{Bathroom} Progress


The painting is done (well, almost, there are some minor touch ups to do) and the backer board has been installed (and dried). 

If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen the bottom photo. Let me say this - this is not how the pattern will be. The guys (Doug and my dad) had to figure out the spacing issue because there will be half of a tile somewhere. We really didn't want it right at the threshold but that would have made it the easiest issue. They're currently working on it right now as I type (#liveblogging for the win!) and so there will be updates next week. 


And briefly, just because I'll get a better photo of it next week along with the floor, lets talk about the threshold piece. Isn't it beautiful?! It was from our original bathroom and has a bunch of holes from the lath. My dad cut it down, rounded it, sanded it, and then varnished it so it'll go well with the original floors (that all need redone) and our new tile. 

We are now reaching the point in this bathroom remodel that things take extra long - stuff has to dry and so on - so I'll post a few other things starting next week. I need to do a garden update and I have a few projects I'm working on. 

Unfortunately, next week also means back to work for me. It's just one day of meetings but it's the beginning of the end of summer. We have next week and a few days the following week then back to work next Wednesday. I could go earlier to work in my room but our school is getting some remodeling done for security issues so the building isn't really open yet. I'll post classroom photos once I get in and decorate! 

Have a great weekend!!! 

{Bathroom} Primer!

Happy Monday!!! Did you have a good weekend? We went to my parents' house yesterday for some swimming. Lily spent the night and called me this morning asking me if she could spend another. But it was more of a telling me nicely than actually asking me. She loves it out there… but who wouldn't when you can swim first thing in the morning with both your grandparents? 

While she's out shopping, swimming and having fun with my parents, Doug and I are tackling the bathroom. Nate is at daycare for those of you wondering where the crazy one is. There's no way we could do chores with the tornado (aka TorNATEo). 

Anywho… let's get down to business. 


Doug (and Lily) started painting on primer over the weekend. We ran into a problem when we realized something broke off into the handle of our roller, preventing us from painting the ceiling and anything taller than Doug's arm could reach. But that's been fixed and now the ceiling has two coats of primer and the walls have at least one coat. We used up one gallon of primer (using Kilz 2). New drywall sucks up the paint!! 

I am so thankful we have the time to get this done without fighting a work schedule. We're both home for the summer and have around 2 weeks left before meetings start for the school year. We've got our tile picked out and the paint is all purchased. So big things are happening this week!! 

Stay tuned here on the blog or on Instagram at thebrickbungalow 

Have a great day! 

{Bathroom} Drywall!

There's drywall!!! On Monday, the first piece went up (see below). It was a booger to cut and install in place. I held one end with my dad's long level while Doug held one side and my dad screwed it in. The rest of the pieces weren't that challenging, luckily. 


On Tuesday Doug had to go to work to take care of a few things (we're teachers so summers are normally off once Doug's done with summer school) so it was just me and my dad. My dad did all the mudding. He came back today to do more, plus put the corner pieces on (which are already in place in these photos).




Good news… the new vanity came and they took the broken one away. It's so pretty, I find myself just staring at it. I cannot wait until it's installed and I can see it with the wall color and the tile flooring. I'm so excited!! 

And in true project fashion, this remodel has created some side projects and talks of future projects now that my dad is here and our minds are rolling. Not only did this remodel create a basement bathroom makeover (in the works), we are discussing raised beds with my dad to be made out of concrete, like the 12 he has at his place. We have the perfect spot in our side yard that we were cleaning up today (right outside the window in the bathroom). More details on both projects later! 

My Brother's Birthday



Today would have been my brother's 36th birthday. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him but it hits a little harder on certain days - the anniversary of his death, his birthday, family holidays. 

I wrote more about him here and everything I wrote then is still the same. I still have trouble believing he's gone. My mom and I have talked about this and how it'll hit her at random times and how we sometimes feel that he's just been gone for awhile and that he'll be back at the next family function. It's the every day gatherings that we miss him the most in. Sure, holidays are hard, but we were a close family and we got together a lot. My parents have a pool that he never got to swim in and I know he'd have a blast throwing my kids into it. He never even got to meet Nate. Lily still remembers him even though she was only 2 when he died and I know she misses having that special uncle. Kids always loved him and Lily was definitely not an exception. 

I saw this quote on Pinterest last night and thought it was fitting. It's definitely true, except I'm not sure we feel whole. Physically, yes, but there's always that piece missing

{Bathroom} More Randoms

I apologize in advance for these iPhone photos. I thought I had versions on my camera but I don't. And it's nasty dark outside from the rain and without the lighting in the room, these won't be retaken. Plus, my phone doesn't take that bad of quality photos - just better for the before and after photos that will happen soon. Hopefully.

Hello all! Are you still with me? Is it just Doug that reads this?!?? 

We (and by "we" I mean Doug and my dad) have done a lot so far. The first photo shows the ceiling and how it was dropped to allow the ran to be installed. It also allowed for some can lighting and the venting of all of the plumbing. I tried to label a photo in PicMonkey but it wanted to be super slow and give me problems. 


The tub, it's since been removed of the supports (to help the adhesive stick during installation) and is so bright white and shiny. I kind of want to just touch it all the time. So much better than our previous shower and tub. The wall with the blue outlet is right next to the door. It may get a mirror on it similar to my inspiration photo but it may not. We'll probably live with the room first before anything major is added. We do have a mirror already that came from the bedroom Lily now lives in (before we remodeled it).


And the best part… the plumbing is in! My double vanity should be here soon after that giant issue over the past couple of weeks. Fingers crossed that it'll all be here soon without anymore breaks! 


And yes, this is a really dark shot. I took this one this morning but the lighting is dark in the room. Well, the fact that is no lighting is actually the problem. And the darkness outside. But anyway, this is our toilet area. There's a can light above and there will probably be some above the toilet storage similar to my inspiration photo, but we'll see. 


Last week I ran around like crazy trying to find a piece for a light fixture only to realize that the online source was the only option. So that'll be dealt with soon. Our medicine cabinets were returned after one came in broken. It said it was wood online and it was definitely just MDF or something even cheaper. Total let down. Our vanity should be in soon too. 

So much has happened and so much is still going to happen…stay tuned for more! 

{Bathroom} Random Updates

This bathroom keeps on ticking. There have been bumps along the way, like any major project. We are renovating an entire bathroom.

Last week seemed to be all about demo, some plumbing, and minor electrical. This week is slowly seeing big pieces of the puzzle come together. 

The bath tub was finally ready to be installed. The guys read the installation manual and ended up with this one night.

The bottom of our tub has the design you see in the concrete. It recommended letting it dry and then setting it in the next day. However, after letting this dry for almost 24 hours, they realized that it didn't fit the exact groves anymore so they had to chip it away and redo the whole thing. 

And so here's the tub, waiting for the plumbing and shower surround. It's so white and pretty and deep. I may actually take a bath now! 


Then there's the vent you see below… or parts of it anyway. The ceiling was dropped down, roughly 6-8" or so to allow the vent to have a home. It also has allowed for 4 can lights to be placed throughout the room and some extra stuff. 

The white ceiling is the original bathroom ceiling (plus the piece that was ripped off). The wallpaper and wood combo ceiling on the left is what used to be the top of the old closet we stole from Lily's room. 

I mentioned that insulation was added too. They laid the 2x4's flat to keep from taking up extra space and put foam between those boards. There is now foam on top of that as well to help insulate the wood too. 


And this plumbing drain line… why can't things just be easy?!? The pipe going down through the floor ran smack dab in the middle of the exhaust pipe from our new HVAC system. So, my dad had to fix that to make this drain properly. But, good news…there's TWO sinks for our bathroom. Kids on one, parents on the other OR girls on one, boys on the other? Decisions, decisions! 


If you follow the blog on Instagram, you'll see more up to date issues and pictures. The biggest issue is our vanity. It came in with a broken top and backsplash. It, hopefully, has been completely dealt with and will be arriving next week (fingers crossed!). 

I also have ordered, and returned, two medicine cabinets. One was broken. My dad offered to make them so we will have them after he has time to make them (like after our bathroom is done but I'm totally happy with living without medicine cabinets while he makes them with REAL wood!). 

If I'm not posting on here or IG, it's because I'm off enjoying the pool with my kiddos. I'm totally enjoying my parents' pool now that the Missouri heat has kicked into high gear. I'll post non-bathroom posts soon, hopefully. 

{Bathroom} Demo Round Up

So much has happened to this little room (that once looked like this…ugh). We've done so much that I've broken down as the days have progressed, but I thought I'd do a round up to summarize the whole event. It'll pair nicely with the before photos and the soon to be after photos. 


We gutted the room. Everything, and I mean everything, was moved. Wallpaper, tile, the vanity, tub, toilet, even the window! Plus, plaster and lath and a wall (seen below) that allowed us to increase the size of the bathroom. It used to be one of the closets in Lily's room that we covered up, moved her closet over, and made room for this day. 

The first set of studs you see, with the plaster and lath, is in the original bathroom. The second set is what will be the new wall. The drywall is the back of Lily's big closet. We stole those couple feet as it didn't hurt her room that much but it'll make a huge impact in the bathroom. 



Once everything was removed, it allowed my dad and Doug to see what they are really working with. More things were removed, such as the plumbing you see here (from the original vanity) and then the holes in the floor were dealt with. Many things were also dealt with that didn't provide the best of photos as they dealt with electrical and plumbing throughout the house. 




The new window was installed (7 down, too many to go for the whole house!) and a vent was also installed. There was never a vent, so now we have one. Carpentry work was also done.


They dropped the ceiling down between 6-8". They are originally 9' ceilings but due to adding a vent and some can lighting, we needed to drop it down. Luckily they're tall to begin with! A wall was also added to frame in the tub/shower combo.

This week will actually see a lot of visual progress and not just electrical and plumbing. I hope to continue doing some live blogging as they progress. We have a few minor things to buy after I finally bought the medicine cabinets over the weekend. I did buy a wall sconce for between the two cabinets but after talking to my dad, he gave us one of his old schoolhouse globes that we will be hanging from the ceiling between the cabinets.

One big purchase we haven't done yet is the flooring but that's only because I don't want piles of expensive tile sitting in our already junked out house (hello storage rooms!!!). I look forward to this being done and having my house back as school/work is just around the corner. 

{Bathroom} Demo Day 4 and 5


Welcome back! We're moving right along with this bathroom remodel… and by we, I mean the guys, of course. I've been busy cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, and running errands. There's just so much space and they're doing a great job. 

Just like when we remodeled the upstairs master suite and Lily's room, we replaced the old, original windows. Doug picked out a style and we were able to get it in frosted glass for the bathroom. Our neighbor's side porch is right next to our house, so we don't need them peeping on us. 


Another issue my dad tackled (with the help of Doug, of course) was to drill a hole into our brick. Our house is really old and so it's two layers of brick with a space in between. The hole is for our new vent, something we haven't had before. 


And here's my dad drilling. Doug's holding a 2x4' to help hold one of the many wires on this side of the house. See that pile of wood? I need to carry that away. It's all more crap from the remodel. 


Side note… see that overgrown area behind them? It has some gorgeous lilies and irises, none of which you can see due to the crazy mimosa trees and weeds that take up space. It's days are limited. But, that'll probably have to wait until next summer because we are running out of days this summer! 

The guys also started insulating the walls. Just like our upstairs and Lily's room, we've added insulation. You can see the solid brick walls above so by adding insulation, we keep our house a better temperature and save money. We've now done it three ways. We've increased the wall depth each time but upstairs was with spray foam (scroll down the post, past giant baby belly), Lily's room was with regular rolled insulation and foam on top, and this time around it's just foam. They added these 2x4's (sideways to keep from taking too much space) and put foam between. There will be an additional 1/2" of foam on top, to insult the 2x4's as well. It all helps! 


And here's Day 5, which I'm adding because I'm behind already and so much happens that I haven't photographed, so I'm wrapping up some of these posts.

A big problem that we had to deal with (still actually dealing with it, so wish us luck!) is the vanity. I ordered a beautiful vanity from Menard's and had it delivered to the store (30 minutes away) but it saved us almost $200. That's a lot of money! So we had it put on our truck and we were in the process of unwrapping it when we saw that the back splash was broken IN HALF and then as we unwrapped more, the top was cracked like a Y. I was so let down! I've contacted the company and let's hope all goes well. Wish us luck! 



{Bathroom} Demo Day 3

Welcome back to the bathroom remodel! We've already removed all of the hideous tile, the bathtub and other fixtures, the entire floor and so much more. After removing everything, we could see what we're working with. And… this is what happened! 

The round hole in the photo, below, was where our toilet was. The square hole to the right is from an opening that allowed clothing to be dropped to the basement. A little laundry shoot, however it went to an unfinished storage room and not our laundry room (right next door but still). The jagged hole on the left is from a vent pile that went through the wall from the basement to our roof. Everything has been removed.


My dad didn't like the look of some of the flooring so he took it all out. Part of this also helps the fact that there were numerous patch jobs and with us moving a wall, we had that to deal with too. So they removed the original tongue and groove flooring plus the sub floor too. 



You can see in both the above and below photos that there had been some water issues. It's all been dealt with and covered up, ready to be dealt with even more later on. We will eventually be tiling the entire room with a wood look ceramic tile. 


{Bathroom} Demo Day 2

Good morning, friends and family! 

We are continuing on with our bathroom makeover but as with many projects, one thing has led to another. Our bathroom, luckily, sits over our basement. Most of our basement has a ceiling installed so you can't easily get to everything, however, our bathroom sits over our little storage room that has exposed beams, plumbing, and electrical. Which is a wonderful thing! 


Random holes in the original, tongue and groove flooring. We found what was probably the original placement of the sink (to the top right of the triangle shaped hole), the lighting for said sink (or what held the box) and some other random holes. 


While the guys were dealing with the pipe issue, including calling a plumber, I continued on my mission to clean out the basement. The only problem here is that even after everything was thrown away and it was cleaned up, it is not something the blog world needs to see. Behind our basement is a crawl space of sorts. I guess they didn't see the need to finish the entire thing way back when they build our house (like almost 100 years ago!). But previous owners seem to feel it was a good spot to store, and then leave, their stuff. Long story short, I did find these random pieces that I posted on Instagram (follow me @thebrickbungalow). 




I like the little space ship flying to the moon. It's on a very thin piece of cardboard and my dad thought it might be the top of some toy. The candy wrapper says "Brach's chocolate and peanut butter". The skeleton key is cool. Super rusty but it'll go in our dining room collection of randomness (seen here) and is one of maybe 4 keys we've found in the house.

And other randomness from the basement. There were these numbers written on some of the boards in the crawl space. I have no idea if it could possibly be a date (as in 1920, I just didn't get a picture of the whole date written out) or if it was just for measurements or something else. Or anything that could have been added since. And sorry for the flashy fog, it's a combo of being a dirty, dark basement and the flash.


In the photo below, I won't even show the before photo. But it shows the random dirt pile (our "crawl space" and the boards on the right are the small storage room and end of our basement. The space between is about 18", if that. Just enough to move around but not be super comfortable. This is the area that was full of broken glass, wood, old plastic water bottles (like the 5 gallon type) and so much other stuff. Unfortunately it was also home to one of my cat's bad habits that I spent way too much time cleaning up (well, actually that was on top of the dirt pile…).



More crap. Two boxes of glass jars (which do include at least two blue Bell jars). These will probably be cleaned up and used for craft storage. Maybe. They are big jars, probably being 2 quarts or bigger.


And there you have it. So much more happened but I didn't get photos of all of it. I was in this crawl space for probably close to 5 hours and it was so disgusting. I'll have more to show tomorrow as I actually took photos with my camera of the giant hole in the bathroom floor. But! Progress is being made and it'll all be worth it in the end.

{Bathroom} Demo Day 1

I'm going to apologize for the fact that all of these were taken with my iPhone. It does, however, take decent photos. I really didn't want to mess with my big camera as dust was flying everywhere. My poor phone though seems to go everywhere with me. 

On Monday, my dad came over and helped Doug demo our bathroom. Everything is being replaced, so we (and by we I mean the guys) ripped out everything. Tile, trim, mirrors, toilet, vanity, tub… everything! 

In the three photos below, you can see the progress of the wall. 




The photo above shows the space that we stole from Lily's room during her room makeover two years ago. It didn't seem to hurt her bedroom at all (it's still plenty big as you can see here) and it'll help our bathroom so much! 

In the photo below, we found some random wiring craziness behind the built in medicine cabinet. Talk about fire hazard! Our bathroom seems to have electricity through two circuits in the breaker as I can easily trip the breaker with one outlet but not the other. This house is so crazy when it comes to electrical but with my dad's help, we are slowly fixing it!!! 


And here's the tub, on our curb with everything else. Fingers crossed all the trash gets picked up! The tub was taken by someone who probably sold it for scrap. We actually kept the toilet that we had put out there to replace the one in our basement bathroom (that's a whole different issue!) but the rest is junk from either the bathroom or the basement. I owe our trash man big time if he takes it all. If he doesn't take it all, we'll haul to the waste station later this week. I'm not about to have all of this trash (probably 30 bags full, plus the vanity and counter top) on my lawn for longer than necessary. 


So there you have it! The story of why we had a tub on our front lawn and the first day of demo. 

{Bathroom}

Before we started down this journey of a bathroom renovation, I had been dreaming about it for years. You would think that would make it easier for me but it seems to have just opened up more options. Pinterest, blogs and shopping in store and online have not helped. I knew going into it that I wanted wood tile floors, a white vanity, new fixtures, and so on. After that, such as polished chrome vs brushed vs oil rubbed bronze, I couldn't decide anymore. Last week I discussed options for the majority of the issues in a bathroom but there have been other things too. I'll discuss those as they happen but for now, let's look at what we've bought. 

This vanity is from Menards. It hasn't come in yet as I was hoping for one of their 11% discount sales with no luck. 11% off would have been a nice chunk of change for us. 


These faucets. This was the easiest decision I made after our (my parents and I) initial look around. They are from Home Depot and I love their look. I hope they are as pretty installed as they look in the store. If not, oh well! 

This tub and shower combo. Tile is all the rage on the internet and I love some of it. However, we have been dealing with unsealed, ugly, improperly installed tile in our bathroom (and kitchen..ugh!) since we bought the place. I, for one, am totally fine with an all in one shower. Unfortunately, due to the size of our house and doorways, we couldn't physically get an all in one but this combo from Home Depot is going to be as good as we can get it and it's gorgeous in person! 

This tile from Lowe's. We looked at Home Depot, Lowes and Menards and all were so similar. But once you see them in person, the tile from Lowe's just looked so much better, richer, and nicer. The color is great and it'll be a great contrast from the white of everything else.

And here's where I need help…

Medicine cabinets. I've decided on two of them and we'll probably do a boy/girl organization thing. Or a kid/parent way but I think Doug and I kind of like our own separate space and Lily will share most of my stuff anyway (nail polish, hair products). Nate hasn't really reached this stage yet.

Lighting. I've decided to buy a two or three piece combo for above our medicine cabinets. There are so. many. options. This seems to be the biggest issue. Also, can I mix styles? Can I get a flush mount fixture (or something similar) for the ceiling and a different style above the medicine cabinets?

Exhaust fans. We don't have one and we want one. I looked at both orange and blue stores just couldn't pick one. 

{Holidays} Fourth of July

A special Saturday post for you… we'll be back next week with a bathroom update! 

As I was reading The White Buffalo Styling Co's blog post Americana Home Decor, I started thinking of the past few years we've celebrated as a family. 

We typically go to my dad's uncle's place out in the middle of the nowhere. There's food, family, fun, fireworks and water… what's more summer?!? And of course, I try to bring something every year.

Cupcakes, just waiting to be frosted. 

A delicious poke cake covered in whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries. 


Chocolate covered marshmallows with extra sugar on top. These were a giant hit with the kids (teenagers and younger) as they were easy to grab and run out the front door. Plus, see picture of Lily below for her feeling over them. 

And these chocolates and chocolate covered pretzels were actually for my brother's college graduation years ago, but the colors would work great for Fourth of July, plus everyone loves chocolate covered pretzels! 


 Here's Lily at my dad's uncle's place when she was 1. Her dress was just adorable! 
  

Here's Lily when she was three, sporting both red and white and a Statue of Liberty crown. 

And those chocolate covered marshmallows I mentioned before… yep, here's one super happy girl! 


And the fireworks, oh the fireworks! I think this may be the best way to use pegboard… a bottle rocket in each hole, tied together to all go off as the flame goes across the board. Talk about a time consuming project though that definitely takes everyone's help! I've helped a few times, but usually it's done before I get there. 

And this was for a friend's wedding but I painted these 8" by 8" canvases and they can either hang this way or in a row. They can even sit by themselves too. They have just a bit of silver on them too which I liked. 

Happy Fourth of July! 

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