D-Day is here!

Our renovation weekend has begun! It didn't start out as quickly as we would have liked (we had to make two Home Depot trips before beginning).

Friday, Todd and I began to take off the paneling and the vanity. We have two friends, Matt and Tim who offered to help with the demolition and construction. When the guys were able to finally get to work it was already 9 pm, but they worked hard and got quite a lot ripped out. Unfortunately, it seemed the more we tore out, the more problems and need for trips to Home Depot.

My mom and dad were suppose to take the kids for the weekend, but sadly, my mom came down with a 24 hour flu and the kids had to stay here over night. Caleb was overjoyed to help and promptly found his tool kit, a dust mask, sunglasses (for safety) and a pair of mittens. The guys were gracious enough to put him to work and he happily carried pieces of dry wall and plaster out to the garage. Bedtime was not easy because their bedrooms are right across from the bathroom so they slept on the couches. My mom called this afternooon to say she was better so they are now with my parents and out of the crazy mess here.

I have not been able to contribute very much so far except to provide food and make a total of seven trips to Home Depot. Right now, the guys are actually working on reconstructing the wall facing the outside. The wood and window all had to be replaced due to rot and age. Our budget is already shot. Thats what I hear happens when you tear out a 50 plus year old bathroom.

More updates tomorrow!

Portable potty...check!

I have been feeling like a tornado has hit my brain lately with all the crazy planning going on for our renovations. Yesterday, I even decided to throw in "painting the living room" and spent the day getting paint on the walls as fast as I can.

I am a "list" person and so I have created one for this weekends' adventure. Most of the supplies are still sitting at Home Depot or in friends' garages, but I was able to mark off a few things. We bought a pretty cherry vanity and wall unit over the weekend as well as the medicine cabinet and light fixture. I have the tile picked out and the tub chosen, but since both are pretty heavy, I am waiting until Todd and I can go together with a truck.

One of the big items on my list was taking care of the "lack of a toilet" situation. I decided to call a portable toilet company and for $75 we are renting one for the weekend. This will makes things a bit easier for us as well as our dear friends who are graciously spending the weekend helping us.

Lastly, I went by Sam's Club on my way home from work and picked up all sorts of bagels, fruits, drinks and so on to feed our hungry workers.

The list is still very full, but I feel confident that we will get everything "checked" off in time.

Armed and Dangerous! Pre- Demo Day 1

Yesterday, I decided to take my brother in law's advice and begin removing some of the things in the bathroom. Armed with a hammer, crowbar and screwdriver, I pulled down all of the thick wood trim (and believe me there was A LOT!). It was actually interesting to see what lay behind it. I found the flowered wall paper that I had torn down when we moved in. Hannah thought it was pretty and didn't remember helping me rip some of it down when she was five. I hadn't realized that so much time had passed since we did that.
I also discovered "good" and "bad" news. Once the trim was gone, I could lift back the plastic wall liner and find that there was not tile under it after all. What I thought was deteriorated tile was actually crumbling green board. That meant our job in wall removal will not include removing tile on the walls. The bad news, however, was when I removed the trim near the tub, I found damp wood. Deciding I needed to see how far the rotting wood went, I began popping up tiles and found that with each easily removed tile there was rotting plywood beneath. Adding even greater to my "joy" was the discovery that they had place plywood and ceramic tile over laminate tile (which in turn lay on plywood). I ended up tearing up 4 layers of debris until I reached the floor boards. I think the floor boards can be saved (though they were also damp), but all of the rest has to ripped out. I only removed a 16 by 16 inch area of tile and it appears that the damage is contained in that area. The only other problem is that I know that there is more damage under the tub which we will not be able to get to until next weekend.

All in all, it was a successful day in that I now know a small amount of what we are facing come Demo Day-Friday. I am growing increasingly excited and nervous for next weekend!

Catching up to Spring!~

Its been a long while since I've had a moment to sit down and write. Since the middle of April things have gone nuts here! Todd has joined a soccer league on Tuesday nights, Caleb has soccer on Weds nights and Sat afternoon, Hannah has dance on Thursdays and then Todd goes to play softball on Saturday nights. In between all those activities we have been doing all other things under the sun. Its been crazy, but I can't complain. With spring comes all the busyness but it also brings warmth! Somehow it all seems to equal out.

One of those extra activities I had to do was take Hannah to get "head shots" for dance. I am going to have my sister-in-law, Shari (www.orangekitephotography.com) take the official pictures but I wanted to capture a few pics of Hannah myself. Its had to believe that she will be turning 11 soon!

As far as our bathroom renovations, we have purchased two faucets (one for the tub/shower and the other for the vanity) on clearance and I have my eye on some inexpensive tile at Home Depot. Other than that, we haven't gotten too far in the planning. Our hopes are that we can begin the renovations this month, possibly the weekend of the 18th.
The last news in the Porter Family is that we finally purchased our first set of living room furniture! I found a set at Big Lots that I loved and have been looking at for several weeks, so this week, we cleared out the corner desk, the wall desk unit and gave away our couch on Craig's List so that we could make room for the furniture. The set I found is chocolate brown Micro-suede with coordinating pillows in beige, brown and a blue/green print. When we went to buy it, they only had the couch in stock, so we put a deposit on the love seat and brought the couch home. It looks great and as silly as it sounds, I am really excited to have something nice in place of the old, covered sofa bed we had for so many years. I am really grateful for all of the furniture that friends and family have given us but there is something about being able to pick out a piece of furniture that fits you.

Anyway, thats about it for now! Look for pics of our bathroom renovation over the next few weeks!