To tile or paint?

Hopefully we'll get to start on my bathroom next week (when the ball games are wrapping up for the summer season). I'm pretty good at visualizing a room as I want it to be, not as it is (or in the case hasn't even been constructed yet).

But I'll admit I'm having issues deciding what to do in my bathroom and the guest bathroom. I think my biggest problem is that currently I change my bathroom about every 4-5 months - have to admit, it's the cheapest room in the house to redecorate. My two bathrooms will only be about 9x6 so my options on placement of tub, toilet and vanity are a bit limited and I'm not sure I want to mess with tile. But of course if I do want to do tile, it'll be so much easier doing it before the other stuff is put in there....decisions, decisions.

I think I'd possibly like to use slate in the guest bathroom or a grey toned glass tile mosaic, both are shown below. I'm using the existing tub that was present when I purchased the house. Question is what to do to enclose it for a shower??? Tile or a tub/shower fiberglass style enclosure......

.....I'm thinking this will be the sink/vanity in the guest bathroom. The slate tile would look great with this - don't you think?

My only concern is that it will be too dark for such a small space. I'd thought about painting the walls a pale yellow and only using the tile around the tub and maybe some type of back splash for the vanity.

I have an addiction to the look of metal right now and found this tile below. It's a combination of glass, natural stone and polished metal. I think either the copper or the darker pattern with pewter would also go great with the vanity.

And if I paint the walls yellow these tiles would look great. I love the tile pattern with the different sizes & shades of browns. Of course the black vanity will still look great in there!

Or a white one like this will also look great with the walls painted a pale yellow or light tan.

This just looks like a bathroom that belongs in a country home.....don't you think? I'm not all that hip for the tile though and both bathrooms already have oak hardwood flooring that will stay put. But I love the wainscoting in the bathroom.

Love the teal/turquoise tile wall but does this look like it goes in a country home?

This tile could be used for a similar look - just worried that in a few years I won't be as hip to brown & blue combo and then what? Replace the tile? And how will I decorate the bathroom at Christmas if it's blue & brown? I know it can be done - just involves a little more effort in finding just the right accessories to color coordinate with the tile.
While I'm using the existing tub for the guest bathroom, do I want to get a tub for my bathroom or just do the ever popular tile shower stall? I haven't taken a 'bath' in years so do I really need a bathtub? I can always use the guest bathroom if I so desire and/or find the time to soak in a hot tub. Next issue is that I love shower curtains. Will a shower curtain look stupid on the custom tile shower stalls?

Oh the decisions......

House Update: Week 2

I've owned my home for two weeks now. Unfortunately I don't have much to report on progress this week. We had ball games EVERY night last week and I believe we'll repeat the pattern this week - ugggh - only two more weeks of summer ball :) Above are my kitchen cabinets painted white, huge improvement from their previous state which you can see HERE.

In addition to all the games last week it was just down right HOT here, temps in the mid to high 90's with high humidity making the heat index between 100 and 110 degrees! YUCK-O! Johnathon did mow my lawn for me for the first time this past week, he's overjoyed with that job. But if he wants a cell phone, I get lawn service (I think I got the better deal).

Progress this week:

** Closet/half bathroom between two bedrooms is gone. This will become my closet.

** Board above the cabinets is gone - it was just ugly, that's all.

** Kitchen & dining room ceiling has been purchased

** Pretty sure I know what type of flooring is going into the kitchen/dining room

** Purchased new handles for the kitchen cabinets

.....and that's about it for the week - lame, I know. This week I need to purchase my bathtub, stool & sink along with all the plumbing 'stuff', 2x4's and sheet rock so we can build my bathroom & hopefully my closet. I'm only working 4 days this week and then I'm off for a week to work on the house so hopefully in the next two weeks there will be some real progress - no promises though.

I checked my mailbox today and received my first electric bill - it's for a whooping $15.30. Too bad it won't stay that low!

In addition to all the ball games, I decorated and photographed my cousin's outdoor wedding Saturday. That will be the last outdoor wedding I decorate unless it's in late September or October. As hot as it was Saturday, I'm thinking I'd even do an outdoor wedding in December before I agree to decorate another one the last weekend of June.

That being said the ceremony and reception was beautiful, here's a sneak peak.

I hope everyone has a great week. I can't wait for it to be Friday so I can work on my house again!

House Update: Week 1

In the first week of home ownership, this is what's been accomplished:

1) carpet removed from bedroom/future dining room
2) closet & wall between kitchen and bedroom is GONE (Dad did this - he's decided he's good at tearing things up!)
3) kitchen cabinets have 1+ coats of paint (still working on the doors & drawers - ran out of paint)
4) sliding glass door between the sun room/entry and living room is gone - very odd spot for a door, not sure why they had it there
5) garage was sprayed out with the power washer (needs done again at least once - still a strong smell of oil - previous owner worked on garden tractors/lawn mowers and wasn't real neat about spillage of oil)
6) closet and 1/2 bathroom between 2 bedrooms has been demolished down to the studs
7) new kitchen faucet installed
8) new fridge made it safely inside the house

I know I should have pictures but they're at home and I'm not! I'll try to get a Part 2 to this post tonight with pictures of the progress. Plus we still have 2 & 1/2 weeks left of summer ball. I have tons of pictures to get edited & posted from ball season this year and a wedding to decorate and photograph this weekend, plus four other sessions to get edited......UGH, I think I need a vacation!

Since every post 'should' have a picture, here are a few from a bridal shower I shoot several weeks back. You can see more on my PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG!.

Super cute favors - note pads and pink or orange Sharpies


Part of the foods spread (all prepared by her parents)

New Coffee L-O-V-E

Chocolate + Coffee = One Happy Camper

I ran into Target a few days ago to pick up a gift and while walking to the check out, the coffee aisle caught my attention. Several months ago I started drinking Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend coffee and truly enjoy the taste but have had trouble finding it in my area.

So, you understand my excitement when I saw it on the shelves at Target and quickly picked up 2 bags. Then as I turned my cart around I noticed this.......GODIVA Chocolate Truffle coffee and decided to get a bag of it also.

OH MY GOODNESS
If you love chocolate you need to try this coffee. I mix 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 Dunkin' donuts grounds to brew. The only bad thing about this is that it won't last very long, not due to the size of the bag but rather the fact that I've drank 4-5 cups every morning since I bought it and sometimes have 1-2 cups in the afternoon too!

Crisis Averted

Just a quick update - the fridge mishap from yesterday has been resolved without having to frame a larger (36") door on my house. Once all the great minds gathered last night, took a few measurements, removed the front door off it hinges........

.....the basic answer to our dilemma was to remove the fridge doors making it 31 and 3/4 inch deep, I have a 32'" door. When we pushed the storm door (ugly storm door) open all the way it pressed against the brick and broke one of the glass panels. When we started to move the fridge in it was determined that the storm door needed to be removed to give us enough clearance to get the fridge in (water hose was going to catch in back). The door was ugly and with it now missing glass panels it's not going back on, see we killed two birds with one stone - didn't like that door to begin with :)

First mishap

So I ordered this fridge........it's nothing elaborate, just a stainless side-by-side.

I was excited this morning because it's getting delivered to my new house today. Well, my father just called (he met the delivery guy for me since I'm @ work) and I found out the first issue with this home that I'm going to have to FIX and fix soon.

Both my front and back doors are only 32" wide - my cute new stainless fridge is 35" wide.....oops! The width of a door has never been an issue before and it crossed my mind for a fleeting moment, but then I skipped over it and ordered the fridge anyway.

So tomorrow I'm going to visit Home Depot and get a 36" or 42" door! Hopefully I can get the brother or cousin to install it quickly.

I'm sure this is the first of many mishaps to come.

On a good note, dad & I started tearing down the closet in the bedroom that I'm turning into a dining room and we pulled up the carpet (hard wood floors under there!!!! yeah!). So the only room in the house that doesn't have hardwood floors is the kitchen - which to me is the most logical room to have them. Where I want to move the kitchen door runs directly into the existing closet, this door move will also have to be completed before the fridge can be moved in. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend - DEMOLITION!

Kitchen inspiration

So as you just read in the previous post (or will read in a second), I just purchased a house! Bad news - it's almost 100 years old and in need of some serious TLC.

One of the first rooms I plan to tackle is the kitchen. What cabinets are in the house are a dark wood and there's CARPET in the kitchen! While I would love to gut the kitchen and start from scratch, that's not in the budget at this moment. Below is a picture of the kitchen (with all cabinets/drawers open thanks to my nephew. Notice the pretty green paper on the door backs - don't you just love that!

So my plans include at the moment:

1.) Paint the existing cabinets white (undecided if top cabinets will get doors put back on - doubt it)

2.) Remove nasty carpet and 'hope' hardwood floor underneath is in decent shape, if not it'll get painted in a checked or striped pattern. Okay when I started this post a few days ago until yesterday when I finally took possession of the home and riped up one corner of the carpet I thought there were old tongue & groove hardwood floors in the kitchen. I still think that floor is there (I can see it in the basement - know it's there), unfortunately when I pulled back the carpet I found old tile that my brother thinks were installed with a glue that's been since banned and will require full haz-mat suits to remove......so the kitchen floor is in limbo - something will have to be put on TOP of the tile floor because the carpet will be going real soon.

3.) A refrigerator & stove are a must since the house doesn't have either and I'll probably get a microwave too, although I rarely use one, but my nephew (Johnathon) is worried that I won't be able to make popcorn if I don't have a microwave! Silly boy doesn't realize you can make popcorn on the stove top.

4.) Knock down a wall and make current bedroom into dining room

5.) Move current back door over 5 to 6 feet so it lines up with the stairs and gives me more wall space in the kitchen.

6.) Remove green colored paneling and replace with sheet rock

7.) Add a few floor and wall cabinets by stove and fridge. I hope to have enough room to do a floor to ceiling pantry style cabinet on outside of fridge, not sure I'll have room though.

8.) Remove facing above cabinets and make into a shelf to store baskets and such. This is not going to be what I'd once thought either - not as much room as I thought I'd have when I finally got the house and starting 'poking' around - still going to try it though.

9.) Install floor & wall cabinets on far wall in the new dining room.

10.) Replace window in new dining area with 15-lite patio door that will eventually lead to a back deck that I'm going to build (hopefully sometime next year, which may been when the window becomes a door too!)

11.) Cover ceiling in tin tiles. This may have to wait a bit but will happen at some point, I love, love, love tin ceiling tiles in a kitchen.

12.) New light fixtures throughout kitchen and new dining room

13.) Install outlets - there is only ONE outlet in the whole kitchen - Ugh, that won't work

14.) Kitchen Island - this may also wait a bit but I hope not since my new floor plan is kind of built around it. Don't think it should be too terribly expensive to make, it's just a few cabinets and a counter top with electricity ran to it - how hard can that be?

15.) Eventually I'd like to replace the counter top with either stainless steel or butcher block - most likely a combination of the two. Unfortunately the existing counter top is in good shape so I can't warrant replacing it right now, but one of these days....

16.) Food disposal and new faucet - stainless or brushed nickel

17.) One day I'd like to get a farmhouse sink also, but that's definitely one that will have to wait - have you looked at the price of those.

The primary color in the kitchen will be white. As of right now I plan to paint the dining room/kitchen walls a dark red and accent with yellow. Of course I hold the right to change my mind about that at any given point in time!! And going back and proof reading this post I realize after reading my to-do list for the kitchen that in the end I'll pretty much gut the kitchen with the exception of a few existing cabinets & the counter top, hmmmmm.

Below is a little inspiration for the kitchen design floating around in my head.......please realize if you come visit me I expect to be working on my kitchen/dining area for quite some time. Upgrade/remodel could likely take me about a year to complete. I'd love to have it done in a month but don't plan to hire a contractor to do it which means it'll be on the slow track (basically I'll get done what I can and then wait for help from brother & Dad). While I want to do as much of the work as I can, I'll admit now that I'll need help - somethings I won't be able to do by myself and other things I don't know how to do - yet anyway. To slow things down a bit more, we're in the middle of baseball season - 3 young one's (two of my brother's who's helping with improvements and he's the coach!) and they don't understand when you have to miss one of their games.

Love this island, but I think I'd like one that's bi-level with bar stools and butcher block top

Clean & Crisp - black, white & stainless - can't go wrong

French country kitchen - love just about everything in this kitchen
Love, love, love this look.....don't know about you, but I'm liking the look of the open cabinets, and once again white & stainless!

Pantry organized in jars with a chalk board door - how cool is that!

I've been downloading pictures from the internet for several months now while waiting to close on my home and failed to write down the website or link as to where I got the pictures. If any of these belong to you or you know where I got them please feel free to contact me and I'll get proper credit posted under the pictures.

I have a new KEY!

Part 2 of my big announcement....

As of 10am yesterday morning - I'm a HOME OWNER!! wooo hooo!

Below is the home I just purchased. It's an old country home that is going to take a lot of work, but in the end I think it'll be perfect for me.

My first 'official' house guests - Katie & Matthew who decided they needed to get up on the kitchen counter. Matthew proceeded to check every drawer and cabinet in the entire house looking for something to eat. I guess I'm going to have to get some snacks to keep there for when he comes to visit while we're working on the remodel.

Katie and Matthew were there because their father (my brother) was helping our dad replace my locks, the house didn't have dead bolts on it when I bought it but does now!

I plan to document the improvements I'm doing to my new home so be sure to check back for updates on my progress which I know will be slow, but one of these days I'll get it the way I want!

So, Katie has been a little worried for some reason about me buying a house and moving out which is one reason I invited them over as soon as I signed the papers and got the keys (other reason is so the brother could help with the locks). Couple of conversations we had yesterday:

Katie: So when you move in your new house are you ever going to go see Grand MaLou and Pappa Deaner again?

Me: Why yes, I'm only moving a mile down the road.

Katie: I just hope when you move in here you can still be my Aunt.

Me: Your father is my brother, I'll always be your Aunt no matter what house I live in.

Katie: Ohhhhhhh, thank goodness I was worried you wouldn't be my Aunt anymore.

Matthew: What kind of food did this house come with?

Me: It didn't come with food.

Matthew: WHAT? Why would you buy a house without food in it?

Me: .......... (didn't really know what to say)

Katie: When you get done with this house can I have it?

Me: Sure, why not. When I'm done I'll be sure to let you know.

I have a well along the side of the house, yesterday alone I think about $4 was thrown in it in the form of change and wishes.