Bathroom Remodel Day 1

We love the old home we bought 5 years ago, walked into it knowing every room needed to be updated. The house is beautiful and has good bones. And no one can accuse us of being afraid of a little work. But we can't put this off any longer. Over Christmas we found a leak from the 2nd floor bathroom. No doubt it is from failing grout. I've been shopping and we have most of what we need to do a bathroom renovation. This is the "before".

 

Pretty boring. All white tile, counter top and floor. Beige walls. Builders mirror. I guess I should be thankful the previous owners took all the wallpaper down before we bought it. The plan...tile the tub/shower area. Tile the floor. New mirror. Add sconce lights for either side of the mirror. Paint the walls, paint the vanity. New pulls for the vanity. Granite counter and new sink. New faucets for both the sink and tub. And new towel rack and TP holder.

 

 

 

We've ended day one of demo. I even got my son in on the fun.

 

 

 



My son and I removed the mirror, took the drawers and doors off the vanity and removed the pulls, took out the toilet, removed the bath walls down to the studs, removed the floor down to the subfloor. The tile was up the wall like baseboard so that had to go too. Check back with me tomorrow to see our progress.



New Floors for Thanksgiving

Now if you haven't guessed it by now, we have a little bit of crazy in our family. We were expecting 11 people and 3 dogs to our 4 people, 2 dog house for Thanksgiving. On the Friday before Thanksgiving I told my husband how Lumber Liquidators was having an awesome sale. The wind was blowing in the right direction because the day ended with us coming home with new flooring for the Dining Room. I mentioned the 2 dogs, you've seen them before. They're not small. We got a 3/4 inch engineered handscraped golden teak. This is hard stuff and will hold up to our big pets. My husband did alot of the initial removing of the old carpet and pad. Below you see the blue padand the old carpet. It was old and raising dogs from puppies, yep, and few accidents happened in that room.

 

It was a long night to get up all the staples, sweep up all the dust and debris. But on the plus side the floor is relatively level so we could move forward. I removed the baseboards as I wanted to reuse them.

 

 

 

The particular flooring we laid is a floating floor. No nailing required! Just click it together. The pad is attached to the back of it. No need to lay anything over the subfloor. 

 

 

By Sunday night the floor looked like the above picture. I can honestly say I did most of the work myself after the hubby got the old carpet up and out. I used a miter saw to cut pieces as needed. You want to lay the floor so your seams don't line up and pieces around the walls can't be any shorter than 12 inches or so. Now was the time I started working on that baseboard. I took the old off and as I did this I numbered the pieces so I knew where they all went.

 

 

 I also bought new quarter round, stained both the baseboard and quarter round. This took longer than I thought to dry so the whole project slowed to practically a halt. The stain was not drying fast enough. Plus I wanted to put 3 coats of polyurethane over that.  So needless to say Thanksgiving came and went with new floor but no baseboards. It still looked awesome.

 

 

 

I did finally get the baseboard and quarter round on after all the family had left. I just love the floor. I'm thinking since this is the second room we've put this flooring in that a third is in the future! If you want to lay a new floor yourself and have questions, let me know.

 

Linda

 

 

 

 



What time is it?

I bet I say those words more than "pick up after yourself". LOL I was always wondering what time it was when I got ready in the morning, so I decided it was time to do something about it. I bought this cute little clock from World Market. It actually is magnetic and will stick to any metal surface, but  who has metal in their house besides the refrigerator. Anyway, I thought wouldn't it be cute hanging near my bathroom sink. However the clock alone on the wall would be to small for the space I wanted to hang it. That lead me to this idea. Hobby Lobby has the prettiest knobs and you can often find them on sale for 50% off. A piece of oak cut with my #1 Christmas gift (the table saw), some stain, polyurethane, drill a hole, mount clock on knob, screw it in and glue it into an antique frame. I love how it turned out! I hope you do too!
Linda

Can Apple Pie Filling

 Wow, time really flies! I have been meaning to blog about apple pie filling since last October. So finally here it is. :)
 

I am lucky enough to have a good source of delicious apples. Every fall I try to can apple pie filling. It makes it so easy to make an apple pie or cobbler on the spur of the moment. Just pull the jar out of the pantry and place it in your pie shell and bake. Here's my recipe and how-to for you to do the same.


Apple Pie Filling
Makes 6-7 quart jars
Ingredients: 10 cups water, 4 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup cornstarch, 3 tbs lemon juice, 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ginger & 6-7 quarts peeled, cored & sliced apples. The bottom picture shows the apples I used. From left to right they are Gala, Braeburn & Jonagold, a little different selection this year. I usually use Granny Smith but these were just as yummy.

 

Dip the apples in a little lemon juice to keep them from turning brown and set aside. 

 

What else you'll need: 6-7 quart jars with lids and rings, a large stock pot, canning funnel optional (but makes it a lot easier), water bath canner, canning jar tongs.

 

 

 

Blend dry ingredients in a large stock pot. Add water. Bring to a boil over medium heat until thick. Stirring frequently. Add lemon juice. Pack apples in quart jars and pour filling over to fill jar leaving 1/2 inch head space. Place  jars in water bath canner. Make sure the water is at a boil already and that it is at least 1 inch over the top of the quart jars. Boil jars for 20 minutes. Remove jars from canner and let cool for 24 hours before moving them to a cool dark storage area. Enjoy!

 

 

If you'd like my super easy apple cobbler recipe, leave me a comment and I'll see if I can get it posted. Thanks for checking in on me. And remember an apple a day keeps the doctor away.
 Linda

      





 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14th is often a cold bleak day, weather wise, where I live. But yesterday I wanted to show my love to the birds in my yard. I bought a birdhouse that will attract North American Bluebirds. These lovely little creatures would certainly brighten up anyones day.

I have an 8 foot 4X4 post in my garden area that we attatched strings to grow pole beans. Well I am only 5'2" so reaching those beans up high requires a ladder. I moved the eye hooks lower to be more accessable for bean picking. And the frugal person I am, I wanted the upper part of the pole to be put to good use. This made the ideal spot for my new birdhouse.
 
According to package instructions the bird house should be mounted 5-6 feet from the ground. Not around shrubs or tree line. The opening should face away from prevailing winds. So the birds would be happy facing east. Just clean it out once a year in early spring!

And of course we can't let the birds go hungry, so earlier this winter I hung a bird feeder in the tree. I have a difficult time deciding where to put the bird feeders. I don't like the seed to fall into my flower beds as that tends to grow into unwanted items. So finding a spot the lawn mower can take care of is best. And high enough the dogs won't bother it. This one feeds the little wrens and smaller birds.

 I have another that I need to get a shepherds hook for. It will feed the blue jays, cardinals and bigger birds. I don't know alot about bird watching. I just know it makes me happy to watch them and listen to the music they sing! I hope you are having a happy day too! Thanks for checking in on me. Linda

 

Thought for the Day!

May you find the strength to face tomorrow in the love that surrounds you today!

My Tuesday Rant

I love it when a friend tells me they checked on my blog and left a comment. I rush home, log in to see what they said. Then I find nothing there. I know it is not the friends fault. What is it that Google blogger makes it so hard for people to leave comments. It really needs to be changed. I guess my love is more for the things I create than the computer I type it on. HAHA!

I love to hear from you and am sorry this site is not very user friendly at times. Don't give up on me. Continue to leave comments and maybe some day we will figure it all out. Have a great day!
Linda