The Bathroom

There had been 4x4 white tiles on all of the walls, and 12 inch laminate tiles on the floor. The sink was old and run down, and the vanity barely supported itself. There had been a pedestal sink in the basement which was not being used. We tore out the old sink and replaced it with the pedestal. Then all of the tiles came down, along with the rotten and moldy walls we found behind the tiles. The cast iron tub, the sub-floor, and the ceiling were the only things to stay.

New tile went up in the shower area and on the floor. The studs were covered with wainscoting on the bottom half, plain plywood on the top, and separated with a chair rail. The top half of the wall was painted a dark green, and the bottom bright white. A white cabinet was hung above the toilet, and a white storage shelf was added to the room as well. The bathroom is only 5 feet by 5 feet. The bathtub takes up about two fifths of the room, so it was very cramped and tedious working in such a small space. After we finished all of the work, I was ready to give up on home renovations. So the next thing we did was design and build a pantry. (Since I started writing this, Michelle has decided to change some more things about the bathroom. I'll post pictures once it's completed again.)

The Kitchen

There was no storage in the kitchen for our food, so Michelle and I (with a lot of help from Dad) designed a pantry, and then built it. The pantry takes up one entire wall that was not being used in the "eat in" portion of the eat-in-kitchen. The pantry provides plenty of room for our dry food, overflow from the kitchen cabinets, as well as a broom closet. Once the work was done on the pantry, I decided to give up on home renovations. That's when we started tearing apart our kitchen.

The counter tops consisted of 4x4 inch tiles. They looked okay, but were impossible to keep clean (and sanitary). The matching backsplash was never completed. The cabinets were original to the house, and were in good condition other than being greasy and an ugly color. Michelle took it upon herself to rip out the backsplash one day, and the next project was officially under way. We took off all of the cabinet doors, degreased them, sanded them, sanded them again, and then added two layers of primer and a couple layers of Sherwin Williams Duration Home paint. I highly suggest this line of paint. It's environmentally friendly, and it's incredibly easy to clean. Dirt and grease just wipe off with a damp cloth.

We threw away the old hardware from the cabinets because it looked like it came from a barn door, and replaced it with new hardware that matched the look we were going for. Michelle made a trip to Ikea with her family and purchased three pieces of oak butcher block counters. Dad and Mark came by one day, and as a team, we removed the old counters and installed the new ones.

New 1x2 inch slate tiles went up as a backsplash with an off white grout. It reminds me of brick, which I've always thought looked great in kitchens. My partner in (fighting) crime donated about 20 18 inch slate tiles. Home Depot only sold 12 inch slate tiles, so Michelle and I worked out a design that would incorporate the 18 and 12 inch tiles.

Dad and I began to pull up the laminate tiles that were on the kitchen floor, but found it easier to take out the plywood that the tiles were glued to. The original laminate floor was under the plywood. It was still sufficiently adhered to the floor, so we laid the slate floors directly on it. The spaces between the tiles was filled with a grey grout.

Michelle and I had seen an episode of Design on a Dime (HGTV) where they purchased a dishwasher for $15. Since then, she had been determined to pay not a dollar more on a dishwasher. One day, we were driving through town and saw a yard sale in front of a business. She said, "Turn around, there was a dishwasher." We went back and left with a somewhat used dishwasher for $35. It was a little more than twice what was paid for on Design on a Dime, but it was still much cheaper than a new one.

Dad and I cut out a couple of cabinets, and I hooked it up to water supply a plumber had installed. The dishwasher did not have the drainage hose with it, so we had to purchase one. Unfortunately, Home Depot did not carry the specific connection, so I improvised. (And it worked.)

After all of that, I decided that we would take a break with the home renovations. Shortly thereafter, we started on the basement.

The Basement

The basement consisted of cement floors, and cinder block walls. No insulation, and no interior walls other than those that surrounded the staircase in the middle of the house. Dad and I studded half of the basement. We replaced the window that was in that half of the basement. The one that was there was broken. Michelle's grandmother said that it had been that way as long as she could remember. We also installed two doors leading from the soon-to-be finished half to the non-finished half. Michelle and I insulated once the studding was finished, and put furring strips on the ceiling so we could later cover it with plywood. Dad and I did some electrical work to fix the lights, and made them function with a light switch. We then covered the walls and ceiling with plywood, and used 1x4s as molding around the room, doors, and window. We plan to stain the cement floor, though we haven't decided on a color.

The new room in the basement includes a laundry area, and a place for all of my police crap.

The Pictures

There will be more to come, now that I've found the battery charger for my camera.

A close up of the backsplash above the stove.	A close up of the backsplash over the stove.	Backsplash and stove. The backsplash glows nicely due to the lights under the microwave.
We took the backsplash up to the top of the cabinets on the walls that did not have any.
A close up of the backsplash next to the new wall color.
New counter top, backsplash, and wall color.	The cross that was given to us at our wedding by Fr. Tim. It has interlocking rings on it. It's proudly displayed above the sink and window.	This is one of my favorite shots of the kitchen. You can see the butcher block counter tops, the backsplash, the refinished cabinets, and the new hardware.
Above the window, I used some scrap pieces of the counter top (from the sink/stove cut outs) to make a valance.
	I love the colors and the irregularities in the backsplash. Some of the pieces were thicker than the others, and some much thinner. It gives it a nice depth.
		A wider angle of the kitchen showing almost all of the improvements.

I responded to a report of an accident with injuries one afternoon. When I arrived, I found this Honda wrapped around a telephone poll. The teenage driver was miraculously not injured. The telephone poll snapped in half, and the top half came to rest feet from the car, still standing. It took the EMC hours to fix the problem.

These flowers were so small that they were actually touching my camera lens to get the shot that I wanted. There's an old split wood fence that runs alongside the road in the background.

This flower has met the end of its life, but it still had something to offer. I love the contrast of the bright flower pedals to the brown leaves. This picture was taken in the same place as my previous post.

After going through the tunnel (which I failed to get a picture of itself), we were lead into a room with an impressively large window into the Ocean Voyager tank. Michelle and I sat there for a while, and came back before leaving. It was so relaxing to watch the animals swim by, accompanied by the music that was playing. It was so funny to watch the grouper fish. They would swim right up to the glass and stare at us. At any given moment there were three or four 400 pound grouper fish staring at us while we were staring at them. There was one that would stay near the edge and just kind of peek around the corner at everyone. They were probably just as amazed as we were. 

We then went to the Tropical Diver exhibit. There were several smaller tanks with garden eels, jelly fish, and many tropical fish. Unfortunately, this is the point that the battery in my camera died. I got a couple of pictures of this exhibit. 

After the Tropical Diver, we went to the "4D" theater. It was a 30 minute 3D animated show about conserving the oceans and the animals that live in it. They 4th "D" came into play with vibrating seats, bubbles that would fall from the ceiling, burst of air, and "tentacles" that brushed up against you while you were going through a school of jelly fish. The show was obviously for children, but it's enjoyable for everyone.

The Cold Water Quest exhibit featured three beluga whales, sea otters, penguins, sea lions, and Japanese spider crabs. The beluga whales were so large, but at the same time they were so graceful. One of the whales began swimming around in front of the glass. The guide called it the "beluga ballet". 

We ate at the aquarium and then proceeded to the River Scout exhibit. The "river" ran overhead throughout the exhibit. It was such a neat experience to be walking under a river and seeing the animals from that perspective. There were also alligators, turtles, piranhas, river otters, and different displays of "electric" fish.

Next was the Georgia Explorer exhibit, which featured several touch tanks. I couldn't pass up the chance to touch sharks, sting rays, horse shoe crabs, starfish, and shrimp. They all felt exactly how I imagined them feeling, but it was fun.  After visiting the beluga whales and the Ocean Voyager again, we headed out. We got some drinks at a coffee stand outside on the way back to the parking deck.

It was a great visit, but we'll have to return in the future with a fully charged camera battery. There were signs inside saying that they are adding a dolphin exhibit that will be completed in 2010. 

Michelle tossed the frisbee a little too hard, and the wind caught it and took it into a tree on the opposite side of the road. I had to climb through a briar patch to get to the frisbee. When I got through I noticed a beautiful opening in the woods covered in little purple flowers. It would have been the perfect place for fairies and the like to gather. I crawled back through the briars after retrieving the frisbee, only to climb back again with my camera. I took plenty of pictures, but this is one of my favorites. Click on it to get the full sized picture (perfect for a desktop wallpaper). You'll notice in the full sized picture all of the pollen covering the leaves and petals. 

Michelle Graduates

Last week, Michelle graduated from Kennesaw State University! I never realized how big of an accomplishment this was until recently. We originally thought Michelle was graduating Magna Cum Laude, but when they called her name, they announced "Summa Cum Laude." (That's a GPA of 3.9 or higher.) Mom said, "Did they say Summa Cum Laude? She's so smart it's disgusting." After the graduation, we all came back to our house for a cookout. It was good to see the family again.

High Falls State Park

We left around lunch time on Friday to go to High Falls State Park in central Georgia. We love to go camping, but haven't been in months. Before leaving we went to the newly opened REI in town. We purchased a few items for our trip. When we got back to my truck, it wouldn't start. Though old, my truck always starts right away. We were very worried, reminiscing about one of our other camping trips where the car broke down. (Click here to read about that trip.) Thinking I flooded the engine, we walked to Chick-fil-a for some food. Luckily, the truck started up and we headed out. 

When we arrived we picked out a campsite and set up our tent and hammocks. We spent most of our time on Friday in the hammocks. We cooked hotdogs over the fire for dinner and went to bed.

It was pretty chilly in the morning. Eggs, grits, and hot Tang made a welcoming breakfast. After lounging and napping in the hammocks, we packed lunch and went to the lake. We rented a canoe and set out on the lake. After paddling for a little while we found a nice cove where we ate lunch. While we were eating, a bird flying over the water caught my eye. I watched it land on a fallen tree that was in the water. When it landed, part of the log fell into the water. Then I looked closer and saw that the log was covered in turtles who were sunning. We got as close as we could to them, but they all jumped into the water. We paddled around the edge of the lake and came across a couple more logs with turtles on them. I took these pictures:

After our canoe trip we gathered firewood so we could cook our dinner. We cooked what we call Hobo Dinner. I think I got the name from Dad or the Boy Scouts. It consists of ground beef, corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, green beans, salt, and pepper. Wrap all of the ingredients in aluminum foil and throw it in the fire. We also wrapped a corn on the cob in aluminum foil and tossed it in the fire as well. The Hobo Dinner is one of the best meals ever. Michelle and I always look forward to that meal when we go camping. 

Sunday morning we laid around in the hammocks even more. They're really comfortable and relaxing, but after a while we started getting restless so we packed up. On the way back we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall and a Dairy Queen.

My truck made it all the way there and back without a problem. 

I believe this is called a Passion Flower. Picture taken at Sophie's Place in Jamaica.

Just some white fowers at Jacob's Ladder in Jamaica.

Sunset at Jacob's Ladder.

Flowers growing on a chainlink fence at Jacob's Ladder.

Preparing for Mass at Jacob's Ladder on our last day.

The rest of the pictures were taken at a park after my nephew's Baptism in Athens, GA.