We Had a Baby 17 Months Ago

Apparently when you have a baby you drop off the face of the internet for years and your house falls to pieces. Well, maybe that's not entirely true since I'm still active on Instagram (how can I not share the cutest baby ever) and we're slowly starting to put things back together, but there was a while there where we were definitely in survival mode. The one thing we did complete between now and the last post almost two years ago is the nursery! This was a room that hasn't really had any love since we moved in. We didn't even paint it until we'd lived here for four years! It's been this ugly shade of brown forever! First it was a storage room for all our unpacked boxes. Then it was guest room when Angela still lived here. We had a twin trundle bed because it was free and it worked fine.

Then the guest room moved to her room when she moved out so it became mostly just a storage room again, and then for a little while it was an office-slash-storage room. We don't even have any real pictures of this state because it was so pitiful, except for of the window when we replaced the old blinds. You can kind of see the chair at the desk, the twin bed that's still there with junk on top of it, and a whole lot more junk on the floor.

Then most recently it was a storage room again when we were remodeling the master suite. We had pretty much everything we owned crammed into our two secondary bedrooms during the remodel, and finding clothing and shoes we needed was painful.

Then FINALLY when we cleared it all out again and found out we were expecting a baby we got to give this room a real purpose! We actually used paint I had bought years ago when I was going to make it in to a real guest room, but never actually used. It's a pretty light yellowy green that can look pretty bright in pictures but it looks nice and happy in person. It's not a large room, so it's tricky to get a picture of the whole thing. I had to use panorama mode to get even one side of it all together. It's super adorable and the wall above the crib is full of art we picked out when I was pregnant, and we all love it! (Also, every bit of art on these walls is secured not only with picture hangers but also with lots of Command tape, so these things are basically glued to the wall!)

We replaced the rest of the home's original windows earlier in 2016 so that instantly made the room nicer and quieter. We put the same wood blinds back up and hung cute gold spotted curtains. We also hung paper lanterns that we used at our wedding in the corner above the rocking chair/recliner. 

On the side with the closet we have a bookcase that is basically completely full. It started with just a bunch of books that came from my parents who saved them from when my sister and I were little, and we've been adding to that like crazy because we love books! We actually have so many now that we had to add another shelf above the bookcase for all of the old Disney books. On the door you can also see a wreath that Jessica, one of my best friends, made for Olive. It's so cute and she loves pointing out the little things on it.

Finally, on the last wall we have a dresser with a changing pad on top. My sister had painted the drawers while she was still living here and it was such a huge piece that she just left it when she moved, so we got to use it for our little girl! It works great for all of her cloth diapers and clothing. The other art wall in here came from our baby shower. We had everyone come over and create a painting that we would hang in the nursery. A few people couldn't make it and brought art later. But every single item on this wall except the light is something personally gifted to Olive, and it's the most amazing thing. We really love it so much!

Our gorgeous little toddler loves her room and especially her books! These days she even loves helping to put them away before bedtime because she's amazing.

The Other Bathroom

Not too long ago, I painted the guest bathroom black and hung up some art, but we still had some pretty ugly rugs in here that just didn't do a lot for the room and didn't match each other because Bed Bath & Beyond was out of the rug I was actually looking for. So I bought a new runner rug that would take up the entire floor rather than having two weird mismatched rugs. Then, the rug looked so nice that it made the builder-grade frameless mirror look super lame, so I had to get a new one of those too! I recently saw the Stockholm mirror from IKEA and thought it would look awesome in here, and it was pretty lightweight and only required two tiny holes in the wall to hang it. No glue or ugly mirror clips or anything. Now that the mirror and the rug look so great, I badly want to finish out the vanity with cabinet doors, which we're getting a quote on soon. Once that's done, I have a feeling the light fixture will be a lot uglier suddenly. But I think that cabinet doors will make enough of a difference that I can finally leave this room alone for a bit!

Ugly mismatched rugs, and the black one always looked dirty

The most time-consuming part of replacing the mirror was certainly having to repair the wall behind the old one. I assumed I would find that under the old mirror it was not textured the same way because it was clear even before removing the mirror that it had been textured around, but I didn't expect to find wallpaper! I would guess that this wallpaper is original to the house.

Anyway, I did the best I could to match the current wall texture over the wallpaper, hoping that the black paint would make it pretty hard to tell the difference between their crappy texture and my crappy texture. I think I did a pretty good job! Either way, I'm pretty sure it's not something that would be super obvious to anyone just by glancing at it.

2016-2020 Home Goals

I decided it would be a lot more feasible to have a longer goal timeframe than just a year. It's hard to get a lot done in a year! Particularly when you have lots of things you like doing other than home projects. Particularly in summer, which we have 6-8 months of per year.

Anyway, here is our three-to-five-year plan! No task is too small to be included in this list, so that we can have some manageable things to cross off :)

Master Bedroom:

• Hang art
• Find a good comfy rug for under the bed
• Add cellular shades to the French doors to filter that pesky morning sunlight that shines directly in our eyes in the summer mornings
• Replace the left side shelves with a nicer bedside table? Or else just get some nice looking baskets for in the shelves to keep knitting projects, which is probably a better use of space and resources
• Crown molding? This will be tricky because of the layout of the room and its continuity with the bathroom walls so might not really be feasible*
• Refinish the desk*

Master Bathroom:

• Install a towel bar
• Touch up the paint on the baseboards and shelves

• Paint or wallpaper the toilet room
• Get a humidity-proof bench for in the shower

Master Closet:

• Find a good Roomba-safe rug, maybe round
• Hang the final shelf on the left side - this is just me being lazy really
• Attach shelves to the walls to prevent tipping hazards

• Replace the window

Guest Room/Office:

• Paint it, probably light gray with a navy accent wall or something along those lines
• Get a guest bed/mattress
• Finish assembling the desk
• Hang shelves to the left of the window for office/craft supply storage
• Frame the piece of textured glass from the master bathroom to use as a marker board? Or just toss it?
• Paint ski holders to hang skis above the bed
• Get a couple of navy shams for the bed
• Hang art
• Replace the window
• Get a bedside table -- maybe just use one of the cedar stumps in the backyard

Nursery:

• Paint it
• Hang a curtain rod we already have
• Get blackout curtains
• Paint the dresser
• Hang art
• Get a crib

• Replace the window

Guest Bathroom:

• Replace the mirror
• Replace the light fixture
• Get a new rug
• Replace the cabinet doors
• Get new cabinet door hardware -- I would love to find something like these octopus handles! These ones are custom but maybe I can find something similar

Hallways:

• Replace hall cabinet doors
• Replace hall cabinet hardware
• Install automatic light in the hall closet that turns on when you open the door
• Remove popcorn ceiling
• Paint ceiling light blue - I bought a sample a couple years ago
• Paint doors, or possibly replace them? I wanted to paint them black but I'm not sure if I still want that now. A bright color might be fun. Or else replacing them with five-panel doors like we got for the master bathroom would be nice.*
• Replace banged up door hardware after we fix up the doors*
• Replace the stairs to get to the attic room with either a circular staircase to the left of the hall closet or with some other solution, maybe even just a pull-down attic ladder?*

Living Room:

• Finish baseboards - halfway there
• Replace the curtains with something that will block out the light when we watch movies during the day
• Install a switch for the ceiling fan/light on the wall opposite the French doors
• Find a better solution for the projector screen power
• Add more art/photos
• Set up a mail station so we don't accumulate everything on the dining table
• Finish filling cracks between walls/ceiling and ceiling/beam
• Add new properly installed crown molding*
• Add a beadboard or paneled ceiling*
• Paint or refinish the fireplace limestone somehow*
• Replace the broken fireplace grate*

Dining Area:

• Replace the removed baseboards
• Hang light-blocking curtains
• Replace the crown molding in the dining room*
• Build a storage bench under the window?*

Kitchen:

• Organize the useless pantry
• Replace the window with a greenhouse window

Entryway:

• Replace the doorknob with a keypad lock

Garage:

• Finish installation of new water heater
• Hang the bikes - We've got the supplies since we received them as a wedding gift, so now it's just a matter of installation
• Put together the shelf we bought like a year ago
• Hang up brackets & rod we got for storing the Christmas lights
• Get a retractable clothesline for above the laundry machines
• Once we have some things moved out to a shed/workshop which we have yet to build, we can better organize what will remain in here

Front Yard:

• Replace the leaning, beat-up mailbox - We got a beautiful hand-painted mailbox as a gift from a friend and we really need to get it out there!
• Replace the privacy fence & gate that are falling over
• Add more flower beds & various xeriscaped areas*
• Have the house siding painted*

Back Yard:

• Replace the lattice on the deck railings that we removed when we moved in -- for safety
• Build a new shed/workshop
• Build a greenhouse
• Add a fence along the back perimeter of the property
• Take down the chain link fence
• Get rid of the hot tub?
• Figure out what to do with the pool -- keep it or toss it?
• Add a seating area on the concrete pad where the shed used to be -- I would like to build seating after we have a backyard workshop*

*Probably closer to 5 years or maybe even longer for these goals

2015 Home Goals - Done

Even though the bedroom/bathroom remodel wasn't finished until February, we started it in November so I'm just going to lump all of those changes in with the 2015 goals! Plus this is my list so I can do what I want. A lot of rooms just got totally neglected, and I think my next goal list will be more of a five-year plan than one year. Not a lot ever gets done in one year as I've found!

Master Bedroom:

• Get better curtains for the French doors - We decided not to do this. Instead, we might just get some cellular shades to go over the windows. For now, they look nice without anything! I removed the curtain rod that I hated and patched it before painting, so I'm going to call that done enough!
• Adjust bifold closet doors so they close properly - Contractors fixed them!
• Add new crown molding - Done in the closet and it won't really be feasible in the master bedroom itself because of the new layout. We'll see
• Replace closet light with small chandelier - Got a cool LED Edison bulb fixture
• Replace old blinds - Nice new cordless white wood blinds!

Master Bathroom:

• Decide if we should paint the brass faucets or shower stall oil-rubbed bronze or just wait until a remodel - Needless to say, we went with the remodel option!
• Decide what to do with the other weird textured glass partition - Trashed it!
• Add more ceramic shelves to the shower corner - Totally unnecessary now in our fancy new shower

Office:

• Paint it
• Hang a curtain rod we already have
• Get curtains
• Frame the piece of textured glass from the master bathroom to use as a marker board

Living Room:

• Finish baseboards - halfway there
• Add new properly installed crown molding
• Replace the curtains with something white and maybe semi-sheer
• Add a beadboard or paneled ceiling - probably won't get to this for a couple years, but I'll keep it here anyway
• Hang more art & photos - At least we got one thing done in here!

Kitchen/Dining:

• Replace the crown molding in the dining room
• Add more storage

Hallways:

• Replace old crummy plastic handles on the built-in cabinet with pretty glass knobs
• Sand and paint the built-in cabinet doors white - We decided to toss these and we'll get new ones at some point. Right now they're ok just as open shelves
• Finish baseboards - Contractors finished this too!
• Remove popcorn ceiling & paint ceiling blue

Entryway:

• Replace the doorknob with a keypad lock

Garage:

• Hang the bikes - Well, we've got the supplies since we received them as a wedding gift, so now it's just a matter of installation.

Front Yard:

• Add more flower beds & various xeriscaped areas
• Replace the leaning, beat-up mailbox - We got a beautiful hand-painted mailbox as a gift from a friend and we really need to get it out there!
• Replace the privacy fence & gate that are falling over

Back Yard:

• Build a raised vegetable bed - and we grew some things too!
• Replace the old non-weatherproof shed with one that is weatherproof and put it in a different part of the property - Well we got rid of the old crummy one in any case
• Add a seating area on the concrete pad where the shed currently is - I intended for something nicer but just using our existing Adirondacks will do for now!

Master Suite Remodel - Finished Bathroom

Anybody remember how ugly and outdated our master bathroom was when we moved in? Sure, some people got excited by the garden tub, and there were definitely some updates done in the last decade or so, but in general it was really bad and impractical. Really, what's the point of a separate shower when it's less than 3'x3' and all of your bathroom real estate has been taken by a tub that's used maybe twice a year? And of course who could forget the toilet throne, a foot off the ground, separated from the rest of the bedroom only by a flimsy piece of textured glass? This was definitely a custom bathroom for a very particular person.

We certainly wanted to remodel this bathroom as soon as we walked into it, but as it was still functional and could have been much worse we just made a few small updates and were planning to wait several years and take care of some of the other larger house expenses first. Our plumbing piped up, "I think not!" and we just went for it to get exactly what we wanted while everything was getting torn up anyway. It turned out so perfect! Check it out!

We kept the sink in the same place but everything got replaced - sink, faucet, cabinet, mirror, lighting, granite countertop, hardware -- everything!

View from the bedroom

Dallas White granite

Super useful adjustable mirror, and it's pretty too!

Here's all of our new storage around the corner -- sheets, towels, extra toiletries, we can store so much suddenly!

Look! A toilet in its own room!

With a door!

That shuts!

And for the grand finale, our beautiful new giant shower! I'm incredibly pleased with how the tiling turned out since I never could really find what I had in my head anywhere online. I knew I wanted marble, but not too much marble, because it would be overwhelming in appearance and in cost. So what I came up with was marble subway tiles set in a diagonal herringbone pattern for the top 2/5 or so of the walls, plain old white subway tiles for the bottom 3/5ish, and marble hexagonal penny tile for the floors. Luckily, Nick trusted my "vision" and agreed that we could go for it. One thing we splurged on was a second showerhead, which really is totally unnecessary, but it would have been impossible to add later and we had the space for it so we just went for it. The double niches for our shampoos and things and dimmable recessed lights finish it all off beautifully. I love it!

Frameless glass door and transom to keep the steam in

Even the outdated glass bricks look nice in here, and I'm so glad we still have some natural light

Double showerheads, double niches 

For a quick recap of what's been done and what we still want to do in here (which really isn't much, for once!):

• Remodel everything?? - obviously the remodelers did this for us
• Paint walls Sherwin Williams Naval
• Organize all the storage areas
• Install a towel bar for hanging things to dry
• Paint or wallpaper the toilet room

And in case you missed it, check out the demolition, total gutting, rebuilding, and tiling progress of the bathroom!

Master Suite Remodel - Finished Hallways

The only thing the contractors did in here was finish the baseboards that we started a year or two ago, but I still thought it was enough to warrant some new pictures! Plus I'm not sure if I ever posted after I stenciled the second wall in here. First, check out the before:

So much beeeeeeige

And here is where we are now, with our lovely tile floors and stenciled walls!

Finished baseboards

Same TTU football posters from before, back on the wall

Still in love with this stencil, especially with the baseboards!

The shelves don't look too bad without doors, but I still plan to have them closed off at some point

Here's the other wall that was stenciled

More of the second wall

And a couple more football posters. You can also see the magnetic wall on the side of the hall cabinet.

For a quick recap of what's been done and what we still want to do in here:

• Paint walls Sherwin Williams Extra White (Satin)
• Stencil walls with Sherwin Williams Escape Gray (Flat)
• Tile floors
• Replace scrawny baseboards - remodelers did this for us
• Paint side of cabinet with magnetic paint for magnetic poetry
• Hang art
• Paint doors, or possibly replace them? I wanted to paint them black but I'm not sure if I still want that
• Replace banged up door hardware with something pretty
• Refinish hall cabinet doors
• Replace hall cabinet hardware