Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Bathroom Re-do

BEFORE:
Original wallpaper was vinyl but splitting at the seams and curling up. There was a leak behind the fiberglass surround under the shower head.

Underneath was a tile looking hardboard that was put on top of a mesh (You can see the concrete mix oozing through the mesh in the wall opening for the plumbing. It looked like some huge beehive. It was green and had lines scored in it to look like tile.

We stripped the wallpaper, tore out the carpet and ripped off the fiberglass surround. (We're putting ceramic tile on the bathroom floor, but that will have to wait until next summer.)


We tiled the tub surround with the Lowe's field tile and used an inset diamond piece near the top. We tiled all the way up to the top of the tub because I like the way it looks better than the tile stopping with just a foot or so to go to the ceiling.
We kept the countertop, cabinets and lighting shelf lighting because they fit the house and are so well made.
The old floor is some type of tile that is glued to the concrete slab. I hope I can tile right over it, but I'll have to do some research and see. We kept the old fixtures, because we love them, but we did replace the cushion toilet seat that creeped me out. It's like sitting on something alive. Plus it's hard to clean.

AFTER:
It feels cleaner and brighter.
We painted the whole bathroom--walls, ceiling, molding and trim, too--in Valspar Ultra White Kitchen and Bath Enamel. We spray painted the shutters blue. We used Lowe's cheap gloss white field tiles and put in some spa glass blue tiles for the backsplash. The backsplash used to be wallpaper with a rectangle of plexiglass over it.
The plumber charged $400 to replumb the tub and change the fixtures (which I bought from Lowe's)that were leaking.

Next summer we'll put up a ceiling-hungshower curtain, add a handheld sprayer, and tile the floor.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Purging---Sort of

Doesn't it count as purging if I take it from our house up here and move it to the house down South? That's a purging of sorts, isn't it? I've decided that the SC kitchen needs to be white with turquoise accents--maybe--since I found that turquoise skillet and got all excited. So I found this other turquoise enamel bucket with a handle for holding dishtowels.And this "salt" container is for beside the sink to hold the sponge and scrubby brush.
And the lime bowl is because I can't pass up lime colored stuff.
And this 3 tiered basket is for hanging from the ceiling and holding fruit.

And this Italian black leather satchel is to replace the one that looked just like it but was stolen several years back. This one only cost $8 and my other one was $50.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Serendipity? I think not!

It's not that I don't have anything to do; it's just that when I have a million things to do, I can always think of something wonderfully creative that I'd much rather be doing. Case in point: When I went out and got the chair out the neighbor's trash yesterday, this lamp was there and I couldn't let it stay all on its lonesome. It looks pretty beachy and I'm in the beachy kind of decorating mood for the SC house so I drug it home. It seems to be missing something that must have gone at the base, but I can't figure out what it was. I've got to think about what should go there. And I think it needs a chocolate velvet ribbon trim around the top and bottom of the lampshade.


But anyway, I went to the Goodwill in search of a little shadowbox I had seen there last week. Last week when I saw it, I thought I might need it, but I couldn't imagine why. Then I came home and saw my 3 little skulls--fox, raccoon and otter--sitting on the bookcase getting all dusty and I knew I needed the shadowbox. I figured it would be gone, but I thought I'd have a poke around anyway. I found this big ceramic dish from Portugal for $6 and knew the dogs needed for a new waterbowl (seeing as how hard they work and all).


And then I found this turquoise frying pan that the house in SC is just begging for. And a great set of spoons. I hope I will get some credit for exercising restraint and not buying this whole set of white china I was aching for. Or the black 1950's diner chairs with brass tacks all along the edge of the upholstery--only $8 each. Sadly, I couldn't think how to fit them in the car.And the best part of all is that the little shadowbox was still there.
The sad news is it needs to be a little deeper. So now I have to put all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing on hold so I can go build up the back, line the interior, spray paint the exterior, and make a nice little home for the skulls. Right after my nap.

So my twenty minute project turned into an all day thing with two trips to Home Depot, and it's still not finished.

Oh, the Audacity...

I'm over here slaving away, cleaning up, making lists of everything I need to do before we go on vacation, paying bills, calling to schedule appointments, multi-tasking like crazy and I just happen to look behind me, and this is what I see.(And I don't want to use the word "bums," but it does come to mind!)
Henri has never been much interested in sitting in chairs unless there was a person in it. All of a sudden, he thinks this chair is his. He and the kids fight over it.

This is Sam's chair and as soon as he leaves it for a second, to flip the tv channel or get something to drink, Dini is in it and snoring.
Milo's best "I'm just a little defenseless, earless chihuahua who wouldn't hurt a flea!" look.


It's good to be a dog.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

We Interrupt this Quilting Session for a Trash Run...

I was taking out the trash and spied a red shape down the road in the neighbor's trash. I went and got my trusty binoculars and my little heart began to go pit-a-pat pit-a-pat! I got in the car and ran down there and loaded this chair! As I backed into my driveway, trunk open and chair precariously hanging out, my kids opened the door and moaned in unison, "Mom, how could you!" I told them we're trying to get rid of junk, not bring more into the house. However, this is a good lesson about exceptions in life! It's very sturdy and has those cool brass tacks. I think that is the original chair cushion although it is a much brighter red. And only a handful of Naugas were killed to upholster it!Oh, and it's got those cute little bun feet in the front!

Three Border Fabric Options And Critters

So these are three potential fabric borders. The first one looks kind of Aboriginal--with stripes and dots between the lines.


This one has dark brown doodle type circles with colored dots at the center. And this one is little, slightly smudgy squares with touches of other colors.

I'm trying to put little elements around each critter that suggests its environment. So this is seaweed and air bubbles for the platypus. I learned an important lesson about glue sticks today. If you use too much on your fabric, when you sew it, it frays the thread as it comes through the needle and will break it after awhile. I have to go easier on the gluestick. I knew it was too good to be true! Actually, this only seems to be a problem with my new re-positionable glue stick I got for 50 cents from Staples the other day. My old half dried up ones didn't cause a problem.


Okay, I admit the sewing sucks on these water ripples, so I may have to rip it out, but it is the idea I was looking for.