Snowquester=sNOwquester

Sigh.  We are told that we were going to get snow.  2 inches.  No, 4.  Wait 6.  We are getting upwards TWELVE INCHES OF SNOW!  We were so excited.  Finally, a SNOW DAY!  Yes, it is March and yes we have daffodils and irises poking through.

And instead, the Beltway prevented the snow from coming in the District.  We got some snow that melted almost immediately when hitting the ground.  But mainly, it was rain.  All day.  Just a really rainy day.

This sums it up the best: http://www.buzzfeed.com/danoshinsky/washington-dc-is-the-worst-during-a-snowstorm

Bathroom Demo: Part 2

everything exposed!

More of the bathroom was torn out today.  By the time I got home from work, the back wall was removed, the floor almost out entirely, and all the old fixtures (really the tub) was in pieces on our front lawn.  The amount of noise was incredible as they had to use a jackhammer to get the flooring removed. Also incredible: wanting to remove the radiator without draining the whole system as the crew thought that just because the water was turned off, all would be well.  Oh, and the fact that they weren't going to take up the old floor at first--but just put not flooring on top of it.  Sigh.  Thank goodness Will works from home and prevented our house from being flooded and from having the old penny tiled floor remain.

Tomorrow, barring the "snowquestor" storm that is supposed to dump about 12 inches of snow on the ground, we will start framing!

the only divider left: the stack

the amount of trash seemed to increase, not decrease

this is the wiring in the walls.  Totally safe, yes? 

The exposed floor

Ready for framing!

Happy Birthday Oscar!

DOUBLE DIGITS!  Happy Birthday Oscar!  Hope that your day is full of surprises and presents!

Bathroom Renovation: Demolition

Yesterday, I was greeted with this as I came home from work: 

Part of our hallway bathroom

Will's day was loud and will only be louder today, as I think that there will be jackhammering involved to get the rest of the tile out. 

The crew spent the day destroying the bathroom and the closet area.  Lots of bangs, dust, clanging, thudding, and general noise.  So far, the only surprise is that the tile was cemented directly to the outer wall of the house; there is no wooden frame.  Hopefully it won't prove too difficult to over come, and I am even more hopeful that it will be the ONLY surprise in this renovation.  

Tearing out the wall between the bathroom and the closet area. 

No more doors, or linen closet for that matter. 

The hallway opened up. 

The tub and the gerrymander shower piping

The cement was placed directly onto the outer wall; no framing and definitely no insulation.  Our contractor is working out how best to fix it. 

Rigged up shower pipes and a missing linen closet behind. 

All the cabinet have been removed.  We will expand the back bathroom room as far into this space as we can. 

All the lathe will be removed and the stack pipe relocated. 

The toilet roll holder was framed into the wall with cement!

What is left of the shower knobs. 

The 1924 tub fixture. 

The medicine cabinet was framed into the lathes and there were several razor blades in the wall from when you could dispose of them through a slot in the cabinet. 

staging area: the new sink, loo, medicine cabinet, and towel bars.  The new tub is still in the garage. 

The original bathroom door and linen closet door will be reused, just relocated! 

The start of getting the individual penny tiles up-- it will require a jack hammer. 

Hallway Bathroom: Before the Facelift

The hallway bathroom is going to get a facelift starting this week.  It has been in sad shape since we moved in 7 years ago and things have gone downhill from there.  The final straw came in November last year, when the tiles in the shower finally abandoned the wall, leaping to their destruction into the tub.  

We had been picking at the hole, easily removing the tiles above the black line.  Those tiles were added directly to plaster years ago (30?) when the tub had been converted to a shower as well.  Plaster can only take so much moisture before giving way.  

We attempted to picked at the tiles below the black line, but those were from the original 1924 tile work and set in wet cement.  Those suckers were going anyway.  

 But, several other areas were showing wear and tear.  There are massive cracks around the toilet roll holder.  Cracks down the wall under the window.  Worn penny tiles on the floor.  It was time to finally face that fact that we needed to redo this loo.

We also decided that the strange closet area in the back of the house could be removed.  We could instead enlarge the bathroom by about 3 feet, which would create a much nicer space as well as incorporate the linen closet into the bathroom, versus having yet another doorway in the hallway.

open door to the bathroom, closed door is the linen closet.  I am standing in a doorway to take the photo and there is a door immediately to the right, just out of frame, that leads to the closet area in the back of the house. 

Standing in yet another doorway to get a photo of the closet area, which really had become a storage area/dumping ground for stuff since we relocated our bedroom into the attic. 

Mustache Bash

Our godson, O, had a birthday and we hosted his party (saved us and everyone from driving out to wild and wonderful West VA, so we were totally okay with this). 

 The theme: Mustache Bash. 

God Mim and Mommy

A 'stashe was required to enter the party, and you could go colorful or realistic.  I even added some chin  art.  Mommy made an official party drink, the Pom Selleck. We played a game of "Name that 'Tache" (of course Will and I won).  

 Banners of various styles and shapes of mustaches hung from the doorways and light fixtures. There was even a "Dirty Sanchez" chocolate and oreo cake (soooo  delicious).

Will looked dashing in his facial hair-- or at least like a detective. 

And we even had a "Stick the 'Stache"" on Burt Reynolds game.  

For a one-year old birthday party, it was pretty awesome.  And of course, the birthday boy was teething and so napped through most of his party.  Years from now, I will tell him that his mother won "most realistic mustache." I know he will be so proud of her.

Happy Birthday Fiona!

My dearest Fiona, happy birthday.  I thought of you and then I thought of figs....  

Hope all your wishes come true!