An unexpected leak, and some summer projects~

The past couple of weeks have been a blur.  The last weekend of our spring break, my sweet hubby had gone downstairs to let our big dogs out.  He walked down to water pouring through the floor joists above.  Not good!  We shut off all water to the house (thank goodness I had just taken my shower for the day, he wasn't so fortunate, nor was our youngest).  Hmmm...have no idea where it started, other than it is in the wall of our Master Shower two stories up. 

We called our plumber, and fortunately he was able to get out to us within the hour.  Then the search for the leak begins.  We knew it was the pipes somewhere in the wall that runs between our kitchen and dining room on the 1st floor and our master bathroom and closet on the 2nd.  My fear...our shower was leaking for the 400th time (you see we have had the shower pan leak twice, the drain once, and the knee wall once).  And, each time required a huge mess and a lot of dust!!  I wanted to cry.

At first our plumber thought he'd have to go through the back of my kitchen cabinets (so those got emptied all over the counter).  Thank goodness I'd organized them a few weeks before, so it wasn't too bad clearing them out.  But, then he and hubby decided it would be wiser to go through the closet wall just behind the shower and work from there (my cabinets were spared).  However, that required a nice hole in the drywall...that got bigger and bigger.  Ended up about 18" X 36".  Oh, forgot to mention...all of MY clothes had to come out of that side of the closet first!

Good news, leak found...bad soder joint in the shower valves.  Bad news...they had to be replaced (and I had a hole in my closet wall).  Now, the decisions had to be made.  Fix valves as they are and keep old fixtures , or update valve to new codes and replace fixtures.  We decided to replace up to new codes and get a new single handle shower fixture (ours were the old double handle style).  And, the snowball begins to roll.

Replacing the fixtures meant that six tiles in shower had to be removed and then replaced after the new valves were installed (two trips for the tile guy).  Oh, but wait...now the pretty new shower fixture doesn't match the tub and sink fixtures!  9 tiles come off the front of the tub for it to be replaced and the sinks get new fixtures too. 

This whole time 3 of us are sharing one bathroom upstairs!  We do have an extra downstairs, but it wasn't worth the trip!! LOL

The whole process took about a week and a half.  Plumber in to find leak, then tile guy in to remove tiles, plumber back to install new valves and fixtures (shower and tub, hubby later did sinks), tile guy back to install tiles (and hubby to install plate and handle and sink fixtures).  Then I got the pleasure of replacing the drywall in our closet.  I had done drywall before, but had forgotten how much dust is involved.

We are in the home stretch now.  Fixtures are in, drywall done and painted...just need to install access panel (yes, we got smart this time and are installing an access door in our closet behind the valves).  The painters are coming to paint our Master Bedroom and Bath next week, so I hope to reveal the new and improved then.

In the meantime, I was home waiting on workers so I had a little time to be creative.  Finally, some pictures you say?!!!

I created this sign for our back porch using a board I already had.  I spray painted the board white, then roughed up the edges a bit.  I used an alphabet stencil I had on hand and my handy paint markers to create the words, and then added the flowers using another stencil.  Once dry, I lightly sanded the whole thing to distress it a bit.  It picks up the colors in our back porch decor, which hopefully now that the pollen has subsided will be brought out this weekend!

Then I decided to create a new wreath for our front door.  I didn't want to spend any money doing so, and since I was kinda stuck at home with the workers I really didn't have time to go get supplies even if I'd wanted to.  So, our new beachy wreath was born.  I took two old grapevine wreaths and attached them together (one is a bit smaller than the other).  This makes the wreath appear fuller.  I used zip ties to do so (you'll never see them).  Then I went to my stash of seashells and started randomly glueing them onto the wreath.  Added some jute rope and a burlap bow, and had myself a new summer wreath.

Oh, and did I mention...we are having new carpet installed in my new office and the library today?  Yes, the snowball gets bigger!  All the contents of those two rooms now resides in my dining room!

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I hope to have some great room reveals next week!!  But, for now I am off to build a snowman!

***THIS JUST IN...WHILE THEY HAVE THE CARPET FOR OUR FRONT STAIRS, THEY SEEM TO HAVE LOST THE CARPET FOR OUR FRONT ROOMS!  AND, THEY ARE JUST TELLING ME 30 MINUTES PRIOR TO WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO START???