projects!

Well, most of you know that we've been working on some remodeling projects for a while now. The kitchen is mostly done for now, but the reason I haven't updated pictures yet is that in a few weeks we'll be having new hardwood floors and carpet put in as well as having our popcorn ceilings scraped...all while Mark and I are enjoying Maui, mind you. =) So, I kinda want to wait until I can do a big "before" and "after" session. You understand, don't you?

After we found out about baby Pearson (I love saying that!), we decided that our upstairs bathroom needed to be gutted. It wasn't in the original budget, but we felt it was important to do because of the mold situation in the shower and the thought of placing a baby in there...no way. So, with a small budget, we are slowly transforming this space and it's going to be SO nice when we're done! The first thing to do was to demo and then lay new tile. Our friend Branden had laid tile ONCE before on a mission trip and offered to help Mark, who has NEVER done tile work before. I cannot tell you how incredible the results are from these amateur craftsmen! Of course, the pictures are out of order, but oh well..
Placing the spacers...



Branden and Mark having a great time working together!


The 2nd half of the bathroom with the awful half-wall and pink toilet...


The old shower...see all those grout lines? Yeah. That's what me and my Method cleaners were up against every week. I told Mark the new shower had to have the biggest tiles he could find so there wouldn't be as many grout lines.


Taking down the old vanity in the 1st half of the bathroom.




Freshly-grouted tile.


Mark using his new tile saw.


Look how nice! We found beautiful solid cherry vanities with granite tops at the Costco Home Store before they closed for a great price, bought a new bathtub, and now that Mark has sealed the grout, we just need to start putting things back together.

I have to give a shout-out to my amazing husband because, as a newly pregnant lady, I've been visiting the bathroom quite frequently, and night time is no different. Since the demo of the bathroom began almost a month ago, I've been having to stumble downstairs many times during the night to visit the bathroom. This morning, when we came home from church, Mark surprised me with a newly installed and not pink toilet! He installed it while I was singing at the earlier services at church. I haven't used it yet....I'm waiting for my first "wake up" in the middle of the night to enjoy the luxury of just walking next door to use the bathroom...I tell ya', the things that excite me these days...