Well that was a long day! I’m just wrapping up and I need a third shower for the day and then right to bed!
First though an update – I did make it outside after lunch and spent 2 hours in the gardens. Then a quick trip to home depot for some plants and mulch (I got inspired while I was out there). When I got back I primed the trim in the bathroom so it would have time to dry so I could paint the walls later.
Bathroom trim primed!
Ryan got home from work just as I finished up the trim so I made up some dinner before heading back out to finish up my new gardens. As it got dark (9pm) I headed back inside and put the second coat of paint on the bathroom walls and ceiling…
Walls/ceiling painting done!
I couldn’t take any garden photos since it was dark but I will update tomorrow with the garden pictures – I did way more than I planned for this year but I’m psyched now! I even put in a small veggie garden!
I got the first coat of paint on the ceiling/walls in the bathroom before lunch. We originally picked 2 different colors for the ceiling and walls however once I put them up together I realized they were too close in color to each other so I decided to take the slightly lighter ceiling paint and use it for the walls as well. We can always change it up later but I think it will open up the small room nicely.
After lunch I might head outside to do some garden work while the paint is trying. I’d like to get the primer on the trim and maybe the second coat on the ceiling/walls later.
Now I just have to wait 2 hours before I can clean up the tile properly and really call it done. Tomorrow I have some caulking to do and some painting!
Unfortunately on Friday Ryan got the news that he would have to work all weekend – as in – in the office work 🙁 Major bummer considering all the work we had planned, now he’s missing out and I know that bothers him.
I did manage to stay on top of my task list so far for the weekend. This morning I made a trip to the dump with the yard debris I’ve been collecting (and did a final pass through the yard and a quick weeding job too). Then a few more errands before I came home to work on the bathroom.
First I finished grouting the shower.. this went much faster than before – we bought a new float which is SO much better than the cheap one we had. I had used it on the walls (just not the shower walls) so I knew it was better and it was 10 times better on the shower walls.
Last shower wall grouted
Once I finished that I up decided to seal the grout on one of the walls. I did 2 coats and it looks good so I assume I did it right 🙂 Left wall - grout sealed
At this point I was STARVING so I made up some home made mac n’ cheese (double batch) so I could freeze one, bake one and save a few small cups for bringing to work (in the freezer). I am just sitting down to my “lunch” now and Ryan JUST got home so he’s out mowing before getting back to work this evening.
Still on the docket for the night – I plan to do the touch up priming in the bathroom so it’s ready to paint tomorrow. Then grout the floor. I also sanded the trim and did some more touch up with wood filler so it’s ready to be primed tomorrow as well. Going to be a productive weekend!
I was spoiled yesterday and got to leave work at lunch time to go play with my 3 year old niece. We played for hours, her imagination is wonderful and it was such a pleasant break to not think about work at all! It was also great to see my new niece – who is just so tiny it’s unbelievable really, and she is SO adorable. They are both such beautiful girls!
Tonight it’s back to the norm. I’ll be working late tonight and hopefully working from home tomorrow to squeeze in 2 extra hours that I usually spend driving. Hopefully this way Thursday and Friday can be normal days as I get ready for the weekend.
And this coming weekend I have so many plans…
First off – definitely want to finish grouting the bathroom (Saturday)
2 – prime the trim around the bathroom door (Saturday)
3 – prime the areas I touched up on the walls/ceiling in the bathroom (Saturday)
4 – start painting the bathroom (Sunday) – one coat on ceiling, one on walls
5 – strip the paint off the bathroom door (Friday and Sunday)
Is that too much? I’d also like to work in the gardens some if the weather is nice … hmm.. I better not plan on sleeping this weekend 🙂
Finally – the tile’s been done for a month now but we haven’t had a free day to grout until today! It was a long day and the grouting isn’t done but it’s really close, and we can definitely finish it up next weekend! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves… A before picture. While the grout got settled I hooked up the electric to the bathroom. Lights finally 🙂 We started on the shower. Here the right wall is done. We took turns grouting and cleaning off the excess. 2 walls of the shower done!
Unfortunately at this point we ran out of the shower grout. We decided it was a good time to break for an early dinner and a trip to home depot. Home depot was out of this color grout though – luckily a shipment is coming this thursday so we should be all set for next weekend. So that decided how far we would get with the shower – 2 walls done.
After dinner Ryan had to work so I grouted the wall tiles. I started with just the main part of the wall tile but decided to do the decorative part as well just to get it done. It was a late night waiting for it to dry enough to clean it off but now the walls are done! Right wall finished Had to grout the decorative part with my finger - notice I'm using my left hand on this side... my right index finger was bleeding by this point! Scary picture - that's a lot of cleanup ahead - more sore fingers... All done!
Now I’m taking my swollen and sore fingers off to bed so I can get up early. I want to get in the office early so I can leave at lunch time to go play with my niece(s)! It’s been a great weekend and I can’t wait until next weekend, the bathroom is really coming together. Now we just need to get our plumber back out sometime next month 🙂
When I got home tonight, just as it was getting dark I had a welcome sight of Ryan working on the house. He took off the aluminum siding on the diningroom windows. We actually weren’t sure if the windows were boxed in like the livingroom cupola or if there was siding. Turns out they were boxed in – a bit more work for us but we think it will look better once renovated.
Revealed - boxes on the diningroom windows too!side windows revealed
Saturday progress
Tomorrow we’ll work on the bathroom – starting with grouting the shower and hooking up the electrical!
This past weekend I met up with Ryan in Denver Friday night.
After long stressful weeks we decided to just relax for the weekend (well Saturday, Sunday we spent the day flying back). So Saturday we watched movies most of the day, even venturing out to watch How to Train a Dragon in 3D which was better than expected for both of us (and I was looking forward to it). I’m reading the book currently and it’s definitely different but very well done.
Now it’s back to work for the week and I have some car repairs that need to be done this week. Car inspection today (Monday) and I need to call a repair shop about some noise my car is making tomorrow. If they can take the car in I may work from home tomorrow because the noise/feel of the car was really bothering me today.
This weekend we have some house plans! We’d like to grout the bathroom and also hook up the electric to the bathroom (i know – i know!!! i should have done that by now but come on!). We also have to mow the lawn and maybe i’ll do a little outdoor work, not too much to do though since I haven’t started new gardens this year.
I finished vacuuming the demolition area and moved all the tools and wood into there. Then I cleaned the tvroom and furniture and got that moved into the tvroom temporarily. We need one downstairs room to live in. We’re keeping the couches/tv swapped from the planned final layout because it will be easier to move the couches to work on the builtins than it would be to move the tv.
Finally a little time in the gardens! This weekend we traveled back to NY to visit some family. We had lunch with Ryan’s sister, then dinner with his mother and stayed the night at my parent’s house. When we got back home it was still nice out so I headed out to the gardens to get the first spring weeding done and reveal what plants survived the winter! Then I picked up the yard so we could mow this week.
First up – my perennial garden, surprisingly I got quite a few plants back this year. I’m not seeing any sign of a few of the plants but it’s still early so I’m not giving up hope. Plus i think I kept a few weeds because they looked pretty right now and I wasn’t sure what we planted.
Perennial Garden coming back to life
The Epimedium (there are 2) is really blooming.
Epimedium blooming away
I’m taking a quick review of what we planted which can be seen here: Perennial cutting garden. It looks like both Epimediums (2) survived as well as all Mountain Bluets (3). Lily of the Valley survived but I thought it was a weed so I weeded it back pretty strongly (my neighbor has it there too), it will grow in again most likely.
I didn’t see the Valerium (2) coming in – but I don’t really know what it looks like so I may have weeded it out. Actually I just looked at a picture and that one may have been coming back but if so it was popping up all over the place and already blooming (seems too early?) and I thought it was a weed (oops) so I pulled it out.
The chives (3) are coming in very nicely and the Bergenia (1) came back too. At least one Dark Geranium came back (maybe both).
What I didn’t see coming back were the daisies and the black eyed susans. I also don’t know what the Echinacia looks like so i couldn’t’ tell that one. I’m going to keep an eye out on that side of the garden, I did not weed as strongly over there knowing I didn’t see the plants yet.
And the rose garden. These i weeded and cleaned up a bit. 3 of the 4 bushes are coming back beautifully. One has no buds yet (white roses), I’m not giving up complete hope yet because it was such a late bloomer and budder last year but it may not have survived. The silvery plants I cut back because they had new growth in the center and were a little unwieldy. We’ll see if my efforts destroyed them or helped them.
Rose garden coming back to life
The raspberry bushes came back very strong, I cut out some dead wood and removed some of the baby plants that were too close to the lilies. 3 of my lilies are coming back! I don’t’ remember if i planted 3 or 4. They look great so far! I’d like to reorganize some of my perennials from the roses side and put them in front of the raspberries to tie the two gardens together but so far no time!
After gardening I headed inside to continue the vacuuming of the demolition area. I got it pretty cleaned up, enough so we can now use it and I started moving some tools and trim in there. I’ll continue this progress each night, my goal is to have the tv room set up as a proper livingroom for company by Friday night!
