Projects....finally done...well for now!!

The past few months we have been busy doing some Home Improvement Projects.... Lots of you were aware of the jobs and since I promised to post pictures here are some before, during and after pictures...enjoy.

Lighting and mirror

We were amazed to find out that the electrical box behind the old light fixture wasn't centered....I couldn't believe it. So what should have been a very quick job actually ended up being a more time consuming project... at least it's done now!!

We Put in new lights in all 3 bathrooms, the Living Room, Family Room, Laundry Room, Hall....I'm excited, because we are going all Brushed Nickel and the Lights have two bulbs in it rather than one. It's so much lighter now! I love it!!

Doorknobs and Knobs

I don't know what it is about new Knobs and Doorknobs, but I think they made a big difference.

Flooring

I have never really liked the flooring that was in our bathrooms when we moved it. Now Finally it's completely gone from our house!!! LeGrand has redone all the bathroom floors now and they look Beautiful!!!!

Before

During

When LeGrand was almost done with the floor when I was in the other room I heard him yell, "Becca, get a towel quick!" I could tell that there was urgency in his voice and ran to get a towel. When I got there, I saw him hunched over his arm laying on the floor. The utility knife had slipped while he was cutting the flooring and it stabbed into his forearm. It was bleeding a ton and we called the Dr. who told us to come right in. LeGrand ended getting 3 layers of stitches for a total of 10 stitches. Yuck. He has a nice battle scar now. Right after we got home from getting the stitches he started right back on the floor. It was done about 20 minutes later. I kept telling him that he should just wait and take a break, but he wanted to get it done...

After

I Love it!!! Thanks LeGrand!! You did an awesome job, you put sweat and blood into this project.

Counter Tops

So I have lots of talented friends...Jen tiled her kitchen and Bathroom Counter tops and it looked really good. I've been wanting to do it to ours, but had never done anything like this before. I didn't even know where to start. LeGrand was really supportive about the project, but said that he didn't have time to do it, that if I wanted to do it, I would have to do it. I was OK with that. I'm learning that I love to create things, improve things that we have (like the entertainment center) and that I want to learn to do home improvement stuff. I actually enjoy doing it. LeGrand does a great job, but he doesn't really enjoy it, he just does it for me, which shows what a good husband he is. After checking out books from the library, taking a Tiling Class from Home Depot (which I totally recommend) I felt like I knew what I needed to do.....

Then came the picking out of the tiles and grout and getting/borrowing all the supplies.

Before

We started with the Bathrooms....we did all three bathrooms...

The sinks had to come out, the little plastic back splash thing, then you have to screw a backer board down on the existing Formica...

This is one of my good friends Kathryn. She spend hours and hours over here helping me!! She was seriously a life saver. It went so much faster with her help and it was a lot more fun too!!

We layed out the tiles for a dry run..

This might sound weird, but cutting the tiles with the big electric wet tile saw was really fun..I've never even cut wood with a saw, this was fun...I'm excited to learn how to use a saw to cut wood projects now.. I think it'll be easier than cutting tile.. It'll be fun!!

I know this looks weird, but you have to put a layer of thin set down place the tiles and use tape to make sure the ones on the wall and the edge don't move. We found out that duct tape works the best! Once the tiles are placed you have to let them dry for 24 hours before you grout...

LeGrand and I grouting the downstairs bathroom...

Once it's grouted you have to let that dry for 48 hours before you can seal the grout...Yes, there is a lot of waiting....

After the grout has been sealed we were able to put the sink back in. I love the new faucets!!

My favorite part of the tiling project (besides laughing with Kathryn) was doing this Mosaic section. You can buy strips of tiles in a design, but they were about $10.00 for a 6-8 inch section and didn't want to spend that much, so I just made my own. I took some tiles and dropped them so they broke into pieces, then I hit them with a hammer to get the pieces a little bit smaller....it was fun. Then it was just like putting a puzzle together. It was fun doing it and it's my favorite part of the finished product too!!

LOVE IT!!!

OK, here is the kitchen... Here's a picture of the backer board on the counter tops.. you do have to put the backer board on the edge too, it just wasn't up yet in the picture. You don't have to put backer board on the wall unless you are doing tiles that are like 16x16...

What a mess!!!
The dry run....and I guess I got so busy with it that I forgot to take more pictures of the process of the kitchen, but I think you get the idea....
The finished Kitchen!!!

I'm so excited with the way that this turned out!! I'm so excited that it's done and to have a sink, dishwasher and oven again is amazing!!