The Master Bathroom

Yes fellow bloggers, it's been 16 days since my last post. Please forgive me, but I do have a good excuse.

The weather hasn't cooperated and I haven't been able to get outside to spray paint and finish Catherine's office furniture yet. She came in the office on Monday afternoon to see everyone and was THRILLED about the furniture re-do. It looks like it will still be awhile before the weather and I can schedule another outside work day. But, I promise, as soon as I get it all finished I'll post more pictures.

I also STILL have not gotten my "before" pictures of our remodelling scanned so that I can post them. I really haven't been lazy. It's just that DH has had to be at work at 4:30 AM the last few days which has required me to get up with him at 3:30 to get him off to work. And when he worked all last weekend, I spent the days really cleaning and straightening the house and trying to organize the "stuff" that we are using to remodel the guest bathroom. So, since I'm not as young as I once was, my mattress calls my name quite early each night.

So, enough EXCUSES! I decided to post some pictures of our Master Bathroom redo.

We started by completely gutting the old bathroom, taking out the closet in what WAS one of the extra bedrooms (we have 3, but there are only 2 of us, so 2 extra bedrooms!) and knocking out the wall to open it up to the bathroom.

DH and I decided that we could live without the usual bathtub/shower combo in both bathrooms, so we took out the tiny little stand alone shower, and I do mean tiny. You couldn't bathe without bumping your elbows on the walls when lathering up! And the bathtub that was in the opposite corner and DH built this awesome, glass block, walk-in, door less shower.


I don't have a picture of the inside, but there is a granite seat in the corner so that when we get too old to stand and shower, we'll have a place to sit. There are also 2 shower heads, one on the far wall and one on the left wall. The one on the far wall is stationary, the one on the left wall has a pull down, hand held attachment that does a great job when bathing grand babies who aren't tall enough for the regular shower head to do anything other than drown them.

We also put in the tile you see on the floor at a 45 degree angle, as recommended by a friend of mine. This is to make the room look larger, and I think it really does. I wanted Mexican tile, but couldn't find it here in Nashville, so we chose this "look alike" ceramic tile that just happened to be on sale at our local Home Depot for $.99 a square foot, which is per tile!

I purchased this antique oak dresser for a steal at $175 in an antique store not far from home. All I had to do was clean it up with a little 0000 steel wool, put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it and add some new knobs. Oh, and the hardest part was watching DH cut the hole in the top for the sink! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.



Unfortunately there wasn't a mirror with the dresser and I haven't found one that looks like it "matches", so I opted for this antique medicine cabinet that I found at a salvage store. DH says I could have gotten the same look with a new one, but hey, I wanted an old one!

I'll go into more detail when I get all of the pictures together. And, I'll tell you how I did the finish on the wall. You should have seen DH's face when he came home to that one!

The Big Bookcase & Baskets

Here is the almost finished, large bookcase. I say almost finished because I don't have the shelves back in it yet. Can you see the wall paper in the back? Just like I did in the small book shelf? I just love the texture that it adds.

And, can you see the curvy legs that we added to the bottom to lift it up off the floor? Here's a closer look.The bottom used to be the green coffee table, but we cut it down to fit on the bottom of the bookcase, added a piece of quarter round in the front where the bookcase joins the table, attached a pair of "L" brackets in the back for stability and stepped back to admire the result.


What do you think?

And the baskets? Catherine needed somewhere to put all of the tools of her trade. So I found 2 sets of these baskets at Lowe's. There were just under $20 a set.




Grabbed a can of spray paint as close to Robin's Egg Blue as I could find and they went from this:

To this:

What would I do without a good can of spray paint?

My handy man and I brought it all to the office on Sunday afternoon and put it in Catherine's office. I'm thrilled with the result.

Did you notice the "HOPE" sign on top of the bookcase?

Got that at Dollar General for $3. It was plain black, so I misted it with the blue spray paint and it gives it sort of a textured, granite look. Hard to tell here, but it really looks good.

HOPE is for the Dispensary of Hope, which is where Catherine and I work. And for HOPE for Cain.

Stay tuned for more updates. And can somebody tell me why some of my pictures will enlarge when clicked and some won't?

Encores North Consignment Sale

I just found out that my daughter's friend, Brea, is having another consignment sale in Rivergate (Madison, TN). The name of the sale is Encores North. Here is the website for more information and location. She always has some really great deals on children's clothes and toys. Just about anything you can imagine for a child! Last year my daughter got a beautiful Laura Ashley wool coat for her 3 year old for $5. She's also gotten $2 bathing suits, $1 shoes, etc. You've got to check it out.

She is giving away three $25 gift certificates too. Don't forget to sign up for that.

Go check out both sites and pick up some REALLY GREAT DEALS!

Update on Catherine's Office - A Sneek Peek

The most wonderful husband in the whole world spent his weekend helping me work on things for Catherine's office. I almost think he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Fortunately the weather cooperated. It was a beautiful and sunny weekend, so we were outside on the driveway and in the garage working the whole time.

Remember this little rickety bookshelf that was sitting by Catherine's desk?

We took some scrap pieces of MDF, left over from the Dress Up Closets that we made for our 2 oldest granddaughters, and covered them with this great wallpaper using spray adhesive.

DH tightened up the bookshelf with a few well placed screws and I went to work on the wall-papered MDF with black spray paint.

After the paint dried, we attached the MDF to the back of the bookshelf.

Didn't it turn out great??!?!

Here are the before and after shots, side by side so you can see the difference a little spray paint and some wallpaper made.

It's just a small bookshelf. I haven't decided where to put it in her office, but that will have to wait.

I'll post pictures of the big bookshelf tomorrow.

You'll have to come back and check it out.

Shabby Chic Files Chapter 11

I just read that Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic has filed Chapter 11. I have been a long time fan and have decorated a room in my home, for my granddaughters, with her bedding.



I own 3 of her books and my love for all things old was rekindled when I discovered her Shabby Chic style.

I am heart broken for her, but wish her the best in regrouping and starting over.

The Base of The Bookcase

As I ran out this morning, headed for work, I got a quick photo of the curvy legs that I am planning on using for the bottom of the bookcase. As you can see, they are currently green, but when I get the whole thing together I will paint everything black. This picture is the side of the base. I've put it back together with Gorilla Glue and my handy nail gun. It may require additional support, but I understand that Gorilla Glue is pretty darn tough!


The scalloped piece at the bottom of the picture will go across the bottom front. The piece to the left will become a shelf. Nothing will be wasted, and that's how I like it.

Catherine's New Office

One of my co-workers is out on maternity leave. Her sweet baby boy was born on January 29th with a number of heart conditions. You can follow her story here. Please keep the family in your prayers.

I had an idea to fix-up her office while she is gone, in hopes of raising her spirits a little. I have been given permission, but I will only be reimbursed $100 by the company, so I have to get creative. I may need your input so feel free to make suggestions.

There are some limitations to what I am allowed to do. I cannot paint or paper the walls or change the carpet. I can paint the furniture and hang things on the wall, provide some organizing strategies, etc. So . . . here we go!

This is the way her office looked today as I walked in the door. Isn't it lovely!?!?! Just so you know, all of the furniture in our offices is second/third hand furniture gleaned from the warehouse of our parent company. In other words, furniture that no one else wanted or that had been pushed aside for newer, prettier furniture.

On the left wall:

On the right wall:

On the front wall, the view from where she will be sitting. As you can see, I've already started taking things apart.

This little set of shelves is to the right of her chair. It is small and rickety, but I think I can find a use for it. And that box top to the right - it's her recycle box.

This is what her side of her desk looks like. I couldn't get far enough away from it to take a full shot. The wall was in my way. But, as you can see it needs some lovin' care.

And this is the front of the desk. Notice the little octagon shapes on the left and right. I have an idea for them.

And this octagon shape on the end panels. Hmmm. I think this may work.

So I've already taken the bookcase apart and put wood putty in some of the gouges. I've also done a little sanding, but I couldn't do too much until I get it to a more suitable workspace. Here is a close up:

I bought this set of book ends at The Salvation Army for $2.17.

And these are some of the things I've gathered together to help with the transformation. A little black spray paint and a little spray handle so my fingers don't cramp; some sand paper; wood putty & putty knife; razor knife; paint brush and some textured wallpaper. I don't think the pattern on the wallpaper is noticeable in this picture, but it should show up better later.

My plan is to use a black, white & red color scheme. Baskets on the shelves for storage lined with some black & white toile, if I can find it for a reasonable price. I'm also in search of black & white toile scrapbook paper, but I didn't find any at Michael's or WalMart over the weekend. I'll have to try Hobby Lobby next weekend.

Catherine is from Louisiana, so I thought about tossing in some Fleur de lis patterns, but I've since found out that she isn't so fond of Fleur de lis. So maybe just a little French influence. To that point, I have a garage sale coffee table with curved legs and cute ball and claw feet that I've been trying to find a home for. I think it would make a cute base for the bookcase. You know, raise it up off of the floor a little. So I've already started cutting it up and gluing it back together for this purpose. I hope it turns out as cute as it is in my head!

Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know. I can always use creative input.