Bathroom Redo

Since I just posted pictures of Ada in our bathroom, I thought now would be the time to share this old post I had saved :) The first picture is how it looked when we bought it, then we painted before moving in which is the second picture. The renovation started in 2009.

We are in the middle of a 2 year master bathroom project. It all started after we felt a soft spot in the floor around the toilet.  Todd ripped up part of the vinyl and found water & mold damage. From there we decided that a new toilet and flooring were needed, but the floor went under the cabinets so we decided to replace those too.

It has taken us quite awhile and we still have a few more things to do, such as replacing the tub, shower tile, baseboards and exhaust fan. I’ll have more pictures when it is all complete, but here is a sneak peak.

Painting Prep

We are going to paint our house, finally! It has taken us (ok, actually me) a year to decide on a paint color.  Since we are doing it ourselves we hope to be saving lots of moola, but probably not time. Todd spent all day Saturday, from 9:00am-8:30pm pressure washing the entire house. We took a break for the Sumas fireworks which were pretty awesome! Then after church on Sunday we both caulked the seams around the doors, windows and siding. I even got up on the roof for the second story. We should be able to start painting this week. So, if you have nothing better to do, feel free to join us :)

The Tide is High

I am not quite done with my vacation posts, but I wanted to share what our weather is doing up here. First off, our place does not have it bad (yet!) compared to other parts of the county.  Most of the major roads are closed due to flooding. I drove by (at a higher level)  several vehicles with the water line up to their hoods and a front door of a house only a couple inches away from water entering it. Pretty crazy!

We could flood since we are close to a river, but I hoping that does not happen. At 2:30 when I took these pictures, our deepest spot was about 8 inches, it’s been raining non-stop since. I heard about 15 years ago people were rowing around town, we should have taken that inflatable boat my parents offered us :)

Below is a stitched together picture of our new backyard pond! *Click to view larger.

Christmas Lights

Ok, one more post before I leave on vacation. These are our new LED lights we got this year for the outside. We had a few more strands starting out, but some died so I took those back. I love the way the colors reflect off the snow in the close-up shots. I would have taken more but it was really windy & cold (20 F) so I was not outside very long :)

 

Wood Stove

This is what keeps our entire house nice and warm! We just started using it this fall and hope it will save us $100-120 a month on heating costs (compared to natural gas). We also heat up water for tea on the stove, saving tons more :) Todd spent last weekend building a lean-to for the wood. He built it from scraps we had around the yard, pretty cool for a free project.

Guest Bedroom Redo

Sorry I don’t have any pretty or exciting photos to share.  It’s not as fun to take photos with a camera that has a fuzzy screen and viewfinder. That is going to change soon enough though! I am ordering a new camera for a photography class I will be taking at the end of this month. I think I am set on the Canon Rebel XSi DSLR silver one. It’s a basic DSLR, but I think it will be a good starter camera. If I seriously get into photography, I can always upgrade if I start making money :) It’s already an upgrade and way faster than my 5 year old point & shoot.

My guestroom has a couple new features. I added a dresser and a bookshelf that my parents brought up when they visited. I painted them white and I think the room looks better over all. It’s still pretty feminine, but I like it. The gold star quilt was also brought up and it’s an antique.  The photos were taken before my camera malfunctioned.

House Tour: Part 2

Here are a couple photos I took awhile ago of our master bedroom. I posted a few other decorated house pictures back in March (kind of embarrassed of the floral couches, someday soon I’ll get new ones)…I guess I am a little behind with the updates.

This is the best angle of our room. The slider gives lots of light…when we have light ;)

The dresser is in front of the wall that Todd built...it used to be a closet opening from our room into the office. The closet now only opens in the office…if that makes any sense. Remember this post?

Dishwasher Exchange

Because our dishwasher (18 years old) was under a homeowners warranty (bought for us), we were able to get $360 towards a new one. The old one sounded like a garbage disposal with its loud grinding noises...plus it stopped cleaning dishes. Since the broken part was no longer being made, we were given two options: $360 cash or a free cheap model. We opted for the money so we could upgrade to a nicer, Consumer Reports recommended model. We now have three appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher) that are all different colors...but at least they work...for now :)

The old beast:

Its replacement:

Little Froggy

I came across this little fellow while working in the yard Monday. Isn't he cute? I've always had a thing for toads and frogs, I used to play with them as a child. Since Todd had Monday off & it was a gorgeous day, we decided to rake up the last of the leaves. The picture shows just how big our pile has gotten. We should be getting our yard waste service soon, I am very happy about that. It will be nice to get rid of that eyesore :)

Yard Work

Todd & I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon catching up on some yard work. We have a large lot and several trees, so we can expect to spend some quality time outdoors :) I guess it's not too bad when the weather cooperates. On Christmas Eve Todd spent about five hours raking leaves. He was only able to do about 2/3 of the yard at that time. This weekend we worked for another two hours raking and pruning rose bushes...and we still have a lot to do. I think it will all be worth it in the spring. I'm looking forward to my thirty-one rose bushes in bloom!

Bathroom Before & After

Here are a couple pictures of the upstairs bathroom I painted. The green was not exactly what I had in mind, but it ended up working with what I had for decor... froggies :) It adds a certain boldness, don't you think. The wallpaper is difficult to see in the photos, but it was a pink and white stripe with a hummingbird and ivy boarder, lovely for the 90's :) Also, in all our before and after pictures, we only painted the walls. We will have to leave the cabinets, counter tops, and floors until we can afford to replace them someday. They function just fine for now.

Before & Afters

Here are some long overdue pictures of the master bedroom and bath. I still have some decorating to do, like hanging pictures, but you will get an idea of how the new colors look.

Moving Day

We have been busy with the new house but I thought I would share some moving pictures from a week ago (Dec 8th). We were able to borrow a truck from our friend Jennifer's dad. It was so much fun to drive, I want one now! Our friend Jason drove down from Richmond, BC to help us move all our stuff. It was a long, but productive day :)

Our spacious garage

Master Bath

The master bath looks better already with the wallpaper almost off. There are a few small pieces to get and then I need to wash the walls. I picked paint colors today for the master bedroom and bath. Believe me it is not easy choosing colors. Trying to imagine a whole room painted from one 2" sample card is difficult :) We will see how the colors pan out in the next couple of days. They are neutral brown tones, so hopefully they work.

Housework

We have begun cleaning up the house. I am working on wallpaper (an endless chore) and Todd is building a wall in the master bedroom. He is boarding up one side of a 2-way closet door that once connected to the office. The pictures will hopefully explain it. The second picture shows the green office behind Todd (he is standing in the closet). Todd measured once and everything fit perfectly...he is really good at anything he tries. Well, it's been fun making it into our place. There is a lot to be done! As you can see we picked the perfect weekend to start our projects...there was snow! It was pretty cold but we got the heat going. Today it warmed up to 50 degrees...almost T-shirt and shorts weather ;)

Our lovely house in the snow

The wall frame

Putting up the drywall

Cutting and stapling the carpet

Talking to my parents and stripping wallpaper