More wall tiles!

We put down Freecycled playmats to protect the floor in preparation for Mrs. Forest to tile the rest of the walls. Of course, the saplings just think it's their new playroom and have that special knack for getting in the way.












We did put the sapling boys to work for a little bit and they had a great time pulling out the spacers from the previous tile. Hope DYFS isn't reading!

Mrs. Forest has been cruising through the wall tiles and it looks great!

Now, I really need to get it into gear and finish stripping the window and door trim and reinstall them so she can finish.
Stripping the paint has been more tedious than I had expected and with every layer of paint I strip I ask myself if it's worth doing since we're just going to paint over it again. I believe the answer will be "YES" but I'll let you know when I get there.

Okay, enough blogging - back to work!

Moving along with the bathroom.

Mrs. Forest put up more wall tile this past Monday. I was lucky enough to have the day off from work (after an all-nighter on Sunday) to keep our youngest Sapling out of the way.

Work started on the front wall of the shower with the aid of painters tape to hold down temporary spacing tiles. I screwed in the legder for the second row a few days earlier and Mrs. Forest went to town with the tiles!

Mrs. Forest and I went back and forth on the use of the ledgers before I put them in. I didn't want to use ledgers because I was concerned about getting the spacing correct for the first row of tile. It wouldn't have been too much of a concern if the tub was level or if the top of the tub was flat. But, of course, the tub was not quite level and for some reason the top of the tub dipped down at the middle.

However, none of those concerns mattered anyway as Mrs. Forest got what she wanted. She was one to be placing the tile, afterall. Hopefully, I got the ledgers in the right spot so there won't be any, or at least minimal, cutting of the first row of tiles. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I type!

I really don't think I would have the patience for this and I'm glad Mrs. Forest wants to do it. I probably would have flushed all those freakin' spacers, that don't stay in place, down the toilet. Oh wait, can't do that until the toilet is actually in!

Quick update.

We actually got the 4 sheets of drywall off the porch and into the house last night. Just in time to get away from the coming snowstorm! The current status is 4 sheets on 3rd floor, 1 sheet on 2nd and 4 sheets on the 1st floor. The whole operation is a little crazy and could produce some good material for America's Funniest Home Videos!

Progress.

Mrs. Forest put a few more rows of tile in the shower area and it looks really good. Now the window and door trim needs to be stripped and put back into place so that tiling can continue around the room. Also, the wall surface right above the tub knee wall needs to evened out before tiling can continue on the toilet wall.

I also managed to pickup 9 sheets of drywall this past weekend for the 3rd floor, interim, kids/play room ceiling. They were ordered online from Lowes for instore pickup because we had a coupon that was expiring while I was out on a business trip. And I didn't think Mrs. Forest could have managed picking up drywall by herself!

Of course, I had time before my trip to get the drywall before the coupon expired, but just like the bathroom floor tile, my procrastination worked in my favor! When I went to Lowes (by myself) to pickup my order I was not looking forward to loading the drywall onto the cart then into the van. I got to customer service and was pleasantly surprised to hear "Ok, wait here and they will bring your order out." Yup, that's right - 9 sheets of drywall preloaded on the cart for me!

Loading into the van wasn't too difficult as they were only 3/8" thick and I separated the pairs before loading. Now getting them to the 3rd floor is the real challange. Rather than walk them up the stairs with the help of a family member or neighbor, Mrs. Forest and decided to try a different plan.

The plan was to lift the sheets vertically up the stairway opening with me lifting from the stairs and Mrs. Forest lifting from below. We would lift together and I would hold the sheet while Mrs. Forest ran up the stairs to my level to help lift the sheet to the 2nd floor. The sheet could then rest on the ledge on the outside of the 2nd floor railing. Then repeat lifting to 3rd floor.

Surprisingly it worked like a charm except that Mrs. Forest had to stop after 2 1/2 sheets. now we have 2 sheets on the 3rd floor, 1 sheet on the 2nd floor, 2 sheets on the 1st floor and 4 sheets still on the porch. Hopefully, it won't stay that way for too long.

Q: What's better than going into the office on Superbowl Sunday?

A: Coming home and finding more progress on the bathroom wall tiles!

Yup, Mrs. Forest is on a mission here! Go, Mrs. Forest, go!

This April will mark the 4th anniversary of the bathroom project and we really hope that it will be one anniversary that we don't make. Below is just a little reminder of why we decided to endure years of showering in the basement and running downstairs to use the twalet (that's French for toilet).

Notice the broken shower door - curtain rod frame, linoleum sheet tub surround, and finished with cracked and chipping plaster walls and ceiling!

I'm still pinching myself, but it's true.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have tile on the walls!!!!

Below: First Row!

Below: Mrs. Forest hard at work.

Below: Mr. Forest hard at work!

Below: Good stopping point.

We had to go to my mom's for dinner so the work time got cut short. When we got home we were half expecting to see some fallen tiles in the tub. In reality there would have been but this is only a dream, right? OUCH! Nope, it's real and all tiles are still on the walls!

Great job, Mrs. Forest!

First post of the New Year!

What better way to start out a New Year than with a new project. No, the bathroom is not done yet but I did work on that a little since I last posted. I think I finally got my first reference line for the wall tile set so tiling can begin soon. At least, in theory!

Back to the new project. While I was at work two Saturdays ago, Mrs. Forest decided that it would be a good idea to work on one of the bedrooms on the 3rd floor. A few years ago a 3'x3' area of plaster fell from the ceiling. It happened during the summer and bugs were getting in so, of course, I QUICKLY patched it up with a garbage bag and duct tape. I didn't plan on that being up for too long but like every other project in our house "long" is more a measure of distance than of time.

Fast forward a few years and here's the plan. We're going to put new drywall over the existing plaster ceiling, patch the cracks and holes in the walls and then repaint and put down laminate on the floor. The room will first be used as a transition bedroom for all the kids while we work on their bedrooms on the 2nd floor.

It's gotten off to a good start so far. On Saturday I moved a lot of stuff out of the room and finally patched the hole in the ceiling.

Looks GREAT, doesn't it? Just kidding, it's just a rough patch to shim the area for the new drywall to go over it. Notice to duct tape residue!

Here are some pictures of the rest of the room. The holes in the wall were made by the electrician when we had the 2nd and 3rd floors rewired, a few years ago.

Wait a minute, didn't I say I cleaned out most of the stuff in the room? I really did clean up but there was and still is a lot of stuff in the room. And that's why I'm only showing a few of the pictures I took, no need to show the mess!