Home. Again.

Hey.  I am finally home for good for the summer.  This is probably necessary as I go back to work in two days.  Swim Girl is home with her kitty, Squirt, and appropriately, said kitty is hiding in her room.  The other two cats (Pluto and Skittles) have not really noticed Squirt is here.  I wonder when that will happen?  For now, all is quiet.  There are several tufts of kitty fur all over my bedroom floor which tells me that there was a major kitty altercation while I was gone.  Just one more thing that I will have to do today as the laundry is going and the unpacking is happening.

I promise to post pics soon.  Maybe tomorrow.  They are downloaded, copied and have their very own folder.  That's as much as I can do right now.  As a little tease, I will show you Squirt.  TTFN.

This is a New York City pigeon.

This is a squirt.

WooHoo! 'Nuff Said

Day 12

Our bathroom is finished!  I know, 2 days over schedule, but it is finished and it looks super!  I don't have the accessories or the art work yet, but the reno is completed.  We were really hoping to be done on Tuesday, but there were just too many final touches.  My guy from Bettendorf Home Repair spent some time with me in the morning on Wednesday and we figured out where all of the accessory fixtures should go.  Who knew that placing towel bars and such was so intense?  You have to try and line things up linearly with tile lines and then you look at the aesthetics of your choice.  We did a lot of 'holding things up' and 'standing back'.  We even put the shower curtain on with a couple of rings to make sure that was hung at the proper height.  Sheesh.

Now for the bad news.  My California Friend is here for a couple of days, but she can't use the shower.  Therefore, I have no idea how or if it works.  Why, you ask?  Well, it isn't because I am being super selfish or anything.  My liner isn't in yet.  I ordered it the first day of the job and it still isn't here.  And, one of the hooks for the shower curtain broke when we were attaching it.  So, I have to find my receipt, take off the rings that are up already, go to the store and exchange the rings (and snag another gift for my hubby's birthday which occurs while I am in NYC) and then hope that my liner arrives today as promised.  So maybe I will have a shower update for you tomorrow.  We have never had a walk-in and I know that is usually done with doors.  But, I am lazy and hate to clean doors because they never stay clean and get goopy and yucky and stuff.  We will have to see what the learning curve is for curtain use in a walk-in.  A shower door may yet be in our future.

I hope that you enjoy the pics.

New retrofit light.  It took about 2 minutes to do.

I am in love with this mirror.

The cool curve of the bowl helps give some relief to all of the lines in here.  

New medicine cabinet door.  Remember that hole in the wall.  Now, my camera is messed up so it isn't really dirty or anything.

So glad that I insisted on those ceramic shelves and the towel bar in the shower.  I also know that hook will get a lot of use.

Okay.  Since we know that knee number 2 will have to go in the not so distant future, we got the comfort height toilet.  It has a cool little feature that I knew nothing about.  You just start the lid down on it's merry way and it closes all by itself, very slowly.  Works for both lids.  Who thinks of this stuff?  Awesome.  Now if I accidentally let loose at your house and you don't have one of these lids, please forgive me in advance for the slamming.  Note the skinny little Umbro waste basket.  Fits like a charm.

I hear heavenly music.

Now the shower curtain is not ironed, nor is it hung properly.  I think that there are only 5 hooks on it right now.  And it is backwards.  But you get the general idea.  

And here she is all done and everything.  Not for those red and yellow touches...

Will the House Blow Up and I Never Knew That!

Gas.  At least that is what we smelled.  Believe it or not, I was actually in the kitchen making something without chocolate.  Amazing.  While I was sauteeing the onions and peppers together (don't get too excited, it was all going in the crockpot) I noticed a pretty strong gas smell as in 'my eyes were watering'.  It got a little better and since I had two men in the house (plumber and contractor), I asked if they could smell it and got an affirmative.  When I was finished cooking, it was all gone, although I noted that it was stronger upstairs.  Then I remembered that I had smelled that gas when I was drying the clothes on Sunday.  Hmmm.  Could we have an issue at the gas line?

Not to be deterred, my husband and I still used two burners and the oven for dinner.  I know, I know.  But he likes explosions.  Besides, he said he would cook if I ran and got a couple of things from the corner store.  I looked like a dweeb, but not being entirely stupid, I agreed.  Of course, I did run into someone I knew and hadn't seen for a while and she looked fab.  Just sayin'. 

So the gas smell about knocked me out when I walked back in from my little trip.  I got a headache and opened a couple of windows.  That helped, but we decided that a call to the gas company in the morning was in order.  This would be on the condition that we hadn't blown up during the night, of course.

I called them this morning and found out that anytime you smell gas, it is considered an emergency.  I did not know that.  This includes while you are cooking with an open flame or using a gas dryer (which also has said open flame).  The gas guy would arrive as soon as possible.  I went down to the treadmill to do my time since I couldn't leave the house.  Plus, it isn't gas powered so I figured that I was safe for a bit.  Sure enough, right at cool down (great timing), my doorbell rang and the gas guy started asking me if it smelled like lighter fluid or gas.  ???  Was I supposed to know the difference?  I haven't smelled lighter fluid since maybe 1974.  I said gas.  He asked what they were doing to the house and I showed him the bathroom.  He turned on the oven and said, yes that is lighter fluid smell.  Oops.

Now here is the best part.  Apparently, when you are doing anything that involves petroleum products (like say, thinset, paint, grout, primer) some particles will hang around and then be pushed throughout the house when you have on your AC.   An open flame will burn off the particles and they in turn will emit an odor that can become toxic to breathe.  And (get ready), it will take a couple of weeks for all of that stuff to cure.  So just opening the windows for a day won't really solve the problem.  No way are we keeping the house open for 2 weeks.  We do live in Iowa and it is August.  

So, you may ask, what is the solution?  We were advised to just open as many windows as possible when using the stove/oven.  Then there was a big thing about how to keep the smell off of the clothes from the dryer that I think I understood but could in no way explain here.  Apparently, walking around smelling like lighter fluid is not a good thing.

Come on, no way you knew this stuff, right?  I didn't.  No one told us this might happen.  Weird.  Oh and we don't need to worry about an explosion because the fumes aren't flammable.  At least, that is what he said....

Day 11

Back to business.  No, the bathroom isn't finished and probably won't be until Thursday.  Heavy sigh.  However, things are being put into the room, rather than being taken out and I am taking this as a good sign. There was a do over on a defective tile, but other than that, we were good.  Paint is on, sink and faucet installed and shower fixtures installed.  This stuff really does take a while.  

Now, I am not going to let you see more than a few pieces.  I'm such a tease.  Enjoy.

This is our new sink faucet.  Yeah.  And it works.  Yeaher!

Bead board and trim peak.  

So I'm thinking maybe this will be my bathroom and Swim Girl can use the upstairs bath.  

Bead Board is Happening and a Mystery

Day 10

I was gone pretty much all day yesterday (I will not tell you where I was as that may incriminate me), so I was pleasantly surprised when I got home and found the bead board up and ready to go.  Yeah.  Unfortunately, the plumbers will have to move a pipe down a little in order for the vanity/sink to go in, but they will be here on Tuesday anyway.  This just means a lot of work for our guy from Bettendorf Home Repair that day if he intends to finish up.

You can still sort of see Nemo if you squint just right.

Love me some bead board!

The currently topless vanity (hey!  this is a family joint).  The plumbers will have to move a pipe a bit down the wall so that it can be connected properly.

Now for the mystery part.  While I was in the Batcave yesterday, I heard one of the kitties making a loud noise.  I couldn't see what they were doing, but figured it was simply a super noisy litter box break since said stinky box is currently in the upstairs bathroom.  Yeah.  That wasn't quite it.

This is the picture of a very cool ornament that I made using book paper, watercolor and polyfill.  Note that it isn't even finished.  No hanging ribbon yet.

And this is now the back of said ornament explaining the noise that I heard.  I wish I knew who had done this so I could scold them in a proper manner.

A better view for you to see the actual kitty damage done to my masterpiece.  There will be no effort at repair.  And yes, that is Olympic Swimming on my TV.  You can take the swim kids away from the mom, but you can't take the swim love away!

Two More Days Left!

Day 9

Well, we are coming down to it now.  The tile work is complete and we are going to be ready for the walls, fixtures and final plumbing on Monday and Tuesday.  Projection for the work to be complete is Tuesday.  Keep your fingers crossed.  We are having overnight company on Wednesday, so a working bathroom on the first floor would be a plus, don't you think?

I couldn't be more pleased with the tile and grout.  Believe me when I say that a lot of work and effort went into all of those pieces.  The floor went very quickly and looks completely amazing.  I love that it is shiny.  But then, I am into shiny things.

The big hole in the wall was the built in medicine cabinet that will be rebuilt using some bead board.  And wait until you see the mirror that will go above the sink.  Oh my word!

Update:  The spots on my pics are not my dirty lense.  Heavy sigh.  Luckily, my husband and Swim Girl are smarter than the average bears and they purchased the super duper warranty from Best Buy.  My reputation for destruction proceeds me.  I will put up with the marks and turn my baby in when I return from my next travel adventure.  I will miss my little girl.  Luckily, I have a great little p/s Panasonic with a Leica lense here at the house.  I was going to offer it to Computer Boy to use in AK, but not any more.  I cannot go without a camera for that long.

Look at that.  All ready for my new comfort height toilet.  Yeehaw.

Originally the guy doing all of this hard work was going to lay the decorative tile right above the shelf, but I convinced him that it would look way cool above it a couple of inches.  He agreed to it and after much discussion
and drawing on the walls, we came up with a plan.  

All grout, all the time

Oh no.  There is a big hole in my wall.  

The cute little testers.  I will use the rejects in some art work.

I am not sure if this translates well, but I chose White Sapphire.  It really looks nice with the glass
tiles and the linens.

This will be the toothpaste/toothbrush container.  I painted the lid red, but the jar is still wet so...
You can't see it, but I did a bit of an ombre effect with the paint by adding more white to the yellow as I painted
up the glass.  According to the directions on this paint (Martha Stewart from Michael's) it will take 21 days to cure.  I guess we will use the counter until then.  I may do something similar for the lotion and soap.  I will see what I can find in New York and go from there.  I can get jars with lids/dispensers from Etsy so I may make my own.

A Grouting We Will Go

We have a floor and grout!  The day was spent setting the floor tiles (!) and grouting the shower.  I was in love with the shower before, but now it really looks cool.  The glass tiles really pop with that white grout.

We were also able to pick three cards with colors for the walls.  They would all be good, but our brilliant Project Manager from Bettendorf Home Repair suggested that I go get the sample bottles and test them out on the wall!  You see, this is why he makes the big bucks.  I had completely forgotten that they make those.  I ran out yesterday evening and got them, so we shall see.  I must pick paint today.  Wish me luck.

I heard from Computer Boy and he is amenable to visiting the Restoration Hardware near him on Broadway.  Knowing that we also have to do some shopping at the REI store in Soho for clothing for his trip to visit Alaska Girl, he had an interesting reply: (I have reproduced this exactly as written)

"ok but thats it.  one more store and this turns into a spree"

A challenge.  I love it.

I know.  I need to clean my lens cover.  Actually, the whole camera is filthy with the dust from the Canyon.
I will be sending it in after I get back from the East Coast.

Seriously, I am so psyched about the floor.  Skittles enjoyed playing with the spacers.   Bad kitty!

Shower Tile is Complete!

Day 7

Our shower tile is in place and ready for grout!  It took a while, but all of the tile is in except for a couple of tiny pieces that will be added after the floor is done.  There was a slight hiccup as we needed one more glass tile and our Home Depot didn't have any more (naturally).  Well, it was a gorgeous day for a drive anyway!  A trip up the river to a different store yielded the missing tile and all was well.  Please note that the cement board is down and ready to receive the floor.  I believe that Skittles approves!  Oh, and the fan is operational and will actually draw air!  The insulation is in and there is just a little caulking to do on the outside.  Progress is a beautiful thing!

The best news of all?  The linens arrived.  They are going to be perfect.  Of course, I need to order more, but after a quick search on Restoration Hardware's website I found a store very close to Computer Boy near the Brooklyn Bridge, so I have already sent him the link to let him know I want to go.  After all, I am going to REI Soho with him so...

Since I won't be flying home, I will be able to purchase what I need as long as they have it in stock.  Yeah!  It's a long way to go for some bath linens, but what the heck.  I will live dangerously!  Plus, I love that store and I think there may be a storage unit that he would like for his apartment.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow's results.  And then the plan for Friday is paint, bead board and beyond.

Our soon to be amazingly gorgeous shower.  

I love the finish work on the side!

I watched him cut this curved piece.  It is quite a process.

Nearly There

Day 6 brought lots of progress on the shower, fan and ceiling.  We found out early on that the ceiling would have to be redone.  Heavy sigh.  The drywall guys came in today and scraped off the existing texture, applied new mud and then new texture for a more modern look.  I love it and can't wait for it to get some paint.  Right now it is white, but soon it will be the same color as the upper walls.
Our guy from Bettendorf Home Repair was able to keep working outside on the fan venting while the drywall guys were here.  There will be a bit more work to do in the morning and then the fan will be vented!  Yeah.  This is starting to come together.
Late this evening I noticed my home phone was flashing.  Yup, it was the project manager wanting to know about paint.  Oops.  I will have to check and see when that order is coming.

It is a little hard to see the texture of the ceiling on the before picture, but you will get the general idea.

Corner shelves!

Looks so neat and tidy on the outside.  He still has a bit to do to waterproof it all, but I am pleased.

Tiling Away!

After a day off of reno on Friday, it was back to work on Monday.  The objective was to finish up the tiling of the shower.  But, who knew that bull nose tile would be so hard to cut on a 45 degree angle?  Apparently, it is a pretty tricky endeavor.  I know that it took extra time, but I love the result.  Too bad he couldn't just tell me that it couldn't be done.  Maybe I would have gotten that glass block window after all!

Regardless of the time it took, the results speak for themselves.  I don't mind those kind of delays when it means that the work is being done properly.  Love Bettendorf Home Repair!

Here is the culprit.  It's a 17 year old vinyl replacement window that we really wanted replaced with glass block.  However, that was one of the cuts to keep the budget more in line.  Maybe some day.

The 45 degree cuts that took lots of patience and effort.

But look at the results!

I cannot wait to see the tile all finished!  The two lines of glass tile look amazing.  The rectangular openings on the right are where the ceramic shelves will go.  Exciting.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Shower

Hello!  I cannot tell you how excited I am getting.  The tile is going up in our new shower and I love it.  It is 6x8" white subway tile, staggered, with some glass tile accents.  I spent some time with the guy doing the work first thing and we kind of mapped out how it would all go.  There will be two ceramic shelves in the back corner and a towel bar on that back wall.  So cool.  He got quite a bit done and should finish it up on Monday.  I love Bettendorf Home Repair.  They have just been so wonderful with any questions, ideas, etc. that I have put out there.  The only down side was the check I had to write yesterday.  Oh well.  It is payment for work done!  Enjoy the pics.

I love the glass accent tile!

Oh yeah.  Getting there.

Order update:
I never got my email confirmation from Restoration Hardware, so I gave them a call.  My order didn't go through for some reason, even though I got the page that said, "Print this page."  I never print because I always just wait for the email.  I had to re-order over the phone and then pay extra for express delivery because I need that shower curtain so that I can pick paint.  They did, however, manage to email me that they were happy to reactivate my email acct with them.  Hmmm.  Apparently that was the only part of my order that went through.  How odd.