progress post: green beer and gray tile.

Saint Patricks Day 2017.

We went to a friend's house and drank beer, ate delicious food, and played darts. Then we came home and tiled our bathroom floor. Very productive day!

Tile drunk, grout sober. That's how the saying goes, no?

The hexagons lost out to this gray mosaic. Happy to have a stacked neutral / bummed about the hexagons. But those cement tiles were just too inaccessible for us at the time and would have created a height difference from the wood floor.

so long to seeing this!

moo moo the construction cat, helping.

you can kind of see my green eye shadow in this photo.

subfloor > mortar > waterproof membrane > mortar > tile > grout > sealer

RIP old green spatula, thank you for your sacrifice. thankful for new wedding gifts!

All in day's work! If only all projects would follow the Friends, Food, and Finished-by-the-end-of-the-night approach.

Stay tuned for the two things we tried/redid in the bathroom. Because who doesn't like doing things all over again...?

progress post: tile that tub!

From about October 2016 to January 2017 we used my sister's shower, work, ... or the gym on very rare occasions. Thank goodness they 1. live less than a mile and a half away and 2. weren't working on their shower at the same time. 

notes.

waterproofing

first tile! that yard stick we're using as a spacer against the tub, we found in our walls.

decided on a schluter trim piece vs a bullnose tile for the edge.

home depot pattern. #sponsored lol jk.

like the fancy raincoat i made for dustin?

faux wood tile to match our floors throughout the rest of the house.

last tile!

family affair.

fresh grout film.

preparing for caulk. in which, i cried heavily after our first attempt.

Don’t do it this way- with the tape. At least I wouldn’t recommend it. Also, cut a SMALL hole in the caulk nozzle, you can always make it bigger. Do thin layers and smooth out with your finger.

One of meltdowns where I thought, for sure, we ruined our house. We have definitely improved our caulking skillz. There are some areas we will be redoing… someday.

sweet sweet satisfaction peeling that plastic wrap off.

finally!

water has never looked so beautiful. hah

You probably noticed the floor tile isn't done. Of course not... that was a couple months later. You can see it here, though. Luckily, we knew what tile we wanted for the tub, but that floor was a wholeeee other decision!  Remember this idea? Anyway, we secured plastic over the subfloor and showered with the door open and fan on for about two months. #glamorous.

Also, don't get me started on the faucet knobs. I was told we could change those out later and we have yet to find a new set we like/works... so in the meantime, we're stuck with these default, yet period appropriate gems. Decisions are hard, guys!

But hey- after about three months, we could finally shower in our own home!

demo days: bathroom.

Update! Or more like "Recap!" It's about time for one of those, right?

I started this blog to keep track of our projects, document progress along the way (not just post dated before photos and beautifully blown out after shots). To be honest this blog would have year long gaps if that were the plan.

However, it’s hard for me to decide what to include and what not… I’ve taken so many shots of demo and construction but I don’t know how to curate it into a nice little story. Plus, we bounce around from project to project, room to room; so it’s not like we complete one entirely before we start another. Is that how you renovate- one room at a time? Or do you bounce around?

Well, knowing that I love looking back on photos no matter what, I’ll just include a whole bunch. My blog after all. Thanks for making it through this inner monologue.

We started renovating the bathroom in August 2016, here are a few photos from the early stages.

this used to be my painting shirt when i was younger.

newspaper from june 1960, the year our house was built.

old tub out.

we've come a long way, baby.

hi down there! (remember these butterflies.)

dustin approving the new tub.

new tub in! and our shower niches.

dustin's parents helping add insulation.

i moved marian's butterflies inside the shower wall.

i see you!

By the way, the cover photo was the first layer of wallpaper in the bathroom. I love it.

If you didn't see our plans for the bathroom, you can check out the initial mood board here!

kitchen plans.

Fun fact. My grandparent's used to have this floral paneling- or one extremely similar- in their bathroom. I'm still salty they redecorated. RIP sparkly gold shell sink. I shall never forget you.

Just like our bathroom, the kitchen is a total gut job. We'll be keeping the galley floorplan. However, the plumbing and appliances will be relocated, flooring updated, window removed, etcetera, etcetera... starting to get nervous listing everything off like that.

But we're in too deep now, fingers crossed! Here we go!

MOOD BOARD

Wood cabinets, white countertop, new floor, globe lights, brass accents, fun tile backsplash.

SOURCE  ||  A B C D E F G

master bedroom closet plans.

In going through this renovation process, I've noticed I have become more aware of how we use things and what we need. Dustin and I met with a kitchen designer last year and he asked us to think about how we have used past kitchens, which cabinets go where, what works for us. Thrilled to even be thinking about a new space, we had the mindset of "Anything will be better than what we have! We'll make it work!" But being without for a while now, you learn how the simplest design decisions that are made with intention, serve a purpose, have a function, will totally enhance your life. That sounds so deep... but in the smallest way, it can make your process and your DAY better. So we're trying to keep that mindset (without overthinking things... which we do anyway) as we're customizing each of these new spaces.

One space I'm super jazzed about is our master bedroom closet. We quadrupled the square footage of the original 1960 size. It's still smaller than a standard walk-in, but much better! For the last year and a half, our "closet" has been the spare bedroom. It pretty much looks like a enclosed space of rolling hills if the rolling hills were piles of clothes...

So en lieu of eventual closet organization, and an upcoming trip to Ikea, this post is dedicated to the smallest room in our house- the closet. During demo, we made a recessed niche in the wall, in between the studs. I felt so proud of this small but intentional decision. We did the same thing in our bathroom shower as well.

And what will this little closet niche hold?! Sunglasses, hats, jewelry- oh my! Only time will tell. But holy moly are we SO ready to have a functioning closet again.

MOOD BOARD

Also white and bright like the bedroom- helps the focus be on mah clothes. Intentional design, cute organizational containers, and functional space saving techniques. 

SOURCE  ||  A B C D E F G