Before and After

Drum Roll Please....I've been waiting almost 2 years to post this: When we moved in the downstairs bathroom needed a lot of help. So we embarked on a remodel. Here are the photos!

Before features: Metallic Butterfly and Floral Wallpaper. Dark, small shower, and oddly shaped counter - you can't really tell from the photo but the counter was skinnier on one side so the door would shut.

After: Functional, bright, colorful, with a door that now leads into a walk in closet!

Shower with a jetted tub!

I love the cheerful color tiles!

A few fun features: Cute & functional shelf

Corner mirror

....and one of my favorite parts: the heated floor controller!

We are so blessed, to be so spoiled. Thank you Lord for helping us complete this project!

Progress

Likely, all of you should know that we started to tear down walls the day we closed on our home. But if you didn't, let me tell you we are still in the middle of that remodel project. Someday I'll be able to put up before and after photos, but until then, I thought taking notice of the amazing progress thus far, would be an encouragement to all that are involved. We really have made quite a bit of progress!

As you can see...the bathroom needed a little help. For anyone looking for metallic butterfly wallpaper to accent their decorating ideas and space...we could help you out, because that was the taste of the previous owners! And the yellow vinyl, don't you love it?

Well, we knew this needed some work when we picked out the house. But like with any remodel, we decided that we wouldn't want to just change the wallpaper and flooring....we had to do it the right way! So off came the walls that were attached to the wallpaper, etc, etc....

Here are the contractors (yes my amazing hubby and father-in-law)!

Yes, here is the amazing wallpaper again, that unfortunately couldn't stay with the new decor. We might have some extra pieces if anyone is interested!

Here's the plumber doing the only job she was given, "Take the toilet out." Which I don't believe she even succeeded at this. She was given clear instructions from the "fan club" (pictured below), but for some reason when she disconnected the parts water started gushing out! Unfortunately, that plumber was fired, she lost her fan club, and other sub-contractors had to be hired. Don't worry the toilet has now been successfully removed, without any further sewage problems.

This was one other job that I'm not sure this wonderful laborer will ever try to take on again:

Removing Vinyl from concrete foundation.

This was PAINSTAKING work and nearly took as long to do this as it took the rest of the contractors to strip the walls, redo plumbing, wire for electricity, and put up new studs. Thankfully this girl had the help of the lovely lady behind the camera (her mother-in-law) or the vinyl still might need to be scraped off!

Ahhh!! As you can see we have new walls and sheetrock, a new jet tub installed, and the conquering painter....who was helped by several other underpaid workers (her parents) who helped with all the painting!

Painting done, Check (and yes that is an orange wall....I love bright colors)! Now on to tile....and the fearless tiling contractors came to the rescue. Staying up til' wee hours of the morning buttering tiles (which prior to this I only knew about buttering bread...not tiles) and slapping, more like strategically placing them on the wall.

So here is as far as we have gotten. I know it still has a ways to go, but we have come so far too! I'll remind you....

Before:

Thus far:

The tub is still covered by protective plastic covering because we still need to put in the shower and tub spout, but the tub/shower will be so much more open than before. It will also have better lighting and heating (the floor is heated!). The toilet goes on top of the hole you see in the floor. And the cabinetry for the sink still needs to be done. I just want to say a deep thanks for the contractors...my family....that have given sooooooooo much time, energy, thought, sweat, tears, and yes, blood to this project. It would NEVER have gotten done, nor done this amazing without you! And I imagine, all my faithful blog readers can imagine with me the finished product. And just so everyone knows, we didn't just take on the bathroom remodel, we are making an entire master bedroom suite, rearranged the laundry room, and put in new wood doors throughout the house. We are so happy where we live, and grateful for what the Lord has blessed us with!

p.s. do you like the new design?

Rummel Update

Some of you may have already read this. But I thought I'd post it to give you an update, from my long absence! You can tell why I haven't been blogging!

The Moving Pile!

Dr. and Mrs. Rummel

Our last photo at the SoCal Beach!

So happy to be done (for both of us!)

What do you do with this thing?

The whole fam: Dad, Dr., Mrs. Rummel, Aunt Velva, and Mom

It was special to be able to hood him!

So here is the latest update:

Where in world are Tobin and Christy, you might ask? Well, we are very excited to announce that this time we will be in the same location for over a year! In these last few weeks, we’ve experienced quite a lot of changes. On May 21, 2010, Tobin became, Dr. Rummel! Such an amazing accomplishment, and a day we have been anticipating for 5 years. In those 5 years, if you didn’t already know, we moved 5 times, and Tobin travelled to countless more places for rotations, exams, and interviews! But this past February, we found out exciting news, we had been praying for months and years—Tobin had matched for his residency program in Corvallis, OR for a family medicine residency program. We were elated with joy the morning we found that out! We get to move back to an area we LOVE, be able to have family closer, and an area that has many outdoor activities just outside the front door. His residency program is 3 years long, which will be the longest place Tobin or I have lived in the last approximate 7 years! We want to thank all our friends and family for their love, prayer, support, encouragement, listening ears, helpful hands, etc, etc throughout this entire process, and what a process it has been!

Any move we make, God seems to reveal what we will be doing and where we will be living, just prior to the deadline of when we must move. In March, we flew up to look at houses to purchase. Christy interviewed for two Nurse Practitioner positions, and the process of home buying, getting new jobs, relocating from Southern California began! Despite having a couple months, it almost seemed impossible that we would be able to accomplish all of the above. However, with God’s direction and blessing, He made it possible. We went through the joys, woes, and stress of purchasing a home, but praise the Lord, we were able to close on the home in good timing and move in right in after Tobin’s graduation.

In late-April, Christy accepted a position working as a Nurse Practitioner at an Integrative Medicine Clinic, serving primary, family care patients and working alongside many other clinicians. She is excited and nervous about starting this new position, but very grateful for an amazing schedule of 4, 10 hour work days a week, with three day weekends! Coming from two part-time jobs (sometimes three!), working nearly every weekend, and then seemingly that schedule perpetually changing, the new schedule seems glorious.

The day after Tobin’s graduation, we began loading boxes into a Penske moving van. Thankfully, we had the help of Tobin’s parents, otherwise the process would have literally been longer and much more painful. We managed to get everything loaded, and on Sunday early morning we left LA at 0500. The roads are beautiful on Sunday morning (no traffic!) and we made good time, to arrive in Redding, CA later that evening. The following day, we drove into Corvallis, OR, unloaded the van into our new home—so that we would avoid the impending rain the following day. In a web of confusion, paperwork, protocols, laws, etc, etc, we weren’t actually closed on the house before we moved in, but thankfully God worked it all out, and we are now homeowners, which carries its own responsibilities, stress, and joy.

We have already taken advantage of this area, going for a beautiful mountain bike ride, just minutes from our house. We also have been able to celebrate, in person, our niece, Zoey’s 3^rd birthday; and we drove over to Bend, OR with family to relax and (what else…) go rock climbing at Smith Rocks! We’ve onlfy been here just over a week, and we LOVE IT!

We do ask for continued prayer as Tobin begins a very BUSY year as an intern. Yep, the work is, at times, grueling, but also so very exciting. Please pray for Christy, as she begins a new position and everything that goes along with that! Pray for our relationships with people here in Corvallis. Pray that we could be a witness here in this city, minister to the community, and find wholesome Christian fellowship.

Our new home!

We would love to hear how you are doing!

Impoving Little Mexico

We have named our backyard, Little Mexico as it unfortunately has been a little neglected. We decided that we didn't want to live with a backyard that looks like a dump, so pretty much every weekend we have been spending some time and muscle into getting it to look descent.



Among things we have found and gotten rid of (I wish we would have taken more photos right at the beginning...but really we wanted to just get to work): computer screen, computer chair, rolling shelf, chain link fence gate (this was buried under dirt), lots of metal rods/poles, bricks, concrete, an old fountain filled with dirt (that was handmade), pogo stick, baby blanket, two hockey sticks, pry bar, two wheelbarrows (which we've fixed and are using, but the tire keeps going flat on one of them so we just keep pumping up the tire), two stand up lamps were just in the backyard (we cleaned them up and are now using them in our bedroom!).



It's been pretty hilarious what we've found and each time we are less and less surprised to find something random. Little by little we'll continue to improve Little Mexico and hopefully make it inhabitable!

Our backyard...in process of improvement,

which is actually much better than the way we found it!

Our patio, which before was covered with trash and you could barely walk on it!

mounds of dirt we have yet to dig up...who knows what we'll find!


The truck load of concrete Jenna and I took to a concrete collecting place.
We had to throw these all in by hand and back out by hand. We felt like rugged women!

Our side yard...getting better.

The pile of rocks is what we saved out of the stone fountain that was under a bunch of dirt there in the far corner.

Anyone want some gravel and rocks? We have plenty!

Tobin groomed the Ponytail tree out front.

Well, if you come over for a weekend, I'm sure we'd love to have you join in on the fun!

Our new Place!

We want to welcome our friends and family to a virtual tour of our new humble abode. We welcome any of you that would like to come over for a visit to do so. We have a nice extra guest bedroom where we can set up a nice air mattress! So come on over!

The front of the house

Walkway up to the front door

Entryway

Living room...with Tobin reading a book

And our amazing couch that one of Tobin's coworkers let us use!

Kitchen/Dining area. It is really nice that everything is so open!

The nice big kitchen

Standing in the living room looking down the hallway, our room is the second door on the left

Jenna and Josh are living in the room in the first door to the right

Our bedroom

It was really nice this vanity fit in the bathroom, otherwise I would have had no counter or storage space!

The massive shower and sink.

Sp that's it. I'll post more with the project in our back yard! But for now enjoy.

Go Speed Racer Go!

I can't let Christy post everything! So here is a picture of Christy on her new bike. I saw it in a garage sale on the side of the road on my way home from work and picked it up for $10 then we worked on it this afternoon to bring it back to its former glory! It was in great shape, couldn't have been ridden much but had sat out for quite a number of years. After repacking the bearings, lubing the chain and peddles, polishing the rims then adjusting the brakes we rode a quick 6 miles to break it in. Every thing works great (though the rubber on the tires may give out soon)! This old schwinn sprint gets a new life as a gas saving tour de Medford!