When my dad was here a couple weeks ago, he had his 52nd birthday (old man).

We couldn’t find this card with his Polaroid taken at Panchos and Gringos for his birthday dinner, but last night Wendi found it hiding in the paperwork in the office (sorry Pops, bet you thought you got off clean). Wendi made them sing to him and wear the sombraro the whole night. Secretly, I think he liked it….

While in the mood to post remodeling pictures, I might as well give a little preview of what we did last March in the bath.

We turned this:

Into this:

More photos and details coming soon!

Since we bought our condo a year ago this month we have done some pretty extensive DIY projects to bring it up to date and repair a very poorly treated property. The kitchen was our latest project. My father was once again in town to breed knowledge into my empty little head.

This project involved the removal of 4 layers of flooring, apparently throughout the years, instead of removing the underfloor and then adding the new floor the owners just laid shit, one on top of the other. What a lazy bunch of crap.

After the removal, we had to lay an additional 1/2 inch subfloor because the existing subfloor was too spongy to hold a new tile floor. After that it was business as usual.

NEW LAMINATE ON COUNTERTOPS
NEW CERAMIC TILE FLOOR
NEW SINK
ADD GARBAGE DISPOSAL
NEW BASEBOARD HEATER

This was all completed for under 600 bucks and some badly cut up hands…oh yeah, and about 76 beers, mostly for my dad.

***This is the original floor in the kitchen. It was 4 layers of flooring making the back door only capable of opening about 17 inches inward because of the height. It was a vinyl floor.***

***This was the start of me breaking this shit up. It was THICK.***

***Here is the floor about half way lifted up.***

***The final pile of flooring left to remove. Took about 5 hours and 8 contractor sized garbage backs of debris.***

***Let the work begin! Here’s the heavy hitters, Bobby and Billy love, cuttin wood and stuff.***

***The HardiBack board laid on the new subfloor, gettin ready for the tile.***

***The full tiles fully laid. We decided on the running bond for layout, It’s very pleasing to the eye.***

***Kitchen counters fully stripped of the old grey/black/white speckled formica.***

***My pops through the drain in the sink, awesome.***

***Closeup of the new countertops, they are a greenish brownish blackish granite type of look.***

***The finished result! It looks amazing.***

***The finished ceramic tile floor, Bella loves it.***

***Bella and Pops snoozin. She loves naps with him.***

THANKS POPS FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND ENDLESS WISDOM, YOU ARE A WISE CARPENTER LIKE JESUS ONLY WITH BEER IN HAND.