random projects

Well, its been a short while since the last post. I took it easy for a few weeks, as Kevin arrived back on the East Coast, we headed to the Bueschers for Easter and have been enjoying the nice weather. I've been spending some time outside on landscaping and got Kevin and Geoffrey to join in on the fun this weekend. They dug up the area for the patio, so we are now ready to lay the crushed stone and stone dust prior to the actual patio stones. Kevin also assisted me in hanging a beautiful new cabinet in the laundry room. No, I wasn't shopping for a new cabinet, but something happened along for the right price (free) and I couldn't say no.
Hope everyone is enjoying some lovely spring weather, wherever they may be!

The big hole that Geoffrey and Kevin dug out. I'm lucky to have such a strong husband and brother!

Here's the cabinet that was previously installed. Nothing really wrong with it, but it wasn't installed level or centered, and it just looked a bit odd. Now, for the beautiful 42" Bruce Cherry cabinets. The laundry room is turning out to be a pretty nice place :).

It was as though the cabinet was designed to fit in its current space. I have 3 more match wall cabinets, that I have some other plans for in the laundry room. It will involve a small amount of demo, so we'll see when I can squeeze in time for that.

Bathroom is Done!

The toilet was installed tonight, which means the bathroom is fully operational! There are still a few odds and ends, like decorating and a little touch up paint, but that can wait a week or two. What matters most is that when Kevin arrives tomorrow afternoon, there will be a working (and pretty nice) bathroom for him to use. It was hard to get good shots, as the bathroom is pretty tiny.

The new toilet. It was amazing to see how little space the tank uses. Guess that happens when you go from 3+ gallons per flush (gpf) to 1.4gpf. Geoffrey assisted in lowering the toilet down while I lined up the wax ring, to ensure a water tight seal.

I did take the extra time to hang the mirror, towel bar and new hand towels. The other fun stuff will have to wait.

Well, I think that's about all the renovating you'll see for the new few months. With the weather turning warm, and a patio to install, our efforts will be focused on a few outside activities...and then enjoying the fruits of our labor. I'm especially looking forward to setting up the firepit we received as a wedding present :).

We're off to VA Beach with the pugs to celebrate Easter. Have a great weekend and safe travels to those who will be on the road.

Thank goodness for Papa John's

Today was one of those days where my great plans of doing bathroom work and dinner just wasn't going to happen. So when Geoffrey mentioned pizza, I was all for it. We headed to HD, to get parts to build up the drain, and ordered our pepperoni pizza. When we got home, we realized they had made our pizza wrong, so they gave us another! Not bad. Now we have dinner tomorrow and Geoffrey has 2 days worth of lunches.

I hooked up the faucet in no time, but the drain took longer than I anticipated, and was a bit daunting, so Geoffrey came to the rescue. Using about 5 different pieces of PVC and adapters, he made a wonderful drain...so we now have running water in the sink. Guess Kevin won't have to brush his teeth in the bathtub after all. After the sink was working, I installed the baseboard and caulked. What a difference it makes not seeing those ugly brown liquid nail spots.
Tomorrow will be the toilet, finishing just in time for the arrival of Kevin.

Baseboards!
Vanity with new faucet...Eva by Moen

Closeup of the faucet. It has a tall spout, which makes washing hands a little easier.
waterproof quarter round closed the gap between the tub and floor.

Work Weekend

Contrary to popular belief, we are up to other things besides bathroom work...well Heather is at least. Just kidding! :)
We spent a lot of the weekend outside, working on the yard, and then I spent a little time on the bathroom. Saturday, while the grout finished curing, Geoffrey and I dug out 3 holly trees from behind the garage in preparation for the new patio we'll be putting in. The trees had some very deep roots, as we believe they were put in when the house was first built over 26 years ago. We also chopped down 2 other holly trees and 2 boxwoods from the front yard.

What our backyard currently looks like. Hopefully we can convince Kevin to help us with the patio install. The patio will go from the far edge of the sidewalk to the side of the house. Should be perfect for grilling out in the summer.

Sunday we were joined by Sam, Megan & Ben, as they had a use for a lot of the rocks from the random islands in our backyard. We loaded up their trailer and then Sam tended to a half dead tree in our backyard.

Ben was extremely helpful with the rock task. He even brought along his own smaller sized wheel barrow.

He must be part monkey, as he was up the tree in no time. The picture doesn't do it justice, as he was at least 2 stories high in the air.

Try as we may, we couldn't convince them to take the gnome along with all the stone. In the upcoming weeks we'll smooth out the "volcano" that remains were many of the rock walls once stood.

And last but not least, some bathroom updates.

I installed the new shower faucet, head and tub spout and sealed the grout. Geoffrey was extra helpful today and cut off the threaded portion of the tub spout to allow for a slip fit installation.

A better shot of the new faucet and spout. The previous spout and faucet was a cheap builder's grade, with an oh so lovely crystal plastic handle and plastic spout painted in crome. The new fixture is solid metal and looks so much nicer. All that is left now is to use some clear caulk around where the fixtures meet the tile.

The vanity! The new vanity is smaller than the old one, which fits better in the smaller sized bathroom. The vanity top is not secured in place, as I'll remove it when I install the faucet (scheduled to arrive tomorrow) and then permanently install it when I hook up the water supply lines. Monday I'll also be tackling the baseboards, which need to be cut and painted for easier installation. I've got 3 days left (well three evenings left, since I'll be at work during the day). I think that I'll have just enough time to finish up before Kevin arrives.