changes

Greg was out of town last night so no progress was made on the bathroom. Instead, I spent my time relaxing with Murphy on the couch and watching some TV. I could get used to that.

Anyways, I was playing around with the blog last night and added some tabs that you can see above. It is still a work in progress that I hope to expand on. Enjoy :)

xo, Erin

work in progress..

Last night we were busy tiling. We didn't get as far as we hoped, but are very excited about the results so far.

Take a peek...

More to come soon.

xo, Erin

How to: Hardiebacker

After ripping up the old linoleum, then prepping the floor, we were ready for Hardiebacker. This is the step you do right before tiling. Your floor needs a strong base to support your tile and this gets the job done. Everything we learned came from this very informative book:

We purchased 5 Hardiebacker sheets from Home Depot that were 1/4" thick. They have thicker sheets that are 1/2", but those are used for walls (we used those in our shower).  

The first step is to measure and cut your sheets to the space.  All of our sheets had to be trimmed to go around corners, vents and the toilet.  Greg used a scorer specifically designed for this job and it made life easier.

find it here

After all the sheets were cut and every inch of the floor was covered, put them off to the side (remember where each one goes). Now it's time to mix the mortar.  Read the directions and mix correct amounts of mortar and water together. Use something that looks like this on the end of your drill.

After mixing, it sits for about 10 minutes before you can begin.  This is a great time to shop-vac the floors. There is probably lots of dust and small pieces of Hardiebacker everywhere if you did your cutting in the room. Even if you didn't, you want to make sure to get everything up. Spreading thin-set with your trowel and finding 'crumbs' everywhere is not fun. 

Once the mortar is ready, use a 1/4" notched trowel to spread.

Greg spread enough on to put down one Hardiebacker sheet at a time. Spread it around, pushing it into the floor, then with the notched side, pull at a 45 degree angle. You should be able to see groove lines as shown below.

Grab your Hardiebacker sheet that was cut for that spot. Line it up on both sides, slowly lower it and then Greg would jump/shove to make sure it was in place.

Use the proper screws that are meant for cement board. There are small grooves on the Hardiebacker so you know where to place them. A whole sheet takes about 60 screws.

Last step... seal the joints. Grab tape similar to the picture below. We used Drywall tape because it's the same stuff and is cheaper. Run a strip along each Hardiebacker joint. Place a line of mortar on top with a putty knife. Allow to dry.

If you followed the above steps, you are ready for tile, which is exactly what we will be doing tonight! So excited for the finished product!

xo, Erin

Earth Day Escapades

Do you remember me talking about this awesome red maple here?

Well, bad news, things aren't looking very awesome anymore. We had that crazy 80 degree weather over a month ago, everything bloomed, and a lot of tress around us got frost damage :( Mature trees know not to bloom until it stays warmer longer, but this tree was a baby and all its leaves were out.  We got a great deal on it, but we are very sad to see it go.

Fast forward to last night when we did some more tree planting.  First thing we did was get rid of the dead maple and replace it with something similar. We couldn't find any maples around us for a good price, so we ended up with a dogwood. I have always wanted one of these.

We continued celebrating Earth Day by planting more trees. I have discussed how we wanted to add shade and privacy to our backyard. No one around us took the initiative to landscape their backyard, so we figured we will hopefully be the trendsetters. We finally bit the bullet and bought some evergreens. 

We did some shopping around and research and discovered Norway Spruce trees are the fastest growing evergreen, with a growth rate of 2-3 feet per year. We borrowed Greg's boss' trailer and went to pick some up about thirty minutes away. Why? because their trees were at least half the price of every other nursery around. They are about six feet tall... not too shabby.  

First thing we did was figure out the spacing. Greg and I placed them about ten feet apart and staggered the center one in a little. I spray painted circles on the ground where we decided.  We dragged the trees in place and stood back to make sure we liked them.  It was time to dig.  

Hole was about 20 inches deep. That is one big root ball!

A few hours and 5 holes later, we had this:

We found the pear tree and dogwood at Lowe's.  They come with a one year guarantee and have decent prices on their trees.  Make sure you dig through them to find the best quality, they can differ greatly.

I am very excited to see our backyard finally having trees and seeing progress.  We will make sure to fertilize and water the new trees.  We were told the frost should no longer affect the trees, fingers crossed.

Just to refresh your memory, here is our backyard on moving day. Big difference, don't you agree?

How did you spend Earth Day? Hopefully not working as hard as us ;)

p.s. We made some bathroom flooring progress, update tomorrow!

xo, Erin

Happy Friday

Have I mentioned how much I love Friday?

Well, I do. It's always a good day at work because I know the weekend is here. I take that back, everyday is a good day at work. I love my job THAT much and I probably say it way too often. Sorry for rubbing it in ;)

Lots of projects are planned for the next couple days and I am very excited to start working on them. First, let me tell you my 5 favorite things that happened this week (minus pictures):

1. As I mentioned yesterday, we sold our patio set. Hooray for cash in the bank and moving on to the next project out there.

2. My hubby bought me a new laptop, he's the best :)  My current one is close to 6 years old, runs slow, doesn't have much memory left and needs to be plugged in at all times. I'd say it was about time for a new one.

3. My brother-in-law and his fiance stopped by last night for a short visit. They are on the road to Nashville this morning and our house was right on the way. We love visitors :)

4. I went to an all-day Early Childhood conference in Columbus yesterday. I learned a lot and came home with a list of things I want to make. Fun fact: Children learn best from their sense of smell. Cinnamon stimulates boys, while cucumber & melon stimulates girls. Who knew?

5. Rita's! Have you ever had it? It's the most delicious Italian Ice ever. I stopped by yesterday on my way home from Columbus and bought 3 quarts. What a refreshing treat!

xo, Erin