Bathroom Tile

So, while Barb and I were working on the wood floors, Eric was busy in bathroom putting in the tile floor.  What a difference it makes...

A before shot... The flooring is the same throughout the cabin.  Sub floor or painted sub floor.

During...

First, he had to remove the one and only toilet we have to lay Durock.  My boys didn't have a problem with that because a tree is quite useful for a bathroom...  ha ha.

Not too many of the during process, because as I said...  I was busy laying the wood floor.  But, here is a great after.

Check back soon and I'll show you the decorated finish product.

The Floors

When you are renovating on a budget, it makes things a bit more challenging.  At one point, I was willing to paint my sub-floors and cover them with some cheap area rugs.  Do you know why I was willing to do this? Because my boys wanted a quad.  I was willing to sacrifice for my kids... and any mother reading this will understand that and any man reading this is thinking, "What's wrong with painted (or unpainted) sub-floors?"

I'm glad to say that we did not paint the sub-floors...

Day #1...

We started in the kitchen so that we could hang the upper cabinets...  I couldn't wait to see the new cabinets against the new floor, so I had Eric haul one up.

The orange you see is the floor muffler.  It's hard to believe that this thin stuff can make such a difference!  The dogs nails on the sub-floor at 6AM woke the whole house up.

Barb and I laid most of the floor while Eric was the cutting man!  This floor just snaps into place and was easy to work with.

End of day 1, we were able to eat at our table.  First time since we bought the place!  This picture look like the place is almost done...

This picture shows the truth!

Day #2...

Uppers are hung and the lowers are just set in place.  We are still waiting on one more cabinet.

Make shift knee-pads.  Of course, Barb and I came up with this idea AFTER Day 1 and our knees were already purple! 

End of Day 2.

Oh my, look we have furniture!  We've been sitting on camp chairs because they were easy to move.  No need to bring in heavy furniture...

Living Room and Kitchen Paint

I love to paint!  It really makes a difference in a room and is so easily changeable...

Now, I say it's easy to change, but to tell you the truth, if I have to repaint this paneling, I might just throw a fit!  Painting paneling is a pain in the a$$!

To do it right, you must:

1. Sand.  A light sanding in fine.  I used a sanding screen on a pole.
2. Prime.  Not a big deal, but you have to do all the valleys by hand.  I tried using a roller and the paint kept getting stuck in the valleys and then running.  I don't like this look.  After you have all the valleys hand brushed, you can then roll.  But by doing this, you create the runs again, so you have to take your brush and go through the valleys one more time.
3. Caulk.  If you are painting a lighter color, you have to fill in the holes.  I'm talking nail holes AND the natural holes that are already in the panels.  If you don't, it looks like you have dirt or worse, bugs on your wall.
4. Paint.  Again, following the same method as the primer.

Misc Small Projects

July was insanely busy for me!  I was gone more than I was home.  I wish it were all one big vacation, but to be honest, little vacations tucked in between work at the cabin.

We are still making great progress, but I'll save one of the biggest changes for next post.  Check back again soon!

This post is all about the little changes taking place...

Like Garage (or basement in our case) storage and organization.  As many times as we've moved, Eric has always told me that he can't do any work until he organized his garage.  I used to roll my eyes, but truth be told, he's got to know where the tools are at.

New toilet...  This wasn't a must, but the old one used like 4 gallons per flush.  Little excessive, don't you think?

Wood burners cleaned...

Attic access...

Smoke detectors throughout the house.

Drywall

Drywall is one of those things that you just don't want to do yourself.  Could we?  Yes, but it would have taken all summer for us to do it ourselves.  Not to mention, the angry words Eric and I would have expressed toward each other wasn't worth it.

So, we hired a professional!

Here are some before pictures...

Bad attempt by a DIYer!

Bathroom was professionally mudded.

The one bedroom that was actually completed.  Don't you love that mural?

Lovely textured ceiling!  NOT!  At least it was only down the hallway.

We call this Gran's room.  Love the furniture they left us!  This will be refinished at a later date!

Notice how non of the drywall was actually finished.  So, every time we added heat to the place, the bugs would come out of the attic.  GROSS!

Closet by front door.

And the after...

Living room ceiling!

Hallway, with NO popcorn ceiling!

Bedroom with mural has been removed, along with all the fake beams!  It really brightens up the place!

Gran's room.

Stairwell.

Full wall in basement was finished off.