Home Makeover Bathroom Edition - Before and After

Slowly and surely, we have been picking away at house.  Weekend by weekend.  Nail-bite by painstaking nail-bite (for me!).  Blister after blister.  Celebration dance-parties after toasts made to our dream coming true. 

Thot it's about time for an update.

Pit of despair Our master bathroom

You can't really see it in these lame-o pictures, but there were really two entrances to the bathroom.  There was this awkward little hallway in front of the actual bathroom that led out to the stairwell to go downstairs or to the master bedroom. 

 And the blue tile.  Holy smokes, the blue tile.  On the floor.  On the walls.  On the ceilings (competing with the printed blue wallpaper). 
There was this janky cabinet situation with a weird piece of stained marble on the top. 

The bathtub was so corroded that it felt like you were standing on the moon during a shower, and don't get me started on the fixtures. 

So we knocked out the wall to the hallway and closed off one of the doors to make the bathroom a little longer.  We ripped out the bathtub.  We ripped out the janky cabinet.  We ripped out everything...every piece of plaster (older homes have plaster walls and not sheetrock - not fun), and started new. 

Out with the old, in with the new.

I found the roman shade I wanted to put in the window in a catalog, and after measuring it and setting up the custom order...it was going to cost upwards of $250.  FOR A SHADE.  say whaaaaat?

So we showered with a ghetto sheet draped over a skinny rope that was tied to the ropes in our windows for several months.  You see, I am scared to death to spend money and that $250 estimate threw me right off kilter.  I knew I needed something there, but in situations in where I want something to be perfect....I do this super effective thing.  It is like the best kept secret on how to avoid doing something imperfectly.  Just avoid doing it.  It works craptastically.

So I took the plunge.  I bought material.  I cut material.  And I sewed me a shade. 

And it only cost me $24.  BOOOOM!

My friend (and decision maker) Jeannie helped me pick out everything.  And I needed a kick in the pants help for every step (fear of spending $$ + overwhelming pressure to make something perfect = avoidance technique discussed above).  The girl got mad skills. 

It is my favorite spot in the house right now.  It feels so sunny and warm in there.  It makes me happy.

Before and After - The Living Room

So we are neck-deep into this whole "renovate your entire home while you are simultaneously living in it and raising small children in it" thing.  I thought it was time for a little update. 

You remember this post where I showed you the ghetto conditions we started off with, right?  Well, we have a few rooms that are finished...this being the first.  This is what we label as our "formal living room," although you should note that the chick typing the word "formal" counts chipping her front tooth on a wine bottle and picking up a live opossum from her dining room floor with a snow shovel (crazy story to come) as two of her best experiences of the last 5 years.  I'm just sayin'.  Not too formal.

When we were packing to move to Omaha, we got rid of as much as we could to really give ourselves a fresh start.  We sold, gave away, and threw away furniture and clutter in hopes that we would get a new style and a new look in our new home.

This little pew was a craigslist find.  The couple told me I could have this antique church pew for free if I came and picked it up.  For FREE!  There was nothing that was going to stop me from picking up that gem.  So while Shawn put the boys down for bed, I took his truck and drove to the house.  They had told me they would be gone, but left it on the front porch for me.  Once I found the location, I greeted the agreed-upon pew.  All SEVEN FREAKING FEET OF IT.  People....Shaquille O'Neal could have napped on this thing.  And when I went to lift one side it felt like he was napping on it.  Somehow I figured out how to hoist that sucker into the bed of the truck, close the tailgate and have it make it home...all by my lonesome.  I came out of it with sweaty pits, what felt like a mild hernia, and a year's worth of payment into the swear jar.  Oh, and a free pew.  We cut it in half and re-attached the arm

and voila!  Uncomfortable but stylish seating!

This was the before.  You can't see too well, but the walls had floral cream wallpaper with lavender trim.  The ceiling was a product of the 70's brainchild - popcorn texturing!  We had that stripped, remudded, then painted.  We peeled all the wallpaper, then washed the glue off the walls, painted the walls and repainted the trim.

These suckers were no help at all, but had a lot of fun throughout the process.

We have met a carpenter (Damond) who began to help us out with little (and slightly big!) projects, and quickly became one of our closest friends here.  He is pictured above, cutting out the wall between the dining and living room to make the doorway bigger, and give the allusion of more space.  All the walls are plaster (old skool) and are crazy-hard to alter.  But Damond can do it all.  :)

Post-paint job and pre-furniture explosion.  This was the day I got my new natural-fiber area rug.  Love it.

I have realized that although I would love to be super talented when it comes to decorating, and vision, and taste....sadly, I am not.  No matter how hard I try...I just don't have that gift.  This girl, however, DOES.  Above is Jeannie, my neighbor and what I affectionately refer to as my "life stylist."  The girl has some serious skillz, and is responsible for almost every decision in the remodel/redecorating project.  Love ya Jeannie.

So...that concludes the tour of room #1.  Hope you had as much fun as we did, and just think - you didn't even have to sweat at all or pay for anything.  Stay tuned for more.

before

So, when we landed in Omaha...this is where we set up shop.  Our new little house, soon to be made into a home.  Quite different from what we left - stone instead of siding, huge mature trees instead of poor little newly planted crepe myrtles, one acre instead of the roomy ten acres we were used to, grass instead of weeds for a yard, 85 year-old house instead of a 7 year-old one, deck instead of a porch, neigbors instead of horses and goats. 

(Back yard off of deck)
But there are many similarities too - stairs providing entertainment for my boys and legwork for me, 3 bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, a backyard that can easily be transformed into an ocean full of pirates by two little imaginations, sunny spots for both Professor and Pia to take naps, many projects to keep us busy, and tons of potential for filling it with special everyday memories with this crew of mine.

(view of the backyard from the back fence)
We bought it with the understanding that we would have tons to do on it to make it what we want.  But, also, it seems like house projects are our thing.  We have done it so many times, and it always makes us excited and energized about the possibilities.  The potential that no one has uncovered yet.  The future - our future.

(view from driveway up to deck off back of the house)
And this time was no exception.  We looked at all of the overgrowth, dirt, grease, grime, faded wallpaper and dingy carpet and knew this was it. 

With a gormet kitchen like this...wouldn't you be sold as well?!?!? And let me just go ahead and answer the question that must killing you: yes, that is actually all of the counter space.  I'm such a lucky little cook...

(Living room...opens up to the dining room on the right)
Stuff everywhere, sometimes it is hard to see the potential.  But it is there. 

(powder room half-bath on main floor)
Really...did you know there was a trend of putting carpet in bathrooms?  What's that you say?  You don't believe it?  I have some lovely mauve shag in two out of the three bathrooms in our house to prove it.  YUCK.

(Stairway going up middle of house)
And don't even get me started on the pomegranate wallpaper.  Seriously...I know Oprah made everyone aware that they are a super-food, but this just takes it a step too far.  And how bout the code that banister adheres to?  You can almost drive a truck through those openings. 

(master bedroom)
Speaking of wallpaper...it is everywhere.  The walls, under paint on walls, and if the ceilings aren't popcorn...yep, you guessed it, they are wallpapered. 

(Rex's bedroom)

(Roanin's bedroom)

But the boys don't seem to mind at all.  In fact, the move was quite seemless for them.  They got adjusted very quickly, and don't seem to mind the outdated conditions and endless construction projects we have going on. 

We even make them help.  It doesn't take much persuading.  Roanin loved pulling off wallpaper so much, I had to actually stop him from doing it in other places (like new neighbor's houses, whoops...)since we have been here. 

And whatever the big does, the little follows (sans pants, of course).

(Shawn pulling lavender (you heard it right) LAVENDER! carpet off the stairs in his go-to uniform)

So the plan is, to show you all this before, and slowly show you the afters as we get to them.  This will be a long, slow process, but one that we are not only up for...but so grateful to have.  This process is so good for me.  Because with each piece of wallpaper that rips off, every piece of carpet that comes up, every wall that comes down, and each dust pan full of dirt that is swept, I feel more like me.  And this house feels more like us.