getting back on the renovation wagon

Well everyone, we are so behind, we've only posted twice this month and that's just crazy. This month has flown by!

We spent the first part of the month working a lot and preparing for vacation so we didn't have much time to start any big projects! From the 14th to the 23rd we were on vacation: we had a great time with Rob's family in Memphis, New Orleans, Gulf Shores and Nashville! We drove a total of 34 hours+ over the vacation but it was worth it for some fun in the sun!

   

      

   

We really enjoyed our time experiencing new places and finding some treasures along the way. I think that my favorite place was New Orleans, it was so full of life and character, I could spend days and days just walking around! Gulf Shores was definitely relaxing, we walked the beach, laid in the sun and ate some delicious seafood. 

I can't wait to get all my treasures cleaned up and decide what to use them for... any ideas!? 

We have some projects in the works for April that we are excited to start (and finish)!

• painting baseboards in the living and dining room
• refinishing the stairs from the main floor to the upstairs bedroom
• creating some new organization in the basement
• tearing down outdoor shed
• building up garden beds and fence in garden areas
• re-finish patio furniture and reupholster appropriate items

We've got some big work to do but it should be very fun! 

we've rearranged

So the living room, our most lived in and "in-flux" room, has been rearranged once again - shocker! It was feeling a little too closed off with the couch creating a "wall" between the living room and dining room. I guess it's a live and learn situation: we broke down a wall in order to open up the space and then we placed the couch in a way that the room felt closed off again. Well last weekend I looked at Rob and said "Would you mind if we did some moving" - those have to be his least favorite words. I know this is especially true because I always ask while we are watching some kind of show or movie; all I can do is sit and think about is how I don't like the space i'm in; meanwhile, he is innocently watching and enjoying whatever flick we are watching!  

To remind you what we had going on before, take a look at the picture below - tv against the wall, couch creating a wall, coffee table, chair in corner and an open wall to the left. From this angle you can't even see a bit of floor! 

It definitely goes well enough and there was plenty of room to walk by to the left of the couch but it was just not "right!" Away we went with moving, we tried a couple different arrangements before we ended here. 

The angles are a little different (and the second photo was taken at night) but the feeling in the room is much more open! We were able to keep the television and buffet where they were, the large city scape art was just moved up a couple inches to accommodate the couch and the floor lamp stayed put. After moving the couch we realized that by using our coffee table as a side table under the window (top left) we were able to save a lot of floor space without losing any surface space! And look, you can see the floor! 

Overall, much nicer and (hindsight) it should have been set up like this all along. It's a nice configuration for conversation as well as tv watching and there is a lot of open space for extra chairs when we have people over! 

The dogs love it too, we had my cousin's little girl over the other day and it gave them plenty of room to play!! They got some major lovin' that day! 

        

I know some of you will think i'm crazy, and I think that of myself a bit for even thinking it, but I think I am going to repaint the room. There is still something off about the space; it's a little too warm with the furniture that we have. I won't go back to white, that was too cold but I may offset the warmth a bit with a soft grey... I don't know yet. Painting is such a huge undertaking but it's worth it. I think we will live as is for a bit and see what I decide with color before making any hasty decisions. 

Any color recommendations for this room? What color would YOU paint it!?

finally a finished bathroom

Well we did it, the bathroom is complete and we are finally willing to show you our handiwork now that we are satisfied with the outcome! 

As a reminder to where we started take a look at our before picture of the bathroom, it was cute enough but there wasn't enough storage space and the little medicine cabinet mirror seemed to be shrinking over time!

All of these changes started because we didn't like the faucet fixture on the pedestal sink, along with the towel bar and toilet paper holder. We made our first adjustments to the room by adding shelves above the toilet and a shower curtain to cover up the glass doors (you can see all that here). 

After we lived with the pedestal sink and small mirror for about five months we decided to make some other small upgrades that gave the room the extra lift that it needed. It also opened up a can of worms, hence the month long delay in writing this post!

After getting our plumbing debacle fixed (thank you Steve!) we were able to install the new vanity properly! Rob and I, along with cheerleader/photographer Laura E. and our always-in-the-middle-of-everything Aussies, we were able to complete the install and enjoy our new sink.

Once the vanity was installed we realized that it further dwarfed the already small bathroom mirror/medicine cabinet so I decided that I would try and paint the frame to make it a bit more substantial looking and save us the cost of buying new. The color was nice and it wasn't a bad idea but the paint job just wasn't sticking the way it should have and I didn't trust it to last. 

      

Needless to say we were mirrorless in the bathroom for a week and a half and we made due by hanging a spare mirror on our towel hooks. Finally we just decided to search for a mirror that matched the bathroom / existing decor and would fit the space. I was so happy when someone suggested Home Depot as a source for a bathroom mirror. We were able to find one for 49.00 and of great quality to replace our old cabinet!

   

We had to remove the existing shell which left a lovely hole in the wall. If you look closely you can see the two prior colors this bathroom has been (grey under the white and speckled pink/blue/black under that)! We decided that because of the size of the mirror we were going to be able to leave this hole in the wall (for now) and just cover it up with the new mirror. Let's let that be our little secret! 

   

***Forgive us for the angles on these photos... it's hard to take a picture of such a small room! 

Overall, we LOVE the new look of the bathroom. It feels fresh and crisp and much more modern than where we started! The mirror has nice texture and depth but isn't overwhelming for the room. This was a slow but worth it transformation, thankfully it was also not that expensive either! 

I would estimate that we spent less than $300 on the whole room: 

vanity= $70

mirror= $50

shower curtain= $20

ikea shelves= $15 (for both)

towel hooks= $20

organization baskets= $30 (for three)

tp holder= $15

faucet= $40

I am glad that we took our time finding pieces that were on sale so we could make this such an affordable upgrade! We also took our time buying the pieces so the cost was spread out!

Has anyone else finished a project that has been a long time coming?! We'd love to see pictures of your finished projects!