Chasing Lillian

It’s been a while since we put anything on here that wasn’t purely about Lillian, so here’s your chance to find out what the adults in the house have been up to. Over the course of the past year or so, we’ve remodeled the master bath and installed hardwood floors downstairs. We did all the work ourselves (as usual) so it took a little longer than we expected. We bought the first supplies for the bathroom renovation in April of last year, and just used the new shower for the first time last month.

In the bathroom, we previously had a fiberglass-surround shower that had gotten so worn down that it was impossible to keep clean. We also had a giant, boring plate glass mirror and a random medicine cabinet that didn’t fit with the rest of the room. The floors were the original linoleum and the window treatments that were left in the house looked older than me. Most of our “before” pictures focus on the shower.

The first step was to get rid of the old shower, and tear out the wall to the studs. That’s my favorite kind of shower cleaning. On a side note, I didn’t know that pipe in the back wall was there and only missed it with the reciprocating saw by a couple inches.

The next step was to let Britney sweep. She’s good at sweeping, as you can clearly see.

After everything was nice and clean, it was time to install the shower base, install the new plumbing, and hang the cement board. I’m proud to say the plumbing worked on the second try. Since there’s not a shutoff for the shower line we had to cut the water off at the street, so when it came time to turn on the water, I was at the street on the phone with Britney, who was keeping a close eye for leaks, towel in hand.

The most time consuming part was all the tile. We decided to go with something that would stand out yet still look nice, and I think we found the right tile. Cutting the holes for the showerhead and handle was something I’d rather not ever have to do again. To drill one hole I would have to drain both batteries in my drill (despite having a tile bit), and sometimes the tile would crack in half right as I finished. If there’s a better way to drill holes in tile, I don’t want to hear about it. Too late. Stop talking now.

After grouting the tile, the only thing we had left to do was put in some new doors. The first doors we got turned out to be the wrong size (too big). We could have cut the frame to fit, but the sliding glass doors would have only allowed about 18 inches of clearance if they were both slid to the same side. Lowe’s was kind enough to exchange the door, despite being well outside the normal return period. The installation was actually surprisingly easy – the sides support the top, and the doors just hang on rails in the top. The bottom is just there to guide the bottoms of the doors and keep the water in.

And finally, the AFTER pictures. We tiled the floor, put in new mirrors, replaced the curtains, and replaced the towel rack with a couple hooks.

Part 2 is coming soon – Hardwood Floors

I have been bugging Dave for new floors in the den for awhile now. In the den was the cheapest and ugliest carpet you have ever seen. Possible exaggeration but pretty bad. We thought we could clean it when we moved in but nope. It was not cleanable (that may not be a word). It became terrible to the point you couldn’t tell if I had cleaned it or not. Finally we were so blessed to be able to put in hardwood floors in our house so we did! HUGE thanks for Mimi for watching Lillian for us so we could work all day on our floors and also to Poppy and Uncle Chad for coming over to help us install the floors and to lumber liquidators for having an amazing deal on our floors. It was scary getting started because we didn’t know exactly what we were doing. Thanks surprisingly to youtube videos Dave was able to figure out where to start. There was definitely some learning as we went but with some good teamwork (haha) we were able to do it. I am so glad we were able to install the floors ourselves cause it was a huge money saver and it is rewarding to know we did it ourselves. However after this process our next house will already have hardwood floors:) Hope you enjoy the pictures below of our new hardwood floors. We still need to do the foyer, hallway and powder room. Hopefully we can get that done this weekend. Should go faster since we have a better idea of what to do. Oh and we will be purchasing a coffee table to put on the rug. Oh the yellow stuff on the floor is moisture barrier (NOT FUN)!!! but good for keeping moisture out which is a GREAT thing. First two pics is before, then the moisture barrier down, then working on the floors, then done and exhausted. Last few the finish product!!

Sorry the pics are small. At least it gives you an idea. Pics of the foyer, hallway and powder room will come later when we finish. Yay for new floors!! We LOVE them!

So I have taken it upon myself to do a little update on me and my husband. We love talking about Lillian and are sure most of you love reading about what all she is doing. However, my husband and I do have stuff going on that I would like to share. So I figure why not share a little about what the two of us have been up to. First off Dave and I just celebrated out 2 year anniversary this past week (Tues. June 9th). We spent a romantic evening eating takeout from Outback in our den and sipped on some milk. Lillian had a low grade fever due to teething so we were unable to go out and celebrate. Time has really flown and the past 2 years have definitely been quite a whirlwind. I can honestly say I would not trade any of it. I’m so thankful Dave has been by my side along our journey. He is a wonderful husband and father! We look forward to many more years together. I mean we do have to beat my grandparents (married over 60 years).

Once again the HGTV bug has hit us. We are in the middle of remodeling our master bathroom. Dave has been working very hard on the bathroom. We have hit a few bumps along the way but feel we can get over them. This project has been quite challenging compared to the others. So far no major damage has been done which is great! Dave has tiled most of the shower and put in the shower base. Next we will paint the bathroom, tile the floor, put the new shower door on, replace the mirror with framed mirrors and install some new faucets and hardware. We have been taking pictures along the way so you will be able to see the before and after. We hope to have the bathroom done in the next couple of weeks. We have also done some decorating around the house. A couple of weeks ago we received a letter from our HOA that our yard was not up to par and needs some work.The HOA hopes it will see improvements during the next drive by inspection. We laughed and will be framing the letter;) Our dear friend Liz came to our rescue and helped us landscape our front yard. It’s pretty!

Well there is a little about what is going on with Dave and Britney. Ill try to include little tidbits about us in the future.