Parental Punch List

I know you've been crying into your pillow every night because your fave bloggette has been a little slow this week, but we just haven't had much going on.  Fortunately, my parents came up this weekend and helped us complete a laundry list of home improvement items.  Aren't helpful parents the best?  Here's your rundown:

• The bamboo blinds arrived for the sliders.  I was especially happy that they arrived while my parents were up - Momsy and Daddykins have a great critical eye and will give me constructive advice on the house decor.  I love the mister to death, but a helpful critic on home decorating he is not.  So I was quite pleased to have some in-person opinions on what I considered a bit of a window treatment risk.  Verdict:  love.  Daddio was pleased with the function and Mamacita was pleased with the appearance - put those hands together and you have exactly what I was going for.  Happy dance.

Don't you just love the warmth and completeness it has verses this pic?  It brings a brown tone that we have  in baskets and our granite over to this half of the area.  And total cost for both shades?  $30 from Overstock.com.  Cha-ching.

•  Mom unclogged Alli's sink.  Gross, I know.  But Ryan and I had pulled the drain out and run $50 worth of Liquid Plumber down the thing trying to get it to drain at the right speed (or at all).  Enter Handywoman Stacie to go underneath the sink and show us how it's done.  It drains perfectly AND she fixed the stopper that we pulled out trying to fix it.  Gotta love her.
• After Mom unclogged the sink I walked in the kitchen and said "Now all I need is for Dad to install a light over my shower and I'm golden!"  I was joking.  I really was.  But shortly thereafter we made the trip to Home Depot (so happy I got to introduce the workers to my pops) and got the supplies.  And just about an hour after that....let there be light.

How about that?!  I had no idea this process was so easy!!  Ryan and Dad had it done in literally an hour.  This isn't a show-you-how-to-do-it blog, but Meredith at Welcome to Heardmont and her hubby followed a similar process that she detailed here, in case you need it.  Seriously, so easy.  Now I'm looking up and wondering where else I can put some...a girl can never have enough light.

Well, I'm off to wrap up the weekend by cleaning up, some spray painting, and a glass of wine.  You know, just trying to add to the cork collection.

Spatastic. Beachy. Fabulous.

What a gorgeous weekend we are having here in NWA.  Alli spent the morning at the Woodland Junior High dance clinic and Ryan and I got to drive around and lust after houses in our favorite area in town, the Washington-Willow historic district.  There are some gorgeous redone houses here and then quite a few that need some TLC and about $150k to get them whipped into shape.  Obviously, we love oogling the former but we're super interested in the latter.  I'm convinced we will have one of these to call Chateau Lowe one day.

Hello, gorgeous - 347 N. Washington

Then we ran by Home Depot, where they asked us where Alli was.  Wow.  We need to diversify our weekend visits, don't we?  No, I liked it.  It was like Cheers, "where everybody knows your name."  Or like I was famous.  Either way, good with it.

But enough small talk.  I bet you can tell from the title of this post that I'm not here to discuss future houses or how famous I am.  It's time to stop teasing.  Master bath reveal time.  

I wish I had done a better job with before pics.  But you should know, this is the fourth color of the master bath.  It's been builder tan, hot pink, and dark green.  Apparently I like to paint.  The newest color is called Sanctuary by Behr in their Ultra collection.  I do not like finishes other than flat, but they have one called Flat Enamel that is very scrubable and that I've used in all of the rooms in the house.  We've been very pleased with it.  Not even enough sheen as Eggshell, and all of the durability.

So in the first shot, you can see those cabinets we redid and added hardware to.  Gor.  Geous.  What a difference.  We've also removed a large vase that blocked half of the mirror and a picture frame and replaced it with these more spa-themed pieces.  I'll give you a close-up on those in a bit.  This pic is a great representation of the paint color.  It's a very soft green.  Have I said lately how much I love the hardware?  Wow.

In this shot you can see my (finally) treated window.  These cafe-length curtains were $14 at Target - remind me why I didn't do this earlier?  Also, you can see my towel solution.  When we moved in, we didn't have a single towel rack in our master bath!  I guess we were supposed to throw them over the shower, which we did for a while, but then I came up with this great solution - a coat rack from Home Depot.

And here's the drama you've been waiting for - the full length shower curtain.  That's 95" of pure spatastic-ness.  Yes, we do have shower doors, but they are so ugly and I hate staring at them.  So I put this extra tall shower curtain over them to hide the eyesore without losing the functionality.  We also updated the shower head in here, going from builder grade to something a bit nicer - nothing special, just prettier and a better stream of water - from Home Depot for $16.  I highly recommend this bathmat from Bed Bath and Beyond.  It's super soft and cushy.  We got the soft blue to bring some of the master bedroom color in and make the two rooms feel more cohesive - a theme you're sure to hear a lot of as we redo the rest of the house.

And here's your close-up of the pieces on the counter.  Rolled white towels in a basket from Target and some green and blue Irish Spring soap in a glass from TJ Maxx.  Coral also from TJ.  Thanks for not letting me down. 

So that's pretty much that. I think the only things left that we'd really like to do are framing in the mirror (that kit should be ordered in the next week or so), getting artwork around the towel rack area,  and grabbing some big soft white towels to replace our aging set.  But I just couldn't make you wait any longer!

And we Lowes are in love.  I often exclaim "Spahhhhh" when I walk in, which I am sure Ryan is sick of.  And I keep expecting to open the window and hear the ocean.  Mr. Lowe is deglossing the cabinets in Alli's bathroom right now, so expect a guest bath reveal in the next few weeks!

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope you all have as beautiful weather as we do today! 

Busy Bees

Oh, readers, I have been so busy this weekend and it's only halfway over!  All three of you are going to be so impressed with everything I have done when I finally reveal it to you.  My good man and I (I'm going to use that more, Kaci.) have been painting and shopping our little tushes off.  And I heard you laugh when I called our tushes "little."  Poor Alli doesn't stand a chance.

I digress.  We have been hustling and bustling to get our master bathroom spa-tastic!  We've added curtains (how I hate an untreated window and this one has been untreated for over 3 years now), ordered the extra tall shower curtain, added some great counter top decor, and painted, painted, painted.

I'm not ready just yet to reveal it, but rest assured, as soon as I get that shower curtain in, I will post a beautiful reveal.  And since I know you can't wait for a peek...

You kids know I love me some Behr paint from Home Depot.  My parents, who themselves love to paint and repaint rooms, have used Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams in the past, but they will be the first to tell you that Behr is superior in durability and coverage.  I'll give you more deets on the paint color when I do the big reveal.

In other news, we got over 4" of snow this week - Alli and I spent Thursday and Friday home because school was out.  She and Landry had an awesome time (Cash was there, he just hates snow).

Sorry to be such a tease, but I think without the shower curtain, I'll be cheating you.  Have a great rest of your weekend (I know I will, I'm done painting and it's only Saturday night!)

Master Bathroom Bliss

Let's say you just finished a very strenuous fall and winter.  You traveled a ton, both professionally and personally, you had a houseful of beloved and boisterous family nearly every weekend, and even though you owned it, Christmas exhausted you.  What do you do on your very first weekend at home with no visitors and nowhere to be?

Well, if you're me, you get a project.  There's something so satisfying about finally being able to focus on the house again.  I love this little abode and I love improving it every chance I get.  It didn't exactly scream anything but "builder-grade new construction!" when we moved in, so I love tweaking it and making it personal.

Tuesday night I went to Jo Ann's and picked out some awesome fabric for new pillows.  My friend Lindsey is quite the sewer, and she so generously agreed to make me some pillows for our previously bachelor pad-like couches.  I realize you haven't seen much but glimpses of the new living room, and I have to apologize.  I'm in the process of tweaking it still and I think you deserve only the best.  So you'll have to wait a little longer for the tour.  But feast your eyes on my new pillows!

Aren't those fabulous?  I am so lucky to have such a talented and willing best friend!  And yes, all pillows must pass the "pet snuggle test."  Don't tell Ryan that Landry was on the couch.  I can't wait to show you guys the living room once it all comes together.

But is that ever enough for me?  No, of course not.  I always need another project  Lindsey turned me on to another blog called Centsational Girl and I stumbled across this post.  What a dramatic makeover!  And if you remember anything about the bathrooms at my house, you'll remember I have builder-grade fake oak looking cabinets with nooooo hardware.  That doesn't exactly scream zen spa does it?

I sent said link to the mister and much to my surprise, he was on board.  We spent a lunch at Home Depot (heaven) armed with Kate's instructions, but then we stumbled across this kit by my friends at Rustoleum.  See, I trust Rustoleum.  They are makers of my right hand man, spray paint.  So we read about it, discussed with our paint professional, and took home this kit big enough to do our bathroom and Alli's if we so desired (and we do).  All we had to do was select dark or light (dark for us) and then pick the color we wanted off of the 20 or so on the box (we chose Espresso).  We grabbed some simple, chic hardware, and waited impatiently to get home and give this kit a try.

I was extremely nervous, but Ryan figured hey, what could make those cabinets look worse?  I love him.  He jumped right in with....

     Step 1:  Remove Cabinet Doors/Drawers and De-Gloss

Using the provided liquid gel and brilo-like pads, Ryan scrubbed our cabinet doors, drawers, and frames down.  Then you let it sit for 1 hour (or 10 hours if it's Friday night and you fall asleep on the couch).

     Step 2:  Apply Tint Base (2 coats, 2-3 hours between coats)

Enter yours truly with the painting expertise.  All you have to do is paint with the grain of the "wood."  It was as simple as it sounds, thanks to the instructional DVD included in the kit.  We're still on step 2 - I have two coats on the frames, drawers, and backs of the doors, so I still have to do the front of the doors before we move on to optional (but we are doing it!) Step 3: Glaze and mandatory Step 4: Top Coat.  But  I really think it is looking good and I can't wait to see the finished result.  Stay tuned.  And for interested parties, that is my organized sink on the right.

The Hizzle Dizzle

Drumroll, please!  The master bathroom is officially painted!  Oh, sure, I have a touchup or two to do on the ceiling.  And yes, I need to order new artwork.  Just three pieces though.  And I eternally question what one is to do with a tiny frosted window next to a toilet.  But maybe, just maybe, by the end of this week, I will declare it officially done.

Aren't you proud of me?  Just a few days after I griped about myself, I semi-finished a project!  And I made Ryan patch the wall where he put a hole in it hanging new cabinets in our laundry room, so as soon as he sands that, I can paint it too.  AND I painted over the stripes of sample paint in the living room and the guest bedroom.  I have a love-hate relationship with our living room color.  It's a spectacular teal with red and gold accents.

So I go back and forth with repainting this room a more toned down version of the teal about every other month or so, but then realize that I love it as is as soon as I try to pick out a new color.  Also, I regularly toy with changing up our master bedroom.  I find it to be a bit masculine and dark for me.

So I think that will be the next project - a complete overhaul.  I don't even know what I am considering in that room.  Sometimes, I think baby blue and deep purple, and others I think a more green and blue scheme.  I think I'll have to wait for that right inspiration to hit me.  Also, we're planning to darken the guest bedroom as soon as I find the right green.  The last green I tested turned a putrid puke color in the sunlight, so back to the drawing board.  Here it is right now (that's Ginger on the bed, it's her favorite spot):

I think that's the room that looks the most incomplete.  It needs curtains, another lamp, and some more wall art.  And could probably use a bigger nicer bed, but who wants to spend money on a guest bed?  So we'll probably darken the whole thing, once I find the right green, get some curtains, and call it a day.

So those are my current musings on my house.  By the time I get it just about perfect, I think it will probably be time to move again.  Oh well...that's the fun, right?