Project 7: The Main Floor Bathroom

Hubby and I have wanted to finish this bathroom forever. It is on the main floor, and is the one that guests use. It still has it's original white paint, and the walls are scratched and dirty. It's a small space that is frequented by two young kids, and it's grubby.

The bathroom came with a chrome towel bar that quickly became a hanging bar to the kids. Of course, it eventually pulled right out of the wall. I decided it would look better and work better if we patched the wall and put in a towel ring instead. Here's what it looks like now... Ugly

I saw this and had to have it. It's a temporary towel hanger than hangs right from the vanity drawer. Finally, I am finding the towel ON the rod after the kids have been in there, instead of on the floor. The other rod was much higher, and hard for the kids to use. I love how this rod is small and takes up very little space, and is very accessible to the kids. It will have to go once the towel ring finds its way in here, but I will definitely use it elsewhere in the house! It was under $10.00 bucks, too.

Here's the vanity. I have hated it from the start. They guy who showed us the house told us that there was a buyer before us who made all kinds of changes while the house was being built, then reneged. One of the changes was putting these UGLY vanities in instead of pedestal sinks. Although the drawers are nice to have, I think I would have preferred the look of the pedestal, especially in here. Unfortunately this will be staying, at least for the time being. But the faucet will be replaced. Hubby says he hates the mirror.... we'll see what that translates into! I'm hoping the new paint color will make the vanity look less cheap.

The light fixture. Because we have chosen a towel ring and toilet paper hanger that are dark in color, hubby says that all the chrome has to go. (Good riddance) As he will be working on this while I take the kids away for the weekend, he will be choosing what goes up in its place. I am ok with that. I put in my two cents regarding the faucet: I like the kind that rises up, bends toward you and comes down again. More elegant.






So that's it. I so look forward to the changes, and I will post "after" pictures when it's all done. Can't wait!

Here are a couple of in progress shots.

Old faucet out...

Changing the faucet meant new pipes and doohickeys under here...

Oyoyoy.

The new wall color! I love it! What a difference a little color makes!! Because we had decided to change the chrome stuff to dark colors, hubby decided that the toilet seat had to change, too. He was right on.

This looks great. The old one looked kind of big and clunky. The lid and seat wouldn't stay up by themselves, which was not so good for the guys. This one has the small child seat, which fits inside the regular seat, just like the old one. This one just fits and looks better.

Tucked in child seat.

I asked hubby to look for a looping faucet, and this is what he found. Awesome! Love it.

New flusher, which replaced the standard chrome one. The kids tested it, and announced that though this one is easier to push down, it sounds the same as the old one. ;)

New light fixture. I love it. The glass is frosted.

Towel ring.

What a fantastic transformation! It's inspiring!

Project 6: Contain The Pieces -Complete-

I swear to goodness, every single day of my life I am picking up the tiny, endless pieces that go to the many puzzles, games and who knows what that we have in our house. My 2-year-old lately thinks it great fun to open boxes and dump the contents on the floor. I pick it up, he does it again. Repeat. It is beyond frustrating. And then my husband comes home and comments on the mess in the house. I would like to know how people maintain these lovely homes with children. I am finding it quite difficult. So this project is about finding a way to contain and lock up these mountain making, spreading, frustration causing bits and pieces.

It has taken me several days to settle on this cabinet. I wanted a larger space for all of the games, puzzles, play dough, and other stuff that seems to end up everywhere but in their respective boxes or containers. The larger spaces we have are not easy to lock, which is the whole point. So after much deliberating I have decided to make this space work, as is is lockable with one of these doohickeys --

These are pretty good. By the time the kids can get this off, I am hopeful they will be responsible enough with the stuff that we'll keep in here. (hopeful......)

This looks neat and tiny now....but I know there's ton more stuff that qualifies for this cabinet! We'll see what we can fit. Maybe having a couple of things out at a time is the way to go..... Anyhow, I pleased to have this done. =)

Project 5: Medicine Safe - Complete!

This is something I've wanted to do for a while. This is a cabinet filled with medicines, vitamins, supplements, essential oils and related items. The kids don't hesitate to climb up and help themselves to Bandaids and whatever else they can get their hands on. Time to lock them up.

Consulting with hubby, we both like the idea of finding a small, locking something-or-other that will fit right into the cabinet. Let's see what I can find.

I am feeling so good about myself! I went online and started to look at locking safes, locking cabinets and locking medicine cabinets. I found many, but few that looked close to what I was looking for. None that were perfect. I told hubby that I thought we'd need to go shopping and actually look at what was available, to be sure we got what we liked. Then I said that perhaps with the huge quantity of stuff we have in our house there might be something we could use. I headed down to the basement. (with 2-year-old in tow =)  ) I found this! A picnic case, complete with plates, silverware and napkins. The case has a double zip on it, which means I can lock the zipper pulls together! Perfect! I am very pleased with my ability to rethink and reuse!! And it saves me a trip to the store, which is really a pain with the kids. So here goes....the transfer of the meds.

Transfer complete! I know I'm going to have to pull half of this stuff out every time I want something, but it's worth the peace of mind knowing that my kids won't get into something they shouldn't.


I love my essential oils! =)

This project was like the shower head project. Once I started, it was done very quickly. It's one of those that makes me wonder what took me so long to get started on it. (grin)

Project 4: The Art Wall -In Progress-

I love my children's drawings and art. I do! But I think this could be neatened up a bit. My immediate thought was to cover it in cork board. Wow, the stuff is expensive! To cover the wooden area next to my fridge, it would have cost just under $40.00. Yeeks! So instead I went to ebay, and found a 2'x4' roll for $17.00. Still way too much, but whatever. So I bought it, it'll be on its way soon.

Well, the roll of cork board arrived. I didn't count on it being so very thin! It is simply not possible that a regular thumb tack would go into and stay there. I don't get it. How does one use this stuff? I'm still pondering ways to make this work. Maybe I should use it to create something else. But that doesn't solve this problem. Back to the drawing board....

Project 3: Random Pile of Stuff -Complete!-

Although project 1 is yet to be completed, I am moving steadily along. This is because I can only sew when the kids are otherwise occupied, which means I get very little sewing time per day. Project 1 is moving along, just slowly. SO....on to project 3, which I can work on while I'm with the kids.

This is just what it looks like. A random collection of who knows what. And to be totally honest, it's been there for a long time. A long time. Hi, my name is Dais, and I'm a clutter-a-holic! How embarrassing.

Ok, maybe I shouldn't share this, but the very first thing I found in this pile of stuff was a bill. That I had paid. And sealed in the envelope. And put my return address on. And stamped. In 2008. Told you it's been there for a while!!

Plugging along...plugging along..... The majority of this stuff has been going right to the recycle bin or trash. Sighs.

Taking progress shots of this project seems sort of pathetic, but it keeps me moving on it. This kind of thing is really hard for me. I am finding cards we received in 2007. What is wrong with me? (sheepish grin)

Done!!! Three years in the making, three days in the unmaking! Phew!

Project 2: Shower Head In Kids Bathroom -Complete!-

It is almost comical how long this simple project has taken. For a long, long time, years I would guess, I have thought it would be a good idea to install a filtering shower head. I am prone to skin problems, and now my 2-year-old is occasionally breaking out with eczema, too. At long last, I did some online research and chose a shower head. Some while later, I placed a bid on one of these on ebay, and won it. For weeks (I'm not kidding) the shower head sat in a box in my bed room. Eventually I asked my husband if he would install it for me. He said yes. More weeks went by. I asked a couple more times. Then I wondered what I was waiting for. Am I incapable of figuring these things out? I am not! So this morning, with hubby out and both kids home, I took this project upon myself. Armed with a wrench and two helpers (hmmm) I headed into the bathroom. Here is the shower head we had. Sort of nice with the kids, as it's got a spray attachment, and is good for rinsing shampoo out of hair. Bye-bye.

No wrench was needed. The thing just unscrewed. Easy. Well, as easy as it could be with both kids climbing on me, the toilet and the side of the tub. =)

Just after getting the old shower head off, hubby returns from his outing, and came upstairs to see what was going on. Some male thing occurred, and he immediately took over, without invitation. Here, he is putting on just the filter attachment...

The shower head easily screwed on to that. And it functions.

What water filter doesn't rinse out a bit of charcoal at first? Our tub was black. But not for long. Just after finishing this project, which took all of five minutes, I took a shower, and it was perfect. Now to get back to project #1!

Project 1: Play Room Windows -Complete! (sort of)-

I know me. The only way I have any chance of finishing a home project is to keep is SMALL. So I'm starting with these windows. This is our play room. We have plans to move the play room to the basement, but that plan is moving very slowly. So I'm going to fix up these windows. In play room fashion. For a start. =)

Ok, did I say SMALL project? Sheesh. Oh well. I do enjoy sewing, and I'm motivated. Sewing curtains requires a LOT of fabric, so unless you're richer than Midas, finding fabric that is inexpensive is key. Thank-you Wal-mart fabric section. I spent less than $15.00 on six yards of fabric. It's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think it'll cheer the place up a bit. And I found some nice remnants for other projects. =)

...8 side seams done....1 bottom hem done....measure, iron, turn, sew, measure, iron, turn sew.......tedious work....keeping myself motivated....but also thinking about the next project, and the next...

Four curtain panels done. Ties started. I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. Now I've got to actually go out and buy curtain rods. :/

Curtain rods purchased...............Ok, I just can't wait for hubby to get around to putting the rods up for me. And really. How hard can this be? And why do I wait for him to do it in the first place? Cuz it's hard with kids? Well, they're around when he does this stuff, too. So here goes nuthin'......

Ok, the truth is, I don't even want to share with you what transpired. Yes, I figured out how to put the brackets up for the curtain rods. Yes, I used a power tool (dear god) and some other fun things I found on hubby's work bench. I successfully got the rod up, and it looked straight. I excitedly hung the curtain panels on the rod, and put the rod on the brackets.

The curtains are about half a foot, Half a FOOT too short. How could this happen? Well, I'm an idiot, and these things always seem to happen to me. Of course I needed to know if I had measured the fabric wrong, or measured the window wrong. I got my answer quickly. I took the curtains, still on the rod, upstairs to my sewing room. The windows are on the same side of the house. I held the curtains up to the windows in there, the ones I had originally measured, and they were perfect. So the problem was that I assumed that the windows were the same length. Stupid, yeah, but at least I didn't measure the right windows and end up with this problem. That would have made me feel worse. But this was bad enough. Anyway, all is not lost. At hubby's suggestion, I offered the curtains to my 5-year-old daughter. I want to upgrade her bedroom anyhow, and these would replace some Dora Curtains I screwed up a year or whatever ago. =) She was kind enough to say yes. Pictures to come.

Left (up) and right. Too narrow, too short, but they brighten up the room anyway. Anyway. On to another project!! =)