It Seemed Like A Good Idea

I mentioned earlier this week that there would be Big Happenings at The Shire.  And yes, games are afoot.   When we first bought our house (11 years ago, this summer) we knew we were getting a 'fixer-upper'.  But the price was right, the view was pretty, and we love not having a ton of neighbors.  When we first moved in, I was all, "This kitchen is UNLIVABLE!  It's all got to go!  Immediately!"  And then we went ahead and spent 8 years doing pretty much nothing at all.  I don't think we even changed a lightbulb until 2003.  I've painted the living room 7 times, but I can't muster the energy to do anything about the health hazard that is our master bath.

My dad did redo the (teeny-tiny) hall bathroom before we even moved in, mostly because the floor was so spongey that we risked putting a foot through the rotting boards.  Thanks, Daddy!  Then, when I was pregnant with Scotty, he redid the kitchen.  In spectacular fashion, I will add.  I love love love my kitchen!  And he did it all just because he loves me so much.  And, because I feed him sandwiches.  Thanks, Daddy!

Now, we are finally getting around to redoing the bathroom in our bedroom.**  This bathroom was every bit as foul as the hall bath when we moved in, but, as you do, this one went to the back burner.  The black toilet (rust stains add a lot!) and the moldy shower with the tiles that are falling off, the flourescent lighting...it all adds to ambiance. Plus, the old fella who previously owned the house had everything ~ floors, ceilings, cabinetry ~ painted a robin's egg blue. 

It's a weird room anyway.  There's this "hallway" where we have a mess closet.  There was a weird space straight back where I ended up hanging a couple of bars for Erik's "work clothes".  (He wore Vans tennis shoes, 501 jeans, and a Transformers t-shirt to work last week with a black Hanes zipper hoodie...I think it's safe to say that "work clothes" should definitely be in quotes!)   And it's just this dead space that becomes a catch-all for books I need to put away, tools I can't seem to get back to the garage, and baskets of laundry that, wait, I forget ~ do they need to be washed or put away?  Eh.  Whatever.

My poor friend Maia has actually showered in this room (I'm sorry, honey!) and she has climbed over the (sometimes) mountainous piles of laundry; and I can't forget my cousin Moose peering at the running toilet as I explain to him that our current solution was to just turn the water valve off, so why don't you go ahead and pee now, so we can call it a night?  Ugh.  The hostess with the mostest I am not!

Now, though, we are entering the "during phase" of the project!  Everything is out, and tomorrow the plumbing, electrical, and new floor boards (good bye, termites!) will go in.  Probably the backer board, too.  The tile is ordered, as are the fixtures and vanity. 



I'm losing quite a bit of closet, but, honestly, I wear the same 6 things every week, so I might as well start thinning things out anyway.  I like to be minimalist, but I definitely need encouragement for that!  Entropy is so much easier. 

Hopefully much prettier during pictures are to come, and then (my favorite!) the afters.

**  My Daddy offered to do this bathroom too (can you believe this man?!?) but he is so swamped with work, and as much as I appreciate the offer, he couldn't even come over for a consult...there just wasn't enough time.  My mom has eleventy-million projects for him to do around their own house (shoemaker's children have no shoes!) and I know for a fact that despite all of that, he still would have done it if I asked.  So I didn't.  My bathroom will lack the charm of my pops, I have no doubt about that, but he will not have to spend his weekends or precious few evenings laying tile or doing the drywall either.  It's a fair trade, in my opinion!