A little of this... a little of that!

As I have stated more than once, the timeline thing does not work!  I know I said I thought the bathroom would be ready on Wednesday...but I typed that when I thought it was Sunday, not Monday, the holiday!  So to say the least, it's not ready but in my defense, I have been working in rooms other than the bathroom because some of the projects need two people...(is this working?  Can they hear me? What's going on?)  Like I was saying... I've been working all over the house.  LOL...
Let's just take a peek at some snaps and see what's going on at Martha...

 These are the cement topiaires I was talking about.  I guess I'm spelling it wrong but I can't spend another minute trying to figure that out. They all have lights and right now there are Morning Glories in most of them.  I'm not sure what I'll do with them for next summer's planting but for now they are so so so cool and when they are all lit up, it looks amazing!  Like a palace!  George dug out an area and placed the stone tile for them to sit upon and they are 8' apart going down the entire driveway!  Think about Christmas... I could fill them with HOLLY!  OMG... Love it!

 This is one of my transplants from our old house...she seems very happy here and she and Martha have become secret tellers. I smile every time I go up the stairs to the Veranda.

 Another driveway shot from a different angle. Look at the sky...it was such a wonderful weekend.  What I have noticed is this... I was so hoping that George would start to get into this project with me and he just seemed to be dragging his heals.  Now that he is "in", I find that he always pulls me from what I'm working on to help him or to see what he's done or just to take a break.  I have to remind him that this isn't a Union Job and he doesn't get automatic breaks!  One of the things that has been hard on him and on me is that I haven't been cooking.  George thinks we spend too much money going out to eat and I tell him that it's the same cost because I'm not going to the grocery store!!! So I have tried harder to have meals at the house and I am happy to report that we have had dinner on the Veranda every night since Monday.  I make dinner in a crock pot during the day and take it over there when I leave to go in the evening and around 7ish... we are having dinner.  Made some wonderful Chili from Garden tomatoes... these came from the rental property we have.  Oh yeah, that's another thing, George made me bargain with him on Monday... I had to help him with the yard at the apartments and then he would help me at Martha... I didn't like this at first but I did it and then it was all fine...but it does put me behind...sorta kinda...

Moving on... currently we are working on the Guest Room bath and the Butler's Pantry.  We might even get 2 rooms done in a month!!! WHAT??? That's right, I said 2 ROOMS!!! Don't tease in such a way... could it be true?  It could.  It might not...but I'm hopeful... here are some snaps...

 Butler's Pantry gutted and ready for a new ceiling and more!  Don't worry, we are putting the built in wall cabinet back but it had to come out  and get raised ...

This is the old way...

Oh the old flooring!  I don't even want to think about it!  

Another angle from the old way.

You might be asking yourself, "What was wrong with this pantry?"  Here's what you can't see in the pictures... The counter top was only 29" high.  That means it comes right to the high part of my thigh.  I don't know what they were thinking when they put this in but it certainly doesn't work for a person my height.  Perhaps they changed it for a "little person" and if that is the case, that was nice for them but it is not nice for the average bear.  This was a remodel gone wrong, very wrong, in my opinion.  And the base cabinets were just a jumble of non-matching, non-working messes!  This had to be brought back to a working Butler's Pantry and I can't wait to see it done!  It will act as my kitchen until we get a real kitchen and I can't even speak of that at this point.

 Here's a shot of the hardwood floor that was covered with 4 layers of old flooring!  It really is starting to take shape!  I love that we are going to use the original floor that Martha was born with.  I think she's happy about it too. This weekend the ceiling will be going in, and we are installing a ceiling light that I got at my favorite place (Habitat ReStore) and I can't wait to show you...mainly because that means it's done!  So once we get the ceiling in and the light up ( we have to run electrical to that because there is none) we will put the cabinet back up on the wall!!! Well, this is "The Plan" anyway.

Back to the bathroom... another thing about having George in the mix... "Oh Cherie, that looks great...I love the shower all tiled but wouldn't it look better if the tile ran all along this back wall? I'm not saying you have to do it, but it would look so much better if you did and it brings the room down without it!"  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  For the love!  Okay... so now I'm tiling the back wall too.  I'm happy to report that it is tiled and I just have to grout it and we will get back on track... meanwhile, I started painting it... Let's look...

OMG OMG OMG... look at that!  I LOVE IT!  Are you starting to get the vibe of this bathroom?  I know I am.  My boss is coming in to town this evening and we are going to have a working dinner and so I won't be able to work on it tonight but tomorrow night is FRIDAY and I plan on staying up until it's finished so get ready to fall in love with this room!  I'll accept my awards on Sunday!  HA!
Well, that's all for now... I hope this finds you welcoming Fall and Sweater Weather... I know I am.
Thanks for checking in on us.
Peace,
C

Pull the trigger!

I have the BEST FRIENDS!!! On Saturday I was out visiting some of our local Estate Sales and visiting the Home Depot and Lowes and upon my return home, look what I found....

Not only was this a much needed and much appreciated gift but I had just ran out of various restaurant napkins!  We are living LARGE now!  We have a luxury toilet and luxury toilet paper and a very cool toilet paper holder!  I'm so excited!!!  Thank you Nancy... you are always doing the nicest thing for Martha and me!  While I'm handing out the "thanks", I better remember to thank Blake for helping me with my ginormous estate sale find... This weekend was such a treasure trove of finds and when we stumbled upon this one I called George.  We have an unspoken deal with me and estate sales...I spend a reasonable amount of money hunting for treasures and he doesn't ever complain or get upset when I come home with more china (that is a bit of an issue for me) but when the purchase is a BIG one...I think it's a good idea to include him in the decision...especially when I'm going to need him to help me unload the purchase!  So I called him and started the conversation with..."Hi HONEY, I LOVE YOU!"  He just started laughing and said "What have you done now?"  I started giggling. "Well, I'm at this sale and there are 10, yes I said 10, large cement  urns with these metal topiairies and light strands running through them and I think they would look marvelous going down the driveway."  I waited and waited and he finally said..."How much?"  I felt like candy coating this wouldn't work so well so I just came out with it... $40.00 a piece!  He asked if I thought they could do a little better on the price and so I ran over and asked and she said...If I bought all 10  of them I could have them for $300.00 so I ran into a bush for a private conversation and he said "Do you love them?  If you do...PULL THE TRIGGER!" OMG, you could knock me over with a feather.  So my friend Blake helped me load these thing into the truck and at 80 lbs each, this was no easy task! My pictures of this are loading so I'm going to move along and try to get them in later.  If not, I'll take some with my camera today... They are AMAZING!
So I'm sure you're wondering how I got anything done when I'm out at estate sales but believe you me, I got some things done!  Actually, I stayed up on Saturday night until 5:30 am and then headed home. Let's see what is going on...

This is how it was...

This is how it looked with the plastic tub surround ripped off

This is the new shower backer board

Starting the tiling

Shower TILED!!!

So the shower is completely tiled and I must say that I even amazed myself with a couple of the cuts.  I get to grout it today so it will look even better!  I've got mud in all the holes on the walls and I've got to sand and put some more tiles on the one wall and then I'll start painting!  I am so excited to see this come to fruition!  I really do have a place for you to go the bathroom!  I mean it's real! It's not a bucket and it's not all funky and it's divine!  And to think... I've only got 4 more bathrooms to do!  LOL... LOL... omg.... don't think about it that way! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Okay, no timelines... but, I think this room will be completely done by Wednesday night!  Just sayin' ....
So I've got to get back at it... so much more to show you but I think George just started the truck!
Thanks for checking in on us.
Martha says Hello.
Peace,
C

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can!

Special News Report:

             Financial News Section - Kentucky Fried Chicken Reports Slump in Soda Sales!  KFC reported that they were very excited when their Diet Pepsi sales really picked up starting in late June!  For some unexplained reason, those sales have completely HALTED! Spokesperson stated that "We saw a HUGE upswing in Diet Pepsi sales and were very excited to see the profit rise, now, for no  reason we understand, they have bottomed out!"  LMAO LMAO LMAO!!!

Sorry, I couldn't help it!  I'm in L-O-V-E with my new Luxury toilet!  It is so so so fun to be able to go the bathroom in your own house!  I want you to remember that and not take your toilet for granted.  It's such a joy to have and I'd be remiss if I didn't say a resounding "Thank You" to the things I take for granted. I even put it on my list of things I'm thankful for!  Just sayin'.

Moving on, so we have entered Labor Day weekend and it's going to be just that... LABOR intensive!  I don't know how many of you have ever put up shower backer board but let me just share that it is nothing like I thought it would be.  It is HEAVY HEAVY and because it has cement ground up into it, it is so dense and hard to drill and while this is wonderful for your shower, it is not so much for your arm, wrist, and shoulders while drilling.  There is also a huge freak out factor because you are drilling 5 holes for all the water spouts and shower heads etc.  I honestly will say this was the most stress I've had while fixing Martha...I actually went back to measure hole to hole 8 times.... If I messed this up, it wasn't going to be pretty and there is no easy fix for this and as an added bonus, the humidity is around 900! At one point, I looked up to the ceiling to see if it was leaking because water droplets were falling onto the board and then I realized that it was just me sweating and it was falling from my forehead!  UGH...George gave me his circle drill bits and I was just drilling and drilling and getting nowhere.  Frustration set it's ugly head on mine and I was about to give up when I thought maybe I should look at the crazy spinning thing to see if it was even working!  I made another mistake that grabbed it to tighten it and burnt my entire palm.  I sank down and cried.  Maybe I'm over my head doing this. Whaaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaa Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Self talk time..."Cherie, just go do something else for a minute...you can do this... you just need a break."  I went out into the hallway and removed staples and carpet tack for awhile... then I filled a bucket with WATER and washed the hallway trim and floor!!! That's right "bitches" (I say that with the utmost respect), I FILLED a water bucket with water and Murphy's Soap and washed my hallway!  

It was really late and the hallway pictures didn't turn out so I'll revisit that in the daylight hours but the picture of my water bucket was amazing! I then left for Harvard to go to bed to get some rest and rethink my project.  It had to be the circle cutters!  It just can't be this hard....on my lunch hour I went to Home Depot and talked with my new friend, Jeff.  He told me that the ones I was using were for wood, not cement boards!  Here.  You need need these!  For $17.89, I walked out a new woman!  I will beat these boards!  They do not own ME!  I couldn't wait to get over to Martha and see what would happen but I did have to wait because I had a meeting and a bunch of other work things to do so at 5:04 I drove over there as a woman on a mission... and look what happened...

  That's right... You see it!  There are 5 holes drilled in the perfect spots and that BACKERBOARD is UP!  Can you say UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP?  Yes you can!   So to fresh, remember this...

ewwweeeeehhhhhhhhooooooowwwwwwwwww...

and then it's this............

AND then it's this...........

Hello and HELLO!  Okay, so it's not done but it's UP and it's going and it's going to be completely amazing! So get ready for the next installment to be completely amazed and AMAZED by Cherie the magnificent tile woman!  You better buckle your seat belt... it's going to blow your mind!!!

I've got to get laboring so have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget to thank your toilet for being there for you and have some fun!  I'll be thinking of you and excited to amaze you with more of Martha's beauty.  

Don't forget to stop by if you have a minute. 

Thanks for checking in on us.

Peace,

C