Monday, January 5, 2009

Back to normal... or not?

Today hubby goes back to work and the kids go back to school. They all have been home since Christmas and honestly I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet this afternoon. Hubby decided to use up some vacation time over the holidays, since I don't think he'll be taking me anywhere tropical this winter like I wanted, but he did manage to work on some home improvement projects during his time off.

He built a cabinet for my cookbooks, rewired the basement and started on our new bathroom. We actually weren't planning on starting the bathroom projects (there will be 3 in this house when we're through) until next year because of our economic situation, but our current bathroom has had it, and we can't keep thinking that it will continue to accommodate our family of four. This house was built without plumbing or electricity, so one little 1950s bathroom with a bad layout is all we have. The door bangs into the toilet and cannot be opened all the way, the floor tiles are popping up, the fake plastic wall tiles are falling off and the plumbing is horrendous. The plan is to turn our laundry room/office/master closet into a master bath and master closet, move the office to the kitchen (hubby will build a desk to match our cabinets) and change the current bathroom into a half bath/ laundry room. The third bath will be upstairs for the girls, but that won't be until the other bath is ripped apart.

He started with the most important thing first, a place to pee.

That's right, the new toilet location is directly under my desk. Don't worry, I'm not blogging while on the potty. He has it all plumbed up in case something disastrous happens to our lone toilet. 3 women and no toilet, no man wants to deal with that.

He ripped out the old closet yesterday and that will be the new tub location. I was hoping for a shower stall to save space, but we helped remodel my in-laws bathroom last year and they gave us their barely old, very gently used bathtub, so I can't argue with free. We have most of the materials already, so this shouldn't be too expensive of a project, and of course we will be doing the work.

check out that wallpaper.

When hubby removed the trim from around the closet, we found this. The name of the builder who built the laundry room in 1970. Hubby says this kind of thing is common, and he sometimes signs his work in a place that may or may not be found again. Interesting to me.


plaster party

Little helper removing nails. And yes, she's had a recent tetanus shot.

Thankfully, home remodeling is our hubby's strength.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

When we tore down a wall in our 110 year old house, we found photos and Valentines and even a dollar bill. It was pretty neat.

Out in Them Sticks said...

too bad y'all aren't closer! I'd hire your husband for our office project. we also need an entertainment shelf thing installed. guess, I'll be calling a cabinet maker/installer. then, there is this vent thing nick is promising me he is going to get done. currently the dryer vents into the house which is a pain in the ass. Currently, I have to run a vent hose across our dining room and then install it in the window and plugging the drafts.

i hope things look up for y'all soon! Y'all are smart and thrifty, so if anyone can make it through this, it's y'all!

love the blog!
-m

A Christian Mom said...

That's a lot of work... but at least you have all the materials and your hubby can do the work.

Best of luck to you!

Us said...

Can I see a photo of your new cookbook cabinet?

Aliceson said...

Sara,
You found me!

I have to finish painting the shelves (pink) today. I'll post the cabinet photos this afternoon.

Wild Child said...

woohoo! Look at him go! My husband is moaning and groaning about our 105 year old house, but I don't like the layout of modern houses and we have woodwork charm galore and hardwood floors. I would hate to lose all that. And it was pretty updated, but the little bits get to you. Looks like he's got a good start. Good luck.

Verification: heehym as in 'The lady was pointing at the running man. "It was heehym! He stole my purse."

Aliceson said...

Funny, the carpenter left some of the big woodwork behind the drywall so we were able to salvage some of that good old house charm.

What's with the southern sounding word verifications today? Good for a laugh on a cold Monday!

Stacy Hackenberg said...

Can ya send him my way? My husband did nothing, or close to it, productive this holiday. Grr...I may have to blog about it cause it really has me ticked off.

skyewriter said...

Good luck with the renovations.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Cheers!

Sidhe said...

Great start (and add me to the list of people who are a bit envious that your hubby actually does something while off of work...it's a little bit like finding some rare creature long thought extinct). I love old houses (we found old newspapers in the walls of our Kenosha bathroom), always full of surprises. Good luck on your remodeling!