A Week of Projects: Day 1

Kyle took the week off. Not for a vacation. Not to visit family. Only to work on the house. His goal? To finish the upstairs bathroom and then some. There's quite a few projects that need to be done, but as we go along I take before, during, and after pictures of the progress. Not only does it help me appreciate the "after" that much more, but it helps me remember how much work went into completing it.

Remember when I wrote about how much I hated remodeling? Those reasons have not changed one iota.

1. One project always leads to another. Almost a year ago we tackled the bathroom downstairs (which is near completion - it's just missing some trim work and a door - ya know minor things) and in the process realized that we needed a completely new electrical board and all new plumbing. Which meant we had to tear the vanity out of the upstairs bathroom so that we could access the plumbing. The vanity sat in our backyard for a few months until someone decided they wanted it. Our toothbrushes have been in the kitchen ever sense. It's going to be weird having them back in the bathroom, lol. We are praying that this week does not produce more projects.

2. If we're working on one room, everything from that room must  be moved to another room, creating complete chaos! Like our bathroom items being moved into our living room... :)

3. It's a dusty, dirty mess everywhere. It doesn't matter how much you sweep, or even if you take protective measurements like plastic or shutting doors and windows. Dust seeps through everything. I'm typing this and am disgusted with how dirty I am right now. Bleh.

4. It always takes longer than you originally thought it would, which forces you to LIVE in it LONGER. (Reason? See #1) But hey, I'm going to be optimistic here. I'm hoping this week doesn't lead to more projects, but the flower beds I thought I'd finish today did not happen. Mostly because I have an 8 month old who now requires a lot of my attention, but also because it started to thunder. We finished the flower bed in the back yard...

This corner doesn't get hit with the sprinklers very well, so the grass died. We came up with this...

The picture does not do it justice.

Still the flower bed lining the drive way is not complete...

Before I dug in...

Digging in after measuring and marking...

SLOW going...

Where we had to stop for the day. I love the brick work and it will have plants. I can't wait to take a finished picture (hopefully tomorrow, again remember every project takes longer than what you anticipate!).

Aaaaaaand then there's the upstairs bathroom. It's taking twice as long as we thought it would when we started it. The destruction of the bathroom has been daunting for Kyle. There are three layers he must bust through: the ugly "flower" board, plaster, then drywall. (Yeah, we don't get it either.)

UGLY flower board "stuff"

Going into the bathroom...

Bye Bye Flower BOARD!

Where the bathroom vanity used to be... it's been this way for almost a year now...

He was thinking that it'd take him a day to destroy the walls. The day isn't over yet, but it doesn't look promising. It's a crazy difficult job and I'm glad I'm downstairs with Bean.

5. It's noisy. As I'm typing this I hear, "Bang, Clang, Bam, Bam, Bam, UGH! Bang, GRRRR... Bam, Bam, OW!"

6. It's smelly. (Right now I'm smelly, I'm hurrying so that I can go and shower!)

7. It's expensive. Kyle and I saved and saved and saved for three years to complete these projects. We had fun shopping for all the stuff, and then we had to check out. Way to pop our balloon check out lady!

8. It's exhausting. Now add taking care of a baby to remodeling. Gah!

9. Living without electricity or water while something is being worked on makes day to day living difficult. Boy am I ever thankful that I don't have to deal with this one right now. We have electricity and we have a full working bathroom (with running water). Woohoo!

10. Exhaustion and frustration are a deadly combination, and they go hand in hand with remodeling. Today is day 1, I'll let you know how we feel by Friday. :)

We have so much to do and I'm not even going to share the list for fear of feeling overwhelmed. Stay tuned all week for more before, during and after pictures of our projects this week!