MAYWOOD CLEANUP PART V-BATHROOM

 After Mr. Thrifty,  and I were married, we (My Dad, Mr. Thrifty and myself with the help of Dad's friend, Bill Nailon) gutted the only bathroom in the house and put in a new sink and toilet, tub surround and tiled floor.  Originally, the house had peach and burgundy plastic tiles on the walls.

The Mr. transformed the bathroom into a country cottage, all white bathroom with tongue and groove white paneling.  All hardware was polished nickel.  It had a wonderful clean and pristine appearance.

           Let's travel forward for 13 years and you can see the wear and tear which I found a bit extreme.         

 In this picture you notice that the all white floor that we put down was redone while we were gone.  The floor tiles had been cracked.  I think that it was done with none other than the toilet tank lid.  On further inspection, two pictures down, my Peoria friend, Larry took multiple pictures before we came to the house to get an idea of the condition.  If you look at the tank lid in that picture, you can see that both corners were broken off. 

 The property manager called and told us that the floor tiles were all cracked, so he sent one of his workman in there to retile the floor.  So all the black and white tile was newer to the house.
 

 

 The tub surround was just filthy.  It was an almond shade.  I don't know why I ever put that color into an all white bathroom, but I did.  We cleaned this shower many times.  Had I had more time, I would have updated that shower surround.

 

On further inspection, there was just plain dirt, grime and filth.

My girls definitely learned all about 'elbow grease' those 3 weeks.

Another before shot....

 



After the wall plate was removed, I took a picture.

 

 Somehow, another unexplained condition was the triple medicine cabinet mirror.  All of the glazing on the bottom had been stripped off.

My handy dandy fix-it man, Jesse came in like a whirling dervish and tackled 16 jobs in about 4 hours.  One of the more involved one  was to  replace the cabinet because the pipes under the sink had rusted and had been leaking.  With my girls in tow, we went to Home Depot, and bought a bathroom cabinet and sink faucet, faucets for the bathtub and other multiple items for around the house.  By the time that Jesse left, he had fixed a leaking air conditioner unit, overhauled the faucet under the kitchen sink, and done some roof work. I really believe that between Mr. Terry and Jesse, this job would never have been completed.  When I think of both of them, I know that in a moment in time, they both brought much joy to me.

 

After a pretty thorough scrubbing, my oldest daughter taped off rooms in order to get the painting done faster.

 

Look at the condition of the bead board.

 

The after picture of the new tub faucets and caulking.  The tub still needs some more work.  I promise you that it was clean when we left.

 





 

Jesse's fine work under the sink.

 

I could not find a replacement top for the toilet tank.  However, with a few coats of paints, the area really cleaned up well.

 

 Other than the bottom of the mirror, the room almost looked brand new.

 

 

 I am happy with the results, though at times, I never thought we all could pull it off.

 

One of the renters installed this extra towel bar.  It was easier to clean and paint around it, than remove it and have to deal with the screw holes.



What I always enjoyed about this bathroom was that it was one of the first real projects that Mr. Thrifty did right after we were married.  It really refreshed the house.  With the background of white, any color could be introduced and it would give the room a whole new look.

 With all of the help we had, we returned the room as best we could to it's original glory.



MAYWOOD CLEANUP PART IV-BASEMENT

 It is hard to believe that we have 90 degree temperatures here in Alabama and snow on the ground in Denver in May.  Let's get back and wrap up the last few posts on the Maywood house.

 

 The basement in the Maywood house was dismal at best.  When we left, we purchased a dehumidifier with a hose running to the basement drain to keep excess moisture out of the basement.  Keeping this running 24 hours a day kept the rooms down there virtually dry when we lived there.

 

On closer inspection, it was pretty obvious that the previous renters had not followed the instructions in the contract to keep the machine running. 

 

Here is a picture of the overhead furnace pipes covered with mildew.  Wonder why?

 

 It was fortunate that I had painted these white before leaving.  Pouring straight bleach into a spray bottle was the answer. Laying newspapers on the floor, I spritzed and spritzed these tubes multiple times.  Then they were dried between turns. Of course I needed to open the windows while doing this job.  This was one job that I would not let the girls do. You will notice in the final picture how well they cleaned up.

 

Another view.  Check out Grandma's vintage turquoise telephone.

 

 

 Along with the mildew came the erosion of the water protected paint on the walls.  My precious younger daughter scraped all the walls in the three rooms by herself.  (Yes, I made her wear a   respirator.)

 



That was a lot of scraping!!!!

The laundry room was a disaster too.

 

Besides scraping for hours, my little one swept all the chips up and pitched the debris.  I was so proud of her.

 

Notice the clear hoses in the left of this next picture.  These hoses carried the water from the dehumidifier in the other room.  Basically, there was no work involved in emptying the machine.  



 

Even the laundry room sink had to be scrubbed.

 



One of the men who helped us fix up our house was our painter, Mr. Terry.  He transformed the house by painting every room, hallway, bathroom and entire basement in 8 days.  We can never thank him enough for his help.

 



After Mr. Terry's painting.(The shower room in the basement.)  All the basement walls were given a double coat of masonry paint for concrete block walls.  This particular paint was excellent in protecting the walls from moisture.

The laundry room wall.

 

 

This vintage stove was the one that Grandma used to can fruits and vegetables.  It still works.  I was sad to leave it behind, but there just wasn't time to find it a new home.  The stove made me think of one of my favorite childhood stories,  Mr. Mulligan and the Steam Shovel.  Do any of you recall this story?

 

It is amazing what 2 coats of paint will do to a basement.

A new shower curtain was purchased and hung.

The screen door from the front door was washed and set aside.  Look at the cute canned goods cabinet.  I painted that high gloss black before we moved in 2000.  The paint held up well.

 

This picture shows the furnace that I had installed after I bought the house.  The original one blocked part of the entrance into the front room of the basement.

 

On the floor you can still see where the original octopus furnace sat.

 



You might laugh but we left not one inch untouched in our cleaning.  My oldest daughter washed down every vent on the front of the furnace.



Sewing new red gingham curtains and painting the walls and the floor in the front room of the basement shows well.

Another view.

 

The realtor's view.  See how clean the overhead pipes became.

 

 

 This basement job was one of the toughest.  I didn't show the leftover garbage that the renter left. Hauling all of this junk out was the first step before we could begin our heavy duty cleaning of the basement.  My two girls were amazing workers.  My oldest loved the fact that I wrote every job in a notebook and she got such satisfaction out of finishing a job and crossing it off the list.  I think she knew that the end was in site when all tasks were scratched off.

 

Stay tuned for the Bathroom project.

 



MOTHER'S DAY CARD 2014

 I found a beautiful illustration on Graphics Fairy to use in making this year's Mother's Day card.

 



Using my scalloped scissors, I cut around the illustration. Then it was placed on a moss colored damask scrapbook paper background.

Next, I used the rose gold glitter to accent the blossoms in the background.

Besides my Grandmother, my Mom has been instrumental in honing my sewing skills growing up.  Because of this, I wanted to add some vintage buttons to the card.

I added a border of another vintage scrapbook paper.  With the hole puncher, I punched 2 holes on the edge and slipped a moss ribbon through them and tied it off.

I hope Mom enjoys the romantic card I made to honor her for her amazing love and guidance she has shared with me throughout the years.

I love you Mom!!!!

 

 

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL OUR MOTHERS

 

VINTAGE FIRST COMMUNION CARD

 

I want to update the May altar as Grandma's peonies finally bloomed. 

 

 

Now back to the blog.

 



When I started making greeting cards for friends and family, I would look for vintage religious images to embellish the cards.  A child's First Holy Communion is such a special day.  I wanted to create a memory card for each of my girls.

This is one of my most favorite vintage holy cards.

 

 

Attached on a satin ribbon, I tied a crystal heart to the knot.

I found this beautiful font on the Internet.  I think the message is a beautiful insert for the card.
 

And the complete card.  It is so easy to find these images on the Internet.  Try your hand at making one this May.

 

 

A bit of backstory on my First Communion.  Here is a picture of my 2nd grade First Communion class.  There were 109 children in the picture.  That was 2 classrooms full of kids.  Roughly, there were at least 54-55 students in one class.  Can you image a classroom today with that many?

 

 

 

In the day, my Grandmother took all of our First Communion cards and glued them into a scrapbook, with each grandchild having their very own page..  Here is an image of some of my cards.

 

 

A child's First Communion is a major event in their lives.  I am so happy to have such fond memories of my First Communion.

 

MAY ALTAR

Growing up, one of my fondest memories is cutting flowers for our May Altar that resided in our home.  We had a yellow Formica kid's table that we would cover with a white sheet.  Then, we would place a statue of Mary, because May is the month that we honor her.  Many Protestants believe that we worship Mary.  No, we honor her.  As my youngest daughter's Confirmation teacher states, "No Mary, no Jesus".  She is absolutely right.  If Mary had not said yes, our faith would not exist.

 A vase of fresh cut flowers from outside was kept at her side throughout the month. My Grandmother always had peonies blooming, so she would bring some cuttings over and later we would notice all the ants crawling around. Our job was to check the vase every morning to see if we needed to replenish the vase with fresh cuttings. 

 

At church, this is the time when the 2nd graders usually have their First Communion.  In my day, on the first Friday of May, the eighth graders would pick a girl to crown the May Queen at the Mass.  Nowadays, the 2nd graders all dressed up in their finery from their First Communion the week before process down the aisle to the statue of Mary at the front altar.  Each one brings a fresh flower to fill the vases around the base of Mary's statue.  One 2nd grader was chosen to crown the statue of Mary with a halo of flowers. It is an emotional moment to see these young children.

 

So back to the posting.  I got one of my crochet doilies from Grandma and placed it on the porch post.  

 

 

Mom had given me a statue of the Virgin Mary that she bought in France years ago.  Mary has such delicate and beautiful features. 

  

 

I am a collector of Holy Cards.  I pulled one of  Mary out of the group and leaned it up in front of the statue.

A glass dome covers the statue.

A wedding present that we were given is set aside to be filled with flowers when the month of May begins.

 

A few added rosaries lay on the doily.  I know my Grandmother prayed at least one Rosary every day and the doily makes this connection to Mary.

If just for a moment, the girls pause by the porch post  to say a Hail Mary or reflect on the great gifts that God has blessed them with, then the May Altar has fulfilled its purpose.