Bathroom - GO TIME

Ok, so there may be things dumber (too harsh?) than starting a bathroom reno on the only bathroom in one's home when you're 35.5 weeks pregnant. Maybe. But alas, we have found ourselves in this position, and we're going for it.

We brought in a bunch of contractors to take a look at the job and got quotes from 4. They ranged from (in our opinion) outlandish to preposterous ($12 - $16k WITHOUT materials!).  Guys, we're talking about a room that is a little over 6' x 8' at its very widest/largest points. Yes, it's a gut job (going down to the studs), but seriously?

We talked with Rush's parents, who recently re-did every bathroom in their home, and Rush's dad completely agreed that we were being quoted some ridiculous #s.  His handyman is proficient in all things bathroom, so we hatched a plan to actually bring Rush's dad and Pat the Handyman out to complete the bathroom.  Again, probably dumb, but we couldn't figure a way around it.

Now for the "before" photos.  Ugh, it's kind of embarrassing.  Nothing about this bathroom is what we want, but it's been passable for the past 5 years.  The house is 60 years old and still has the original plaster walls in the bathroom, so that sort of necessitates gutting the room and starting at the studs.  There's some water damage from before we replaced the roof, and the ceiling was not prepped carefully and probably suffered due to the super cheap (and 'jet taking off' noise level) fan.

Barely big enough to even take a photo

Cheapo vanity that I hit my head on whenever getting something from below

Water damage in the plaster

Ceiling damage due to condensation and bad prep

So what are we going for with the remodeled bath? So glad you asked. I have Pinterested the hell out of this bathroom project.  

Original inspo photo:

Via

Revised inspo:

Via

So we're doing a white subway tile (oh-so-original, I know) with a darker grout and a herringbone tile in a dark wood/slate pattern.  We're going to do a wainscot around the bath and all new fixtures with a more modern look.  Again, nothing is going to get us featured in a design mag, but it'll be a really nice update. We will likely be selling the house within 6 months and feel like the changes will give us an edge when we do.

So that's the news for now. I'll post some updates when we get underway (Monday, 11/3).  Can't wait!!!

Hob Knob

When we bought our house, the flippers had installed (kind of sloppily, I might add) some kitchen cabinets that I DO NOT love.  I'm 4'10" small (that's 58" for those of you that don't like math), and they intalled the counters at 37.5".  That's not even normal!  So if you do that math (ok, I'll do it), my head hovers a mere, 20.5" above the counter top.  Take into consideration that my shoulders are lower than the top of my head and you start to get the picture.  I want them replaced not only because they were sloppily stained/installed but because it's actually uncomfortable for me to work in the kitchen.  And I do 99.9% of the cooking.

Anyway, I've been living with it because we've had other money-sucking projects like a new main line (unexpected but necessary) and a new roof.  However, and this is where it gets embarrassing, the flippers didn't install knobs on the cabinets, and we've just been living with it.  Annoying.

So with no kitchen reno in sight, I think it's time I bite the bullet and get some knobs.  Even if they're just temporary until we do fix the kitchen.

Here's a little knob round-up:

 L - R 

1                   2                   3                   4                   5                   6       

Gripe

Normally, I wouldn't use this space to complain about something, but I'm hoping maybe there's someone out there who can explain this to me...

WHY IS LIGHTING SO EXPENSIVE?

I have been dying to replace our tacky ceiling lights in the two extra bedrooms, the hall, and the entryway.  I look and I look and I look, and I come up with options that are just way to expensive for what they are, in my opinion.  I just want something semi-plain and not tacky at a good price - something under $50 would be nice since I have so many to replace.  I mean, it's a few wires and a little glass or metal?  Why so pricey?

Because our ceilings are regular height and these are for high traffic areas (versus over the dining table), I need flush mount, semi-flush mount or something that has a very adjustable pendant length and won't look too stupid hung close to the ceiling.

This isn't awful, but it doesn't have very good reviews, and it's a little traditional for our taste:

This is okay, but it's larger than I want, and I feel like it just needs the edison bulb, and I would prefer to use the long-lasting CFLs...

Ohmigosh.

Searching the home improvement and lighting sites is just depressing - there's so many awful options and they're so expensive that I feel like I should stand in the lighting section and just warn people off.

"Stop - that is horribly tacky!  Don't do it! Don't waste your hard-earned money on something that no one under the age of 92 would think looks good!"

The DIY Not Taken (yet)...

We bought a flipped house.  

I say that like a confession.  My name is Sarah and we bought a flipped house.  Sometimes I feel like we cheated, but as first time homebuyers who were planning a wedding and trying to buy in time for a tax deduction, we just couldn't handle the big stuff.  Like kitchens.  Or bathrooms.  We wanted something we could live comfortably in while taking on projects when we had the time, energy, and cash.

The flippers installed super cheap, ugly overhead lights, so I've been slowly replacing them when the inspiration strikes.

A while back, I bought this light kit to replace the ugly hall light, and it's been sitting on my desk in the office since October...of 2011.  Embarrassing.  My plan was to find some kind of interestingly vessel (basket, etc) to use as the shade.  I was hoping for vintage (or just old), but I just hadn't gotten inspired by anything I saw.

While cruising Target yesterday, I found a great option for a shade.  And at $12.99, it's price just right!  

Except then I got struck by indecicion.  Will it shed enough light?  Is it too ornate?  Ooph.  So I couldn't help myself and went searching the world wide webs.  I loooooove (with many more o's than appropriate to type here) Schoolhouse Electric, but their prices are hard for me to swallow for a house we don't see staying in forever.  So...

How about this instead??

Their version:

Fixture: $119
Shade: $35   
             $154

Or my version:

Fixture: $15
Shade: $35   
             $50

The DIY Not Taken (yet)...

I'm embarrassingly overeager when it comes to DIY.  I like big, splashy projects.  That said, I panic when it comes to accomplishing them.  Even little DIY projects sometimes take me forever to finish.

So here's a little project I think could be undertaken without multiple trips to the store, fist-shaking, or tears:

It's a lovely wood framed mirror hung by a chain from Anthropologie.  At the bargain price of $224 on sale.  Yeesh.  

How about this instead:

Home Depot mirror set (you could make multiple!): $14.96

A couple screws: $.50

Two feet of chain:  $4.98

Total cost: $20.46

I changed the locks on ya!

The husb went on a mini surf trip with his buddies this weekend and left me and Olive home alone.  As usual, I went a little nuts with the projects.  

This one was PARTICULARLY satisfying.  Since we bought the house, we've had these ridiculously cheesy gold tone doorknobs in front and back. They were chintzy and gaudy and the key didn't really even work for the back door which was particularly annoying. For some reason, I got it in my head at about 2pm Sunday that it was time to make a change.  Once on Lowes.com, I picked out new hardware that could be set to use the same key and then headed to the store.  Once I found the sets for the front door with deadbolt and backdoor with keyed entry, I took them to the key desk where the customer service guy helped me set up 'em up to use the same key. What a novel idea! Being able to open all our doors with a key! The same key!

Back at home, it took me no more than 45 minutes to install the new knobs and deadbolt. I think I may have a future as a locksmith...  Anyway, the result is so satisfying that I cannot figure out why it took me three years of living with the ugly ones to figure out a solution.  Now, I can't stop staring at the doorknobs.  Seriously.  

BAD

GOOD

I'm that guy...

You know the guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the dad who sprays Windex on everything because he thinks it fixes everything?  I'm that guy.  Except in my world, it's vinegar.  Plain old white vinegar.

Our water is exceptionally hard.  The water heater lives outside in a special metal cabinet, and we have no place to put a water softener without building a new cabinet --- not something we feel like taking on.  Along the way, I discovered what an incredible cleaner white vinegar is, so I buy it by the gallon+ (thanks Costco!) to descale shower doors, the crud around faucets, windows even. Its uses seemed endless...

I dropped off my Mom's sewing machine at the repair shop and am relying on my old machine as back up for the sewing class I'm taking.  As it happens, I use the same bobbin case in both machines, so I had to pull out a back up.  I put it in the old Brother and it started SQUEEEEEELING.  I practically took the machine apart looking for the source only to decide that it was the bobbin case.  A little rusty, it looked pretty much perfect, but I decided to give it a cleaning.  Spray, spray with the vinegar and a little bit of scrubbing and whaddya know?  No more squeeling.  

Vinegar fixes everything.

so many projects, so little time

On Friday, I start to get the itch.  What will this weekend hold?  What can I accomplish?!  For my birthday (late October), I've already asked Rush to paint the bathroom.  Not a huge request because the room is about 8 feet by 4/5 feet.  It's tiny.  So rather than stop there, I tacked on the kitchen to my birthday painting request.  This is a bit bigger deal.  We're not planning to paint this weekend, but my birthday wish will apparently be granted because I was encouraged to pick my colors, so off to the paint chip racks I go.   

I have some trips coming up for a rustic wedding party (not a wedding - just the party) and a Vegas bachelorette weekend, and I've spent a few hours shopping for the appropriate attire because my closet tends to lean a bit more J. Crew bright semi-formal cocktail dresses than anything on either end of the spectrum.  However, all I want to do is work on the house.  

Some things I'm liking this week:

Extension table - goes from 55" to 73"

Rush would kill me.  I think he's allergic to chevron.

Extra seating for parties