Hey 2013 where is my hover board?

We moved! We sold the house and we moved. Hence the gap.

So we are here, again, in the middle of absolute chaos. I thought that I should post some of the great after shots of our former house. We ended up selling in 3 days with an accepted offer and a possession of 2 months. All super crazy and with a slow bumpy landing in our new digs. 

I've come to learn that you can do nothing on your own in the same speed or joyful spirit that you can do it with friends and family. 

I've also learned that we have a lot to learn!

I've decided that looking at all the wonderful blogs that I follow has given me a false sense of glamour. Maybe what we need up in here is a little bit of the real, you know what I'm saying?

So before I get all grimy and what not, here are some after shots of our former house. Maybe I spoke too soon. Maybe we are about to get a little grimy after all. 

Big thanks to all the wonderful people who helped us and supported us through a very tight transition into our new digs (pictures are in the pipe!). 

So let's call this the First House. 

bathroom in the midst of a total gut job

This is an in progress shot of the bathroom. We had just installed the new tub. It was super low and looked great. The good news with this project was that there was no black mold in the old gross tub suround. The bad news was that we uncovered some old black glue that was very likely to contain the asbestos we feared. 

We did not remediate the asbestos, we chose instead to cover it up. We raised the floor about 1/2 inch in the process but it was worth it. It allowed us to continue with our plan for heated floors. 

This is the realtor shot of our new bathroom. I'm sad that you can't see our lovely tiling job but I'll dig out some more pictures of that later on. 

My favourite parts of the bathroom remodel are not all here but this shot highlights the mirror (15.00 cut job on a reclaimed mirror), the glass tile backsplash that I got from a sample bin (free), the ikea 'as-is' Godmorgon vanity and the new ceramic tile floor we got on Kijiji for around 100.00 

The tub was a kijiji find as well (brand new -in box) for 75.00. The hooks and towel bar are also ikea but they might be considered vintage by now, we have had them forever. 

Missing from this photo is the tile, window ledge, bathtub fixtures, medicine cabinet, towel nook and the new lighting. 

This bathroom is making me crave the clean feeling we got from having finished this renovation. 

In the gut we replaced most of the drywall, installed heated flooring under the tile, cement board under the tub surround, insulation under the tub and re-plumbed the toilet (OMG that was scary) and the tub fixtures.  

We left everything where it was including the window and mostly worked around the layout. Shrinking the vanity and covering up the heat vent gave us the illusion of more floor space. We also kept the walls fairly bare to encourage light to bounce around. 

I love the 'cement' look/feel of the tile without the scary pour. We used a soft grey grout which also lent to the illusion of a solid floor. The heated floor was an amazing feature. One that I am determined to include in our new house. 

The radiant heat is so much nicer to come out of a shower too. No blowing air to give you goose bumps. 

still in progress but the grout is done. No mirror and the shot was taken at night. 

In progress with a temporary mirror, no grout in the glass tile backsplash and the thermostate/light switch dangling. The bar across the sink is soon to go in the cubbie for hooks. There is a plug-in inside the cubbie for hair dryers and the like. 

Here is the bathtub tile done, without grout. Truth be told I like the dark lines and if we ever do this size of subway tile again I think I will go dark with the grout. 

Just before we started the tile job. The blue board behind the tub is for waterproofing. You will notice that we tile a full tile after the tub line to increase the water proofing. 

This is a good example of what I am talking about when I saw 'practical' vs 'economic' vs 'photo worthy'. Some things that you do have to fall into one of those columns but the really satisfying stuff that you end up loving when you live there usually hits more than one. This was a super practical touch that was a bit more expensive but way worth it. The water never stops at the tub line and you often get 'rot' there where the drywall gets wet. I decided to extend it a bit and I was super happy with the results. It also helped to extend the tile right to the ceiling. Visually this gave you a feeling of a larger space, it allowed me to avoid some issues around the window and it just made sense. Who wants to be 'careful' all the time when you could crank the shower radio and rock out while washing your hair. 

The tub tile was also a kijiji find. 180 for all of the tile and I believe around 300 square feet. We didn't use it all and had plenty to work with for cut-offs and waste. the cubby was tiled in the same tile in the same pattern. White 2x6 tiles from dal-tile.