The Bathroom: FINISHED!

May 26, 2018 | family

The Bathroom: FINISHED!

The bathroom is FINISHED! It’s been a long process, and we’ve learned a ridiculous amount out of the process. I’m thankful that it’s done, and that it looks even more beautiful than I could have imagined. Knowing we’re not breathing in mold (or risking the walls collapsing at some point) is a huge relief, and now we have an absolutely gorgeous bathroom to enjoy! (the shower enclosure isn’t on yet. I just didn’t want to keep waiting on the pictures!)

A lot of what we bought for the bathroom was pretty basic: subway tiles (with pewter grout), beadboard and trim…

but some of our choices took a lot of shopping to find, so if you’re interested in any of these items, here’s where we found them. (can’t guarantee the links will stay active forever but c’est la vie!)

The blinds were from blinds.com.

Ride The Wave sign is from Target

Vanities are from Home Depot

The lights are from Lowe’s

The faucets, shower handle, and tub faucet are from Amazon.

The tile is Williamsburg Beige ceramic tiles from Floor & Decor.

The paint colors: Recycled Glass and Restful

Starting week seven

May 9, 2018 | family

Starting week seven

Today starts the seventh week of our bathroom project. And that doesn’t count all the preliminary work of finding someone and choosing everything we’d put in there.

It’s the seventh week of:

sharing one bathroom for the 5 of us all day
Josh working in the living room instead of our bedroom
not being able to get to things in the garage
(having our dress clothes hanging in a closet in the garage)
having a “stranger” in and out of our house every day
lovely sounds throughout the day (jackhammers are LOUD when they’re within your walls!)

I know it should be done soon. When he finishes the grout (today) and the beadboard on the walls, everything else should go in place really quickly. Nothing has been simple. Either we bought the wrong grout, or the vanity we chose has drawers that will hit where the pipes are, or it just takes longer than expected to cut up the millions of subway tiles.

I’m so ready to see it finished! I can’t wait to have my house back!

Bathroom: update 2

Apr 25, 2018 | family

Bathroom: update 2

Project day 29 (counting weekends because that’s how long we’ve been looking at plastic sheeting instead of a bathroom).

He finished tiling and grouting (? is that a word?) the shower. It was a bigger project than any of us anticipated: subway tiles are TINY so there was a LOT of cutting involved. He figures it set him back 1 to 1 1/2 weeks. Goody.

But it’s perfect. I’m absolutely thrilled with how it looks. He’s doing an incredible job and I’m thankful that he’s meticulous!

Next up: the floor to the rest of the bathroom. I can’t WAIT to see that come together!

And after that, things should move really quickly. Which means we’ll get our garage back as well as getting our bathroom back!

Bathrooms: a warning

Apr 3, 2018 | family

Bathrooms: a warning

Dear Charla-in-2019,

I know at this point the memories of the great Bathroom Renovation of 2018 will be a blur. You’re remembering just how much fun it was pinning all the bathroom images and finding just the right look for your redesign. How delightful it was finding exactly the right tile for the floor. How giddy you got when you found just the right mirrors for over the vanity.

But I’d like to remind you what it really looks like right now.

The garage.

Everything from our bathroom and closet is currently hanging out here, as well as everything we’ve bought for the new bathroom.

The bathroom that we’re all using for the month.

Five of us. Let me remind you we homeschool and Josh works from home. So all day every day, the 5 of us share this small bathroom.

It’s delightful.

What it looks like from our bedroom. This doesn’t show the constant layer of dust on the floor from the work.

Don’t get me wrong. It was the right thing to get the shower fixed before we had serious issues on our hands, and it only made sense to do the whole bathroom rather than leave the rest dated and original. And I really can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s done.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Just like everything, the process isn’t always pleasant and it can be pretty messy, but if you spend your whole life avoiding messy you’ll never get anywhere!

Just don’t be in a hurry to fix the other bathroom next year, ‘kay?

Charla-in-2018.

Bathroom Renovation: Part 1

Mar 25, 2018 | family

Bathroom Renovation: Part 1

Sooooo….

We’re getting a new bathroom.

It’s not really what I wanted right now. We thought it was a nice bathroom (minus the hideous very-1998 border that DEFINITELY was on its way out). The green countertops were very 1998 too, but at least they were in good shape.

But do you see that yucky spot on the wall next to the shower?

Yeah. That’s not healthy. There’s an insane amount of water in the walls. Apparently the shower pan is broken. (I don’t know what that is, but that’s what everyone who understands plumbing/bathrooms tells us). Insurance is involved, and we’re paying the difference to go ahead and update the whole bathroom.

We’re having someone do the work for us (because we can only do surface stuff, like painting and replacing mirrors). He’s planning to start this week, so we have some work to do getting everything cleared out for him!

Today we bought the tiles for the shower and floor, and tomorrow we’ll start pulling everything out of the bathroom and closet so he can start working!

Here are the before pictures:

Research projects

Feb 22, 2018 | family

Research projects

My kids are either dysylexic or dysgraphic (or both). Because of that, I don’t require much written work from them, instead leaning on other ways to make sure they’re learning. We keep it light, because the biggest thing I want them to take from their school years is that learning is fun and never needs to end.

I wrote before about our curriculum for this year, Children Around The World. Our favorite part has always been the meals associated with the country (Romanian meatballs, Swiss fondue, French pea soup…), but last night’s dinner took the cake. And not because Italian food is yummy…it was our “guest” for the evening that really made it special.

The plan for this week was to have the kids’ dad do research on Leonardo Da Vinci, and then he surprises the kids by showing up for dinner in character. Josh was absolutely perfect for this! He had a great time learning about a fascinating character, and the kids told me that our guest was hilarious. We all learned about Leonardo, and Josh enjoyed playing the part.

But something came from it that I wouldn’t have expected.

Realizing how hands-on that education experience was for Josh as well as for the kids, I decided we’ll start having the kids do monthly projects in the same vein.

They can be on any person, place, thing, dance style, etc. The sky is the limit. And at the end of the month, they present their findings in whatever way is appropriate for that topic. (they all want to do dinners, surprise surprise!)

And none of them wanted to go to bed, because they all wanted to start in on the research. Seriously.

Sure enough, they all woke up this morning, excitedly said “Ooh, research!” and jumped on a computer.

Rebekah changed her project once, but then found out everything she could about modern dance.
Hudson stuck to his original plans and is learning about lambs. (his favorite toy has inspired both of us so many times!)
Jasmine’s on her 5th topic: the jasmine flower.

Hudson’s will involve a lunch of lamb. He insists on presenting tomorrow (goody, that means a trip to Publix today!). The other two want to present right away too, so I think Rebekah might do lunch today. Not sure when Jasmine can do it, though, since we’re not here for dinner the next two nights.

I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’m going to savor it for as long as it does!