Bathroom reno....SUYL

I've been following along with Kelly's Korner

and her SUYL 'Homes' edition...

but I've yet to be motivated to participate until 

this weeks link-up that included master baths.

Our master bath was one of the largest projects we

tackled since moving in. We finished it in February of 2011

just short of a nervous breakdown and with several

anxiety attacks under out belts...

Bathroom reno's are not for wussys, people.

In fact I think I'm single handedly blaming our bathroom for

 about half of the grey hairs on my head!!

Part of what made the whole thing stressful was that we 

never used a general contractor for any of our renovations,

which saved us a TON of dough, but left me to be the

organizer and designer of all demo, carpentry and tile work.

Fortunately, it all turned out just the way we'd hoped,

and I wouldn't change a single thing.  There is still some

accessorizing that needs to be done, and I'd like to frame

the big mirror that overlooks our sinks....

In due time I suppose....It will all get done eventually!!

Here are some before and after pictures!!

Before.

Please tell me who thought it was a good idea

to put carpeting in a bathroom??

Stupid.

Not much had been done to update this bathroom

since it was built in 1989.

Obviously.

See the giant space in the corner under the windows??

It was just screaming 'PUT A BIG TUB HERE!'

But no, they dropped a tiny little tub in the floor and then

built a bunch of big tile walls around it.

Again....Stupid.

Demo time.

Such a freaking mess.

Kind of makes me want to rock bath and forth 

in a fetal position just remembering it!

Framing.

Yes, that a toilet in my master bedroom.

Just chillin' in the corner.

And that cast iron tub??  Sat there for about 2 months

cause it weighed a BAJILLION pounds and no one

wanted to help us move it :(

Ta-Daaa!!

This is pretty much how it looks now, minus

some hand towel racks we installed 

and some art that I've added to the bare wall space.

This is the most recent addition to our bathroom. 

Attempting to accessorize and increase storage space.

 I got this little cabinet on sale at target 

and shopped at TJ Maxx,

Pier 1 and Hobby Lobby for the other items.

Help! I'm in a blue/green hell!

There is a giant box of paint supplies in our office that is begging to be carried downstairs to the storage room....
What's the hold up you ask?
Well you see, I'm having THE hardest time finding a color to paint our guest bathroom.  It's the last room in the house left to paint, and go figure it's been the hardest to decide on.
This bathroom has a cooler/cleaner feel than the rest of our house, and I wanted it that way...but now that it's time to paint I'm finding myself turned off by all the icy cool blues and more modern grays that I thought I would like.
Everything either looks too gray, too 'baby boy' blue or too sea foam green....ACK! Help me!!
I've wasted purchased no less than 5 paint samples.  Initially when I slap them on I think 'oh, not too bad...maybe this is the one!'  but as the hours and days go by I slowly decide that I hate it :(

It doesn't help that the lighting in this bathroom is a disaster.  We've tried to solve this problem by buying a bazillion different light bulbs....which leads me to the question...Have you tried to buy lightbulbs recently?? What the crazy is going on with the light bulb industry? I felt like I needed some sort of degree in electricity to figure out what # of 'lumens' 'watts' or 'volts' I was needing....Do I need soft white? warm white? Natural light? Day light?
But no matter which ones we've bought the room either looks like someone peed yellow all over the walls or resembles the fluorescent glow of a jail cell....barf.   I just want bright white light!! Not yellow! Not neon fluorescent! Geesh!...ok anyways, here a few pictures of the smurf-tastic walls that we're currently sporting...

A few of our paint samples....please note the lightbulb assortment

that is happening in the background.

The big guy on the far left would be great if we wanted to 

take a trip back to the dingy 80's, while the little swirly guys

are great for pretending you're incarcerated...bah

Ick! What is happening here???

Sad day. These look even worse on camera

than they do in person, which is making me 

even more disheartened...

Anybody got any great ideas? I still want to keep the cooler overall feel of the bathroom, but I'd like the paint color to lean a little more towards the traditional side of colors versus something uber modern.

I'm picturing this....

See?? Now how did they manage to make this bathroom look so cool and clean while still feeling traditional? And their blue walls don't look like a little boys nursery at all!! Maybe I just need to pick one and hope that when the accessories are all in place it will come together....

Thoughts? Advice?

Day 3 guest bath reno...

Here's the bathroom on the end of day 3...

Roy and I had a joint panic attack this morning when

we woke up and decided that the tile looked too grey...

Much pacing, nail biting and a few tears later (from Roy of course..duh)

 we were at the tile store getting some different (GREY-er) floor tiles

to help pull the bathroom together....

hopefully this will solve the case of the bathroom-gone-grey!

The tile guys came over late today-so there wasn't quite as much progress.

BUT....

I'm not too upset about that because today.... 

we bought a newwww.... 

washer and dryer!!

Waah-Hoo!!!

Ask me how long my washer has been broken....

Too freakin long!! Like 3 months or something stupid like that...

Ask me how much I hate going to the laundromat...

Enough to avoid going for weeks at a time...even if I have to wash socks

and underwear in the sink...(sad but true...)

We weren't completely planning on buying a new set so soon,

but thanks to Lowe's (and an amazing deal they're having

for Black Friday), I will no longer be seen at 

our local laundromat: 'The Bubble Room'...

No offense Bubble Room, but you smell wierd, 

your patrons are kind of sketchy,

your seating has mystery stains, and your vending machine is pathetic.

Good Riddens!

I promise never to forsake the luxury that is an

in-home washer and dryer!!

Helloooo new Samsung twinkies!!

Now I'm off to drag the Christmas decorations up from the basement

and to start making my annual 'Asparagus Casserolle' for

tomorrows Thanksgiving celebration!

I'm thanking God for so much this year...

My husband and our marriage.

My family.

My health. 

My best friend.

My home.

My job.

 ....and my new washer and dryer!...hehe

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bathroom in progress..

Day 2 of tiling went pretty well...

It's always a little nerve wracking when the work finally starts...

We've spent SO much time & money on materials, with nothing but 

a hope and a prayer for how it will all look when it's finished.

I feel like I anxiously watch things come together and 

trying to gauge if it's going to look anything like I'd planned...

And because I usually 'design'
(I'm using the word design loosely here folks)

the projects, I feel an extra weight of responsibility for how it turns out.

So far I'm pleased..

The tile looks more grey than I'd planned, but I still really like it.

I just might end up going with a different wall paint color to help

lighten things up.

Here's the end of day numero dos..

the old green paint isn't meshing too well

with the carrera marble....

but we'll just try to ignore it for now.

While the tilers did their thing upstairs, 

Roy and I kept busy working on other projects around the house.

We have a 'drop ceiling' in our basement.

(barf, gag, vomit....)

Some of the tiles had gotten broken and stained in the

last few years as a result of our remodeling,

and were needing to be completely replaced.

It Sucked. Big Time.

For 1...it was a dusty, dirty, get crap in your eyes kind of job.

At one point, Roy's hair was completely grey..

and I hocked up ceiling tile from the back of my throat...

For 2...it's freaking hard to get the tiles to 'drop' into where they're meant to go.

Even when we precisely measured the old ceiling tiles, 

the new ones somehow managed to be too big or too small.

It made for lots of trial and error...

Fortunately, I feel like Roy and I usually work really well together,

even in frustrating situations (like repairing stupid ceiling tiles)...

but when I'm in doubt, I like to watch that show on

the DIY network called 'Renovation Realities'...

those crazy couples always make me feel pretty darn good

about Roy and I's ability to work as a team!!

And then ....we did this!!

curtains!

They add so much to a room!

Makes me even more excited to eventually hang

some in our master bedroom and dining room.

Appraisal is just 5 days away!!

Lots more work to be done...

It's my blog and I post pictures when I want to!!

That post title makes no sense, but heck if I care right now.
This is going to be a jumbled mess cause I'm feeling too lazy to think of anything
interesting to say and I'm distracted by watching Sister Wives....

True or False...
I had bronchitis last month.
True.

True or False...
I'm getting bronchitis again?
True.

True or False...
My weakened immune system is due to a horrible disease process?
This is yet to be determined...but I'm definitely suspicious...

So, I had intentions of partaking in that 'Friday Phone Dump' business

that people do, but as usual I'm a few days late and alotta dolla's short...

But ya know what?

See if I care, I'm gonna dump pictures all over my blog today-on a MONDAY!

Boo-Yah!!

Me = blogging rebel.
I love my Instagram App... 

Roy & I clothes shopping...fly fishing anyone??

My new hat!! And it doesn't make me look like a giant penis cone-head! Ha!

Friday date night @ the bowling alley!

he was looking quite dapper if I do say so myself...

New doorknobs! Life's little luxuries folks...

Saturday night-- out to dinner with Mom & Pops...

love that smile

My diet has been really on point lately.....

like I said...stellar eating habits here...

                                                 these peppermint brownie cake pops are dee-lish!!

On the road to mom and dad's house for a visit....

Moral of the story is that I've been BUSY lately!

Friday Roy and I had date night!

We went to dinner and then decided to go bowling...

and then THIS happened...

Can't say I didn't warn him...

Saturday mom and dad brought us our new island,

 and I'm loving it!!

I can't wait to get new stools and some decorations for it!

Do you think I should put a rug under it??

I'm still undecided...

We went and did some window shopping and then 

headed to dinner at Macaroni Grill.

I don't think I've ever had a bad meal at this restaurant,

and to top it off, the manager came by and gave us a

a 20% off coupon to apply to our bills!! Sweeeeet!

I'm only working 2 days this week so that I can

spend time with the Royster for his b-day.

Speaking of his birthday....I'm an epic failure of a wife.

I finally just had enough with the whole surprise birthday party idea.

Too many variables and too much money.

Maybe for his 40th?? 

Surely 10 yrs will give me enough time to plan a party...maybe...

So...I think on Thanksgiving (aka his birthday) we'll 

plan on going around to see as much family as possible.

Friday we're going to try and get some of his family together go

bowling.

And Saturday, I made hotel reservations for us on the Plaza.

The lights will be on by then, and I'm hoping maybe we can

go for dinner, drinks and dessert!

It's not the grand affair I had originally planned, but I think it will

be fun and romantic none-the-less...

Today our tile-guys came over,

 and started working on our guest bathroom.

 I'm so pumped to get this project done!!!

Our house is being appraised on the 28th and I'm hoping and

praying that it will be finished before then.

Prep-work is complete!

It should be a great week and I'm looking forward to the

start of the Holidays!

Bathroom sneak peek...

Ok, People.

The faucets are in.

The granite is in.

Old tile is coming down.

The plumbing supplies have arrived.

Our plumber is coming over Tuesday.

I'm hoping a week from now this bathroom 

will be nearly complete!

Operation guest bath is underway...

House update....

One of the only things I've ever had to legitimately blog about is our house and all the projects that we've done over the last 2 years.  In all honestly, the last year and a half we haven't done nearly as many projects as we did in the first 6 months.... In February we did however finally finish our master bathroom that had been sitting partially gutted for about a year.  It was quite the undertaking and way stressfull (did I mention that I never want to do anything like this ever again??) and since we dont have a "contractor" I work as the organizer and middle-man for all the involved people...the tile guys, the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician...blah, blah blah! Shoot me!!  Here are a couple pictures...

gutted mess....

working on plumbing for the tub

building the new tub and shower surround

we do have glass around the shower now, but I've apparently not taken

any pictures of it!

Heres a reminder of what our bathroom USED to look like about 2 years ago..

It was worth it in the end!!

Last night I finally got myself motivated to paint our dining room 

(with the paint we bought for it last winter...)

Roy and I have debated about the color since we moved in, but I've always

insisted that brown would look really nice and elegant..

and I think I'm right!

This is just the first coat

Please keep in mind that I did this on about 4 hours of sleep

and I cannot be held accountable for my actions....

Point in Case.

I may or may not have called myself a painting warrior princess.....