Mostly the bathroom

In the almost two weeks since the last post, we've installed the main toilet, seen here with Joe appropriately excited about the wax ring.

 As well as the vanity.

Yay. And it does look better than this photo. 

I cleaned up the bathroom door and we put it on so the bathroom is fully functional! Oh yeah, except for the tub still needs the shower rod installed but now that it's caulked we can take that big step. 

Nate came and sawed the thick panel that will serve as the base for our tiles in the front door entryway. He carried this ridiculously heavy piece of wood back and forth like it was made of cardboard!

Tonight I caulked around the tub trim, the enclosure, and along the front where the tile grout meets the tub.  

Ta-da!

 I have added another "Best Friend" tool to my collection: this caulking thingamajig that shapes the caulk and pulls away all of the excess. Works GREAT!

Beyond that, we've ordered window blinds that will arrive in a few weeks and the floor will be measured for carpeting tomorrow/Friday that should be installed in a couple of weeks. Of course we still need to do the final selection on the carpet we want but are getting close as some more samples arrived today with good options. 

Speaking of carpet, Doug found a scrap in the crawl space. Interesting that it was a patterned/textured style that is apparently back in vogue because there were quite a few patterned options at the store.

Clean, install, paint: check!

We've had the rooms blocked off with plastic for quite a while in an effort to try and keep the sanding dust out of areas that have been partially painted or are under construction. I think we're just about there on the sanding -  hooray! 

About a week ago, Joe declared that it shouldn't take more than about an hour to finish the sanding. Hmm, 17 hours of sanding later, here we are. In my defense, Joe has been back and added more plaster to a number of spots I had already sanded, so I had to just keep at it. 

In the hall below, the floor was covered with the Dreaded Dust up until yesterday so this picture isn't the most accurate representation. 

This isn't the best photo, but Doug installed our bathroom light fixture yesterday and we added the medicine chest today. One step at a time!

And a big Ta-Da for me as I finished applying the second/final coat of paint to the walls in Office 1 and it's DONE! With the painting at least. Doug wants to keep the old hardwood floor, so we'll work on that and the trim later. So many steps to get to the end of these projects but so happy to be able to check something off. 

Rollers and brushes

Yup, I got to do ceilings the other day. Office 1 and Office 2. Where do I sign up to do these for a living - what a super-fun activity...

The next day I painted the walls in Office 2. 

New skill learned? How to do "cutting in," i.e., using a brush to paint the area at the top of the wall to where it meets the ceiling - but not beyond. Since I'm never really sure if I'm left-handed or right-handed for this type of activity, I ended up using both to steady each other and it worked out ok. 

These walls need a second coat, so I can clean up a couple of little spots where the paint is a couple of pixels short of the ceiling. 

I painted the closet with the ceiling color to make it easier to see what's inside and provide a little more spice to the room. 

Maybe I'll just point out here that Doug and I like to have a prayer at the beginning and the end of our work at the house to invite the Spirit and help us get through the rough patches. When I'm facing something I've never done before - and am TERRIFIED to even start - I go into the room and say another prayer, begging for Heavenly Father to keep me safe, help me figure it out, and just do the very best I can. It's made a huge difference and I recommend it!

Prime time

Our main accomplishment today was painting Office 2 (Dad's) with primer. Feels great to get going on these rooms!

I'm floored!

Yum, look at our tub of chocolate ice cream. Just kidding - this is our tile grout. 

I watched a YouTube video about how to use this particular kind of grout and took a few notes so I wouldn't leave out any important steps. I gave them a workout!

Ta-da - the bathroom tile is done! We had great teamwork going with Doug standing by to change out the buckets of dirty water every few minutes while I added the grout to the seams. Now we just need to let the grout harden for a bit and then we can add the other fixtures to the room. Yay for finishing stuff!