The Maders: January 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Master bath reno Complete!

Again, I'm late posting this. Back in November we ran into a problem with our master shower. 3 tiny tiles just fell off the side of the shower. We thought that was odd but thought we could call a repair man and he could fix it. Not the case. Keep in mind, our house was built in 2002, so tiles should not be falling off!

Dave and I had one guy come out to look at it. He said that he couldn't just replace the tile. The problem was our cheap builder. Instead of putting concrete blocks/walls in the shower then tiling over that, the builder/tile man put the tile directly on the sheet rock. It's no wonder the tiles were falling off. I can't believe we didn't have water damage and mold! The man also said that he'd have to re-tile the entire shower! Meaning we'd have to re-tile the bathtub too because they are adjoined. Ugh!

After realizing that this was a bigger project than we thought, Dave put everything in my hands. Since my degree is in Interior Design I figured that I could have a little fun with this.

The first tile man quoted us a ridiculously high price. I could totally gut my entire bathroom and redo it with the price that he quoted us for just re-tiling. He also said that it would take him and his men about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks to do the job. That is even more crazy. I've been around a lot of construction in my former days of working and I know that it does not take that long to re-tile a shower/tub.

I called another tile guy to come give us a quote. He gave us a quote that was half of what the first guy had quoted us. He also said that he could get everything finished within 5 business days. Now we were talking!

Lexie and I drove all the way to Cumming, GA to their showroom to pick out the new tile. I had in mind what I wanted to do. Nothing too over the top because we plan on moving within the next year (normally I would have convinced Dave to do travertine - Ha).

Our bathroom was about to go under the knife!

One tile guy arrived around 8 AM on a Monday morning. He was so nice and very clean (I was really worried about the demo process with Lexie starting to crawl). He would rip up the wall for a few hours and then clean up all the broken tiles and sweep. He starting laying the tile on Wednesday. By Thursday evening, he was done! I bought new fixtures for the sinks, tub, and shower - he even installed them (a lot of tile guys require you to call a plumber). Friday morning another man came to install our frameless shower door. After the door was installed, Dave and I could finally move back into our bathroom.

I went with a neutral 9x12 neutral colored tile with a solid colored 1"x1" tile for the border in the shower. I had them raise the tile height in the shower from 6'5" to 7'5" to give the space a bigger feel. They built a corner seat along with a corner shelf substituting for the towel bar that we never used. Instead of keeping the same fixtures, I decided to change it up a bit. I bought antique bronze fixtures to make the bathroom have a little bit of contrast.

Impressive Tile was an amazing company to work with! I was extremely pleased with them. They were quick and clean with a great price!

before. . . .

Bath tub before. . . .

The problem. . . . . .

Demo time!

Frameless shower door - I'm so glad I did this - it makes the shower seem so much bigger!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas and New Years

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I know that I've been slacking a lot in the blogging world. It seems like the holidays came and went and left me picking up after it. I still find little pieces of glitter on Lexie, Dave, or myself. I can't seem to get rid of it!

Christmas was great! The three of us Maders stayed in Atlanta and woke up in our own house on C'mas morning (I tradition I plan to keep - I think it's important for my child to be able to wake up in her own house on C'mas day. That's the way my parents always did it and I loved it). Lexie was a little confused when it came time to open gifts. Dave and I told her over and over not to touch or mess with the presents under the tree. Then when it came time to open them, she kept looking at us as if she wanted to say, 'is this a trick?' And of course, she was just more fixated on the wrapping paper and bows than anything else.

My parents came up around noon and we did C'mas again. I think Lexie must have been really good this year. Santa dropped off a TON of wonderful goodies at Su Su and Papa John's house. My goodness!

After opening gifts, we had a nice C'mas dinner along with Dave's famous/delicious turkey. Lexie even joined us at the table for her first 'nice' dinner in the dining room.

Two days after C'mas, we packed up and drove to Ft. Mill, South Carolina (where Dave's parents recently bought a second home - basically outside of Charlotte). Lexie got to have C'mas all over again. She got really cute clothes and some awesome toys! I think she had a field day at Mike and Kathy's house. They just moved in and are still in the midst of buying furniture. So it was basically an open floor plan for Lexie to crawl and roam everywhere. We didn't get to hang out with John, Michelle, and Amelia very much due to Amelia being sick. I hated not being able to see them more but Dave and I didn't want to take the chance of getting Lexie sick. Lexie has been really fortunate to have not gotten sick so far.

Once we got back from SC, we got ready for New Years. Dave decided he didn't want to go to the VT/UT game on NYE - shocking, I know!! Since that was the case, we invited our wonderful friends Marc/Fran Colley over along with our other friends, Joe and Rob. We had a lovely dinner, watched VT pound on the volunteers, and counted the time until 2010.

My parents drove up on NY day to stay the weekend. My Aunt Melinda, cousin Meredith, and Grandma were in town for a wedding. It also was my Grandma's 88th b'day. My Mom made reservations for all of us to go to the Palm in Buckhead for dinner. Lexie did great even though it was way past her bedtime. I only broke her bedtime due to the fact her GG was in town.

I used to dine at the Palm quite often but hadn't in a while. I have to say that I'd go back just for the service. The food was delicious (A+) and the service was outstanding (A+++++++). If you ever need a nice place to dine, think about going to the Palm. Also ask for the waiter, Mr. Logan. Lexie was also very impressed. After Mr. Logan would finish talking or explaining the specials, etc. - Lexie would smile big and start clapping. It was hilarious and cute.

I can't believe it's 2010 and that Lexie is 9 months old! It is absolutely crazy how fast time flies by now.

Christmas and New Years was truly wonderful! I hope yours was too!

By the way, I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures from C'mas/NY as you can see below. . . .I guess I'm making up for not keeping up with my blogs.

Family room tree and stockings

Living Room tree

Waiting for Santa. . . .

Santa came!! He must have liked the oreos. . .

Her first stocking stuffed full of goodies

There's more in the stocking?

About to open her first present

Every time Lexie would see the preview for Alvin & the Chipmunks movie (the squeakle), she'd stop what she was doing and start dancing. So we had to get her the first one.