Tiling... but first some Ditra

Getting back to tiling...

Cutting the Ditra tile underlayment for a bathroom and the laundry room.

Cutting soapstone for the 1st floor bathroom sink...

And... she's back!

Quite a while ago, we installed the shower and toilet in the first floor bathroom... but NO SINK!

Well, recently we cut the soapstone vanity top and TODAY... we're cutting the hole for the sink!

A working 1st floor bathroom sink is in our near future!  YES!  Just in time for the upcoming holidays!

Painting the Office!!!

I've begun Painting the Office!  I can't tell you how awesome it is to put color on the walls!!!!

Front Stairs built, Mud work in Front Closet, Texture in Office

Moving along!

Rich finished building the front hall stairs and putting sheetrock up in the closet that is under it.  Our friend finished the mud work in the closet and little entryway as well!

And got the texture done in the Office!  Even purchased some paint!

The Front Stairs from the Foyer up to the 2nd floor... in process!

Painting 1st floor closets!

Our Mudding Angel...

We were stuck.  Well, at least I was feeling stuck.  Like I needed to climb a huge mountain... but just couldn't...  then I fell and broke my shoulder.

That's when a friend step in to help us with the mud work!  He has honestly been like an angel to us!

He did mud work professionally at one point in his varied career.  He works tremendously fast and does an excellent job!

I am so grateful for his kindness!!!

The good news is that the mud work is almost complete!  Only the Family Room and Foyer are left!

And now... I feel like we've climbed to almost the top of the mountain.  And... I can see the bottom!!!!

Sheetrock installed in Living Room on 12/24/11

My Christmas present was a living room with sheetrock installed!  We finished installing this at 4pm on Christmas Eve!

We placed furniture temporarily in the living room and that's where we all gathered to open gifts!  

Matthew's Room

Back Hall sheetrock

Put up some more sheetrock in the back hall!

Thinking of Staining Doors...

Here's a great resource for learning How To Stain:  http://www.minwax.com/expert-wood-tips/wood-finishing/

Pine paneled door... before...

Accidents happen...

On October 15th, I was busily applying tape to the sheetrock in the master bathroom when...

I took a step into a plumbing hole THAT I MOST CERTAINLY KNEW WAS THERE...

Oh my gosh.  My leg went thru the hole into the family room ceiling.

I ended up with a broken shoulder... a bone graft, a fracture, surgery, and physical therapy.

It's been over a month since my accident.

Please don't step in any plumbing holes...

Matt's bedroom

We're in the midst of getting our first bedroom completed.  The mud work is done, the texture has been applied, and the room was painted Georgian Leather (Olympic One Paint).

This week we begin laying the hardwood flooring!

We will be using a wheat colored bamboo throughout the house except for the bathrooms and laundry room which will be tiled.

1st floor bathroom... it has doors!

I'm getting ready to host a Shaklee Brunch on Tuesday... and I just really needed doors on that 1st floor bathroom!

So... that's what we did on Saturday!

this bathroom door opens up into my office

And this bathroom door opens up into the back hallway

We got that done... and then I really wanted to cut & install the soapstone for the vanity... but that'll have to wait till this week!

The Pantry...

I'm pretty blessed to have the Pantry of my dreams!  My pantry is my special work space for mixing up all kinds of yummy things.

It's here that the weekly whole wheat bread gets made... and the Wednesday night Pizza dough gets mixed... and the daily green smoothies... and we have tons of food storage in there... including buckets of wheat berries, oats, rice, flour, dry milk, and sugar!

Today we installed wire shelving in the Pantry closet!

Well now... the buckets have a home!

Last week we purchased this awesome 8 foot dry erase/cork board from the surplus sale of an old school that's being torn down... we hung that up on the wall too!

That's where I'm going to write down stuff that we need to purchase on our big monthly grocery shoppings.... and I'm going to post recipes and such on the cork board...  

 Next up... install the Pantry closet door!

1st floor bathroom

The 1st floor bathroom has a walk in shower.

Last weekend Rich installed the shower doors and today... we got it all ready to use!

Yes... I did have the first shower!  It felt more spacious than our tub/shower... I think because of the glass doors.

Front door gets painted

The front door finally got a coat of paint!  Next up... paint the door frame!

The work goes on...

1st Floor Bathroom Update...
The tiling job was finished mid-January.. but boy did I have a bad reaction to the epoxy grout!  2nd degrees burns actually.  It's been over a month since that happened and it's all healed up... thank fully!

The vanity was installed but the soapstone top has not been cut yet due to the cold weather and snow outside!  The shower rod, toilet paper holder, towel racks and bathroom door still need to be installed!

Matthew's Bedroom...
I'm continuing on finishing the drywall working on the 2nd coat of mud.
Here are some really good drywall finishing videos...

Master Bedroom/Bathroom...
The master bathroom had the rest of the drywall installed today and is ready for taping!    Drywall is now being installed in the master bedroom.

Some really good "How To" tiling videos...

Here are some good "How To" tiling videos:
Tiling Videos, a whole step by step collection

Today I'm cleaning up my tile grout lines to get ready to grout... then jumping into grouting!  A brand new 1st floor bathroom is in our very near future!

Laying tile in 1st floor bathroom... update

I have finished ALL the needed cuts to finish my tile job!  Yay!!!!!!!

Now for some left over cheesy ham & potato soup, a run to the Post Office... then I'm going to mortar those tiles in place.  I will be finished laying tile in the 1st floor bathroom this afternoon!!!!

Have to mortar the tiles around the flange and forward...

Got all the cuts done.. now for the mortar!!!

Next up...
Clean up tiles and grout lines... then... GROUT!