We decided to undergo the largest indoor renovation we have had to date. This is worse than finishing the basement because it's on the main level. And I have no floors. Anywhere. But we wanted to get it all done in one shot. Because we are sick of renovating. HA.
How about some hilarious-ness to start?! I moved alllll of our bedroom stuff downstairs. So we could still sleep on a normal bed and have all our normal stuff around us. I literally set everything up except the mattress. That, I needed Eric's help with getting down the stairs. This beaut ain't a-going down the stairs. If you notice that bulkhead at the end of the steps. That was our problem. I told Eric to just jump on the mattress to squash it down. He informed me he would do no such thing to our practically-brand-new-$xxxx mattress. At this point he was ticked (at me) because I had already forced it most of the way down. You can see it a little bit, but the dogs on the sheet left black streaks all over the ceiling. You can make as many jokes about that as you wish. We are now sleeping, on our mattress, on the floor. Like college students. Only we are in our 30's. Or almost.
I ripped out all the carpet and staples and tack strips during nap time. FitzFamReno Demo Day 1.
That night, Eric and I ripped out all the linoleum in our bathroom. That was fun. Said no one ever. Thankfully they didn't glue it. Just stapled it. But then I had to go through with pliers and yank each one out. And there weren't just a couple.
We commandeered Papa's help. He was ripping off all the quarter round in the kitchen. FitzFamReno Demo Day 2.
FitzFamReno Demo Day 3.
This is our mudroom/pantry. On Saturday my mom took the kids and my dad stayed to help us. From 10:30 in the morning until 5:30 at night someone was in here doing something. If I thought there was a lot of staples in the bathroom. I was wrong.
I ripped up all the carpet in the living room. I found this little present, under the pad, when I was rolling up one strip. Disgusting.
I hate drywall dust. I hate tile dust. I hate sawdust. I hate dust. The kitchen was COVERED.
Just a little taste of all the staples that had to come out. I started in here while my dad and Eric went upstairs to rip out the linoleum in the bathroom up there. After an entirely frustrating half hour, I went up there and said I quit. That's terrible. I will not do it. Eric ended up using a can opener to pry them out and then a pliers to get them the rest of the way. They were not short either. I ended up doing all the carpet in the living room and all the laminate in the kitchen by myself while Eric and my dad did the pantry and the bathroom upstairs.
FitzFamReno Demo Day 5
This is our bathroom before we ripped the wall out. I asked Eric 3 times to rip the pocket door wall out. He said no 3 times. It IS our only bathroom on the main level. BUT pocket doors never work, when we go to sell {in precisely 2 years} he thought someone might want it. I said no older child/parent combo is ever going to go to the bathroom and take a shower at the same time. He decided I was right. The wall came down.
Brian ripped all the drywall down and part of the wall. Then I hear "Uhhh Nichole..." I'm like "Oh great." Brian tells me that might be part of the supporting wall. If it is, you can't remove it. He needed to rip the ceiling back to see if it was or wasn't. Praise be, it wasn't! He is trying to rip it out in this picture. It wasn't easy. Lincoln is literally sleeping right above him. And slept the entire time.
Finished!! Well. Mostly. Other than a little repair, it's finished. Doesn't it look so much bigger?!?! In the pictures above, I was standing in the exact same spot as when I took this picture. Eric came home and couldn't believe it. It's like a whole new bathroom. Now my big dilema is do I get new mirrors....or do I frame in the old mirrors and leave them as large as they are?!
This was installed on Demo (or Reno, in this case) Day 3. We officially have three fully functional full bathrooms!!! This one just needs walls. Those are coming.
