the list.

I love lists, I really do. I feel the need to make one for every reason. It helps me remember what I need to buy, what I need to do, things that I want. Lists in general are just great to me. This one on the other hand I'm going to be in trouble. Have you ever heard the lamb chop never ending song? Well I feel this is how this list will be. It will be the list that doesn't end, yes it goes on and on my friend.

What is this list I am referring to you ask, well let me tell you. The list of items that need to get done to finish our condo. I made this list up one day and while sitting at dinner one evening I slipped it to my husband across the table. And then came the best part, his face, it was priceless. It was a jaw dropping, blank evil eye stare are you kidding me kind of face. As if I don't bother him enough, I have now complied a list of what needs to be done. Without Further Ado:

Living Room

• Complete Frame Wall
• Paint Entertainment Unit (a tealish blue color)
• find an accent Chair
• Find Roundish Mirror
• Finish Bookcase wallpaper
• Add Decorative Pillows

Kitchen

• New Stackable stainless Washer/Dryer
• New Stainless Steel Appliances
• Some Art
• Install Backsplash
• Paint Cabinets White?

Dining Room

• Paint Wainscoting White
• Paint Ceiling
• Find (4) Dining room Chairs
• Find a Bench (target storage bench)
• Re-Finish Table
• Blinds

Dining Room

• Paint Wainscoting White
• Paint Ceiling
• Find (4) Dining room Chairs
• Find a Bench (target storage bench)
• Re-Finish Table
• Blinds

Guest Bathroom

• Hang Basket Storage
• Add Towel Hooks
• Re-paint?
• New White Toliet
• New Vanity
• Re-finish Tub & Surround in White

Guest Room

• Remove Wallpaper
• Paint
• Re-finish Desk
• Find a Dresser
• Find or make headboard
• Curtains & Rod
• Add Art
• Update Closet Shelving

Master Bathroom

• Buy Toliet
• Buy Vanity
• Faucet
• Purchase and Lay Floor
• Finish walls and paint room
• Add Art
• Paint Trim & Door
• Purchase Accessories
• New Fan
• New Vanity Light

"Man Cave"

• Hang Second Guitar
• Cover & Add Pillows
• New Larger DVD storage
• Add long shelves to hold frames

Master Bedroom

• Create Larger Headboard
• Paint Dressers?
• Hang Television
• Add Art & Photos
• Organize Mr. F Closet
• New Night Tables
• Add Ceiling Fan

Whole House

• New Carpet
• Paint Trim
• New Door Hardware
• Add Photos & Art in Hallways

Okay Well there you have it. I will check back with this list frequently to update it with things we have completed. It seems like so much when it is listed out this way. I feel by the time it all gets done we will be moving. 


Does anyone else have a list like this that just never seems to end? Home-ownership is like a constant state of remodeling or re-doing. I want to be at the point where I can sit and enjoy.

 

grouchy mcgroucherson.

This is grouchy the smurf.

This is what I feel like on this Monday morning.

grouchy the smurf

I am hoping to be back this afternoon with a worth while post. 

So hang on tight, I know you all are anxiously awaiting the arrival of another fun-tastic post.

I hope you all are having a better Monday than me.

Three cheers for eliminating Mondays.

 

anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

July Goals.

So, I am thinking if I actually write down and document things i want to get done, maybe I will do them. 

I am going to start monthly goals, to keep track of things I want to do and see how I do at the beginning of the next month.

July Goals

• Make the bed daily
• Finish bookcase wallpaper
• Cook dinner at least 3 times a week
• Work out once a week
• Keep up on Laundry
• Read at least one book
• Clean out the sink each night before bed. 

So this is where I will start lets see how I do. 

master bathroom part one: DEMO

Okay, here we go, it has officially started....the DEMO stage. I think a few times during this time I mentioned to my husband "there is no turning back now".

So the following are some before shots and demo shots to get you up to speed on what is going down. Get ready for the beauty that this bathroom beholds.

This is the beauty before. Note the wonderful wall paper, and the photo doesn't do the tub & shower color any justice. It is a lovely almondy color. Looking back I am not even sure how we lived with it like this for 3 years.

This is the door that separated the vanity from the tub & toliet area. It made it feel like a very cramped space. So how about some demo shots. Now let me explain to you how much Mr. F loved this part. It was a task in itself but I think the frustration that was released upon tearing and ripping things apart was good for him. I wish i got a photo, but that tub/shower combo thing was a pain to get out. He basically karate chopped it and started busting it apart to get it out of that room.

 

This is obviously after everything is out of the room.
I am getting better at documenting, sorry.
Tub & Shower = GONE
Toilet = GONE
Yuckie peeling vinyl floor = GONE
ALL dry wall = GONE
Doorway & Door = GONE

So you ask what we do from here? Well we have a whole other section to tackle too.. Notice in the photo above you can still see the vanity, well that will come soon. Next on the list though is installing the new shower pan. We opted to get rid of the tub (main reason we have the babiest water heater ever and can not even fill a tub before it gets cold) So for the master bath we decided to go with just a shower, and yes people don't worry we do have another bathroom with a tub that we are keeping. Now we are doing most of this work ourselves. I say "we" like i really have anything to do with this. Let's rephrase that...MY hubby and father are doing most of this work themselves. ahhh much better. I think we felt that cutting and re-working some plumbing for the shower was more than we could handle, so we decided for the tub installation we should go ahead and hire a plumber. We did not want to take the chance of something going wrong and pissing off the neighbors more than we already do.

So in comes a plumber, while we were working one Wednesday he did his thing. And we came home to this......

lilly checking out the new shower

Ahhhhh the beauty of this shower pan, i swear it brought tears to my eyes. 

I think the thing that did it the most for me was that it was white, a pure white. Stupid Almond.

From here we still have more demo to do. We have the adjoining wall to take out, the vanity, carpet and some more drywall.

That vanity, that counter top, the medicine cabinet the boxed light fixture all made me want to vomit! I was more than happy to see them trashed.

Now as I said before "there is no turning back"
It amazes me that once that dividing wall was out how much larger the room felt. There aren't any fixtures back in yet, but it just opened up the room, and it is starting to feel like an actual bathroom. Up next we added drywall, cement board around the shower, and our new doorway!
 

Ill have more soon, I think I overwhelmed this post enough. What do you think? Anyone else tackling a project like this on their own? Is is taking longer than you thought?

Once upon a master bathroom.

There once was a master bathroom....(lets hope this one ends with" they lived happily ever after")

I am an interior designer and to this day i still just do not understand why in a master bedroom you would choose to place the vanity in the bedroom. This has always been something that bothers me. I just do not see why they couldn't add a door and make the vanity a separate room. 

Here is the dilemma, we have the lovely vanity in the bedroom problem in our condo. The shower and toilet are in a separate room. Mr. F has the luxury of having weekends off to sleep in and what not, I on the other hand work most Saturdays and while I get ready for work I am making someone else grouchy by waking them up. (cue blow dryer and bright vanity lights) Mr. F finally had enough, I have also but I know how much things like this end up costing. So here starts the planning process....

"well what if we add a door here"

"and what if we knock down this wall and take out this doorway"

"and we can convert the tub into a shower"

Here is a sneek peak of what the room looked like before we started anything. So you can get an idea  of what the heck I am talking about.

BATHROOM BEFORE

Don't get me wrong all these sound amazing. But tackling it all on our own? This is going to be a big project, I don't like big projects. Remember before I said I was lazy. Well here is a prime example. I like to come home from work and relax and usually do nothing. Projects like these make me have to give up relaxation time. So I agreed. I know it will look amazing when we are done and if we do it all ourselves we can keep the cost down. We have tiled before, we have installed a toilet and new plumbing fixtures before we can do this! Or i should say we will contract out my father and he will help Mr. F do all this while i supervise, refill drinks and love on the puppy. 

Here is our proposed AFTER floorplan:

BATHROOM AFTER

If you can not tell, we will be removing the wall & doorway separating the vanity from the shower area, and we will be add a door way that used to be the "hallway" to the vanity. You can not tell this by the drawing, but we will also be removing the existing Almond tub and surround and replacing it with just a shower. oh la la. Main reason for this: our water heater is super small and we can't even take two showers without the second person having cold water at the end, let alone take a bath. But don't worry people we do have a second bathroom to bath the baby (aka Lilly).

This is a big job, we will be gutting the whole room, replacing everything from flooring to drywall to light fixtures, vanity and toilet. This will take a little while to complete and take over most of our weekends and week nights when we can kidnap my father.

 I wonder if there is anyone out there that actually enjoys the vanity in the bedroom scenario?

shall we say addicted.

Is anyone else out there as obsessed and addicted to Pinterest as i am?

I like searching for inspirations and ideas on the internet, and when I would find something I liked I would copy the web address and past it in an email to myself. I felt pretty popular too getting all these emails, but alas they were only from myself. But then I came across this website. This is fantastic, I can search the internet or even popular posts and "PIN" my ideas. What a great way to keep track of everything. And this is a great way for me to keep track of things I want to make, things I think would be great home decor, how I wish I could dress, and even a section on the baby that isn't even planned yet. I am constantly telling Mr. F
"look what i found today", "isn't this so cool", "what if we painted this cabinet this color", "this car seat has cow print on it, lets get it". I think this site really helps me get my creative juices flowing, it really lights my fire, it revs my engine.. I think you get my drift. But it has really inspired me get more motivated and move forward with our house. To try new projects and even think outside the box, realizing that I don't have to spend a lot of money to make my house look nice, there are tons of things I can do myself and it will still look great.

You can add little notes when you pin the item so when you do look back you know exactly what you were thinking. oh and just incase you want to take a peek into my crazy pinning life here is my direct link.

You know what this is great for also?

I am a Kitchen Designer in real life, and this is a place for me to get some great inspirations for some of my clients. I try to keep up with magazines but this is very convenient and allows me to group them all together, whether it be the color scheme, layout, cool storage ideas, a beautiful hood or even bathroom ideas. This is wonderful.

To all of you out there who are reading this and have not tried this yet, i highly recommend it. You can pin anything. It will be a life saver, no more emailing yourself links (I know there are other people who do that other than myself)



This whole post sounds like an ad for Pinterest but I am not paid or perk’d for it. I just LOVE IT.

hello love.

Well hello all who are out there reading, which is no one as of yet. 

I have decided to start a BLOG. So, Welcome to little house and a puggy.

This picture above is our pride and joy Lilly.
( I am a little over the top in love with this dog)

She is the closest thing to a child at the moment and we spoil her to death.

My husband (we will call him Mr. F) is my world. I don't know what i would do without him. We make a good renovating team, I measure, he cuts. He can't read a tape measure for the life of him and i have no muscle power to use a saw. We are like two peas in a pod. ha.

I am in love with our first little condo and the ups and downs of renovating it. There is so much we would like to do and things I would like to change so I am hoping this blog will motivate me ( I tend to get pretty lazy) to get more done and share with the world.

So let's get started!