The Plan

Plan your Organization Process Before Construction Begins

You have to plan your project.  It’s important.   It will keep you organized, safe and efficient.  I created a notebook that had a section for each job. I have listed below each phase of the project and a few ideas that helped me out.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Tearing out a bathroom is a messy job.  The construction material remove from these bathroom jobs was crazy.  I purchased a large box of construction size garbage bags in order to contain the small stuff.  The big stuff was thrown out the window and later hauled away to the dump in our trailer.  It was not pretty and it was not easy.  We had a low budget so we did what we could the best we could.

A TEMPORARY STAGING AREA

The upstairs bathroom didn’t have much storage so not much had to be moved out of the way.  However, the downstairs bath was going to involve the room I was using as my closet.  We had a lot of stuff in that room and it all had to moved upstairs to a spare bedroom.  We did the upstairs bathroom first so it was very convenient to relocate our clothing upstairs since it was next to the bathroom.

HELPFUL ITEMS

We bought a few helpful items to help us create a makeshift closet.  This is an old house and old houses don’t have closets.  If they do, they are very small.  I had to get a hanging clothes system that could stand independently and a drawer system for the other items.  I also bought large bins for my shoes and purses.  Walmart had it all so that was very convenient.

SAFETY FIRST!

I sort of found out the hard way that I needed to rethink what I was going to wear while doing the demolition.  I had good gloves and good boots but I  soon realized that I needed a respirator, a hat, a bandana and a set of coveralls.  As for equipment, I needed a broom, a dust pan, rags, a bucket, a roll of plastic, duct tape, large garbage can and garbage bags.  I blocked off the room with a plastic tarp  to prevent the dust from traveling.  It won’t trap all but a lot.  Clean up as you go.  It’s safer that way and it will make life easier.  Extra lighting and extension cords to plug them into is a huge plus!  At times I had to work in the dark. When all the destruction is over, get a dumpster or borrow a truck if you don’t have one and haul it all away. Sometimes you can arrange bulk pickup with your garbage company.

 TIMELINE

I just thought I would throw this title in for kicks.  The plan never included a completion date.  Our projects take forever.  It would have been very disappointing to have set a timeline for me.  I knew from the kind of life we lead that it would take time and that I would have to happy with however long it took.

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

Today, the upstairs bathroom is almost complete.  The shower door and glass wall are the only things we are missing.  Fortunately, we are still able to use the shower with no issues.  I enjoy my long soaks in the tub under the window.  That tub is such a blessing.

The downstairs bathroom/closet project is also almost complete.  We still need to complete the walk in shower but everything else is finished.  Our walk in shower is fantastic.  We used PAX systems from IKEA in our closet.  It is a highly functional system and we are so glad we went with them.  We also have an IKEA shoe system for our shoes.  Eventually, I will have a functioning makeup table/desk in the closet also.  I still need to decide how I want to set it up.

IN CONCLUSION

The plan I originally created helped us out a lot.  It was a way to communicate what still needed to be done.  It also kept us motivated since it was easy to see how far we had come.

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