The Dream Tub!

Last time when I posted all the photos of my "dream home" I posted this beautiful bathroom photo, with the following disclaimer; "Now, granted, my bathroom does NOT have a beautiful claw foot tub, or a window, but I'm going for this feeling. Vintage farmhouse."

Well, my wonderful husband saw that and said, "We could make it work. If we lay all of the wood flooring ourselves, we could afford a new tub." What a guy! So I started looking for a claw foot tub. I was a little disillusioned to find that they start at about $800, and go up... a lot from there. Once again Dan came to the rescue. He saw an add on Craig's List for a claw foot in out area for $275! I checked it out right away. And here's what I found:

I fell in love at first sight! The problem? The tub was 67" long. Our bathroom is only 59 1/2" long! Super Dan to the rescue again! "I can make it work! We'll put in recessed walls and shelving on both sides of the tub and it will be great!" Well, he's always been able to make it work before, so I said, "Great!"
Following are a few photos of his Herculean effort to make my claw foot bathtub dream come true!

Bathtub before

Out with the old!

Down to the studs... then removing those! We need every bit of space between the drywall on our bedroom to the drywall in our kitchen to make the tub fit!

Yes, this is a lot of work, but when we got the tub home, and tried it on for size... we knew it would all be worth it!

Besides making room for the tub, Dan and my daughter Lilly also made space for a recessed faux window. The bathroom is in the center of the house and therefore has no windows, and a bit of a closed in feeling. We thought we would fake some exterior light.

Our first test of the window lights! Fun!

Here is a photo of the bead board backing that will be at the head and foot of the tub. You can also see the new rough, whitewashed cedar siding. LOVE IT!

We are getting closer! There has been great advances on the rest of the house too. I'll post more soon. We are getting pretty worn out after a month of this though. We are ready to be done, but that is a ways down the line still. We just keep thinking of how wonderful it will all be when its done, and how relaxing life will be when the house is put back together.

"But if we hope for what is still unseen by us,

we wait for it with patience and composure."

Romans 8: 25

Well, for the most part!

But, I think we are at least learning patience and composure through this process!

Until next time,

Tina



Dreaming....

Well, at the moment in our house there is a 4' x 4' hole in the bathroom floor, a 3' x 6' hole in the kitchen wall, a section of the wall in the girls' room missing, plywood flooring.... well, you get the idea. However, I can visualize what I want it all to look like when it's done. Dan and I have been doing some dreaming, and looking for inspirational photos, and here's what we have found so far.

KITCHEN

Beautiful dark counter tops in my kitchen!

Or...

Maybe we go white on white?

Both options look good with the red kitchen.

BATHROOM

Now, granted, my bathroom does NOT have a beautiful claw foot tub, or a window, but I'm going for this feeling. Vintage farmhouse.

GIRLS' BEDROOM

A picket fence wall. And before I even saw this photo, I had purchased yellow and green paint!

Twin Murphy beds with a cabinet (similar to this one) between them. Ours, however, will be white enamel to go with the fencing.

HALLWAY

Crisp, clean, white enamel beadboard in the hall. The wall above will be a darkish yellow as it is in the living room currently. I also want to paint all of our picture frames white and then do a bit of antiquing on them. Nice!

Dreaming is fun, and it gives us something to hold on to during this "not so fun" stage of our unplanned remodel. We'll have to see how far we get with the funds we have available, and how close we come to our imaginings.

Here is my own take on Genesis 1:2 as it relates to our project:

The house was without flooring and void of any furnishings, and chaos was over the everything. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the house.

- Lord, I pray that when this project is done, you will say "It is good!"        

Tina 

Unexpected Remodel

We woke up Sunday morning a couple weeks ago to a bit of a disaster at our house. Our water heater supply line had failed, and as a result, we had a minor flood. I say minor because the we were able to sop up the surface water with a few towels. However, the damage was bad. The more Dan and I tore into the area, the more damage we found.

 Subflooring was mush and had to be removed.

The padding under our laminate floor was D R I P P I N G wet!

Drywall was wet up 2 ft in some areas.

The laminate flooring we loving laid just 2 years ago was swelling and warping.

We knew we were in way over our heads!

So, we called our insurance company, and then Belfor Property Restoration.

The Belfor trucks showed up Monday morning.

They tore up all the flooring around the flooded area and then started probing for moisture content. The rod that they are putting into the holes drilled in the cabinets in the above picture beeps every time water is detected. I started calling it the "Evil Beeper Thing" because it would not shut up!! It beeped at everything!! Meaning, of course, there was a lot of water.

At the end of day 2, the house had been well torn apart.

So here we are, on day... hmm, I guess its been 12 days since the "flood." We are living in a vacation rental (thank you Traveler's Insurance Co) because the house has been gutted, and is STILL drying out! So, what are we going to do? Well, we've decided that while the house is torn apart we should try to get as many projects finished as possible! So the "wish list" is as follows:

Entire House

new flooring

paint ceilings

Kitchen

new countertops

replace kitchen door

paint touch-up

Living Room

replace glass in front door

patch and repaint walls

Front Bathroom
new flooring
refinish vanity
new countertops
paint (wainscoting?)
shower curtain
rugs
Hall
paint
wainscoting
Girls' Room
build murphy beds
paint
curtains
rugs
Back Bathroom
new vinyl flooring
add storage shelves
Master Bedroom
paint

Ok, I'm exhausted just thinking about all of this! So far we have done most of the demolition work, but WOW! And my poor husband only has weekends to work on this project. Well, this is a WISH list. We'll see how far we actually get. Wish us luck! And your prayers are appreciated! :o)

Tina

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 Matthew 19:26

Dreaming of Spring!

Yes, I know that winter has only just begun, but I am getting that spring feeling... Christmas is over, and it's time for spring! Well, at least in my mind! Here in Central Oregon it will be many months before spring actually "springs"! Until then, I will dream, browse my own garden photos from last summer, and those of other garden lovers. If you too are dreaming of spring, send me a note to let me know I'm not alone! Include a picture of your garden! I'm hungry for green!!

Herbs and impatiens keep my little German hiker company all summer.

My backyard fountain is home to colorful flowers and vintage bake ware.

I can't wait for warmer weather to see the clematis I planted last year overtake my mailbox! Hope the mailman doesn't mind.

Think green thoughts as the winter weather howls! "To every thing there is a season" as it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. For now its a time of rest and waiting.

Have a great January!

Tina