Bathroom #1 - "Before"

We finished the kids' bedrooms and moved onto gutting the first of two bathrooms. This bathroom is the one closest to the master bedroom. Since this is an old house, the "master bedroom" does not actually have it's own bathroom within the room, but one just outside the door. This bathroom is 8'9" x 6'; we are taking the whole room down to the studs. The walls are not insulated and most of the drywall is cracking (a theme to this whole house!), taking the room down to the studs is necessary for our work to be done right. Here are the "BEFORE" pictures and our current work in process:

Close up pictures of the blue easter egg looking sink with the fixture all corroded and the nasty old caulking against the bold yellow wall.The previous owners has lots of bathroom throw rugs on the floor... ... we discovered the throw rugs were hiding crusty linoleum that was breaking away!
Yes... a leaking shower, getting the sub floor all wet under the crusty linoleum! As each layer of sub floor was peeled off, more water was discovered.

No wall insulation... Let's get rid of this vanity! First- I must disconnect the plumbing.A very small shower stall we will be replacing with a larger all tiled shower.

Steel wool is stuffed around the opening in the drywall to keep "critters" (like mice) out of the shower.

With any major renovation, comes major garbage! Thankfully we live in the country with no neighbors... otherwise we would have some neighbor complaints about our garbage I'm thinking. This pile took two trips to the dump (in the back of Kirk's truck) to clean up!
Kirk and Andrew getting a bathroom ceiling fan installed. There was none before and the steam from the shower created quite a steamy, humid mess in the space.

When I was telling my sister, Traci, that we were renovating one of the two bathrooms, I expressed the challenge of being down to one functioning bathroom and six people having to choreograph our "bathroom time". She chuckled when the reality hit her about all 6 of us sharing the bathroom for the several weeks the other bathroom is under construction. I assured her that I have equipped our functioning bathroom with a variety of air fresheners in case of a previous visitor's presence still lingering...

...take your pick!

Check back for "after" pictures (in about a month!)

Home Renovation "BEFORE" & "AFTER"

Here are some of the "before" & "after" pictures we have to this point on our home renovations. We have completed three bedrooms (the kids' rooms) except for some detail decorating (window treatments and wall accessories) and are currently in the middle of a bathroom "gut job". We have done all the work ourselves on these projects (except for new window installation) and are getting to be experts at framing and drywall since we have taken each of these rooms down to the studs and had to make massive repairs.

Jessie and Joe's Room

Notice the window to the left with an air conditioner unit half covered by wood and the funky "pass through"? In the "after" photos, you'll notice they are both gone- drywalled in.

The air conditioner unit was in this window and had created lots of damage! Much more than we ever planned for!

We had to not only replace most of the wall, but also part of the rotten subfloor.

We felt like we were rebuilding this room!
We decided NOT to keep the window, framing it completely in so we could build a closet for the kids (this room originally had no closet). Thank you very much, I (Teri) single handedly framed, drywalled, and custom organized this closet. No more "pass through" or large window, making this space more functional and appealing.
Down with old dark wood panel...

up with new 1/2" dry wall, soft yellow paint and 5 1/2" base boards.

EWWWW! A combination of damage from moisture and pests on the old 1/4" drywall... it was all replaced!

All new everything!!!


Andrew's Room

"Before" "After"

Lots of cracks in the walls. This was above his closet. "Before" "After"... no more cracks and newly painted black closet doors.

"Before" "After" It's so nice to have new walls, fresh paint, and clean white doors and trim!


Kelsie's Room


Parts of the wall was damaged by previous moisture, critters, and age, that it was crumbling away...
In this "AFTER" picture, the area above the lamp was where the original "pass through" opening used to be.

What bold colors the previous owners selected! It was themed as a "john deer" room.
Out with the old... in with the new!

This mirrored closet door makes this small room (10 x 12) feel much bigger!
Where the book shelf is, there was a second door to the room which didn't make much sense. We closed it off, creating more usable wall space.

Practical closet organization!
Orange door frame & bold sponged painted walls...
to clean white and eye soothing "spring cactus" green walls.

Weigh-in Wednesday

The only purpose of blogging today is to be accountable and share my weight for "Weigh-in Wednesday" ... the Summer Challenge at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. I love accountability!!! ALSO, I'M BLOGGING TODAY~ TO POST A MESSAGE TO ANY "SISTER'S IN THE HOOD" or ANY BLOGGERS WHO ARE WANTING TO LOSE WEIGHT... KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE AND DON'T GIVE UP... YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MIND TO! JUST DO IT.

I'm happy to report I am down 2 pounds from last week! This week I cut out my monster bowl of ice cream for desert each night (replaced it with a couple pieces of Dove Promises- dark chocolate (45 calories each)- I don't believe in complete desert deprivation!, reduced portion sizes of my lunch and dinner, cut down on unhealthy afternoon snacking, kept water intake high, and deliberately made over all better food choices. Unfortunately, this past week I DID NOT do any type of "regular exercise, although I do remain active around the house. My goal this upcoming week will be to continue healthy eating choices and start walking on a regular schedule.

Here are my stats:
Start Weight = 155 (on May 26) ... "A Kick in the Hiney"

Last Week Weight - 153.5

TODAY = 151.5 (down 2 pounds/3.5 total)

Summer Challenge GOAL (by end of July) = 145

ULTIMATE GOAL (by end of the year) = 130

This week's Memory verse:

'Not by might nor by power,
but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
(Zechariah 4:6)

Lessons from buying an old "fixer upper"

As you may or may not know, my family and I recently moved from a beautiful "newer construction home" (built in 2003) inside city limits of Corpus Christi ...

...to an "older fixer-upper" (70+ years old) out in the country, outside city limits of Corpus, in the middle of acres upon acres of farmland:

Kirk and I are avid watchers of HGTV and DIYnetwork; and for the past couple of years, we have been wanting to have a major renovation project to call our own. This house fulfills that desire as every room... I'm not kidding~ ever square inch~ needs to be renovated or updated in some way.

As we are beginning our 5th month of fixing and updating this older house, I'm being reminded of MANY valuable lessons and learning a few new ones (just what God had intended to happen when we bought this property!). In no particular order, these are some things Kirk and I have learned:

• Most things accomplished take longer than we expect... the key is not to give up! (whether it's with a home renovation project, losing weight/getting in shape, getting your dream job, whatever... you name your goal)
• Things are never as easy as you think they should be- thus taking longer to accomplish! If you plan for a week... triple that time; the reality is it will most likely take three weeks to get done. (that's our experience so far!)
• Be sure to add a "10-15% cushion" to the budget... like time~ it always seems to take more of what is planned.
• Any goal set will involve some level of planning, labor, perseverance, and patience. With out a balance of these, frustration and some insanity will set in.
• We're losing trust in hiring "professional" contractors. (Our carpet guys were great!!!, But we hired window guys to replace all our windows, and air conditioner guys to replace our air conditioner and repair our ducting. Both situations we did a thorough research to hire good, quality service guys. The products installed are great, but the installation was horrible. The guys cut corners and messed up areas of our house that they probably figured we wouldn't notice. We are having to fix things left by these guys and finish up detail work that should have been done by these contractors.)
• If you want something done right, do it yourself. OR get referrals of the person you are wanting to hire. OR BETTER YET~ personally know the person you are hiring!
• Attitude is EVERYTHING!
• A thankful and content heart comes from remembering all the blessings we have. Don't look at what you don't have, look at ALL that you do have! (we are missing our old pool about now with temperatures getting HOT! We are learning to be content without.)
• People are more important than things. (Spending hours and hours on a project shouldn't be at the expense of spending family time together)
• Life is always full of "surprises". Embrace the good "surprises" and the bad "surprises" and learn from them both.
• When ever possible~ renew, reuse, & recycle!
• Corpus Christi has rattle snakes whether you're in the country OR a city sub-division! (I was recently informed the people who bought our previous house found a rattle snake on their property)
• Any neglected house has the potential to be beautiful... it's a matter of how much love you are willing to pour into it. (same goes for our bodies, too.)
• Through it all... the Lord is our source. He is the reason we are who we are, doing what we're doing. He shares in our frustrations; He shares in our victories. When we feel overloaded, he is always there to lift our burdens. What a fun adventure life is with Jesus by our side! He is the Master of restoration and renovations... making that which is broken fixed! Praise the Lord!

Stay tuned...

I will be posting "before" and "after" pictures of the kids' bedrooms at the end of next week, as well as some "before" pictures of the bathroom we're currently in the process of renovating. This bathroom could seriously qualify among "The Ugliest Bathrooms in America Award"! I can't wait for this bathroom to get done!