Back to the Start

The very first room we made over in our house was actually the master bathroom, with it's never come clean toilet and it's rotten vanity, it had to go.  It went so fast that we didn't even take before pictures. But trust me, it was horrible.  I vowed to never use that bathroom as long as it was in that condition.  So, naturally, I used the guest bathroom.  


After a weekend away, I came home to a brand new, clean toilet and then we made a trip to Lowe's for a new vanity. The demolition of the old vanity was pretty simple, as the entire piece fell apart at the first little tug.  


We installed the new vanity and I decided that the horrible wall color (I can't even tell you what color it was) had to go.  So, I thought a nice blue color would look great with the new white vanity and countertop.  Well, let's just say, I think from that day forward, Alan will always question my color chooses.  Dang it! It's really true, he questions them every time!  


You can't blame him, I painted our bathroom the EXACT color of a Smurf. I kid you NOT! That little bathroom can not take a color as bright as what I chose.  And, why did I choose a color that bright in the first place? Don't ask. I don't know why. 

We made a trip back to the store for many, many samples to get the color I actually MEANT to paint the bathroom. Here is what we came up with. It's still a bit darker than I planned, but all in all, we like it. It's definitely livable, unlike lil 'ol smurfy. Because it was still pretty dark in the shower, even with our light colored curtain, Alan installed the recessed light you can see in this picture. 

We also added a new, beautiful light fixture to replace the old rusted fixture and I sanded and painted the mirror white, from the formerly ugly state that it was in in the guest bathroom when we moved in. 

If you can't already tell, this bathroom is pretty tiny.  So, naturally, storage became an issue.  The new vanity helped out a lot and we also installed the cabinet above the toilet to use for medicine, band aids, etc. 

For even more storage, we decided to hang a shelf above the door, since that was the only other place to store towels and washcloths.  Well, we have had the shelf there for probably a year now, and only Alan can use it effectively.  I am far too short to reach it, so in order to get a towel down, I have to stand on the toilet, then move over to the vanity and reach as high as I can without falling.  It's not very fun.  

After a trip to IKEA, and some inspiration from an episode of Sarah's House. I had the perfect additional storage solution for our bathroom. With very little counter space, there isn't room for all those little things that need to be stored close to the shower: extra soap, washcloths, etc.  So, with these hanging vases we now have everything we need within reach of the shower and sink! 

And, finally, during a trip to Target, I was browsing the bath aisle because they always have new, beautiful shower curtains (that make me want to redo entire bathrooms just to match the curtain).  Well, I came across this warm, brown curtain that had the same color that we already had in our bathroom! Perfect!

Now, anytime we are feeling like the bathroom needs a little brightening up, we can put the blue and white striped curtain back up. But, for now, the brown is warm and cozy for the cold winter months.  


Eventually, we would love to totally overhaul our bathroom, installing a tile shower, etc. But, while we're saving up our pennies, we can definitely live with our little blue bath.


Smurf image found here. 

Swingin' into Action

Well, it's more like laundry.  Swingin' into laundry is precisely what we (and by we, I mean me, since I am the laundry-doer in the family) are doing now that we have added a door to our laundry room.


Our laundry room is directly off our main living space, and when the washer, or dryer are working hard, we're working hard to hear each other talk, or really just think.  


We had the idea that a door with swinging hinges would be the best thing to put in the empty doorway, instead of going to the trouble of putting in a whole new, regular door, that would be hard to open and close with a pile of laundry in hand.  


After a hard fought hinge hunt by us, and both sets of our parents, my parents finally came across some swinging door hinges. Score!


Here's what we were working with, and as you can see, the only advantage to having this open was the little bit of natural light that came in through the back door, which we will miss. 

Here's the closet side, primed bi-fold doors with only one knob.  I promise I was going to finish painting these one day. 

And then, the washer and dryer - dirty clothes and all.  Like I said before, we like to keep it real around here. And, Baxter's play yarn. He loves my yarn, and that's precisely why a certain new space in our house is off limits to him (more on that a little later).

First, we had to give the new door a quick trim to ensure there was enough space for it to swing, and then some glue and clamps to fix the lightweight hollow door right back up.  


The hinges and door were installed, and we now can now finally hear ourselves think when laundry is being done.  Also, with the addition of the door, we were able to take the bi-fold doors off of the closet across from our washer and dryer, freeing up more space and making it much easier to access our deep freezer and additional storage in the closet. Now, I really don't have to finish painting those things! 

One little pet peeve about our new door is that in the winter, we keep our firewood right out our laundry room door, and it has gotten pretty grimy from our dirty hands pushing it open with wood in tow.  We will have to come up with a solution for that one, or just magic eraser it every so often to keep those dirty finger prints at bay. Note to self: pick up more magic erasers.   


Happy Swingin'! I mean, laundering.