This one is going to be pretty too ...

The main bathroom is well on it's way to being completely renovated also.  And it's going to be awesome. We've run into a few alarming items back in this lavatory as well ... mainly stupidity ones.  We're quite positive that the previous owners put this bathroom together on their own, and well ... 

1. There was an electrical outlet behind the old tub.  It was live.
2. There was a telephone jack behind the old tub.  It was not working (only because we cut all actual land line service lines).
3. There was just a piece of wood nailed to the house studs, behind which was siding, behind the shower surround.  There was no insulation.

So, our contractors redid some wiring and rid our new tub of both the electrical outlet and phone jack.  Then they added some insulation and rebuilt the wall.  This all helped to make that back part of the house way warmer.  It's amazing how little siding and a plastic tub surround does to keep a house warm.  I don't advise it for colder climates.

In the process of the bathroom, we also got an extra hallway light.  Yay!  We had wanted it; they were re-wiring anyway; so it was installed.

And, now I know that this isn't much of a post, but here are some pics of the updates ... and I'll post more when we finally get some real work done around ehre (possibly some that we pitch in and help on again soon!).

Exposed electrical outlet behind old tub.

Exposed phone jack behind old tub.

Wooded board inserted and nailed to studs - you can slightly see the siding behind that.

New electrical switches - because we (ha, they) had to figure out how everything was wired back there ... nothing was were it should be!

Insulated wall behind the shower surround!!

Also, no insulation around any of the piping ... and if you remember, there was no insulation in the crawl space before either.  Our contractors said they weren't sure how the pipes never froze in the past.

New hallway light switch and light (well, place for a fixture to be inserted).

We live in a pretty urban area; really we're in the middle of the city.  And, we get deer.  They come right up to the houses in the nights and feed on our plants and grass (when it's not covered by snow).  We've seen them three times now.

Oh, and we finally got some end tables ... so we've put the TV trays away!

 

Something Better than a Dishwasher.

So ... the dishwasher now comes in at a VERY close second on the list of Best Things in our House.  The first item on that list is now ... drum roll please ... our very new, completely completed, totally renovated, exceptionally pretty bathroom!

We can hardly believe it's our bathroom.  It's everything we wanted and more.  The space looks unbelievable - expecially compared to what it looked like before!  The attention to detail these guys had was beyond amazing.  It's the best thing we've done to this house yet.

The second bathroom is up next, but it's going to have to wait a week or so.  We have some personal stuff to take care of next week, and our contractor has another job to do; so we agreed to wait just a brief amount of time before they start in on the second tear-down.  I'll post again then!

There isn't much else to say ... so I'll just show you pictures!  (Athough, as good as it looks, they just don't do it justice.)

Awesome attention to detail - like a matching, nice-looking vent cover ...

Matching the baseboards throughout the rest of our house ...

And, matching the door trims to the rest of our house!

Happy 2011.

Resolution #1 - to put this house back together.

And, I'm giving us all of 2011, but we vow to have it put together - painted, renovated, updated, upgraded, and awesome by the end of the year ... at least on the inside.  (The outside is a whole 'nother story, but we have to start on some of that because otherwise the city is going to kick us out.)

Wish #1 - that we've found all of the surprises that the old owners left us; which is less of a wish, and more like wishful thinking.

So far during this renovation, we have gotten to fix the floors, fix the plumbing in the kitchen, fix the plumbing in the bathroom (one down, another to go), fix the piping in the basement (upgrades to code), fix the roof, relocate all of the junction boxes in the kitchen & bathroom, fix the floor joist, insulate the crawl space (and fix 2 gaping holes for animals to crawl through), and ... well, I know there was a lot of other smaller stuff, but that is probably all of the major stuff?

Side note ... The roof repairs have come in to play twice now.  Again, let me reiterate from previous posts: they are dumb - either the previous owners or the shitty people they hired to work on the house.

1. We now have new venting in the kitchen.  The old venting?  They just built the roof over the flashing for the vent.  YES, they just nailed down the shingles right over the vent flashing.  It didn't work.  The roof is rotted through.  So, when our contractors moved the vent, they installed the flashing correctly, and will now fix that section of the rotted roof so that we don't end up with a much bigger roof problem down the road.
2. Second instance - bathroom vent #1 (remember, we still have another bathroom to renovate that we haven't gotten into yet).  When they repaired or replaced the vent for the bathroom - a large iron stack that goes from the basement to the roof - they didn't even feel like installing flashing at all.  Wanna know what they did feel like doing?  Throwing some tar around.  Yep, just making a good ole fashioned tar pool on top of the roof - that outta seal it in good, right?  Our contractors will fix that too.

Boo to people who just let their houses deteriorate.

But, anywho, we have more decisions to make, pronto.  We have to add some electrical stuff to the bathroom - to bring it up to code and pass inspections.  But, our electrical box is full.  It's up to code, but full. And we knew this when we bought the house.  So, now we get to make another (someday we'll fix that) decision now.  Do we: a) add a sub panel to the existing box, getting us more space for now; or b) replace and upgrade the entire system (the better, but, who'd a thunk it, more expensive option!).  The problem with option a is that when/if we run out of room in the sub-panel, we'll have to resort to doing option b in the future; and when we do option b in the future, everything we have just gets tossed out - meaning that if we pay for option a now, and have to do option b next year, we just wasted money on option a.  Still with me?

Wish #2 - that money actually did grow on trees (another gosh darn thing that Dad was right about way back when).

But, since at least we're seeing the pretty progress, the outflow of cash doesn't seem to bother me (or Pat) quite as much.  There has been a lot of work done so far; mostly the behind-the-scenes kind of work that people don't think about when they see a new bathroom, but definitely well worth the time and money.  But, nonetheless, we are this close to a completed bathroom renovation.  I mean we are literally days away from having a completed master bathroom!  The shower tiles have been completed - so the tub is in and set too, with the faucets.  The drywall is all in place; it's been mudded and painted.  Pat got to see the layout of the floor tiles when the guys were spacing and measuring, and he said it looked awesome.  But today they actually laid the tiles and grouted!!  IT ALL LOOKS AWESOME!!  They did a great job matching the grout to the tile ... which is harder to do with dark colors!  And, have I mentioned that our contractor custom built a window casing to match the rest of the doors/windows in our house ... it's all PVC so that it won't ever rot out, and it looks unbelievable.

And, we've been told that the next bathroom will go much faster.  Which I hope is true.  Not because we are in any way upset about this first one taking so long - because we are so very grateful for the immaculate work being done (these guys all know their shit!).  But because I just hope (wish) that there isn't nearly (or any) as much behind-the-scenes work left to do on the next bathroom.  I mean, I listed them up top - the plumbing is updated, the electrical is (probably) going to be updated, the addition was put on in the 50s, so it's not nearly as old school ... there has to be less, right? 

Renovation Mindset #1 - hope for the best, plan for the worst.

It sounds like a pessimistic viewpoint, but if we expect that we're going to have more plumbing updates, and that maybe (likely) the electrical back there is a hack-job, done in-house by the previous owners, and that the vent to the roof will probably have to be replaced/fixed/totally new ... then we'll end up happy when we spend only 125% of the budget for that bathroom, and the guys we hired do an awesome job.

Renovation Mindset #2 - ahhh, it looks so pretty when it's done.

The two work hand-in-hand together.  It's a pessimistic viewpoint that is far out-weighed by the reality that in the end, we got exactly what we wanted, it's exactly what we hoped for, and we have complete confidence that it was all installed correctly and have faith that it will work. (Which is far far more than I can say about anything else that was sold in or near this house, and will be a HUGE vantage point for the next buyers!)

Here are some pics of the updates ... these might be some of the last renovation pics I post (of this bathroom anyway!) ... hopefully the next update will be about the completely completed bathroom!

Floor joist cracked ....

Floor joist fixed!

Shower tiled ...

Drywall up ...

Drywall primed ...

Painted!!!

Custom built window casing that looks awesome and matches our home's other doors/windows.

Floor goes in ...

and it looks awesome!

Tiled shower with faucents installed.

Center light and fan are installed and working!

We're this close ... this close!!!  Till next time ...

On the fast track.

I am making up for lost time here ... 3 posts (almost) within a week!  There has just been so much happening so quickly here and I want to get it all down so we can look back on it to see just how much progress we've made.  Because we have made a lot.  And it's amazing to us when we stop to think that we've only owned the house for 3 months now (and 2.5 weeks), and only lived there for 2 months (and 1.5 weeks).  Crazy. 

Although, we definitely would not be getting as much done this fast without help (the paid professional help).  So, the plumbing inspection was the day before Christmas Eve, and it went fabulously!  The crew was able to start assembling our bathroom ... everything is in order and ready to go!  As I previously (incorrectly) stated that all of the plumbing was done - of course it's not done!  The plumber can't do the second half of his job until after the first bathroom is done.  Why not (you probably already figured it out, smarty)?  Because we have to have a bathroom to use!  Duh, Marissa.  But he is scheduled to finish the updating to the plumbing after the contractors are done with all their work. 

Here is the updated pictures of the bathroom with the work before Christmas ... hopefully they'll be able to finish before New Year's, maybe?  (But, like we've been told ... drywalling and tiling can be a lot of waiting; waiting for mud/grout to dry before new coats and sanding ... kind of like all the time we spent hurrying up to wait for the spackle in the cracks to dry, sand, repeat before painting.  Ugh.)

Before Christmas Pics:

And two more after Christmas pics ... yesterday they started putting the tile in around the shower!

We had a good Christmas ... my parents, brothers, and sister-in-law were able to make it to our house to visit. We had a pretty uneventful, relaxing day, with good food. I successfully made my first Christmas dinner - prime rib, cauliflower bake, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, spinach salad, baked apples, and cheesecake ... and it all came out together and hot using just my one oven (well, except for the salad and cheesecake ... and also I had some help from my mom, who has done this a couple/few times before!  And, a thanks to Liz for bringing the pumpkin rolls, cranberry butter, and marshmallows - they were delicious!)

We do wish we would have been able to spend time with other family members ... my sister and her family didn't travel due to kids and newborns, and Pat's family was scattered across the country (and I mean across); but hopefully we'll be able to see and visit with everyone (or most) over the next few months ... and hopefully their Christmas's were good too!

And, a few pics of new stuff in the house ...

The final piece to my dining room set ... my parents were able to bring it down with them!

A lovely centerpiece sent by my grandma for Christmas ... THANK YOU!!!

The only tree we had this year, for our first Christmas in our first house ... it's fiber-optic and Pat's favorite!

This is what it looks like lit-up (pic taken without the flash) - it is futuristic Chirstmas!

Another Update.

And my second December post!!  Who says that just because I got a late start posting in December, I can't get several posts in before the end of the month!

So, the house is coming along swiftly this month.  It seems like every time we leave the house, we come home and something new is finished.  (Which, is awesome - because unlike before when we came back to the house and it was in the same shambles we left it in, and we were the ones that had to fix it, paint it, or clean it ... this time, we just get to marvel at the immaculate work that is being completed for us!)  They finished the kitchen ... ceiling is demoed, drywalled, painted, and the lights are hung! And, I love it, love it, love it. It looks so much bigger and grander than before, and I can't wait to finish painting, flooring, tiling!

Also, like I said in the last post ... the plumbing on the bathroom is completely updated (turns out I was wrong though, and the remainder of the plumbing is still in the works).  The rough inspection is going to be today or tomorrow, and then the contractor crew can start assembling the bathroom!  They did go pick up our tub, vanity, sink, and tiles for us though (great news since we don't have a way to haul stuff).  The fixtures all look awesome!  We can't wait until it's all put together and we can use our new bathroom.

This is what the underside/backside of a tub looks like ... in case anybody ever wondered that!

But, since they are waiting on the plumbing inspection, and can't do anything else until that happens ... we are going to have them insulate the crawl space in the basement.  Why would we need to do that, you ask?  Wasn't that addition built in the 50s and didn't people live there before?  Specifically, didn't their daughter have a bedroom and bathroom in that part of the house?  Yes, yes, and yes. 

The addition was built in the 50s, the previous owners did turn it a bedroom/bathroom, and yes, there is a lived-in uber-pink bedroom back there.  BUT ... the crawl space and piping/duct work was never insulated.  Therefore, when it's winter out (which happens annually here in Ohio), the floor in the back of our house gets cold, and the air being pumped back there from our furnace gets luke warm by the time is reaches the vent, the water is heated but then the frigid pipes do a nice job of cooling it before it exits the shower head, and all of that, in-turn, makes the back part of the house about 60 degrees (give or take), and a huge money pit for us. 

SO, Ritchie said that while they are waiting on the plumbing inspection, he could insulate for us ... this is actually exciting in the world of home-ownership.  It means less heating costs (at the beginning of winter), warmer floors & shower, and a guest bedroom that doesn't make our guests feel like they are perhaps camping.  (This was something that we did not know about prior to purchasing the house - and once discovered, we planned on doing this ... but we get to do it now!  It really is true that you need to add about 30 - 50% on to whatever you budgeted for a remodelling project to estimate an actual cost ... good thing we did that!)

And, as a Merry Christmas ... we got an awesome present from our good friends Katie, Shawn, and Avery.  An ornament for our first Christmas in our new house, and it is adorable and we love it!