How Did You Celebrate "Bathroom Improvement Week"?

Small Bathroom Upstairs -
. <---Before Small Bathroom Upstairs - Currently (below)
Downstairs Bathroom -
<---Before Downstairs Bathroom - Currently


Visitors - Art and Mary, dear friends from SBC days in Mexico City
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FOR THE WEEK ENDING April 8, 2007 - Easter Sunday

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Bathroom improvements were the most visible results of this week.
o In the small bathroom upstairs - we got the old fixtures removed, put bead board paneling on the walls, and put down the major part of the tile floor. It's starting to converge into a bathroom.
o In the Master bathroom upstairs - there is subfloor in place making the room ready for some tile work. The claw foot tub drain and water supply lines are still pending and will require some additional plumbing help.
o The downstairs bathroom probably changed in appearance the most. Pictures 3 and 4 above show before and current pictures of the room. You notice that there is now a floor in place and tiling is not far off. The back wall is firred out and ready for both the bath tub and lavatory water supply lines to be attached. Some sheetrock was hung in the room. It is coming along.

2. We're making a major effort to get the upstairs rooms painted in preparation for the finishing of the wood floors. OSHA Babe has become quite proficient in using the Metabo paint remover. You should have seen her "gettin 'er done" on Saturday. The trim in her office is ready to be sanded and painted. We got a first coat of paint on the trim in the guest bedroom. I think that the TV room is caulked and ready for its second coat of trim paint followed by its first coat of wall paints. The more we get done, the uglier the doors become. Their time will come.

3. We didn't totally overlook the kitchen. Two workers, Mario and son, Michael, got the 1/4" backerboard on the wall in preparation for putting in the tumbled stone backsplash. We had to rework a couple of electrical outlets with new boxes so the plugs will be flush with the finished wall. It's going to look great.

4. More foundation work is ahead. Robert, the foundation guy, stopped by on Thursday and surveyed some of the settling indications we have. He's going to have a crew come out and place five additional piers on a shaker beam that will help out. Who knows what a "shaker beam" is?

5. Dear friends from SBC days in Mexico City, Art and Mary, stopped by on Saturday. They moved back to South Padre Island last summer after 14 years in Mexico City. Art was a steadfast, wise friend to me during the 6 years we were there. Mary and Pat shared experiences as mothers of three sons and have stayed in touch since we left Mexico City in 1999. We continue to value their gracious friendship.
...The weather Saturday was cold and wet. OSHA Babe and I were looking for a good reason to go someplace warm. After giving Art and Mary the historical tour, we were off to the Blanco Cafe for caldo and the #3 special. If I can persuade him off his fishing boat on South Padre, Art may come back for some plumbing and painting. NOT!!!!!!!! So I guess that we'll just have to go visit them for some fishing and golf.
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NEXT STEPS:
1. I have made a Paint Vow. Monday and Tuesday will be dedicated to nothing other than paint preparation, e.g., sanding, caulking, painting, on the second floor. Take a deep breath and repeat after me, "Focus! Don't get distracted by the 973 other things that could be done."

2. In the small bathroom upstairs, I need to finish tiling the floor, put the 2nd coat of paint on the bead board paneling, grout the tile in the shower after putting in the shower neck and head and trim around the water control valve, and place the new toilet and lavatory.
Kitchen work will continue with the purchase of the tumbled stone tile and subsequent setting of it for the backspalsh. I do plan to work in several 2" x 2" pieces of granite that were cut from the same slab as the countertops.

3. Mario and Michael are scheduled to be back on Wednesday to begin working on putting up the skirt around the bottom of the house. That is needed to keep the crawl space under the house dry and, hopefully, minimize future shifting of the supporting piers.

4. I plan to call Sam the plumber to check his availability on getting the clawfoot tub drains and water supply lines done as well as determining what is needed to connect the garbage disposal to the drain in the kitchen. Stand by for that one.

5. Toward the end of the week, I'll be checking with Frank the floor guy to verify the specific date that he will start working on our floors.