Va Va Voom!

We have owned our home for six years and throughout those six years it has been so rewarding, fun & challenging. I have been so blessed with a husband who puts up with the crazy redesign ideas I have. After begging and begging he finally will buckle down and start on the giant wish board I had for this house. Kelly is a such a stud!

But through all the projects we have taken on with this house I think there is one thing I always forget  and that is forgetting how much time projects take! And once you start one project you easily come up with another one to add to the to-do list. Total snowball effect.

In December 2015 till early March of 2016 we tore apart our kitchen and remodeled it. Now I look at it and say "its the best thing we ever did"... But back then Kelly & I said "what did we get ourselves into, we have to put it back together at this point." As we were working late, late hours on that project I'm pretty sure one of us came out of the bathroom and said you know "it would be cool to update our bathrooms too"... the spark was lit.

So as we did the granite in the kitchen we also had the bathrooms installed with granite & did the new plumbing fixtures as well because we said that way in a year we can do the bathrooms. We also had been in Lowe's at that time and saw some clearance bathroom light fixtures and bought them for when we did finally do the bathrooms.

Here we are a year later, February 2017!
With two fully gutted bathrooms.

I have to also let you know that Kelly & I enjoy our down time watching HGTV. It's fun to see the demo day's and the whole transformation at the end. We often find ourselves agreeing with the tile, flooring, paint etc., in each show. I slowly picked up on this and one night mentioned to Kelly how often we agree on the style they seem to pick. It was a big a-ha moment since I think we thought we had different styles.

Pretty much since we finished the kitchen I had this vision for our bathrooms. I wasn't sure if he'd go for it. Since it meant literally HOURS AND HOURS of work. I explained it to him and showed him some ideas. To my surprise he liked it.. so now the trouble was finding what we wanted to do. We only spent one night looking at tile and found everything from the deco mosaic, subway tile and flooring. In fact I fell so in love with the flooring I begged Kelly to do it in the kitchen but he said "not gonna happen".

This is our hall bathroom's before pictures

I have to let you know that Kelly ripped into "demo day" when
I wasn't home to clean or move anything out. It was so gross when he started to know the tile down.

UGLY light fixtures & mirror.

Bye, bye cabinet

We had to do some plumbing changes and my dad helped
Kelly out while he add copper lines to pex lines.

Old laminate flooring

As we were getting ready to start painting the walls

Kelly peeking through the Master Bathroom as we did demo of the tile in that bathroom

As Kelly did demo on the hall bathroom he realized he was hitting the tile so hard that my decor that hangs in the kitchen was shaking and falling off the wall. That's when we realized we would have to gut the tile out of the Master bathroom before we were thinking because we didn't want to finish the hall bathroom and go to take down the old tile in the master and ruin the new tile. It literally made the nastiest musty mess. Back in the day when our house was built they did sheet rock and then a chicken wire and on top of the wire they would do their cement that would hold the tile. Kelly was a hunk to carry that down the stairs and outside. I honestly can't even lift a box of the new tile yet I lift at 30 pound toddler daily. :)

We also didn't take into consideration the plumbing. We knew we wanted to change the fixture from a three handle to a single handle. Kelly isn't afraid to figuring things out and he definitely will do it himself before paying for a plumber (can't blame him..) but, we were more shocked at the cost factor to change things and add the extra pipe we would need. Luckily my dad stepped in and helped him with parts of it all. 

The only thing I had to convince Kelly to do was a recessed shower shelf. He wasn't to happy since he knew it meant more work. But I won and he said he'd do it, I mainly convinced him how cool the new tile would look plus the fact that the little shower soap inserts are kind of a thing of the past. 

As of tonight (April 1st) Kelly has spent since 9am putting up the new tile in the hallway bathroom its now been 16 hours later and he's getting to the last few tiles. I keep telling him probably every half hour how I can't believe how gutsy he is to learn to do things or teach himself how to do it. He said this morning "how hard can it be?" Well, I lucked out in the husband department he really is the jack of all trades and master of few. But either way he saves us a ton of money by doing it himself plus I think it makes you appreciate the final result that much more. Am I right?

Kelly said "I want to wipe out the stuff in my nose, but there is no way my fingers would even fit."
I wonder why those cement fingers wouldn't fit.

It will be left for a day or so before Kelly will grout it! I can't wait to see the final look of it when it's cleaned and grouted. You can also tell we painted the walls the same color we have in our kitchen and hall. I'm obsessed with that grey... its perfect. It's called Tempered Gray by Valspar. A couple Saturdays ago me and my mom spent half the day painting the celling and walls! Honestly I can't get over how my mom doesn't have to tape anything she can just freehand the ceiling and door frame. I couldn't get over the change in the room when it came to just having new paint and a new light fixture.. it changed everything so much. But the shower surround tile definitely is the cherry on top so far.

Then the next debate started on the flooring. We had the tile but I was indecisive on how to do it. I finally decided on the 45 angle! I haven't regretted it! I absolutely love the flooring. And yes its porcelain tile. They told us about the process and all I understood is they take pictures of wood and then somehow print it onto the tile. Its crazy. I would put this tile in my kitchen if I could.

Then I spent hours and hours.. probably days. Trying to find a shelf for over the toilet. I wanted to build something but after discussing it for weeks we decided to find something already done. We then found this cabinet. It sufficed us both. Then I spent a couple days painting our original vanity cabinet. We did it exactly like our kitchen cabinets the only thing different is I didn't antique the edges. 

Next up was the heavily debated mirror. The biggest complaint I have about our home is STORAGE! It has none! Or maybe I'm a hoarder but either way I want storage. I had a mirror originally that had storage but it was so outdated. I finally saw this idea pop up one day. I knew exactly what I wanted.

So I went to Ikea and picked up their GODMORGON mirror.. It was much bigger than what we needed once we decided on the dimensions of the frame. So I took it to a local glass business and they cut off the excess for $5. It was totally worth it. That way by the time we made the frame it fit perfectly in the space. We spent about $80 or so in wood to build the mirror.
I love the storage it provides and I can keep my counter clean now that I can place everyday things in that shelf. Let alone the toddler isn't tall enough to reach what's inside!
The cheapest thing that changed the entire game of our small bathroom was the lighting. LITERALLY! Lightbulbs! LED daylight bulbs. I got them from Costco 12 bulbs for under $15. They made the bathroom so much brighter then... I got ultra obsessed and changed every light bulb in our house to these bulbs! So four boxes later I am obsessed with these bulbs plus they will last forever!

Then I got to retail therapy! I have been so excited for this part. We got new shower rod's, hooks, shower curtain, liner & rugs. I also have been in the market for a bath toy holder that would actually stay hooked to the wall and drain the water that all those toys collect. (Its the 21st Century it shouldn't be that hard to find but it totally has been a pain in the butt!) 

We also had to get the finishing details for all the towel hooks & toilet paper holder. Kelly really wanted a towel bar.. I can't stand them. Plus for it being a rod they are not cheap. I ended up finding these hooks for the hand towel & bath towels at Hobby Lobby for half off. I didn't even spend on these hooks what we would have spent on a towel rod. Plus I love the industrial metal look that they add to the bathroom.

All the shopping links you need! 

What can I say except You're Welcome.

Over The Toilet Cabinet: http://bit.ly/2u6K0n0

Toilet Paper Holder: http://amzn.to/2td8bLX

Posi Temp Tub/Shower Kit: http://moen.co/2vaR6DU

Sink Faucet: http://moen.co/2tH2GsB

Flamingo Curtain: http://bit.ly/2uguANr

Flamingo Rug: http://bit.ly/2u7etRR

Hand Towel Hook: http://bit.ly/2tHjsHZ

Bath Towel Hook: http://bit.ly/2ucf4S3

Stool under the toilet... Squatty Potty: http://bit.ly/2u7ywzL

Ikea rugs: http://bit.ly/1YpdFxE