You know what time it is?

Definitely NOT go upstairs and finish painting your bedroom ceiling and walls so that you don't have to squish into a queen bed for one more night time.

Nope, it's sit on the couch and share more pictures of our bathroom remodel time.

Yay!!!!

Are you as excited as I am? No? Then why did you click the link I posted to come here and read this? :)

So anyway, in order to CONstruct, one must first DEstruct. Which is exactly what our wonderful remodelers came and did. It probably would've been fun to demo it ourselves but, let's face it people, it's hard enough to get the motivation to finish painting a room after a long day at work so demolition was not in the cards for us. But here is what got done one lovely July day while we were at work...

There used to be a toilet in that corner. And a sink directly to the right of it.

And if you turned around after washing your hands at the sink this is where our way too short shower used to be.

And there used to be a wall and door here to go into the tiny little bathroom.

This was the former dressing area. Don't worry, that wallpaper eventually came down, too.

As did the closet walls / doors.

And here it is looking back through the doorway into the master bedroom. It was nice that this doorway was centered with the window in the room but alas, it is no longer. 

Here's the view from our bedroom sans all the crazy doors that we had going on. It's amazing just how big that space actually became once it was gutted.

And all of that crap (except for the vanities that are still sitting in our basement) all went into this little gem that spent a good 3 months sitting in our driveway...

Yep, so that's it folks. Pretty exciting stuff. Now it's time to go warm up some dinner and put my painting clothes back on.

And wait for more pictures of my new baby niece that came last night! As my husband so cutely put it on his Facebook, I would've wished miss Sydney Jane Happy Birthday yesterday... but she waited to tell us until late last night! Welcome to the world, baby girl. I can't wait to meet you!

Oh, and if you missed the before pics of the bathroom, check them out right here!

Well, it's done.

The master bathroom project is complete.

And you're sitting there thinking "what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is she even talking about? Has she even mentioned anything about a master bath remodel"...

Well, I don't think I have. That's because I'm lazy folks. And the project itself was done awhile ago (as in well over a month ago) and I finally got off my lazy bum this week and got the staining and painting done. And it looks ah-mazing.

But, before I get to the nice pretty after pictures (and because the paint is literally still drying) I should probably show you some of the nasty ugly before pictures and 'splain why we decided to embark upon this little project in the first place...

You see, our master bathroom/closet area was ri-donkulous. The layout made zero sense. Here, let me show you.

Looks like a pretty normal entry into a master bathroom, right? I mean, there's a door to get into it and everything.

But what you don't see is this...

A is the main door that opens into the master closet dressing area. B is the door that opens into the main part of the bathroom. And C is one of the 2 closet doors. Notice how B & C are fighting in the picture? Well, B is a typical middle child... always causing trouble. When B isn't fighting with C, its fighting with A. pain. in. the. arse.

Here's another view looking into the closets/dressing area.

And here's the actual dressing area. There are 2 very good sized closets to the right. Very nice cabinetry and countertop to the left. And a pretty well-lit area, no?

And here is the actual bathroom portion of this space.

The toilet only sits about 1 foot off the ground. Now, I'm only 5'1, but this toilet is short for even me. It pretty much feels like you are going to fall once you start sitting down. Good visual of me on the toilet, eh? You're welcome.

The vanity and countertop are very nice. In fact, they were updated back circa 2003. Don't worry, we didn't throw them out. They are currently sitting in our basement with the dressing area vanity and countertop. Hopefully we will be able to repurpose them in some way. Or we'll donate them to Habitat for Humanity so as not to waste perfectly good cabinets.

The shower in the above picture is horrendous. It is one of those bath-fitter thing-a-ma-bobbers. You know, where they basically just come and put an insert in your wall? Well ours was falling out of the wall. When we walked through the house the 1st time the shower door was open and the whole unit was just hanging by these nasty little stretchy caulk boogers. Another nice visual for you. Again, you're welcome.

Oh, and the shower head is positioned just a teensy bit low.

As in, it is about a foot too short for Erik to actually be able to wash his hair in there. And we all know boys have that dirty boy smell to their hair after a long day of calculating equations and engineering stuff. Or, that may just be my husband. Anyhoo. The shower head is short. And the actual space within the shower stall is "not to code" according to our remodelers. I'm sure it was code back in 1978, but alas, the times they are a-changin'.

So that's the before, folks. To give you a little better visual on the overall layout I drew up this little number in Adobe Illustrator to show the placement of everything before.

And here is what it looks like now that the remodel is done.

Stay tuned. We have just a few small clean-up items to take care of before I will take the final after pictures. But, I will show you the demolition and in progress pics we took while the remodelers were destroying and then rebuilding the bathroom & closet.

Have you heard of Pinterest?

I briefly mentioned it here.

It's the biggest waste of time. And completely addicting. And I love it.

I can seriously spend hours just browsing other people's pins. And then daydreaming of all of the projects I could accomplish and all the things I could do myself. But rather than do them, I pretty much just sit and browse. For hours.

So, in order to get you addicted and waste some of your time so that I am not alone in this black hole of awesomeness, I am going to share with you 10 things I have learned as a result of Pinterest.

(PS - Pinterest in no way endorses my use of their name or their website. I just love them.)

#10

How to make my hair actually look good and not like a rat's nest. Thanks to the lady on this blog I can now successfully curl my hair. And her tutorials are really easy so I plan to try some of the other things on here. Hopefully I don't tie my hair into knots or get it stuck in any brushes while trying to curl my hair. Yep, I did the 2nd one when I was a kid. Oops.

#9

That I can make my own wreath with felt flowers. And hot glue. And I didn't even burn myself or get stuck to the carpet. I know, I was also quite surprised.

#8

That this is one of the smartest things I have ever seen and never would have thought of on my own:

#7

That using the freezer is smart. Whether you freeze leftovers, partially cooked meals that you can use later or are uber-motivated and make 3 months worth of meals in one day, the freezer is a good idea. Pretty sad that it took the internet to teach me what is probably common sense for most people.

#6

That you can put bacon in just about anything. Even chocolate chip cookies. No, I have not made these yet. Yes, I fully intend to. I mean, come on. It's bacon. In a cookie!

#5

That I am a nerd. Why, you ask? Because I was ridiculously excited to get not one, but two of these organizers for my pantry. That's right. They are holding my ziploc bags and aluminum foil right now. And they are ah-mazing.

#4

That if I drink enough beer and buy some yarn I can have a pretty mantle.

Doesn't it make you want to drink more beer, too?

#3

That I can use my leftover stick-on tiles from my bathroom project under my kitchen sink to make clean-up a little bit easier if there are any leaks or spills. No witty commentary on this one, I just think its S-M-R-T.

#2

That if you mix 1 part apple cider vinegar with 3 parts water you have your very own zit remedy. Yep, I tried it and it worked great. Be careful, though, and test it on a small spot before you rub it all over your face, especially if you have sensitive skin. I was ok and had no side effects. But I make no promises for how this will work for others.

#1

I have so much to update you on since I last posted almost 3 months ago.That's almost as long as it took me to finish my chair project.

But anyway, back to the things I need to update you on.

Like the trip to South Carolina that I surprised the hubs with for his birthday.

Or the rodeo we went to (also in honor of said birthday).

And the awesome gifts he surprised me with for mine.

Or the landscaping that is FINALLY (mostly) done thanks to our friend Zach so that our house doesn't look like the Addams Family house anymore.

Or our weekend camping trip to Indiana Dunes State Park with these awesome people...

And our master bathroom remodel that is just about complete. Except for the painting and staining that I still have to finish. Ugh. I'm so lazy.

But instead of updating you on all the fun things I've been up to, I've been really busy feeding my newfound addiction...

Yep. My name is Kristin. And I heart pinterest. A lot. Almost as much as red patent shoes, bacon and Stella.

If you haven't heard of pinterest you need to check it out. Unless you are prone to addiction like I am, then I recommend you stay as far away from it as possible. Because it will suck you in and teach you all sorts of things.

Like how to make a wreath with felt flowers. And the many uses for apple cider vinegar. And many, many recipes that utilize bacon.

Ok, no I'm not. Actually I have learned that I totally suck at reupholstering. And in the midst of finishing this project (after 5 long, procrastinating months) my husband asked me if I will ever do this again.

I gave him a look.

A look that said "You're crazy!"

"I suck at this!"

"Why would I even think about putting myself through this process again?"

This look.

But then, after all was said and done, I stepped back and looked at my chair. My chair that I ripped apart in February and finished last night.

And this is what I saw.

And I thought that maybe some day I would do this all over again. Even if I did get hot glue all over my comfy pants.

The full story on the chair is yet to come. But I at least had to show you that I finished it. Right?

For the before pictures and the beginning of this genius idea I had, click here.

This is probably something only I will find amusing. But I don't care. I'm going to share it anyway.

It has to do with 2 things. Grocery shopping. And being married to an engineer.

As of late, Erik and I will go grocery shopping together. I'm not really sure why this has turned into one of our 'couple' tasks. But it has. Probably because we are both too lazy and unmotivated to go and we figure if we at least do this together we are both being punished by having to leave the comfort of the couch.

On one of our recent shopping trips we bought some of our usual staple items. Milk. Bread. Yogurt. Granola Bars. These were probably the only 4 things on our list. And this trip probably took us a good 45 minutes to an hour to complete. Because when we grocery shop together I will send my darling husband to pick out a box of crackers and he will stare at them for a few minutes before he decides which ones he wants to buy. My name is Kristin. And I married an engineer...

Now, Erik will tell you that I am anal retentive when it comes to my grocery shopping. This is a result of growing up in the grocery business and spending the early part of my adult years working in said grocery business.

The following is why he thinks I'm crazy...

You see, there is a certain way you put your groceries on the belt. All the produce goes together. Then the remainder of the perishable items. Then canned goods and boxes. And then anything breakable or smush-able, like eggs or bread or those yummy waxy chocolate donuts.

There is also a certain way you bag your groceries. I prefer paper (or reusable shopping bags if I actually remember to bring them). And I prefer not to have some snot nosed teenager mess up my bagging system after I've taken the time to place the items on the belt the way I'd like them bagged. If I wanted the peanut butter placed on top of the cherries I would have put them on the belt that way.

There is also a certain way you put your groceries away once you get home. Lunch meats and cheeses go together. Produce goes together. Certain non-perishable items have their place on each pantry shelf located next to similar items.

And yes. I am crazy. And I fully realize this as I type type type away about my unusual methods for grocery shopping....

One lovely summer evening upon returning home from the local P&S, I was putting away the groceries and Erik, the engineer, decided to help me. He thought he would be helpful and put all of the granola bars in a tupperware container so that they were all out in the open for our snacking pleasure.

The only problem with this idea was that the tupperware container was a little bit too small for the 25 or so granola bars he wanted to place them in.

I was putting something else away and turned around and saw this (and yes, I decided it was so funny to me at the time that I had to take pictures of it).

I, of course, made some smart butt comment about how all of the granola bars were never going to fit into that tiny little tupperware bowl. I'm sure I also made some smart butt comment about how the granola bars would have been perfectly fine staying in their respective boxes and being placed on the pantry shelf by their friends the cereal and oatmeal.

See the smirk? This is the point where the engineer's brain started processing what I had to say. It's the "challenge accepted" (a la Barney Stinson) face. This is the point at which he knew he would prove that he could do it and that I was wrong.

So, out came the granola bars.

And back in they went.

Vertically.

Until not a granola bar was out of place.

And then back in the pantry they went. Next to the cereal, oatmeal and other breakfast goodies.

I love blogging. Yet I hate blogging.

I love it because it is a great creative outlet. Somewhere that I can share my thoughts. Update my friends and family. Post progress of our house. And our lives.

I hate it because I suck at keeping up with it. And I hate it because I look back at posts from February and realize that not only do I suck at blogging, but also at chair refinishing.

The good news is that since I suck so much at blogging (and just realized that I bought said chair in February) it has inspired me to actually do something about it.

I haven't touched the chair since February. Unless you count picking it up and physically moving it in the house a few times. And then looking at its backless self thinking, "Hmmmm, maybe I should finally get the stripper out and finish getting the stain out of the cracks."

(Wow. That sounded dirty. But probably because I am 12.)

And then I'd do something else. Like laundry. You know, something equally as exciting as finishing the chair. Or taking pictures of our bathroom remodel progress. Or spray painting a lamp. Which still needs a sand, a coat of poly and a lampshade. But I promise it won't take me 5 months to show it to you.

Ok, I don't really promise. Because knowing me it may take me another 5 months to update you on all of this.

But I promise to at least make an effort and not go a full month in between blogging.

The good news is I have made some great progress on the chair. And no, I didn't strip it.

I caved.

I painted it.

This is what it looked like after I decided to paint it at 10:00 last Thursday night.

(I get inspired to work on projects at very odd hours.)

And then I put another coat on it Friday. And then I bought fabric and batting and cording on Saturday. And then I realized on Sunday, in the daylight, that I needed to redo the wood filler I had originally done on Thursday because the paint was not filling in some of the wonkiness (technical term) that I had hoped.

But worry not my dear friends, for all I have left to do to this bad boy is a rough sand, some glazing, a coat of poly (or varathane, I must do my research) and then staple the crap out of the fabric that I bought for it.

Should be done in about 5 months or so.

Ha ha, just kidding.

We've been living in our house for 2 months. And tonight I finally had the ambition to hang some pictures on the walls.

I decided to take some inspiration from some of the other blogs I read and do something a little different and out of my usual comfort zone.

So here's the before shot of our foyer, taken on the day we moved in to our house:

And here's some shots of tonight, just hours after I got out my hammer and nails.

A little more of a close up. As you can tell, I had some blank frames that need some artwork to be added into them. And I may just have to dig around to see what other things I can find to hang in some of the open spaces on the wall.

 Here's a close up of one of the frames that actually has some artwork in it. These are actually cards I bought in Charleston during my first trip there with Erik a few years ago. I loved the sketched artwork of the houses and gates. And I love Charleston. So this is a great reminder of the times I have been lucky enough to visit this amazing city.

And here's some pics of that first trip we ever took there... just a couple of weeks after getting engaged.

So now, every time I walk through my front hall I have a little piece of Charleston with me. Makes me want to plan my next trip there.