Mar 23, 2015

Let the Renovation Begin

3/23/2015 — cori
Thus begins the big "Renovation Project of 2015"!    We have lived with an ugly bathroom for 4 long years.  No more.  We decided to just do it.  We started hacking apart our bathroom this weekend.  No reason other than a knee jerk reaction.  We had been purchasing pieces for our bathroom for a while now.  We had already accumulated the decorative accent tile, the vanity and sink, the floor and wall tile and an accessory piece as well as the all important toothbrush holder and soap pump.  We had it all - it was time to start.


Strong and safe 'Head of Renovation Project Leader'.  Notice that even though his lungs are safe, his feet are not.  He felt no need to protect his feet from fiberglass, hammers, falling nails or anything else for that matter.  And the sunglasses are supposedly for eye safety, but they sure make him look intimidating.

 

'Taper Extraordinaire'.  We thought it would be cute to match our shirts on this fine day - we're both wearing 'Camping is in Tents' shirts.  That's how we roll.  My head was safe from all falling debris with that awesome 1998 ball cap and I too was not going to inhale any dust....mostly because I spent the majority of my time outside of the tiny bathroom taping plastic to my walls.  This shot gives one the vantage point from the other side of the door.  Those plastic bags aren't going anywhere.


True to form, this is a family affair.  We like to try to fit as many bodies as possible into a tiny space that has no window and is burning up (even though it's snowing outside).  But don't worry, we all eventually left the Project Leader to work all by himself (cuz it got too hard).

Even though we felt we 'had it all', we didn't really plan it out too well.  Actually, I take that back. Chuck planned it out great.  We even have an Order of Operations sheet (which he is following to a tee by the way).  Very helpful.  But what we didn't plan for was all the dust and the massive amounts of plastic we would need to keep it all in the bathroom only.

We also didn't plan on job responsibilities.  We just assumed we'd be working together.  Apparently, I don't know how to rip a fiberglass shower unit out of the wall very well.  Nor am I very strong, evidently.  But what I am good at is taping!  And I am good at cleaning.  Put the two together and voila - Taper Extarordinaire becomes my job title.


This is what happened the first time I put hammer to tile - I made a hole in the drywall....looks like we're replacing all the drywall now.


Here is Chuck in his special remodeling outfit (on Day Two), pajama pants and sunglasses for eye protection.  He opted for socks today, you know, to help catch all that dust - not to be mistaken as foot protection.  This was like the 5th time he hit his fingers with the hammer.



I protected the tub with my master taping skills twice in two days.  That sucker was staying clean if it was the last thing I did!

However, I had a bit of a hic-cup on Day One with taping the door.  We only had two drop cloths, one to cover our bed and the other to cover the tub.  What about the door leading to our bedroom - uh oh!?  Well....not to worry, I have watched enough MacGyver in my life, I'm sure I could be resourceful and find something to use.  Ah-hah!  Trashbags.  I had plenty of those and a whole new role of blue tape.  I was on a mission now!  No dust will be able to penetrate my air-tight barrier. Blue tape just makes everything look 'official', doesn't it?!


Sadly, if it was up to me to make an air-tight room so no disease (like ebola) would spread - we would probably all be dead.  I had so much dust in my room.  This first attempt was a fail.  Granted, it was an ingenious fail, but not quite what Quality Control was looking for.  But just for the record, that was 6 trash bags all taped together - HARD TO DO!  I'm just sayin'.   


Work smarter - not harder, right?!  Well that's exactly what I did after Day 1's taping fiasco.  We broke down and bought 3 more plastic drop cloths so I didn't have to tape a puzzle together with trash bags.  I mean, I think I deserve some points for ingenuity on that first go around.  


Here is my apprectice helping me with my super important job.  We had to find a way to move the plastic out of the way that we just so expertly finished taping so that the boys could move the vanity and sink out of the bathroom.  We are nothing if not flexible.

So I would say, so far so good.  Even though we have an Order of Operations, we do not have a time frame for this project to be finished.  Chuck is hoping by the summer.  I feel more like it might turn into October.  It will be fun to see who's right.

Stay tuned...you never know what to to expect next with us.

Blog Archive