Progress Will Cost You...

Well, let me start out by saying that Lowes and Tile Liquidators have taken more than their fair share out of our checking account today. The bathroom project continues moving forward and all the supplies have been purchased. And...it only took us five hours to get it all picked out and ordered. There are just too many choices...hardy board, thin set, light fixtures, oh my!

A few pictures of our progress:

Mark deliberating over screws...or something even less exciting.

We are now overwhelmed in searching for vanities and vessel sinks. Thought we had stuff all picked out, but then we second-guessed ourselves and decided to go a different direction.

And here is a picture of our tiles. The dark one (left) will go on the floor and the light one (right) on the walls. The accent tile will go midway up on the wall throughout. LOVE this tile!

Nothing more exciting than that today! I am heading out of town for a few days and Mark is interviewing some architects. We'll see what surprises I come home to on Thursday...there are sure to be a few.

Have a great week, everyone!

We Must Get to Nothing Before We Can Start Something

The demo continues...it started as a small wall, now an entire bathroom. Mark ripped our tiny little main floor bath right down to the studs...looks like it's time for a fresh start!

First day of demo...a few things we discovered.

#1 - All the walls in the house are a different thickness. This will be GREAT for trying to hang doors...can you sense my sarcasm? We haven't discovered lathe and plaster though...definitely something to be thankful for.
#2 - The tiles you see on the walls...yea, they are not really "tiles." They are plastic! Totally fooled us and everyone else who saw them. Made it a lot easier to remove, which is great. Can't believe these held up so well! They had to be installed 30-40 years ago. Wow! They've had a good life...it's now time to get out of my house!
#3 - The previous owners cut into a beam in the basement (brilliant)...and our floor is now sagging upstairs. I'm sure you can imagine the heart palpitations in the Lutz household. Freaks the hell out of us, but I'm sure we will figure it out. Pretty secure in saying that I'm sure this will not be the last "surprise" in store for us.
#4 - Through some research, I've discovered that the city of St Louis Park offers some free time with an architect to help with our remodel. Will definitely need this to figure out what to do downstairs to get our floors back in shape. We have also drawn up plans in our computer software and will get some help on questions we have. The pics on our computer software look great! I am hopeful we'll be able to do all we're wanting to do.


Bearing it All!

I came back home after a week of travel and everything was gone! Lots of progress. I'm happy to say that my new bathroom has hit rock bottom...we're only going up from here! Mark met with the plumber this week and we will likely have a shower head installed by next week and some new pipes to carry water in and out of the bathroom. The next step will be to get the underlayment installed so that we can replace the window with glass block.

Mark found something kind of neat when he was ripping the walls apart. He found a piece of newspaper from the 50's...listed homes in Edina on France and 100 selling for $14,000 with a GI loan of 4.75%. Can't believe that we have a better interest rate on this house than back in the 50's. Wish we would have been a bit closer to the sale price from back then though...

We have also picked out our new front door and are working on some custom interior doors with glass inserts to open up the space with lots of light. They are going to be great...can't wait to show them to you all.

I hope everyone has a Hoppy Easter!

The Carpet Didn't Stand a Chance!

Whew...what a weekend! After a well-fought battle, we claim victory...over the carpet. Yes., every square foot of pink shag carpet is out the door (and there was a lot of it) as well as the carpet in the living room, hall, and guest bedroom. Can hardly believe that we got it all done...it was a great team effot. So proud of our accomplishment!

We unearthed a few issues with the wood floor in the living and dining room. We couldn't believe our eyes when we pulled up the carpet and found big huge gouges in the wood...right in the middle of the living floor! It was a complete and utter crime...the person who laid the carpet used a stretcher and tore big holes into the beautiful oak wood floor! We are hopeful that when we pull out some of the wood in the dining area (replacing with tile) that we will have enough to fill in the damaged pieces.

Before:

After:

I feel an overwhelming sense of calm now that the Pepto Bismol pink carpet is out of the bedroom. Not sure why it was such a sore spot with me, but it is like a huge weight has been lifted. I mean...just look at the pink hue that filled the room in the before picture. Felt like I should pull out the Barbie Dream House and get to playing!

Check out the change once we demo'd that shag...pretty amazing! The great news is that the floors under that pink carpet are pristine...no damage and they are going to look amazing once they are refinished!

Before:

After:

Mark has promised that next week will bring progress on the main floor bath. As those who've seen the shower I'm currently using can attest to...I NEED A NEW BATHROOM!

Bye for now!

The Walls Come Tumblin' Down

We are all moved in...whew! Thanks to all our friends and family who helped us move. You were real troopers and we couldn't have done it without you! We were able to get most everything into two U-haul trucks and got it all unloaded at the house on Friday in 2.5 hours. Not bad at all! We even got our king-size bed up the stairs...which was not a small feat (as the five guys it took to get it there can attest to).

The small hurdle...the mammoth leather couch. No matter how the guys twisted, turned, pulled, and pushed, that sucker would not go in the door.

The budget did not include buying a new couch, so drastic measures were needed. In other words...the walls had to go! Saturday was spent in a battle with a few entry walls. Here is the before picture...

And here is the demo...

After an afternoon of work, the walls (and all the dust and debris) are gone! Now...what do we do with the gaping holes in the wall and floor? We are still a bit torn with whether we'll restore the cove ceilings or rip everything down to install a ceiling fan and can lights. Decisions, decisions....more to come!

Good news! We now have a couch to sit on in the living room. Sorry to all the Craig's Listers who would have liked to see that baby go up for sale!