GrooveDirk: September 2006

What a mess! The basement

Some people have been asking for some pictures of the basement remodel. We didn't get any "before" pictures, but here are some "during" pictures (we'll post the "after" pics once everything is done). Here's the family room in the basement. You can see some of the items waiting to be installed in the bathroom (the mirror, shower fixtures, etc) and the rest of the family room furniture all covered with plastic. This picture is to show how disruptive a basement remodelling project can be to the adjacent areas being worked on. FYI: we are replacing the carpet in this room when everything is done.

Basement Guest Room

Here's a view of the basement guestroom looking towards the door. We are replacing the glass block window in this picture with a nice picture egress window to give some more light and an escape route if there was ever a fire.

Basement Guest Room

Here's a shot of the basement guestroom showing the big walk in closet.

Basement Guest Room

Here's one view of the basement guestroom. We just ordered the carpet for the floor which should be installed in the next two weeks.

Basement walk in shower

Here's the basement walk in shower. It's gonna have a rainfall shower tile in the ceiling along with a handshower and steam. It's got a huge wrap around bench that could probably seat 4-6....We are waiting for the tile to arrive so they tile it and install the shower fixtures. Then we have to get the shower door guys in to measure and order our door.

The new laundry area across from the stairs..

The old laundry area under the stairs..

Upstairs Bathroom

As some of you know, I decided partway through this remodelling project to have the upstairs bathroom redone as well. We replaced all the shower fixtures and got a new toilet. Somewhere along the way I kinda lost my mind and decided to get the fancy bidet toilet seat (they call them a "washlet") you see here. The toilet is a modern looking Toto toilet with the high end Toto washlet (complete with wireless controller). It's got a heated seat, a deoderizer, a front and rear warm water cleaning wand and a air dryer. I got one for the basement toilet too. Like I said I kinda lost my mind (but at least I got a real good deal on ebay for them).

Upstairs bathroom

Here's the new rainfall shower head and handshower (the same handshower being installed downstairs) in the upstairs bathroom.

Ian with his Tiffany rattle.

Here's Ian playing with his Tiffany rattle (a gift from his great uncle Dirk).

Ian in (one of his many) cute pajamas.

Ian with his frozen teether.

Father and son in the park.

Ian's grandparents Bert & Judy came back to town to visit last week. We had hoped the basement remodelling would be done, but it was not to be. However, Bert (as usual) helped out with lots of projects, big and small, around the house and got us a lil bit closer to be finished. We all had a nice trip down to the lakefront where we had a little picnic. Later I got a bad cold and ended up spending much of their visit camped out on the porch (since the guest room in the basement isn't finished yet).
My dad, Cor, is now coming the end of the month for his visit. Finally Ian will meet his other grandfather in person. The basement guestroom should be all done by the time he gets here. My uncle Dirk and Chi were supposed to come as well, but they have re-scheduled their visit to the spring. Ian was playing today with the beautiful Tiffany rattle his great uncle got him. He seemed to really love it, until he accidentaly hit himself in the head with it. Silver rattles look cool, but they are a lot harder than the usual plastic ones...