Cleaning!!!!

The cleaning in my life never seems to end!!!! Today I am in the basement cleaning my office that has become an unruly mess!!!! When we put in the basement hallway light, we had to pull the wires to my office so I am cleaning all the old wire that was left behind on my table.I am also cleaning our downstairs bathroom.I am multitasking doing laundry,cleaning and writing my post in between!!!!! My bedroom is pretty much done being painted except for a small spot behind our flat screen tv.It is a challenging spot to paint.The TV was really heavy to install so I can't move it.The room is so much brighter but like I said before I want new bedding ,curtains,etc.I will post photos when I finish all the decorative details.

Bathroom update

We are still working on bathroom.We had to break down a glass block wall that used to enclose our old tub and shower.It was a nightmare to break and especially the clean up. On the bright side the bathroom looks huge!!!! I really love the open feel of the room!!!!!!

Bath tub update

On our days off this week we worked on re-enforcing some support beams we discovered were cut through by previous owners.It was an ordeal to re-support.Our house is in a sad state right now with the saw dust and mess!!!! My husband woke up with a sore neck after doing all the re-supporting and had to go see our doctor .He couldn't move his head and was in a lot of pain After wearing an anti-imflamatory patch and alot of pain killers he went to work .I am working on cleaning the house and making it presentable since we have clients that come to our house.I am hoping we can start tiling this weekend.We did get the sub foor down.I am also trying to decorate the house for xmas!!!! I wasn't going to put up much of anything this year but because we have two younger kids I decided to start decorating. Hopefully they will stay dust free!!!!!

Leaky pipes

Yikes!!!! We had a leak !!!! We discovered Monday our bathtub was leaking into our sons room (their room is directly under the bathroom).We had to cancel our day trip to Chicago and head to Menards.At first hubby thought it was just the drain leaking when he took it apart so we went to Menard's and bought a new drain stop But of course after changing it out and more leaking water he saw a cracked part of a pipe.Another trip to Menard's and finally it is fixed!!!!!

Before it was a bathroom....

This is the basement when we first started to build my bathroom.It was going to be my retreat with my very own clawfoot bath tub!!!! It was a rough space in the beginning and it has been a long process!!!! Here is the before and after!!!!!

Painting PVC pipes

An internet friend suggested to me that I could paint the white pvc pipes in my basement bathroom.The paint comes in brass,copper,or whatever color you need. Our piping in the bathroom is exposed copper so I chose copper color for the pvc pipes.What a difference!!!! I really love it!!!! The only problem was that it was a tight spot to paint so it didn't come out perfect but goes nicely with a 100+ house.Here are photos!!!

Basement bathroom photos!!!!

Finally we can cross the basement bathroom off the list.A new window will be installed after winter but as far as I am concerned it is finally done!!!!! We started with just an area in the basement and did all the work ourselves.Two years ago my husband and his brother installed the pipes for water and a toilet.It took a year to actually install the toilet and then we were on a roll.Trent finished the piping and installed the sink and the tub.I am always the side kick in these projects.After everything was in we added the walls and door.Oh yeah we did the electric. The last thing we did was tile a wall in subway tiles.I love it!!! For a basement bathroom it is very paris apartment!! ( for any one who hasn't heard of paris apartment decorating ,it is a book by the same name and has a vintage and french feel)Here are a few photos.

BAsement bathroom photos!!!!

I wrote about our subway tile in the last post and here are photos.We will probably grout this weekend .I also want to find trim for around the door.The last step will be to paint above the subway tile chocolate brown.It is all in the details then the room will finally be complete!!!!!Also we added the door and door knob!!! That makes a huge difference for privacy!!!!

Basement update!!!!

We are about 90 percent done with our basement redo!!! The bathroom is just about done,we have one wall to tile in back of the claw foot tub.We are using subway tile.Hopefully we can finish that this weekend!!!! The middle hang out room still needs a floor and we decided to put in electric baseboard heat. I will be excited when I can put up a flat screen tv and throw the toys down there!!!! Here is a sneak peek!!!!

Basement walls

These are photos of the basement walls.We are studding to add dry wall.I put waterproofing cement on the brick in certain spots that had moisture and some just in case.I need to do a little more before we insulate and run more electric .

Still working!!!!

We have been very busy the past few weekends.My husband and I installed the walls in the basement bathroom.We both work during the weekend so we did most of our work when we were finished and then on Mondays and Tuesdays(his days off).He hurt his ribs when he fell off a small motorcycle two weekends ago so I have helped a little more than usual!!!! Today I opened up a basement window that was nailed shut (w/ plywood and covered over by some funky fake stone insulation.) It was a pain to do but now that we are working in the basement I need to see!!! It was so dark down there!!!! The spot where the window is , will become a hang out room/playroom. Since I can't find my camera at the moment I can't show any pictures !!! I will post when I find it.

Small peek!!!

We have been working really hard on our basement bathroom!!! It is not done but it is functioning.The toilet is connected and so is the bathtub!!!!!! Yesterday I let my two youngest take a bath as they were excited to try it out!!!! I made a bubble bath for them and with the spout the water came out super bubbly!!!! We bought a temporary water faucet/spout for now.I want the faucet with the hand held shower spray(telephone handle).This tub was my Mother's day present 2 yrs ago. I painted it pink since this was supposed to be "my bathroom" The claw feet are silver. It has turned into the kids bathroom.My teenage daughter has a room down there so she says it is "her" bathroom.This weekend I am going to finish tiling the part of the floor that didn't get done last weekend.This is a photo of the tub.I am going to paint the wall behind the tub a chocolate brown.

Other side!!!!

Here is the view from the other side of our new "family" room.It has been really cozy in here!!! The kids are coloring again on our vintage chalkboard.Before the dining room table was in the way so we just basically looked at the chalkboard.We started school again and we only received part of our materials from the company that ships our supplies, so we haven't done an abundance of work.i am exhausted from working on our bathroom in the basement.We installed the clawfoot tub Sunday.I still need to finish tiling the floor.The floor is not level at all and it is a challenge tile .

So much activity!!!

We have been doing so much all of a sudden!!! The screen door is installed ( we just need to trim a small piece) .We started on our basement bathroom!!! The toilet is installed!! (A big hit in our house since we only had one bathroom!!!) we will work on installing my pink claw foot tub(I got this for mothers day 3 years ago!!!).This is a different claw foot tub that I blogged about in the beginning of the year.I bought one for the master bedroom but we currently have it on our front porch.I can't believe the progress we made these couple months.We installed a new fence (on one side of our house) ,put up the tile wall in back of our fireplace,and now we started the downstairs bathroom!!!!