Tiled

I love a good deal. I love free even more! So when free tile was bestowed upon us I couldn't resist.

These tiles have been sitting in a friends garage for about 2 years, solid quartz tile. He had intended to use them for an outdoor patio, but the idea was vetoed by his girlfriend. She told him to get rid of it, it was taking up space. I offered to find a home for it.

Now the question is what do I do with them?

I have an idea...

{Please ignore the oak... seems as though I am stuck with it :( }

Where the water is

Every home improvement show I have ever seen says that if you want the best return for your investment; put your money where the water is. The kitchen and bathroom. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses.

I rarely share pictures of my own house on here. My house is full of unfinished projects. Even the one I am about to share is still currently unfinished. Our bathroom was by far THE WORST room in the house when we moved in. It was a cut up space, with 3 little interconnected rooms, one which contained only a bathtub. It was a throwback to the 70's, harvest gold and peasoup green, with flowered wallpaper. UGLY. Need I say more? Ok, I'll let you see...

It was gross...

We (Bruce) chipped all the mini mosiaic tile...

Tore down some walls...

Dylan helped too

Installed a stand alone shower...

Cut a hole in our house to get the tub in...

Bathrooms should have lots of natural light right?

Framed the wall back in...

Installed a new window...

Painted the walls, tiled the floor (and it's heated, no more cold toes)

{Yes, that's a toilet in my tub}

Installed a new vanity...

New Washer and Dryer too!

Did some tiling and trim...

That harlequin pattern caught my eye at the Home Depot, it looked great there, in my own house I am not so sure...

Some new lighting fixtures, a mirror and medicine cabinet...

It was a LONG process, and of course there are things I would do differently now, but I have to say this is my favorite room in the house. Now if only it always looked that clean!

Eventually I plan on putting a folding counter over the washer and dryer, I hope to convince Bruce that it needs to be done in marble to match the rest of the bathroom.

Eye Candy

I found my dream house! It exists somewhere... the following images were found courtesy of Kohler and I. Fell. In. Love!!!

Yep- we could move right in! This house REALLY, REALLY, REALLY makes me wish we were building RIGHT NOW!

A Simple Plan

When our basement flooded a few months back, our insurance company paid for a company to come in, pack all the stuff, and store it until the work was completed. I had trouble giving that duty over to someone else, but with 2 little kids it was easier... sadly when the stuff came back I regretted it... there are probably a hundred boxes with stuff in them, and there is no rhyme nor reason to what they put in those boxes. We go looking for something and have to go through almost every box to find all the things that go together. It's a nightmare. There are still things displaced all over my house that belong in the basement.


This has all made me realize a few things (OK some of them I already knew, they were just reiterated...)

1. Clutter stresses me out.

2. We have way too much clutter.

3. We have way too much of everything.

4. We need to learn to live with less.

5. I need to find creative and attractive ways to store the things we have.

6. I want a house we can be proud of.

7. I'm ashamed of how much we stuff we buy.

8. Being financially ahead is more important than buying stuff we really don't need.

9. Making do is a well kept secret to contentment.

10. We need to learn to want what we already have.

11. I want my children to learn to be financially responsible, so we have to be their models.

We have made some changes financially, we have an opportunity to stay ahead of the game when it comes to our money, to pay off our mortgage faster. We have always had a plan to build a new house, and someday we will, but for now we're here.  So... somehow we have to make this house work for us now, we will have to get rid of the stuff that clutters up our lives and my mind. We need solutions for organizing what we keep so that we don't have to spend hours looking for that one piece of paper we need right now, the lost mitten, or the other shoe.

 I've been all over the place this month - I want the house organized, I want the basement finished, I want to go on a family budget, I want to make furniture. I want my kitchen to be more efficient and opened up.  It seemed like I was all over the place, until I really sat down and thought about it. It all ties together rather nicely, actually.

We have too much stuff - our house is too cluttered - we need to organize - we need to stop buying stuff - we need to stop spending money on things we don't NEED.

We have this opportunity to get ahead financially,  as long as we are disciplined (that was my 2010 word afterall). So, off I go to make a plan. Staying in this house for at least another 3 years is the key to making this plan work. Since we'll be staying here we need a plan to make this house work for us. A plan for organizing and purging. A plan for spending less on groceries, on the things we don't need. A plan to simplify out lives, so that we're all on the same page. A plan. Wish me luck.

More Boy Room stuff...

Yesterday we drove to the middle of nowhere to have a look at the bed I was drooling over for Dawson's room...

Well, they didn't have it in stock... the did have another mates bed there so I was able to guage the height, and sadly I think it might be too high, and since it is meant not to have a boxspring the bedrails that you can buy for toddlers just wouldn't work. They also sell the bunk beds in the same finish, so that could be an option, just to use one of the beds for now.

So, my hunt continued.

I found this:

http://www.maxtrixkids.com/boys-bedroom-furniture.html

Which can be turned into this:

How much would the boys LOVE this idea?

Or This:

Then This:

Then this:

It's all made out of solid birch with good safety standards, and essentially one bed keeps transforming into other configurations by just purchasing the extra pieces. It seems quite ingenious to me... but then again the crib that transformed into a daybed and then a double seemed pretty cool too, and it's only ever been used as a crib. 

Convertible cribs were all the rage when I had Dylan, but frankly I don't see the functionality of them. If you take the rail off the side of the bed you get a small daybed, with no rail to keep baby toddler in. By the time Dylan was big enough to move from the crib, Dawson had been born so we needed the crib for him, and bought Dylan a set of bunk beds. Dawson's room is way too small for a double bed so that isn't going to work either...

So, while I like the idea of a bed that can grow and change as the kids needs grow and change I am not 100% convinced that it would withstand the test of time. Although boys don't usually care as much about what furniture "looks" like... just ask Bruce.

I haven't found out how much the bed costs, and don't know if it's in the budget or not... but I think it is pretty cool!

More Bedroom Inspiration

I have always loved blue and white, it's so crisp and clean.  The above room almost makes me reconsider the 4 poster bed... almost.

Black and white is what I flock to though.

Neither of those bedding sets will ever be in my house, they're Ralph Lauren and while beautiful I just won't pay that kind of money for a duvet cover.

I also love red and white. Red is certainly my favorite color, though I worry that it would be something I would get tired of in my bedroom. (Snuck in the 4 poster again!)

I'm trying to convince my Mom to make me this quilt, I love the pattern. Question is whether it should be blue and white, black and white, or red and white... hmmmm

A Big Boy Room

Dawson's room is a whopping 8 1/2' by 9 1/2'... less than 100 square feet. It's tiny. There are closets bigger than his room.

As a nursery it was OK, afterall baby furniture is small. There was room for the crib, changing table and dresser (although I wish the changing table and dresser had been combined for space saving because it was a little cluttered).  Now that he is climbing out of his crib it is time for a bigger bed...

This is the bed I hope to get him. I love the two-tone color combination and how it looks very masculine! I have been to so many furniture stores around here and few of them have real wooden beds for kids, everything is made out of fiberboard, not only am I opposed to it for ecological reasons and the off-gasing, but frankly I don't think they're very practical. My kids are hard of stuff and it seems like a waste of money because in about 6 months it would be broken!

Boys rooms seem so hard to do right, they are either too themed which they grow out of SO fast or they are a mismatch of themes, or they are dull. There isn't much to choose from for boys either. Some people manage to conquer decorating for boys, they do it so well... I am jealous!

 

I have had these pictures in my design file for years, I think they may have come from the HGTV dream house once upon a time. I absolutely love the car on the wall, how creative! The tin on the wall is pretty cool too! Unfortunately Dawson's room is no where near large enough to pull this off!

And definitely not large enough for this room!

I love bunkbeds, but he's not really old enough for that... he's a monkey and he WOULD climb up to the top whether there was a ladder up or not!

I like the neutral tones, so easy to decorate around with all the colorful boy stuff

Again with the neutrals, and a world traveler kind of vibe

I think my Mom will be making Dawson a quilt so we'll have to see what we can find for fabric and maybe work the design of his room around that, I will try to take pictures once it is complete but it's such a small room that it's hard to get a good picture!

Some other bloggers that have made boys rooms look great?

Tracey at Beneath My Heart

Karla at It's the Little Things