Category: Home Decor

Feeling a bit Bookish

Hello, hello, hello my fabulous Pocketful readers – I’ve missed you all so much! And yes, I know that sounds a bit lame. But I was home for 6 days straight and at no point did I lay out on a beach or even get any home improvement projects completed, so you know I wasn’t having too much fun.

Actually, I did have a BIT of fun since my husband was home with me and Jack on both Monday and Tuesday. Which means there was lots of comfort food making/eating, TV watching, fire building and all around family snuggling time. So that was pretty awesome.

With Jack battling bronchiolitis, Hurricane Sandy on the rampage and oh yeah me being super sick too, it was a very quiet few days. Our internet was also having massive issues, so I could only get online occasionally which was kind of annoying.

So, now that it’s Tuesday evening and I’ll be able to upload everything tomorrow morning, I’m finally taking a minute to sit down and catch up with my online life!

I DID have a chance to do a couple mini projects during my time at home. One of which made me think of my friend Katie from Words for Worms. I showed you all my den when I first changed things around, but here’s a little refresher on what it looked like before we moved in:

Here’s the den from the old online listing of our house. Nice boombox and GOLD fireplace insert.

And what it looked like once I got my grimy hands on the place:

Back in March after I did my thing.

Well, I was never really IN LOVE with the stuff I threw up on my mantle. I liked it all individually, but it wasn’t really doing it for me perched up there. The mirror was kind of oddly sized and everything just felt a bit bare and sad.

Our main plan is to build some bookshelves in that odd little corner in the room, but that project is way down the list at this point. Also, I’m thinking that corner will be a perfect place for a Christmas tree – so I want to try that out before I made the big decision to start building shelves.

All of my lovely books were still living in boxes in one of our closets, which is just so incredibly sad, don’t you think? So I had the bright idea to bring some of them out and see how they looked displayed on the mantle… and I LOVE the finished look!

Ooh pretty — a roaring fire and a crapload of books!
Front end
Butt end.

 

Oh and for your sharp-eyed people out there I’d like to point out that NOT EVEN ONE of these books is a piece of highbrow fancy-schmanchy literature. They are my tried and true favorites that I actually like to curl up and read. So, no trying to impress anyone here! Unless you’re impressed with the Harry Potter series, Artemis Fowl, all the Stephanie Plum books and a crapload of chick lit. Actually, if you ARE impressed by that you are totally invited to be my friend because I think we’ll get along great!

Ugly Green Bathroom Update: Less Ugly AND Less Green!

On the last episode of “My Ugly Green Bathroom” we left off knowing that my dad was coming over to help me kick some bathroom butt. And kick butt we did – we accomplished even more than I hoped for!

Here’s what we got done:

  • Finish removing the metal track that remains from shower doors. DONE
  • Remove the old shower curtain rod. DONE
  • Remove the green toilet and replace it with our new one. DONE
  • Remove the green sink and replace it with our-new one. DONE
  • Replace the current shower head with a handheld version. DONE
  • Remove the medicine cabinet/light and install a new fixture. DONE
  • Install new trim to fit around new vanity. DONE
  • Remove all remaining wallpaper  and spackle. DONE

It took a full day of work (once we add in the trip to Home Depot and the required yummy lunch to thank my dad for his help) but we got ‘er done and I’m so thrilled with the progress.

Oh, if you want to get a full idea of where this bathroom started out, check out my first post on the original Ugly Green Bathroom complete with plaid wallpaper!

Here are some in-progress shots from this weekend:

My handsome husband, starting to remove the glass door rail from the tub.
Oopsie, once we finally scraped off all the caulk holding the rail down to the tub we found out it was actually a WHITE tub painted green. Since we can’t scrape ALL the paint off, I’ll be repainting this ledge with a (hopefully) matching dark green Rustolium paint.
This is me — scraping off the two layers of 80’s wallpaper still stuck to the wall behind the old toilet. I don’t know why it looks like I’m displaying my engagement ring/wedding band. I’m just fancy like that.
This is my dad’s arm — after the sink and toilet have been ripped out and all the walllpaper was removed.
Oh look, more wallpaper! This is where the medicine cabinet/light used to be on the wall.
Here’s how the bathroom looked when we went for our late lunch/dinner break. Pretty, right?

Okay, now are you ready for some “after” shots? Well, not really AFTER since we’re not done yet. More like a little further of the in-progress shots:

Here’s how the tub looks with the shower door down (and filled with trash and baby bath stuff, because that’s how we roll).
Here’s the new vanity and toilet. SUCH an improvement, right?!

There is obviously still work to be done to finish the job, but it’s all quite manageable. My biggest challenge will be finding the time to paint the room, since someone else will need to watch Jack for the day. I’m also thinking of painting both the bathroom and master bedroom at the same time so I can just get messy and do it all at once. I may wait until Thanksgiving week since I took off work but will still put Jack in daycare for at least one of those days.

My updated task list of what’s left:

  • Spray paint shower curtain rod, toilet paper holder and towel rack (oil rubbed bronze, of course) and re-install.
  • Paint edge of tub with ugly dark green color (*groan*).
  • Remove and replace broken hooks on the back of the door.
  • Hunt down a larger mirror and hang it over the sink.
  • Sand down walls.
  • Paint trim and inside of door – glossy white.
  • Paint ceiling – eggshell white.
  • Paint walls – probably something from the light smoky blue color family.
  • Buy and put up new artwork.
  • Put up new shower curtain.
  • Purchase any additional décor needed to finish the room (or steal from rest of house/stash) – bath rug, trashcan, shower dispenser, hand soap, etc.

I’m still hoping to have the entire project completed by Thanksgiving and will post one more update once it’s all pretty. I’ll also provide a full cost breakdown for the whole project (shhhh don’t tell my husband…).

There you go: what I did this weekend. Did you do anything fun like rip a stinky toilet out of your house? Or did you do what I really wanted to do on my anniversary weekend — curl up with your honey, a movie and a yummy bottle of wine?

Let the Demo BEGIN!

It’s happening! It’s happening! I’m finally about to start working on my ugly green bathroom!!!!

Just take a look at the number of exclamation points I just used, can you feel my excitement?

I mentioned in my Bedroom Inspiration post that I had started ripping things out of my ugly green bathroom, but was stuck until my dad could come over to help me finish removing the door rail from the stupid tub.

Well, my dad is coming over to save the day this weekend! Heck YEAH!

So in anticipation of my dad coming over, my husband and I took a fun little trip to Home Depot and purchased some of the things that I’ve been stalking for our new bathroom.

Now let me remind you, this isn’t going to be a full renovation because it would break the bank for us to rip out the ugly green tub. So, we’re leaving it there and just covering it with a new shower curtain. The tile-work in the tub is in great condition (other than the one tile my husband ripped out of the wall by “helping” me with my project…) and the floor is fine as well.

Here’s what I hope to start on this weekend:

  • Finish removing the metal track that remains from shower doors.
  • Remove the old shower curtain rod and determine whether I can spray paint it (or just throw it away).
  • Remove broken hooks on the back of the door.
  • Remove the green toilet and replace it with our brand-new white one.
  • Remove the green sink and replace it with our brand-new vanity and faucet.
  • Replace the current shower head with a handheld version to make it easier to wash Jack.

List for a future weekend:

  • Whatever didn’t get done this weekend.
  • Remove the medicine cabinet and lighting fixture.
  • Refinish the mirror that came with our vanity (I don’t like matchy-matchy) and hang it over the sink.
  • Buy and install a new lighting fixture.
  • Decide on paint color, then sand and paint the walls (something from the light smoky blue color family).
  • Buy and put up new artwork.

Here’s a little sneak peek of the direction that I’m going to go in:

1. Graduated Stripe Shower Curtain from West Elm, $15.00

2. Progress Lighting Fixture from Home Depot, $95.00

3. American Classics Vanity from Home Depot (comes with sink AND mirror), $150.00

4. Assorted art inspiration ideas from Pinterest

5. Recycled Jersey Bath Mat from West Elm (or something similar) $24.00

6. Brushed Nickel Faucet from Home Depot, $26.00

7. White Toilet from Home Depot, $150 (can’t remember which one we picked, so no link)

So I cannot WAIT until this weekend when my dad comes over. He and I are going to tear this bathroom apart and make it into something so much nicer, for less than $500! My goal is to have an “in progress” post update after this weekend’s work and hopefully have a final reveal before Thanksgiving.

What do you think; would you do a half-renovation project like me in order to keep the costs down? Or would you just save up the money and wait until you could rip the whole place down to the studs?