And the Renovations Continue

We've been busy lately.  Now that it is cooling down outside, we are picking back up where we left off on the house.  Last week was bathroom extravaganza #3.  The other two bathrooms took a few weeks to complete, but this one is Jeremy's bathroom and he went away on vacation for just one week.  So we hustled!

Part 1: Destroy.

Part 2: Fix walls where destruction went a little overboard.

Part 3: Painting and repainting.

Part 3.5: Take break to take cool shadow pictures.

Part 4: Lay tile (oops no pictures, I was at work) and pour grout.

Part 5: Reinstall hardwares and bathroom goodies

Done and done!  I did skip some steps, like cleaning and sealing the grout, installing the trim, boring boring boring.  What we really need on this blog is more pictures of my new DSLR, right??

A Stay At Home Saturday

I was lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend so I forced myself to spend one of the days at home finally finishing a few projects that have been in my head for a while.  We stopped by Joann Fabrics yesterday to buy curtain material (which I did not find, at ALL... do people not make patterned gray curtains? Bahh!) and ended up in the spray paint section.  We decided to get a little HGTV and bought a can of bronze metallic spray paint with a hammered finish.  It turned out to be an awesome purchase!

First project: remaking my ugly cheap black target picture frames with some art for the master bathroom.  I painted the frames with my hammered bronze spray.  The prints were half off at Joann and we cut them down to size.  The close up pictures that I took of the frames turned out to be blurry.  I'm still learning to use the manual settings on my DSLR!

Next easy project: finally hang that shelf in my guest room.  Hung and done! I decorated it with some pictures I bought at a bazaar years ago (which, too, are still waiting to be hung.) I'll need to make a stop by the thrift store to get some decorations for this baby.

Next project: hang the shelf in the living room that has been sitting by the tv for 2 years.  Please take note of the artwork that now adorns the shelf.  I made these in 2009 as a birthday gift for Alex.  Each one highlights something important in his life.  They also all have a double meaning (the bug has a background of the car mixed with the animal, the apple has a background of apple products mixed with the fruit, etc.) 

I finished the next project while holding my breath.  I had bought this vase on clearance a few weeks ago, but it was half blue, half black, and 100% did not fit anywhere in the house.  The shiny finish was not the right surface for the bronze spray, but I was too lazy to go out to buy a brillo pad to rough up the surface.  I went ahead and painted it anyways and hoped it would not drip off.  

It turned out great!  I filled it with some dried roses that I had from a trip to Michael's a month ago.  Bathroom is now deemed finished.  And awkward blue and black vase is now useful.

Final project: new fridge!  We finally got rid of the old fridge that had a broken light and made all my food spoil with some stainless steel.  I reorganized our two freezers into one and assigned a shelf for chicken, pork, and beef.  Yes, the pork shelf is mainly bacon.  Yes, we have a lot of meat in our freezer.  I buy it, I freeze it, and then I make a vegetarian dinner.  Who wants to deal with unfreezing meat when you get home from work?  I really need to improve my meal planning.

My Room

Ok, so I don't sleep in it and technically it's the guest room, but this room is my little space in the house.  The furniture was my grandmothers (build around the 1940's) and survived the trip from Illinois to Maryland with only a few scrapes.  The drawers are filled with yarn and my favorite sheets are on the bed.

When we first painted and I looked at the newly yellow walls, I was really afraid that we would have to re-paint because it was so much brighter than I had wanted.  Eye burningly bright.  Now that everything is set up, I'm so glad I chose the shade I did because it's so warm and inviting!  I went through a period where I wanted to use a lot of grays and cool paint colors but now I'm seriously considering re-painting the rest of the house in warm colors (although I think the master bedroom is still going to end up some shade of gray.)

I'm actually pretty sad that this room turned out so great because I know I won't love the master bedroom as much once it's finished.  Aren't you supposed to like your room the most?  But warm colors aren't really Alex's style so I have to blend both of our styles together in the spaces we share.

For now, my beautiful room is relegated to the place where Bean sleeps in the afternoons and where she stays when we're out of the house.  Maybe someday we'll have a guest to stay in it!

I still have a few things left to put up on the walls before the room is "done," but that might not happen anytime soon!