The Light at the End of the Bathroom

For many of you, Fall seems to be making its way into the air.  As it is the middle of September, it does make sense to be looking forward to the chilly sweater/scarf-wearing weather.  Not so much here, though.  This time of year has always been my favorite, and I'm very glad that this will be the last pseudo-fall  I will experience here in Georgia.

Of course, we have a few things to do first before we can leave!

First, though, I must apologize for forgetting to snap a few pictures of some of the progress in the bathroom.  Both Jared and I have been rather busy, and with my baby brain, it's easy to overlook some things.

So you may notice that there's been a lot of visible progress on the bathroom.  Having finished the electrical and plumbing, Jared was ready to move on to putting up drywall.  I did not capture any of that process, though, but here he is doing the mudding and taping of the recently hung sheetrock.

Although it was probably one of his least favorite things to do, Jared got the job done.  After the joints and screw holes were filled, he sanded everything, and then it was just a coat of primer standing in between us and freshly painted bathroom!

However, Jared decided that he wanted the baseboard in before painting, so, being the handy guy that he is, he got a few one by eights and made the baseboard himself with a router.

This was really more of an experiment to see whether it could be done and look fairly decent.  Most of the house doesn't have baseboard or crown molding, and Jared discovered that making baseboard is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying it.  So if he has the know-how and tools to do so, why not?

Even I was recruited to help in that endeavor.  After Jared routed and sanded the boards, I primed and painted them.

It was nice to be able to help, in at least a small way.

In almost no time at all, Jared put the baseboard in.  After that, I primed the walls with a layer of Killz, although I did not photograph that process, either.  I did discover that scooting around on the floor and bending over for long periods of time are not easy to do while seven and half months pregnant.  After a few touch ups, Jared did the actual painting.

Painting done, the next step for Jared was finding out how to get the tub in, which was no easy feat considering its weight.  I, however, spent my time practicing with the new car seat that we got.

Good grief these things are confusing!  At least we have a good car seat, and Jared even got the running stroller that he wanted, courtesy of my parents.  It might take us a half hour just to get the baby in the seat, but at least we can take the baby home from the hospital.

Moving right along, Jared had a few things left on his bathroom to-do list.  The hole in the wall was to become a recessed medicine cabinet, the tub needed to be moved in and installed, and the toilet and sink needed to be installed as well. The biggest obstacle with this list was the tub.  As heavy as it is, Jared couldn't move it by himself, and though it would only take a minute or two, he had a hard time finding anyone available to help.

So after a few days of doing odds and ends in the bathroom, like getting the medicine cabinet in, he managed to arrange a time for someone to help him.

And this morning, the tub finally got moved to its new home!  Soon, and very soon, this bathroom will be DONE.  It's such a relief to see the beginning of the end.

Here the color of the walls can be seen a little better.  This color definitely likes to change with the light, but it's a nice relaxing tone.  Next stop, toilet and sink!







I'm (figuratively, because I've got a baby pushing on my diaphragm) breathing a sigh of relief with this bathroom.  Though it's been a long time coming, the space is coming together nicely, and I'm looking forward to taking a relaxing bath after so many months of planning and waiting.  Now if only the weather would bless me with some cool relief...here's to wishful thinking!

Labor Day Weekend

Can you believe it's September already?  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how fast time is moving these days.  August flew by, and I'm sure the next few months will go just as fast.

Jared has been working consistently on the bathroom, so there is a lot of progress to show.

The bathroom plumbing was mostly done, so Jared decided to get working on laying the subfloor.

Thankfully, Jared acquired a few tools from my dad this summer, and they helped expedite this process.  Otherwise, that would have been a lot of battery changes.

My handy man!

Just cutting the right shape of subfloor was quite a project.  This bathroom is kind of an odd shape.

It finally looked like a floor.  What a big step in finishing this space!

After the subfloor came water-resistant dura-rock.

Next step: tile.  Although, we had to find tile first.  We originally were going to try to get enough from the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store, but they didn't have enough of any one kind, so we decided to check out Lowes and Home Depot for some deals.

And we ended up finding a better price on tile at the home improvement store than at the resale store!  We had to be mindful of the color as it needed to coordinate with the tub.

Jared tested out his layout for the tile.  Luckily, he had a bit of experience laying tile before this.  However, he did not have experience drilling/cutting holes in tiles for plumbing.  Despite his reservations, he managed to get the job done just fine.

We were both pretty excited when the tile started going down. This bathroom is coming together!

And what guy doesn't like an excuse to get new tools?  Jared had to get a tile saw, and was rather giddy about trying it out...or as giddy as Jared really gets.

Soon enough the tile was down.  Then the grouting was done, and poof, a real floor!  Now on to the next project.

Jared's friend Rossiter was able to help out with some of the electrical work that needed to be done.  One of the perks of having worked in an engineer battalion is knowing plumbers and electricians.

Also, Jared needed a hand to hang sheetrock.  Sheetrock!!!  How cool is it that we're to this point!?

Well now, doesn't that look like a room?  There's still more to be done, but hey, this bathroom has come by leaps and bounds in the last few weeks.

There's still a bit of plumbing to do for the sink and toilet, and Jared is going to install a recessed medicine cabinet.  We are getting so close!

I forgot to show a picture of Jared's skill at cutting holes in tile.  Not an easy task.

In the meantime, I've been working on a few projects of my own.  The baby blanket has been coming along, as long as I keep working diligently on it.

But I also convinced myself to make a diaper bag.  I used a Simplicity pattern, but I DON'T recommend using this pattern at all.  It was not very well written, and I'm just glad I had my mom via skype to help when I discovered problems.

I'm pretty proud of this bag.  I've never made anything like it before, so it was a fun challenge.  The bag has a large back pocket, two exterior side pockets, lots of pockets on the inside, and lots of space.  If I decide to make this pattern again, I think I'll use a heavier weight of fabric, but we'll see how this one works.  It was a fun project, and I've decided I could stand to do more sewing.







November is creeping up on us here, but Jared and I are both praying and working to get things done in time.  I have to say, considering Jared works full time, goes to his ETS (getting out of the Army) appointments, and attends my baby doc appointments, he does a pretty amazing job keeping up with the work on the house.  What an amazing guy I have!  Maybe I'm so focused on having a Thanksgiving baby that I'm just thankful all the time.  Then again, God has given me plenty to be thankful for!