the new (old) tub is in the house

lisa, jeff, and chris came over to help move the tub in. yes, it really take 5 people to move this thing.  

jeff and chris did the heavy lifting

today is the last day we have until we head back to work. it feels like the two weeks have flown by. i know weve done a lot but we still have much to do! the goal for the end of the day is to get the tub set up, the toilet back in and the sink in so that we have a functioning bathroom. fingers crossed!

bits and pieces

gosh. today we finally finish the wall tile!!! tiling takes a heck of a lot longer in real life than in my head. james and i have never tiled before, and now know that its h.a.r.d work! our bathroom is 9X9, which is a pretty good size for a house that is only 836 square feet! thats a l.o.t of tile goin' on. its been more hard emotionally, i think, to get through the tiling part than the physical labor. thank elvis the rest of our house will be wood and paint!

here are some quick pictures from this morning. lisa, jeff, and chris are coming over in a little while to help us move the new (old) clawfoot tub in. yes, it will take at least 5 people. turns out cast iron tubs are freaking heavy!!

james post tile cutting. wet saws are a messy business, friends

my feet and the new (old) clawfeet

my driveway. on the left is teresa and willys camper (aka where i pee) and on the right is my old (old) tub. the garbage man didnt take it away. rude. hunter is just hanging out enjoying his saturday....

my coffee is actually not bigger than the walls. its just closer to the camera.

we called in a plumber

she thinks she found the problem

rue mcclanahan: part time mouser, part time plumber

the walls are going up!

so we (finally) started putting the walls up (or is it on?). its looking so great! sooooooo much better than it was! love it!

subway tile!

the floor is done...and is awesome!

whew. the floor is done and it looks so great! the grout really changed how the floor looked. we used 'snow white' color grout, which is not quite bright white. tomorrow we tile the walls. honestly, we are dreading it cause we think it will be hard! we had planned to return to work tomorrow but now are taking this week of as well so we can finish everything.

here is how the floor turned out:

penny wants to help

so now  you want me to move the cheesecloth in circles?

and here it is!

a day of rest and then some grouting

we went ahead and took yesterday as our labor day. so we rested. we went to home depot for some supplies then went  to three different plumbing stores to find the overflow and waste pipes we need for the tub. james had his heart set on chrome and turns out most are plastic 'cause they are usually hidden by walls. our will show a bit though so he wanted the chrome. so. as luck would have it george moreland had it.

the rest of the day was mellow. we went to case study for some delicious coffee and talked to chris about the joys of diy tiling. check out the bathrooms at  case study on 53rd and sandy. chris did a great job on those!

i made some stuffed peppers and james worked on the floor trim. we had an early night!

this morning the plan was to put in the floor trim then tile the walls. then tomorrow grout the whole thing. but then james realized we have to grout the floor before we can put in the floor trim. oh. rude. so. change of plans. we will now grout the floor today then tomorrow (it has to cure for 16 hours) we will put in the trim and tile the walls. we will also bring in the toilet (hurray!) and the tub so we can figure out where it will sit. james has to drill for the drain and the tub filler. so, a little bit of a delay but we will press on. progress!

james mixing up the grout

mmmmmmm grout

the new floor is in!

the floor is in!!! it looks really good!

weve never tiled anything before so this was quite an undertaking for us. i was actually reading parts of the tile book aloud as we went. listen up kids, books are full of knowledge. open one up! (thats my psa for you)

here is pretty much what we are starting with:

laying the tile. nobody puts baby...errr, james..in a corner!

and ta-da!

it wasnt a 'fun' project, im not gonna lie. but it looks fantastic! we will grout it tomorrow. today we lay out the wall tile. gulp.

if you asked me what tips i have for you on tiling your own floor id say "after you mix your thinset wait 10 minutes and mix it again before you use it. it will go on like yogurt not nugat if you do that. mmm nugat is good, though ive never seen it in anything other than a snickers bar". and also "dont worry about 'perfection'. life isnt perfict. if your gaps are a little bigger over here than over there dont fret! get a little area rug or just learn to love the uniqueness of your handiwork. no one else in the world has a floor like that!"

we finished at 3am this morning. after a big nap and breakfast we will start the walls. then grout both tomorrow then seal them both tuesday. then tuesday night i soak in my new (old) tub and enjoy the sweet view of my new bathroom!!!

how cute is this photo? i love how rue mcclanahan is leaving the shot. (and the bathroom)

the curtains were hung by the water heater with care

check it out! i made some curtains to hang in front of the new plumbing wall. dont look t.o.o closely though, as its the first time ive ever made curtains!

floor tiles comin' down. layin' down? anyway, being put on the floor

ok! so. yesterday we had a bit of a hick up. james was preparing the floor for the tiles (puting the hardybacker stuff down) and came across some f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c floor rot. beautiful stuff. so. he spent the day under the house repairing and reinforcing the floor. the good news is we wont fall through!

so, now, today back on track and we are just minutes away from laying the floor tiles. woot.

see, hunter and penny are like 'where do we start'. little helpers!

laundry room (done)

yaaahooooo! the laundry room is 99.9% done! i just have to make the curtain to hang in front of the pex and then trim and paint the window. omg. i. love. these. tiles.!

here is the view of where the water heater lives

and here is the where the washer/dryer lives


this is the fabric im going to make curtains with. (you can see the curtain rod in the photo with the hot water heater.

laundry room so close to completion!

so today has been productive! i waxed the new floor in the laundry room. i stained and waxed the trim pieces then james hung them up. the room is really coming together!

james finished the plumbing (YAAA HOOO). turns out re-plumbing your whole house, even when its tiny like ours is a big deal. but now its done and we can move on!



this is what some of the plumbing looks like. red for hot water lines and blue for cold!


we are now going to put back in the hot water heater (in front of those plumbing lines, as two of them attach to the heater) and the washer and dryer. then the oly things left are i need to make a curtain to cover those pipes (i dont want to put the fabric tiles over them) and then need to paint the windowsills brown and james needs to add the windowsill trim. (then i need to paint those too). we will wait until the bathroom is in working order for those pieces!

then we will remove the tub and toilet from the bathroom and prep the floor for tile and then lay out how we want them. then tomorrow morning we begin the floor tile!