Before and After, part 2

Half-bath before:

Half-bath after:

And then there was one

I finally knocked out the half-bath this weekend, leaving me with just the backsplash tile in the kitchen left to go on the remodel project I started back in September of last year! I had installed the dual-flush toilet and pedestal sink in the half-bath a few weeks ago. The toilet closet flange was cracked so I needed to repair that before setting the toilet and the pedestal sink was a royal pain in the butt to install...just too small of a workspace for my big hands and clumsy body. Once these two items were up and running, the bathroom was a nice feature to have downstairs! This past weekend, I installed the light fixture, glass shelf, toilet paper holder, and hand towel holder. Suzanne added the final "finishing touches" with the addition of a new hand towel and trash can. I will finish painting the window trim and door trim sometime later this year.

Excuse me sir, which way to the loo?

So I ordered a new dual-flush toilet and pedestal sink for the downstairs half-bath about 3 weeks ago in anticipation of finishing the bathroom project before the end of April. The items where supposed to be ready for pick-up from Lowe's on April 14th so I spent most of the weekend prior to the 14th sanding drywall and painting the half-bath to get it ready. Well, the 14th came and went without any word from Lowe's so I called them on the 15th and was told that the pieces would be in on the 17th. I stopped by the store on my way home from work on the 17th and was told that my order was "still in transit" and to check back tomorrow. So, I stopped by on the 18th on my way home from work and was told this time that the toilet and sink had been lost in transit by the supplier...which basically meant that the supplier never shipped my stuff. Lowe's was pretty nice about it and called me the next day to say that they were contacting the supplier to have them re-ship my order and to expedite the shipment. They also mentioned a discount on my order. I was hoping to get my order last Friday (April 25th) but when I called Lowe's, I was told that the supplier was waiting on the toilet to come in and that my target arrival date in the store is now May 5th...so much for expediting the order. In the meantime, I've been spending my weekend hanging out with Hudson, Suzanne and the dogs so I can't really complain too much about not being able to work on the bathroom. Now I'm just hoping that Lowe's holds up their promise of a discount.

My next "project"

Suzanne stitched this RUSH logo on a onesie for Hudson, but we all know that it really was to appease daddy! Here's hoping that this kid has decent taste in music, lord knows, he is going to get exposed to plenty of it long before he has any choice in the matter!

True...True...

So my father-in-law, Ray, sent me this in an email today...best damn IKEA joke I've ever seen (Thanks Ray!). If you've ever bought anything at Ikea, you'll see why this is so funny.

"IKEA has announced its intention to start selling cars"

Let Levi Ride!

I've kind of put the remaining remodeling efforts "on hold" right now in anticipation of Hudson's arrival, so in the interim, I figured I'd use this Blog to promote something that I probably love more than remodeling...cycling!!

I'll try and sum this up in one quick sentence while trying not to bore you to death with the details. Basically, a US Pro cyclist is getting royally screwed by the organization that manages the Tour de France. You can read all about it on the link below, but if you do nothing else, please, please, please, PLEASE, sign the petition to LET LEVI RIDE!!!

http://www.letleviride.com/

Thanks!

-Craig

PS - I'll get to that half bath and tile backsplash sometime between now and the end of this year so stay tuned!

The Full Monty

Here you go folks, I've loaded all of the pictures from the kitchen remodel (well, at least all of the ones that I was able to recover after my computer decided to up and die on me) to Kodak Gallery. So, if you are bored out of your mind and want to burn a good 20 or 30 minutes, check them out at this link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1994rry7.1jad5fev&x=0&y=-tlq5rk

And for those of you still keeping count, I still have the downstairs half-bath and tiling the backsplash in the kitchen to finish, as well as painting the hall and stairwell. All that will probably happen after Hudson is here (heck, he may even help!).