it's back to work...

we had a wonderful thanksgiving with both sides of the family (well, except scottie... he hates to travel!) but, we managed to get a little work done as well. remember last week, when i said i had photos of the tiled countertop?

here it is. this is what it looked like after we got done building a plywood and cement-board base, cutting out the hole for the sink and laying tile. then it has to set for awhile before you can grout.

the tile got grouted on saturday morning before we headed off to amarillo. i couldn't believe the transformation and i can't wait to get our sink and faucet in there! we still have a ton of work to do after this though. as you can see, our walls aren't exactly ready for the wallpaper and i still have to finish up painting the trim and cabinet.

the whole process wasn't as hard as i thought it would be, but we couldn't have done it without doug's parents. they have done quite a bit of tiling before this and they had all the tools already!

weekend update.

the weekend flew by and now we have a short work week to look forward to. my mind can't stay focused... and all i can think about is turkey and cranberry sauce. progress is being made in the downstairs bathroom though! we ripped out the old countertop, built a base for the new and tiled it. now we need to grout, drop in the sink and install the new faucet.

unfortunately, that won't be the end of the work to get the bathroom looking good again. i still need to get the rest of the old wallpaper off, along with the adhesive, finish painting the trim and cabinets, select and install new hardware, wallpaper and find a mirror.

i do have pictures of the tiled countertop... i just keep forgetting to pull them off my camera!

i have also been lusting over these shower curtains from anthropologie... but considering how much they are, i figure i won't ever own the real thing. i thought my steel blue curtain would still look okay, but i figure if i'm going to be matchy-matchy with the bathroom, i might as well go all the way.

anthropologie.com

design*sponge sneek peak

i really think these would be super easy to diy, possibly with some old white (bleached and washed in the hottest water possible, of course) sheets from the goodwill. AND i really would like to leave the edges raw and let them fray. but i can't decide if that would look chic or just like i am lazy. now... to make them white or gray??? any thoughts?

here's to hoping i can get this all done before any xmas holiday guests arrive... i'm guessing probably not, but if i could at least finish the painting and get the wallpaper up, it might not be so bad...

inspiration: black & white kitchens

style at home

i am beginning to notice a trend in my inspiration folder... i thought i would go through it the other day and i realized that pretty much every kitchen image i have saved is black (or gray) and white with a few pops of color thrown in. i have to say, i was a little surprised. i am usually a full-blown color kind of girl, and these serene, simple kitchens keep popping up and making me smile.

i know that i am using a similar combination in my own kitchen right now, though the green does kind of take over in a way no color does in any of these examples... but, i'm just storing these away in my memory for future use. we won't being staying in our current home forever and i am definitely going to keep these images in mind when we do start looking for a new place to call home...

apartment therapy - kristan cunningham

source unknown

desire to inspire - elizabeth martin

source unknown

desire to inspire

yay for friday!

i am ready for the weekend again! today our bathroom sink is supposed to arrive (that's right, we finally decided on a tile countertop) and we're getting some more estimates on windows and even siding. instead of replacing all the windows, now we just want to replace the big one upstairs. we've already scraped, sanded, caulked, primed and painted the other 3 windows in the front, and they are looking mighty fine if i do say so myself! i need to finish planting my mass of daffodil bulbs (what was i thinking ordering 100 bulbs? i did get a great deal...) and i'd like to get a compost pile started since there are a ton of leaves gracing our yard right now.

no other huge plans... although i would like to get out and take some pictures before all the amazing color falls off the trees...

inspiration: type in the home

this is one amazing living room. style/swoon

the rest of the house is pretty sweet too.

couch recovered in used billboard vinyl. readymade

magazine monogram artwork. young house love

they have a great tutorial on this (and extensive how-to section)

graphic monogram pillowcases. can you say diy? design*sponge

this was actually from a before & after (the headboard)

but i saved this image for the pillowcases...