Our little ones

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Our Little World

Have you wondered what's been going on with us? Well, wonder no more my dear bloggy friends. Remember the sore muscles and dust that covered pretty much every square inch of our house? Yes? Well it has begun once again.

That's a good thing though. Although the dust and lack of one toilet isn't such a good thing... eek! We should be getting both commodes back on Thursday or Friday. [crossing fingers for sooner rather than later]

Fortunately this time we planned ahead *ahem* and covered as much as we possibly could with sheets and towels. Even pillow cases! The pillow cases have been awesome for items in the kitchen like our dish/plate holder, my KitchenAid mixer *swoon*, the toaster oven (which may save us one of these nights), and our *sniff, sniff* almost broken down coffeemaker.

I am loving pillowcases!


Couches and entertainment center covered with sheets.

Why all the coverings and talk of dust? As of Saturday 8.30.08 at about 8:45 am every single piece of tile in our house was torn up with a jackhammer. Ahh yes. That was a lovely sound first thing in the morning. Metal against cement. Yeah, you've heard it before. Now picture it being done almost all day long. Niiiiicceee.


Then it was chucked into a few buckets and the floor of our garage.



THE pile.

I mentioned before that when we had picked out laminate flooring (which we love), we also picked out new tile to replace the older glossy white stuff that resided in our kitchen, breakfast nook, two bathrooms, in front of the fireplace and by each door.

Fireplace before (when J and C were laying down the laminate).



J and I are really happy that it didn't take much longer than a month for this process to start. That's because our laminate floors still do not have the transition pieces that go from the laminate to the tile or remaining carpet. We still have gaps, and that means we need to vacuum those spaces to rid them of dust bunnies courtesy of Kira and her long hair.



Our refrigerator is MIA.


The stove went AWOL.

We have search parties looking for both. Nah, they're not really missing or escapees. You can see them in the middle of our living room (below).

See? There they are.

You know? It might be nice to have a fridge in the living room, especially when you're watching a football/baseball/hockey game and need a snack or a drink. Just lean over and open the door. However, since everything is covered and packed together in a big group that can't really happen. Also the fact that we can't have a water supply hooked up to the ice maker. It's dwindling down to a few lonely pieces.

Yesterday (8/25/08) the tile guys came over and laid the kitchen and breakfast nook tiles. That was probably the largest part of the job. Now if you were to combine both bathrooms, plus the spots by the front and back door, along with the fireplace, then they'd probably be about equal.


The tile begins.



Completed kitchen.

Wow, doesn't it look good?

The color is fairly neutral with some mottling of light and dark areas. It is much warmer and really goes with the dark laminate.


Here is what the kitchen tile use to look like. This was Kira's second birthday, but our first or second year in this house. I still can't believe that she's four now.

Speaking of Kira, she and I have spent the past two days in my office. I was working of course, but she didn't really like the fact that she couldn't wander the house. (One of the workers is afraid of dogs.) Whenever I needed to get up and get something or go to the restroom, she would come with me on her leash.

Since we're on the subject of bathrooms, the guys removed our second bathroom's toilet on Saturday when they tore up the tile. It's sitting in the tub and doesn't do much good there. We still had our master bathroom toilet, so that was good!

See the toilet is missing, and so is the cabinet, counter and sink.


Waiting for the new tile (from today 8/26/08) to cure before we put the toilet back.


Our landlord, C, came back over last night after picking up a new cabinet and counter top for our master bathroom. Then he and J proceeded to rip out the existing sink, cabinets and counter in both bathrooms (as seen above in the second bathroom). That may worry some people, but J and I like to go backpacking and rough it. Let me clarify that. We like to rough it outside. Not so much when we're in our home and should have access to a sink.

Whaaa No sink?

Oh yes. The tile and mortar that was laid in the kitchen was still wet and needed to cure over night. We couldn't use our kitchen, sink, microwave or stove. That's because the stove AND our fridge were sitting in the middle of our living room. Fortunately we can still use our fridge, since it's plugged in. I'm not exactly sure how helpful that is, other than keeping food and drinks cold since we can't exactly heat anything up.

That's not even considering tomorrow when all the tile will have grout added. I think that will continue to limit us to the laminate floor and carpet.

The good thing is that the tile guys left us with a toilet for the night. Hurray! Tomorrow (8/27/08) they will switch bathrooms and take out the master toilet, but reinstall the second bathroom one (once the tile is set). Wheew! I was a little worried that I'd need to drive to J's office every time I needed to use the restroom.

Who knew I could be so grateful for a commode?

Master bath minus tile, except for the few pieces around the commode.


Master bath, missing a key piece of plumbing.


No mirror, cabinet or sink.

All our towels, mouthwash, toothbrushes, and so on are in our bedroom and second bedroom. Ah, don't think you'll be lucky enough to see photos of that. The two rooms look like a tornado passed through. If I keep the doors closed, it doesn't bother me quite as much, although I'm a bit uneasy with the thought of having to move it all back once we're done. Maybe we can go through everything and eliminate the unneeded "junk". That would be a good idea.




Our landlord, C picked out a white "vanity" cabinet. The picture is accurate except for the counter top. We will only have one sink, since it's not that big of a cabinet or bathroom. We were originally going to get a dark cherry colored cabinet, but C decided that white would work best in the long run.


The counter top, which is also white I believe, although I have not seen it. I'm glad it's all one piece. No seams to scrub with a toothbrush, except for around the faucet.



These are new tiles for the master bath. They should be put in tomorrow. I can't wait to see how everything will look once it's complete.

Door by the garage before.


Missing tile.


Door by the garage after.
(with a transition piece sitting between the tile and laminate).


Front door with new tile.

Now if I could gain access to my stove again. I have food that I'd like to cook. [smiles] Hmm. Maybe we could fix our grill (one of the gas elements broke), or get out our camping stove and use it out on our deck. That might be a good idea!

I hope to have updates and possibly more pictures tomorrow.
Night all.

2 thoughtful comments:

glee said...

Wow! What a major overhaul! I know it will be hard, but I hope it will be worth it. You and J are great to pitch in and help. You seem to have a great landlord and he knows you all are excellent renters!

I hope things go quickly for you in this time of transition. I appreciate the photos and hope you'll keep us posted!

Love you!

Anonymous said...

Great site Holly! Love the fridge access for football :)

That house can be a second job huh?

JimO

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