Our Monona Mess

  Yesterday was our one year anniversary of purchasing the house and boy, what a year it has been. We spent the week continuing to work on the master bathroom and also preparing for our 1 year anniversary open house. We finished tiling and grouting most of the bathroom. The countertops came in early so we could set it up like it will look. Nothing is hooked up yet, but it looks great.  Dave also install the window trim in the master bath.  He put the finishing touches on the mantel and installed it. And was able to install the new quartz window sill in the kitchen.  The open house yesterday was so much fun. We got to show off the whole house and visit with people.  We had a display in each room that showed the before and during pics.  Check out all the displays here. 

  The shaving niche came this week and Dave was able to finish putting the shower together. What is a shaving niche--a small low niche to put your foot on so that you can shave your legs, of course.  We spent the weekend tiling the rest of the bathroom.  We decided to put a black stripe in the shower of hexagon tiles.  I love how it looks, but it really slowed down the install.  I spent the week trying to figure out countertops and a window sill for the bathroom. I shopped around and then finally found remnants at The Granite Shop and ordered. They should be here in about 2 weeks.  In other bathroom news, Dave grouted the water closet and installed a toilet, so now we have 2 working toilets upstairs. 

  One of the toughest decisions we had to make was about the shower. Dave wanted a multifunction head, a sprayer on a slide,, and body sprayers on a diverter that would allow more than one to run at a time. I wanted to be able to afford it. We finally agreed and ordered all the pieces. Dave worked to get all the valves centered on the wall and then our plumber came and hooked it all up.  Today, Dave and I began to tile the wall.  It started with waterproofing the wall. Then we worked together to start installing the backsplash.  We are waiting for a niche and some contrasting tile to be delivered to finish the main part of the shower. We also need to order countertops and a shower enclosure to finish up the master bathroom. So, we are almost done...right?!

  As we finish up odds and ends in the rest of the house, the master bathroom finally got some attention. Dave worked on unfinished living room and kitchen projects, such as scribing the front of the fireplace to put the bottom board on the mantel to make it look finished if you happen to be lying on the living room floor.  He also ordered new cold air returns and heat registers for the living room which required him to move the vents in the floor.  Once the new registers were in, he could finish the trim in the living room.  Dave also fixed the bad lightbox in the master bedroom to that we could install the new light.  And he added 2 new lights to the kitchen--one above the fridge and the other at the top of the stairs. During all this, I continued to work on laying the tile on the master bathroom floor. 

  On Monday afternoon, our kitchen transformed.  I sat and watched as they tiled the kitchen in just 6 hours. Then they came back the next morning to grout the kitchen tile.  Unfortunately, I am not as fast as the tiler that we hired, but this week I did get started on the floor in the master bathroom.  Dave continues to work on the mantle when he is not working, fixing snow blowers,  or clearing snow. It looks great!