Trying to save the world...one bathroom at a time. Glorious AFTER shots!!!

After some back and forth we decided to refinish our cast iron tubs and tile surrounds in the hall bath opposed to tearing it out and replacing both.  While this might seem like a total "green/ earth friendly" decision it was more based on time and effort-although we did keep our current bath materials out of our local landfill.  Wait for it-YAY US!!!

I found a company -Miracle Method that basically sprays the existing tubs and surrounds with an acrylic coating that looks pretty darn good and only takes a few days.  You can read more about it here if you are super interested.
http://www.miraclemethod.com/bathtub-refinishing.htm

We decided to do both our hall bath and our master bath with white tubs and textured surrounds.  The two tone was more expensive but I think it was totally worth it.  I can't speak to durability or anything yet but on pure ascetics I am sold.  Here is the story in pictures:



Master bath before.  Black tub and cultured marble surround.  Marble-good right?  This stuff was swirly and the opposite of good.  I imagine its what an upscale bath in the Poconos looked like, circa 1975.



The master bath in process.  This is a great shot of the swirly marble surround.

The master bath AFTER.

Close up of the new master bath surround.

Hall Bath before.  Beige tub and mauve and beige speckled tile.

This is the hall bath, in process.  Note the lovely toilet in the bath set up.  We are cool like that.

During the miracle method process.  See the tub go from 1974 beige to 2011 white.  YAY for technology.

The hall bath AFTER.

Close up of the hall bath surround.

Basement Land

There has been some mild curiosity on how we are living in our house, during this massive construction phase.  When we moved into the house in mid-May we moved straight into the basement.  When I say basement its really just the bottom floor.  The house is split level so the bottom level has a living area, a bar with sink, a bathroom, laundry and a bedroom.  Its fairly functional for a short amount of time.    We also have sliding doors to the outside so the dogs have full access to their backyard and we have sunlight.  It's still a bit cramped.  Mom-this is for you-pics of my box land:

Close up of the wall of boxes/ box springs and assorted "stuff."



View from the basement door.  This makes it look like chaos...and I am starting to think it might be.  Thankfully I am able to tune the whole mess out since I know I am not a hoarder and this is a short term solution.

And not to worry..the dogs appear totally unphased by their new digs.  Most days when I come home I find some version of this going on.  I guess it is the lazy dog days of summer:)

 

Charleston and Folly Beach

Scott and I decided that we wanted to do a joint bachelor/bachelorette party instead of two seperate events.  It was a great way to get everyone together for a fun adult weekend at the beach.  We chose Folly Beach for its proximity to Charleston.  We stayed right on the beach and made it into Charleston two days-once for dinner and once for a day of sightseeing and shopping.  Let me tell it with pictures.

The gang at Rita's.  Coicidentally the band that is playing at our wedding was playing at this resturaunt the night we arrived.

The gang, night 2.

The guys at the beach bar we found after dinner.  This place was amazeballs-more on it to come.

Some doors in Charelston that I loved.

The group in Charleston.

Scott and I at Taco Boy on our last night.

The ladies in Charleston.

TAKE DOWN THAT WALL....

We are still working on the house.  Many of the things we are doing are not really good blog fodder.  For example...when Scott redoes wiring it makes ME sleepy-so I imagine it would make you all sleepy too.  But he has been wiring...and plumbing...and sheetrocking.  That last one is worth covering.  Our house was an interesting split level/split foyer layout.  It's not a classic example of either but a meld of the two. 

I have no real before pics of this.  But imagine walking into a small foyer and right in front of you is a wall that is high, but not quite to the ceiling.  We took it DOWN!  Scott convinced me to do it and it was a brilliant idea.

This is a in process pic of the wall removed before the sheetrock had been replaced.  The wall went up to the hallway height...which left it short of the celing by 3-4 feet

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This is a view down the hallway once the wall had been removed.  It really did open everything up.  You can also see a weird vent that had no purpose above the wall.  We had plans to take it down too.



Here is the wall after the drywall work was completed.  Now you still walk into a wall but the hallway is open to the light and front door.  Weird vent removed and drywall fixed.



View into the hallway after the drywall work was completed.

Many more detail pics to come....its been a busy couple of weeks.