More Bathroom Progress!

Hey friends,

We're getting closer and closer on the upstairs bathroom remodel. The tile is done, it has been grouted, sealed and caulked and Nick has hooked up the tub, toilet and sink, so it's almost all finished. I am so grateful to finally be able to use this hallway bathroom. There is no longer a claw foot tub or a toilet in our bedroom, we don't have to tiptoe through a sleeping baby's room in the middle of the night to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom, we don't have to brush our teeth downstairs off the kitchen anymore and we can finally bathe our little guys in a tub! Huzzah!

What's left to do-

*Finish last bit of mudding and paint the walls a serene white

*Install the metal shower halo where the shower spout will come out of and the shower curtains will be hung

*Reattach and repaint the window and door frames

*Construct a threshold for the floor between the tile and hardwoods

*Repaint and reinstall the vent cover

*Reglaze the inside of the tub in a nice clean white to match the rest of the fixtures

*Install medicine cabinet and light fixture above sink

*Install towel racks

*Install open shelving above toilet

*Decorate!

I'm so proud of Nick and all he's done without having to hire any work out. He's just plugged along in the midst of 50+ hour work weeks, being an awesome, available daddy, playing on worship team, volunteering at church and taking care of numerous other household tasks. He's just so amazing!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Plants in the Bathroom

We're getting closer to bathroom completion and it's fun to start thinking about last minute touches. Since it will be such a light, bright room, it would be a shame not to include some greenery in there. The moisture in the air will be good for the plants and it will, undoubtedly, improve our air quality! I did a quick search on Pinterest and these images are my inspiration!

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How cool are these fish scale planter tiles? 

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I think hanging plants are a good option for our bathroom since it's small and I'd rather not have things within reach of the boys. What do you think of plants in the shower? Kind of odd, but cool, no?

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Bathroom Progress and New Design Directions

If you've been following for a while, you may remember me first blogging about our upstairs bathroom remodel last summer. Well, it's taken quite a while to get to the point where we are at. That's the reality when your hubby is doing all the work himself. He works 50+ hours a week so it all has to happen on weeknights and weekends and we've often had other things going on. It just takes a little longer when you aren't hiring out the work. 

I am so proud of Nick. He has completely redone all the electrical wiring, installed a ceiling vent fan, redone the plumbing, gutted it down to the studs, re-dry walled the walls and ceiling and put all the prep in place for tiling. I'm sure I'm leaving certain steps out. Did I mention stud? ;) 

I'll post a full montage of photos when we finish, but for now, check out our floor that our friend Lane helped him do last week. I'm loving the 2 inch black hex tile! Super happy about this choice for flooring. Oh and the red stuff is not blood, it's a flexible sealant of sorts called Red Guard.

Over the months, my design ideas for this space have changed a bit. Originally I wanted to use a lot of mint green in this room. Now, I've decided to make citron yellow and a warm, orangey red our primary colors. I've already ordered our shower curtains from West Elm (we'll need two to wrap around the claw foot tub). These are them and I was able to snatch them up while they were on sale:

The walls will be white subway tile up halfway with white paint up the second half. Super light and clean. I'm also planning on using my collection of amber, antique medicine bottles for knick knacks and perhaps a hanging plant in the corner. A black industrial gooseneck light will go over the medicine cabinet which is, by the by, a cool shade of dove gray!

I can't wait to put it all together and have a bathtub to bathe our kiddos in again. Currently Killian gets sink baths and Collin gets showers, which he hates! 

All in good time. Stay tuned for the results!

Today is the Day!

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The movers are coming! I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. Too much on my mind. We officially get to move in and I am so excited. I know unpacking will be a job and a half, but this symbolizes the end of limbo life. The end of living in temporary housing and schlepping Collin's Pack n' Play back and forth so he can nap while we work on stuff at the new house and the beginning of really, truly living in Joplin and not just feeling like we are on a weird vacation. 

I am thankful.

For all who were wondering if we ended up getting the clawfoot tub, I present to you Bessie Mae, our cast iron beast of a glorious tub. Adopted this weekend from Pea Ridge, Arkansas. She's a beaut! So worth the trip and the $200. We'll need to strip and repaint the outside (a fun color, of course), so for now she's hanging out in the garage, awaiting her makeover.

Here is a verse I read this morning that greatly speaks to me:

"If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I’m all ears, all eyes before you." Psalm 143:8 (MSG)

Have a great week friends! Hopefully I'll be able to emerge from unpacking world to show you some cool shots I took of our 1930's basement stairwell art.

Peace,

Steph

Upstairs Bathroom Remodel Inspiration

Hi friends! One of the two upstairs bathrooms needs a bit of work. It's currently missing an essential fixture-- the sink. At first we thought we'd just replace the sink and be done with it for now, but upon closer inspection, Nick realized we'd need to open up the wall and deal with the old plumbing. So, since we have to open up the wall, we decided to actually fully renovate the bathroom now.

Bye bye stick on floor tiles and plywood faux wall tiles, covered in 900 layers of paint, bye bye window shutters, bye bye old electrical.

Now to the fun part! Below is an inspiration board for our W.C. It's a small bathroom as most bathrooms from the 20's are, so we had to carefully measure and plan out the space.

We found a restored claw foot on Craigslist last week and the owner of said tub is willing to sell it to us for a fourth of what you can usually find them for. We are, however, waiting for him to get back from a trip to send us more pictures from every angle before we can justify an hour and fifteen minute drive out to his home in Arkansas. I'm crossing my fingers on this. I really, really hope it works out. How cool would it be to be able to put a claw foot tub in this bathroom?! It would be doubly cool if we could paint the outside of it a dreamy shade of mint green.

Here is the bathroom in its current state. Not horrible, but not what it could be either. You can't see the tub, but it's a pretty standard, yellowed mid-century tub that has seen better days.

I'm all for keeping the existing ceiling light. We debated the merits of keeping the medicine cabinet, but ultimately it's not in the greatest of shape (especially on the inside). So, in order to preserve some of the bathroom's original, period details. I ordered a pair of art deco porcelain bathroom sconces off Etsy. Again, I keep finding the most amazing deals. I got the two for $28. I saw other identical pairs on Etsy and Ebay for upwards of $300. Score!

The new sink is on its way, due to be delivered by Friday. Like how the previous owner left us her claw clip on the towel rod? So nice of her. That's not all that was left. The medicine cabinet was full of gross toiletries. :/

So, I'm not entirely sure how long this project will take us, but I'll be updating the ol' blog with our progress, each step of the way!

Sink, mirror, light, black hexagon tile, subway tile, wood sign, vintage porcelain sconces