We'll be working on the basement bathroom remodel this weekend. Saturday is really the only day that we have to get anything done and that is pushing it most times. Last weekend we played but this weekend we're all over it. We have accomplished a few things. Take a look...

{The sink is in.}

We found it just sitting in the Garden tool aisle at Lowes a looong time ago, way before the flood. It was marked $25.00. The sink was on a shelf a few feet away. A worker just happened to be walking by and we asked if we just take it to the counter. As an after thought, I asked if there was hardware with it anywhere. He said he didn't think so and then bent down and marked it to $20.00 because of it. We didn't even ask or think of it. Pretty nice of him. I still have to install the knobs.

{New faucet}

Nice and shiny, looks good but was only $12.00 at Home Depot, hello.

{New flooring underfoot}

For $103.00 we were able to put down a hardwood look-a-like. It's rubber backed and does not have to be glued down. So if we ever experience a flood again (knock on real wood) we'll just pull it up, wash it off, dry it out and put it back in. Could it be any easier?

Bathmat - West Elm, $16.00

{New/old accessory}

I found this little guy at an antique mall for $3.00. I like having unique accessories and when they are so inexpensive, they're easier to switch out. But for now, he's a keeper.

When this is all said and done, we will be waaay under budget which is why I have changed it up and am going with a different light, not your standard light. It's going to be cool.

More later.

Have a great day!

Zombie bathroom project

We only have the weekend to work on the bathroom but because the weekends can be just as busy as the weekday, we keep getting stalled. After looking over the space and assessing all that still needs to be done, I realized that my mud and taping drywall ability (or lack thereof) is not up to par. I couldn't get the seam right above the sink to come together smoothly and it was going to stare me in the face everyday. I painted the wall but no amount of paint was going to mask it.

I had a lipstick on a pig situation here.

I needed a solution quickly. Since we moved in we have wanted to do a high board and batten treatment (similar to picture on left) throughout the house like our friends did in their beach house 6 years ago. Since the bathroom is a small space, it's the perfect place to test my skills at installing a whole wall of moulding and cover the 2nd grade drywall job. We've installed chair rail before so this shouldn't be too much different.

So, off to the home improvement store Trae and I went and came back with nicely ripped 4" wide strips of exterior grade wood. Although I just extended the life of this project, which is why I call it the "zombie bathroom" because it just won't die already!, it'll be better for it. And it won't bug me anymore...

So until that is finished, I'll show some of the components on my board below that I am waiting to install.

Any zombie projects in your life?

Have a good day! ~Laura

When a simple project goes wrong

So a simple, 30 minute project blew up in our face over the weekend. Does that ever happen to you?

I was at the computer finishing up some photo editing when Jon started looking in the tool/home improvement closet. Then a few minutes later he asked me to open the front door and up the stairs he came with the old bathroom sink and vanity. I thought this was super cool. I was going to have my nice, new vanity installed. I was glad this was going so quickly because I still needed to get ready for our dinner out with friends.

He called me in to take a look at the vanity and its placement. It was a go. So he began to drill into the wall, using the template left by the old cabinet. The vanity wasn't sitting right because nothing in this house is square so he made an adjustment and started to attach the vanity to the wall again. Suddenly, we heard a hissing sound as if we just disturbed a snake living in the wall. The sound was fairly soft and then became increasingly loud.

Our realization was reached at the same time: We just drilled right into the water line.

Jon bounded into the other room to shut off the water. Unfortunately when the room was carpeted, the door to the water valve was obstructed by the thick carpet. So Jon had to break the door to get to it. Finally it was shut off and we began to assess the new problem.

But in order to do that correctly, half of the wall had to come down. So while he made a trip to buy plumbing supplies at True Value, yours truly got to the demo. With every hit of the hammer against the wall, I was thinking that a labor intensive drywall project was now planned for sometime during my busiest week yet. Luckily, that thought restrained me from taking down the whole wall which I had ripped up and cleaned before he returned.

After a few hours of watching and helping Jon re-work the plumbing, I was finally able to get into the shower and to our friend's house by 6:45 so all was well. We told them of our fiasco and they told us theirs so we feel better that our boat has really good company.

Basement fix

After the little flood in our basement, we spent the weekend ripping out the rain-soaked carpet and let the floors dry. We only have one more room to dry out and we should be good. Two of our good friends are letting us borrow their dehumidifiers and they are working like a charm!

We are now finishing the tear out of the 70's linoleum and vanity in the bathroom. It was on the chopping block anyway so the flood just sped up the process which was good (in that respect.) We'll have to replace small parts of the drywall but luckily not all of it.

The concrete was so wet underneath that the glue didn't even put up a fight when we lifted up the flooring. We did nearly have a fiasco with the installation of the commode (not a fan of the word toilet) but we remedied that situation, whew!

I'm keeping my budget at $200.00 for the basement bathroom fix and because of a few good deals, (I bought the vanity 2 months ago at Home Depot for $15.00 - floor model.) I am well under budget. So that leaves more to play with for the fun stuff like this bath mat I ordered. Priorities.