A New Master Bathroom

Remember back when I posted about us redoing our master bathroom? Yeah, it's been so long that I really didn't either. You guys, it's finally DONE. It took exactly 90 days, start to finish. Demo began on January 16th and everything was finished on April 16th. I thought that was kind of fun when I realized this. It's also kind of torturous that it happened in Ian's busy season when, you know, life isn't stressful for us or anything.

This reno took much longer than Ian or I expected. There were times I was annoyed. Times I was done being stuck at home with workers. Times I just didn't want to have to make my bed and try to keep Callum from getting all up in the workers business. But, it is finally over. And I must say, it looks more amazing that I would have imagined when we first began. Of course, that could be because the scale of this remodel took a much larger turn once demo started and we discovered a few things...like extra room to expand in to, messed up floor joists, blotched up plumbing and electrical. You get the picture. But now for the real pictures.

Here's a before, so you can remember what we were working with. I know it looks straight out of the 90's, but it was actually done only 3 years ago...glass block wall and all. And that bathroom was horribly lit, had no ventilation and the slate was impossible to clean. All it had going for it was the amazingly large shower, which I did enjoy.

And here's an after of the same view. Nice and bright. New, larger window...that isn't glued shut and stuccoed over. There are nice, bright led lights in there too. 

Another before shot. The WHOLE BATHROOM was slate. It also had a 3 foot long vanity, which was pretty dang small for Ian and I to share. We were hoping to go up to 4 feet, but actually were able to go all the way up to 5 feet.

And the same view of the new bathroom. Since we ended up having to redo everything, we were able to start with a clean slate and position the bathroom any way we wanted. I really, really wanted the window to be visible and not blocked, so that was what we had to work with. We stood in that little space many times with the contractor trying to figure how we wanted to lay things out. It felt so confusing and daunting when there were no walls or anything to figure out a scale of things with. In the end, it worked out great.

And now some more pictures of the bathroom. We picked everything out ourselves, which at times felt daunting, wondering if it would all go together in the end. We wanted something that went with the house (built in 1939) and wasn't a big fad that would quickly date itself. 

The shower glass has some sort of magic on it that frees itself of water spots. We've already used it and it totally dried clear. Talk about amazing! 

Also, the tile guys totally knocked my socks off with their attention to detail. Look how beautifully they lined up our tile in the floating drain with the rest of the shower floor. And they lined up the rest of the bathroom floor with the shower! The subway tile also seamlessly lines up around the whole bathroom, shower included. 

The quartz slab we chose for our countertop was also used for the shampoo nook in the shower and the shower ledge. That was something the counter/tile guys suggested and it turned out really nice. Also, I should mention, up until this point in life, I thought mostly all shower heads were the same. Um, no. This huge bad boy is life changing. I literally feel like I am at a spa, or a fancy hotel or something with that amazing thing. 

So there you have it, our shiny new bathroom. So light and bright. Oh, and the fan has a bluetooth speaker in it, which is totally awesome. I can now shower in peace, not hearing the fighting of the children in the other room. Talk about a win!

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A Surprise Visitor

On Sunday, while we were working in the backyard, someone came to our gate and yelled for us. Ian walked to the fence and asked if he could help the guy and he responded, "I grew up in this house, can I at least see the backyard?" Ian opened the gate and the nicest man came into our backyard.

He moved into the house when he was 8 years old and lived here until he went to college. He lived here in the 50's and 60's. He even went to the same elementary school our kids go to! He was tearing up in the backyard telling us some of his memories and I decided to do something way out of character for me. I invited him in to the house. You may be thinking, "that isn't a big deal Jessica." But it was for me because the house was a bit of a mess. Dirty dishes in the sink and on the counter. Stuff at the bottom of the stairs that I had carried down earlier in the day to move to the garage. A roll of paper towels that Isla decided to unroll all over the house. You know, the usual! But it was so worth it for me to swallow my pride and watch this guy's eyes light up. Not just his eyes, but his stories. He is a pianist and he showed us where his piano sat at which window he looked out at...practicing all those years before heading off to music school in New York City. He told us which room was his, it's Callum's room now. He told us that the weird random cut out in our hall wall was where their telephone was. He was excited to see the coat closet was still a coat closet. He really was the sweetest man.

As we were walking him out the front door, our neighbors were outside and he quickly ran across the street to talk to them and was promptly ushered in their house. Apparently his good friend grew up there and I am guessing since the people that currently live there, her grandparents built the house, I am guessing that "friend" was either her dad or an uncle.

One of the things I truly love about living in an old house, besides all the quirks and character, is the fact that there is a history to the house. Getting a glimpse into a bit of the history of a past occupant was truly a treat for me.

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The Reno Life

Ian has made mention in past home renovations that I become on edge and seem stressed out. And I'm like, I don't know what you are talking about!!! (insert sarcasm here) What's there to be stressed about?! I mean who cares not knowing exactly when people are coming and going from your house? People that don't seem to care about locking the door, and shutting said door seems optional at times. Then there is the mess. The mess that seems to make it to every inch of the house. And let us not forget the keeping the kids out of the way. That's like the hardest one when the construction area is like a piece of candy drawing the kids in. And I can kiss nap time goodbye! 

I actually found a plunger sitting right next to our bed the other day. Our bed. The place where we lay our heads at night to sleep. The place that is supposed to be a refuge. And, I must not leave out that they set said plunger not just next to our bed, but on our WOOL RUG without anything between said rug and dirty plunger. Face palm. Puke face. I shouldn't even have to mention this, but you just know it was a man that placed the plunger there. I certainly wouldn't and wouldn't think most women would. But I am sure my husband is reading this right now thinking, "What's the big deal Jess?!" Which, for his sake, I should be sure to point out it was one of the construction guys that put it there, not Ian.

But it will all be worth it in the end. Right? It always is. But my goodness it is stressful, messy and difficult while going on. Not to mention we have never tackled a project of this size and money so I feel all anxious about every decision, fearing I may hate it in the end. Oh house projects, I love you, but I totally hate you. Frenemies. We must be frenemies. 

So lets look back at my room, when there wasn't a plunger sitting next to my bed...don't worry, it didn't sit there over night. You can see the bedside lights Ian got me for Christmas. And get a glimpse of said defiled rug that I still love...because it's grey and huge and pretty. And my newest house plant baby right next to my bed. 

In a few short weeks (hopefully!) I will be staring at a pretty new bathroom attached to my room and not thinking about dirty plungers next to my bed.  Also, I now realize we have an oddly large amount of pictures of ourselves in our room. I guess there's no mistaking who the inhabitants of the room are!

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A bathroom reno

If you had asked me, this glass block goodness that is our master bathroom would have been the last bathroom in our house we touched. Why? Well, it was fully functional and in the master bedroom, so really didn't affect anyone except Ian and I. Never mind the fact that apparently slate is the WORST thing in the world to clean. I scrubbed and scrubbed, tried various products and nothing would clean it. Come to find out, that's how slate is. But no one except Ian or I saw it, so it wasn't the end of the world. Enter November.

I was cleaning the kids playroom one day in November when I noticed a leak. Whomp, whomp, whomp. We called a plumber. He wanted to rip into all the walls to find out the problem. Awesome. But it was a Friday afternoon and he didn't have time. The next week another plumber from the same company came out. This guy was awesome. In fact, he was the same guy that came out to our last house when our lawn was covered in poo. So basically, he's seen me through some dark times, haha! Anyway, he didn't want to rip into walls, but instead take time to measure, look in crawl spaces, etc to figure out the problem. And the problem ended up being that glass block goodness of a shower.

Now here's the thing, the shower could be fixed without redoing the whole bathroom. BUT, they were going to have to tear out the entire glass block wall, the floor of the shower and three feet up the shower wall. A new shower was no brainer. And, well, the floor of the bathroom should match the shower. And now that we are at it, the existing vanity wouldn't match the tile we picked out. And it just keeps going and going and going.

Picking out tile has been, well, a process. I never knew I had expensive taste until every sample I touched at the tile store was like five times the price of our budget. Then there's trying to find tiles that go together. One's that aren't to matchy matchy, but complement each other well. Let's not forget people's opinions. Those were enough for me to cover my ears and hum. So.much.advice. In the end, we went with what we liked. White subway tile with dark grout for the walls and large almost black hexagon tiles with dark grot for the floor. We still have to figure out some of the other details, but at least the big choices have been made.

So today I sit here, listening to them rip out my entire bathroom, down to the studs. There may even be a possibility of expanding the bathroom, but we are playing that one by ear...though it would be awesome if it works out.

In the mean time, I am over here feeling nervous that I fully like the choices we are making, because a whole new bathroom is quite pricy and I am stuck with it either way! Given we live in a 1939 tutor style house, I wanted something that went with the style of the house, was bright and clean (our last bathroom was a bit of a cave) and something that wouldn't be out of style next week. So here's some of my inspiration for our bathroom.

photo 1 // photo 2 // photo 3

One thing I know for sure is my bathroom has to be functional. I saw so many amazing bathrooms on pinterest with zero storage, or cute sinks that are totally not practical for everyday. And since our bathroom is small, it has to pack a punch. We have to have enough storage for our everyday essentials, not to mention room to move. With five of us currently sharing one bathroom, I now know the importance of space and storage first hand!

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Our Christmas Decor

I kind of can't believe Christmas is only a week away. I don't know why it's snuck up on me this year. I am normally so on top of this season. I don't know if it's the warm weather, the fact that the kids have to be in school right up until Christmas or all the fall birthdays, but something has me feeling a bit out of sorts. 

No matter how I feel about it, I still decorated the day after thanksgiving. I love Christmas that much that I always decorate right away. In fact, funny story. We pulled out our old tree (had it for 13 years) and maybe 1/8 of the lights worked...whomp, whomp, whomp. So we went out in the black friday chaos to hunt down a new tree. Basically Ian would circle the parking lot while I ran in and found the perfect tree...it took a couple stores, but I am really happy with the one we picked! 

My Christmas decor style has changed a lot over the years. It started with cheap things bought at kmart our first Christmas. It then transitioned when I worked at Pottery Barn for three years. Alas, many of those Pottery Barn decorations have just become unpractical with children as the years have gone on. So, this year, I gifted my aunt with a bunch of the decorations. I was just happy that they were going to someone who would appreciate and enjoy them. 

Besides the tree, I really haven't bought any new decorations. I would like to get a new tree skirt. I've probably said that for the past three years, but I haven't found the perfect one at a price I'm willing to pay, so I am still holding out. I do have to say, I love all the homemade decor that has made it into our rotation from the kids school projects over the years. Those pieces make me smile the most...especially the ones involving pictures! 

^^ The little people in our house keep rearranging our stockings. I've given up trying to keep them in order because the reality is, it really doesn't matter. 

^^ The 24 Christmas books that I collected from thrift stores six years ago are still going strong. There are actually now more than 24 and I didn't wrap them for advent like in years past. But the kids, especially Isla, still really enjoy reading them. 

The glow of the Christmas tree at night will always be one of my favorite things. I just enjoy the warmth that the lights and all the decor bring to our house at Christmas. Now to get my butt into gear and start wrapping presents!!!

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Backyard Shenanigans

^^ Pool noodle fights are pretty awesome...and since ours have been sitting out all summer, they aren't all stiff and don't hurt when you are hit. That's a mom win right there, if I've ever seen one.

What exactly does one title a post when all they want to do is go off on how they love having a usable backyard again? I'm asking for a friend, of course. 

But seriously, I forgot what it was like to have a backyard. Sure, we have enjoyed two summers of swimming, but not much else. There really wasn't a play space. Just random bushes in the middle of uneven concrete, and brick, let us not forget the brick. Oh, and while I'm at it, let us not forget the trip hazard of an electrical box that stuck out of the ground six inches and delayed our concrete work two weeks to get rid of...but two weeks that were totally worth it. 

Anyway, we got fake grass installed almost two weeks ago. All the sudden, the rest of the to do list for our backyard doesn't seem to matter because we have a place to play. It is so amazing. I honestly never thought I would love fake grass so much. I just wanted it because Ian isn't exactly a consistent mower and it looks pretty. But it is so incredibly soft and not dirty, so I have been sitting and laying on it constantly. And now that the pool net is back on the pool, the older kids can go out and play by themselves and when I am out there with Callum, I don't feel like my eyes have to be on him every nanosecond. And, all the sudden, I am reminded what it was like when we had a usable backyard. And it's pretty much pure bliss. 

So, here is where you will find us, enjoying our beautiful, soft, green fake grass for the rest of fall. Because, well, it's pretty dang awesome. 

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Connor & Isla's Shared Room

Our house actually has four bedrooms, but one of those rooms is downstairs and for right now works great as a playroom, so everyone is upstairs together. When we first moved in, I put Connor in the larger room, assuming him and Callum would eventually share a bedroom. I was so excited with how both Connor and Isla's bedrooms turned out, though I never shared Isla's on the blog. But, after Callum sleeping horribly bunked up with Ian and I, I got a wild hair and while the kids were at school one day, moved Isla in with Connor. The transition with the two of them sharing a room actually went quite well. Me settling on how I wanted the room to be, not so much. 

This is actually the FOURTH way the kids beds have been arranged since sharing a room. But, I like this way the best so far and it's working really well. They are opposite of each other. Isla can see into the hall, which really helps her at night. And, this allows for both of them to sort of have their own little spot. 

Most of the stuff in their room has been repurposed from other parts of our house. I tend to rearrange things in our house a lot. For instance, the quilt on Connor's bed used to be on his bed a while ago and made a comeback with me wanting to simplify their room a bit...which that quilt is a Pottery Barn Kids one that I scored for $5 one time. Yep, totally bragging about that one. And the bookshelf above Isla's bed used to be a shelf in Connor's nursery way back in the day...then was in Isla's room for a while. And the night stand was originally for Isla's nursery, then went into Connor's room, then went away and is now back. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. 

^^ My apologies for the bed being slightly off center. I promise I will fix it!

^^ The little hobbit door goes to our attic. We don't actually have anything in there. I have big plans of us one day pushing that wall back several feet and making this room much bigger. Who needs an attic anyway when you also have a storage basement and a full attic over your back house?! Our house has crazy amounts of (mostly unused) storage.

^^ My parents actually bought these lockers. But I saw them and wanted them. The kids were super excited about them too.

Believe it or not, I actually took a lot out of the kids rooms in the last rearrange. Even though most of their toys are in the playroom, they each still had a bin of toys in here that I took out. It helps keep things cleaner. But even with just books, stuffed animals and pokemon cards (don't get me started on the pokemon cards!), they can do a lot of damage quickly.

I am really happy with how it turned out. And they seem to be too...and that's what really matters. This makes me think I probably should do an updated living room post at some point too, given that I have rearranged in there a couple times since moving in too...seriously, rearranging is kind of my hobby.

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Our Backyard Progress

We met with a concrete guy about our backyard in April to get a quote. We liked the quote, but they were so backlogged that they didn't start until the very end of June. So, the timing of this project wasn't exactly the best, happening in the height of summer. But now that our backyard is usable again, it was totally worth it. We are redoing our backyard "ourselves"...basically had someone rip it out and put in the concrete we wanted, but still have a bunch more we are doing on our own. 

Here is what we started with:

The placement of the pool isn't the best, being right by the house, but we are working with what we have ;) The week before the concrete people came to start, I decided I wanted to add concrete squares in the back to go around our seating/dining area that will eventually be covered. We designed our backyard ourselves and tore out most the plants because we wanted something we will realistically maintain. You can't tell from this picture, but the entire back of the backyard had a grey concrete slab that housed a pool house, which was torn down before we bought the house. Also, there was a electrical box for the pool light sticking up about 6 inches out of the ground between the two chairs on the far end of the pool. I only mention this because getting rid of it became a pain in the butt...but a pain I am oh-so-glad we dealt with. 

Progress:

^^ We went out and spray painted our plan the night before work began. You should know I am horrible at painting straight lines, so it was a good thing these guys were professionals and made it look great in the end. 

^^ I was literally peeing my pants when they were jackhammering right next to the pool. I kept thinking of all that could go wrong and what a disaster it would be. Alas, all was good. 

^^ Our backyard got stuck in this state for a couple weeks. That annoying pool light box (which you can see sticking out of the dirt straight behind the pool light) I mentioned earlier caused quite the snafu. Our pool still had the original light and electrical wire, so the electrician recommended replacing that and also updating the way it was hooked up to the house (new code rules these days). But we discovered that standard pool lights come with a 30 foot wire and we needed 60 feet. So, we had to wait to order it. Then we had to partially drain the pool to install it. Blah, blah, blah. But, we not no longer have a tripping hazard (and eye sore) sticking out of the ground, so that's good. 

Finished concrete:

^^ Since I failed to mention this earlier, over on the right of this picture is our back house. Before having the concrete poured, we installed a french door, allowing much more natural light in the back house and also making a larger step into the back house when the concrete was poured. 

^^ The rectangle slab in the back of the yard will eventually have some sort of structure over it, but that is a year or two down the road. It will also have a table for us to eat at. The dirt spot on the left will eventually have (fake) grass on it to play on. 

Here are some things we still have left to do:

* Clean out and level the planters

* Paint the fence. We are thinking some sort of grey...our favorite color, haha!

* Run a drip system for plants and electrical system for uplighting in the planters. 

* Plant drought tolerant and low maintenance plants in the planters every couple feet. 

* Fill in the planters and in between the square concrete with rock. 

* Build a fence (think a half fence) around the grass area. 

* Put in fake grass in the grass area.

Father down the road, we would like to build a structure over the eating area that would also have electricity in it...we loved our outdoor fans at our last house! We would also like to string outdoor lights across the backyard. Also, we would like to add several inches of horizontal wood to the top of our fence, giving us more privacy and making it feel a little more modern. But this is where we are for today. 

The progress of the backyard already makes me smile so much. It isn't overgrown anymore. All the concrete matches. Oh, and we widended the steps going into our house and it makes me smile every time I open the door that there is no longer a drop off right there on the side. It's the little things, right?!

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