Great wall of tile

  In the master bathroom that is.  I did manage to get the master bathroom vanity done this week.  Who knew that one little area would take so long.

Let's see now we installed the tile wall, new lights, new mirrors, new sinks and faucets, extended the height of the vanity, new counter top and I painted the cabinets.  I also added the feet underneath to make it look like a piece of furniture and painted the walls.  I still need to touch up the trim. Here is the before picture.

I feel like I stepped back into the 80's when I first saw this bathroom.  I couldn't believe that a house built in 2001 would have teal counter tops.  Goodbye old and hello new.  Here is a close up of the vanity.  I also added the decorative molding to cover the seam where we extended the vanity.

Now if we can just get the rest of the bathroom done.  We still need to tile the tub and shower area.  Right now I am probably the only person who can say that they have a tub in their living room.  We had to remove the tub in order for us to tile.  I hope this doesn't take much longer, we have to go back to the shop on Monday.  I know that it won't get done before then but it is hard to work on it in the evenings. The last time we did a master bathroom it took about a year and we sold the house not too long after we finished it.  I hope this doesn't take that long.

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Deck and master bath update

We have closed the store this week and decided to spent our vacation tackling the master bathroom.  The covered deck is coming along nicely.  We should be getting the trim work done next week.  Here is progress so far. They should be doing the roofing tomorrow.

Now for the master bathroom.  We are working on getting the vanity area done by tonight.  Crossing my fingers. Instead of replacing the ugly oak cabinets we decided to raise the height and paint them instead. 

The big empty white space was a huge 4 X 8 mirror.  So glad it is gone.  We were able to save it and we are going to put it in the workout room in the basement.  We used a 1 X 4 on the front and 2 x 4's on the back and sides to elevate the cabinet.  Instead of  fixing the drywall we put subway tile on the wall. 

We got the new sinks and faucets installed yesterday and I am still working the the doors and drawers. I also painted the bathroom a new color.  It looks the same but it is a little darker color.  The new color goes much better with the tile. 

Now for the other side of the bathroom.  I warn you it's pretty scary.

I am not sure when this will get done probably not this week since Saturday is our anniversary so we are going to take a rest on Saturday and Sunday.  Luckily we have the shower in the basement that we can use.  I am so ready for all this construction to be over with.  Once we get this done all we have left is our closet. 

Progress on the covered deck (finally)

After having so many problems with getting this covered deck area done we are finally seeing some progress.  I thought for sure we would be finished with this right now but of course if anything can go wrong it does for us.

Here is what it looks like so far.

This is what we started out with a really ugly looking pergola. I had been wanting to tear it down since we moved in.

We have had a lot of rain this week so the construction has been slow going.  I hope this can get done within the next few weeks.  

French country kitchen island

After thinking about it I decided to paint the shelves dark brown.  Hey if I didn't like it I could always repaint it.  Thanks for the comments that helped me to take the plunge.  So here it is.

It actually looked pretty good with nothing on it.

 I got the grouting done on the master bathroom floor this weekend.  I can't wait to get this bathroom done. I still need to demo the tile around the tub and the shower.

The toilet and trim are being done tonight.  I am excited about getting the toilet put in.  It has been over a week now and boy am I ready to get it installed. It's funny how you take small things for granted.  We have another bathroom on this floor put it is only a powder room so we have been taking showers in the basement bathroom.

Wishing everyone a great week.

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Coastal Charm,Savvy Southern Style,DIY by Design,Ivy and Elephants
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Simple Details

Boring garage doors?

It's easy to fix boring garage doors.  I would love to have beautiful wooden doors but I don't want to spend that kind of money on my current house.  I will save them for my forever home.  So for right now we installed these.  They don't cost much and I was able to get them on sale.  You can't beat $6.46 each.  Even at the regular price of $12.88 that's a bargain.

Here is the before.

And now a close up of the after.

My hubby did the install in less than 10 minutes.  The transformation is amazing.  It's makes great curb appeal.  I also took a few shots of the front garden area.  Not all of my flowers are blooming yet. Please ignore the ADT sign.

We are finally getting the back deck cover going.  Everything has been approved by the county.  I just hope I get to enjoy my deck this summer.  Wishing everyone a happy weekend.

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My Romantic Home
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Updated kitchen island

I got the the corbels done on the island this week.  They did dress it up a bit.  Here is how they turned out.  It is hard to get good pictures in my kitchen.  I took these this morning and the glare from the sun makes them turn out like this.

I am debating on painting the shelves the dark brown color.  Not so sure that I like it the way it is now.
Here is what the island looked like before and during the process.

Another project I have been working on is our master bathroom.  I have never shown it before as it looks horrible.  We have finally started to update it.  Here is a sneak peek.

The floors used to be 6 X 6 white tiles.  We still have two more tiles to put in before I can grout.  We are going to be replacing the white tiles in the shower and tub area, put in new sinks, faucets, lights, mirrors and new counter tops.  We are also going to be extending the height of the vanity.  Since I don't care for oak I will be painting the cabinets a dark brown.  I have been wanting to change this bathroom ever since we moved in about two years ago.

Update on the covered deck area.  It is at a stand still.  Of course something always has to go wrong.  They were going to use the existing posts from the pergola but they do not extend all the way down so now we are waiting to get this issued resolved.  I would sure like to use my deck this summer before winter comes. Here in Colorado when can get our first snow in October.  Oh well, what can I do but wait.

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Boogieboard Cottage

Sleeping porches

My best memories of visiting Illinois when I was child was my grandmother's sleeping porch.  My older brother and I loved to sleep out there.  My grandmother didn't have air conditioning so that was the best place to sleep.  It was located on the second floor between to bedrooms at the back of the house. Of course her's didn't look like any of these that I found on Pinterest.  All that would fit on it was a double bed.

I loved my grandmother's house.  She had the old cellar door outside to go into the basement but you could also go down from inside the house too.  She had a large walk in pantry in the kitchen with a hoosier in it.  I  remember going in there, sit on the stool  and look at all her pretty dishes and knick knacks.  My favorites were her Mr and Mrs Santa creamer and sugar dish.

My grandmother died when I was 10 so only got to enjoy the visits for a short time.  One of my mother's sisters lived in the same town so we would still visit every year. 

When we get to build our dream home I am going to insist on a sleeping porch (or at least a screened in porch).

4th of July tablescape

I haven't had much time to get my 4th of July decorating done this year.  I have been concentrating on my backyard instead.  So needless to say I put together a little tablescape on the front porch using some wood crafts that I made awhile back.

I used to do tole painting on wood.  I have a scroll saw so I cut my own wood and paint it.  As soon as I get my house in order I will be doing this again.  I made the Uncle Sam bunny, the flag chicken and the firecrackers.

Next year I plan on decorating the whole front porch. When I got these items out of my craft room today I found more unfinished 4th of July projects.  I am planning on getting these done and using them next year also.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July everyone.

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Elizabeth and Co

Going, going, gone

The pergola is finally gone.  Well most of it.  I am not sure why they left the headers but I think they are going to use the posts. They were suppose to come on Saturday and do the demo but it got changed to Monday.  Who thought that it would take 8 1/2 hours to demo.  So needless to say that I did not get anything done that I planned to do that day.  Our little dog gets stressed with loud noises so I had to stay away from home with him.

Here is all that I got done on my four day weekend.

First is the deck furniture.  I was able to get it all painted in one day.  I had six chairs and two tables.  Here is one of the chairs showing the new cushions that I got for them.  I don't want to put the cushions on until they go back up on the deck.   I am going to go more with a tuscan theme for the deck so I thought these cushions would work the best.

Here is what the furniture looked like before.  It was a green and black verdigris .  I used the metallic oil rubbed bronze just like on the back porch furniture.

Now for the back yard.  I can't seem to find a lot of the before pictures that I took but here is the northeast corner before.  It was full of weeds and you can't tell where the grass ends.

Here it is now.  I still have a few more plants to put in towards the back.  There are a few rose bushes back there so I will add some more and I would like to put a butterfly bush in there also.

It looks much better don't you think.  I planted about 38 plants between the front and the back yard.  Next year I will add a few more in the back.

I got most of the flowers planted along the back fence.  Here it is after the bushes and weeds were removed.  At this point it looked 100% better.

 Now for the after.  Next year I will add more flowers to help fill it in.  It is not easy having to remove rocks, landscape fabric and not to mention digging in clay soil.

The last project I completed was the $7.99 end table that I got at Goodwill. This will go on my back porch.  Right now the porch is filled with all the furniture.  Once the deck cover is done I can put it in place.  Here is the before picture.

 Now the after.

I did manage to get another project halfway done.  That is my kitchen island.  I bought these corbels from Goodwill about a month ago and thought about using them on my fireplace.  They cost $3.99 each so I couldn't pass them up.  After I brought them home I decided that they would look better on the kitchen island.  So here they are.

I wasn't sure of how to attach them since they are made of plaster and I couldn't just drill a hole somewhere on them.  I decided to hang them first.  Not easy since I can't move the counter top. There was a small gap at the top so I used caulking.  I had to brace them overnight and now they are solid.  Next step is to get them painted dark brown to match the island.  As I mentioned I got these for $3.99 each.  I removed the price tag to see the original and it was $33.23.  Can't beat that.

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Miss Mustard Seed