Bathroom Secrets

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted. Whoops. I know I left you hanging on our bathroom project. The secret is that we've actually been working on the upstairs bathroom now! Back to back bathroom renovations? Yep, we are insane. Don't worry, we made the downstairs totally functional before embarking on this journey. Onto the downstairs bathroom progress...

Tim primed the entire room. He even painted the ceiling flat white. It just needed a little pick me up.

The space looks strange without any color. It's funny how big it looks though without any fixtures and white walls.

I swear the shower actually reads less canary yellow in person. It comes off as a soft, pastel yellow now.

This picture is a little closer to reality. Maybe my camera settings are not awesome? Who knows. A for effort, right!? As you can see from the above photo we went with a soft grey wall. I think it helps to soften the look of the yellow tile. Unfortunately, I did not take any more in progress photos of the paint color, so I'll leave you with this teaser...

Demo Derby

Did you know Tim's brother, Kevin, participated in a Demo Derby? He survived to tell the tale, but he lost pretty quickly. Tim engages in a different kind of demo... the home improvement kind.

Our shower fixtures HAD to go. We're keeping the tile in the downstairs bathroom because it's in great shape and it doesn't look heinous like the upstairs.

That NASTY vanity is GONE! I did a happy dance every time I saw this missing piece of junk.

Next up: toilet. Gone-zo! I love the sweet paint gaps around the toilet and vanity. I guess that shows the bathroom HAD been painted since the original owners. So I guess it was white before? The warm, yellow tone of brown was not really working in here since everything had this yellow overtone. It's funny really, because I actually don't hate the paint color. It's very reminiscent of our hallway color.

Wow. This looks so different already! I can't wait. Notice anything else missing?

Yep, the ugly linoleum is gone too! That actually came up much easier than Tim or I ever would have guessed. The hallway, not so much. He had a tougher time in the little walkway between our bathroom and laundry room, but alas, Tim worked hard and prevailed over ugly flooring!

Now what do we do with these giant holes left by the fixtures? This is not something we anticipated. We thought they were mounted on TOP of the drywall like most fixtures. Patch 'er up!

This space is looking better already. Tim worked at lightning speed to totally transform this room. I can't wait to see what's next!

The Bathroom Reno Begins!

Tim has been a busy bee throughout the month of January. In the blog absence he managed to renovate our downstairs bathroom! In the next several days I will be posting various phases of the bathroom project. Up first, the before pictures. Tim has shared this before, but these photos are the nitty gritty specifics. The bad, the bad, and the ugly. Here goes nothin'. 

Check out that sink. Wowza. My friend Jamie said my property value will decline when we remove the awesome shell shaped sink. Tim and I decided to take that risk. Not only is it a shell shaped sink, but it's also bright yellow. The lighting in this bathroom is terribly yellow, so it's hard to see. The color reminds me of when you vomit up stomach acid

The shower is here to stay. The floor pan just needs cleaned up a bit. We decided to work the new color scheme around these tiles since they are in great shape.

I have no idea why all of these lights make the room appear even more yellow. Hopefully a new color scheme will brighten things up. We thought we may replace this recessed light, but in the end we decided to keep it (photos in a future post).

This happens to be the shower that I use to bathe the dogs. We installed a showerhead with a hose attachment a few months ago. This is definitely easier than filling a cup to wash them. The old handle is nasty looking. It's obviously original to the house and desperately needs replaced.

This photo highlights the ugly flooring. I scrub it yet it still looks dirty. We discussed replacing the door. It looks old and funky, but we're also cheap. We'll see what we can come up with.

Guest Post: Queen of Crafts

A member of the Craft Club, Amy, was quite busy this winter break! Amy is a grad student and crafter extraordinaire. She had a few days off this winter break and managed to squeeze in 4 incredible craft projects. Meanwhile, I sat on my rump eating bon-bons and watching reruns of Law and Order SVU. Amy sweetly sent me this post on January 7th, but I wasn't kidding when I said I was taking a month off. I'm back now to share some fabulous crafts courtesy of Amy:

Amy & Dave (the soon-to-be-hubs)

Quilted Tote:

This is my first sewing project! My fiancé got me a sewing machine for Christmas and I was eager to learn how to sew, but had no clue where to start or what I needed.  I went to Wal-mart and bought a few supplies (needles, scissors, etc) and asked a friend who was more experienced to teach me how to start.  I found this bag in a packet for about $12 where it included directions and all of the material to make this bag.  From doing this project, I was able to learn how to measure and cut material for a pattern and how to unjam my sewing machine, since I jammed it roughly 6 times in the midst of making the bag and also broke a needle.  I’m still in training, but pretty pumped about how the bag looks! 

Vera Bradley should hire Amy. My first project was a hot mess.

Jewelry:

I have been a jewelry guru since I took a jewelry class 2 summers ago.  You can take classes at a jewelry bead shop, Michaels, or Jo Ann Fabrics.  This is a necklace I made for my Mom for Christmas.  You can buy beads at Wal-mart, Michaels, Jo Anns, and sometimes other stores if you look.  To make it look fancy, I found the purple cardboard piece for earrings at Michaels—makes it look “pro!” 

You should see the necklace Amy showed me how to make. It took me 4x as long as it took her haha.

Pringles Can:

This was the easiest craft over the holidays, and the most yummy!  I saw this idea on Pinterest (if you are not on there, I HIGHLY recommend it ;] ).  If you like Pringles, it makes it even better.  I bought a few Pringle cans, both tall and medium sizes, and was motivated to eat the chips so I could use the container.  After washing it out, I measured the length of the can and found some nice scrapbook paper I wanted to cover it with.  Then I glued the paper around the can (you can also put paper under the lid if you would like) and filled it with a yummy Chex mix for a friend.  Great way to give cookies/snacks!

So cute, so yummy.

Wine Glass:

While this looks AWESOME, I promise it is so easy!  The supplies you will need is: a $1 wine glass from the Dollar Store, white puffy paint, light sand paper, and a design.  You can print a design off-line, like the snowflakes I used, and tape them inside the glass facing out.  Use a light sand paper to sand the outside of the glass (this will keep the paint sticking to the glass).  Take the puffy paint and trace your design on the outside of the wine glass.  Once the puffy paint dries, remove your design that is taped on the inside.  Next, spray paint the outside of the wine glass, over your puffy paint design, with white spray paint (or your choice of color).  And after you feel you have enough coats of spray paint (I used 2 coats), you can use acrylic paint for the inside (of the same color or different color—for my wine glass I used a charcoal gray).  Wa-La!

So fancy!

Amazing, right? We'll just call her the Queen of Crafts. Amy is engaged, so I can't wait to see all of the wedding decor and crafts that she will DIY! These products look so professional, she could sell them! Maybe we'll get a follow up wedding edition from the Queen of Crafts. :) Thank you so much for sharing, Amy!