The "Before"

This weekend we (Husband and I, with sons in agreement) decided it just HAS to be done....NOW!!! When we bought our home almost two years ago in Boise, we were looking for an affordable home near my husband's work. We found a "cottage", (more like a "well-loved".. and not in the "vintage-way", 1970's ranch). It's small, and that's okay, because it has a huge backyard where "someday" we hope to add on to the house. It has nice neighbors too. But it only has one bathroom. "What were we thinking?" will probably be your first thought...but we liked the home, it fit our budget, and it was close to work, it had LOTS of potential! AND we have always remodeled every home we've lived in...so, we weren't afraid of giving it a face-lift.
So what's behind this curtain???...... NOT going to show you! Just know it would win the ugliest shower award!

Well, the face-lift is more like a restructuring. We've already knocked down a wall in the front room to open up the living area and put in wood flooring. We scraped (safely), primed and painted all of the ceilings in the house. It had that '70's popcorn stucco stuff on them. All the interior doors have been replaced. My husband has refaced all of the kitchen cabinets with beadboard doors and beadboard backsplash and replaced the laminate countertops in the kitchen...yes, soapstone would have been nice, but a bit pricey! The living area/ kitchen area is beautiful and cottage-y. And now it's time for the bathroom....

Now, in our last home, we had three bathrooms...and remodeled each one at a time. With just one bathroom to remodel, this has brought on a few concerns. And being the seasoned "do-it-your-selfers", we KNOW that things NEVER go as planned and you don't know what you are really dealing with until you start demolition.

So, this week is planning and ordering week...part of the planning will be to decide the best plan of attack so that we aren't left without a bathroom for too long while we are remodeling. Thank goodness our church is close by with running water, we will probably be there more than ever these coming weeks!

I am bravely posting photos of the "before". We've already started the demolition by ripping up the lovely vinyl flooring...(you think that's bad, you should have seen the indoor/outdoor carpet that was in the dining room)
One thing I did do in the bathroom when we moved in was to get rid of the build-in medicine cabinet, paint the cabinets and walls, knowing that we were going to remodel soon, so it wasn't a great job, but at least I could walk in there.

So far this weekend we've chosen and ordered flooring, it's a start....but a long few weeks ahead!