Projects in Progress

My favorite work boots for the outdoors

I've been working on projects a lot lately. 

This week we are *finally* re-tiling our master bathroom. Do you remember our story of the disappearing tiles from last year? No? When we bought this house, the wall behind the bathroom tile had rotted completely away. We discovered this "delightful detail" when we scrubbed the tile for the first time. The individual tiles just disappeared into the wall space, leaving behind a black void. What fun, right? 

We ripped down the walls and rebuilt them. (Actually, I should clarify: Nathan ripped down the walls and rebuilt them. He's great like that.)

We started fixing that bathroom almost a year ago. 

Yeah, well, we're finally finishing that project. It helps to have free labor from the LDS missionaries who happen to have experience in tiling. I feel quite lucky to have their help this weekend on this project.

The tiles themselves are awesome. We regularly shop at the Habitat ReStore (a clearing house for surplus or reclaimed building materials). I happened to be in town the day they had all tile clearanced for 5 cents per tile. After digging through piles of tiles (piles of tiles....sounds like Dr Suess would say that) I managed to collect several boxes of compatible tiles for a mosaic-looking tile job. I filled our van with 340 tiles that day for around $20. Perfect! 

In other *riveting* news, I tackled a poison ivy bush 8 feet tall on one of my beloved trees. The pernicious ivy met a cruel death at the hands of a crazy lady clad in garbage bags, leather gloves, and galoshes wielding a sharp ax. I won. 

I discovered this homemade headboard project today. It's added to my wishlist. I'm scouting the ReStore for vintage raised panel doors this month.