Bathroom Finishing Touches

I am almost done putting the finishing touches on the bathroom. I think all I have left to do is sew the shower curtain. (For now the fabric is just thrown over the rod.)

This past week I added some more artwork and accessories. Found this cool red basket at an antique mall to hold towels, toilet paper and a jar of soap.

The picture above the basket is hard to see, but it's an old ad I found online and framed it in a $1 garage sale frame. This is a close up:


I found this this image on The Graphics Fairy website

and used a window frame I've been hanging on to for probably 13 years to frame it as a triptych.

A Peeping Tom to greet you as you enter....the boys loved it!


Thanks for stopping by!

A career change and a project...Boys' Bathroom

I recently left the corporate world after 8+ years to follow my dream as a domestic engineer. :o) I am finally able to tackle some projects that have been on my to do list and it feels great!

Last week I worked on redoing the bathroom that doubles as a guest/kids' bathroom.

It's very hard to get decent pics of a bathroom! I had already started the demolition and piling everything in the bathtub before I realized that I needed to take before pics! Excuse the horrendous lighting against the horrendous pale yellow walls.
Before:

-Yellow walls with marching ants stamped along the baseboards and around the shower, mirror and door. Grass stencil along the baseboards. (sorry, didn't get close up of those!)

The process:
-Painted walls a muted gray
-Removed the standard builder mirror and lighting bar
-Repainted vanity cabinet and added hardware
-Replaced towel racks
-New shower curtain




Wooden shoe form hooks from First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX; Custom eye chart says 'Wash your hands and brush your teeth'....motherhood subliminal messaging!


Round mirror from Hobby Lobby, new light fixture was a Goodwill find.


Painted over the white cabinets with a rich dark chocolate color (my fave!) and added hardware. (Canton finds for a quarter a piece! Score!!) Scrolly applique is from Hobby Lobby.


This was a rubber stamp holder in it's former life (Canton find from a few years ago!)...added some test tubes (Hobby Lobby) and now it's a toothbrush holder! The boys love it!


Found this towel holder in Canton on our last trip and it was the inspiration for the room. (Along with the wooden shoe form hooks)

I still have to add a few more touches, but I'm happy with the progress.

Not gonna happen

Time goes by too fast when your kids are growing up, doesn't it?

A few weeks ago we were hanging out and I looked both my boys in the eye and said, "Ya'll need to just stop it."

"Stop what?" "What did we do?" they asked.

"Stop growing up! I mean it, ya'll just need to stop it right now." I replied.

Cade, my oldest, rolled his eyes and said, "Mommy....that's just not gonna happen."

Today was the last day of first grade for Cade. For some reason, this day was harder than the first day. Not sure why...I guess I realize that there just isn't any way to slow things down.

Here he is on the first day of first day of 1st Grade:


And here he is today, the last day of 1st Grade...ever!


Here's my other little munchkin when he graduated from Pre-K 2 last week.
He will be graduating from Pre-K 1 next year! How many dang graduations do kids have nowadays anyway??? But I digress.... Isn't he a cutie? :o)

It's officially summertime in these parts!

Goodwill Party!

Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick is having a Goodwill Party and I just had to share my latest find.

There is a Goodwill store pretty close to work, so about once or twice a month I'll spend my lunch hour looking for treasures.

I stopped in a few weeks ago and spotted an antique-looking dresser. I tried to act all noncholant as I walked over there as fast as I could. I almost did a happy dance right there when I saw the price tag...$50! I gave it a good inspection, tried all the drawers, did the "sturdy test" by grabbing the top edges and giving it a good shake to see if it would wobble. It was a good solid piece. Woo hoo! I was in love! This baby is coming home with me!

Here it is in it's new home in the boys' room:


I've been looking for a dresser for their room for months and am so happy with this one! I love the lines and detail. I haven't decided what kind of makeover to do on it yet, so for now I'm just going to leave it until inspiration strikes.

Head on over to check out all the other Goodwill goodies!

Extreme Makeover: Patio Edition

This is our sad, sad patio. Isn't it pitiful?




Let's try a different angle....


Nope, no help at all.

We have talked about doing something back here for the last few years. Wooden deck, pavers, stone work....I just didn't have a vision and it wasn't really in the budget, so we did nothing.



Until this year.

Our first choice was stonework, but it was a little over our budget, so we decided to do concrete instead.


Here it is in the 'during' stage.



And after we added plants and fabric shade panels to the arbor.








Oh yeah, I can definitely relax out here now!

To see how others are beautifying their surroundings, go check out the blog party at The Inspired Room.

Paint it is!

So, I have been a busy little bee over the last several weeks, preparing the house to host a baby shower for my friend Leslie. Nothing like the motivation of 20+ women coming over to get projects done around the house! :o)

So, last post I showed you this mirror and asked if I should paint it or not.


Thanks so much to everyone's advice! I went with painting it black and left some brown peeking through.

First I taped off the mirror part,


and then I took a candle and rubbed it all along the edges, in the creases and on the details. Next, I spray painted it black and once the paint was dry, I took a towel and rubbed the edges to reveal the brown. The wax from the candle works as a resist for the paint. It worked great!

Here's a close up of the top detail:


Another close up:


And now the big reveal!


Remember the before?


And the after:



I am thrilled with how it turned out! Thanks again, ladies, for your advice!

To paint or not to paint, that is the question....

Take a look at this mirror I scored at a neighborhood garage sale awhile back for $10! This thing is HEAVY! As we were loading it in the car, my MIL and SIL were asking where I was going to put it, my answer was "I don't know yet."



My husband swears that we have a room in our house that he's never seen called "I don't know yet" as I'm always bringing home treasures to put in there. :o) I just couldn't pass this one up...did I tell you it was $10?



Well, this morning it came to me that I should try it above the buffet in the dining room.



What do you think? I like the way it pulls light over to that wall by reflecting the glass patio door.



I think it needs to be another color though, right? What color? Black to match all the other furniture? Or another color to make it pop on it's own? Creamy white? Or, I could leave it mostly brown and darken the crevices and details with black?



Let me know what you think!