Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 82

Yeah. That's right. I said it. Day EIGHTY. TWO. That's almost three months working in a runty room with no windows and a toilet, thankyouverymuch.

Okay, fine. I haven't spent half as much time in there as Kevin has.
No, on any given day of the week you'll find me working in my spacious (it used to be a master bedroom), yet undecorated, home office that has three, count 'em, three big windows.

(Here's a sneak peek of my office. I shot this photo the day of our Nest magazine shoot.
The room is much messier now.)

Truth be told, I think Kevin is starting to look at the guest bathroom sort of like it's his arch nemesis at this point.



Don't get me wrong, he is loving how the room is shaping up, and he can't believe that he is actually responsible for its so-far-so-good transformation- but after EIGHTY TWO days of back-breaking, stinky, dusty, wet, sticky, messy, seemingly never-ending work, and having to tightly strap more than one piece of equipment to his face at a time, he is definitely ready to wrap this puppy up! Plus, he's a big "natural light guy". I'm tellin' ya, the stuff seriously dictates his mood. There's nothing like a dimly-lit room to majorly mess with his mojo.
I just keep rooting him on and assuring him that all his hard work will pay off in the end! (At least I hope it does!) :-)

Anywho...as you can see in the photos below, we changed our minds about installing the beadboard ceiling. For some reason whenever I announce a design decision out loud, I always end up doing something different. Announcing things is like the kiss of death. That poor beadboard never had a chance. :-)
Instead, Kevin removed the drywall ceiling, and uncovered the original tongue-and-groove wood planks that were previously hidden above it...



The color of the wood matches the top of the farmhouse table, the new flooring and the new mirror (more on that next week) just perfectly.



Of course we had to document this part of the reno on video, so that we could watch it when we're too old to rip down ceilings and install crown molding anymore...



Happy Weekend!

Layla

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 74

Ahhhhhhh! There's nothing like the smell of fresh vinyl flooring in the morning! Yesterday, we had to remove the toilet the previous homeowners installed (in 2003) so that Kevin could lay the rest of our new peel-n-stick planks underneath it. Neither of us had ever seen the bottom side of a toilet before, so we found ourselves faced with yet another unfamiliar renovation challenge. But I'm happy to announce that we somehow managed to pull it off, and now all of the flooring is installed. Woo hoo! Here's a little video we shot to document our day...





And there ya have it! A guest bathroom update and some "Def Lep" to boot!

What's that? You want to see a presto chango? Sure thing! Just move your mouse back and forth over the photo below for a more interactive image of our twenty dollar transformation...

It's amazing what a little peel-n-stick flooring, a couple of new baseboards, some fresh new paint and removing the "American Standard" sticker off the front of your toilet after two years can do. :-)

(PS- the paint color we used is Sherwin Williams "Sea Salt")

Next up- cladding the ceiling in beadboard paneling.

I'm sure it's going to be quite challenging for us to attach two 4'x8' sheets of beadboard paneling to the ceiling in the somewhat cramped quarters. It'll probably involve some math too. Ugh. I hate math! Especially if the equation goes anything like this:

2 ginormous sheets of beadboard paneling + 2 DIYer's that don't own a nail gun = several stressful minutes as one of the DIYer's races around with the electric screwdriver and the other tries to hold up the weight of the aforementioned paneling using as much strength as he can muster.

But no matter what happens, I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get it up there, and it'll just be another crazy experience we can look back and laugh at someday. (Key word: someday)

:-)

Happy Thursday!

Layla

PS- Our kitchen was featured as one of HGTV's Top Ten Favorite Kitchens on a Budget yesterday:

Click on the photo for the full story!

Wish Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who chimed in about neti pots and NeilMed Sinus Rinse!
I opted for the rinse:



Yeah, I was too chicken to try the neti pot thing. The thought of not tilting my head at the exact right angle and possibly gagging on a mixture of burning salty water was just too much for me to handle. For some reason, I'm not afraid to use a reciprocating saw but I am terrified of all things medical. Just sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office is guaranteed to trigger a "number three".
But my head just won't stop hurting, and my equilibrium is all messed up, so I forced myself to try the rinse.

After several failed attempts, I finally got the saline/water mixture to go all the way in, through, and out my nasal passage three times.
I'm still feeling pretty bad, but I'll try "flushing" again later tonight and we'll see what happens. Don't you know I'm just counting down the minutes 'til I have to stick that thing up my nose again. I can feel it staring me down from across the room as I type.

But enough about me and my stuffy head.

Thanks to all the great comments you left us about our "Wish", I had Kevin run back to the flea market and scoop up his brother so that we could give it away here on our blog this weekend:



So if you'd like to enter for a chance to win your very own Wish, just leave a comment on this post by noon (central time) on Sunday, January 10th.

Good luck to all those who enter!

Layla :-)

Weatherizing the Water Closet

A couple of people asked about the table we're using as a vanity, so I thought I'd re-post this picture Kevin took of it right after he sanded down the top, chopped off the back legs and painted the front legs:



We loved the idea of salvaging an old farm table to use as a vanity because they have so much character!

He coated the top with a few coats of regular ol' polyurethane:



Water just beads up on it now, it's great!

Due to a major sinus headache I've been battling for the past couple of days, I haven't had a chance to go to Claudia's to get inspiration for my table skirt.

But because my pants are incessantly overflowing with ants, I did throw this piece of fabric on there today, to see how I liked the idea of a striped skirt...



It's something our prop stylist, Allistair, left us after our Nest photo shoot. He used it as a table cloth on our dining room table. (Along with the prettiest arrangement of green hydrangeas!) It's not quite the right color (I altered it in this photo- it's actually a super bright robins egg blue color, and totally clashes with the tile on our wall behind the sink.)

But I am kinda diggin' the striped skirt look. What do you think?

Today, Kevin did a little more work under the table that involved some of this:



We needed to fill in all the little gaps that were allowing cold air to flow into the house.
Like this one...



And this one...



And this one..



And this one...



The can said to "shake vigorously for one minute". So he did.



Then he got back into what we now refer to as "the dreaded position"...



...and he filled in all the little places that cold air was blowing in through...



Now he can attach a baseboard back there and finish out the flooring while I try to kick this sinus stuff.

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Hey- while I have you, do you know French? I need to translate this:



Can anyone tell me what it says?

Layla :-)

(Oh, and for those who inquired, Claudia's Cloth Barn is located here in Prattville, Alabama and run by sweet Claudia herself) :-)

*Edited to include: What's a "neti pot", and where do I get one? I'm in pure agony! :-(

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Visit my Friends!

Ginger:



and Carolyn:



and Angela:

Gussyin' up the Guest Bathroom

T-minus twelve hours 'til Claudia's Cloth Barn opens tomorrow morning...



...and you can bet your bottom dollar I'm counting down the minutes!
Claudia has the best selection of fabrics, and I can't wait to get our farm table skirted now that the (ahem) plumbing part of the reno has been handled. :-)

I'm torn between using a striped fabric for the skirt, or a striped rug on the floor.
I visited DashandAlbert.com today and fell head over heels in love with their "Swedish Stripe" rug...



I pulled it up on my laptop and brought it in the bathroom to get a feel for how it would look with the new tile...



...me likey. :-)


Me also likey the one-of-a-kind find Kevin brought home from our local flea last month.

It's actually two chunks of wood, but together, he thought it sort of resembled a fish.



Especially when you flip it this way...



Once it's cleaned up and coated with poly I think it's going to look great on one of the shelves.

I haven't thought too much about how I'm going to decorate yet, but I have been stockpiling some things since Kevin brought home the "Wish". (that's "wood/fish")



I got this great soap-on-a-rope from White Flower Farmhouse...



It smells so delicious! I've been contemplating wearing it as a necklace just to keep it closer to my face.

Our prop stylist Allistair Turnbull left us this great Martha Stewart pitcher after our Nest magazine shoot...



In a perfect world, I'd love to set it sink-side and fill it with fresh flowers every day!

But in the meantime, I'll be happy if I can just make a decision about whether to use a striped skirt or a striped rug. :-)

On Saturday I'm looking forward to hanging out with my pal Rhoda in Atlanta.
We're going to Eddie Ross' framing workshop.



I love this video he shot at the Stormville Flea Market in New York:



When he said "1950's BAM. BOO." I honestly thought that we may have been separated at birth. I can completely relate to Eddie's excitement for old stuff! I'll take an ironstone egg cup over a new pair of shoes any day!
:-)
And the end of his video totally reminded me of the end of the video I shot on our trip to the Endless Yard Sale last year. Gotta love a trunk full of junk!

Happy Monday y'all-

Layla

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PS- Head over to Completely Coastal for a chance to win one of these!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 63

When I was a little girl, I was certain I wanted to be a plumber when I grew up.

I kid you not. My fascination with unclogging drains started at a very young age...



From year to year, my passion for plumbing intensified.

I took my little "Plastic Fantastic" with me everywhere I went...



At age five I single-handedly modified a toy sink into one that had a fully functional faucet...



And by the time I was 18, I was installing garbage disposals all over town...



HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

:-D

I had ya goin' for a minute there didn't I?

The following video showcases my actual plumbing skills
And Kevin's too, for that matter.
Neither of us has ever even thought about what goes on under a sink.

(Note: If you're a plumber, you can just go ahead and sign off right now. Unless, of course, you'd rather just point at the screen and laugh as we demonstrate our rookie maneuvers. It's your call.)



And there ya have it!

So what if we prematurely celebrated as water flooded our floor!
So what if we went through a roll of paper towels soaking it up!
So what if we sprang four, count 'em, four leaks throughout the process!
So what if we had to make a couple extra trips to the store to buy the proper tools!
So what if our dog thinks we're crazy!
It works!
It really, really works!

Take it from me- I've turned it on every fifteen minutes just to make sure.

;-)

Layla

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Next step: Skirting the farm table!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 53

After a much needed day of sitting on his booty in front of a computer screen editing yesterday's video, Kevin is back at it in the bathroom again today.

Earlier this week, he cut a hole in the farm table for the pipes to come up through...





Then I realized that in order for the back of the sink to look right, he'd need to build some sort of little ledge across the back of the table.



I hate springing things like this on him, but thankfully he took the news pretty well. :-) So after a couple of "you can do it"s and a nice, hearty pat of confidence on the back, I sent him on his way to pick up some extra boards from the home improvement store.

He came back home with three pre-primed 1x4 MDF boards, and got right to work building the ledge.

First, he adhered a 1x4 to the front of the 1x3 he had previously used at the base of the tile wall. (He had to hide this 1x4 there so that the top of the ledge would have something to rest against nearest the tile.)
Then, he secured the front of the ledge into place using more Liquid Nails. Hopefully this photo will show what I'm trying to explain...



Last, he used more Liquid Nails to adhere the top board into place...



Today, he's caulking everything, adding more trim to the basketcases and will hopefully have time to paint everything Alabaster.

So for now, the sink is just temporarily sitting there, looking pretty.
The hopeless (design) romantic in me adores its resemblance to the old-fashioned wash basin stands...




Hooking it all up, on the other hand, will probably not be quite so delightful.
:-)
Merry Christmas Eve eve everyone!

Layla

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The vintage-style Wooden Drying Rack...



...available at FarmhouseWares.com!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 52

If only I could renovate that quickly in real life!
:-)

Kev

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Leen the Graphics Queen!

Guest Bathroom Reno - Day 51

"Hey babe?" (Layla)

"Yes...." (Kevin)

"Now that we have little square tiles all over the wall, I'm worried that the room is gonna look a little "square-crazy" with the checkerboard pattern on the floor." (Layla)

"So you don't want to paint the floor anymore?" (Kevin)

"I don't think we should." (Layla)

"Well what are we gonna do with it?" (Kevin)

"Funny you should ask. I was just doing some research about an inexpensive, peel-and-stick, vinyl plank called Novalis that I think might match the top of our farmhouse table perfectly. It's supposed to be really easy to install, and because it's vinyl, it'll be super durable and waterproof. It's textured like real wood, which is cool, and it should only cost about $50 to do the whole room." (Layla)

"sigh......okay, if you think it'll look good, and that we can swing it. " (Kevin)

"Yay! Do you want to go get it now?" (Layla)

"I guess, but I'm gonna let you break it to our readers that we're not painting the checkerboard pattern anymore." (Kevin)

:-)

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