Bathroom Updates

It's been just over two years since we moved into our house. It's an older house and while it's definitely been a great first house, it needed some TLC. Little by little we have been making small updates here and there, our latest project being the bathroom.

This room was way overdue for a makeover. The hardware and fixtures were most likely the original pieces installed in the home when it was constructed and the decor was, well, let's just say it was no longer our style.

This is the bathroom before. It's a small room and the darkness of the shower curtain made it seem even smaller.

And check out these moon and sun ceramic masks circa my bedroom in Jr. High. I don't know why I hung on to these for so long. They did match the shower curtain, but I'm way over my moons and stars phase.

A new shower curtain, new towel racks and a few new decor items and this is what we have. Much brighter, cleaner and simpler and, on the whole, a much more relaxing room to be in. Which is important, because we spend a lot of time in here.




We got rid of the moon and sun and replaced them with an actual hand towel rack. Much more practical and attractive. Some new decorative pieces tie in nicely.

The old light fixture screams 1978, which was when this house was built.


The new fixture is simple, yet modern and brightens the whole room.

The worst offender of all was the sink and faucet. The grime and rust was permanently embedded in the handles and throughout the entire piece. Despite all our attempts to scrub and clean, it never looked any different. It just had to go.


Oh, it's just dreamy! I shudder to think that we lived with that horrifyingly gross faucet for two whole years. I never thought I could get so excited about bathroom hardware, but it's like Christmas come early.

All the credit really must go to Nick, for he single-handedly installed everything. Handsome and handy! I hit the jackpot.

We Has A Tree!

Look!

Our very first tree!

We have other trees, but the south side of our house has been bare since we moved in and this is the first tree we have planted. We hope he grows big and strong and provides us with shade and protection.

Eventually, I'd like to remove about a three to four foot area of grass around the tree and fill it in with a rock and flower garden. But for now, this will do. It adds a bit of interest to this otherwise open space and there is enough room around the tree to have a decorative light and to plant a few colorful flowers.

Mr. Turtle here will provide strength, longevity and endurance for Mr. Tree. And he's awfully adorable.

Good luck Mr. Tree!

And a big thanks to Trevor, Eric and Kim for the help getting this baby planted! Great hole-digging skills, guys!

It Was A Bit Windy Today

This is the fence in the northwest corner of our backyard. It was kind of busted up when we moved into this place, but it was standing so we put it to the back of our minds.

Until today, that is :)

As you can see, this bit of our backyard needs a little TLC. In addition to the fence repair/replacement, I would like to put in some kind of garden. Possibly a vegetable garden. At any rate, I think this wind storm created a bit of motivation to get started.

Kitchen!

Our big project for this week has been redecorating our kitchen. It was a pretty 'blah' room...white walls, white cabinets, white appliances. BORING!! So after a bit of paint and some new wall accents we've gone from this:


to this:


Much warmer! I'm just delighted with the willowy olive color. I've had the mirror for years, but we never could find a suitable place to hang it. It compliments that large wall nicely, I think and, according to Feng Shui, a mirror reflecting the dining table promotes prosperity. Still a bit unsure about the art on the east wall (on the right), but I'll look at it for a few days and see how I feel about it.

Still, it's nice to have some change. The dullness of that room had been driving me mad. I need color.

Tomorrow is my last day on vacation before returning to work. These past eight days have gone by in a flash, though I did get a lot accomplished (I ate a LOT more cookies than I had originally planned). However I am only returning for one week so another optician can go on her vacation. After which I am taking another eleven days off.

Yeah, I know....I'm getting spoiled this month with all my time off. I had originally planned to take the entire month of March off, but decided that wasn't entirely practical. This is a good balance. And I am very grateful.