Redoing the Bathroom and Flooring

We just reached two years of being homeowners. Whew! I can't believe how fast that has gone. I can't believe how much time and effort we have put into our house since then. Nearly every weekend, we have almost always had something we have been working on. And then I think of our to-do list which is longer than ever, and I just get a little sick inside. So much money, effort, and time.

I should just feel blessed to have a home to work on. Which I do feel that way. Our first project of the summer start on Memorial Day weekend which was to redo the bathroom downstairs. It was by far the biggest eye sore of the house. I wish I had taken a proper before picture. The worst part isn't shown in these photos. It was the yellow stained sink. We ordered a new sink back at Christmas time. And this has been on the project list since then.

For this bathroom renovation we painted the vanity and sealed it, changed the light fixture, framed the mirror, painted the walls and baseboards, installed the new sink and faucet. We also installed new hardware throughout. We started on Memorial Day weekend and I think it spilled over into one more weekend to finish up everything. 

It isn't actually all the way done yet. I just barely got a nice soap dispenser, and we still want to hang some shelves or some cute art above the toilet.

Don't mind the ugly stool in this photo.

Our next project was more ambitious. We loved the super soft, light cream-colored carpet in the main living areas, but it just couldn't work forever. One main problem was that it was laid where we need to have a dining room table. In the family room there was that pretty white carpet in front of the only door to the back yard and exit to the garage. It was the highest quality carpet we have ever lived with, but it just wasn't practical for the long term and was starting to look pretty gross in places because of three small children living on it for nearly two years.

So we decided we wanted to install some laminate to replace it. We decided on laminate because it was something affordable that we could install ourselves, plus it isn't as cold or hard as tile. We shopped around and found the best deal at Costco of all places. We found some that we really liked and ordered the rest of the implements. Sometimes ordering things online get damaged on the way to house, like this level. (And some baseboards we ordered :( )

We decided to start in the back family room so in case we messed up, it wouldn't be the first thing people see when they enter our house. :) So, we moved all of the furniture to the front room. Good thing we don't have very much furniture yet. :) All of it could fit into either room fairly comfortably.

Bye, bye soft carpet. :( Are we sure we want to do this???

We pulled up the carpet and pad and found a bunch of glue and a large settlement crack. This was a big hiccup on the installation timeline.

Scraping off that glue!

We had to pour some self-leveling concrete and try to level the floors. Fortunately, it was a fairly contained area we had to deal with.

Look at all of the laminate we bought! Maybe about $900 worth? Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the expenses. We had to buy a lot of tools, underlayment, and baseboards. Just the concrete was about $100. Whew! Universal truth number one about house projects: it always costs more than you'd think.

Lots of laminate! $$$

I think we did about 650 square feet of flooring. It was a lot.

We bought all of the laminate back in June. We pulled up the first section of carpet the last weekend in July and installed the last baseboard over Labor Day weekend. The box advertises: "Install it in a weekend, enjoy it for a lifetime." Universal rule number two: house projects always take more time than you'd think. In addition to Saturdays and some weeknights, John took a couple of days off work to help the project move along. One room done!

Now it was time for the other room. Pulling the carpet made a whole heck of a lot more dust than I thought it would. I probably swept that room maybe five times? The dust on those blinds is seriously making me cringe. We are going to have a big dusting day really, really soon.

We put all of the carpet and pad out by the side of the road for bulk garbage pick up which coincided with this project (not by chance). People pick up stuff in bulk pick up all the time, but I was surprised that someone knocked on our door and asked if they could have the carpet and pad. I wonder if they actually used it... It was nice quality carpet, if a bit dirty, but not completely gross.

Having concrete floors and no furniture made us realize how echo-ey and noisy our house can be. Holland was a champion and napped through all the banging right below her room while we installed the floor and baseboards. And that banging was loud. John and I wore ear plugs while we installed everything.

We got so familiar with that laminate that we had little name for each design on each board: circle, big line, little line, two dots, plain jane, sunset. It was so funny when there was a random different design thrown in here and there, completely unique in all of the boxes. This happened at the very end.

I have to say that the most painful part of this whole project was the baseboards. We decided mid-project to replace the baseboards, rather than just install a quarter round to cover the expansion gap. Turns out installing baseboards is a big, ol' pain.  It was kind of funny/painful to realize we had accidentally cemented in our old baseboards in family room corner. Let's just say the walls were not untouched in the process of taking those out. Universal truth number three: house projects will always require more effort than you think they will. I really like how everything turned out though!

I wish I could say that I feel all of this relief to have it over, but the truth is now I feel stressed that we did something wrong or it will get damaged, and all of this money, time, and effort will have been for nothing. Because worrying always helps everything... Oh well, on to the next project... :)

First Day of School 2017

Our girls' first day of school was on August 3rd. School starts so early around here! They were so, so excited though. We had a great summer break. Even though everyone was sad about it ending, the girls were thrilled about starting school.

They were finally going to the same school, and Miriam was finally a full day friend. The thing they were probably the most excited about was riding the school bus together.

Unfortunately, there was a new bus driver this year, and he assigned them seats, not together. There were many, many tears over this. And I'll be honest, I was a little irritated too. They really aren't particular trouble makers, and I know they asked politely. The situation has been at least temporarily resolved though because Miriam just started sitting with Eliza anyway, and he hasn't said anything. I guess I should be more supportive of them obeying the rules even if they don't like them, but I am not. They are so cute together and even held hands getting on the bus together for the first time. So stinkin' adorable.

Eliza has Mrs. Wendt who is a complete gem. I was expecting to feel some let down since she doesn't have Mrs. Whigham this year, but Mrs. Wendt has the same radiating love countenance, so I am good. There are a few more girls in the gifted class this year, and Eliza has made good friends with a girl named Teagan. This seems like the most solid friendship Eliza has ever had. I really hope it continues that way.

Miriam has Mrs. Zastrow. My first impression of her is the same thing I was told about her, she's intense! I don't know how you can have that much intensity with 1st graders, but she definitely gives that impression. Fortunately, Miriam does well with really clear rules and expectations, so it works for her. She has more homework than she has ever had before, which isn't too surprising because it isn't kindergarten anymore. If anything, Eliza has less homework than last year.  We'll see how the year progresses.

So it is just little Holland and me at home for a good chunk of the day now. Which would seem like a breeze except Holland has turned full on tantrum toddler on me since the start of school. She is communicating more and more all the time and loses her mind if she doesn't get what she wants. She is really keeping me on my toes, but is so, so adorable when she wants to be. :)

So now we're back to the grind--homework, schedule, lunch packing, etc. I miss my big girls, but I am so glad they love school.