In with the new, out with the ugly...

When we moved into the house, the previous owners were nice enough to leave some window dressings (I've always thought it weird that they were called dressings...like a window has a shirt or something...).  Some of them we love.  One in particular I hated with the fire of a thousand burning suns.  Yes.  It was that bad.  I would have a picture but I don't even want to post the hideousness.  Just imagine country kitchen with apples.  And old lace.  Over the kitchen sink window.  So you have to stare at it all the time.  I loathed it.  So, after I got a lovely sewing machine for X-mas a few years ago, I finally was able to rectify this horrible sight.  (Apologies, I should have taken pictures - I suck at this blogging thing)

First I had to buy the fabric.  And with all things house, hubs wanted a say.  Which is okay on this because he helped me pick out a gauzy type fabric (that hides imperfections).  It's very nice.

Then I had to find the time to do this.  So after a few weeks of the fabric sitting in a bag, I found a free day to sit down at my trusty sewing machine.  I measured and cut (on the floor, with a ruler).  My home ec teachers would be horrified.  I'm not even sure the cut was straight.  But the beauty of the fabric is that it hides these things.

Then I made curtains.  If I had pictures I would show you all the steps, but for now, just be impressed with my first (after a looooong time) sewing accomplishment!!

(Please ignore the plants that hubs swears he is finding a home for)

I'll always come back to you...



So I have finally taken pictures of the TV's new home. On the WALL!  I still get nervous thinking about it, but will have to trust that hubs did it right.

  



I also have a picture of our new dinning room table.  Which hubs bought without a final agreement from me, so I was giving him a hard time and letting him sweat about whether I liked the table or not.  It's a gorgeous table, but it's always fun to give him a hard time.



Also, instead of digging up the hard clay in our backyard for a garden, hubs found a nice way to have a self-watering garden without a lot of the hard work.  So he built his box:

And then he lined it with a liner and tunnels.  (As you can tell I listened very intently when he was describing it).

And now it has plants in it (sorry no picture yet).  But it has tomatoes, basil, peppers (bell and japs), some rosemary, and then flowers to attract the bees.  We also have parsley and cilantro in another planter.  It is pretty nice.  And we'll have fresh basil and tomatoes, just add mozzarella for deliciousness.

Where have you been my long lost friend...?

So, we finished the remodel so I took some time off of blogging.  Well, really I got super busy at work and had NO free time to do some blogging.  So I thought I would catch up.  We did some minor work on the house which included:  hanging our huge (and very heavy) TV on the wall (above the fire place, it looks super nice and fancy...but now we have a HUGE blank wall but that's ok since we have tons and tons of things that need to be framed/hung up), redid the exercise room (yes, we are fancy...it has a treadmill, weight bench, weights, ab ball, and the super fun and squishy gym flooring.  Hubs also mounted a TV for while working out.), and we rearranged our office.  This is the one I am most excited about.  We got a new desk that we can both work at and got some new bookcases.  And a new office chair.  It's leather and nice.  I will provide some pictures later since well, I've been so busy doing this stuff I don't have any right now. 

I also (super proud I'm a girl moment) put together my very own sewing table.  Hubs got it for me for Christmas and it is super nice.  This is it (from Walmart):

 

That is the picture from walmart.  Also, here is my new chair (from Target):



And my new bookcase:



I'm in love with my new office.  It also is nice since I occasionally get to work from home.  Go me.  More later (including photos!).

It started and ended with a shower....

Well, well, well.  The time has come my friends for me to hang up, put away, and just plain stop remodeling for a bit.  Are you quitting you ask?  Why not, my dear blog followers, we are done.  Yes, you heard me correctly, we are done!  Everything is done.  The floor, the walls, the toilet, the tub, and of course, the piece de resistance, the shower (there is loud booming music playing in my head)! 

Let's recap, shall we?  First, it was lavender and builders grade tile, shower, well everything.

So we selected new paint!

 Then ripped eeeeeverything out!



 Then started to put everything back together!

We put down brand new tile (and the nice wood underneath it) and re-tiled the tub and shower.



We added things like crown molding, fancy lights, and the toilet.



Blake and hubs installed/squeezed in the vanity.  It was a very death defying moment and I think I had several minor heart attacks.  Hubs also put up the mirrors and our nice towel holder.  Which I think fits rather nicely in between the mirrors.

We put up some photos and some shelves (which are now filled with our awesome orchid (home made, towels, and tiny witch's ball - photo to come later).

That is an Austin Kleon print (http://www.austinkleon.com/) about marriage.  We also put a photo in the throne room...that will also be uploaded later.

And our shower doors came in and the shower is complete.  I must say that having two shower heads is very nice.  The bathroom is like walking into a spa.  It turned out just as nicely as I expected and it is so nice to FINALLY be able to use my bathroom again.  Now, I just need time to put everything back in the vanity.  Ooops.

Hope you all enjoyed this foray into DIY bathroom remodeling.  Next up, the TV mounting.  But maybe some nice recipes before then. 

(more photos to come later!!!)

It is always best to accessorize!

No outfit is complete without at least a few accessories.  So why shouldn't a room, or say a bathroom, be the same?  I agree.  Everything is better with accessories.  Which is why, we have added a few, as well as fancy fixtures in our lovely shower.  Really, we just like to spoil ourselves and make life easier.  But who doesn't?

Our first lovely, awesome, extra is a hook.  Now you might not think that a hook is so special.  But, when you no longer want to have an "over-the-shower-head" shelving unit, a hook is quite necessary for things, like loofahs.  So hubs found a lovely two-pronged hooked and installed it.

Next, we wanted to go big.  And indulge ourselves.  So we added an extra shower head, one that removes.  Which maybe doesn't sound that awesome.  But after a long day, sometimes you just want to sit on the little corner bench and this shower head allows me to do that and still get clean.  No judgement.

There are going to be many other accessories (not in the shower) but they haven't been installed/put up yet.  But here is the (almost complete!) shower:

 It just needs some doors.  No Big.