July Recap

This past month was one of the most productive month's we've had in a long time.  We worked our butts off and boy does it show.  Well, it shows in the house, my butts still right where it started.  We accomplished every single goal we set for our selves, plus a few more.  I'm very proud of us.  Now we need to push ourselves before our official Housewarming party on Aug 25th.

So what did we accomplish?

Clean Up The Downstairs Bathroom

   
This was an easy one.  Our downstairs bathroom was never used.  Okay, it was used, but only during band practice.  It was the typical "man's" bathroom.  You know, the "we don't really care how gross it is" kind of a bathroom.   I thought I might throw up when I looked in the toilet, it was that bad.  Good god, doesn't J ever clean?  And the shower, we had NEVER used the shower down there.  It actually turned into a type of storage area.  Yeah, we used the shower to store things.  Doesn't everyone do that?

But with some good old elbow grease, it's looking like a functional bathroom.  We have a lot of plans for this bathroom, but they are pretty far down on the to do list.  Some day this bathroom with be our spa escape from the world, where we go to relax and unwind.  Someday.


Scrape the ceiling in the bathroom

We not only scraped the ceiling, we primed and painted it.  It looks fantastic.  No more chunks of paint hanging from the ceiling.  No more awful sea foam green with little spots of yellow.

We don't plan on leaving the ceiling white in here, but for now it's working.  Our plan is to eventually install faux tin tiles in here.  But with what these tiles cost, we'll be holding off on that project for a while.  Sometimes I like to imagine what the room will look like with the tiles, and then a smile will grace my face because it will be dreamy.
 

Pick out a new toilet

This is another one of our projects that we accomplished and then when beyond.  We didn't just pick out a toilet; we picked one out, bought one, and installed it.  Oh yeah. 

And now I know everything there is to know about toilets and toilet shopping.  My life is complete. :)


Take down wood trim around tub      

This took me about 2 minutes to do.  I just got up there with a crow bar and pulled them off.  Now what we found under the trim made us pretty sad.  The install job on the tub and surround was pretty bad.  And it was installed right before we bought the house.  Now we have to figure out how to fix it and fast.

So this is one got crossed off our list, but it actually ended up giving us more work to do.  But we'll figure out something soon.  I'm sick of taking a shower in the tiny downstairs one.


Find a large mirror

This was a happy occurrence a week or so again.  J had gone to the Restore with his dad to drop off our old vanity and medicine cabinet and then see what they had.  You never know what kind of treasure might be waiting for you.  There it was, the prefect size mirror for the bathroom.


Now this is one of those, good enough for now items.  We don't necessarily want just a large mirror, but for now it's the easiest fix.  And it won't just be a builder's grade mirror up on the wall.  I've primed and painted some nice trim for around it so we can, as J put it, "sexy it up."


Prime and paint the walls

After a very exhausting round of priming and painting, the old paneling in the bathroom is now bright white and the top half is a misty grey.  We're pretty happy with how it looks.  Okay, we're ecstatic about how it looks.  Both of us will stop and stand there, just admiring our new bathroom.  It's a good feeling. 


Replace the floor in the bathroom

This one was one of the simplest one we did.  We went with a glueless vinyl that just sits on the floor.  All you do is cut it and put it down.  You're done.  Easy Peasy.

And after we found the original floor in fairly good condition, we didn't have to install a subfloor.   Which made us happy and relieved since the original floor was asbestos tile, and we didn't want to mess with that stuff


Find a faucet

We decided to splurge on our faucets since we're DIYing everything else.  We looked at every store in town that carried faucets and then a little online and we made the decided on the Pfister Ashfield Single Faucet.  It's so pretty.  I'm so glad we decided to get something a little more interesting.  Swoon.


 Find some art for the downstairs bathroom
   
This was a personal goal for me.  I was sick of the plain walls and fluorescent lights in the downstairs bathroom, see above.  Now I can't get rid of the lights right now, and I don't have time to repaint, so I decided a huge print would be the next best option.

J requested that we get the The Great Wave off Kanagawa, the well known Japanese woodblock print.  I was happy to oblige, since I make most of the art work decisions in the house.  I have to say it looks pretty nice up there.  Way to go boy!
 

Pick some veggies from the garden

I wasn't sure if I would be able to accomplish this one, since I don't really control this one.  But I did.  I've gotten three heads of garlic, two chilies, and two tomatoes.  Not a lot yet, but there will be more.  A lot more. 



Wow, that was a lot of crap.  But then it gets more impressive.  I also made new pillows for the living room, made a few more sets of fabric napkins, sanded and stained the coffee table, purchased and sanded the lumber for the vanity, and bought a slightly used futon for the "library".

How did we accomplish all of this?  No seriously, if anyone knows, I'd love to know.  I guess it's true what they say, you can do anything you put your mind to.  But now I'm ready for a vacation.  Unfortunately, there is a ton of things that still need to be finished.  That vacation will just have to wait until fall.  And as long as you can keep it secret, we're planning one hell of a vacation for this fall/winter.  Don't tell anyone, we haven't.

And on a sadder note, we also lost our little ferret, Fatty, in July.  We knew that it was coming, but it never makes it easier.  She passed quietly in her sleep one night.  She was quite the rascal and had a huge personality.  She will be missed.     

Take care and always stay creative.