outside of the showroom.

Remodeling IS not for sissies. The best thing about our kitchen-bathroom redo a couple of years ago was that I couldn't host anything over the holidays. We spent a couple of weeks with no where to cook. I got to know the local restaurant menus by heart.

I'm still happy with the decisions we made too, love the tile floors.

louielouie said...

Great Memorial Day Weekend

We started it off Friday night at Safeco Field and watched the Mariner’s beat the Yankees. It was a long game but the weather was perfect and the score was outstanding.

Saturday we helped friends of Em move into an apartment on Capital Hill in Seattle. The best thing about the move was that it did not rain. Also, they didn’t have that much stuff and hardly any furniture so it was easy work. Our good friends B & B moved last weekend and it took two moving trucks. We'll help them do some unpacking on Saturday, but they needed professionals to move all their stuff- including a pool table.

We went to see the Bridesmaids with Maya Rudolph and Kristine Wiig. Cannot recommend it. Stayed up to watch the Mariner’s win in 12 innings.

Sunday I went to work for a few hours before my cut n’ color. Wanted to not have to worry about work the rest of the weekend. It was a good idea, but I woke up in the middle of the night remembering a board presentation summary I need to have done by Wednesday. So I did a little work today too.

Mostly lazing around today. I did drive my dad’s truck (a 92 Mazada) to the car place so Ron could drop off the van. I wanted to practice my shifting before I drive up the hill to Bonney Lake in the morning. I do fine; ride the clutch a little but who cares. I need to run to the grocery store, but I have two steaks to grill so all is good

jojo cucina cucina said...

louie/sarah, i thought you learned all about driving a shift when you practiced on my car that day i locked the keys in YOUR car while it was running and the Triple A guy had to come rescue us so we could go have wine a Jakes....

I for some reason can no longer post on my own blog in Internet Explorer and have to use Mozilla. I log in and it acts like it recognizes me and i go to post and it asks me to do it again. Brian and i are in a spending mood these days since we didn't buy that house and after this we are buying that Mac desktop and we're having a custom built desk made for it with drawers for our guest room.

Sarah are you game for getting together soon at the new wine bar that took over il fiasco? Let me know. It might have to be a weeknight because our weekends are booked now. Rita from Vashon offered us TWICE to stay at her beach place for free and we haven't been able to do it including this coming weekend.

I am a little bit embarrassed to admit that i watched three house of the Casey Anthony trial before i even got out of bed to go for a run. But i needed a break and that's what i chose. It's almost as riveting as the OJ trial.

the pool opened up this weekend and those crazy kids are over there. I can hear them as i type. The bad news is this year they got rid of the adult hours. The board says it's against federal law. I am going to look up that law because i never trust this board.

Right now they have little tiny American flags all over the place and the sign says they will be up until July 5th. I'm all for flying the flag on Memorial day and July 4th and mine is flying right now. But i can't help but feel i'm living in RepublicanLand with these 84,000 little tiny flags stuck in the ground.

Remember that bumper sticker back in Bush days that said something like these colors never fade? and the irony of that bumper sticker was that red does indeed fade. And that's what is going to happen. On the amazing event that we get some sun to do that job.

OK, let's see if Mozilla lets me put this up under my own name and not as Anonymous.

jojo cucina cucina said...

I meant HOURS of Casey Anthony. HOURS. not House.

And if i were on that jury. She is soooooo guilty. I would vote to convict right away. I hope Ann Rule is there getting ready to write a book. I wish Dominique Dunn was still alive to write it.

fialka012 said...

❤❤❤

Amanda said...

Casey Anthony is definitely guilty...and not just because Nancy Grace says so (I hate her!). Court TV is very addictive. I try to keep that channel off my guide. Otherwise, I lose huge chunks of time. Kinda like home shopping, I guess. I'm a sucker for home shopping. I never buy anything, but there's something meditative (or comatose) about it. Classic baseball, too.

The remodel looks great. I like how clean it looks. Love the paint, too. I've always been a renter, so I fantasize about paint.

The kids in my neighborhood are yelling and screaming in the street every night. I feel bad being irritated. Did we make that much noise when we were young?

Happy Sunny Weekend, Jo!