The thing about small bathrooms

is that there isn't much room to work.  And roughed in plumbing means pipes just sticking out of things...  Combine those elements with heat and tiredness, and you smack your head on pipes a lot.  Here's to Harry Potter.

Man, I hate the tedious behind the scenes work.

I've been working on the bathroom every night after work.  The weekends are pretty booked, so that's all the time I have.  It's been progressing, but right now the progress is frustratingly small to the eye.

The new plumbing is roughed in, and I've nearly finished the electric - installed a new recessed light and a new light/fan combo - but the majority of the time has been in leveling out the walls and figuring out how to deal with covering some of the plumbing.  It's so boring - all this cement board in the hall, and I just want it up on the wall!  But if I don't get the walls straight now, you'll really be able to tell.

I've framed one wall twice, as the first time I built it too far away from the wall (plumbers then told me to redo it and notch the studs for the plumbing).  I'd be done with the electric already, but for some reason one of the lights doesn't work now that I added another line.  The subfloor is laid, but I have to get everything up to the level of the shower pan.  Essentially - the "Sarah is not a pro" status has really slowed me down!  However - I'm gettin' it done.  If slower than I hoped!

Crazy busy - but not much to show

I've spent the past month keeping up with the garden and running about like one of those animals at the zoo that hold still for a moment and then take off with a burst of speed.  Nope, can't remember the name.

Anyway, the backyard looks pretty much the same, just a bit more grown in.  It's actually taken quite a bit of work and lots of added plants, but the main area is still rather a dirt pit.

However, there's been a bit of a focus change - the upstairs bathroom decided to begin leaking into the downstairs bathroom, so the renovation timeline for that got moved up.  I had it demo'ed on Monday, and just ordered all the fixtures.  Hopefully the reconstruction will begin next week, plumber willing...  

We had originally thought that we would turn the bath/toilet 180 degrees and make the upstairs little nook room into the bathroom (it has a window!) and make the current bathroom the closet.  The first estimate I got to move the plumbing was ridiculously expensive though, so we nixed that option.  I'm waiting for the second plumber, but in gutting the current bathroom we gained a ton of height and a wide skylight (why do people drop ceilings???) so it's already looking more spacious.  Stay tuned for more updates as the project actually progresses!

See, it looks a little different

We worked on and off in the yard this week, and then Hobs came over for a marathon gardening session on Sunday.  We:

• buried the drip hose (thanks Mary!)
• planted my birthday apple tree (thanks Dad!)
• added a ton more topsoil as things settled
• moved the big hydrangea
• moved the lavender
• moved something else that I don't know - perhaps a lily
• leveled out the yard
• set a path using the bluestone we found under the concrete
• planted jasmine, thyme and clover seeds.

After all that, we're in a really good place for the ground cover to take off (hopefully!) and make the back stop looking like a dirt pit!

Springing it in with a vengeance

The backyard had a concrete path that led to nowhere - it was basically a sidewalk down the middle of the yard.  Since the path to nowhere bothered us, we decided to rip it out.  We rented a jackhammer, bought some topsoil to replace the concrete, and bribed friends with the promise of steaks, beer, and the use of a sledgehammer if they came to help.

Jackhammering was too much for me (I'm too short for leverage, and don't have the weight to overcome my height), but luckily our taller friends ruled it while Jaimee wielded the sledge to break up the pieces: 

Once the pieces were broken up, everyone pitched in to load them into bags and carry them out front.

I managed to avoid this heavy labor by spending my time building a "litter box" for Loki, as well as a compost box for the results of the dog-litter-box.  The team then filled the trench with topsoil (we need to get more), and covered it with weed fabric so we don't accidentally create a feral cat litterbox, and we re-routed the drip hoses for full yard coverage.  At the end of only a couple hours, we were done!

I know, it kind of looks exactly the same, since the weed cover is running where the concrete was.  But the ground cover seeds are growing well, and I've ordered some supplementary plants, so hopefully planting will take place soon and change the look!  We also discovered a lot of slate (and a mini-boulder) buried under the concrete - we saved it, and will figure out something to use it for.  Suggestions welcomed!

Maintenance March ends with a swear

...Maintenance is boring.  And sometimes frustrating.

To end up the month (there are still lots of tasks to do, but they'll just have to be worked in), Jaimee got a new garbage can, and labeled our garbage and recycling with our address.  I took my phone apart to replace the cracked screen, and managed to break the replacement screen while putting it back together.  Sigh.  Waiting for the replacement for the replacement (good thing Jaimee had a spare phone so I'm not totally out of touch).

I'd like something a little more exciting - so we're on to Spring it on April.  I started some groundcover seeds to replace the grass and the sedum that didn't handle Loki well.  In a couple weeks we're going to tear out the concrete path that's still back there and get the groundcover well started - hopefully!

March theme

Apparently my unofficial theme is to be late in announcing each monthly theme, but hey.  Onwards.

Settle in February went well.  The murphy bed got fully attached to the wall, the legs and headboard were painted, and it got its mattress.  We hung shelves for Jaimee's media center, and moved my bookshelf into my office.  More pictures and random hooks got hung, we dropped stuff off at the thrift store, and basically just found homes for piles of things.  Most importantly, we hung the door that will separate the guestcave from my office.  The pictures and saga on that (why must we pick the world's heaviest door?) will follow in a later post.

But we were talking about March.  Sometimes it actually feels like spring around here, and between that (gotta do prep work!) and the messes of the past couple months, this month has become Maintenance March.  In addition to continuing the work on the murphy bed and the door, so far I've:

• spent a couple hours repairing the backyard fence
• ordered the seeds (after research and consultation!) for the lawn replacement
• patched and painted the multitude of holes created in the walls during the frequent hunt for studs in the past couple projects.  In the process, I discovered that rubbing alcohol removes latex paint from clothing.  Thank you interwebs!
• taken care of 3 old cans of paint (related to the above)
• put window bars up in the basement window over the deck
• and hung a new backyard solar motion detector light (creepy backyard intruders of the block begone!)

Next up - fixing the wobble on the downstairs toilet and patching and sealing the spot in the basement that the cat keeps staring at.  The excitement never ends over here!

And it's up!

As the settling in continues - the murphybed is up!  It was not without its drama, but with only two minor injuries caused (sorry about that bump, Max ;)), it counts as a win!

Last week Dar helped me construct the majority of the bed, following the plans that came with the hardware from Rockler.  Over the week, I stained it and put on the first coat of poly.  I completely forgot to take in progress pictures - so here it is right before the attaching:

And here it is after it was attached to the wall!  Well, sort of attached.  I apparently have amazing studless walls - in the entire span of the bed, I could only find two studs.  The plans recommend attaching at four points, so I'm going to attach a board to the two studs I could find, and then attach the bed to that board as well.

It's tilted into the case at the moment - once we put the mattress in I can attach the stops that will prevent it from going back so far.  I need to still paint the legs, and put on another coat of stain.  But - as soon as we put the mattress in it will be usable - so big step forward for settling in! 

Feb theme

Yeah, I know, February is nearly over so why am I bothering?  Well, better late than never.

January's theme was get-it-out Jan.  It was pretty successful, even though it has bled into Feb.  We got rid of:

• extra green marble tile
• two pairs of boots
• a pair of sneakers
• a pair of snow pants
• unnecessary construction leftovers
• Dad's iphone
• some random clothes
• an entire drop ceiling

Still to go - a spare tire, a pair of skis and boots (anyone?  Bueller?), a few more random items to ebay, and a thrift store dropoff. 

Getting rid of things always makes me want to organize and declutter more, and especially with repurposing the upstairs we've moved into...."settle-in Feb".  There's a murphybed in progress for the guest room/game cave, as well as plenty of little projects to organize and store things better.  I finished one of those little project last night - we added another level of pan storage to the kitchen.

A small change, right?  But it had a large effect - the kitchen seems much more open now that the pan clutter isn't so close to the counter.  (Yes, I had eggs for dinner.  Don't judge.)  It also gave us enough hanging room that some of the clutter in the random pan cabinet could be hung, allowing us to put away more random items (salad spinner, I'm looking at you) and not have them out on the counter/shelves.  Onwards!

Up and running!

The new ceiling fan came in, and after switching the light attachment it worked fine.  Perhaps the old one just wasn't completing the circuit?  But it's up and working!  I hung the curtains (I've now hung the one in the dressing room 3 times, thanks to my inability to get those stupid wire "rods" from Ikea taut enough), and we moved in!

There's plenty more to do in the room itself (some molding to patch, some to put up, a floor spot to stain and seal, outlets to swap) and a ton to do in the rest of the upstairs, but so far it really looks great!