Las Vegas Getaway

Sometimes you just need to get away. Things with the bathroom remodel have been crazy and we've both been swamped at work so that's exactly what we needed. And that's exactly what we did. We took off for a city that will always hold a special place in our hearts, Las Vegas. If you think it's weird that sin city holds a special place in our hearts, educate yourself.

Here's a little picture montage of all the fun we had.

1. spending the day with some friends that were also in town,
2. Inside Ceasar's Palace before our show, 3. Ready to see Absinthe,
4 & 5. Acrobats at Absinthe, 6. Chocolate fondue at Spago,
7. Kickin it with the Jabawockeez, 8. Front row at Crazy Horse

All in all good times were had. Taking some time away from the craziness at work and with the house was just what the doctor ordered.

Weekend Warriors: Baseboards Edition

This was the first of many weekends to come dedicated to home improvements. This weekend's project of choice was replacing the current baseboards. Luckily there are a lot of handy people in the hub's side of the family to help us. And no one will do a better job of making sure your home looks great than family (since every time they come to your house they'll be forced to look at their handy work).

Our home was blessed with several different styles of baseboards depending on the room you're looking at. Not to mention that some of the areas were in pretty poor condition - missing pieces or falling off. At first we considered just repairing the baseboards that we already had but after a jaunt at my new favorite store, Lowes, we decided to go with a much more ornate baseboard. It was more costly than just repairing what was already there, but since we'd like to add crown molding at some point we figured a more ornate  baseboard would just jive better.

The goal was to get remove all current baseboards, install new baseboards, and paint new baseboards in a weekend before carpet was to be installed. This all seemed like a completely reasonable list to complete in 48 hours, but I was wrong (I'm finding that my idea of how long home projects will take and how long they actually take are never in line with each other). We really needed to get it all done before we had the new carpet installed.

DAY ONE:

The hub's family arrived bright and early with all their handy dandy tools and got right to work. The guys started pulling out the old baseboards and the women folk followed behind pulling out or hammering in any wayward nails and evening out the wall in preparation for the new baseboards. It's amazing the kind of stuff we found under the baseboards - old paint, old wallpaper, and even even a paint brush. Then the new baseboards went in. Apparently a lot more thought goes into installing baseboards then I could've ever imagined. They installed the base boards a little higher than the hardwood floors since we were installing carpet the following weekend. Now that the carpet is installed we don't lose the look of the full base board. Genius right??? I know.

The next challenge of the day was dealing with the baseboards for the entrance between the dining room at kitchen. For some reason the tile in the kitchen is a lot higher than the rest of the flooring. *shrugs* Add that to the growing list of many strange things about this house. Luckily the hub's brother was able to come up with a creative and beautiful solution.

At the end of a terribly long day we successfully installed and caulked the baseboards throughout the house and I learned how to use a nail gun. Okay, I only used it once - but that totally still counts.

DAY TWO:

The second day of our baseboard adventures was tackled by just the hubs and myself.We went through and painted all the baseboards in the house. I figured it wouldn't take more than half the day to paint all of them. I mean they're not even 3 inches tall and we weren't going tape any of it off with painters tape since we plan on repainting anyway...how long could it take to paint such a small thing? Well, the answer to that is a very long time. So long, in fact, that after a whole day of painting we had only completed the 3rd level.

FYI...painting a home with your significant other will teach you a huge deal about them. I am a details kind of person. I wanted to make sure that the baseboards were perfect and well painted. On the other hand the hubs is more of a big picture kinda guy. His forte seems to be painting large expanses like ceilings and walls. Guess it just goes to show you that we really do complete each other (did you just barf in your mouth a little?)

DAY TWO AND A HALF:

Since we didn't finish painting all the baseboards over the weekend - weekend warriors FAIL - we had to come back during the week to finish painting the baseboards in the main level and the bonus room. While painting the main level we got ambitious and thought it might be a good idea to try and tackle the eye sore that is our fireplace. Our fireplace was probably once a beautiful brick...and then it got painted...brick red. Why anyone would paint bricks brick red is really beyond me. We decided to just dip our toes in the water and paint the outer mantel the same color as our baseboards hoping it would make the painted bricks look less harsh. I'm still not satisfied with the results. I think we'll probably paint the bricks white too. What do you guys think?

All in all even though we didn't exactly finish our project in 1 weekend I'd say it was a success. I love the baseboards and we got everything done just in time for the carpet to be installed. Whew! These home projects are a lot more time consuming then I originally anticipated. Looks like I'm going to have to work on my patience skills when it comes to all the projects I want to tackle in this house.

Don't You Hate It...

When you realize you should have caulked something AFTER you've already painted it? UGH!

Why Hello, Stranger

So apparently it's been almost a month since my last post and some of you may have thought that the hubs and I killed each other in the midst of our move and bathroom remodel. Fear not, we're both very much alive and kicking. Things have been pretty hectic around here the past few weeks, but I thought I'd take a sec to give you guys a rundown of the things that we've been up to lately.

• All of our worldly belongings moved into the house - not even close to being entirely unpacked
• Soft, fluffy carpet installed throughout the ENTIRE house - please don't hate me all you hardwood lovers
• Bathroom remodel ALMOST complete - over a month from when we started demo. Remember when I said we were hoping to get all the work done in about 2 weeks? BAHAHAHAHA! Apparently that was a joke that I wasn't let in on until now.
• Painted master bedroom - we're hoping to move out of what used to be a baby's room and into our master bedroom this weekend now that the remodel is mostly done.

Wow...when I list it all out like that it sure seems like we haven't really done a whole lot of anything at all! But I swear to you it feels like I've been slaving away at this house like it's a freakin sweatshop. More detailed updates to come.

Exhausted (And it's Only Thursday)

Oh man oh man...it has been an exhausting few days trying to get things ready for the big move to the house this weekend. Last weekend we labored on our hands and knees installing and painting new baseboards throughout the house. And this week we've dropped by the house every day to either drop more boxes off, finish painting, and send good juju-vibes so that the bathroom renovation to be done in time for the move. Although we haven't been very successful with the later. On Saturday we'll be having our new carpet installed throughout most of the house - minus the areas that construction workers will be walking through. And Sunday will be the final big push to move everything out of the apartment and into our very first home.

I don't know how we're going to make it through this next couple of weeks. I think we're both running on fumes at this point. Guess we're just going to have to stock up on the coffee and Mountain Dew (the preferred caffeinated beverage of the hubs). Wish us luck!

Bathroom Remodel: Secret

I am outlandishly happy that we're doing the bathroom remodel before we move in not for any of the practical reasons, like we won't have to figure out where to shower while the remodel is happening or because we don't want to have construction people traipsing all over the new carpet we plan on adding.

Nope, I'm happy we're doing the bathroom remodel before we move in because secretly it totally disgusts me to take a shower in someone else shower. 

Bathroom Remodel: The Plan

As I mentioned in a previous post we are remodeling the 2 full baths in our house. As you can see in the floor plan, our current bathroom situation is not really ideal. Although, in all fairness a major remodel 2 weeks before you plan to move into your house is also not really ideal either. But the hubs and I decided that having a master bathroom the size of a crackerjack box was worse than having to deal with the stress of a remodel before we move.

Our current master bathroom is so tiny that there's no way that we could both even maneuver our way around each other in there. The shower stall is barely big enough for 1 person and I have no idea how shaving your legs in there is even possible. And let's not forget the fact that the toilet faces right out the bathroom door...I mean where's the romance in that???

On the other hand, the hall bathroom is such a waste of space! Due to the L-shaped layout of the hall bathroom you look directly at a wall when you look in through the bathroom door and you have to make your way through a narrow and awkward passage way to get to the actual bathroom. And those shower doors...UGH! I think I just grew up with a shower curtain so I feel like shower doors are so gross...I mean at least when it's just a shower curtain you can toss it when it starts to get mildewy.

So here's what the new floor plan will look like after the remodel. We will be knocking down the walls separating the hall bath from the master bath. We'll be installing much larger shower in the master bathroom and will be replacing the pedestal sink with a larger single sink vanity. In the hall bath we'll be doing a standard tub and will be replacing the current vanity with one with a much more contemporary look.

Hopefully we can get at least the hall bathroom done before we move in 2 weeks. It would definitely be ideal if we could at least have 1 working shower before we move in. I'd prefer not to have to take my shower's at the gym.







Check the follow-up posts on our bathroom remodels: the demo, a look underneath, the details, in the middle of it all, and the big reveal