Into phase 2

Well, the good news is that our bathroom is basically done! They have a small flooring issue to figure out (has to do with a strange soft spot that has become apparent) but it's usable and that's the most exciting thing to me right now.

A couple of days ago, the demolition of the second/guest bathroom began. That's the bathroom that started the need to remodel anyway. When we first viewed the house, the shower door in that room was crooked. Think thick aluminum frame with "rain" frosted glass and a shower base that always looked a little dirty because there were little dark flecks in the design. The floor was also a light brown vinyl that didn't really match anything. Even better was the scary original vinyl flooring underneath that when they pulled it up. My favorite part of the room though was the position of the shower head. I'm 5'3" and it was low for me. My dad is 6'5" and when my parents were visiting, he somehow showered in there. I do not know how, but he must have had a very clean belly button! The good news is that it's now been raised about 18" up from where it was...which is good for non-tiny people.

I'll be taking completely finished pictures soon, once everything is done, sealed, dry and I can get in there with a wide angle lens (been using our point and shoot so far).

So close I can smell it

Our bathroom is going to be done today and ready for use by tomorrow morning. I am totally psyched! I took off the rest of the week (use them or lose them vacation days) so I can babysit the demolition and remodel of the guest bathroom. I took some pics last night of the bathroom in it's 80% done state to share. Today they're grouting and cleaning, plus adding a nice tile base board to replace the wooden ones that were there before. I have to make a quick trip to Home Depot at lunch but definitely worth it!Around the bathtubThe floor is under there somewhere.

Check out my awesome mitered corners on the ledge around the tub! I was very impressed.

With any luck I will have completed photos tomorrow and then the before and after of the other room are to come!

So that's what was under there!

There is something to be said for having your house taken over by a bunch of men who are demolishing things. I've been very impressed by our contractors so far - not only have they shown up on time but have been very productive, are looking to get the job done by the end of next week, and have made sure to cover half the house in plastic so as not to get everything dirty! It does sound a little bit like I'm walking around wearing plastic bags on my feet, but I'd rather that than the alternative.

In fact, they were so eager to get started this morning that the doorbell rang at 7:45 while I was in a state of semi-undress, having just got out of the shower and not quite decided what to wear. I quickly threw my PJs back on to let them in, at which point they were very apologetic for having woken me up.

I've been taking photos to document progress and have a first few to share with you. I'd like you to meet our old bathroom....One word to describe it? Bland. While retro is "in", there's something about the 1980s white tile and delightful vinyl flooring combo that just doesn't quite work for me. Even better than that, check out the handles in the bathtub. Are those a nice smokey gray plastic? Oh yes, I believe they are. Oh well, out with the old and in with the sledgehammer.

When I got home last night I was greeting by a bathroom with no walls. It's definitely odd to see what's underneath all the lovely tile that existed. You have to excuse the crooked photo - that's what happens when you stick your arm through plastic sheeting and aim blindly!Right now they are putting up new walls and tile is soon to be going on top of that. It's definitely an interesting experience but no complaints so far. More photos once they start laying tile...

May the demolition begin!

When we were first buying our house, one of the things that we were desperate to do is remodel the second bathroom. It started with a broken shower door, which turned into "well, we might as well replace the shower base too cus it looks old". That became ripping out the tile in the shower area and tiling the floor. I made the observation that if we're redoing the floor in one bathroom, we should probably tile the floor in our bathroom as well. After meeting with a couple of contractors, we decided that we could just re-tile the area around the bathtub while we're at it...you know, get it all done at once!

About 15 estimates later (ranging from $1300 to $11K), we finally picked a lovely contractor to help us with our first real venture into the equity building mess of remodeling. He came over today to help finalize our contract with him, and work begins on Wednesday of this week. I've spent so many hours watching Sweat Equity on the DIY Network that we might wonder why I'm not just getting down on my hands and knees and doing everything myself. This is definitely one of those cases where my end of year bonus will buy me the peace of mind of having a professional with a sledgehammer do it on my behalf!

Before and after pictures will be following of course. =)