Oh my, staging is fun. Especially when it involves loaned furniture. Thanks Maria & Jakub!
BEFORE
From a while ago, but this is the general chaotic state of this room
(look how tiny Franca was!)
AFTER
I need to spice it up with some more color and I'm on the hunt for a smaller coffee table. Man, it is starting to look like a real house (if you ignore the half-assembled bathroom vanity in the corner).
I don't even want to talk about what is going on in the bathroom. It is stressing me out. (Um, those are two weird sentences.) We are trying to get it functional for Marc's family to use Friday and for Franca's birthday party Sunday. I feel a 3am sink installation coming on...
As if Marc and I were not already at our DIY renovation breaking point, we suffered through a 5-hour toilet installation this past Sunday. I went to Home Depot 3x's before 2pm.
A normal toilet installation takes about 20 minutes. This one looks pretty sweet, but I'm just not convinced it was worth an extra +4.5 very frustrating hours of our time.
Let me repeat:
It took us 5 hours to install this toilet.
OMFG, right?
Some of that time was spent minding children, but not much.
For the record: I DO NOT recommend the Kohler Persuade Circ toilet.
First
A normal toilet set on a wax ring and is held in place by 2 bolts threaded through a floor drain flange like this. It is very functional, easy to install, but you do see the bolts and the side of the toilet drain.
Our fancy Kohler toilet looks more sleek on the side, but bolts not only through the floor drain flange, but also in three more spots to the floor. This sucks because you have to drill through your nice beautiful new tile.
UGH. Drilling through tile takes a special drill bit AND Kohler's directions for the third hole are wrong. They say to drill a 3/16" pilot hole for a 5/16" retaining screw. You don't drill pilot holes in tile. You can't screw something larger than its hole in tile. Tile doesn't compress like wood. It cracks. Good thing we knew this and didn't crack our tile.
Second
The instructions are horrible way beyond the above.
In the 36 (yes, 36) steps they also feature the following:
The missing/extra parts issues appear to be Kohler's error, not the place we bought it (because the box absolutely did not seem resealed). I think I've going to be sending them a not-so-nice email.
When things started to get confusing, I googled and all I found were people complaining about this toilet. Including professional plumbers saying it took them 3 hrs to install. That at least made us feel better.
Right after we got it set, I peed in it for the first time.
And then Marc and I hugged.
I admit that is a little weird, but 5 hours??? Damn!
We headed to Target yesterday to get Franca a new potty seat. Thank goodness the Princess version was averted in favor of a Mickey Mouse. She had requested "The Grinch" or "Jack Black" (don't ask).
It is now 11:23am and the drywallers are supposed to be here today to tape, mud, sand & paint, so of course, I'm sure they will show up around 5:15pm or so....
I don't think I can express how glad we are now that we didn't DIY this tile. I was home most of the time and could hear the experienced tile setter's frequent sighs. I can only imagine those would have been curses and growls if we, as two tile virgins, would have attempted this.
Of course, Marc's a little disappointed in some of the details.
This beveled window sill ledge looks great, but he thought it would be better to shed water if the sill was one straight piece with the vertical Jamb sitting on top of it.
He had also designed it so that we wouldn't need bullnose at the tile edges. It would butt right into a wall board j-bead. (See detail drawing.)
But the tile setter had to increase the mud bed because the wall is crazy out of level (even though Marc worked his butt of trying to level it.) This meant that in spots, the tile sticks out further than the second wall board layer. Ugh.
Marc is going to try to furr that wall board layer out this weekend.
I think knowing when to make adjustments is the biggest benefit of hiring a pro. They just know what is possible and what is not. We would have killed ourselves trying to make the tile level with the wall board. Also, these notches around the walls make Marc so glad we didn't DIY. Those are tough to do!
So three cheers for Roy & Bart at Prime Select Inc.!
The drywallers are coming back Monday, so this weekend in addition to fixing the wallboard, we are going to install the door jamb, paint & frost the door, pick a wall paint color, and drum roll please...
SET THE TOILET!!
I'm honestly afraid I'm going to be struck by lightening when I say this, but Mina is an easy baby.
She's very sleepy and generally only cries for specific reasons (diaper, hungry, tired). She's got a solid latch and is a fast eater.
It is easy to get wrapped up in work, renovations or Franca. That is what I did about 2 weeks ago and things started to fall apart. She got overtired and cranky. So I dialed it back (well, as best as I can) and started paying attention to her again. No letting her get overtired. No stretching the time between feedings a little too long.
And just like that. My happy, sleepy baby was back.
She's even taken to sleeping an +5 hour stretch at night. **dodges lightening bolt**
She's changing so much already.
She coos and talks. She smiles like crazy at her sister.
(She also farts like a truck driver. But that could be because I've been eating all the gassy foods I couldn't during my pregnancy. Leeks. Lentils. Broccoli. White Beans. YUM. Sorry Mina.)
She only has one nickname so far: "Mina-me" which Franca and I call her exclusively. I think the tile guy either has no idea what her name really is, or thinks we are saying "Mini-me" which would be weird.
That said, even Marc admits she looks more like me, well at least less like him and Franca. Hey, I'll take it.
It has been over 6 wonderful, hectic weeks since I almost gave birth to her on the parlor floor.
I've never been happier.
I promise I'll post her birth story and a one-month-old photo SOME time soon.
While it was a little annoying that they showed up at 5:00pm, they knocked it right out.
Now the tile guys are downstairs and I overheard him saying, if we have time we will do the shower floor mosaic today. AYKM?? It would have taken us at least 4 days I'm betting to get to that point!
I like to DIY, but this is all going to totally spoil me. The pros work so fast and do a pretty good job. Honestly, with the learning curve, needing to buy tools, our bickering, minding our children, etc. I'm not convinced DIY would be that much cheaper. Especially since we both work hourly and have a backlog of work.
We have to finish the kitchen trim & wall and complete a bunch of little stuff, but I might be completely done with DIY after that. It feels weird. It's been my life for the past 7 years.
Don't get me wrong, we will always be building things, but more for fun than to live in. I'd like to do more artsy projects and Marc would like to build furniture. We'd like to have a shop/office in the new house.
Any other ex-DIYers? I imagine its like empty nest syndrome.
How was your weekend? My Sunday went something like this:
Intend to finish shower drain plumbing.
Add complications:
Two very cute complications.
How to Rough-In a Shower Drain:
First, feed infant daughter. Get her to sleep, place in crib.
Go to basement, spend a ridiculous 25 minutes with husband figuring out how to run new drain to existing waste piping even though you both have college architecture degrees. Useless. Go upstairs.
Argue with toddler daughter about watching Sesame Street instead of Star Wars. Let her win, but convince her to watch Episode One instead of the much more violent Episode 3. (Weekends her special treat is watching a movie on the couch to fall asleep for her nap. Don't judge, we have a bathroom to finish.)
Go to Home Depot (second time today) for plumbing fittings even though you have about 3 trash bags full of plumbing fittings in your basement. Of course, you don't have the right ones. Get sneered at while paying the $3.27 for a 45 degree street elbow and a 22.5 elbow via debit card. Go home.
Start dry fitting piping run. Almost kill yourself cutting a piece of 2" PVC with miter saw. Make husband do the rest of the cuts even though he is busy with his own stuff. So much for my mojo.
Start gluing pieces, hear infant daughter cry. Because you are a second time mom, wait until she cries three times. Go up to her room. Find her sleeping peacefully (the little trickster!). Sit in her chair until she cries again which she does just as soon as you start to doze off in chair. Change pee diaper. Fasten second Velcro tab, hear a giant fart and the loading of a clean diaper. Nurse. Change again.
Go downstairs. Put infant daughter in bouncy seat watching Star Wars with a now napping toddler sister. (Quality parenting here.)
Return to basement to finish gluing piping. How is it now not fitting? It was perfect in the dry fitting?! Fight with plumbing. Curse. Screw your finger to the floor decking above while installing straps. Don't notice you are bleeding until all the piping has bloody fingerprints. Hear toddler daughter wake up from nap crying for you. Get her milk and yogurt with honey for snack. Go back to basement.
Fight with piping. Hear infant daughter wake up. Change her diaper. Nurse her again even though it hasn't even been 90 minutes. Talk to your mom on the phone. Put infant daughter back in bouncy. Return to basement.
Ignore toddler daughter as she sits 3' from the top basement step calling "Mama-lama" approximately 5 million times. Isn't she hilarious with that nickname for me?? Hee-Lar-E-us. Stub last piece up through floor. It fits!
Hear infant daughter get hiccups. Leave pipe stub through the floor an obnoxiously long tripping hazard because you need to get infant daughter and are too embarrassed to ask husband to cut it down.
Go make dinner. Try not to bleed all over it or either daughter.
And there you have it, that's how you rough-in a shower drain.
You are welcome.
I'd like to also mention I washed my hands at each one of these transitions. They are so raw even Cetaphil isn't helping.
So that explains why I was apprehensive to tackle staining our floor patches, thresholds & back doors. But in the spirit of "getting my mojo back" and crossing things off the Ready to Sell List, I forged ahead.
I didn't want to advertise it on the interwebs, but it has been just me and Mina solo in the house all week which is why I wanted to tackle this VERY STINKY staining and poly'ing project. It is much easier to get a infant out of the house while it is airing out than an infant AND a toddler.
Even just the two of us, I didn't end up being able to bring myself to paint the orange parlor ceiling. Partly because I'm lazy and partly because I just love it that much. Maybe someday. But in the meantime, I'm pretty happy having crossed two more things off the list!
With a newborn, a toddler, and both of us currently having way too much work (a good thing), we made the decision to hire out the rest of the bathroom work.
Before the pros come in, Marc and I have to finish putting in blocking, finish framing the door opening, and install both windows.
Good thing is, in order to hire it out, Marc had to finally put it all on paper.
Finally, I present to you the downstairs bathroom (and mud room):
(The area on the left will be a small mud room with hooks on the wall and a bench.)
Marc worked out a special detail from the tile trim because we didn't want to go crazy with trim bullnose pieces and neither of us are a fan of the metal edging. Check it out:
Expect quick progress starting next Wednesday.
(That is if the tile guy's quote isn't insane. Cross your fingers!)
I'm also making some good progress on my list. Even wearing gloves I somehow get stain on my fingers!
***This time, we will be at home eating ribs and flank steak, drinking wine and gossiping.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm a very lucky lady. I mean, my husband stayed up until 3am one night secretly drawing and rendering this mock logo for me.
He even found the exact font the real logo used.
Now, if that is not love, I don't want to know what is!
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