More Progress on Shower

Well it has now been a week since I began the renovation of our Master Shower.  Quite a bit of progress has been made.  The carpentry is done.  I finished the plumbing on Thursday.  Due to some unusual choices by the builder the plumbing on this turned out to be a little more involved than I hoped.  But after a trip to Home Depot to confir with a retired plumber there I did get it done.  Maybe not as elegant as I would have liked but it should be stable and moved the plumbing back insde the wall where it needed to be.

I finally got the old shower pan out.

New framing with lower ceiling

Some interesting plumbing the pipe has been moved close enough to the floor for the shower bed to cover it.  Much cussing and discussing involved in this move.  I don't really like to do plumbing and this was a bit like a jig saw puzzle but in the end no leaks and the faucets all work correctly.

The Tile Backer board going in and you can see the can lights are in

And on a lighter note.  Smokey decided he needed a time out recently.  He sat like this facing the wall for quite a while.  We never found out what he was doing penance for.

More Later:

Bruce and Pam

New Year New Projects

Well the new year is underway and so are some new projects.  The first and biggest for the moment is the completion of our Master Bath remodel.  We had put in new counter tops in November.  Now I am tearing out the old shower and replacing it with a new larger shower.  I am also replacing the vent fans in the bathroom.  The builder of course used the cheapest you can find.  I am replacing with new larger and much quieter fans.

Now I seem to have a problem with before pictures.  My problem is that at the start of a project I am so focused on getting the old taken out that I forget to document it.  So here is the shower removed.

There was a void behind the shower that is going to let me make it much larger.  Larger is good as I will now not need glass doors.  Everyone knows that glass is a pain to keep clean in the shower.

I am also dropping the ceiling to I can put lighting in the shower.  I will be pouring a new bed for the shower instead of using a fiberglass pan.  Once I finish the electrical I will be using Hardy Board for my tile backer and moving the plumbing.  We haven't made our final decision on the tile yet and will probably do that after I have all the infrastructure in place.  Luckily I can do all the work myself.  I expect this to take about two weeks.  The I will repaint the bathroom and install the other new vent fan.  End result is that a 6-7 thousand dollar bath renovation should have run us about 2200.  The best part is we will have a new larger shower that should be much easier to keep clean.

On another note we were dog sitting for our Son and Daughter in law last week.  Sophie appropriated our cat Blaze's window seat.

Blaze was not a happy cat. By the third day he had enough of sharing and in an unusual move for a fairly laid back and gentle cat ran Sophie out of his spot.

Finally I found this picture on the net and couldn't resist.  Take a close look at this cat's back

Hope you are having a great week!

More later.

Bruce and Pam

Happy New Year 2012

Well it looks like the new year arrived whether we were ready or not.  Pam and I both slept right through it.  Not night owls to begin with and neither liking large crowds we ushered in the new year as we have most for the last 36 years, at home.

Hopefully the new year finds you all well and happy.  Lets hope 2012 will be a memorable year for all the right reasons.

Bruce and Pam

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our best wishes for you and your family.

Bruce and Pam

Christmas 2011

All the decorations are done.  I added a snowman and a Mrs Santa to our yard ornaments this year.  Had thought about more but between my knee problems and a cold that just wouldn't go away that is all I got done.

Here is the snowman.

Mr. and Mrs. Santa

Pam does the tree.

Luckily we have had a pretty wet December and we needed it with the drought we have had the last year.  We are scheduled for more on Monday the 19th.  We still need about 18 inches to catch up to normal levels in the lakes.

If you want to check in my my carvings go to www.bruceandpamsspot.blogspot.com

Here is the link to my ETSY shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/brucecurran.  Shop name is Laughing Cat Woodcarving.

The shop is named after my cat Blaze that likes to supervise my work.  Here is  checking on me taking a picture of one of my carvings.  Blaze appears to have a smile stuck on his face and likes to walk around the house meowing for no particular reason.  So Pam and I have decided he is laughing.  Therefore Laughing Cat (weren't you just dying to know?).

Here are a few of the Santas I carved this year getting their finishing touches.

Pam and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great New Year.

Bruce and Pam

Happy Thanksgiving

Hard to believe it is already Holiday Time again.  Seems like it was just Thanksgiving a few weeks ago.  We are hosting at our house this year.  Our son Charles and his wife Heather will be here as will some longtime friends from San Antonio Tina and Mario.

We are planning a fairly tradional meal less the turkey.  We are having ham instead.  Not a big fan of roasted Turkey (my daughter in law shares my views)  I like turkey a lot of ways just not baked in the oven.  I made my trademark mac and cheese (7 different kinds of cheese), mashed potatoes and cooked the ham.  Pam made deviled eggs, a cheese tray and relish tray, Parker house rolls and green beans.  Heather made a peanutbutter pie.

Now for that nap

Hope your day is great.

Bruce an Pam

Remodeling On Kitchen Is Now Done

We finished the remodeling in the Kitchen (less the new Range Hood as we have not yet found what we wanted).  Pam and I both agree the Kitchen is now far more functional and it is a lot easier to load the dishwasher.  Unloading is still a pain but not because of the kitchen's layout  just because neither of us really wants to do it.

Here the new back splash is being installed.  I used the same pattern on the back splash as I did on the floor around this cabinet area.  Hopefully it pulls it all together.  We think it goes well with the new granite counter tops.

Other end of the cabinet.  I replaced all of the outlets as well.

Much more usable space.  The kitchen sink was also replaced.  You can see the back splash and the floor in this picture.

Pam is enjoying the enlarged island.  It is hard to believe how much difference two feet of counter space makes.

The new cook top is a hit as well.  You can see the black range hood we are looking to replace.  The builder of course used a cheap model and surprisingly it is not vented outside even though it is on an exterior wall.  That will change when we put in the new one.  Our problem is finding a Goldilocks vent.  All the we have found are either too complex,artsy and ridiculously expensive or too simple and cheap looking.  Doesn't seem to be a lot in that mid range (aka just right).

Any more signifcant remodeling is on hold for the moment.  Have to get my knee back in shape and that is turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected.  Rehab seems to somehow make it worse before it gets better.  At least that is what my therapist seems to think.  I am ready for the better (Pam probably even more so than me).

More later

Bruce and Pam