Okay, so I promised this SOOO long ago…

Remember when we renovated Rialto? Well, as promised, I wanted to incorporate some of our pictures showing the work we invested in the place. I guess the best way to start is to explain what it was and let you see what it now is….

This is the room we affectionately called the “demo room”. It won’t be hard to imagine why…

(And before you get worried, there was only one wall torn up like this!) Now it’s the boys’ room…

Below is the Master Bathroom. You might be surprised to know that a little over a year ago, there was blue tile in the shower and the support wood between the rooms was visible to the naked eye! In fact, you could even touch the bathtub in the other bathroom through the hole in the wall!


Will did the tile work on the floor, but the guys we hired to do some of the tile work did the shower… My hubby can also take credit for the installation of the shower doors and the toilet.

This is the tub you could touch between the wood planks. It used to be pink (we had it glazed!)….
Here’s the counter top in that same bathroom. I will never forget when the guy who did the tile work in here (who only spoke Spanish), smiled and so cutely said, “Diferente!” You’ll note the unique tile lay-out on the countertop. You can also see the new tile work on the floor & the freshly painted cabinets. This picture includes only a portion of one of our life-saving friends, Jessica! She volunteered a couple of hours over a couple of weekends to help us tie up the loose ends… Bless her!
This room is affectionately called the “Psychedelic room”. Now it’s the toddlers’ room…

This is the new and improved laundry room. Note the contrast (minus the washer and dryer, of course…) – no more linoleum! The funny thing was that this house has seen so many generations that on these shelves were 70s color-scheme/style contact paper. It was so attached, that even using a putty spatula, I couldn’t remove it. We painted over what we couldn’t get off… No more dirty white walls, but an attractive brownish-orange…



This is the former dining room, now the living room. It’s kind of a challenge to see the tile work Will did in this room, but note the contrast. He used 5 different shades of tile (European size 17 x 17), shaved them down to the correct size and created a well-balanced design.

Here’s a much better photo of the tile work in the same room…


This photo was actually a moment to celebrate as it was the LAST tile he did in the room! We joked his pants would stand up by themselves with all the glue & thin set on them…

Here’s looking up! There was a leak in the roof (this was one of the two rooms affected – remember the demo room?) and we spent time patching up the hole (below the now repaired roof!).


It’s hard to believe that this room once had nothing but white walls, and contained a worn out, hide-a-bed couch, a TV, a large desk and lots of paperwork… It’s so beautiful, it almost leaves me speechless….


Welcome to the backyard! You’ll note the former backdoor, in center stage. Note the tape (an attempt to keep the crazy winds out) and the hole for the doggie door. Praise the Lord that door is out of there!!



And the new backdoor is installed…

And finally, the place where all can gather, the kitchen! Here’s a picture of the reliable tile cutter & you can see some of the work Will did on the counters here. It’s also very unique!



Here you can see the process the floor took and it’s the same design in the dining room. You can’t see the difference in this picture, but let me tell you that the counter to the right used to be double the size and have a stove-top oven. Will sliced it in half (he used to do some cabinetry) and put a new-to-us oven in its’ place. Also, we removed the double oven to the left (it was so old!) and made it a cabinet (you can see a hint of it in the gorgeous living room picture).

Okay, so I’ve talked all about what Will did in these photos, but I didn’t say anything about my work in this… Well, all the color on the wall was my part. I also made many trips to Home Depot & Lowe’s for supplies (one guy who saw me twice on the same shift said, “You must have a big project going…” What else could I do? I smiled…) and provided meals (Will would get so engrossed in the work, he’d forget to eat or rest). I also hung some of the drywall in the demo room & puttied in the cracks… and of course, I painted the outside (which I won’t show you for security reasons).

Anyway, I’m tired just recreating all this work for your knowledge. When I think back to all that we’ve accomplished this last year, WOW, I’m almost speechless…

That’s all folks!!