The Best Bathroom of All Time!

I set myself up with that title, huh?

I really and truly believe that D. and I created the best bathroom of all time. But its the best bathroom for US, so your definition could differ.

I'm not going to chat too much about what we did.  I'll let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves.

We installed heated flooring:

We waterproofed the hell out of the shower walls - which is why they're pink - and then installed mosaic tile on the floors, both in the shower and on the rest of the floor.

We added a marble mosaic tile border to the shower:

We chose a classic subway tile pattern for the rest of the shower. It goes floor to ceiling.

Marble went on all of the thresholds in the shower:

And then we had a completed bathroom...............hahahaha. Just kidding. It took a lot longer, but I'm going to show the finished pictures anyway. Starting with the shower.

This is probably the MOST amazing shower in the history of indoor plumbing. It has a rainhead shower fixture and a wand.

My one regret? Why didn't I clean the outside of that EFFING window? Seriously? I'm an idiot...

The rest of the bathroom is nearly as fabulous. We wanted lots of storage and we got it. Big thanks to our cabinet makers who didn't necessarily agree with my choices, but always listened and then did what I wanted. They are the best!

Installation:

Installation of the linen closet:

The linen closet is in place. Hallelujah!

Finally, everything else in place. Including the marble counters:

A note on the marble counters......God I wish I was a photographer. They look beige in every picture I take but in reality they are the perfect grey/white/greige.  Seriously, they are perfectly veined but because I am a terrible photographer they look like vinyl. *sigh*

This is the view toward the bedroom:

This is the view from the bedroom. It also inspired the secondary color palette:

The next post will detail the accents. And they are-a plenty.......

I hope you like our bathroom as much as we do!

Linds.

One More Time...Part 1

Once upon a time I created a blog. Then I realized that everyone, everywhere could see my life and my house. And then I realized that these phantom people could judge and comment and oh my God everyone's judging me and they hate what I'm doing and I am the worst. 

But.....

Then I remembered that the only people that have ever even heard of my blog are people I love, so I should show them the crazy things I've done. I'm really proud of our bathroom and I really want to share it, so.....here we go!

D. and I redid our bathroom.  We did an amazing job. I did the demo (which took an afternoon) but he put it back together in the most glorious way.

We hired out the drywall: that's a job we hate and the hanging/taping/mudding/sanding AND finishing cost us $350USD and that includes the drywall guy coming back twice to fix something that was OUR mistake. He also did some work in our living room for free.  Needless to say...we love him!

We also had the cabinets custom made. Ohhhhh, the cabinets.  They were expensive -to us- but soooo worth it. THEY. ARE. BEAUTIFUL. Exactly what we wanted and so perfectly made....

Here's the thing....the bathroom was perfectly functional before we started but we had so many complaints.

It had a huge bathtub and a tiny shower. D. and I never take baths, but showers are an everyday (sometimes twice-a-day) event.  Strike One.

The shower was itty bitty and so ugly. Strike Two.

We couldn't open most of the drawers of the vanity and it had seen better days. Strike Three.

The only time I take a bath is when I'm sick and this is where our tub goes sideways. Not literally.   One edge of the tub was on an exterior wall and that wall was not insulated so I'd fill the tub but it couldn't hold heat. It was so deep and it was on an exterior wall so the water would never get above lukewarm.  Not ideal for someone that takes baths only when they want the water screaming hot.
This was STRIKE NINETEEN.

Whoops, I skipped ahead a bit. But I hated this bathroom, so it deserves the extra strikes..

We couldn't open most of the drawers of the vanity and the rest of the decor was dated.
STRIKE SEVENTY MILLION.

It was time for an upgrade:

Before Pictures....

This was our view from bed every morning. 

The shower.  It was like an awful stand-up tanning booth.

The toilet was directly opposite of the shower. Check out our fancy plunger.....

Shower/bath perspective.  This is the only picture I have of the bath.  Apparently I did not want a memory of it.

Looking back to the master bedroom. The bathtub is to the left.

More bedroom perspective. Potato quality.

Ooooh.  Fancy mirror, reflecting the tub and my hygiene products,

Yes, this is the fanciest sink you'll ever see,,,,,Jealous?

Everything came out. EVERYTHING!!!!!  I personally ripped this bathroom down to the studs. I don't have any pictures of the demo because it went really fast. Actually, I don't have pictures because a dead mouse fell on my head so I was mad at the world and not interested in taking pictures. This is the best I can do.....

This is post demo, post insulation installation, and mid-drywall.

We donated all of the fixtures to Habitat for Humanity. I tried to give the bathtub to our UPS guy but he said it was bigger than his entire bathroom at home...I told you it was giant. The vanity found another life in our garage as the greatest shop storage of all time.

I'm going to leave it here. The final product will be in the next post.  I'm not going to draw this out.

Here's a preview...

I can promise you....this isn't even close to the best part of my bathroom.....STAY TUNED :)

Linds.

Easiest Side Table Ever!

So, as promised, I have a little tutorial on how to make the easiset, fastest and cheapest side table in the history of the world.

To refresh your memory, here's the finished product:

And a closer look:

First up, gather everything you need. Which turns out to be three things....

1. Wire fencing
2. Wire cutters
3. Round piece of wood.

Decide the circumfrence and height of the table that works best for your spot. Keep in mind that if the table is too small around it could be a little wobbly. We're going for sturdy!

Once you've decided how big the table will be, extend your mesurements by one section.  You'll use the extra section to keep the table closed and support your top. Cut the fencing so there are pieces of wire sticking out that you can bend. Now, bend the fencing into your table base and then bend the extra wire around to secure the table, like this:

See how the wire is bent around to keep the entire frame closed? 

Next, bend the excess wire at the top of the table inward in order to support the top.

It just so happens that my husband had hoarded a wine barrel top. It was the perfect size so I just slapped it on there.  But Home Depot and Lowes both sell round pieces of wood that can be primed or stained. Just make sure that they're the right size for you table.

I loved the look of the table without the driftwood, but it's really cool jammed with the worn wood that's just laying around our property.

The final product.

So, so easy!

Lindsay.

A Few Quick Projects.

Here are a few things I've been doing around this place recently.

 

 

I made a couple quick pillows using this tutorial. I found a couple of sweaters at Goodwill for two dollars each and cut them out to fit the pillow inserts I had on hand. They are perfect for winter and cost about 5 bucks each.


I did a little back deck makeover. I needed a side table so.....I made one! Details to follow.

Next up......we went from this:

To this:

Having trouble spotting the difference? Look up.  We replaced the hideous ceiling fan with pot lights.  I'd love to say that I worked up the courage to cut holes in the ceiling myself, but this is one projects we didn't DIY. 
The difference is amazing. The room has soooo much light and when I sit on the couch I don't feel like I'm about to be crushed to death by the ceiling fan. Worth. Every. Penny.

That's a wrap-up of a few small things I've done around here.  More to come.....

Lindsay.

DIY Rope Mirror.

Since I've been gone, I really have been doing stuff around here.  I've done quite a few projects and this is one of my very favorites. It probably took me half an hour per mirror (I made two).  This is a seriously simple DIY rope framed mirror.

Here's how I did it:

Gather your materials. I used a cheap mirror from Ikea (9.99!), some rope from Home Depot, and a glue gun.  The thicker rope was around 1.00/ft and I got 40 feet but I had about 8-10 feet left over.  Per mirror I would guess I used about 15 feet of rope. Plus I bought some thinner rope to hide the cut edges of the thicker stuff.  More on that in a bit.
 

I dry-fit the rope around the outer edge of the mirror and then cut it off with some thick shears.  I used the glue gun to adhere the rope to the mirror, glueing all the way around.  I did that three times, making sure that the next row of rope was really tight to the previous row so that the mirror wasn't visible between the rows.

 

Once I had the three rows in place, I need to cover up the cut edges of the rope.  I used some thinner rope and tucked and then glued it in place. It hides the cut edges really well and adds a nice detail to the mirror.

 

 The final result:

 

 

I've wanted to do something like this for a long time and it was totally one of those "Why did I wait so long" projects.  It could not be easier!

 

Lindsay.

 

I linked up to Thrifty Decor Chick.

I linked up to Mondy Funday at *View Along the Way*

What have YOU been doing?

I've been waiting and waiting for new posts and not one of you have posted a single thing!!

Oh wait, that's not how my blog works.  I post stuff for YOU to look at, not the other way around. Whoops. 

Let's just jump back into it then, shall we?

I haven't shown the main living area of our house because I haven't been all that happy with it.  And that's terrible because it's where I spend 99.9999% of my time.

Here's a picture from when we first moved in.

 

There's a bunch of stuff wrong with this picture.  No rug. Teeny-tiny TV stand. Different length curtains. Visible cords and speakers. Demonic cat. Showing the world I wear Crocs. Etc, etc, etc.

 

I fixed most of the problems but there's no helping that cat. He'll be crazy for the rest of his days. And although the Crocs remain a deep source of personal shame, I'm just going to shoulder that burden. Haha.

 

Here's how it currently looks.

 

 







 

 

 

I LOVE IT! 

 

The only thing left to do is find a new sofa and chair.  The leather ones are soooo comfy but they are a little big for the space.  I'm thinking about something like this:



Source

 

 

There are still a few changes in the works but I am (*SNL reference alert*) SOFA KING  happy with it so far. Lol.

 

I'll post more in depth about a few things in future posts.  See you in another three months.

 

Lindsay.



Snippets.

This is kind of a flow of consciousness.  A bunch of things that have been happening around here since fall has befallen us.  Ultimately it hasn't rained since July (!!!) and in the past few days it has more than made up for that and then there was a water main break so it was all "water, water, everywhere"  Except for the tap. Booo.

Now for the snippets.  Lots of pics, few words.  You're welcome.

So it hasn't rained here since July. Oh, I mentioned that already?  Whoops.  But no rain around here for two months catches people's attention.  It also destroys dahlias.  The excess weight of the rain just busts those bad boys.

Next year we stake!  Or go with something different.....

Now for lots of pictures....

New trees!  A Magnolia and a Smoke tree to be exact.  ( Top to bottom)

My very favorite tree in the world.  Vine Maple.

All of the hanging baskets are still holding on.  It amazes me that I still have flowers growing in mid-October.  The last picture gives a sneak peak at the latest curb appeal project.

I forgot about the water.

All of the water!  The F%@&$ing water.  Funny how it can immediately irritate me.

The garage has reached critical mass (as described by the husband...)

So many projects crammed in here..... Honey, I promise it will look better after Christmas!  PS- A few of those boxes are yours....

Upcoming:

Downstairs bedroom update/reveal.

What lies beneath???

Finally.  To my husband.  Thanks for doing what you do.  You're wonderful, my love!

Linds.