It's been a long time

We fell off the wagon a bit with the old blog. We could blame it on a lot of things, but there's no need to bore you with the details. Instead we figured we'd share the bathroom remodel with you, since it's been complete for 6 months. Let's not forget what the nasty bathroom looked like before we got started:

And now for the finished product:

We used Ikea cabinetry with butcher block counter that was sealed with marine grade varnish. Chris and I laid the dark charcoal tile in a subway pattern. The bathtub was refinished by a company called Bathcrest. We still have not decided on artwork, but soon that will make it complete.

A slight detour

A few weeks ago we told you we were going to start on the bathroom remodel. Well, we sorta lied...stretched the truth...bit off more than we could chew. See, we had also planned to start redoing our fireplace at the same time. We thought we could tackle both, or at least the tile guy told us the fireplace would be a "simple project." That's where the experts at Home Depot come in. The guy at the tile store said we could slap 10 pound tiles directly to drywall without a problem, which made the tile experts at Home Depot cringe...this is where our story begins... The fireplace the day we bought it... We had some major cleaning to do. We tried our best to protect our lungs. We had to tear out the wall the fireplace was on to safely hang tile on the wall. Then fill it in with cement board. The first tiles going up were scary. Chris rocked the tile saw and the mixing of the thinset. Safety first!! Up close of our brushed basalt tile. The finished product! We still have to seal the grout and add back the baseboards, but it's almost complete and we are thrilled with the results.

The Bathroom Remodel Begins

We have begun the official planning stages of the bathroom remodel! We plan to take you along for the ride, but figure it's going to be a few months before it's done. Here's the inspiration for our bathroom. You absolutely must go check out the blog that this photo belongs to. Chezerbey.com is complete modern eye candy.

A Great Find!

I came across this home tour on Apartment Therapy a while back and knew it would serve as major inspiration for our home. I especially loved the bedroom. I got right to work searching for two matching nightstands that would fit in our guest bedroom. I've been all over Craigslist and the mid century stores in Portland, but no luck. Today, while checking out all of the antique stores in wine country, with our good friends Rob and Amy (by the way, you must check out Amy's blog here), we found them!! Two matching nightstands. They're a little beat up, but solid wood, so it makes it super easy to clean up. They were originally $39 per piece, but we talked her down to $60 for both. Now all we need is some accessories and to make an upholstered headboard and we're all set!!

Dining Room Update

We have begun the very long tedious progress of finishing the living/dining room combo. This will be one of our biggest painting projects. Normally the accessorizing is saved to the end, but I just couldn't pass this guy up. I've been saving my groupons to Pistils Nursery on N. Mississippi Ave for awhile. I was hoping I could use the coupons to get me a few baby chicks, but I've lost that battle. Not only does Chris not want chickens, he pointed out the rules of our neighborhood says no farm animals. I'm still going to try my persuasive techniques though. Instead of live chicks, I went the live plant route and picked me up a nice big air plant. I figured we could use a little oxygen cleansing dude in our house and we came home with this... His name is T. Xerographica and he's a monster of an air plant. Generally you only have to mist them, but this one has to be soaked twice monthly. We put him in this cute tray that I stained, added some gray rocks, and he's done. I can breathe better already. And here's a shot of our half completed dining room. We have a number of things to finish:

1. paint the trim on the window (you can's see it, but it's still ugly brown)
2. hang floor to ceiling white curtain panels on the windows.
3. replace the white table top with a larger wood one to give some contrast to all the white.
4. hang a huge piece of artwork on the wall.
5. replace that horrifyingly ugly chandelier with this one:

Well, not this one exactly, since it retails for over $1100!!! But we have major plans for a DIY version that we'll post as soon as we tackle it. P.S. Isn't the photograph of the room gorgeous??!! That was shot from my amazingly talented hubby and there's almost no photoshop done to the photo...AMAZING!!

And It's Up!!

I am so proud that Chris' new website is up and running! Go check it out.

Its snowing!

This is the first time we have seen the house in the snow, I like it very much.

the kids have a snow day and are out having a snowball fight

This is our donkey. The previous owners were kind enough to leave him here for us, note the peg leg in the front.

Green!!