The Official "After" Bathroom Post

Here's the pink bathroom one more time

(because I know everyone really wanted to see it again):

And here it is now:

This cabinet does need a little more painting and some knobs,

but I didn't want to put off the post any more. I had our "worker man" build this for us. We took out the medicine cabinet and this bathroom desperately needed somewhere to put stuff. I was nervous about how it would look in the small space, but I'm super happy we did it. Those baskets are from Hobby Lobby (half off baby) and they don't currently hold much other than hair bows for the girls.

I kept our old shower curtain thinking I'd shop around for a new one (I LOVE this one from Anthropologie but $148 is a little high for me! And check out this bath mat! Only $38 so maybe that will happen one day. In the meantime a bathmat towel works just fine for our poor student feet.)

I'm so excited about the fixture set I got on clearance at Home Depot for only $100. It's Delta, it's awesome, and it's normally almost $300. It feels amazing!

Loving the oil rubbed bronze! And the refinished tub is beautiful! You can not buy a bathtub like this anymore I've been told. It saved a lot of money to just refinish instead of replace too. In a picture later in the post you can see the lines of the tub's side. Lovely!

Here you can see the built in shelves. This was a very smart move, I think. It makes the bathroom feel more expensive and custom. And more storage! We lost a little room in the hall closet but it's worth it. The shelves are from the floor up to the ceiling.

We did tile all the way up to the ceiling instead of only part way up like the pink tile was.

We put some of the accent tile on the floor too. I love it! (A note on the tile - you do not have to spend big bucks on tile. You can, and if I had the money I would, but this tile tile only cost 1/4 of what we originally picked out and it looks great. I think adding a touch of accent tile goes a long way and with a bathroom this size wasn't a big cost anyway. I'm no tile snob! All of the tile was purchased at Lowe's by the way.)

One last look from the doorway. I haven't decided what, if anything, I'm doing for a window treatment. It gets a little busy since the shower curtain is right there so I'm leaning towards nothing. I still have the bamboo shade from before so we'll see. Also, the paint color is nomadic desert by Sherwin Williams (had it color matched at Lowe's with Behr paint). We started using that color for our flip house and I haven't found another I like better as far as this color family goes.

We've been in heaven with this new space. After living with the pink for so long, this is just incredible. It's still not huge, but it feels waaaay bigger. LOVE!

The End.

The Drain Blaster

Since it was Friday night, John and I decided it was high time we do something fun and entertaining. Also, our kitchen sink was very, very clogged. Our handy man wasn't able to fix it. John was hoping he could do it himself. His optimism is endearing.

Behold, The Drain Blaster.....

This was after using maximum strength draino and a sink auger. I also endured having a plunger used in the sink by the handy man earlier today. The floor has flooded, grossness is everywhere. Sigh.....

Getting Closer to Having a Bathroom

This whole bathroom thing has been long and painful. Mostly because of where the bathroom is and how whenever work is being done I have no access to my bedroom and all of upstairs is crowded and messy. The little ones like to play in their rooms a lot during the day so it's been a challenge. Anyway....Here's some progress pictures:

tile that still needs a good cleaning

some of the grout and all of the caulking has to be done after the bathtub is refinished

here are the built in shelves that aren't all the way set in or painted yet

Can you feel just how small this bathroom is? We've just been happy to have 2 1/2 bathrooms in this house. Most houses around us seem to have only 1 or 1 1/2 bathrooms.

Having a toilet in the hallway closet is a new trend we're trying to start. Don't be jealous!

The beginnings of tile

Everything's still very messy, but we have progress! I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but we're making built in shelves where there was just a wall. We'll end up losing a little of the hall closet space but I think it will be worth it.

I'm excited that I found tile for a really great price that still looks great. It does in my opinion anyway! (and it is my bathroom and my blog so I guess I get the final say!)

There's a closeup of the accent tile.

Hello, you beautiful little piece of my oil rubbed bronze handle. I love you already.

I told you it was still messy. Work resumes at 10:00 tomorrow morning.

Dusty Brown is the Color Now

Here's the progress from the first day. The pink tile turned out to be very stubborn. Whoever picked it out so many years ago must have wanted it to stay forever because they put it down with a couple inches of cement. Everything thing hanging on just about every wall in the house either fell off or was crooked because of all the banging and pounding. Wow.

Interesting to see what's behind the walls. I was hoping to find something cool so we could be on that show called "If Walls Could Talk" on HGTV. Maybe next time.

The tub refinishing man just came a little bit ago to start the tub.

But then he left because our contractor told me wrong. Apparently, you should do everything else in the bathroom first and then have the tub refinished.

Major bummer since now the tub people are a couple weeks out in their scheduling. Hopefully someone will cancel or another company can come sooner. This tub is the only one in the house. We have the (smallest ever) shower in the yellow bathroom but the three younger ones can't use it. At least it's not summertime so they won't be sweaty and gross. Lots of sponge baths may be in their future.

These things are never easy, are they?

I Love Pink

....but not so much that I want it all over our bathroom.

Pink is finally on its way out!!!

Here's a picture of the bathroom before we bought our house:

And then here are a few pictures I took this morning after taking everything out and the demolition was about to begin.

When we first looked at our house, I thought the tub just needed a good cleaning. Wrong. It needed much more. I'll look a little closer next time we're house hunting! I don't think the picture shows how bad the tub is. Lucky you.

It's been a long (almost) two years to wait for this day. My house is currently covered in dust from all the work, but it's going to be so worth it! By this weekend (hopefully), we'll be doing a happy dance. (Okay, I admit it - I'm already doing a dance now!)

Thanksgiving Mantel

I didn't decorate much for Thanksgiving other than the little bit on the porch, but I did find this banner online. I loved just adding this one little thing to the mantel, lighting the candles, and calling it a day.

(It was quite a day, by the way. We stayed home and my parents and grandma drove over from Chicago. Only their car broke down and they were stuck on a tiny shoulder of a bridge for two hours waiting for a tow truck. Then they had quite an adventure trying to get a rental car from the airport. They didn't arrive until about five hours after their anticipated time. But, they made it. And we ate. And ate. And decided that Black Friday shopping was not worth it because sleep had to be worth something, right?)

Notes to future self when preparing for Thanksgiving:

• Lots of dvds from the library to keep the kids happy - yes! good idea!
• Buying a gargantuan turkey just because it doesn't cost too much more - ehhhh, not so much. I almost couldn't fit that bird in the oven! ("bird" reference for my father's sake)
• Adding lots of extra, unnecessary side dishes is.....unnecessary. Keep it simple please.
• Bread pudding - I love you.
• Please put the dressing in the oven earlier. Two years in a row I have been waiting on dressing to cook.
• Make the kid table much more exciting and enticing. Put a huge bowl of candy and fudge in the middle of it if necessary. Just make it better than the big table.
• Make place cards. They're pretty, practical, and I always wish I had when it's over.
• Take pictures! Of people and of food. (yes, the food. I want to see it for years to come after all that work that goes into it!) I have NO pictures of our Thanksgiving day this year. =(

I think that's all. Now, if I'll just remember to read this next year.....

Teacher Appreciation Treat

Every day this week we've had a different theme for what to take to the teachers. Monday was a special lunch we hosted (complete with massages for the teachers!), Tuesday was flower day, and Wednesday was sweet day.

I made these brownies (You will hate me forever for giving you this recipe because they are so easy to make and so stinkin' good!) I then had to figure out had to package them to look cute.

Do you know about howdoesshe.com? It's a great site! And it's where I got the free printable treat topper I used.

Here's the link if you want to use it or save it for later. All I did was put the best brownies ever in ziplock bags and then I put the card stock topper on there and stapled it. The kids signed their names on the back and delivered them to their teachers, who by now have surely gained 20 pounds each from all the candy and sweets they were brought. (I know I would have anyway!)

And just to make things easier, here's the brownie recipe from Lindsey's blog from the link above. =)

2 c. sugar
1 c. butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 c. cocoa
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
dash cinnamon

Mix ingredients and bake in greased pan at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

* I think it works best to make them in a 9x13 pan lined in foil that you spray with Pam. Once they've cooled somewhat, lift the brownies out with the foil and fold the foil down on the sides and cut them with a plastic knife. They will be perfect thin brownie squares. You will probably also have to bake them closer to 35-40 minutes. Trust me - I've made them lots of times and have mastered this one!

My Favorite New Corner

I have a new favorite little place in our front living room.

It started when I got an entry table with some of my birthday money. That meant the dresser that I had in the entry way had no place to go. It finally occurred to me that I just needed to rearrange a little.

Here's the dresser where my desk used to be.

I love having my desk in front of the window! (This desk, by the way, was left here in our basement by the previous owners. It wasn't in good condition. I painted it and put new knobs on it last summer.)

The kids' table and chairs are in the corner.

Only one window has curtains in this room so far, but this is what they will all look like. I made them with burlap and love them!

Here's a before picture of the dresser. Not the worst thing ever, but it needed some love.

I sprayed an old thrift store frame an ivory color and then hung a vintage plate inside.

On top of the dresser is John's grandfather's old tool box. I love this thing and the sentimental value it has! I left the paint exactly how it was.

I bought four little clay pots at Walmart and painted a limestone and water mixture on them to age them. Then I planted english ivy in them. Look at the handle on the tool box - isn't it great?

The dresser is great for storing our movies.

I love my new area. And all it took was some rearranging, some spray painting, and some little pots and ivy from Walmart.