Making Progress Again...Finally!

We had to get our van taken in to the dealership here in town to get it looked at and fixed, so we dropped that off Wednesday morning. Curtis's mission president had passed away and so that same Wednesday after work, he drove down to Nampa. Then the next morning, he and one of his old companions who lives in Boise drove down to Bountiful for the funeral, which happened at 11am. They stayed in Utah way later than they planned and so they got back to Idaho really late that night. Then Curtis worked in Meridian the next morning and after lunch time headed back home. He did not get much sleep but it was worth it to reconnect with old companions at the funeral. Now that we are done traveling for awhile, it is time to get serious about our house projects again. I think I needed that break because I really didn't want to do anything for awhile but now I'm ready to go! 

While he was gone, I wanted to surprise him by getting something done on the house. At first I thought I would just start painting walls upstairs around the front room and hallway. As I was wiping down the walls in the hallway to prepare, I was looking at the popcorn ceiling and knew it needed to come down before we could texture, paint and put lights back in. So I switched gears and decided that I could remove the popcorn ceiling on my own. I already had the experience of prepping a room with plastic and removing the ceiling. The only difference is now I would be doing all of it by myself. I got a little frustrated while hanging up the plastic because the tape would stick to it in the wrong places, etc. but I got it up and went to work. I did the hallway on Thursday and then Friday morning I finished off the small area in the new master bedroom that used to be part of the hallway. Wow, I got SO sweaty after wearing a Tyvex suit and mask to do the scraping. After cleaning up on Thursday, I got right in the pool and it felt so good! I'm so thankful we have our pool.

I just scraped to the end of the hallway. It was tempting to do more, but this was our priority right now. Eventually all of that popcorn ceiling will be gone.

Curtis was pretty pleased that I did all of that while he was gone. He and I were so tired that we just relaxed Friday night. Then Saturday he got busy with hanging sheet rock and he got me started on prepping the shower and tub for tile. We had to paint this stuff on called Redguard that helps seal cracks and keeps moisture off of the sheet rock. I did take a break in between painting the shower and the tub but I was so tired by the end of the day and so thankful that the next day was Sunday, the day of rest, because I really needed it! Charlotte was also sick with a fever and sore throat over the weekend so I stayed home from church with her and watched Bible cartoons on dvd. It was good because I was able to teach her about some things she didn't know before. Jack had started to get sick while we were in Nampa for Ellie's homecoming but thankfully he is feeling better again. I'm just hoping no one else gets sick! Charlotte felt good again by Monday.

As usual, it took a long time to prep. I covered the tub and shower base with heavy plastic first.

Curtis helped me do the seams and then I went to town on painting the rest.

First coat done and drying.

Sheet rock filled in the little nook by our master bedroom door in the hallway. We're going to put a shelf or something here. Not sure yet.

Curtis working in the pantry. He needed to reset that door frame and it took awhile to get it right. After that, he worked on the walls in there.

Fortunately I did not have to paint the entire wall around the tub since it won't get wet up high. We're taking the tile up to the bottom of the window. Again, first coat done and drying.

Monday morning, Curtis was off to work and I painted another coating on both the shower and the tub.  The kids really wanted to go to the store to look at some stuff and so we did. When Curtis got home and we ate our dinner, it was time to work, him on sheet rock again and me on painting the third coat. After I finished painting, I helped Curtis. The sheet rocking was taking so long that we stayed up until midnight so that we could be done with it and move on.  We were exhausted but both of us had to shower before bed because we were covered in dust and itching from insulation. But we got it done!!

Lines in the ceiling from where the walls used to be for the hallway and closet. There was a board still attached and hanging down that we needed to remove.

Look at all of the patch work.

I bought a couple of Pokémon shirts for Charlotte while at the store, so she posed with her toy Pikachu with one of her new shirts on.

The next morning I took pictures of the finished sheet rocking. So glad that's done and we can move on!

Looking into the pantry.

The back of the pantry.

Looking out from the pantry to the kitchen.

The new closet.

The master bedroom.

The new master bathroom. Toilet will be on the left. Vanity with two sinks will be on the right.

Master shower and soaker tub. 

Tuesday morning I finished off the Redguard painting in the shower. Then I had the boys help clean up our construction mess a bit. They took garbage out to the truck and we moved some tools and things to the garage. After dinner, our next project was taking out part of the wall in the kitchen. We wanted to open it up and that had to be done before the flooring guys can come.

Covering what we could with old sheets, preparing for lots of dust.

The before shot.

Demo is so fun!

The electrical was "fun". Unfortunately, four of the six wires were pulling from a different direction than we hoped and will not reach the new outlet boxes. We're going to have to put in a junction box. It was too late to get one at the store so we'll have to finish that tonight since Wednesday was mutual day.

What it looked like at the end of Tuesday night. No kitchen lights for a couple of days.

This was taken this morning to get a shot from the other direction with more light.

We again stayed up until past midnight to work on this project. Tuesday morning I had to wake up early to get boys to the dentist but thankfully I was able to sleep in on Wednesday. My body does not like me staying up that late, especially two nights in a row. We felt pressed for time again because Stillman's family are coming to hang out this weekend. We want to get as much done before then as we could because we won't be working on it this while they're here. Next week it's taping and texture!