Yep, yep, yep....it's been a while

Thought it was time to get back on the blog-wagon.  For all of my faithful readers....I mean, for my mom.  THE reader.  I mean, Sweet Sarah has to live with my running commentary all the time.  I'm pretty sure the only reason she reads my blog is to make sure I haven't publicly embarrassed her and to point out my egregious exaggeration in story telling or spelling errors.  

So, MOM!  I'M BACK!!!!!

Let's see, let's see.....where to begin???  I'm thinking a stroll through my photo library.

So here we go....no telling where this will take us.  

Oh!  I made these.  Completely ROCKED OUT an Auntie Anne's soft pretzel recipe.  No exaggeration here either.  Sweet Sarah told me mine were BETTER than Auntie Anne's.  That's a WIN PEOPLE!

And oh!  We celebrated this lovely lady's 90th birthday!!!!  Ridiculous isn't it?  NINETY!!!!  Her spunk and humor and fun spirit have always been such an inspiration.

I have a new office mate.  Lebowski has decided it's VERY important to be present on the days I'm working from home.  Sometimes his snoring interrupts my conference calls.  I don't mind sharing the office, but he NEVER takes his turn emptying the trash.

And sometimes I have to share with Teddy.  But only when he schedules video conferences during the workday.  [Seriously, this is how he decided to sit in my lap while I was on a video conference.]  And also, don't judge me for having suggestive alcoholic beverage art in my office....everyone gets inspiration to get through the work day a little differently.

And this???  Well, these two are the CUTEST TWO IN-LAWS you ever did see!!  It was a 3 year old birthday celebration and they were RIGHT THERE ROCKING IT OUT!  Love them!

And Sweet Sarah almost peed her pants she was so excited about being in Chicago the same weekend as the NFL draft.  That was a ton o' fun.  [A little commentary:  while I'm in full support of taking safety measures because of head injury, this seems a little extreme to me, don't you think?]

I suited up for the combine, but somehow my lightning speed and towering height didn't get me much.  I'm back among the common folk, slogging it out during the work day.  

And for a finale, how about the way we roll at a Spann Family gathering.  CLASSY, CLASSY, CLASSY!  

Until next time!  

Master Bath Renovation

On January 1, we marked four full years at The Drayer.  It was well past time to take our 1980's bathroom through a transformation.  I had been plotting this project for a while---looking forward to the end result, but dreading part of it simply because it was going to be a BRILLIANT project or a complete disaster [more on that later].

As luck would have it, Sweet Sarah got very sick the day before we were scheduled to start.  While, I don't think she wanted to be sick, I do think she was secretly relieved she wasn't being dragged through this project with me.

Ok, so let's look at what was in front of me.  In typical Drayer fashion, I was starting with a Kaminski.  This is the verb/adjective/adverb/noun we use when un-doing or re-doing any of the projects of the former owners of The Drayer.  Think lipstick on a pig.  

Here's a quick example.  

 This is what was revealed when I removed the commode tank.  Really?  REALLY?!  They took off 238 square feet of wallpaper and left this attractive swath for me.  Yep, a Kaminski move.

Oh!  Here's another one.  Found behind the towel rack.  

Right.  So, that's just a bit of what I was going to attack.

So here's some before pics.

The marble shower is great.  We also love the cabinets and counters.  

Remember this shot.  It's critical.  Oh!  And that's said towel bar hiding the beauteous wall paper.

This is a shot from the commode corner.  I believe the wallpaper was lurking behind me just waiting to be discovered.

Beautiful cabinets, right?

At first I didn't mind the wall color.  It felt clean and bright.  But Sweet Sarah was having none of it.  Even when we looked at the house she said it felt cold.

The longer we lived here, the more this nasty grouted tile grossed me out.  I won't even bless you with a close-up.  Nasty. Nasty.  And no amount of scrubbing or bleaching or vinegaring or Pinterest-ing concotions helped.

Thought I'd throw that back in.  Blech.

Ok, so here's where the project starts.  I started with wall paint.  It must be known...I LOVE to paint.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE till my daddy takes my t-bird away love it.  In fact, I have completed a painting project every January 1st since 1999.  Rooms in my house or helping friends. Yep, it's just something I've always done.  I love to paint.  And I'm good at it.  No tape, no cheater tools.  Just me and my 3 inch brush trim, trim, trimming away on New Year's Day.  Have brush will travel.

ok, don't you DARE judge those disheveled shelves.  You can't really see the color here, but you can tell how different the cabinets look with the new color.
Oh!  and don't judge the burned out bulb.  PEOPLE!  I have priorities, you know.

Here's a better shot of the color.  This is two coats and the walls are done.  

Next up....brilliance or disaster.

Painting the floor tile.

This is me prepping the tile.  This is where it was a matter of degrees between brilliance and disaster.  After much sifering, I decided we weren't quite ready to rip out all of the tile and replace it.  [yes, yes, I was going to semi-Kaminski and put my own lipstick on this pig!]  Don't get me wrong, it'd make all the difference in there to put down a new floor, but the frugal mennonite in me would rather not go that far if I don't have to.

So....I did a little research and I learned it can be done.  Besides, as I justified to Sweet Sarah, while she sat on the couch curled in the fetal position and sounding like she may have deposited a lung during her last coughing jag, "What do I have to lose but my time? " If it doesn't work, we replace the tile.  If it works, I've saved a few thousand dollars.  Sounds like good economics to me!

First, I had to sand all of the tile.  All of it.  Let me remind you, how MUCH tile that is.  Scroll up five pictures.  Go on.  Scroll, scroll.

You're back?  SEE!  It's a LOT of tile.

Once, I sanded, I started the painting.  I was using a concrete garage floor paint.  It was challenging to say the least.  And remember, how I said I loved to paint?  Well, two things.....this project temporarily tempered my love to paint.  And this garage floor paint has the consistency of stain.   So painting it on a vertical surface was more of a challenge than I anticipated.  And because it was so thin, it also guaranteed that two coats were absolutely necessary.

 Here's an action shot.  I think Sweet Sarah ventured upstairs for a few minutes before retreating downstairs.  Kind of a duck  and cover action on her part.

Trimmed and ready to roll.

This is the first coat.  You can see how thin and spotty it is.  I spent several hours on my hands and knees on this cold tile.  To say I was stiff the next few days is an understatement.

Once I got the first coat down, I came up for air and headed down stairs to relax a bit.  Sweet Sarah went up to check out my progress.  Just as I was sinking into my chair I heard

"Oh gosh.  Oh goodness.  BABE!!!!!!"

I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.  Away to the stairs I flew like a flash.  Tore down the hall and looked at the sash.

Yep!  Those are kitty prints.

It appeared that since I had vacated the room Teddy thought he should inspect my work.  Oh!  And look out the window too.

Check out his path.  

From the door to the toilet.  On the toilet he leaned to the sash.  Clever.

I tried to get him to recreate the shot.  He was having none of it.  

After recovering from Teddy Beuhler's adventures I was ready to start a second coat.

Actually, I'd like to say it was that easy and quick.  I waited 24 hours to put on the second coat.  The second coat went on much easier, but still didn't instill complete confidence in me that it was going to work.  It didn't appear that it was adhering to the tile and hardening like I thought it would.  But I pressed on.

Two coats down and then a seven day waiting period.  SEVEN DAYS!  Clearly, the scientists at Behr paints don't know I have the patience of a gnat.  And can't wait seven days for ANY project I'm working on.  Luckily, that little thing called work got in my way, so the seven days clipped by pretty well.  Sharing the guest bath the size of a closet, not so much.

The other factor that added to my patience quota was not having all of the supplies on hand to complete the project.  We were waiting for the shipment of our rock wall to arrive before we could put the finishing touches and call it a wrap.

Now, I'd like to say that Sweet Sarah and I installed stacked stone rock by rock to create the beautiful wall you see below.  But the truth is we installed stacked stone panel by panel.  All six of them.  Check it out!

Ok, give us a little credit.  While we werent mixing mortar and hand selecting each rock, we did have to pull out the circular saw and measure and use liquid nails and everything!  And in spite of the fact that not a single wall in The Drayer is square, we were able to trim and level and get this done with only three band aids and two sets of steri-strips.  Oh yes!  It was one of those, it happened so fast and I didn't even know how I did it moments.  But you know, go big or go home!  I got not one, but TWO fingers.  Right through the pads of my index and middle fingers.   I can't be sure, but I think Sweet Sarah had to put her head between her knees for a moment.

You know, most women couldn't have stood it.  Luckily, I'm not most women.

Once I got the bleeding stopped, we were back on track and we really couldn't believe how easy it was to install.  And I'm still impressed with how realistic it looks.  I mean think back to the fake brick paneling that we used to slap up in the 70's.  Wow, home improvement you've come so far!

So, all in all the projected lasted over the course of about ten days.  Not too bad.  And not too shabby results.  I'm still worried about the floor.  It has continued to harden over the last week.  But I'm just not sure how it will take the wear and tear.  I guess time will tell.  For now, it's just lipstick on a pig.  Except this time, the lipstick was done right.

See what you think.

Homegoods rocked out the accessories selections!

I made these shelves for $9 each.
And my basement Michael's store is always helpful to put displays together.

I will add another shelf over the commode, but Lowe's was out of the pipe I needed.