Monday, January 21, 2013

Bathroom Remodel

The past two weeks have been busy!! While my husband went on a trip to Nepal, my mom came up and supported me while we had the bathroom overhauled. We planned it this way and it was as if the bathroom was calling out to be remodeled. It had so many problems including tile falling off the shower walls, a leaky toilet, cabinet drawers falling off, linoleum coming up, lights not working and a leaky sink. It was BAD! I really just wanted a bathroom that functioned but knew that we needed to get rid of everything. This post will be picture happy but I think you will see what a change it really is!


This was the before. Nothing too pretty.


We temporarily duct taped the missing tiles and tried to keep the rest in place.


And the missing bottom cabinet that fell apart a couple weeks before the change, and then the cabinet drawers fell off too, lovely.


Notice the massive cabinet and only one light working. Yep, it was gross.


Then demo started. 

Before the ceiling was this funky stuff on the left. I had no idea what it was but wanted it down. When we took it down there was awesome tongue and groove wood as the ceiling  Score!!! I decided to keep it, paint it and put molding around the top.



We put in a tube skylight which has been awesome. Those things bring in so much light and I am very happy we chose to put it in!


This is it! Yea!!! We put in the wood ceramic tile and I absolutely love how it looks! We also had granite panels put around the tub surround and on the vanity. I am not a fan of grout and wanted something easy to clean. I am a big fan of solid surface. It looks amazing and I am excited about the longevity and ease of cleaning! Yahoo!!!!
If anyone in Chico needs granite done Mirror Image granite did ours and did a great job. They worked so hard to get in done in the time frame I had and I am soooooo thankful!!!


I had some cute number hangers so I added them with some buckets, I am all about storage.



I also had a fairly large in the wall cabinet put in behind the door for more storage. I used a towel rack instead of a bar for functionality. I am adding artwork above the hooks which I will share with you next week!


I love these ceramic floors. It is tile, can you believe it?!?! It really looks like wood but has the durability of tile. 


One more look...


What a change, huh? More than anything I am thankful for a functioning bathroom and one that should last. Artwork will be on the blog next week!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

A little pattern review

Welcome to the New Year! I was not able to enjoy New Year's Eve as I had imagined. Instead of watching a movie and sitting next to my hubby welcoming in the New Year with joy I was hunched over a porcelain toilet. Not only was I sick, but earlier that night at the movie store my son had thrown up all over me, and the floor, and his clothes, lovely. I was hoping he would not share his bugs, but later that night the bug struck. So far 2013 can only go up! We are on the mend, but it is not a fun way to ring in the New Year!

Today I want to show you a pattern that I have used and some helpful hints I learned along the way. I always say when I make something with a pattern I want to make two. It seems that the first project is figuring out how things work and the second one usually turns out as it should.

I found this pattern at a local fabric shop and wanted to make this dress for my kiddos.


I took my girls to the fabric store to pick out the fabric for the dress. What they picked was NOT what I would pick, but I knew they would wear it if they liked the fabric. We compromised :) 

I really liked this pattern as it was really easy to understand. One of the best parts about the pattern is the range of sizes that this pattern covers, 2T-10!!! That is a huge range for a  pattern and I was very excited about that. If anyone has experience with patterns this is an easy one to work with. The only thing that was a bit tricky for me were the button holes. I think that might be my problem, but it does require button holes if anyone else has the same problem :). I also would recommend adding the pull over tags on the skirt after it has been attached to the bodice. The bodice is really easy to attach to the skirt and ended up being really cute. Here is the one that I made for my middle daughter. She was not exactly super excited to model her new dress. This is her best attempt. 


So, I waited til the next day and she was willing to give me this picture. 


Here is the dress by itself. I really like this dress pattern! I would have definitely picked different fabric, but as it is she loves it! 


Patterns can be intimidating but understanding them can really open things up to different projects. 

We are starting a huge project here next week so will be excited to show it to you soon!