Main Bath Remodel Part 2

Taking out the cast iron tub was... loud. haha You have to smash it with a sledge hammer into pieces to get out of the house.

Next steps were to figure out the height of the plumbing.  We upgraded to a taller soaker tub so we needed to make sure everything lines up with the taller tub.  

Plumbing set and inspection passed!

We are also debating between a half glass shower wall or just a shower curtain.

From aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.ca Via Pinterest

From The Marion House Book via Pinterest

This will also affect what type of shower head we'll purchase (the half glass will need a shower head that sprays straight down so water doesn't splash out) so I am not getting anything until we have made up our minds.

Next is finding a vanity that doesn't cost a mortgage payment...

All set to build and inset shelf and begin putting up cement board.

This is the wall we will put in a 12x12 insert

Main Bath Remodel

Back in 2009 I did a small update on the main living room bathroom, removed tulip wall paper, painted and restyled the bathroom vanity, added peel and stick flooring and painted the walls white. Shame on me for not taking pictures, here are the only ones I could find.

Here the flooring, wall paper removal and painting is completed. I took apart the vanity to sand in prep for painting and removing the faux marble contact paper. 

 I played with painting with an antiqued look because I honestly kind of liked the shape, but decided to stick with classic black instead.

I added a small shelf and moved the mirror up, the shelf did not wear as well as the cabinet.

Added decorative accessories

So here was the final result:

Ugly tile is hiding behind the curtains.

So to quote one of our all time favorite show's Fixer Upper Its DEMO DAY!!!

I bought this shirt as soon as they started selling them*! You can get yours here from Chip and Joanna's Magnolia Market here!

Magnolia Market

Ugly tile, ready to come down

Here is a close up of my favorite wheat pieces...(I am being sarcastic if you didn't catch that).

And this special tile the previous owners painted to match the existing tile...

Tile and drywall is all down.  I know you don't need to remove drywall, but we wanted to make sure to get rid of a tiny known mold issue and install cement board for mold resistance. I am also trying to convince my husband to move pluming and 2x4's for other ideas that will make it look high-end

 *I was not paid or compensated for any content on this post.  I simply adore the Fixer Upper show and their Magnolia Market products.

Next Renovation Project: Master Suite Addition

This may be a bit out, but I have "the renovation bug" now. Our future big renovation project is to build an addition over the garage as a Master Suite. My husband and I are… cozy in our current 10x11 bedroom. We added two wardrobes on each side of the bed for additional closet space but still have a dresser cramped at the end of the room full, a small closet stuffed and the spare room closet storing my dresses since neither of the other closets have long enough racks for hanging dresses. When seasons change I get a little creative storing off-season items in totes in the master bedroom closet's odd space (that takes up half the closet).  Having a master suite would give us that extra room for kids when we start having them without losing our spare room and have a relaxing escape for the two of us to spend quiet cuddly time together. Not to mention a bathroom we could both use (I currently use the basement bathroom to get ready because of the lack of outlets and counter space to get ready, while my husband uses the bathroom across the hall from our current room). And a walk-in closet full of fantastic cubbies, storage, and hanging room for both our clothes. Bliss.

Here is our current bedroom through the doorway

The odd space I loosely call storage space in the closet

A rough estimate of the current space (I love floorplanner.com)

And here is the proposed floor plan for the new addition

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My current obsessions!

This House

This Chaise

This end table



Anthro Dresses!

Segovia

This color palate (Koh Lanta, Thailand via This Battered Suitcase)

Fashion, Design, and Architecture Loves

Loving these images by Christina Fluegge today!

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2011 Goals and Resolutions

Well it's 2011 (two-thousand-&-heaven as Gala sweetly calls it) and I finally got around to making a whole new set of goals/resolutions for the year

 Lets take a look at last year's resolutions:
•Try cross country skiing  Loved it! Only went once though
•Go snowmobiling
•Start a reading log for the books I have read  I update my GoodReads page often with books I currently read, my own critiques, and can keep a sturdy to-read list all in one spot!
•Take a cooking class with the hubby. Never did this, however we do spend a lot of time working on new and interesting dishes from cookbooks my Mother-In-Law buys us every Christmas
•Get rid of old clothes and shoes I never wear and start figuring out what style I'd like: Start a scrapbook & fill it with images, words & ideas to keep inspired. Keep a list of "must haves" outside closet for easy shopping. This seems like an on-going task, but here is the before and afters:
•Create a new Budget Mint.com is incredible! Take a tour here
•Have a personal date once a week: Go to a movie, eat an amazing meal, go for a long meandering walk or have a candlelit bubble bath. Just take time out for you. Regularly.  This one was hard to track, but I worked to keep good constructive times for myself to re-group.
•Write a letter to the one person you allowed to make 2009 more difficult than it needed to be. Be as angry & vicious as you like, but when you’re done, burn it or tear it into little pieces.  This I cannot recommend enough!  A lot of times you cannot confront the ones that hurt you so you have to deal with it yourself.
•Learn to use Photoshop like an almost-pro (YouTube has cute little sessions, but I am at work so I will add the link later) Took a class here
•Get active, get physical 3 times a week. Sign up for a class! didn't do :(


I didn't complete all my goals, but was glad to have one spot I could reference to. This year I have bigger and brighter goals for 2011!

• Read double the number of books read last year (read 33 last year, 66 is the goal for this year) I will be tracking on GoodReads for this too!
• Start making my hats for Etsy
• Keep trucking through school, gotta get that degree
• Finish writing my book (I am at about 25,000 words so far)
• Publish the book?
• Try going on different dates with the hubby, try new things, enjoy new things together :)
• Blog once a week, I have plenty of posts started, ideas etc. Just haven't taken the time to work them out and post them with updated pictures.
• Remodeling monthly goals:
• January - Pantry organization
• February - Update the bathroom: biggest goals is to finish the last bits of my lower bath and update the mirror and rugs in the upper bathroom
• March - Closet trash/recycle/donate/organize: my guest closet is a blanket dump right now and I still have several mismatched sheets and pillow cases and even ones for bed sizes we do not even have anymore.
• April - Wash all the windows, panes, screens etc to let in that beautiful spring sun
• May - Prep, wash and setup the deck for Spring
• June - Plant and move the gardens to the end of the yard
• July - Organize the garage
• August - Re-paint the house
• September - December I want to work on the kitchen remodel
• A few little things that have been in the back of my mind to do
• Finish a project before you start a new one example1 example2
• Update and delete all those songs I keep skipping through on my iPod!
• WORK OUT, I like doing it once I get there!

What are your goals this year? Link em up, I'd love to check them out!

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Antiquing

My favorite Minneapolis architectural antique store next to Cupcake


Ok, so I took two pictures of this Church window piece because the first one shows the true colors of the light through the windows

 And this one shows the awesome colors of the glass, chandalier, and HELLO aqua mongo bowl!

 THis is probably overwhelming for people but I looooove this huge selection of lighting they have throughout this store!

 This church piece is fantastic, I have see it now 3 times and have just gasped at it, as soon as I can find a place for it, it will be mine!

 This piece was just too beautiful!

 A tiny pic of the wall of key plates

 I LOOOOOVE these iron pieces on the side in their rusted glorious-ness

 Seen Mad Men? This is the entrance of one of Condor Hilton's hotels in Chicago, back "in the day" they used to lock up the hotels at night with one of these revolving door locking doors. This one was pulled out and is on sale for a meer $3k!

 A close up of the top piece