Kitchen and Bathroom Remodel

Yesterday we came home to this.

I kind of wanted to throw up on myself.

I knew it wasn't going to be pretty but I didn't really think it would be so... ugly.


Our cabinet maker isn't legally allowed to deal with anything electrical or the plumbing. Jeremy was able to disconnect the garbage disposal and get the sink out. He also disconnected the lights and sealed off the exposed wires. But in the process a fuse was blown.


We have those old kind that screw in. This only took out the power in our dining and living room so it wasn't devastating. We were only left without cable, xbox, TV, etc. for 24 hours.

Oh! And the pilot in our hot water tank wouldn't stay on. ONG came and tried to get the pilot lit and broke a small gas line in the process and had to close a nearby valve. And then he told us to call a heat and air guy to get it fixed. So we called in the pros (aka, the brother of the guy who put in our subfloor, who does HVAC). He couldn't get it fixed the night he came in to look at it so we were only without hot water for another 24 hours. I took a 30 second cold shower and cried uncle.

So I should show you some good "after" photos. I hate to reveal everything when we're so close to having everything finished off but I can't help it!


Here is the master bedroom so far. The only thing we need to do in here is get some quarter-round around the bottom of the baseboards. Then we'll get fancy with a new rug and maybe some new bedding.

And now!

The bathroom!

We still need to get baseboards down but not until we finish cleaning and sealing the tile. Speaking of... So I grouted the tile black. It just about killed me trying to clean it off the unglazed tile. It soaked in and I was worried my tile was permanently damaged. I used haze cleaner and then read about using vinegar. So Jeremy and I spent a good part of an evening with a gallon of vinegar and toothbrushes to scrub the tile with. To my surprise it got the tile pretty clean. The lesson learned: if you're grouting with black on unglazed tiles wipe it up as you go and vinegar is a miracle cleaner.

So to sum up the bathroom remodel - we ripped up the old tile, ripped out a ton of concrete, replaced the lead pipes with PVC, replaced the subfloor, laid HardieBoard on top of the subfloor, put down new tile, textured the walls (right over that wallpaper border), stripped paint off the window, painted (the walls are Conservative Grey - Sherwin Williams, the window and medicine cabinet are in Bright White), hung blinds (which we still need to do throughout the rest of the house - they're on special order) and changed out the light fixture.

Oh. And just in case you forgot what the bathroom looked like before.


Considering what we went through (again to refresh your memory I've included a visual aid)

I think we did pretty good. Now we just have to remember this when it comes to the kitchen...