Powder Room Reveal!

It's what you've all been waiting for... the final powder room reveal! I just finished up with the contractor this morning, and decided to post pictures before heading into work. I love the way it turned out. It is so much more modern, clean and fresh!

So, check it out...

Granted, I actually need to put things in there to make it functional. Like TP, soap and a towel for starters. I also need to have some sort of artwork on the walls.

Here's a breakdown of the raw materials:
1. Vanity cabinet and mirror -- Bertch Osage Cabinet in birch stained Brindle
2. Vanity top -- remnant piece from local marble and granite store in Caesarstone
3. Sink -- Kohler Verticyl under mount sink
4. Faucet -- Kohler Purist
5. Towel ring -- Kohler Purist
6. Toilet paper holder -- Kohler Purist (online picture didn't look exactly the same so I didn't add the link)
7. Toilet -- Kohler Kelston

What the contractor did:
1. Took out the old drywall
2. Installed new drywall + soundproofing (you gotta admit, that's kind of nice)
3. Moved plumbing to correct location
4. Painted
5. Installed new trim
6. Installed vanity cabinet, top, sink, faucet, mirror, toilet and bathroom hardware

I'm debating whether or not to give a budget breakdown. Raw materials alone were around $2,500, so this wasn't exactly a cheap job, but I absolutely love the way it looks. I think we are going to stick to some less expensive projects in the near future though. :)

Grill Christening & New Vanity

First of all - Happy Mother's Day for those moms out there! Hope you all had a good one! We spent most of the day with my mom and dad to celebrate (having spent some time with J's folks last weekend). 

Guess what we did this weekend? Yup - we bought a grill! The grill we inherited with the house didn't work, so we had to replace it and get rid of the old one. This project was 90% J's, so I am not really going to claim credit. J did most of the research and looking. I spent Saturday morning at Let's Dish with a friend of mine. It was my first experience doing anything like that - and I must say that I am a huge fan! You basically prep a bunch of meals that you can then freeze. And they give you directions for how to prepare each of them. It should make my weeknight meals a lot easier and it was a great way to socialize and be productive! Anyway, back to the grill. After I got home on Saturday, J asked if I wanted to join him in the final decision. He had been leaning towards a Charbroil, but we both ended up falling in love with a Weber in the store, and went for it. It came in a big box, and we had anticipated needing a truck. But instead, we took all the parts out and transported them disassembled in my car. So, here is how the pieces all looked out in the back. 

And then, J assembled it, which was awesome! I was outside for part of the assembly, but I spent the time reading. :) Isn't she pretty?

And so, tonight, we popped out one of the Let's Dish meals that gave grill instructions (tangy bbq pork with roasted potatoes and peppers).

It was delicious! And cleanup was super easy! Since I had done all of the prep in the store, and we used  the grill, all we had to do was put the plates in the dishwasher. 

And, it's worth mentioning... we know that we have some friends who feel personally offended that they were not here for the first grilling, but I promise we will have people over soon! :) 

And now... for the powder room update... They installed the vanity cabinet and trim this past Friday. 

They should be finishing up this week. I'm trying to decide about the light in there. What do you all think of replacing it with this one? I think it would look more modern. However, for now, it is nice to have a light in there again. Also, keep in mind that they will be putting another coat of paint on the walls after everything is installed. I'm looking forward to our house being back in order again. Also, the dust from the drywall seemed to get everywhere. I dust and it just seems to come back again! 

Anyway, I'll finish this post off with a few greenery pictures. Our spider plant has grown considerably since I repotted it, and is finally having some babies!! This means, I will soon be able to start a new plant in a small pot! 

And take a look at our hydrangea! Isn't she pretty?

We also have a nice collection of weeds starting to grow, but that's more or less a continual battle. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Adding Some Color

Update time on the powder room! This week, they have been working on drywall. And today was the first day of paint. Here are some shots of just the drywall. Looking smooth...

And here are some shots after the first coat of paint.

The color looks slightly different in each of the shots, but you get the idea. I think once the light goes in, you will get a better idea of the color. It should start looking more like a bathroom shortly!

I can't believe I did that...

I hope everyone had a great weekend, Cinco de Mayo, Star Wars Day, etc. Ours was good and busy and went by too quickly, as always. I'll get to the explanation behind the post title in a minute. First, I will update you all on the lastest happenings around here. Our Hydrangea is starting to bloom (sorry for the dark picture - I snapped it at twilight)! I'm very excited to see how it does this summer. 

We also picked out our paint color for the powder room remodel. These are our top choices. We went with the bottom left.

We had narrowed down our choices from about a million, so we were happy to have that decision behind us (and our last choice for the remodel).

Here are some shots of the progress being made. The new drywall is in.

And the plumbing fixtures have been moved to a more appropriate location. In case you don't remember, the water lines were coming in from the side previously.

Okay, we are all caught up. Now, we are back to the point where I can explain my post title. You may not remember that I had planned on painting our master bathroom for a while now. I had even patched up the walls (from the earthquake damage last fall). Well, I finally got around to painting it this weekend. I know what you want to ask... what color did I pick? This feels totally hypocritical considering my de-beige-ifying agenda, but I... chose... beige (gasp). On an already beige wall. Yikes. Here's why: A while ago, I had painted the master bathroom (where the shower is) a blue-gray. I thought it would be good. It isn't. It doesn't really go with the tile and vanity. I considered other options, but really, a beige tone does go really well with the tile. However, I still hated the yellowy beige that was in our bathroom.

So, I went with a more gray/beige. See the contrast? Of course, while applying the paint, I kept thinking, "why am I doing this? It's going to look the same!" But, it actually does make a difference.

Here are some "after shots"

It is no longer a yellow tone, which is a huge plus, and it does actually lighten it up a bit. I am planning on doing the same to the area with the shower, but that will have to wait until I have time. It is nice not to look at spackling compound while getting ready. And it is nice to have the holes from the earthquake patched up. I still can't believe I painted something beige though. Also, I realize it may not be easy to tell the change from the pictures. So, you'll have to trust me.

Demo Day

I know what you have been thinking... what is the update with the powder room? You know... the one I destroyed. To update you, last I blogged about it, this is what had happened:

After I realized that this job was too big for me to tackle on my own, we hired a contractor to help out. Well, this week, they started working. Today was demo day. So, here are some updated pictures.

So, the wallpaper is officially outta there! I don't know about anyone else, but I like seeing what's behind the drywall. You can really see where everything is and how it all got put together (like, for instance, how our plumbing is in the wrong spot or how there is a big cavity of open space above our closet). It's like house surgery. Our plumbing fixtures were also delivered. I'm really excited to see how this all comes together!

On another, completely unrelated topic, I just finished Speaker for the Dead, the second book in the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card. The book was very interesting, and also, like all good fiction, drew you in. However, it was so completely different than Ender's Game. Religion took more of a front seat in this novel, and it was fairly interesting how a Mormon author spent most of the book promoting humanism as religion, while borrowing most of the central themes from Christianity. It was quite perplexing. I put down the book wondering what he was really wanting the reader to feel. It was a good deal more thought-provoking than most science fiction books. I do want to say that I don't agree with the author. It was almost like he was holding agnosticism as supreme, but also borrowing at-will from Christianity to argue his point. I'm not trying to badger him for his humanism, just for his lack of consistency (I mean he literally quoted scripture). Overall, the book was quite engaging, and obviously got me thinking enough to be typing out my thoughts on the internet.

Anyway, that's really all I have right now.