What a Week Back! Tiling Progress & Why I Need a Rubber Ducky

What a crazy week it's been, so glad it's Friday!  I've been home from my last minute India/China trip for just over a week now and with busy days at work and Alex working on the tiling we haven't been able to update the blog much but here's an update at where we are with our bathroom shower/tub project (aka "Project Deep Soak").

After gathering up the last of the supplies at Home Depot on Sunday, Alex dove right into tiling.... And the tiling has continued everyday after work this week.

Thankfully he's finished with the shower head/ faucet wall and the joining wall where we added two shelves, so he's at least through the trickier steps in the process!

I can't wait for it to be finished up- and not just to see the finished look...
As you can imagine with the tiling still going on all we can do is take baths in the morning (since it's our only bathroom with a shower or tub in the house).  Let me tell you, I don't think there's any easy way to take fast bath every morning.  It's kind of funny that I've been getting so much use out of our new deep soak tub already because it isn't as fun as I thought it would be, LOL!  Like I said, he's still at it tonight....

It will be so nice to have the shower in full operational use again!  Alex is planning to wrap things up this weekend and I'm hopeful everything will go smoothly.  If not I'll make Alex find me a rubber ducky.   Until then...

Rub-a-dub-dub ya'll! 

I'll be out doing my Thanksgiving grocery shopping this weekend, anyone else braving the crowds to gather up turkey and fixings too?  For those of you that are- here's to wishing for bountifully stocked shelves and small crowds!  

Have a great weekend everybody!

Deep Soak Tub Installed, Onto Tiling Prep!

Fortunately I was able to call in a favor to a couple of my friends (big thanks to Tom and Paul!) before Carla got home from her work trip and after a little cursing, plenty of tight spaces, and some hot Sawzall action, we got the tub installed in it's mortar bed!

Kohler Bancroft 60"x 32" Alcove Bath

With the bathtub and plumbing in place, I was able to rough in the new bathroom fixtures and temporarily install some poly sheeting, allowing us to shower/bathe while the project progresses. BTW: I am in love with my new shower fixtures!  I made three purchases in order to find the perfect set and the Delta Silverton was it! The large aerating shower head provides an amazingly luxurious experience... even with plastic covering the walls around you :-)

Enough about the fixtures...

Delta Silverton Faucet $119.00 from Home Depot

With the tub and plumbing in place, it was time for another trip to good ol' HD! I was in the zone too - checking off nearly every item on my "Hurry Up and Finish the F'in Bathroom Project" list! Tile, Mortar, Grout, Furring Strips, Sheet Plastic, Cement Board, Silicone Sealant, Corner Shelves, Soap Tray, Joint Tape...You get the idea.

I almost forgot - Every project requires a skilled and licensed handyman...Rocco will do if you're in a jam.

Time to put all of those newly acquired home project pieces to use. I started by squaring off the cuts in the old drywall while using the furring strips to level the wall joists to the tile flange around the tub. Next came the vapour barrier (nobody likes mold in the walls) and the HARDIEBACKER, followed by taped and mortared lines and corners! A lot of progress today but there's still plenty more to come....

Stick around throughout the week as Carla and I get closer and closer to having a nice, clean shower/bathtub space that still fits the look of our 1924 Dutch Colonial.

I'm betting that there will still be a few more Starbucks and Papa John's fueled nights in my future.  With that, does anyone know if it's safe to operate a Sawzall while drinking an Old Fashioned?  Rocco said it was okay but he could be after my life insurance payout.

Operation: Deep Soak...

Is Well Underway!

Take a look at some of the progress that I've been making since getting a great deal on an amazing tub!



Kohler Bancroft





Here's a look at the demolition and progress I've made thus far.



Nothing Glamorous About This Project



There will be more details to come on the step by step of this project but for now, how about some more pictures?



Leveling the Floor and Roughing in the Plumbing



Oh, one final picture of an old industry secret...Wrap the tub with insulation in order to keep the bath water warmer longer. Genius!!



I Can't Wait to Soak in This Deep Tub!



The floor, plumbing, and tub are all ready for the mortar bed to go down and, tomorrow I have a couple of friends coming over to help me move the tub into position. In a couple of days time, we'll be able to bathe like kings/queens.

Now then, due to issues that have come up during this home update, there really is no possible way that I can have the entire thing wrapped up by the time Carla comes home but, she's already given me an extension into the upcoming weekend so at least now I don't have to rush and worry about sacrificing quality.

More to Come!

An "X-Rated" Shower Scene...

No. Not that Kind. I'm talking about what's going on behind the curtain in our main bathroom. It's not terrible back there but, it sure is overdue for a Mr. H&HH overhaul and with the Misses away for a bit longer, there's no better time to tackle this project!

Now then, I really don't want to show the "before" images from behind the curtain until there is an after to pair it with. For now, just know that we have a shallow off-white bathtub that makes it nearly impossible for an adult to enjoy a bath and the tub surround is outdated and doesn't match the rest of our bathroom since my last re-do.

My plan is to remove our old bathtub, surrounds and faucet/showerhead and then replace them with a deeper soaking tub, tiled walls, and nice new fixtures.

I'm really liking the idea of using a white subway tile with dark grout like the design I found below - This is a great little bathroom re-do story!



From: Design Manifest



I am a bit behind the eight ball on this one though and I really hope I can pull it off before Carla comes home later next week. Like most of my "I'm alone at home projects" I imagine there will be some late nights and the staff at the local Starbuck's will get to know me on a more personal level...

There are a couple of issues that I'm facing though and the biggest one is that due to the short notice, it's proving difficult to find the bathtub that I really want - something deep but not too big for our little bathroom. Well, with any luck one of my leads will pan out tomorrow...I REALLY hope, because I intend to do some demolition tonight!

The next post you see, should include some action shots and DIY madness!

Wish Me Luck!

Where in the World is Carla Sandiego (Zidarevich)?

Funny story... or not really I guess?  Anyway, I'm not at my normal location in the world, right now I am in India and I'll be heading to China/Hong Kong as well in a few days.  It was a very, very last minute business trip that was booked less than a week ago.  So, I had to say goodbye to Alex and the pups for a while and hopped on a plane (I need to figure out how to take a decent "selfie" pic, I'm on a plane but it's a pretty crap-tacular photo)....

.... and after a delayed pit stop in Amsterdam I am now in New Delhi with the familiar traffic but a touch more smoke/fog left over from fireworks in celebration of Diwali.  Wish I was here for that part!

I will try to do a few quick posts with photos during my trip but I know I've shared a lot from my other work trips already so if I do I'll try to keep it fresh!

Just know things might be quiet around here for a while- That is unless Alex decides to stay busy with a project while I am gone like he has during past trips??!?  Not sure what he has up his sleeve this time since it was all so last minute, maybe he'll just kick back?  Who knows!  Anyway, just wanted to share that I'm on an around the world travel loop for a while :)

I think I'll spend my dull travel time dreaming up my Christmas decor!  It's almost that time and I'm pumped!  Anyone else dreaming up Christmas decor ideas too?

Oh, and I hope everyone got the Carmen Sandiego reference, if not here's a link :) 

My Mad Halloween Dogs...

It's Halloween and I totally forgot to get our pups costumes this year, I'm a bad doggie mom :(

Rocco and Sadie are so mad at me.... 

Who knew they'd take it so personally?!?  They always look so miserable anyway in their costumes that I thought they'd be happy to skip it this year?  So hard to please these two I tell ya!

HAHA!  Okay, well the real story here is who knew it'd be so much fun to get a pack of fake eyebrows for a $1 and put them on your dogs?!?!  I was cracking up while taking these pictures, Rocco and Sadie really do look mad with those angry eyebrows, LOL!  It'd kind of like the "Uncle Leo Eyebrows" thing from Seinfeld, anyone else remember that?

Alright, hope you got a giggle from Rocco and Sadie's faux brow photos :)  Time to get ready to hand out some candy!  Happy Halloween everybody!

Two Classic Characters for Our 8th Annual Pumpkin Carving Challenge!

We've been doing it since the beginning of time our blog, so the tradition must go on!  It's our 8th annual Pumpkin Carving Challenge!

Yep, Alex and I haven't had a Halloween go by without carving pumpkins together, even all the way back to our first year of dating.  We used to do it simply for the cheesey seasonally themed cute-ness of it all but with the creation of our blog and making our pumpkin carving dealio public, we had to make it a contest and let readers choose who carved the better pumpkin.  Alex and I are both pretty competitive, so we love a good husband vs. wife challenge (even if it is something pretty stupid) simply because the winner gets to be annoying bragging rights.

Thankfully for me, I've taken the crown each year starting with the "Boogeyman" in 2010, then "Chomps" in 2011, and finally my "Hee-Haw" pumpkin just last year (but man, my Halloween hair fail last year is by far more interesting than the pumpkins, I look CRAZY ridiculous!).  So, I've been able to happily gloat when it came to pumpkin carving and I think it really got to Alex because I must say, Alex really brought it this year.  I'm kind of worried, if he wins he will really be annoying gloating!

So, let the games begin!  Here's how it all went down Saturday night...
Sadly, didn't have time to go to the cute local pumpkin patch we've gone to in past years so we settled for grocery store pumpkins instead.  Who knew the selection would be so HUGE, and I'm talking pumpkin size not assortment.  I was surprised that all they had were HUGE pumpkins to choose from but it was better than sad little pumpkins.  Boy, oh boy, I just had a HOOT of a good time marveling at my giant pumpkin....

.... it wasn't until I had to scoop out all the gross pumpkin 'goo' that I realized- the bigger the pumpkin, the more 'goo' to deal with. Gross, super gross.  After about an hour and twenty pounds of bagged pumpkin guts later, we got to carving!  

Probably after another two hours of carving it was finally time to reveal our top secret pumpkin carving designs!  Here's a look at our 2013 creations... 

It's kind of funny we both went the character route, I made the Cheshire Cat (right pumpkin in photo) from Alice in Wonderland and Alex made Michael Myers (left pumpkin in photo) from the Halloween horror movies. Like I said above, I think my winning streak got to him because he knows that the Michael Myers character from Halloween totally FREAKS ME OUT!  When I saw it I said something like "Ewww you did Michael Meyers?!? I hate him!" Alex snickered and replied, "I know!" and in case you don't know what I'm talking about, it's not the actor that played Austin Powers, it's this creeper....  

Seriously, I had nightmares for a long time after seeing that movie, perhaps because I was too young when I saw it but it still scares me now, even the music from that movie scares me! 

Considering I recognized who his pumpkin was right off the bat, I unfortunately think he won this year.  But, we always go by the comments...

So, it's up to YOU! 

Who carved the better pumpkin this year?

Who gets the oh so coveted bragging rights?