The Constipated Bathroom

The progress we've had on our bathroom is nothing short of labor-intense. Therefore, our bathroom is now known as constipated, since the end is still a little ways away.

We haven't had a sink since before Thanksgiving, The shower bar has been dipping lower and lower since Halloween, and for about three weeks in March, we were without a shower.

Here's my father-in-law and the husband taking down the plaster wall in February so we could cover over the hole from the previous medicine cabinet.

Following this procedure, we brought in a guy to drywall out ceiling and wall, as well as put in a window.

And here it is, nicely primed and ready for more.

Mess=Progress

I think my reason for procrastinating putting up a blog was exhaustion due to the non-stop weekend we had and the late nights the week before and this week I've had at work. But, since I finally have some down time, I can update with the progress we made last weekend!

It's weekends like these that make me wonder how we fit 48 hours in a weekend. Don't get me wrong, I would love to expand the weekend to get even more done.

First, I finally got sick of my unpainted trim in the kitchen.

Ooh, it hurts my eyes!

And I got out my old painting clothes (who am I kidding? It's not like I've ever put them away, honestly. I don't think my husband cares I wear  the paint-stained pants to bed) and got to work. I was surprsed when Lenny and one of our friends joined me. Hell, that trim was painted so fast, I had even more time for another project...

Oh, thank goodness! Much better!

Eventually, we will be getting new windows, so I haven't gone through the annoyance of trying to paint the existing windows we have. That's what the blinds cover, thank goodness.

 

In between coats, I began making curtains for the kitchen. Have I mentioned I am in love with my grapes and wine theme?

The green fabric is actually made from a cheap flat sheet from Wal-Mart. The green just happens to accent the grape leaves painted on the walls. And the bottoms? Well, (totally giggling with anticipation of telling you), they're dishtowels!

Here's what they looks like on the window...although, I may do some changing around because the other windows are looking a little bland in comparison.

While I was working on the curtains, my husband began taking down the drop ceiling in our bathroom.

And my father-in-law nailed down my countertops! Sorry for exclamation point, but it's very liberating having countertops that no longer move around when I do anything on them.

What we found above the drop deiling was this, which we have to live with for a little while, but the extra six inches that have been added actually really makes a difference in the feel of the space in our bathroom.

 

Now, this is a very important tool in all of our household endeavors: A kitchen chair we inherited from Lenny's parents. We've used it for everything.

And my final project of the weekend, which I can say my husband gladly helped with, was decorating my window boxes. I found wooden slats at Wal-Mart, which my husband happily spray painted with stone-like spray paint. Our friend and I wrote little tombstone sayings on them, even a few off-color ones ("Billy Mays Here!" and "Michael Jackson Cause This Is Thriller!").

Please forgive the intense need our house has for a good power-washing.

 

More Halloween decorating and construction is scheduled for this weekend! Not to mention, I just got paid. My weekly trip to Joann's is set to commence as soon as I get out of work!

Small Victory

My husband saw a picture in Real Simple magazine of built-in shelving and called me over, saying "Do you think we could do this with one of the taller crawl spaces upstairs?" I nearly hugged him because I  have secretly wanted built-in shelving somewhere in my house.  But I didn't hug him at the time because, when he called me over, he was on the toilet.

Yeah, I don't know when we lost that barrier of closing and locking the bathroom door when it's just the two of us, but it's gone completely. Welcome to marriage!

The Perfect Shelf

Lenny and I decided we wanted a shelf in the pantry in the kitchen, which we turned into the area for the sink and the dishwasher. We figured it would be great to be able to use that area to hold dishes, as well, making it easier to transfer dishes from the dishwasher or sink, instead of making multiple trips. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything either of us liked and we took up valuable cabinet space holding our dishes, only using two of the three shelves because the top shelf was pretty inconvenient to reach.

After a visit to my dentist, who happens to be Swedish, I decided to go to Ikea and get lost for a while while the Novocaine wore off. While in the kitchen section, I came across the cutest little country shelf. So simple, long and just the right size I was looking for.

LINK

Now would be the point in the blog when I should mention my husband says he doesn't like Ikea. Anything I bring home from Ikea, I have to sneak in the house, and tell him later where it came from, once he decides he likes it/doesn't mind it.

After putting it together—with the "help" of the cat, who was very good at finding (and playing with) parts I had dropped—I attempted to hang it by myself. This was a mistake.

After making a few holes in the wall, I waited for my brother-in-law to come over. Thankfully, he was a better stud-finder than I was (and that is now a joke among the family).

And now I have basically an empty cabinet I can store the kitchen odds and ends!