The Not-So-Handy Hoyts

This weekend was Phase 1 of construction on our basement bathroom.  We started by tearing down the wall that was incorrectly framed (shocker!), and thus blocking the drain line for the tub.

Mr. Handy Hoyt

The wall came down easily, and we were feeling pretty accomplished until we realized that even with the wall removed, the drain line was still not in the right place for installing a tub.

Pesky little thing, isn't it?

We can't move the wall framing behind the drain line because it has all of the utilities for our washer and dryer. Chipping up the concrete doesn't sound like something that falls within our realm of capabilities, so Plan B: a half bath! 

Off we went to Home Depot, and purchased some drywall to rebuild the wall we just tore down.  Curses! We realized once we were there that we forgot to measure the thickness of the drywall before we left (probably a good thing I left my career in construction management). We figured maybe the customer service guy could tell us what was standard in the area homes.  He gave us his guess, and we were on our way. 

We muscle the drywall out of the car, through the house, and down into the basement.  I immediately realize the drywall is the wrong thickness...cue a sling of expletives that would make a sailor blush.  

 To ice the cake, my dad later told us that he had been thinking about our project and thought we would probably have to move the toilet drain too. 

The day ended with Blair taking a nap while I requested quotes from local contractors. We'll stick to organizing our closets.  

Home Improvement

As I mentioned before 2012 is the year of "locking it up!"  We start today with the first step in a series of home improvement projects.  My parents are coming over this afternoon to help us assess our unfinished bathroom to see if this is a project Blair and I can do ourselves, or if we have to defer it until "Spend like crazy again 2013," and rely on the help of professionals.  Here is what we have goin' on.

We hope to transform our basement from this:

Our basement.  A.k.a.- Blair's practice driving range.

To something a little more like this:

MSNBC.com

 So we start by transforming this:

The current unfinished basement bathroom

 Into something more like this (I can dream anyway):

Restorationhardware.com

Then we can move on to transforming this room:

Our storage room and my nightmare.

 Into something more like this one:

Thecontainerstore.com

Which just may lead to us putting some of this stuff to use in a dining room like this:

Apartmenttherapy.com

Before I look like this:

touregypt.net

Wish us luck!

The Fate of a Blog

I have been doing a little soul searching lately about this whole blog thing.  Our marriage and home aren't really "new" anymore, and we have made a commitment to make 2012 the year of "locking it up" financially, so we haven't planned any major trips.  Then of course, there is my Local Loves blog.

After much thought, I have decided to make this blog a little bit of everything.  After all, the name of "A Grain of Salt" alone implies that I am by no means an expert on anything in particular.  The first change is to consolidate to only one blog, and capture my Local Loves here (old posts will remain "as is" for use by the featured organizations).  My blog will now be a hodgepodge of stories of the people, random things and places I love.

Comments welcome!

Happy New Year!

It was the best of times, it was...never mind, that's it.  2011 was a great year!  We traveled to Charlotte, Blacksburg, Cancun, Boca Raton, Paris and finally, we rang in the New Year in Charleston. We ate at great restaurants and drank some pretty fine wine, and some pretty cheap beer.  Blair and I set out to make our first year as a married couple as much fun as possible, and we succeeded!  Now for some pics of our send off to 2011!

Aunt Ashley's shoes- check!  Killer dance moves- check!  Watch out ladies!

Dinner with Kyle and Marisa.  Our red eyes can't be helped.  We partied that hard ;)

 

 

We leave 2011 with bank accounts a little lower and BAC levels slightly higher. Now, we head into 2012- the year of responsibility. We start with a Polar Bear plunge...well, we have high hopes for 2013.