A Project Couple

If you don't know by now, we have moved!  Literally and figuratively.  Our blog has moved to:

A Project Couple

We have also moved to our new home, the Kizer Mansion (located in South Bend, IN). So hop on over to our new on-line location and follow us on the huge adventure!

Super Fast!

In case you haven't heard, Trent and I have a HUGE new project coming our way.  We will be able to release details in the very near future, but in the meantime we still have our current project to finish up (yes, yes, we've heard it before...we're crazy).The basement drywall has been completed and last week we primed the walls.  This past weekend, in other crazy news, neither one of us had anywhere we needed to be ALL weekend!  So, we got up on Saturday and Sunday morning and painted, trimmed out, painted a second coat and trimmed out a second coat.  The basement painting is done!  We have never been that fast before and we have decided fast is better.  Get it all done in 2 days.  Miserable 2 day....but 2 days.

And yes, Niles has some explaining to do.

Just the Right Size

After spotting a little critter hole in a house I recently sold, I told Trent that we needed one for Niles. He gave in agreed and created a spot for Niles (food, litter, etc).  We made it just small enough  for someone else to be able to patch it up and just big enough for most dogs.  (Truthfully, if the next owner doesn't have pets it would make a great kids' hideout....after a steam cleaning). We will fully finish it off...paint, carpet and even put a light inside.  It may be my favorite part of the basement currently!

That's My Husband

The drywall was hung yesterday by a VERY large group of men. They showed up at 8am with 2 guys and quickly called in reinforcements (10 guys total). It's a huge drywall project and they wanted it done immediately (so the finishers could start today).

Best Moment: the drywallers walk downstairs and ask who did the framing.  I tell them my husband did it all and they proceed to tell me that it's the most meticulous work they have ever seen. Yep...that's my engineer husband.

Locks, locks and more locks

After a lot of framing (and by a lot, I mean 2,300 sq ft worth) and more electrical wires than my mind can comprehend, we are getting close to drywall.  While I dread drywall for the inevitable mess it creates, I love it because the end is in sight.  Not actually close, mind you, but it's in sight.

Our project has proven to be slightly more difficult with Niles (our new kitten). Since we are opening up the stairwell we had to remove walls up to the main level recently.  The lower level is a disaster and we didn't want little Niles to get hurt, so Trent created a door to block it off.

Niles was able to push through the door in seconds.  Trent then added two "locks."  Niles was easily able to turn the locks and open the door.

Trent then added a homemade childproof lock to the original lock.  So far, so good. Although Niles shoves his face into the cracks to let us know just how displeased he is (daily).
It's such a tough life.

Fall/Winter Project

We've officially started our fall/winter project: the basement.  The current plan is to finish about 90% of the 2,300 sq. ft....unless we change our minds.  There will be another poker room for my husband and his buddies (we're moving as fast as we can guys!) along with another bedroom, bathroom, family room and work out room.  I'm guessing that my Christmas wish list will include new furniture.

The Deck that Didn't Collapse

We barely finished the new deck just in time to host a party (a large party...we're talking a couple hundred people). The night before the party I woke up from a horrible nightmare that the entire deck collapsed during our party. I told Trent about it and he just laughed. His thoughts: 1. The deck would not collapse since he built it correctly and 2. Even if it did, the thing is about 6 inches off the ground....no one will die.
Turns out, the deck did not collapse!  It held up just fine and we had a great party. Below are the before and after shots.
On to the next project...

Before: 

After:

A Small Detour

Yes, we have still been slaving away on the project house.  However, we've had a couple of small detours (truthfully, some of them were not so small).  Long story short, we are back on track and have a lots of items checked off our to-do list.

1.  30 additional new sprinkler heads added to the "back 40" of our property.
2.  New retaining wall on the side of the house so Trent doesn't have to mow Mt. Everest.
3.  Old deck demolished and new deck started.
4.  All the 2x4's needed for framing our entire basement delivered and moved into place.

That's it!  That's what we have been up to the past 8 weeks.

This is the machine that allowed us to do the sprinkler addition without massive destruction.

This is the retaining wall we built.

This is what the old deck looked like (UGLY).

This is during the demo phase (pre-retaining wall).

And this is all the wood for starting the framing in our basement.

Completed Bathroom

 

Other than picking out towels and a few décor items, the master bathroom is done!  We are thrilled with how it turned out and just as soon as I have cleaned all the construction dust we will be equally thrilled to start using it.

Yes, the ceiling in the shower is wood (teak wood, to be exact).  I thought about making the title of this blog "Pinterest Made Me Do It"....because that is the truth.  We had no plans of making the shower ceiling wood.  Unfortunately, I stayed on Pinterest far too late one evening.

**Disregard the grainy look - that's the dust still not settled**

 

 

 

I'm in Love

Between our enormous shower head (16" to be exact), the shower handle and our teakwood bench, I am in love.  While I haven't had a chance to try it out, I'm confident that it's perfect!

Glass

We have some finishing touches to make on our master bathroom (a rather significant amount of finishing touches), but really we are simply waiting on glass. 2 glass mirrors for the vanity and 1 glass door for the shower.  Given the flat, threshold free shower we are installing a frameless glass door.   We are hopeful that it looks right, fits right and that we can drill holes into the porcelain without cracking any of them.  During our waiting game, we are trying to decide what project will be next:  new garage, deck/patio, basement ???

 

 

What Problems?!

The tile in our master bathroom is finally done and sealed!  Trent cut and put it all in place, then he did the grout while I hurried along behind him wiping, wiping and still wiping up the excess.  If you've done tile work, you know exactly how enjoyable this job is.  We did happen to have a couple of minor issues during this project.  Thankfully, we've become masters at disguising/repairing/working through the issues.  We did learn something from this project:  while we LOVE the end result, we don't ever need to do this amount of tile (in one setting) again.  Ever. 

Very Pleased

I'm very pleased with how the tile in our master bathroom is turning out.  Trent worked on it all week (during his evenings) and all weekend.  It's up and now we simply need to grout the entire room (I can actually help with this phase!).  Once that is dry and sealed, we can start putting the bathroom back together.  After our first tiled shower, Trent informed me he would NEVER tile another shower again.  This is our third tiled shower.  Personally, I think he's pretty good at it!

Hardest Part is Done

It doesn't look like much has been accomplished in our master bath, but really the toughest part (for now) is done.  The awful cuts for the bathtub and strange corners are finished.  We might actually have a tile floor by the end of this weekend!

Slow but Steady

Our master suite has been a very slow but steady process.  It's also been a process that leaves me almost useless to helping Trent.  I can paint and I can help unload cement board, but that's about my limit at this stage.  Building a shower floor that has a perfect, consistent slant towards the drain is something I understand but have NO ability to produce.  Whew...good thing Trent can!  With any luck, we'll be starting on the title work early next week (and I can go back to being helpful).

Trent was able to install the shower drain (which I'm super excited about!).  When we lay the tile, we'll put tile over the top of it so it looks invisible.

A Little Trick

I'll let you in on a trick that we've learned after many projects:  buy all the items you need PRIOR to starting the project.  Truthfully, we don't always have this luxury (time, money, pure coincidence can change it all in a heartbeat).  However, when we can buy it all ahead it saves us so much headache! 
For the master suite/bathroom project, we were able to purchase most items ahead.  For the bathroom, it was critical because several of the items were special order.  By having several weeks of prep time, we were able to shop the items and get some great deals!  We've done all our demo and new painting so that this weekend we can start putting the bathroom together.  Below are pics of our assembled pieces for this project.  The only item not pictured is a really cool teakwood bench (for the shower)....I'm hoping Trent knows where it's at, because I can't locate it right now.
1.  Tile Backer board:  Trent loves this brand and it's sometimes tough to locate.  We were lucky enough to score it on sale!

 2.  The shower drain (which will be flat, in the ground) that allows us to have the shower floor be completely flat to the bathroom floor....no step-in.  This should have been CRAZY expensive, but Trent found a guy in Florida who handmade it for a fraction of the cost (the downside is that he didn't speak much English).

 3.  The actual floor and shower wall tile.  It's 12"x24" and I LOVE it.

 4.  The 16" rain shower head - I refuse to take it out of the box and get fingerprints on it until we install it.  Once again, Trent found an amazing deal on this item (which is great since there was NO WAY we were going to spend the going rate for this item).

 5.  The granite for our sinks.  We have terrible luck with buying vanity tops...seriously, it's just comical at this point.  So we ordered this baby early!

6.  The stand alone bathtub (this may be my favorite item).

I Blame Pinterest

I blame Pinterest entirely for this current project.  The beginning plan was to just paint the master bathroom.  The second plan was to just replace the tile and paint in the master bathroom.  The third plan was to also remove the shower insert and tile that as well.  ONE HUNDRED plans later (and many hours on Pinterest), we have a fully demo'd bathroom.  While we are still disputing talking through exactly what the finished product will look like, the new stand alone tub came in and I think I'm going to love it!

 

 

**Sometimes we put new stuff in its place just to imagine what it will look like.  Yes, it means we have to move big items (like a tub) multiple times, but it's totally worth it.**