Way, way back, many centuries ago,
Not long after the Bible began.
We set out to renovate the downstairs bathroom
And get it done pronto! That was the plan!

Ok, enough with channeling Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (love that musical). It seems like forever ago that we started renovating the downstairs bathroom.  Rick began by pulling out the existing vanity and grungy toilet when I was away in Harvard.  Next, we repaired the rotten sub flooring, made-over the vanity with a new faucet and vessel sink and then laid some new tile. And then … our progress halted. Seized up. We became constipated.  In the metaphorical sense, you understand. Many a month went by with us gazing longingly into the shell that was our bathroom, dreaming of downstairs facilities.

Well, our wait is finally over (ex-lax is key). We now have a working downstairs bathroom, complete with grouted tile and painted walls. But the passage wasn’t always clear (ok, enough with the toilet puns). Before we were able to grout anything, we first had to rip some tile back out.  Yes, you read that correctly. 

From our many trips going into the bathroom to admire our handy tiling work, we had accrued a set of small cracks in two or three of the tiles by the door. With both of us being perfectionists (Rick is the OCD type, I am the “work for 24 hours non-stop to get it right, even though it should only take 2 hours” type), neither of us wanted to grout over the cracked tiles. So, our only option was to bring those babies back up again. A couple of chisels, a hammer, a sledge hammer, a floor scraper (and two type-A personalities) later, we had the three offending tiles out of the way.  As the tile came up, we figured that the cracks were caused from an uneven join where the sheets of backerboard came together.

So with more backerboard laid down and a generous slathering of tile adhesive, we tiled the bathroom.  Again.

A few days later was Labor Day  – a perfect time to grout the tile.  Unfortunately, (ahem) I had to go into work, so Rick had the fun task all to himself. We chose a sanded grout very close to the color of the tile to make the joins look seamless. After mixing the grout with the recommended dose of water, Rick squeegeed it on with a rubber float.  After a 15 minute wait, he began wiping the tile with a damp sponge. Wiping.  Wiping.  Wiping.  Lots of wiping involved in grouting.  In fact, I think the whole process should be renamed wiping, instead of grouting.

We let the grout cure for 24 hours before applying grout sealer – this protects the grout from any stains.  Stains.  Bathroom. ‘Nuff said.  And then, we were *finally* able to set the toilet. And paint the walls a gorgeous slate blue color.

We are so close to finishing our downstairs bathroom renovation.  We still have a few finishing touches to do, such as finishing our vanity makeover, hanging the TP and towel holders, painting the ceiling and putting up some crown molding. Then, some decorative touches, such as some of my black and white photography, will be the piece de resistance to this makeover.  Stay tuned for the final reveal, complete before and after pics – coming soon!  Well, definitely sometime this century.

I am terrible at keeping plants alive.  I either completely forget to water them or over-compensate for my usual lack of care by over watering.  The end result is the same.  Dead plants.  Imagine my glee when I came across a solution for us less-than-green-fingered people (Aside note – what is the opposite of “green fingers”? On the color wheel, magenta is the opposite of green, and toes are the counterpart to fingers, so I guess I would be considered “magenta-toed”?).

Water pearls are these polymer based baubles that slowly release water, thus keeping your plants perfectly hydrated. You never have to water your plant! The pearls do all the work for you! Genius.  The pearls start off as these tiny little balls and expand up to 150 times their size as they absorb water.  After 6-8 hours in water, the pearls are full sized and ready for your plant. 

You simply remove all the soil from the plant and place the water pearls around the roots. And voila! your plant stays perfectly watered. All you have to do is rehydrate the pearls every 1.5-2 months. They make eye catching centerpiece decorations too, and come in a range of colors, perfect for any celebration. Gotta love anything that is beautiful, functional and makes life easier!!

On our day trip to Charlotte, NC to peruse Ikea, we also visited the Southern Ideal Home Show.

Whilst we’re not in the market right now to splurge loads of money on the many great products on show, it was definitely a great source of inspiration. Like these cool glass doors for the shower. At first they looked like they had a metallic covering, but they are made of reinforced etched glass (which come in a variety of patterns).  This set up would be perfect as a replacement for our outdated shower in the master bathroom – the half wall on the left would be where our bath tub meets the double shower.

Instead of replacing your outdated laminate counter tops, how about resurfacing them to make them look like Corian or granite? We came across this great service that refinishes the counter tops and bevels the edges to make them look much more expensive and sophisticated.  For smaller kitchens which have less than 25 square feet of counter tops, this is a much more cost effective way to update the look without the price of installing granite (the at-the-show special price was around 750 bucks, including installation).  However, for larger kitchens, the price went up quite drastically – about $35 bucks a square foot.  Still not a bad price, but there are some places that are offering granite for that same price. And talking about resurfacing, how about this resurfacing texture for your garage floors?  Looks good enough to eat!

How cool would it be to have these front doors? Talk about grand entry!

And whilst I’m dreaming, I can also fantasize about having some lush landscaping like this in my back yard one day…

And finally, the last thing to catch our eye was this system that keeps all the leaves and debris out of the gutter…

I can pretend and rationalize that it was the functional nature of this product that caught my eye … but who’s kidding, it was the cute fishies!

Before you ask. It’s Swedish. For Happy Anniversary. September 1st was our 4th wedding anniversary. Why Swedish, you may ask? Well, to celebrate our anniversary, we took a day trip to Charlotte, NC to peruse that well-known Swedish mecca…. Ikea!

I’ve been to Ikea in the UK a few times and am familiar with their modern (and relatively inexpensive) design. The Ikea in Charlotte has just recently opened and I have to say … the store is H.U.G.E. We spent several hours walking aroung the two story building and I’m not sure we even saw everything. Even though we didn’t buy anything (well, apart from a cheap “to-do” project we found in the as-is aisle – details coming soon), we came away with a bunch of ideas and inspiration of how we might decorate the house in the future. You know. When we actually have extra money for luxuries, such as furniture. And curtains. And lights. Oh, and flooring.

Look at this beauty. This is my dream library. Other girls have dream outfits, dream shoes, dream wedding dresses … I have a fantasy library.

Floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted cabinets with rows and rows of books, flanked by a comfy chair and a cup of tea. Oh Billy, you’ve stolen my heart.

How about these cute table lamps? They come in a range of colors (white, orange, purple, green, turquoise, pink) and at 17 bucks each, they are a steal!

I love the contemporary feel of this floating media storage unit. Best of all, the unit can be customized by adding glass or fabric. Or how about adding some under cabinet lighting for an eerie glow while watching your favorite scary movie?

This cool sculptural light really caught my eye. I can imagine one of these hanging over each side table in the guest bedroom. Having the light source hanging from above would free up much needed side table space – I don’t know about you but I never seem to have enough space on my bedside table, what with the lamp, alarm clock, several books, a few magazines, a bottle of water and other necessary knick-knacks.

I’m not usually a big fan of white furniture (simply because it takes too much effort to keep clean, especially with 5 dogs around), but this sofa table had me at hello. I love how the white pops against the dark brown flooring, and how the glass top and open storage makes this piece of furniture elegant and functional.

Everyone knows that you can get some amazing deals on picture frames at Ikea. Such a simple and sophisticated way to display photos or artwork in this monochromatic and asymmetrical collage of frames…

These funky light fixtures have interchangeable fascias, so you can change the look of light whenever you want. They can be hung either horizontally or vertically for maximum flexibility. I’m thinking that a couple of these beauties might look cute flanking the front door in the foyer. Talk about mood lighting…

After all that inspiration shopping and walking, it was time for a much needed rest. Great that Ikea has an awesome range of sofas and chairs for us to test run!

You have the test the merchandise before you buy it, right?