Sooo close to a finished bathroom!!!

Lots of pics to follow but it's getting closer and closer! 

A few thoughts about the stone we picked for the shower. I wanted full sheets of color backed glass or high gloss acrylic panels. Unfortunately at $1000 per panel X 3 panels + shipping of $500 I was unwilling to spend that kind of cash. 

So we went to lowes. And I realized I wanted the glossy surface however I could get it. I also wanted large tiles and I love marble AND they were on sale. Lol. So while holding a marble tile I was highly disappointed in the selection of small scale tile. I didn't want something large that might crack easily on the floor. So while looking around I thought this polished river rock looked awesome next to the marble. 😍 so that's what I went with. Then while looking at this polished River Rock on Pinterest for grout color ideas I found all different colors and hated all but this dark grey grout. So... I went with dark grey. 

Hanging tile sucks. I'll just say it first the walls were not totally square so we ended up having to cut slivers of marble to fit the gap on the 1 wall corner that wasn't square. I'm sure it was a nightmare. The husband did the cutting. 

I used spacers and leveled it all while installing. The tiles were 98% level and flat to the walls. The next day when I went to check it a LOT of them had shifted some even coming away from the wall 🙄😕😟 yes I left the spacers in over night. Not sure wtf happened but eh it is what it is I'm not pulling them out and doing it again at this point. 

Grouting also SUCKS! The big tiles weren't so bad to grout and clean off. The river rock was a bitch. The bright shiny stones have little cracks and crevices and of course the grout stuck in all those and was generally just a huge pain in the ass to wipe clean. At the end we gave up and went to bed. After working all day today we both came home and tackled the shower to remove the extra grout that hardened to a cement like covering. We used a spatula to scrape the biggest part off and then I grabbed the buffer for waxing the car and used it to buff the stones. It's mostly done. Hubby installed the shower head and all that's left is sealing the stone and grout and caulking all the edges. Oh and installing the door 😍

Shower Floor mostly in...

Well hubby had to work yesterday. But once he got home he mixed up the mastic for the floor tile. 

The floor stones are now in. Today I was going to grout the floor then started watching youtube videos and they all install the walls and the floor and then grout all at once. So since we had been messing around with getting last minute stuff at lowes by the time we got home we were over it and called it a day. 

Well I called it a day he kept working and pulled out the bathroom vanities and ran plumbing for the new sinks. Needless to say the only thing left in there working is the toilet. Yay I get to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink for the remainder of this project! Oh well could be worse. 

This is the current state of the bathroom. 

I did try finding someone in this area who installs the glass walls and it's not happening unless I want to pay $1000 a wall :) and I'm to cheap to pay that. So I did find some shiny white marble tiles that I think will look just as awesome! 

Since he has to work late for the next week my new plan is to get the walls finished primered and painted before next weekend when my friend is going to come over and put the floor in. Yes floor before shower finishing probably. But I've already pushed him off 2 weeks. It's time to finish this crap and get er done! 😜

I'm hoping Eric doesn't have to work next Saturday or I really will have to push the floor off another week! 

Update shower pan poured.

First off I would like to say that mixing concrete sucks. It's dusty and much harder than the pros make it look! So if you don't have enough upper body strength to stir mud around that's not super wet then you should probably hire this part out. 

We got it done though Eric did the majority of the concrete mixing but I did the majority of the install and smooth and angle towards the drain. It's not perfect but it will work for us. I'm not expecting perfection. I want it to be pretty and functional. I think it will all work out. 

So anyway here's after pouring and mixing :) 

I plan on putting the tiles in the floor tomorrow. Yay! Progress! 

Slow going- pop corn ceiling gone

Well DIY work to remodel a bathroom is slow work. 

Go to work all day and come home and work a little at night. The past few days has seen the popcorn ceiling disappear. With lots of help from the kids to scrape it all off and boring the steamer from my bff. Today I got the first coat of primer on and you can tell a huge difference! The rest of this post will just be photos so you can scan through the amazing transformation of the ceiling ;) 

Kenny scraping the ceiling...

Lots of divots from scraping...

Mud applied...( I forgot to take a pic of the sanding process. But Kenny did go back and sand it relatively smooth while I was at work Tuesday 😍

First coat of primer applied to ceiling and a few empty walls....

Check back later for more exciting updates! 

The ugly tub is gone!

While I was running around for work today the hubby was super busy! 

I got several texts with pics today. 

What I feared could have been a major problem in the shower turned out to be kind of minor. 

This concerned me when I saw it. Gross black mold! 

When he sent this pic he said "oops I broke the tub lol" 

But thankfully it all seemed to be concentrated at the tub line. Which means that the water was getting between the surround and the wall. So taking it all out is the next step. 

We went to Menards to see what they have in the way of standard and custom glass doors. This space is 43" which is Not a standard size. Which means if we go custom, it's looking to cost $700+ just for the door. 

Another option is to build the door frame out and use something in a standard size like this. 

That's not horrible but it's not exactly what I want. I don't want to close off the space any more than I have to. 

I mean look at that dark hole now. I don't like dark and tight in the shower I want something bright and open. 

We briefly talked about moving the plumbing to the back wall and opening up this whole corner. But then we get into the issue of having to fix the ceiling which would mean scraping all the "popcorn" off the ceiling and I'm trying to keep that off the to do list for now. 

I'm not sure why I want to avoid that but apparently I do. (Or so I'm told). 

However at this point we are going to wait until the local glass guy can come out and give me an estimate on a seamless shower and then figure out if my vision is in the budget. 

Thank god we have another bathroom to use in the meantime. 

Here's another inspiration pic for the feel I am going for. 

The Bathroom remodel begins

So we moved into our little farm house two years ago. We knew coming in that the bathroom would need to be remodeled eventually. After living  with what we have and re-caulking the tub surround over and over and over again I have finally had enough of that.

Up until this point I have been in school and money has been tight. But after graduating and getting a pretty decent job we've been able to save some money. So now we are going to blow it all on the bathroom in the cheapest way possible. My wonderful hubby is very handy when it comes to making my visions a reality. So what is to follow in the upcoming weeks is the process that mainly he will be doing. Thank God for him and his energy lol. 

This is the bathroom currently. It doesn't look HORRIBLE. Just dated. Until you look closer. 

No matter how much I scrub it never looks clean. And yes I've used all different cleaners. The caulk has been replaced numerous times. And within a few weeks it always seems to be moldy and cracked. Which makes us think that behind these old walls is probably leakage and mold and lots of yuck. 

The shower head was a cheap replacement for the previous unusable head and has done an ok job. But still isn't on par with what we really want. 

The vanity was bad. The top is dull and scratched all to hell. I did what I could and painted it. I had Eric install a shelf in the weird gap between the cabinets. But really it's just not good use of the space. (Overlook the mess I need to see my stuff or it doesn't get used, pretend you don't see personal items...) 

So the inspiration for this room is from Pinterest. I love Pinterest as much as I love Ikea 😜 

I really love this look. We already have the huge mirror. Which Eric plans on framing out for me. And my bestie Jess went with me to ikea this past weekend and I picked up these Vanities and tops. 

 I also LOVE the tinted glass look and no seams on this shower. I'm still trying to find a retailer that makes these. 

But demo officially starts tomorrow. While I'm at work the hubby plans on stripping the shower down to studs. Once we figure out what's needed for that he will be ripping out the current vinyl and fixing any floor boards before I have new vinyl installed. 

I'm pretty optimistic at this point that it will all work out. However let's call this a happy start and see what happens. Wish us luck I have a feeling we are going to need it! 

Thrift store find!

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I love shoes and I collect clothes like they are going out of style. 

I've been following a few people in blog land for their clothing posts for ladies over 40. Look it up its a thing I swear! 

I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to look like an old lady because of how I dress. So keep that in mind as I pepper this blog with photos and posts about the way I dress. 

I'm a thrift store shopper. I do buy some things new, and I usually cringe every time I pay full price. But the thing is, if you have time to go to thrift stores, you can find some awesome brands at cheap prices. 

For example: 

This is not my photo, but I bought these exact boots at Goodwill. In my size. For $5. Big deal? Yep, originally this LAMB BY Gwen Stefani bootie cost $395. So yeah, awesome find. 

I'm blessed to have a job that takes me all over central Indiana. There are literally over 20 goodwill stores in my monthly commute. I've only been to half a dozen so far. But I always find a good deal. 

So yes go to the thrift stores. Take your time and walk around you might find something awesome! 

Hello? Is this thing on???

I went to school after all. I went and read through my past posts and in my 2nd one I said I might go back to school. Well after unsuccessfully looking for a good job, I finally figured out that if I wanted my dream job it might help to have the right kind of education. 

Then the more I thought about it the more I realized that I love decorating and crafting and maybe an Interior Design Degree would suit me well. 

So after 2 of the most intense years of my life I graduated Magna Cum Laud with a degree in Environmental Interior Design.  Yay go me! 

I've done a few crafts in the down time (my friends will think that's hilarious, because downtime usually consisted of any time that I should have been cramming for a test). When I get time I'll update you on those things. 

Ok done for now yay welcome back!?!?????

Penny table; Part 1

Penny table beginnings ... I suggested to the husband that I really wanted a table for the back porch, we have an outside dining type patio set, but I want it on the front porch so I can do homework out there. I wanted something big enough to hold a few drinks out back. 

So he tells me ok he will take a piece of board we had left over from another project to work and have it cut into a circle on the water jet machine they have that cuts wood like butter. So while he's at work he sends me a text and asks me if I want a design like a scallop.... And I'm thinking of this table at the miller house...

And of course I was super excited and said YES! And he brings me home this beauty....

I had already planned on recycling my old milk can....

Then I start thinking how can I make this table a little more "stylin" I love the brass of the miller table, but I live in an old farm house, and remember I wAnt this table to weather the summer outside. So fancy isn't going to cut it for this household :) 

My first steps were to spray paint the wood a copper color ( here's a pic with my door plaque and my rose wreath all being spray painted the same day) 

And here's the beginning look with my glass of inspiration, modeling a "before" shot. 

Then me and Wes, started searching the house for pennies, it wasn't too hard, the husband had a bunch hoarded in a drawer and I had a few more stuck in an old purse waiting to get cashed in. So we got some super glue and put them down.

We ran out and I ended up taking Wes' penny stash to finish it! Poor kid, the things he gives up for the sake of my art sometimes :)  he had a whole 5 pennies left when I finished gluing them down. 

So now we are stuck at this stage. I have some heat and bond foil to go around the edge, but I want to pour a resin top on it and I'm still in the research stage of that. I've read where people use duck tape to hold an edge while pouring and curing resin, but I haven't figured out the right resin to get either. After all I don't need a gallon of resin for this table, maybe a quart probably a lot less.

So we are at a stand still at this point. I have finals next week and then 2 whole weeks off before summer classes start, I'm hoping to finish it before then. I'll keep you posted :) 

Thanks for visiting! 

House numbers super cool nail art sign

So I've seen a few different house signs on Pinterest that I thought were pretty cool. I wanted something that I could see from the road,so I went into Photoshop and made a mock up of #s on a regular piece of paper! I did a few different designs and ended up not using this first one... 

I did use the tracing paper , but as you can see I cheated a little and used so e rusty old roofing nails that were In the shed from the previous owner and used snips to cut off 4-5 nails at once and hammer them in on the line. 

And here's the final product, I like how it looks, unfortunately from far away it's kinda hard to read unless you are almost in front of it. So the husband hung it by the back door for me as art :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Clock redo.

My father in law made this clock many years ago and it hung at a grandparents house for years. We inherited it recently put it on the wall and couldn't see the numbers or the hands from 5 feet away. 

So I broke out the crafting supplies and found clock parts from another clock that had broken and did some reconstructive work on this one 

But it was missing something. So looking around I thought I would use some canvas that I had left over from recovering the footstools in my living room and came up with this : 

All I did was cut strips and hot glue them to the back, and weaved them over under to make the pattern. 

Ta da! Easy. 

Simple wine glass holder

This is my shelf in the kitchen, it has been everywhere from my mothers living room, to my living room and now it's gracing the wall of my kitchen. I love it. My Uncle Roger made it for my mom years ago. I don't know the story of "why" he made it, all I know is that it's been around as long as I can remember, I can even still remember a few of the trinkets mom used to display on it. It was a dark walnut color until we moved here a few months ago. I knew I wanted this rustic beat up style, I love it. (I've had comments about how crazy I am to like this style, it's ok everyone's entitled to their opinion). 

So anyway, I'm not a huge drinker, but if you looked at my kitchen you'd think I'm a daily wino. Nope sorry can't afford daily drinking. Not sure if I'd want to drink that often anyway. So anyway to get this story a little further in.... 

I've got a lot of wine glasses, not sure why. But I thought why not display them? They are pretty after all. Besides I needed something else to collect dust, as if I don't have enough already. 

So with the ever amazing talents of my husband and his wonderfully helpful father, I suggested we do this to the shelf, & Eric and his dad came up with exactly what I had envisioned. They really are that awesome! So anyway, without further ado, check out the shelf and the glass holders. They are shorter on the inner sides so that I can just slide in the glasses and have no fears about them shaking out when the little elephants are running around the house. (And by little elephants I mean Wes and his buddy who like to run up and down the stairs behind this shelf as much  as they can on nice days :) )

Please over look the decorations, this is not how it will end up styled, this is just the hodge pudge of what's left over and is trying to figure out if it's staying or going. Plus Eric suggested we find a cool wine bottle holder to go right there in the middle space, I agree it would probably be a cool place to display such things.

  Thanks for stopping by! 

                

Reviews of nail places I've been to in Columbus, Seymour and North Vernon

It used to be I loved to go to "Lees nails" in NV. For the first year I went in they did a fantastic job. I never had any complaints. Then I guess they started getting busier and the quality went down hill. 

What do I mean by quality? I'm not one of those people that are so picky that a little extra polish on my skin freaks me out, I know that will come off in the shower or when I was my hands.when I say quality I mean, was the acrylic smoothed out or did they leave ridges? Did they smooth out the cuticle area? Did they check and make sure the length was the relatively the same and were they straight or were they on a weird angle?  Then there is the price. Are they consistently charging me the same price for the same issue each time? 

So with Lees it depended on who was doing my nails. Danny was always super nice and did a great job. Kim just acted like she didn't give a shit and it showed. I finally got to the point that I stopped going there. I usually walked out of there with crooked nails, and I never knew how much they were going to charge me. 

Then I started going to Rose nails in Seymour. I never could tell you the guys name that did my nails, it was hard to pronounce and I never saw it soooo. But he is either the owner or manager or whatever he's the first station by the check out desk. I never had bad service here. The prices were always the same, and they have the pretty tips in a hundred different colors and patterns and they charge the same as white tips to put them on. They also have the glitter acrylic, which is just gorgeous and not much more expensive than plain white tips. It takes longer to get done, but they are so gorgeous. I'm seriously thinking about making the drive to go back to Rose in Seymour just because I'm so disappointed in Columbus so far! 

Ok which brings us to moving to Hope and I need a new place to get my nails done. 

So I went to that pink n white place by hobby lobby 2 x's now. I had an older guy fill the first time and he did a half ass job. Not smooth, I could ( and have) done a better job myself at home. Then the next time I went some kid did my nails, and it was like the heavens parted and I had a perfect set of nails when he was done, the next time I went in he wasn't there so I left. Stupid me didn't get his name. Sigh oh well. 

So this past week I went to Tina's by chuck e cheese. I'll admit that when I walked in I was impressed. It's clean, up to date and at first look it seems like a nice place. And again I got a new person. I must have a sign on my head that says I won't complain give me the newbie to let them practice.... Sigh....

So anyway, she did ok. She didn't make them all the same length, and the aren't smooth on all of them. And I'm not sure she got close enough to the cuticle ( if not there will be a noticeable ridge in am few days).  And they are the most expensive place I've been to so far for a full set of designer tips was $35 ouch. And they don't look all that great so I'm disappointed. 

I will probably try a few other new different places until I need a new set and come back and review them as well. 

All in all I would say Tina's is over priced. And all of these places have 1 thing in common. Their machines and tables need cleaned. Seriously take a few minutes and clean off those gel nail lights, they look gross no matter where I go! 

Let me know if this helps anyone, or if you have suggestions on other places near, in or around Columbus Indiana I should try. 

A hat for me :)

Blue hat :) and photo taken with the perfect 365 app. Lol no under eye circles from an app! 

The badly written directions. If you want to try it out. This is a revised pattern I found from a few different patterns on ravelry.  The first one I made was for my youngest Wesley. Which made me name it after him tada! 

I designed and made something COOL!

Hi all! So I have been searching Pinterest high and low and looking for an organizer type holder that would hold my most frequently used items: my iPad, day planner, and moleskin notebook.  I couldn't find anything. Surprised? Yeah me either. I mean on a daily if you carry these things they aren't needed all at once. Well I am a  student, and when I need them it's for class, all at once.  Up until now I haven't used my iPad much for school, but I've had many instances where I thought it would have been handy to have it with me. 

    So now going into my 2nd semester I'm wanting to get a little better prepared. Which means carrying more crap with me, and I want to keep this stuff together. Sooooooo...... 

Ok I was blessed with a bunch of fabric samples from school ( thanks Jan) so I used what I had on hand and drew it out first. Nothing fancy just a few boxes. Then I cut and put it together as I went.  No I didn't take as I went photos. Why? Because I really didn't think it was going to look decent. 

So here are photos of the finished product. Once it was done I realized a few things I should have added. 1) handles, I wish I would have added a handle on each side just to be a pick up and pull out of a bag help. 2) a closure. Im not a big fan of buttons or straps to close. But I may redesign this later with a top zipper added. Oh and I'm horrible at adding the stretchy bits to hold in the iPad so it does look funky. But there it is. 

Thanks for visiting! If I do remake this I will do a full tutorial. Don't hold your breath class starts next week and I'm taking 18 credit hours. No time for sewing until summer 😝