Bathroom Transformation

Cue the Hallelujah chorus, it's (almost) done!

I love my bathroom so much that even though it is still the size of a postage stamp, it makes me feel content every time I step through the door.  

We went from 15 year old builder's basics to a slightly customized, cool, calm, and collected retreat, and with some tough decisions we kept it within budget, too.  

Honey oak cabinet transformed by Martha Stewart's "Magnetite" paint.  We kept the faucet (but will replace eventually).  Medicine cabinet replaced with white framed mirror.  We sacrificed space for looks.  Worth it.  Wall color: Martha Stewart "Heavy Goose", color matched to Behr's Premium Plus Ultra. Hard to see, but it's a pale blue-grey.  The walls were an odd grey-green color before.

15 year old carpet (in the bathroom!) replaced with TrafficMaster Allure Vinyl Plank Flooring in Clear Cherry.   Flooring was our toughest decision.  Laminate?  Tile?  Vinyl? Peel-n-Stick?  We were pretty set on peel-n-stick "for now", with the intent to tile later.  Instead, we went vinyl plank, and I am so happy.  It is a snap-together plank flooring that is waterproof, has a wood grain, and resists marks. It also has a lifetime warranty! It was in-stock at Home Depot, and the color is "Clear Cherry".  It looks like more of a beech or maple to me, but it has the light color & dark variations I wanted.  It took 2 boxes to floor the tiny, tiny bathroom, and was our biggest expense at about $50/ box.  We love it so much that we plan to (eventually) re-do the other bathroom floors using the same product. 

New towel rods from Target.  I lucked out, and these were on clearance for $8 each.  This replaced the single wooden dowel that was off-center under the window.  The mat & towels are also from Target. They were clearancing a huge aisle of bath items, so I snatched these up & they match!

                                     

Disgusting ceiling fan no more!

We took it down, vacuumed the inside, painted the ceiling, ran the light cover through the dishwasher, sprayed the plastic part with brushed nickel, installed a cfl, and VOILA! Clean & updated. 

Last but not least: mirror & vanity light.

This mirror replaced the one I custom painted to match the vanity, and then broke trying to put back into the frame.  So sad, but lesson learned.  I think it works because it echoes the white in the shower curtain and trim. The light was also a Home Depot clearance find.  It is more modern than I would usually choose, but I liked the frosted covers, and I liked that it projected the light up instead of down (down light casts hard shadows - who wants that?).  The pull on the vanity has the same curve & the towel bars also have slim, brushed nickel lines.  

What's not done:  well, my shower curtain is still at least 12" too short, the TP holder should be arriving any day, I haven't found a coordinating fabric to turn the blinds into a roman shade, still need to find shelves to go over the toilet, and I'd like to replace the faucet & shower head.  All those are minor because in the big picture I looooooooooooooove it.  Those little not-done items are the "cherries" that will make it even sweeter, but so far this bathroom is my favorite room in the house. 

Note about paint:  I am totally on board with Martha at Home Depot. The colors are really great, and the paint formulas apply & dry exactly how they are supposed to.  I also LOVE the Behr Premium Plus Ultra.  I was skeptical about a primer+paint, but it delivered the goods.  The only reason I even tried it was because they were out of stock in the Martha Stewart paint I wanted & HD agreed to price match it while using the more expensive formula.  I love it when a store does the "right thing" for a customer.  Home Depot is a 40 mile round trip for me, but I won't buy paint from the other home improvement giant again.     

Michigan Move

I've been putting off this post for a number of reasons. First, I am tired of thinking about this move & dealing with all the details. It feels like I have been consumed by 'The Move' for the last month. Next, I am overwhelmed with things to do. We took on too much to do in too little time, and it's all compounded by having family come stay with us less than a week after moving in (I just don't feel anywhere near ready to have company here when we're still unpacking, cleaning, and painting). Finally, I don't really want to admit we're here for a good while. I know I'll probably like it once I lighten up & give it a chance, but for now I prefer to maintain my abysmal mood & continue missing Iowa.

Moving day was not bad. For us, it went off relatively smoothly. We were blessed with helping hands to move all the big stuff (6 strapping young men), and an amazing friend who watched the kids all day (and put up with my multiple "We're almost done, it should be just another hour" phone calls). We hit the road later than expected, but still made it to our hotel before 11pm. The major hiccup was that Big Daddy thought he lost his wallet! We had to rendezvous, regroup, hand off cards, and make a few phone calls, but it all turned out well (wallet was in the back of the truck, as discovered on Tuesday evening).

Tuesday we were slow getting up & on the road, but we finally made it to the house in the late afternoon. The landlord had left the key for us, and we let ourselves in.

And then it hit us.....

The Smell.

A little backstory: The previous renter was an older lady. She lived here for 6+ years, then became sick. Someone (a daughter, a granddaughter) moved in to help take care of her, and as the lady became more ill, the worse the condition of the house became. When she passed away (NOT in the house) the landlord took possession again and discovered it was trashed on the inside. He said the carpet looked like it hadn't been vaccuumed in 6 years, there was food all over the house, ketchup sprayed on the walls, 20 garbage bags of abandoned clothes.... you get the idea. I never saw it in this condition - but when I toured the house in May, I smelled the aftermath. I don't know what exactly happened here, but I DO know they had cats. The landlord swore the smell would be gone by the time we moved in, but it was (is) not. He finally showed up the day after we arrived, and, standing in the basement (source of The Smell) directly in front of us, straight up told us he didn't smell anything. Folks, it was so bad it WOKE US UP in the middle of the night on our first night in the house (all windows open, fans whirring above).

In addition to the smell, we've encountered the following:

• A non-functioning furnace
• An abandoned washer
• Abandoned bookcases - pressboard soaked in cat urine & molded (I have pics, but don't want to gross anyone out)
• Basement wall covered in mold & crystallized cat urine (hidden by the bookcases detailed above)
• Missing smoke detectors
• Next door neighbors with beagles, who like to let their dogs roam & bark while they wash their car at 6:30am on Sunday morning
• A newly tiled shower surround with a badly installed faucet which limits how much hot water comes out
• A bathroom sink faucet that gives you a shower along with your morning ablutions
• A hornet's nest
• A water heater full of rusted water (gas was shut off for 3 months)

Good Times!

Part of me is at the end of my rope. The first night, I seriously considered what the options were (suck it up & stay, stay for a few days & find another place, get out immediately & rent an apartment.....). But another part of me is not a quitter.

Smell? I'm going to let a little cat stink beat me?

OH, HECK NO.

And it's getting a little better. Landlord said we could do anything we want to the place - paint the walls & doors, install new light fixtures, plant a garden. He agreed to reimburse us for our de-stinking efforts, and I think we've seen a tremendous improvement over the last week. Is it still a battle? Yes. But with a little elbow grease and some serious chemicals, I WILL conquer this house. Urine Off seems to be making a huge difference, but I am open to suggestions if you have any (but please don't tell me to rip up the carpet & lay hardwoods - that's not the problem. Basement is painted block walls interspersed with cheap paneling and linoleum tile/ concrete floor).

On the Up side: The house is sort of a clean slate for us. There is new carpet, the walls are freshly painted - and begging for a little more paint TLC (which I will be providing this week). With the green light to make improvements, I have plans to replace the light fixture in the dining room, repaint the ceiling fan in the master, add curtains on all the windows, paint the front door, and do some serious work on the basement (it's very dank & basement-y right now). The neighbors across the street are really nice & both introduced themselves on our first night here. People walking by will stop & chat, or say Hi. We love the extra room, and Big Daddy has been using the garage to build us a new bed. We're just a few miles from an area which seems to have every major chain store & restaurant known to man.

Would I trade it all to be back in Iowa? In a heartbeat.

But we'll make the best of it. I'll post pics of the before & afters as they occur.

I'm off to do some more laundry & battle the boxes (it really seems like it's never going to end).

Freshly Made

I love the promise of a freshly made bed. Clean sheets, smoothed and tucked just so. Pillows fluffed, a little turn-down on top.

There's nothing like sliding between the sheets of a newly made bed. I'm not sure what's better: The comfort of snuggling into a featherbed-topped mattress with flannel sheets and a fluffy down comforter. Or the cool embrace of softly worn cotton and the lightest of summer blankets.

My life changed when I discovered down pillows. I am a tremendous fan of the pillow, going so far as to build a "pillow fort" when I have the space. This means one pillow under my head, and one on either side of my body. Not so popular when sharing a bed, but tremendously cozy when space allows. I have 2 king sized down pillows that are enormous, puffy, and perfectly squishable. I like the king sized version, as I can tuck it under my head and still have pillow to wrap my arms around.

And on that note, I am going to sleep in my freshly made bed.

Today's the Day!

We are having a baby today! We're at t-minus 3 hours and counting until we need to be at the hospital, and I can't wait! It was a weird night last night (wouldn't you know it), but today seems to be going OK so far. Of course I was excited, so I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. Malaina woke up at 3:30, and wanted to sleep in our bed. Normally it's not a big deal to get her back into her own bed, but she started to yell and cry about it (totally not normal for her - I think that given her meltdown yesterday, she is feeling anxiety over her brother coming). I got her back into her bed and rubbed her back for a while, then took another hour + to fall asleep myself. Neither of us ended up getting up until almost 9! Now I have just 2 hours to finish up my stuff at home (yes, I was mopping the floors at 9pm last night - among other things), and head out to the hospital. I am grateful that Malaina will be safe & entertained while we're at the hospital (thanks again to the Mons Family), and I hope things go smoothly and quickly.

PS - looks like the house sale is back on again. The buyer took our counter offer, which was to pay $1,000 towards the repairs of her choice (and a big pfftttt to her list of $10K in requested repairs). I nearly dropped the phone when I heard the message from our realtor.

And so it goes....

Just when things seem to be moving forward again, I get smacked upside the head. On Friday, my boss essentially told me that they're going to let me go. Didn't say when of course, but gave me the clear heads-up that I should be making a plan and looking for another job. That's always great to hear - "we think you're doing a great job, but we just don't see this as a long term solution". I had a feeling this was coming at some point, but things were going so well over the last few months that I allowed myself to be lulled into complacency. I also tried not to dwell on this possibility, as I assumed I was safe until I come back from maternity leave. I believe that's still the case, but now the axe is going to be hanging over my head the entire time. Thanks Boss!

We also finally received the repair addendum from the Home Inspection on the Salem house, and it was ridiculous. She wants $10,000 in repairs done or she's withdrawing. We were both livid, and told the Realtors that we weren't fixing a darn thing. We already made a huge concession on the price, and although we were willing to be reasonable, she obviously is looking to take advantage of us. Again, another huge blow, as were so excited to be out from under the burden of the mortgage. So, essentially we're back to square one on the house.

I have to believe that this is all part of a divine plan of some sort, but I am growing exhausted from the stress of everything at once. There must be a lesson that I still need to learn, but I'm no longer sure what that could be.

In other news - I am almost done with the basket liners for the changing table & then just need to bang out the blanket and diaper cloths for Sally. After that, I think I will retire the machine for a bit & focus on the new bambino. The new machine is SO GREAT, and it's made quick work of these projects. I'm really enjoying my bout of craftiness, and will post pictures as soon as I'm done.

In the DSM

So I'm back - after several weeks gone, several thousand miles travelled, and multiple temper tantrums (only one of which was mine). We're in the DSM, wallowing in a pig-mess of an apartment, and cranking the AC to epic proportions. Sweet Husband has been here for two weeks and didn't unpack a single box, so I get to spend the next week trying to organize this place while working from home and wrangling a 3 yo. Good Times.

It's not too bad thus far. The apartment is small, but the kitchen is huge. At least we can spread out there even if we don't have space anywhere else. Des Moines is... humid. That's the best I can say thus far. I haven't seen much & probably won't for another week or so. I have to conserve my energy for cleaning this mess, organizing and restocking the house. It is astonishing how much food you have to buy when you move cross-country. I may as well walk into the grocery and tell them to add one of everything to my cart.

Other than that, things are OK. The house fell through, so that's not great. We're fortunate that we can afford to pay the mortgage for a few months and not feel the pinch too badly - but that's not going to last forever. It's certainly been a learning experience. Hopefully the Salem market will remain strong, and we can move the house in the next few months. Wish us luck.

I'll post more DSM observations as I can. I'll be working from home now, so I'll be able to update more frequently.

House

Sold it last night. I am grateful that it only took us a few days to find an interested buyer, but feel a little foolish for investing in the For Sale By Owner program. The buyer found us on Craigslist (I love you, craigslist!), so I didn't even have to do the MLS paperwork or put out signs or anything. I figure that what I spent on the program was worth it for the peace of mind of getting a buyer ASAP. Money well spent. And thank you to the Fates or Lady Luck or whomever it was that pulled it all together. As my husband said -if we hadn't spent the money on the FSBO thing, we never would have found a buyer so quickly.

Now if I can just keep my job for another few months, we should be in good shape. I feel like I have short-timer's syndrome, except it's imperative that I keep that job for at least another 3 months or so. Just when I think things are settling a bit at work, they ask me to cut $750K from my budget. After hearing that, I feel a little justified in getting frustrated and wishing a rogue tsunami would wash away the tiny island where our Global HQ is located. I don't wish ill towards everyone there - just a few in particular. So, if you could arrange a disaster for just a select number of people (names to be provided at a later date), I'd be grateful. Thank you.

House for Sale

Ok, we're not there quite yet, but it's close to do or die time. I think I have been procrastinating because I love this house & I don't want to have to go through the hassle of having to sell it. Can we just pick it up and take it with us?

House for Sale in South Salem
2 Br/ 1 Ba/ 1 car garage
Corner lot
Near Elementary & SSHS
Fireplace, basement
Hardwoods, tile, carpet in bedrooms
Remodeled Bath
Ralph Lauren paint in most rooms
New light fixtures
Fully insulated
Nicely landscaped
Fridge stays
$182,000

I am also getting freaked out about work, moving, my health, and wearing a bathing suit on vacation next month. It's been a long day.