Yellow Afternoon

Okra plants, especially the flowers, are very beautiful. I told Sam that I would grow them ornamentally even if we never harvested the vegetables.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 8

The tile is going up!

The tile was a big decision when designing the bathroom.  I wanted something that was not too busy, not too peach/pink, and not too dark.  The first tile we tentatively agreed to was pretty much all these things.

We looked at another store and I found this, which I liked quite a bit more than anything else we had seen.  It is white with blue/grey/brown streaks.  That keeps the peach/pink out and keeps it light enough without being too busy.  Perfect.

The problem when installing this tile, however, is that the tile pieces themselves are very long, but the shower area is very small.  Initially, we were going to arrange the tiles horizontally, but this meant that almost every single tile would have to be cut.  That would introduce more lines and more of a cut-up feel.  I suggested vertical alignment, and my contractor agreed that it was a good idea.  This way meant more tiles could be full size, and vertical lines theoretically make the space look taller.

After he saw this progress, Sam said he thought the horizontal would have looked better, but we're too far along for any change now.  I think I like it, so we'll see how it all ends up.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 7

The photos don't show many dramatic changes, but most of the walls are up and mudded, which means the tile can't be far behind!

The shower plumbing setup went in today as well.  Sam thinks it might be tall, but I think once the shower head goes in, he'll find it to be just fine.

The contractor and I had a discussion about how tall to make the vanity mirror as well.  It's tough to balance the tall and short people difference.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 6

 And we're back on track!

It's the sixth actual day of remodeling, but it's been sixteen days since the construction began.

The long-awaited shower pan went in today, and we are very happy we waited for it.  It has a nice ledge at the bottom for soaps and shampoos, which will be helpful because we are not having any ledges built in to the tile on the upper half of the shower.

Some of the structure of the bathroom is up as well. The space behind the shower where the linen closet goes is framed in, and half of the drywall is up. The green, moisture-resistant wall surfaces give the entire bathroom a green glow.  The color does not show up well in this photo, but believe me, I thought for a moment that something was wrong with the shower pan .

At the end of the day our contractor said, "With all the stuff back in there, I am reminded of how small that bathroom really is!"

Indeed.

NaBloPoMo once again

I'm not sure how popular NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is anymore, but I still enjoy giving it a try every November.

The next few days will be easy as the bathroom remodel will begin again, but the theme otherwise will be "photos from the summer that I never got around to uploading." These will mostly be of plants in my garden, like this sage plant just beginning to bloom in May.

I hope you enjoy.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 5

Our contractor was supposed to come over today just to finish up some sanding in the bedroom, but it turns out he got a call last night and the shower pan had come in!  So he switched it up, and came over ready to work on the bathroom.

And then he opened the box; shower pan #2 also had a big crack in it.  The thing is, we want a built-in seat in our shower, and this particular shower pan is the only one we can find that has a seat and is the correct size for our space.  So we are going to try one last time.  If it's damaged again, we will go without the seat.  As Sam said, "The first time is unfortunate, the second time is a coincidence, and the third time is a trend."  Let's hope there's no trend.

Instead of installing the shower pan, our contractor finished the ceiling in the bathroom.  It's at least a foot higher than before, and is a definite improvement on the previous one.

Bathroom Remodel: Hiatus

 Today is History Day.

Until the shower pan comes in, there's not much we can do.  Our contractor is going to come back a few times to finish the mudding and sanding on the bedroom drywall and fix up a few other spots so we can repaint the whole thing next week.  There won't be anything else happening for awhile after that.

In the meantime, I want to share this fun piece of history I found.  When we moved into the house, I went down to the library to do some research on when exactly our house had been built and if I could learn anything about its history.  I wrote a post about what I learned (Edward and Viola).

When our contractor pulled off the trim in the bedroom, I noticed that it had some writing on the back.  In case you can't tell (the photos aren't that great), the top one says "E. Kreutz" and the middle says "326 21st St."

If you reference that old post, you'll note that according to city records the owner of my house in 1924 was Edward J. Kreutz.  Confirmation! The address on these boards, however, is that of the house to the south, originally owned by William Schroer, who we surmised owned both lots and sold the second to Edward after building a house on it.  What does it mean, then, that Edward's name and William's address are on the boards?  Was Edward helping William with the construction?  Was this before the two lots had been officially separated into two addresses?  I'm not sure, but it is fun to conjecture.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 4

Today is Killing Time Day.

I forgot to get a photo of the wall before it was taken out, but trust me, it needed to be done.  It sounded like my house was being ripped apart while they were doing it.  I guess it was.

They took all the plaster off, leaving just the laths.  In this state it reminded me of my grandpa's barn.

Then the drywall went up.  They said it would be dusty.  They were right.  Even the rooms that weren't being drywalled are covered in fine dust.  Luckily, Millie was on the back porch, so we still have a black dog.

When Sam and I agreed that this was a good side-project to get done while waiting for the bathroom, we forgot one major aspect.  Once you drywall something, you have to paint it.  And when you move into a house and all the walls are already painted, there is a good chance you don't have matching paint sitting around.

Suggestions for new bedroom wall color?

I said yesterday that something drastic was going to have to be done about the warped floor.  The result is a concrete-related floor-leveling product that pours onto your warped floor, naturally flows to level itself, and then hardens.  We'll have a nice, level floor in 24 hours.

As a sidenote, while checking for the correct spelling of "lath," I learned that plaster and lath was used to build houses until the 1950s, and then it was discontinued for drywall.  My contractor had a youngster helping out today who I overhead asking, "Do people still use plaster?" The answer is no, and after all the problems we've had with it, I can see why.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 3

Today is Setback Day.

We started the day out well with new wiring, outlets, and switches for our lighting.  The vent went in without any problems.  And then we came across some problems.

Our floor may be not as water-damaged as we thought, but the boards have warped with age, thereby creating unevenness and significant frustration for our contractor who is trying to level the floor. It turns out that one side is 1/2 inch lower than the middle, and one side is 3/4 inch lower than the middle (that's the side with the most water-damaged boards).  This will require drastic measures to fix.

Our biggest issue of the day, however, came when the shower pan came out of the box.  It had a nice big crack in one corner, and is unusable.  Because our shower space is an unusual size, this shower pan had to be special ordered.  That means we have to wait for another one to come in.  They will try to expedite it, but it will come in next week at the earliest.

The shower pan has to go in before pretty much everything else, so in the meantime, our contractor is going to work on a new linen closet for this corner, leveling the floor, and fixing the wall on the other side of the bathroom.

The bedroom wall is bulging due to, most likely, the degradation of the plaster "fingers" holding the plaster to the slats and the consequent separation of the plaster from the inner wall.  We are surmising that the plaster was dislodged during previous bathroom renovations.  The bulge was present when we moved in, and it only took two days for Sam to poke his finger into it to see exactly what it was.  We've had the bulge and the subsequent hole ever since.  Might as well fix it while we have the chance!

Bathroom Remodel: Day 2

 Day 2 is More Demolition and Some Remodel

The floor and ceiling came all the way out today.  We were really worried about the floor being damaged, but lucky for us, it's really just in one corner.  We'll get a few boards replaced and all will be well.

 It turns out that our low ceiling was caused entirely by a big light and fan.  Take those out, and you have a much higher ceiling!

Our contractor thinks that, on the basis of fixtures and materials, the most recent remodel was probably as recent as nine years ago.  It didn't age well, though, because it wasn't installed well.

All the plaster is gone, all the old lights are gone, and we're starting to build.  We got a new hole for the vent and a new eight-foot ceiling.  It's going to feel a lot more spacious, I think.