Paint, lights and carpet!

We have walls that are painted and finish electric!  We just finished painting the bedroom and bathroom in our master suite.  It's a medium-dark shade of Tiffany blue, which will hopefully be decorated with silver, chunky/antique picture frames, white linens, and a spot of color in throw pillows.  It may be awhile before the room is decorated, but we will be sure to post some photos of our progress!

I also began painting the stairwell, as the yellowish gray and outdated, dirty white walls were thirsting for something new.  The trim is taking forever to paint, but it will be done eventually!  The trim will be white, with tan walls.

Brian and I rented a U-Haul cargo van today and drove around picking up more items to complete our major project (i.e. a toilet - wahoo!, countertop for the vanity, trim/baseboards, etc.).  I can't wait to see the progress - it's much more fun to watch at this stage of the game!  Below is a photo of the carpet we picked out, as well as a photo of the beautiful finished wood stairs we found beneath the old carpet!

As usual, stay tuned for more updates!

Lots of love,
The Busy Bees

The beginning trim-painting in the stairwell.  Look at the disgusting walls!  I can't wait until they're tan!

A view of the hall into the bedroom - closets on the left, bathroom on the right.

The start of tiling the shower...hopefully it will be done after the weekend!

Shower tiles:

Vanity light

Finished electric work!  Recessed lighting, a cap on the ceiling fan box and a smoke detector (red thing comes off):

Bedroom:

And you will notice the outlet and cable hook-up on the wall where Brian really wants a TV to go...we have different opinions on what should go there...I'm thinking of some beautiful artwork/wedding pictures...we'll see who wins!!  :-)

Closets with mounted fluorescent lighting:

The pretty, finished floors on the stairwell.  Hopefully they'll all be in good shape!

The carpet we're putting in the master bedroom:

We have walls!!

And the drywall is up!  Hooray!  It's so nice to have walls, as it makes the space feel like a real room!  (Plus, it hides the ugly, frustrating insulation we spent so much time on...)

Below are some photos.  They will start taping and mudding the walls tomorrow and should hopefully be totally done by next Thursday/Friday.  That means my job (painting) will commence over the weekend.

Stay-tuned for more to come!

Love,
The Busy Bees


Entry into the wider hallway:

The bedroom (higher ceiling now!):

View from the bedroom down the hall:

Shower!

These cubbies will turn into the storage cabinets.  We ordered some custom cabinetry to go here that matches our vanity!

The cute chimney!  This is where the vanity and mirror will go:

Closet in the hall:

Bathroom doorway:

Hallway: 

New ductwork that was put in:

Nice new can lights:

We Passed Inspection!!

....was Amie's comment, as though it were an absolute miracle.  Of course, I had supreme confidence in our abilities, having grown up in a "get 'er done" household and being a self-made TCB-er myself.  :)  

Upon inspection, we had less than 24 hrs to clean up and turn this place around, as the drywallers came to hang sheetrock today!  More to come once they are done;  in the interim, below are a few pics of the place all insulated up.  Perhaps the best part about finishing this step was that we can finally open up the air vents and get some A/C up there!

Insulation Nightmares!

WE HATE INSULATION!!!!  Word to the wise - hire someone to do it for you, the price is barely different.  Mark, our saving grace of a contractor, came over to rescue us this morning in order to finish everything for inspection.  I am putting a call in to the inspector today in hopes that he can come tomorrow to check everything out.  Keep your fingers crossed!  If we can pull this inspection off, then it's time for drywall to begin going in on Wednesday.

Stay tuned for some photos - now it's time to get this itchy stuff off of me!!

Love,
The Busy Bees

We have officially passed inspection on electric, plumbing and framing!  Wahoo!  Next step, insulation!  Brian has been a saint during our extreme heat, as he has begun insulating the upstairs.  It's the new wedding diet - wearing long sleeves/pants and handling insulation in 90+ degree weather!  Our hope is to have the insulation ready for inspection next week, so that the drywallers can finally come in and get their job done.  

Below are some photos of the new plumbing, electric and shower/bathroom layout.  The two framed out cubbies will be storage cabinets in the bathroom.  

We are slowly making progress!  I can't wait to have the drywall up - it will finally look like we're getting somewhere.  

Enjoy the photos below and stay-tuned for more!

Lots of love,

The Busy Bees

View from the bedroom into the bathroom:

The new shower (this will be tiled at some point, with a fancy glass shower door):

AT LAST: THE NEW PLUMBING!:

 The new recessed lighting:

This is the framing for the storage cabinets in the bathroom:

Where the new vanity will be (between the wall and chimney) (just came in: birch stained in a dark coffee color):

Another view of  the bathroom from the hallway:

And more plumbing that is finally up to code :) :

The Tumbling Snowball

It's certainly been awhile since we've posted!  As with every remodel project there have certainly been some surprises.  Our initial goal of finishing the project by the 4th of July has been officially postponed.

With demo completed, a crooked chimney exposed, walls moved and cabinets squared out, we had a few plumbing and heating/cooling surprises.  Apparently the former owners from the 70's must have had a strong desire to do everything themselves - from the wood-paneled walls to the absence of duct work and a whole mess of plumbing.  Searching for plumbers to fix our mess was a challenge in and of itself.  Each person we called had conflicting ideas, but no fear - our hero, Steve-the-city-plumbing-inspector, came to the rescue!  We were finally able to choose a plumber (who is working upstairs as I type!) and get the ball rolling after a few weeks of sitting around.

Once the plumbing and new duct work are finished we will finally be able to insulate and drywall - and hopefully it's all downhill from there!  We have been enjoying the fun, decorative side of things.  Brian and I ordered our custom vanity and cabinets (in sarsaparilla...which is a deep java brown color) and have picked out the tile for our floor and shower.  It will certainly be nice to see the finished product!

Stay-tuned for more photos to come, following the plumbing fix!

Days 2 & 3 of Demo

Demo is officially finished!  Hoooooray!  We have knocked out drywall, pulled up millions of staples, removed hundreds of nails, and Brian even pulled out the toilet!  The master suite is finally down to the studs (with a little dust!).  Thank goodness Gail bought us a shop vac for Christmas - it is certainly getting a work-out!  After all this back-breaking work, I'm updating the blog while sipping an ice-cold Corona Lite to take the edge off :)

The hardest part was not the drywall, pulling out staples from the floor (because there were many), or even carrying the toilet down the stairs; it was the 30-something bags full of insulation sitting in our driveway that were so excruciating.  That said, Brian and I feel as though we could be successful hosts on any of the DIY network TV shows!

Next up, Mark comes in to draw up plans and we meet with an electrician and plumber to see what the damage is going to be.....  Our goal is to have everything finished by July 4th, as the STL clan is coming to visit.  It would be great to be able to show off our new digs!

Enjoy the photos below...and of course, one more video!

Love,
The Busy Bees

Brian hugging the toilet....or probably just moving it :-)

Our fearless workers, Brian & Mom:

....And Mandie.  Go Pack, Go!

Down to the studs:

This was the bathroom: 

View from inside the bedroom looking at the entrance (bathroom on left, closet on right):

We are hoping that it's possible to keep the A-frame ceiling exposed to create a cathedral-type effect in the bedroom.  Then we might be able to actually put a ceiling fan up that won't hit Brian in the head!

Ceiling:

Closet:

And our blog posts just wouldn't be complete without a video to show the demo in action!