Bathroom Reveal

FINALLY!!! Remember when Bryan surprised me by taking a sledgehammer to the bathroom? Well, that was over a year ago, and now... I am pleased to reveal...Our. New. And improved. Bathroom!

First, let's see the bathtub BEFORE...
...aaaaand AFTER.
Before - Don't you just love the clashy neon yellow blinds?
After.
Window mistreatment inspired by The Nester. I love her. I made it from one regular window panel (on sale at Pier 1) that I pinned up with safety pins and then tied up with satin ribbon.

Shower floor before...
...and AFTER! (I LOVE the river rock floor! The smooth pebbles feel so good on your feet!)
Sink and mirror before... (are you ready for my favorite part?!)
...and (ta-daaah!) AFTER!
The mirror is a medicine cabinet we found on Craigslist for pretty cheap. The frame was gold before we tackled it with a can of black spray paint.

Before.
AFTER!
Vanity, sink, and floor before...(lovely.)
... and AFTER!
We also found the vanity/sink on Craigslist, painted it black, and added hardware. The paint color on the wall is Valspar Cliveden Sandstone.

Can I just take this moment to say that my husband is THE MAN!!! He worked SO HARD on this bathroom in all his "spare time." I'm telling you, he's got some SERIOUS SKILLS! How many husbands could completely demolish a bathroom down to the 2x4s (did I mention replacing the sub floor, moving the shower drain, and completely rebuilding the shower pan?!), then put it all back together AND make it look this good?! Mwwaaaah! I love you, Babe!
Thanks also to our parents for all their help and advice! This remodel would have taken MUCH longer without you!
I am absolutely in love with this river rock stuff! It came on a mesh sheet, so it was pretty easy to install. I even enjoyed searching for the perfect rock when we had a missing piece here or there. It was like a little puzzle.

Tulips from my front yard. They went a little crazy when I brought them indoors!
It's a little sad that we have to move now that we have the bathroom exactly how we like it. Bet at least we get to enjoy it for a couple of months. It's SO nice to finally have a proper shower again...
...and the kids LOVE having their bath back!


I am joining link parties at:
The Shabby Chic Cottage
Remodelaholic
Lit and Laundry
Making the World Cuter
Between Naps on the Porch
A Soft Place to Land

It's Official...

We are on the market! Well, our house is anyway. You can view our listing here. SO...if you know anyone looking for a great house in Shaker, send them our way!

Here is the little pic from our listing - it's the only one I have right now. Notice anything different?
Here's the pic of our house when we bought it. We took down the awnings and the huge bush in front that blocked all our sunshine. Then, last week we repainted the dark green shutters and doors and painted all the light green trim a bright crisp white. Bryan also suggested we paint the dull stone around the door white. I was initially against it because the idea scared me to death, but when he went out on a Home Depot run, I got up the courage to just do it! I'm so glad I did! It really accentuates the door, I think. I love all the white trim; it looks so clean and bright and inviting!I feel like we were handed a huge blessing last week. We had a full, interrupted week of warmer weather and sunshine! It's usually still cold and snowy this time of year in Cleveland, so I was really worrying about getting the exterior work and painting done on the house in order to get it on the market. We said several prayers, asking for an early spring, and I truly believe our prayers were answered! We worked our little behinds off all week, but we got it (almost) all done! I feel so grateful!

P.S. We finally finished our bathroom and I'm dying to post pictures, but our camera isn't working! Ugh! It might have something to do with the fact that I dropped it 6 feet from the top of the fridge onto the hard tile floor, but who knows. So, if any of you would like to come to my house and take some pictures for me, that would be great! ;)

Picnic Lunch in the Living Room

Why did we have a picnic lunch in the living room yesterday?
Because our kitchen looked like this.
Today it looks like this! New counter tops!
Well, sort of. They are actually our old counter tops...... refinished to look new! I love it! It was fast and inexpensive too. Why didn't we do this four years ago?!The only downside is that I dislike my cabinets a little more now. I think the wood drawer pulls look out of place. I'm considering painting them white and then adding brushed nickel hardware to the cabinets. What do you think?

It's coming...

Remodeling Round-Up: Buh-bye 70's Basement!

Yee-Haw! I'm joining in the Spring Round-Up over at RemodelingGuy today! Having a "remodeling guy" of my very own, we've done several projects in our 1950's home in the last three years. Today I'm sharing our most dramatic remodeling project to date: the basement family room.

This was the picture included with the house listing. I know it's tiny, but I wanted you to see it as we saw it when we first toured the house, with all the gory details. I know, there are no words.

Here it was when we moved in. I think the carpet was my favorite.

How long were those pictures up on the wall?!! Here's the rockin' avocado green wet bar! Can't you just imagine the parties back in it's glory days? (Try to ignore the light switch cover of a golfer with a strategically placed switch - CLASSY!)Our first day in the new house, I mentioned to my in-laws that fixing up this room was going to be our first priority, when we had the time and money. You know what they did? They started rippinh down the paneling within the hour! (That's just the cool kinda people they are!) That weekend, they not only helped us move in, but also helped us tear down the paneling (and yes, the wet bar), demolish the floor, and got us started on the drywall. (THANKS Carl and Nancy!)
We finished the drywall, primed......and gave it a nice coat of blue paint (we're going for a country Americana theme here). Hubby replaced the fluorescent light fixtures and added some creamy beadboard wainscoting and crown moulding. He also built me this amazing mantel. From scratch. Yeah, he's pretty awesome.

We replaced the carpet and turned the wet bar corner into a computer corner. (missing a piece or two of crown moulding there.)

The worst room in the house is now one of our favorites. We LIVE in this room! It's a playroom, computer room, TV room, game room, reading room, party room, etc. We love it!

Bathroom Update

Well, we're down to the 2x4s and the subfloor in the bathroom.This is where the sink used to be. When Bryan pulled up the old tile floor, he found some of the subfloor near the tub was soft from water damage. So... now we have a hole in the floor too. This is about as wrecked as it can get. So I'm thinking it can only get better from here, right?
Since the bathtub is out of order, we've had to get a little creative with bathing the kids. The boys have had a few hose-downs in the big utility sink in the laundry room, and Hannah had a blast in the kitchen sink!
This is why you shouldn't bathe a one-year-old in the sink. When she wasn't splashing and standing up to look out the window, she was turning the water on and off and on and off. I guess I should have been more concerned about all the water sloshing out onto the counters, down the cupboards, and puddling on the floor. But then again, it's the closest thing to a mopping my kitchen floor has seen in a while, so...
Sorry about this last one; I just couldn't resisist!

What Have We Done?!

On Saturday, Bryan sent me to the store to pick up some light bulbs. When I returned I found...well... I'll just let the pictures do the talking on this one...

Bryan claims he had no intention of demolishing the bathroom when I left the house. Hmmm...

In his defense, we did talk of maybe updating the bathroom when we saw how how well his sister, Deb's, bathroom remodel turned out. Well, I guess we're committed now.

During the demolition, Logan came to me and said, "What is that noise?! IS THE HOUSE FALLING DOWN?!"

Nope. Just the bathroom.

Transformation...Saturday

I know, I know, you're supposed to post your transformations on Tuesdays. It sounds much cuter! But I'm going to go ahead and do it now cause I'm so excited about our new floor!

Here is our master bedroom "before" with old dirty blue wallpaper and old dirty blue carpet. Lovely! A while back we ripped down the old wallpaper, patched the walls, and painted three walls in a warm cream color ("Desert Fortress") and an accent wall in "Milk Chocolate." Yummy!

Last week we decided to pull up the old carpet. Guess what we found - a beautiful hardwood floor! We were so thrilled! It's in great shape too! I think we will only need to do some minor touch-ups on it! I think it makes such a difference in the room; it really warms it up!

So what do you do with a beautiful hardwood floor? Put a beautiful rug over it, of course! (Everytime I tried to get a picture of the rug, these two characters managed to steal the spotlight. I seriously have about 20 pictures of them making faces in front of the rug! Too bad they're so camera shy, huh? )Okay, here's the rug. After being very "responsible" and "grown-up" with our tax refund (paying off a credit card, buying tires for the van, fixing rain gutters, etc.), this was our one "fun" puchase.
So here is the master bedroom so far! It's a work in progress...but I think it looks a lot better than it did! We could still use some new curtains, maybe a headboard and nightstands, and some wall art above the bed...

Now if only we could do something about our "dresser."