Dear Bathroom, I love you. You are so clean and shiny I can hardly contain myself.

Disclaimer: For whatever crazy reason something in this blog format will NOT keep all my spaces in between words and pictures right. I fixed them even and perfect, post the blog, they turn crazy. So at this point, it is what it is!

The BATHROOM is

Done!

oh wait.... didn't I say it loud enough?

THE BATHROOM

IS DONE,

WA HOOOOOO!!!!!!

It is amazing!

It is fabulous!

It is gorgeous!

It is stylish!

It doesn't leak in the basement!

It flushes!

It doesn't overflow!


It isn't cracked!


It doesn't smell!


IT DOESN'T SMELL!!!! (Did I mention that one already?)


It drains when it is suppose to drain!


It matches!


It is crumbling free! (seriously, the old one was crumbling)


It has water pressure that is unbelievable!


It is done in neutral colors, my fav!


It will always mean something more than just a great new bathroom!


I love it! We love it! The kids are fighting over who gets to "go" first! Suddenly EVERYONE wants to take a shower!

Below are the pictures of the demo.

Tub and vanity in the dump truck! Bo was so into this. We had to go outside and stare at the junk in the back of the truck for a long, little while.





Here is one of the super nice guys who helped fix our bathroom, (this is the guy with the twinkly eyes, I know you can't tell from the side, but it is true. He's definitely sparkly! I like you!)

Gag

Bo and Kate had to be barricaded away from the workers. Bo would sit on the chair and watch what they were doing. If he ever escaped they were always patient with him. At one point he yelled, "How's it going? Guys!" They answered him. Cute.

Nice guy, as well! All of them were nice. I couldn't get over it.

Throwing away the old toilet.


Clint J. painting our awesome new white doors! Tyson was inside painting in the bathroom. He textured, and it looks awesome. It is truly a skill! And trust us, we know, because we did a room in the basement and it was like spraying pancake batter at the wall! Not so good. Tyson and Clint J. were so nice as well, but also, they were the quietest two people I have ever been around. I almost couldn't stand it. I finally had to offer them music. And chocolate... Nope, didn't help.

I would have taken more pictures, but did you know it annoys workers to have their picture taken? Go figure.

So after all their hard work it is time to

UNVEIL

the bathroom!

It was such a truly, great, day! I went to bed that night smiling.

More workers on came on Thursday and this appears on our door! They thought of every detail.

Then we hear a caravan of vehicles pull up and we hear "Merry Christmas, Nielsen's!"

We all rush out the door, little Rhett hurdled all the stairs and made it there first. It was hysterical, them pulling up, us running down! It cracked me up! "Big" Rhett wished us Merry Christmas and, in behalf of all the crew, presented us with a key to our new bathroom!



Love these faces!

FYI, the one who brought in my mail is 5th from the right. Nice kid! I guess I am old because I am referring to him as a kid, but sometimes you just can't find that nice of kids at work these days. Good job, Clint!

After all the family, crew, and two news stations, crammed into our tiny hallway we opened the door and found.....

du nu nu nuh.....

A BATHROOM FULL OF LOVE

We feel such love and gratitude when we look at our bathroom (which we do like 20 times an hour). I think I got the best end of the deal because I was home during the reconstruction and I was able to meet with, and shake hands with, and rub shoulders with, and joke with all of these wonderful people. Their faces are etched in my mind. I loved them for the time they were in my home. Weird I know. But somehow, it is true.

Here are some pictures of us checking it out for the first time.

Bo was excited about the soap dish. The kids were thrilled over the tooth brush holder. It makes me happy that small things make them happy. I think that must be a good sign somehow.

Cute, huh? Kassidy was so excited, when she woke up today she said we need to have rules for the new bathroom. 1)No dirty clothes left in the bathroom! (I'm sorry, I guess I missed something, is that a new rule? 2) Wipe the toilet seat off. (it is unfortunate that that even needs to be a rule, but with three boys...you know how it goes. 3) Keep the shower curtain shut. 4) Keep the toilet lid down. (We have never done that because we always had to watch to make sure the toilet didn't overflow) Is this enough bathroom talk for you all yet? Anyway...

Teaching the kids how to use a different type handle (you know one you don't have to turn on with a wrench? Just joking, we fixed that problem years ago.)

What a stallion!

Kassidy stood in the bathroom after the reveal and, in all honesty, said, "Is this a dream?" Then she proceeded to arrange all of the toilet paper and tooth brushes and things that go in the bathroom. Her own special touches were a magazine on the back of the toilet and a picture of Christ. She also commented how much she loves the neutral colors.

Corey was showing the kids the step stool. I was thrilled with that! I also love that their were no drawers on the side that the kids could stand on. Just one big awesome cupboard inside!

Rhett and Claudine, good friends. Luv you!

Showing off the super deep (GREAT) medicine cabinet mirror.

Rhett is checking out the awesome cupboard above the toilet. We needed storage space so much!

Now that you have seen us check out the bathroom I will let you check out the bathroom!

Awesome drawer!

Awesome shower curtain with real shower curtain hangers that look stylish! I have never had those. I have always just had those stupid, one dollar a box, loops. I despise those.

Love the toilet paper hook thing that holds the toilet paper. Love that you don't have to actually stick the toilet paper through a little white tube that usually gets lost or thrown away by accident (that has happened at least three times). Good location for the toilet paper as well!

The plumber was so thorough. He even thought to raise our shower nossel so it was taller. Great for growing kids. We found out the reason our sink would never drain was because the pipes had shifted and so he fixed that as well as the leak in the basement.

I love tile! I think it is the best.

I love the medicine cabinet mirror. I was really worried over this one because I wanted it to have a frame that looked classy. I love this one. It is totally girly. I also love that it is deep so it can fit more things. Great choice, Hal!



It looks so pretty.

Huge cupboard inside!

Step stool drawer!

Bath mats and everything! I LOVE to death the tile on the ground! I think it is a great choice.

Beautiful towels, I love all the colors.

Doesn't it look great?!!! The cupboards are cool. They are real wood! They have real live knots in them. They smell heavenly. I know, because I smelled them! I love the smell of wood. (Except for when it is in the forest which means I must be camping. Yuck)

The next day they came and cleaned our carpets. That was awesome! Our house looks great!

The great lady who helped clean the carpets had to manover our couch. When I came back in the room the pillows looked like this! Perfection!

Speaking of the couch, Isn't it great? My generous friend Terri gave it to me when she got new ones. Thanks! It is ULTRA comfortable to lounge on.

Here are some of the great people who helped!

The electrition! He is a great "atttic crawler inner"! He had to crawl in our crazy attic and pound a hole through our older tar roof (that is apparently under our newer roof) and give us a ceiling fan.

A monstrous thanks to the business that participated...

Darrel's Plumbing

Stapleton Flooring

Foster's Tile

Merrill Woodworking

Design Gallery

Richard's Electric

Bennett's Paint

BMC West

Robert's Home Decorating

and of course,

Tobin Cleaning and Restoration

You have our deepest thanks. From the bottom of our hearts we appreciate you and your work. Thank you for making our lives better. Most importantly, thank you for being an example to my children of giving. I think they will always remember how this felt. I just really believe they will grow up to be the kind of people who will "pay it forward", impart, because of this tremendous experience. That is the biggest gift to me. Thank you.

We ended up being on two news stations as well, so the kids LOVED that!