The 'Necessary' Room ; )

I just realized that I never put up a post about our bathroom! And while this might not seem like too big of a problem for anyone else, I am very excited about it. I actually started a couple of different posts and had trouble uploading pictures so I abandoned them. But I think I’ve got the pictures figured out now (thank you, Picasa Web Albums) so here goes. Warning: I’ve taken quite a few pictures of this particular project, so this could get long. : )

Okay, here’s our lovely bathroom before. This isn’t actually the way before like when we moved in, but this is as far back at my photographic memory goes. (Get it? ‘Photographic’ memory? Hehe.) Anyway, as you can see, it’s a fully functional bathroom in that it has all it really needs to have like toilet, sink, and bathtub. The yellow color was all us; when we moved in it was a yucky cardboard brown color. These people painted the walls, ceiling, and the back of the door all that color so that when you went in and shut the door, you felt like you’d been shipped off for storage. Not cool guys. Not cool at all.

So as far as specifics on the ‘before’ bathroom, you’ve got a standard ugly vanity, standard ugly countertop – which matched the countertop that was in the kitchen, but we replaced that. I’ll show you another time. You’ve got that awful laminate floor…

...no matter how many times I mopped or swept that floor, it still felt dirty. Ugh.

And here’s a little peek at the ugly tile that acts as the tub surround. Unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to get rid of that, but we’re toning it down a bit with a wall color that doesn’t contrast so much.

From the lovely ‘before’ pictures, we transition smoothly into the equally lovely ‘chaos’ pictures. You’ll understand what I mean in a sec. : ) We ripped out the vanity, removed the toilet, laid down much more attractive vinyl tiles, repainted the whole bathroom, and installed a new vanity and sink. That’s right, we’re freaking crazy. Cue pictures of said craziness!

Miss Eden was in charge of handing the vinyl tiles to the guys.

This is where the last little piece of tile goes...

Mr. Bug doesn't really like getting his picture taken, but he does such a nice job painting! : )

My artsy picture of the shower curtain hangers

No more nasty brown floor!

And here are the lovely 'after' photos! These are what I'm hoping to be able to use for our listing when we get it listed to sell.

We weren't able to get rid of that brown tile surround, but at least now it doesn't stand out so much.

So there you have it. My newly-refinished upstairs bathroom. It's great to feel like it's a room that's clean and I no longer have to feel icky just going in there. That's not what you want in a bathroom. We're working on a few updates to the kitchen, so I'll show you those when we're all through.

Sorry again about the long post. : ) This has been a long time coming and you just can't rush something like that!



Let There Be Color!

I am aware that two posts in one day is borderline desperate/sad, but I had to share! I’m finally going for it and painting the front door an actual color! I have debated and debated (with myself and others) about what color to do here, but I decided ultimately to go with my gut. My 8-months-pregnant, don’t-you-dare-question-me gut. : )

That means red. The house itself is Messenger Bag from Sherwin Williams, a kind of olive green that goes really really well with the chocolate brown trim and gutters. It had to though ‘cause we weren’t going to pay for new gutters, so… Anywho, I have matching brown shutters waiting for Mr. Bug to put up and I’m going to head outside in a few to put up the new house numbers. Power drill, here I come!

I’m getting sidetracked. Okay, so from the very beginning I’ve loved red front doors. Not just the beginning of my search for a paint color. I mean from the beginning of TIME I’ve loved red front doors. If I walk up to a house with a red front door I automatically think “Cool! Someone with an actual personality must live here!” And while that may not always be true, I’d like to at least give the impression that someone interesting lives in my house. : )

So after debating between brown to match the trim and shutters – yawn – and cream to match the base of the house – double yawn – I decided that since I’m usually right anyway (do not ask Mr. Bug about this) I would just do what I wanted to do from the start!

So here’s the door before I did anything to it: it’s really quite sad. I am continuously lamenting having lived in this house the way it was for nearly four years when it really is very cute!

Here’s the door after I primed it with a tinted oil-based wood primer. Because they had a mistinted one at Sherwin Williams for $5.71. Booyah!

Partway through the process…

And here’s my lovely after one coat with the red paint! I have to give credit to my wonderful husband for picking out the color. He went into the kitchen, tore off part of his Dr. Pepper box and said, “Something like this?” So that little scrap went with me to Sherwin Williams for a color match! : )

So there you have it! Embrace the insanity and go with your gut, no matter how many uncertain looks you get. Hehe! : )

I Know This Sounds Crazy...

Okay, I am not a lame person. At least, I really try not to be. That’s why I have my doubts about writing this post. But the truth is—I can’t stay silent any longer. If there is anyone out there struggling like I was, I’m here to help.

I’m talking about those of us who have been struggling in vain, making do with something that no one should have to settle for. You know who you are: my fellow crappy dishwasher sufferers!

For the past few months, my sad little family and I have been arguing over whether or not the dishes in the dishwasher are clean or dirty. I mean, if they look just as dirty (if not dirtier) after you wash them, how can you tell? So while I was at my beloved Target the other day – cue chorus of angels – I decided to try something to end our dishwasher woes.

Enter Lemi Shine ‘The Hard Water Expert.’ It took me a while to decide on which miracle product I was going to pin all my hopes and dreams of clean dishes on, but in the end the mammoth task landed on the shoulders lid of this little bottle. It wasn’t too expensive – less than $4 – and there is a money back guarantee so I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

Here’s the little guy now : )

So I brought it home and showed it to a skeptical but hopeful Mr. Bug who I think said something like, “It’s worth a shot” or something else equally encouraging. Following the instructions on the bottle, which I always do (wink, wink) I emptied the ‘clean’ dishes out of the dishwasher and ran a cycle with just Lemi Shine to clean all the crud that was apparently making my dishwasher so sucky.

After the dishwasher cycle was through, I very carefully loaded the dishwasher with actual dirty dishes. I once again followed the bottle instructions to a tee to make sure that when this miracle product didn’t work it wouldn’t be my fault.

But…

Look at that before and after! The dish on the right is beautiful! Just beautiful! It’s actually clean! Mr. Bug and I have been exclaiming over our clean dishes every time we take another one out of the cupboard.

Check out the spatula and ladle. They’re part of the same set believe it or not. I’m so happy. : )

So for all of you lousy dishwasher sufferers out there, there is hope. If you are wondering about other uses for Lemi Shine, whether or not it’s safe in your home, and other such things, check out their site. http://www.envirocontech.com/products/Learn-More-about-Lemi-Shine.html Or just go buy some and start using it. That works too. : )

It's Kinda Like a Nut House...

I’m definitely up later than I should be, but I wanted to try to post and see if Blogger would be nice to me. : )

We have had a crazy busy week around my house! So much so that I really haven’t been able to take any pictures except snapping a few here and there with my phone. We have had a freakishly amazing week with temperatures in the sixties, so we felt like that was God giving us the go-ahead to paint our house. We’re hoping to get it on the market in the next couple weeks, so getting something HUGE and overwhelming like that out of the way is going to be a big relief. I know Mr. Bug will definitely sleep better!

Here is the before of the house.  

Here's Mr. Bug on the first day before we were offered the use of a paint sprayer by some friends we will never be able to repay!

Miss Eden helping Uncle Bug with some painting : )

In the process of scraping, I have seen a mustard color, a light aqua, a darker aqua, and the most recent cream color. We went with the Sherwin Williams color ‘Messenger Bag’ on the advice of a décor-savvy aunt and I’m super pleased with the results. Here’s what it looked like earlier today.

I wish I would have taken a picture at the end of the day, though. In the one above the front trim wasn’t done being painted, which it is now. It looks really amazing—like a completely different house! Even the garage looks great and I was beginning to wonder if that thing was so ugly we were going to be arrested to having it in plain sight. Plus, I got to use the paint sprayer which made me feel very ‘I am woman, hear me roar.’ By the way, paint sprayers are pretty much the best invention ever. Including sliced bread and pacifiers for babies. (I know that sounds extreme but you’ll never understand until you paint two sides of a house with brushes and then use the sprayer for the rest. Seriously.)

Once we get the outside pretty much done, we’re moving on to finishing up a few bigger projects on the inside and then it’s mostly just cleaning and getting STUFF out of the house. I’m going toss-it-out crazy! My poor sister keeps asking me, “Wait, you’re throwing this away?!” I just figure if I don’t need it right now and I can replace it for less than $20 there’s absolutely no reason to pack and/or move it. : )

So signing off for now. Hopefully it won’t be so long before I’m able to post again.

P.S. The one really good thing about how busy I’m staying and how hard we’re working is that I’m sleeping like a rock at night! Sure beats tossing and turning : )

Stick-On Sundays

I’m not a very fancy female. Not terribly emotional even pregnant and I’ve never been the kind of girl who loves to get all glammed up and hit the town. That must be why God gave me a 3½-year-old who loves all things pretty and shiny.

Eden loves getting all dressed up, having pretties in her hair, and she loves wearing the stick-on earrings she got for Christmas. She was going through a couple pairs a day for a while right after the holidays, so I had to make a rule that we only wear our stick-on earrings to church on Sundays. Needless to say, she was devastated. But it makes it even more fun when she gets to wear them!

Well, the girls have spent the last two Saturday nights at different grandparent’s houses, so Miss Eden hasn’t been in church and therefore hasn’t gotten to wear her earrings. This has been a problem for her. : ) So last Sunday morning once she had eaten breakfast and picked out her outfit (she had a very specific idea of what she wanted to wear, by the way) she was very clear that she wanted to pick out her earrings as soon as she had brushed her teeth. She opted for the pretty pink bows to match the bow on her shirt.

Sissy goes more for the eclectic look, so she chose Snow White earrings to complement her dark green dress. I don't ask questions. : )