A little remodeling.

We remodeled our main bathroom this winter.
(this was already a year ago! look at little Viv in the pic!)
I guess that's what happens when all the big renovations & projects are complete.
You revert back to the old & remodel! haha
Remodeling with kids is always interesting,
but I think we're getting pretty good at it by now!

Making a few trips to Home Depot.
Watching them cut planks.

Getting the planks ready for install.

Bathroom before.

In progress

The boys helping out dad.

Our little remodel afterwards.

new fixtures & planking, 

We found a countertop we loved, the only problem was it cost $1,200!
We clearly were not going to spend that kind of money
so Luke decided to make us a concrete countertop.
The look was so similar to the one we loved, ohh yeah except that we saved $1,100.
We really loved the polished nickel finish,
so we splurged a bit & bought new faucets too.
If there are a couple things we have learned through our renovations
it's that we really love single handle faucets for several reasons
(less cleaning, quick to turn on, & kids can adjust the temp easily,
plus it gives a simple decluttered look)
& that we love towel hooks versus bars.   

We primarily share one bathroom,
which means we need room for many towels to hang in a small space.
The answer=a hook.
A good hook!
I think they tend to call them robe hooks.
But since we have never had space in any bathroom to hang a robe,
we call them towel hooks.
We found the perfect hook for our space at Pottery Barn.
It's worth the little extra & it's great quality.

A few weeks ago I wanted to tackle a little sprucing up project for Viv's room.

Her room is so darn tiny that I wanted to pack a punch of cuteness somewhere in there.

I read about how sharpie paint pens & decided I was going to give it a try.

If I didn't like it, I was only out a few bucks,

so no harm in trying!

I couldn't find any scallop pattern online to use, 

so I took out a couple pot lids from the cupboard & made a template.

Luke helped me by holding the level so I could paint straight lines

& then I got to work scalloping.

It only took a few hours total, it only cost $5 & it's pretty 'cute'!

And the cutest part of the whole thing it that Vivienne loves it.

She thinks it's so nice that anyone who visits, she makes sure to show them her room!

Her room was also the first in our home to get crown molding.

Now that I've seen how nice crown molding looks

I'm sure Luke will be putting more of it up

as we make little changes to other rooms!

This past fall Luke & I unknowingly stopped at Pottery Barn

& they informed us they were having an outlet sale.

Meaning they must keep a bunch of random items that don't sell

& at this point they were ready to purge all those items 

from their back storage & get rid of stuff for very cheap.

When we got to the temporary outlet store that they set up

we had 40 minutes to shop!

Then the sale was over... ahhhhhh!!!!

We both scrambled and looked at everything quickly.

The car was loaded full & we got everything for over 75% off.

For anyone who knows me....I was in hog heaven!

So anyway...what I meant to get to was that 

we bought a vintage medicine cabinet 

& coordinating polished nickel (such a classy finish) light fixtures.

The medicine cabinet cost $80 & the lights were $19.99.

We didn't need to redo our downstairs bathroom, 

but how could you not when you find such great deals.

And for us we knew we could reuse our mirror & light in our rental house.

So nothing went to waste there.

So last week we bought some subway tile

& Luke began his remodeling magic

on the downstairs bathroom.

(p.s. did I mention I just love that I have a handy hubby!)

Sorry, I did not get a before picture, but this is an 'in progress' pic.

He had to reroute the lighting & make a hole for the medicine cabinet.

A week later our finished product looks like this.

It's gorgeous & now our boys have a place to put their toothbrushes,

if they ever decide to use this bathroom instead of the main one! 

We have a few more little projects we're going to be working on:

-surround our island with planking

-make a outdoor party table 

(I picked up some free granite from a local online sale site

& know just how to put it to good use!)

-install gutters

-build a shed.

That should keep us busy for a couple months anyway!