Master Bath

The Master Bathroom was the biggest project so far. There were little surprises that showed up along the way.

 The paint was peeling in areas. As I peeled it off chunks of plaster started coming off. I found that there was THREE layers of plaster. the first was the lath and plaster of the walls. Then there was this plaster made to look like bricks. they even painted it so it looked like bricks. A lot of work went into that layer of plaster! Then someone plastered over that. See the cracks I found as well?

I added tape and mud and smoothed those walls down.

There was a tear in the linoleum flooring so of course I just HAD to pull it out. As I pulled I noticed that right near the tear some quick-crete like substance was stuck to the linoleum. I found that the floor was done in these little hexagon tiles...except by the tub where that quick-crete like substance had been. There I found a patched hole. It had two types of square tiles.some were standing on edge! As I touched them and tried to move the loose ones out a hole became apparent. Oh nice. This is just what I needed.

The hole became bigger than that. I chose not to take a photo so I would not have a reminder of the awful patch job I found under that linoleum. *wink*

About a week or two after I started this project I got a new job (which I LOVE, by the way). While at the job I fell on some ice and broke my shoulder. The project was put on hold for a few months while I healed. Gus ended up patching the floor for me as I could not. that was awesome of him.

 There is a window in the shower, right by the shower head. The blinds were nasty and dirty, and I just could not get them clean. Ew. We removed the blinds, sanded and painted the window sills with exterior paint (so it could get wet...it rains outside so exterior paint is the way to go!). Then I put this cute privacy film over the window. No one can see in now but we get good natural light during the day.

 This is my shower curtain. I chose two colors from this, a teal and a rich brown. I accented these with the exterior paint from the window. I did the ceiling with that as well. Gus helped do the floor due to my broken shoulder. He laid the tile and together we did the grouting. The door is a beautiful dark wood, but it had been painted in areas before. I painted over those areas and I think it made a nice contrast.

The Uppermost Rooms, Part 1

The THIRD FLOOR (yes, you read that correctly) has 3 bedrooms
and a bathroom (not being used).

Since we have 4 boys we decided to give them their own floor. Two boys share one room, 2 boys share a second, and the third room we made into the LEGO room. It is very nice to not have to pick up LEGOs before bed every night.

The LEGO room was the nastiest room. This was the room with the worst of the animal waste smells. Here is the photo from the listing: 

Thankfully Gus took all that smelly carpet out so I did not have to have a reaction to it. Here is the transformation:

      

Here you can see the nasty broken down carpet backing that was stuck to the beautiful hardwood. There is one built in bookcase and a spot where there was obviously another one.

Side Note: We have a
Fire Escape
on the 3rd floor:












The Closet is the length of the room:









On our wedding day some friends came and started putting primer on the 3rd floor rooms. It was hot that day but this family worked hard. The LEGO room has Kilz 2 primer on it...about 5 coats. We had to cover all the stains and smells!

LOOk at the nice hardwood floor after it was all scrubbed. Fresh white paint sure goes a long way too.
 I have not decided on what colors I want to paint this room yet so it is still white.

This is the room today...

The built in shelf houses games, books, and LEGO creations.

These bins are where we are trying to organize the LEGOs. I think we may need to buy more.

The boxes are full of LEGOs still in need of sorting. One day we hope all the LEGOs will be sorted and not in piles everywhere.

The Kitchen

That is the listing picture of the kitchen. It is the one I pointed out the smashed stove top and carpeted floor. 

The day I bought the house Gus took off of work in the afternoon and started tearing out the carpet in the house. This is the only room I got picture of while the carpet was being removed. Due to my allergies I was unable to help with the project but Gus did get a friend or two to help him.

When the 4 loads of carpet were taken to the dump we found out that all together the carpet weighed a little over ONE TON. You read that right. One ton of carpet. This is most of the pile.

Back to the kitchen though. The carpet in the kitchen was glued down. Oh joy.

We sanded down the Kitchen and Breakfast Nook floors. Unfortunately the Kitchen floor was not salvageable. The Breakfast Nook floor was, but that is another story. 

Here Gus is vacuuming after sanding.

We decided to lay laminate flooring in the kitchen. We found some on sale at Menards.

So here is the finished product...sort of. I have not painted the kitchen yet. I would like to do so this summer. We will see if I have enough time with all the other projects going on.

Looks pretty snazzy, doesn't it? 

We Bought a Foreclosure

The house we bought was a foreclosure. It was empty for at least 2 1/2 years. The neighbors told us that the owners got a job down south of us and moved. They tried renting and it did not work out. They did some work on the house to try to sell it but gave up and let the bank have it. Maybe they gave up because of the vandalism?

You read that right: Vandalism. The house had been broken into and vandalized. All glass fixtures and appliances (including the stove) were smashed. Some window had been smashed. Bannister's were broken and beaten apart. A few window trim and sashes were chipped and gouged. Some things had graffiti on it. One wall had an inappropriate word written on it in plaster mud! In the living room we found coils of nails for nail guns stuck to the ceiling using plaster mud. The dining room had a hole smashed in one wall.

If you look closely you can see the carpet

in the kitchen and the smashed

stove top.

The house reeked of cat urine. The third floor was the worst smelling area of the house. One room was very bad. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a cat fan, I don't like animals in the house, and I am very allergic to cats. The carpet would have to go...ALL. OF. IT.

The worst room. I really think paint was peeling

from the cat urine smell!

 There was carpet from the 3rd floor all the way to the bottom of the basement steps! One bathroom had carpet going into the bathroom, stopping about 2 feet in. The dining room and breakfast nook were carpeted. Worse than all of that? The KITCHEN had carpet.

Now you can see how we had our work cut out for us. The next house posts will be about the fixing-up!