Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Tiling

So I lied....we ARE doing a remodel. Our townhome had been almost completely remodeled before we moved in, except for one part: the showers. The seller put in nice tile floor and granite counters in the bathrooms but left the sh0wer lined with plastic shower liner stuff (I don't know what you call it!) which kind of ruins the look. The shower also has really old hardware and a shower head that is so low we both have to duck to fit our heads under. Graham has been talking about wanting to tile around the tub ever since we moved in and so now it is finally going to happen! Do either of us know how to tile?? Certainly not! But the time has come to learn--at least for Graham. I have decided that it would be most healthy for our marriage if I made sure I booked a full schedule the day(s) of the remodel and stayed out of the house, not to return until the task is complete. I'm such a perfectionist and clean freak that I think I would do more harm than good, trying to clean up everything, worrying about chipping the paint on the wall or getting grout on the tub (and to think we want to someday remodel an entire house!! Now that could get real interesting!!) Anyway, Graham's dad is super excited about helping his oldest son. In fact, he's been calling US to see when he can come tile. So the way I see it, it's kinda like cooking. In the same way that you can easily have "too many cooks in the kitchen," you can also have "too many tilers in the bathroom" so I'm just going to stay out of it. :o)

As for materials, thankfully we found some of the leftover tile that the previous owner used when he remodeled and he's willing to sell it to us for pretty cheap (do you know how expensive tile is!!?) Yesterday we made a trip to Lowes, "just to make sure I didn't see something else I liked better." That store is so fun! And expensive! We ended up purchasing some tile for an accent strip as well as new shower hardware. So on Saturday, the destruction of the current shower begins...

Here are some before pictures:

THE SHOWER


THE BATHROOM


THE UGLY HARDWARE


A SAMPLE OF WHAT IS TO COME

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Entering the Blogging World

So I have finally done it! I've started my own blog! I always thought I would wait to start one until I had something important going on in my life--like moving to a foreign country, building/remodeling a house, going through pregnancy or some other big milestone (for all you curious minds, I'm not pregnant or moving or building!) Then I decided that there are enough small excitements in my life to share and so I'm going for it!

When I told my beloved, always-honest husband of my intent to venture into the blogging world, his comment was "Well that's nice, but who will read it?" Great question! And I guess that is what I am about to discover....