So, here are a few of the things I've been working on while I've been in San Diego:
I completely redid the laundry room. I didn't take a before picture, but the walls were a lime green with a 70's style wallpaper on the wall behind the washer and dryer. I removed the wallpaper and the old shelf that was up above the washer/dryer, painted the room, took out the old laminate tile and installed the new tile. New shelving and a new doorknob later and we were done. =] I like it.
I helped Britte make these Bridal Shower cakes for our friend, Emilyssa. Mostly I helped make the little flowers on the cakes and the bodies (which I sculpted out of fondant). It was fun for my first cake decorating experience, but I realized I'm probably way too perfectionistic while I was making the flowers!
Britte and I took down the old tile from our parents' bathroom. The pipe broke quite a while ago, and we finally decided we were smart enough to fix it. Eventually we decided we should just completely redo the whole shower area. Taking out the ugly old tile was actually pretty fun, but big trash bags were necessary.
Britte sanded down the glue on the old greenboard that was still good, so we didn't have to replace that section. In case you were wondering, you don't use "greenboard" any more, you use a mold resistant cement board. Fortunately, they still paint one side of the cement board green, probably because they know people like us (who work on their own home repairs) will freak out if we don't use the right supplies.
Sweeping the old greenboard pieces out of the tub in preparation for putting up the new ones.
Setting the tiles. It's a good thing there were two of us because it made it easier. For the most part I spread the grout and Britte pushed the tiles into place.
Cutting tiles. It was actually kind of fun, I felt like I was back in ceramics class...
...except I didn't get this wet in ceramics class, even on the wheel!
Britte takes a break in the newly tiled tub.
Here's the end product! (The curtain looks way brighter than it actually is. In reality it's more of a calm teal color. I'm assuming it's the flash causing the difference).
And on to the next project!!! The most frustrating part of this bathroom was the plumbing. The old plumbing was so messed up that removing the old pipes was incredibly hard. I actually had to heat the old pipe and twist the pieces out with a plumbers wrench. Ridiculous. Then attaching the new system took forever because the pipes we were trying to attach the new system to were a little bent, and to top it off we couldn't get the pipes to drain completely. Anyhow, we finally fixed the water problem by draining all the pipes in the house (you have to turn the water to the house off and then turn all the faucets, including the hoses outside, on) and then with a little more solder and a few "love-taps" with a hammer we got our new pipes to fit into the old ones.
Here's the finished product. Looks the same as the other one, but we decided to put the decorative line on top. Yea for like-new bathrooms!
And to top it off, here's my adorable nephew! =] He directed me in remodeling the play-doh into a bunch of animals. This was my favorite remodeling project so far, even if I didn't get to use the propane torch.