The Week In Review

 I wasn't sure if I'd post today. My body is in pain (I'll explain shortly). I decided I'd go ahead and post because a) I'm sitting down so I can type as long as I'm comfortable, and b) I want to be consistent. I slacked for too long; it's time I get on track.

My week has actually been quiet for the most part. It consisted of cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry. Pretty standard stuff. I studied for my Friday night Bible study on Wednesday and Thursday. We are working through Jesus' parables and this week we looked at the parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27. We looked at the entire Sermon on the Mount and broke down the conclusion. It was a powerful study.

In my entryway I have a light fixture that I've wanted to change out since we moved in. It's the original fixture from whenever this house was built, and it's not only ugly, it's nasty.

It's a builder grade light fixture from the 80's that is plastic. It's up high so cleaning it is very difficult unless you get on a high ladder. This apparently was never done, and it's grimy at this point.

I don't know if this picture does it justice. The dirt does not come off. It's been baked on with the heat from the light. 

There were two of these whenever we moved in, this one at the front entry and one at the top of the stairs. I was able to change out the latter.

I got this light fixture off of Amazon. Not only is the size perfect for the space, the rustic farmhouse style fits my decor. Changing this fixture was simple. I could reach it from the living room; I didn't even get the ladder out to take down the old fixture, but I did have to whenever I was ready to put in the new one because it's metal and it was too heavy. 

The problem I ran into whenever I was ready to switch out the second fixture was reaching it. I have an extension ladder, but even with that I just don't reach. It also makes me very nervous to try and balance on an extension ladder while holding a heavy light fixture and attaching all the wires and such. I have friends that are electricians, but they live in our old area which is kinda far from where we live now. So I contacted the children's ministry director at my new church and asked for a recommendation. I figured, if I'm going to pay someone to put up this light fixture, I'd much rather give the job to someone in the church. So, after months of having the light fixture sitting in my office, hopefully it will get installed either this Wednesday or Thursday. I'm so excited, I can't wait!

This week I went to Publix to do my groceries. I needed some thin steaks and chicken wings, and while Aldi has really good meats, they don't have much variety. Publix has excellent products but the price is higher; Walmart has better prices but the quality of their meats is lacking in my opinion. So Publix wins whenever I need meats. Since I had to go there anyway, I got everything else I needed as well.

I found steaks and chicken wings, and while I was at it I picked up Luigi's Italian Ices for my son. They're his favorites.

One thing I always like to get whenever I go to Publix is their sweet tea. It is by far the best sweet tea out there. 

I really didn't need much from the store - or so I thought. When my son saw what I'd picked up, he asked if the store was out of his water. I totally forgot his Clear American flavored waters! It's a Walmart brand so I wasn't going to find them at Publix. It's the only water he likes to drink, so Saturday morning I headed out and picked him up some water and snacks.

The other thing I did on Saturday was plumbing work. My daughter and son-in-law are remodeling their master bathroom, and they're trying to save wherever they can. They have a contractor doing all the major stuff like tiling, installing the new toilet, wall repair, and putting in a frameless shower door. They decided not to change out the vanity because it's newer and in excellent condition. All it needs is a coat of paint and new handles, so I offered to paint it. The other thing it needed was new faucets. My daughter asked if I could change them out, since I've done it before and they didn't want to have to pay the contractor to do it. I have to be honest, changing out faucets is one of my least favorite things to do. It's not difficult; as long as you follow the instructions it's pretty straight forward. The hard part is removing the old fixtures, and these were in pretty bad shape. It's also really hard to get under the bathroom sink to pull out/install the faucets. It's the reason why my body is in such pain today.

It took me forever to get this old handle out, and then I didn't think I'd be able to get the water supply line off, but eventually I managed to get it off. 

I think the faucets turned out beautifully (there's two sinks in this vanity and I changed out both) but y'all, it took me four hours to get this job done, and I feel like three hours were spent in just getting the old faucets out. I'm so glad I was able to do this for my kids, but I'm paying for it today. Even my fingernails hurt! I've been sitting on my couch with a heating pad on my back for most of the day. I'm finally feeling better, and I thank the Lord for that.

And that's been my week! Hope y'all had a productive week as well. God bless.

The Completed Bathroom

Yes, that's right, completed! Oh, I am SOOO happy this construction project is D-O-N-E Done! I know I shouldn't complain, the work turned out beautifully and we have the satisfaction of knowing we did it ourselves. I'm just glad I don't have to clean up construction debris 20 times a day anymore!

This is the vanity my brother-in-law built, along with the incredibly great bargain granite top with sink I got at Lowe's. The colors work well with the tile and the wall. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Here's another view. I also love the fixtures and the matching accessories. It gives it a bit of a rustic feel, similar to what we have in the kitchen.

This is the medicine cabinet. It matches the vanity and provides extra storage. So much that it's half empty! I don't mind. I think it's perfect.


All in all, after reviewing everything we spent (and everything we returned), we kept to the budget to the tune of $54.15 under. I'm glad we did the small bathroom ourselves, otherwise we'd have gone significantly over. God had a great lesson for us with this gift: trust in Him to provide, even when it looks impossible. He made it possible for us to remodel 2 bathrooms for the price of one, when only one of us is working. If that isn't a miracle, I don't know what is!

The Blessings Continue

Let's talk about how wonderful God is, shall we? As I've posted over the past few weeks, we've been remodeling the 2nd bathroom in our home after God lovingly blessed us with the funds to fix not one but both our bathrooms (you can read about that here). The budget for the 2nd bathroom is tight, and as anyone who's ever remodeled can tell you, it's very easy to go over budget. We were already maxed out and still had to purchase the vanity top. I'd looked at several, some pretty, others nice, and some downright ugly. There was one top at Home Depot in a beige granite that was okay, with a bone colored sink, that cost $199.00 (the toilet and tub are bone colored, so I wanted everything to match). The side-splash was sold separately for an additional $25.00. I didn't want to have to go over another $225.00 on our budget, so I decided it would be a good idea to keep shopping around. I had to go back to the tile store this week to return some unused tiles, and since they have some vanity tops there I thought I'd check them out. There was a lovely brown and black granite top that went for $209.00, but wasn't available with a bone sink. Although the granite was beautiful, it didn't feel right to spend the $209.00, so I left. I knew I had to buy caulking and some other supplies, and since the tile store is just a few blocks from Lowe's I figured I'd stop there and buy whatever I needed. Just out of curiosity (not that I thought I'd find anything), I went to the bathroom area to see if there were any vanity tops. Lowe's can be more expensive than Home Depot, but I had nothing to lose by checking. There I found a granite vanity top, the last one of its kind, in the exact size that my vanity is, in a crystal green very similar to the greens that I decorated my bathroom in. To my total shock, the vanity top was a close-out item selling for $83.20! I could not believe it. I moved the box around to verify that I wasn't hallucinating. I even called an associate to ask if I was seeing it correctly. There was just one problem: the sink bowl was white. This was my dillema: go with this exceptionally well priced vanity top even though the bowl is the wrong color, or walk away and keep looking. I called my hubby and told him what was going on. Thankfully he was in the area and swung by the Lowes to see the top for himself. There was none on display, but the associate was kind enough to open the box and let us see the top, which was absolutely gorgeous. The sales associate seemed very interested in getting the item sold, since it was a closeout that had been returned, and we were very interested in saving money, so it worked out for both of us! And the best part is, we got what we wanted at a price we could afford. God knew what we could pay, and He made sure I didn't purchase something that was not to our advantage. Instead, He led me to where I'd get the best deal, and wow, did I ever!

This is the vanity top. We brought it home and dry fitted it. The side-splash, which would have cost us an additional $25.00 at Home Depot, was included with this top, so we didn't have to pay anything extra. Yay!

Hubby and I installed the faucets this morning. Although the sink bowl is white, which was not what I originally wanted, we both agreed the price justified having it be a different color from the other porcelain items in the bathroom. Once it was installed, the difference was not as noticable as I'd thought it would be. Or maybe I just don't care. Regardless, the sink is staying. By the way, aren't the faucets cool?! They reminded me of Aladdin's lamp. I love them!

The light fixture in this bathroom was another thorn in my side. It was just hideous. I never liked it but kept it, don't ask me why. I guess I just ignored it as much as I could.

Of course, with everything else new the yucky light fixture had to go too. I saw one light fixture at Lowe's similar to this one for $54.00. I was able to purchase this beauty at Costco for $19.98. I just love a bargain!

We are close to wrapping up this remodel. The vanity doors and drawer fronts are on order, as are the doors for the medicine cabinet. There are a couple of little details to finish up but the bathroom is in working order which is great. I am so thankful to the Lord for His generous provision. Two beautiful bathrooms for the price of one - who would have thought?

Time to Paint

Bathroom update: I spent a good part of the day yesterday painting. I thought it would be so much easier, since it's a small bathroom. The size actually was what made it more difficult. Maneuvering the ladder inside this small space was challenging at best. Still, the job got done. Check it out:

It's starting to look like a bathroom, isn't it? I got this cool shower curtain at Target for under $25.00. It looks very high end and modern. They call it brown but the color of the curtain is more like a dark olive green so I went with that theme throughout.

I was afraid the color would make the bathroom look dark, but it's a fairly bright room. During the day it's light and the color looks vibrant.

The wall under the mirror is where the vanity will go. I left it for my son E to paint, since he wanted to help. The space is too small to let him do much more, but he loves to paint, and this way if it got messed up no one would know because the vanity will be there. He did a pretty good job for the most part, and he's satisfied because he made his contribution.

We're rapidly approaching the finish line. It may just be completed before the weekend. I hope so! Keep watching...

Bathroom - The Home Stretch

I haven't had a whole lot of time to get any blogging in, because my time has been consumed by either working in the bathroom or cleaning up afterwards. There are muscles in my body that are so sore! My hips are especially painful, because I've been bending down so much to clean up the floor, and I suffer from sciatica. To top it off, I was rushing to finish up and as I was coming into the house from the garage I took a nasty tumble, got back up and kept running, but oh am I hurting now! Still, the bathroom is close to complete and life will be back to normal real soon.

My hubby was so thrilled when he was putting in the last couple of wall tiles. (That's his brother in the corner. He did most of the tile cutting).

This is the tub area. All that's left is a couple of tiles around the inside of the window and tiling is complete. Like the small border design? It's my favorite part!

I came home from the paint store to find the toilet installed and working. Hallelujah! No more little feet walking into my bedroom in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Of course there's no sink yet so there's no where to wash our hands, but hey, it's a work in progress, and I'm thrilled to see the progress!

Grouting is next, either tomorrow or Saturday. Then the plumbing fixtures can go in, and once the vanity is completed it will be installed also. Looks like we'll be done before my daughter gets home from school! Thank the Lord!

We're at the Half Way Point!

I know I haven't posted much about the bathroom remodel. Progress is slow due to several reasons. One, my hubby and his brother are doing this a few hours after work each night, so they can't really get a whole lot done. Two, travertine tiles are very heavy, so you can't stack too many before the mortar hardens or they'll start to come off. Three, my hubby has only laid tile once before, about 7 years ago. They were porcelain tiles which he laid on the back porch on freshly laid cement that was plumb and square, unlike our bathroom walls. It's taken him much longer to get familiar with these tiles and work comfortably with them. Still, progress has been made slow and steady:

Once the floor was done, the easiest wall was started. I say easiest because there wasn't a whole lot of tile cutting needed for this wall like the other two.

Hubby was getting about a row a day, not wanting to put more up and risk them moving around.

Hubby at work. We looked into renting a wet saw but found out they run $38.00 per day. Since the walls are not square (after nine years the house has settled quite a bit - typical in the South Florida sandy soil), and since work is limited to a few hours a day, it was going to get very expensive. My hubby got this wet saw at Home Depot for $160. It ends up being cheaper, and once we're done we can keep it for other projects or sell it. Either way it's more cost effective for us than renting.

This wet saw is great. It has a strong motor, and a laser to guide as you're cutting. It made the work much smoother.

What precision!

This is how the bathroom looked when we got started this morning...

...and here's how it looked by the end of the day. Alot was accomplished. We're just about half way up the walls and the floors are complete.

See the decorative tiles I got for around the bathtub? I thought my hubby was going to throw them at me! Seriously, they are so much harder to work with than the large tiles. Even though they're on a mesh sheet that keeps them together, it's pretty flimsy. Getting the tiles to set evenly was quite a project. Thankfully there's only one wall left to tile with the border.

The baseboard is a two part design. The first is the same travertine tile as on the floor. Above that will be a marble border in a rust color that is in some of the tiles in the border. It'll give plenty of visual interest while at the same time tying into the decorative border around the tub. It's also a lot easier to install than the tub border, since it's a 12X12 tile that is cut into 4 strips, 3" wide. That will probably get done on Monday. Tomorrow, some much needed rest.

I'm praying the top half of the bathroom goes as smoothly as the bottom half. We need to get this finished, or else the dust will drive me out of my mind! Besides, I can't wait to see the finished product. I know it's going to look fabulous. Stay tuned!

Bathroom Work Update

So, bathroom work has proceeded, just much slower than with the master bath. It's been my hubby and his brother helping, so I don't have as many pics as I did before. Still, there is some progress, so I thought I'd share.


Cement board has gone up in the tub area. This took a little longer only because my brother-in-law had other work to tend to. It wasn't difficult, just a bit time consuming because of the cuts.


Hubby started tiling today. I warned him when he started that he would close himself in. He couldn't finish the floor because he wouldn't have been able to get out of the bathroom without stepping on the tiles. Travertine tiles are natural stone, so they don't have the grooves on the bottom like porcelain and ceramic tiles have. They need at least 24 hours to dry completely before standing on them, or they shift. So tiling will (hopefully) continue tomorrow. Once the floors are done the walls in the tub area can start, though those will be quite interesting. A new experience, what fun! Stay tuned!

Bathroom Work Continues...

...And the vanity is GONE!! I am so glad to see it leave, too. It was just plain ugly. I already know what I want for this space, and believe me it'll be a whole lot nicer looking than what was there before.

Thankfully the mirror is still intact. I'm hoping this mirror will survive the contruction just like the mirror in the master bath did. I don't want to go over-budget unnecessarily.

The toilet is gone too, as are all the floor tiles. Those were much harder to remove than the wall tiles. I kept a small area rug in the bathroom to cover up the broken tiles, and it kept them dry. Hubby wants to start tiling tomorrow. Unlike the master bath, he and my brother-in-law will be doing the work in this bathroom, since it's pretty small. That doesn't mean it's an easy task! There's plenty to do, but I'm sure they'll do a fine job. Keep watching!

Here We Go Again!

The master bath is completed, so it's time to start renovating the 2nd bathroom. This one's in the hallway between the master bedroom & the kids' rooms. Here's the view before demolition began:

The tub area. The decorative tile in the center seems a different color, doesn't it? That's because water had already seeped through the grout and the wall behind it was wet. This tile was the first to come tumbling down.

The showerhead is fairly new. I got it at Costco probably about a year ago when it was on sale. It's the only really nice thing in the bathroom.

There was no medicine cabinet in this bathroom, so I bought this little number at Wal-mart for $25 when we first moved in. As you can see I got what I paid for. It's in the trash now; it was pretty beat up though it doesn't show the wear and tear so much in this picture.

Here's something I can't wait to replace - the vanity. It is so ugly!!! Boring, too. I plan to have something much lovelier in its place.

I got this flowery shower curtain at Target some years ago, and it's still in good condition, but I'm replacing it with a darker one that I also got at Target. They have such nice things, items that look very upscale but at a much more reasonable price.

This is the wall after my hubby and I got started. We're tearing this bathroom up ourselves, so as to save some money. I wanted to demo the master also, but hubby said it was more work than he had time to do. This bathroom is probably half the size of our master bath, so it's not so big a project.

Hubby had a little accident when tearing up this wall. There was a ceramic soap dish that broke in half when he first hit it. When he went to swing again, his hand hit the soap dish and he cut his finger pretty bad. I had to play nurse and bandage him up 3 times so the blood would stop. After that my older son and I insisted he give it a rest.

Most of this wall, which is the wall immediately opposite the door, I took apart. It wasn't hard at all; there was so much water damage the tiles came off with little effort.

Hubby was back on the job today, finishing up the tiles around the tub. I know, I know, he's got great legs. That's why I couldn't resist taking the picture!

Work continues tomorrow. We have to take out the floor tiles, and before we can do that the vanity has to be removed. I can't wait! I'll be tile shopping tomorrow also. I have a planned design in my head, so hopefully I can find the tiles to bring my design into fruition. Stay tuned!!

It's Finished!!!

I'm happy to announce the bathroom remodel is D-O-N-E done! And it turned out beautifully! Won't you join me for a tour?
Upon entering the bathroom, it is easy to appreciate the colors in the tile, and the sage green bathroom curtain. I bought a new curtain because the previous curtain, though also lovely, has tie-backs that would need to somehow be, well, tied back. I tried several methods but to no avail, and I refuse to drill holes into the tiles to put in a hook, so I got this curtain at Target. It works with the swag from the previous curtain and matches the colors of my other accessories.

Ah, the commode area. Whenever I look at this I laugh. So much time, energy, and resources go into designing a bathroom, yet we all know what it'll be ultimately used for. Come on, you MUST be able to see the humor in that, can't you? The picture on the wall was in our living room for years, until I was given a picture that hung in my office at work that matched the furniture perfectly. I had this picture of orchids put away, and remembering that it was in my closet, hung it on the wall and voila! Like it was meant to be there.

Here's the vanity that took the longest to get finished. My brother-in-law built it from a drawing and picture I gave him. I think it turned out gorgeous, especially the color which looks nice with the granite and the rest of the colors. The granite slab is the one we were offered for $100. The owner had it cut for one of his customers on Fisher Island who then cancelled, so we were able to get it for a great price. It has all the colors in the bathroom so it matches perfectly.

Here's a better view. I think the bathroom turned out more like a luxury spa than a master bath. I'm so pleased with the end result. Now we need to do bathroom #2. This will happen in about 3 weeks. My daughter is due home for spring break, and 5 people sharing one bathroom can be catastrophic, so we'll wait till she goes back to school before we tackle the next project. Till then I'll enjoy the cleanliness of my home!

Bathroom Progress

We aren't done yet with the bathroom redo, but we're alot closer than we were 2 weeks ago, which is a good thing. Here's where the work stands so far:

As you can see, the showerhead is on the floor, where obviously it doesn't do us much good. The tiles were sealed by yours truly, and we were able to start using the shower, but I quickly realized the showerhead was leaking from the wall no less. Hubby took the whole thing apart so it could be tightened, but we ran into a problem.

My darling husband doesn't know his own strength. After taking the whole thing apart he realized there was no pipe tape on this connector piece. He taped it, but when he tried to tighten it, this is as far as it went. Problem was, it was so tight he couldn't get it off either. It would've been funny if he hadn't gotten so frustrated with it. He did the smart thing, though: he walked away. This afternoon he came home and fixed it. It's all better now.

The walls have been painted, also by me. The color is called Taupe Tapestry. I would describe it as the chocolate filling in a Three Musketeers bar. It's a rich yummy color and gives the bathroom class.

This is the beginning of the vanity (with the shower curtain draped over it; I had to take it down so hubby could work on the showerhead). The drawers and doors are due today. Then my brother-in-law is taking the granite countertop along with the sink and faucets to a friend of his who will make the openings and then bring it over to install. After that, we're done!! At least with this bathroom. Praise God, we have enough money left over to redo the small bathroom also, though this time my hubby and his brother will do the tile work. Hubby isn't totally pleased with the work done by our tile man. He's too much of a perfectionist, I think, and he notices every tiny flaw, but that's a good thing too. I'm sure he'll do an excellent job in our second bathroom.

My plans were to go tile shopping today, but I had to get the house cleaned up. There was dust everywhere, and I just couldn't stand it any longer. I did major cleaning, especially floors, and now I can relax in my home. Tomorrow is our first small group meeting, which I pray will be a blessing to all who attend. It's something I need, too. Decorating the house and making it a home is great, but fellowshipping with friends and drawing closer to God, well, that's just plain awesome!