The Bathroom is Finished!

So happy to report we are finally done with the kids' bathroom.  It is finished, finito, fini!

Here's the laying of the plywood...

Then the cement board...

Had to mix up the "mud" to lay under the concrete (using a leftover spindle - hey you use what you got)...

Spread it on...

 Drilled it down good and put more "mud" over the seams over the tape...

Here's the fun part - laying tile!...

Ta Da! A nearly finished floor...

As a reminder, here's how it looked almost a year ago!...

And here is the finished product!  Calvin put the toilet in. Awesome.  He's the closer in the house...

The floor is a fresh white, whiter than the picture shows.  It's gleaming.  Like you have to squint when you go in there white.  Okay, not that white.  But I'm loving it as much as you can love a bathroom floor.  It's way better than the full on green attack in there before.

A New Project - The Bathroom Floor

Big surprise - I have a new project I'm working on.  This one is the biggest I've ever undertaken and I almost felt like I was in over my head.  In truth, I probably am but am too stubborn to admit it.  So I charge on one step at a time.

Here is the original picture.  Notice the wallpaper (how could you miss it?  Seriously, the ceiling too?!)

This project has taken months.  Months I tell you.  A long time ago I changed out the handles on the cupboards.  That was easy.  Then I got bolder.  Here were the next steps:

- Remove medicine cabinet
- Remove slider shower door
- Remove wallpaper
- Drywall over medicine cabinet opening
- Plaster walls where damage was done during wallpaper removal
- Sand walls
- Texture walls with spray can of texturizer (?)
- Paint WHITE.  Fresh clean white.
- Put up new light fixture
- Put up new mirror, new holders, and cute picture (aka the fun part)
- Admired work so far :-)
- Remove tiled-in soap, toothbrush, and towel holders around vanity
- Removed tiles that were damaged where shower door was screwed in
- Re-tiled and grouted all missing tiles (luckily the previous/original owners left us the tile)
- Removed toilet
- Removed tile and sub floor
- Researched how to build sub floor
- Home Depot for supplies for floor
- Installed plywood on floor

Here's the during picture, before I decided we needed not only a new toilet but a new floor.

I ordered the picture from Etsy from another Ehtiopan adoptive mother who paints these pictures.  Adorable, no?  Wish Etame was that happy when she gets her hair done.

Oh, and a new vent.  Can't forget the vent since it's front and center.  See the tile missing in the corner.  Had to replace that one too, since I broke it during my demo of the mini towel rack that was there.

Here were the holes left behind from the shower door that was screwed into the tiles.  I had to use the Dremel to remove these tiles and then adhere new ones in and grout.  Much work for little reward but it looks pretty now. I think I removed about 10 tiles from these screwed.  Then I used a razor blade to get the leftover caulking off of the other tiles.

Here's where I take out the ugly green mini 70's tile on the floor.  I had already drug the toilet out and down the stairs and into the garage.  Calvin took it to the dump over the weekend.  Yay!

This was a seriously messy project.  At first I tried to just get up the tile but shards were flying everywhere and after a few days, I realized a) I wasn't getting far and b) the concrete underneath was getting damaged either by my hammering or it was already damaged from water over the years.  It was a crumbly mess in places.  So out it all came, sub floor and all.

The chisel came in handy for hammering it in between the concrete and the plywood under this rusted mesh wire.  Then I pried it up using the back of the hammer.  It was la.bor.i.ous.  I was dripping sweat. I filled several garbage bags with the concrete then dragged them to the garage to keep company with the toilet.  Okay, moving on...

Here it is all nice and cleaned off.  I accidentally chipped off the flange from where the toilet goes when prying up some of the tile.  Luckily, we have uTube and I guess it's a common problem because I saw a video instructing how you can buy this little metal semi-circle piece to go along it and fix the edge.  Home Depot peeps knew what I was talking about and pointed me to it right away.

I got out the Shop Vac and cleaned up any stray concrete pebbles.  Then I cut the 1/2" plywood with the circular saw.  Using a jig saw I cut around where the toilet flange is.  It was trial and error cutting and finally I had the right sizes and started nailing down the top little pieces and then the big lower one.  That was today.  Now I'm off the sit by the fire and knit some.  Because I'm tired of looking at the bathroom floor.

I'll be sure to post "after" pics and more "during" pics since it's far from done.  Next I have to put in the cement backerboard down (not sure how to cut it around the flange), and then tape the seams and let it all dry.  Then I will be ready to tile.  Any advice?  I'm all ears!

The Bus Stop With a New Sweater

Here is the little bow-legged girl...

Big Sister will finally wear the sweater I knit for her that took three months to complete.  At first she wouldn't wear it but I left her with few options and she decided to try it on this morning.  At least she looks happy in this picture!

And the back.  The pattern is called "Roo" that I found off Ravelry.

My friend Sarah suggested I buy some buttons from M & J Trims online.  I've seen their store in NYC and they do have an amazing selection.  I haven't ever tried looking at their site though - need to do that.

Keeping Tosca out of the busy street.

I started the sweater in Oregon back in August and finished it in Maine in November.  It's 100% wool and very soft, made from yarn bought at Knitt'n Kitt'n in Portland.  Love that store.

Tosca's sweater is from Baby Gap and a hand-me-down from our friend Annette.  It's fleece lined and I'm so happy it fits her this season.

I've also finished a few other projects - a scarf, slipcovers, and am now working on another sweater for Etame.  It's a Fair Isle Cardigan - navy blue with different colors around the collar.

Ballet

Etame is taking "ballet".  It's actually called creative movement but don't tell her or any of the other little ballerinas that.

She really enjoys the interaction with the other girls.  There are truly few things cuter than little girls all wearing tutus.  Seriously.  So.  Cute.  

She's made some good little friends in the class and I've enjoyed talking with their nice moms out in the waiting area (when I'm not chasing down Tosca who tries to get into every purse/snack/magazine in the small room outside the dance room).

Knitted Baby Blanket

This summer, I furiously finished knitting a baby blanket for my good friend Michelle's second little boy.  There are four stripes which represent the four people in their family.

I bought the yarn at Purl Soho while in NYC in the spring.  It's a super soft wool.  The pattern is from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and I changed it a bit by not adding another white border on the top and bottom.  It already was very big!  It's garter stitch the whole way through which is easy to knit up.  Plus there was no piecing at the end as it just kept continuing on which was nice. 

I hope Baby Blane has many snugly nights under this blanket.