Bathroom redo part 1!

The bathroom in the house we just bought was in rough shape.

Notice the lack of actual shower and the place where the tiles were falling off since this wasn't ever intended to be used as a shower, but was being used as such. I do love the tub though!  So keeping it was a must!  We started out by taking down tile and the wallpaper. 

I quickly discovered that this plastic blue tile had TONS of adhesive behind it. And this stuff was next to impossible to remove. After hours of scraping, I finally threw in the towel. I was going to have to come up with a different solution. My original plan was to scrape off the adhesive, skim coat the walls with drywall mud, sand, then paint them. I got the adhesive off of the tub walls so we can put in our new tub surround, but then I decided to put up breadboard instead of trying to save the walls. So at least the problem was solved. The sad part was that I was going to be an added expense to a bathroom that was already climbing in cost anyway. We originally were only planning on putting in the tub surround and new flooring (there was carpet in there. Can you say "YUCK!!!!"???) then we ended up getting rid of the vanity. It was in rough shape and we had to take it out because the wall was tiled behind it as well. 

My next snag was that my super awesome flooring I ordered was back ordered. I was so bummed. 

This stuff would have been SO pretty. I LOvE hex tile!  This is a vinyl flooring, but i still loved the look. But we couldn't wait the extra three weeks for it to come in when my plumber was coming this weekend and the floor had to be down so we could install the new vanity. So I had to pick out a new floor. 

I decided on another clueless vinyl floor. We just put some down in the kitchen and it turned out great. 

I went with one that was $0.99 a square foot!  Unflortunately we had to put down new underlayment.  This was interesting, to say the least. It has been my mom and me doing most of this stuff and so we used some old wallpaper to make a template. 

(That stuff was awesome!!). Then we used it to cut our boards. It worked out alright. I only had to make a few adjustments to get the board in. 

Then came the difficult and nerve wracking part!  I had to get the vinyl in and get it to fit right around the tub. 

We used our template to trim the original piece of vinyl, but I purposely cut it a couple of inches too big. 

Then I had to get it to fit around the tub. Since its glue less vinyl, I wanted it to fit nicely against the tub since there wouldn't be trim there, it was stressful!  

I used both a utility knife and a pair of sissors and worked little by little. It ended up working really well and looks great!  I just need to put some vinyl tape under that edge to hold it down and caulk along the base of the tub to make it watertight along there!  

I'm very pleased with how it looks!  Now to get the plumbing sorted out so that we can get it all wrapped up!!!  I will be extremely happy when this bathroom is finished. It has been a stressful part of this house stuff. We are just lucky that there is a bathroom in the basement. 

Kitchen update, part 1!

I haven't had any free time over the past month. Buying a house is an ordeal!!!!  There are so many projects we are trying to get done before the wedding next month. Other than the bathroom, the kitchen has been our big project.  The ~1960's style cabinets did not fit into the 1900's style home or my taste.  I had come across a few posts on pinterest about redoing these sorts of cabinets.

The doors, which will be in a post soon to come, have had a 3 inch trim added to cover up that groove.  However, the drawers would not accommodate a trim that wide, and since almost all of the 13 drawers were different sizes, I decided to try filling the groove in with wood filler.  

The wood filler worked out great.  I put it on with a putty knife, sanded it down with 120 grit sandpaper, and applied a second coat to make sure you couldn't see that groove anymore.  After a good sanding and checking to make sure they were all smooth, we put on a coat of primer.  

They were already looking MUCH better at this point!!!!

After 2 coats of primer, we put on 2 coats of cabinet/trim paint, and finally 2 coats of Minwax Polycrilic to seal them up!  (I love that stuff, by the way!)  Then I got my dad to help me put on the new drawer pulls!  

The only snag we really ran into was that the screws for the drawer pulls were too long.  But luckily dad has a screw cutter, so after we got them trimmed, we finally got to put the drawers in!  

I did add some little felt pad to the top inside of the drawers so that there was no sticking and to keep the wear and tear down.  

I LOVE how they turned out!