eleven months old!

This is our photoshoot from this morning! To say Ethan is a wiggle worm who will not sit still is an understatement. He's currently playing with my devotional book while we try to get out the door for church.

We're working on walking! Stay tuned!

He sees toys

Standing! For a second. :)

Had to add one unhappy one.

All he needs is a couple of shakey-eggs!

xo,

master bath renovation: week 3 {completed project}

Aesthetic White

The bathroom is FINISHED, and I just want to scribble hearts all over these pictures as I figure out how to decorate this new, pretty space!

The paint color is Aesthetic White 7035 - Sherwin-Williams. Clearly, it's not very white. I picked it after playing with their Color Visualizer online, which I used to contrast this with (Sherwin Williams' most popular beige!) Kilim Beige which is all over our entire house. Not so much anymore, since I painted all of the trim white, but prior to that, everything was beige. We got rid of the window in the bathroom, so I wanted to use a brighter, cleaner shade. We are REALLY happy with it!

We are so thankful that this renovation was successful. We've seen horror stories on HGTV where the contractor walks out, or they spend too much, etc. We did have a lot of work done, and there were a few surprises, but ultimately this renovation was good for us and our house. We no longer have black mold growing in the base of our shower; we don't have any issues with our dryer vent pipe; we don't have to worry about the mixture of galvanized piping and copper joints causing a major catastrophe in our home (well, at least not in the master bathroom... sigh). Now we get to enjoy a beautiful bathroom!

I'm totally exhausted, so the pictures are going to speak for themselves. And the ones of the floor in the shower are meant to illustrate the way the travertine looks different when wet (I poured water down the drain).

Gorgeous floors

SPACE to dance in the morning

Main bath area. Three mirrors because we are vain...

The vanity looks small here but it is PERFECT.

Looking into the potty/shower area from the closet

Shame shot, more floors <3

Got that curtain at Target for $7 y'all!
Squealed as I left with it.

See where the water was? Love the color variance!

Again!

Crooked (darn it!) but I love my new wall art
from Target (I promise this is not a Target ad).

Again.
Sometimes, love is a Tyler Candle. Mmmm.

Can you tell our counters are pinkish?
Ironic homage to the old bathroom.

I am moving into this room.

THE SHOWER! We haven't event used it yet!

Who knew a toilet could look so gorgeous?
Keeping the stickers until we are un-lazy.

This tiny light is perfect for early mornings!

Another view with the dim light.

Old Bathroom Reminder Photos:

NEW, Safe, Expensive Bathroom Photos:

My last note: we believe and follow Jesus. It was a struggle to spend this much on a bathroom. Do we love it? Yes. Does it seem like it's too good to be true? Yes. Did our jaws drop when we found out that we could have had our house burn down or have pipes burst had we not done this? Absolutely. There's a blessing in this, though it was costly. We know we spent quite a bit on this, but we also think of it as an investment. If the Lord ever calls us to move anywhere, we like to think this will help our house sell like a hotcake and prove to be a point of good stewardship. And we hope it blesses other people... So, now that we aren't embarrassed by our bathroom, take the one-gallon-challenge (come over, drink water), and use our bathroom!

XOXOXOXOX (happy girl),

master bath renovation: week 2

What a week! We are still sleeping in the full-sized guest bed (rather than our own king bed) because the dust has been flying everywhere in the bedroom! They've laid 99% of the tile, all except for a couple of pieces at the entry threshold. They've grouted the main floor, and I think tomorrow/Tuesday we should have a fully tiled shower, too. They say they'll be done by the end of the week! We're also having them tile our kitchen backsplash (we just don't even have one!) when they finish the bath, but that should be pretty quick!

This is where the vanity and lights are going to go.
The below pendant light is across from this area in the
same room.

There will be a pendant light there, above an IKEA Isala
cabinet across from the vanity. They've primed this room
for paint.This corner is where a linen closet was, backing
up to the shower stall.

The toilet will go where the black thing is, so we'll have
added privacy along with a door to the restroom which
actually closes AND locks!

That's the travertine for the shower floor!

Here's a walk-through of the space:

I also took 8 hours to paint 12 doors and 2 shutters in our house. Whew! I am officially burnt out on painting... but I still have closet doors to paint in the guest bedroom. I'm tempted to just take them out :)

That weird shadow at the top is the pull-cord to pull down the attic stairs :)

One more week!!

xo,

master bath renovation: week 1

We just got back from a FABULOUS vacation in Colorado. I'm really not sure how/why we came home. I mean the weather there is just fantastic. Who knew "Summer" could be a high of 75 and glorious days surrounded by mountains?

One thing we learned: no more flights with babies... at least not for a while. It's just not enjoyable, folks. We'll be leaving the screaming baby behind on future flights, including our trip to Germany this December. We're thankful to live near our parents and grandparents so we have that luxury!

Anyway, on to the bathroom renovation!

Uneven floors where terrazzo was ripped out
(and my mom's pedicured foot)

Our contractor got to tearing out our bathroom while we were gone, and there were two weird things they found when the walls came down and the floors came up: the previous remodelers had stacked terrazzo on top of terrazzo, so a lot of terrazzo had to be torn out, and the vent pipe from our dryer... just ended in our wall. It didn't vent anywhere and it was so dented and full of lint that it was probably an unbelievably risky fire hazard. Hooray! So glad we remodeled! Oh, and there was also a potential disaster waiting to happen in some corroded pipes. Yeah, just awesome stuff in these old homes.

Dented, damaged, useless dryer vent pipe

Now, for some Before|During photos:

Former vanity area, future toilet area

Former single sink + toilet, future double vanity

Former shower, future open space (!)

Former creeper tub with mirror, future HUGE bathroom!

Excited to see what happens in weeks two and three!

xo,

ten months old

It has been quite a morning. Austin got back from a day-trip to Denver for work late last night (around 1 am) so he was sleeping in, and it was day 2 of getting myself and a baby ready - solo. I'm terrible at the timing when I don't have the help I am used to, so I almost always run late when I am alone (you think I would learn). So, of course I forgot my cell phone, Ethan's bottle, and Ethan's Wubbanub at home, and somehow remembered my lunch. I made 2 trips back for the first two items and didn't realize the Wubbanub was at home until after Ethan was already at daycare. I think I've emphasized before how dependant we are on his Wubba (here and here). Fortunately, Austin took it in around 9:30 this morning, so all is right with the world again!

That said, I DID remember that today marks 10 months of this little boy's life. We had a rough photoshoot. He thought he was in crib-prison, mama just thought the crib sheets (from his great Aunt Barbara) were too cute and had to be used. Ethan was winning that battle, until dad woke up and helped him smile!

Pre-dad-intervention. I wish this wasn't so blurry because
I might seriously frame it. I love this pout!

imprisoned

At least he isn't crying....

Jail shot! Daddy entertaining Ethan

It's working! Laying down is for the birds

Happy boy!

The puppet culprit - the gift from Pop Pop that makes Ethan smile!

The ONLY smiling shot with his legs down. It was a rough shoot.

I weighed Ethan recently, and he weighed 22 lbs! He's probably still tracking at about 60-70th percentile to weight. We know he's over 30" tall, but do you blame me for not measuring? I mean, pictures are hard enough. He's more about the candid shots ;)

We leave for Colorado Saturday, bright and early. There's still much to do (finish packing & preparing our home for the contractors). Hopefully the busyness will help us pass the time quickly. And hopefully that dreaded flight goes well, and quickly. Thanks to all our friends for your tips on flying with a baby!

Oh, did I mention that Ethan saw Austin bringing the Wubbanub to daycare and lost it? It's just been that kind of day. Whew!

xo,

PS - here's a cute video of Ethan playing with the puppy-puppet!