About to update the look of the site.  We’ll see how long it sticks.

As far as painting tapes go, I have to say that the Frog Tape is much better than the well recognized blue tape that you see.  The paint did not stick to the Frog tape like it did to the blue tape.  Of course, I was using enamel paint, so that might have been the difference, but it was a highly noticeable difference.

I have to wait for the glue to dry on the surround, and then install the bath hardware and caulk it all up.  Then I have to finish installing the few tiles I have to cut, and put the hardware on the walls (towel hangers) and the cabinet doors on the cabinets.    I have to cut, paint, and install the trim, as well as replace an electrical outlet and light switch to match the paint.  They are currently beige instead of white, so they are sort of an eyesore.

Then I have to clean the house.  I’ve got stuff from the bathroom spread around so I could keep track of where it’s supposed to go when I finish, so the whole house looks awful, and I now realize the error in that plan because I’m gonna have to make several trips all over the house to get it back in order.  I would have been better off getting a cheap plastic shelving system to store everything temporarily, and then I could have used it in the garage.

Overall, I’ve learned that taking on any remodeling job is much more work than it first seems.  For such a small room, I did not expect this to take so much time and energy.  Again, thanks to Dad and Josh, I didn’t have to bear this alone.  I also want to thank Mom and Destiny for allowing them to spend so much time over here lending both their hands and a lot of sweat.

I started laying the tile in the bathroom today, and I really only have a few more tiles to cut and place before I finish.  I just got worn out cutting the things.  I do feel more like I’m in a bathroom now, though, when I’m in there with an actual floor.  There’s really only a few more things to do, but they seem like they’re gonna take a while to complete.  Just a bit more painting, compared to what’s already been done, and then putting up the shower walls, and then trim work.  Once the paint dries on the cabinet doors, I’ll be able to put those back on.

As small as the bathroom is, I wouldn’t have expected it to take this long.  I am SO glad I had help with the biggest part of the job, though.  I would have had to take a week off of work to get this far if I had to do it by myself.

We got the tub replaced fairly early on Friday.  We’ve replaced all the necessary walls, except for one strip that we need to do fairly quickly today, gotten the mud and tape up, and textured the exposed walls.  I’ve primed the cabinets, cabinet doors, window trim, door, and door trim.  When Josh pulled up the floor tiles, we found a spot that needed to be replaced, so we took out the toilet, and began replacing the floor, but haven’t replaced it because we ran out of daylight to build it up under the house.

I’m sure there’s more that we’ve done, but we still have much more to do.  Here’s the current list:

• Replace the walls (only one more strip left)
• Paint the walls
• Paint the cabinets
• Paint the trim and baseboards
• Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
• Lay down new floor tiles
• Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
• Install the baseboards
• Install the new curtain rod
• Install new cabinet knobs
• Install new ceiling light fixture
• Testing (take a shower)

I’ll do my best to post an update tonight so that I can more accurately keep track of our progress.

We found that there was more work than originally intended, but also found some positive things in the process. There was absolutely no indication of mold of any kind. There were a few problems with the original installation, such as a piece of wood resting on the tub behind the surrounding wall, which led to that piece of wood soaking up water.

We’ll get to work tomorrow by removing the tub, which we finally got to budge a little earlier. There’s no telling how long it’s been since it’s original installation. Hopefully, we can have the plumbing and base walls back up by tomorrow evening. I don’t want to plan too far ahead, so I’m not going to.

Here’s the basic list of things I know need to be done after that:

• Sand the necessary parts of walls
• Texture the necessary parts of  walls
• Paint the walls
• Paint the cabinets
• Paint the trim and baseboards
• Install the surrounding walls around the bathtub (includes cutting holes for the shower)
• Lay down new floor tiles
• Caulk the tub and surrounding walls
• Install the baseboards
• Install the new curtain rod
• Install new cabinet knobs
• Install new ceiling light fixture
• Testing (take a shower)

I’m sure there’s some tasks I left out, either due to lack of effort or memory.  Hopefully Christle will be happy with our work.  I can’t begin to imagine how long this would take without Dad’s help.  Thanks, Dad.

I’ve also decided to get back into the art of creating, designing, editing, modifying media for consumption on the web and beyond. I’m participating in online training courses to build my knowledge of the capabilities and restrictions of certain media tools.

My decision to begin this endeavor began a few months ago, when Mom asked me to help her build a web site for her new photography business. I helped her find a designer, and she found a company to help her design a logo. When she got her finished products, they were good… perfect for what she needs. My decision was based on the fact that I knew I could do just as good, if not better, work. Add that to the extra income I could potentially make from it, I just needed to figure out a way to learn those skills with the greatest efficiency.

A friend of mine who is currently doing work in media directed me to a site that has hundreds of hours of online video tutorials for a cheap monthly rate. I’m currently in a 7-day trial period, but what I’ve learned in just the past three days is incredible. I’m not going to name them until I have at least finished one full course (over 15 hours of video in itself).

I’m going to do a little work to the root page of the site for some testing, and possibly create some wordpress (blog) themes to see how well they’re used, and what people think of my work before I start trying to sell anything. I believe I have a good eye for what looks good, and it has always disturbed me to find that I couldn’t find the exact look I wanted without paying for it. Apparently, that’s because you get what you pay for. Not a new concept for me, but not a concept I thought of getting on the other side of until now.

The best thing about getting into this type of business, is that I can build it on my own from the ground up, and not really risk anything but time, unless you factor in that it is all about furthering my education. Time must be a factor when increasing knowledge.

I currently have a 3.897 GPA, but after this semester, I’m estimating that I will have 3.867. That does mean that I’ll be graduating with Highest Honors! The ceremony begins at 7:00pm, May 12, 2011 at the Montagne Center. I went to my brother’s graduation this past December, and the ceremony was under an hour, although I’m guessing there’s a higher number of graduates in the Spring than the Fall.