Bathroom Tiling progress

I've been procrastinating tiling the kids' bathroom wall, because I've been just a tad bit intimidated. But, I finally put my big girl panties on and got after it yesterday. There's 8 feet of wall on the right left to tackle. Big job!

What I've learned so far...don't buy the cheap tile cutter! Jagged edges will be the death of me. Luckily my father-in-law is coming to visit and I told him he could only stay with us if he brought his wet saw. ;) He loves me so much!



Hope there's something fun on your agenda this weekend, friends. Looks like Fall is finally deciding to show it's face via a strong cold front tomorrow. I can't wait! Perfect timing for Octoberfest in the Town Square. We going to the weenie dog races. So fun!

Bedroom Picture Wall Reveal

It's such a good feeling to get our beautiful pictures and art off the bedroom floor and see it on the wall finally. Suddenly, things feel a lot less cluttered. Such a good thing!

We had these picture ledges from our previous house. They lived in our dining room with lots of white vases on them. Now, they fit perfectly in our bedroom and I love how this arrangement takes up the entire wall while allowing various sized pictures to find just the right spot.

Are you ever curious when you see numbers in peoples' homes, wondering why that number? Well, in our case the number 3 stands for the number of words in "I love you!" When we were dating, it wasn't uncommon for John to be standing across the room and suddenly hold up 3 fingers. And guess what I would do back?...

Yep, 4..."I love you, too!" So, it only seemed appropriate to sneak these metal house numbers into the design of our bedroom wall. For all my fellow bargain shoppers out there, you'll totally appreciate how much I paid for these babies. Wait for it, wait for it...20 cents! That's total, not a piece. It pays to scour the clearance section in the back of Tuesday Morning. 

This shot gives you a good idea of how shallow the ledges are. If you have a narrow area, like a hallway, these work great. We purchases ours at IKEA. They also come in white.

I love how the black shelves play with the black in the rug. Guess what else is black?...my hands, my hair, and my clothes after painting with it all weekend. Stay tuned to see they craziness I created. It's different. One of those things you'll either love or hate. Prepare yourself.

Ceiling mounted mirror

Do you remember this not so beautiful shot of the kids' bathroom? How could you forget, right? The ugliness has to be seared into your memory for sure. Well, after going to town on the wallpaper, I found my fingers just itchin' to get ahold of those mirrors too. 

Let me take you back a few Sundays. Here's what you would have heard had you been fixing yourself breakfast in our home: 

***CRASH!!!***

"Oh man, that's seven years, right? Not good. Not good." I said, as I quickly yelled to John to help me out of the predicament my impatience had landed me in. 

Fortunately, I'm a quick learner and I was wise enough to wait for John's assistance when it came to the 8ft. long mirror hanging out there on the right side of your screen. I know my limits, friends.

So, here we are now, mirrorless and lightless. I was stumped for a little while about how I should approach this space. For starters, it only has one sink and it's awkwardly placed in the corner. Now that I've ripped down all the mirrors, I'm wondering where I'm going to position a mirror since moving the plumbing isn't an option.



I decided the best solution would be to hang a mirror from the ceiling. I made several trips to various stores looking for a mirror John and I could jimmie rig and turn into a hanging mirror, but came up empty handed. I was on the lookout for something fairly inexpensive just in case my bright idea was a flop.



Then, one day the heavens parted and I ran across the perfect mirror and guess what?! It was already made to hang. No jimmie rigging required, just a little black spray paint and swapping out rope with chain. Definitely worth the hunt!

John and his stepdad worked like madmen this weekend transforming mirrors, moving electrical outlets, adding electrical outlets, you name it, they did it! So grateful to have handy men in my life.

Bonus points go to the person who noticed we switched out the faucet as well. 

I found this faucet in the clearance section at Home Depot. It was marked down half off so I snagged it. Then, not even a week later I was perusing the same section and noticed the same faucet was marked down even more, to the tune of $25 more! I happened to have my receipt in my purse still so I went to the service desk and asked if they'd do a price adjustment and they did. Woo hoo! I scored this faucet for $24.00 when all was said and done. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I ordered the sconces a few days ago, but will have to wait 4-6 weeks before they arrive. I'm a little scared to proceed with tiling the wall without having the exact lighting specs in hand. Who am I kidding...I'm a little scared to tile the wall period! First timers jitters going on!

Progress...

So, I went into the kids' bathroom this weekend to remove one light fixture and this is what happened...

When I pulled the fixture away from the wall I noticed how easy it'd be to pull back the wallpaper, then suddenly the room looked like a tornado hit!

This is such a beautiful sight! Do you remember where I started? Here's a little something to refresh your memory.

Then, on Sunday, we had out of town family coming over for lunch. Literally, as they walked in the door, I sold my dining room chairs to someone from Craigslist. Woo hoo! Time to break out the folding chairs for lunch.

What's next? I'm still searching, but this is what I've got my eye on...

Low profile and mid-century. Just a little nervous to order something I haven't sat in before. I'll let you know if/when I pull the trigger!

Monochromatic Bookshelves

Bookshelves are styled...for now. I'm not really sure how long they'll stay this way, but they're done and they didn't cost me a penny. That was my goal: don't buy anything for styling, save your money for the big things (cabinet painting, texturing walls, mirror removal, etc.).



They lack color. They're monochromatic. That's on purpose. My best friend in Austin used to ask me when I was going to bring some color into my house. It took me a while to get what she was asking. In my eyes there was plenty of color...gray, black, white, cream. Those are colors, right? ;)

This shelving unit lived outside in our previous house. John and I built it for the patio. Who knew it'd grow up and be able to live indoors one day?!

I like this little section. Read into it as you may, but I see this finger pointing up and it reminds me to keep my eyes focused on what's most important.

Are you tired of seeing sticks and feathers in my house yet? Hope not!

These frames were very inexpensive years ago when I found them at Michaels. They've become one of my favorites and wouldn't you know it...they've stopped carrying them.

Sweet little owl from John's grandma's collection.

Another Grandma treasure. She had good taste, right?!

Goodwill finds and a sweet gift from my sister-in-law.

And, the selves from the Fiddle Leaf Fig's perspective. ;)

So tell me, are you a fan of monochromatic or would the lack of color drive you crazy?