My, what a big nose you have!

I continue to participate in NaBloPoMo year after year, but I think it's been a few years since I actually completed the whole month without missing a day or two.  This year is no exception, but I am only slightly apologetic.

Bee-friendly

I like planting sunflowers, and I especially like planting a mix of types so that I have a variety for the visiting bees and finches who regularly stop by in the summer.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 13

 Everything for which a contractor is needed is compete!

The bathroom remodel is basically finished, minus the finishing touches to pull it all together: towels, linen closet baskets, shower curtain, and a little bit of painting on the door.  All of these things will be done by Monday (I hope).

 This morning we put up the towel bars.  This was not an easy decision because our bathroom is small enough that almost anywhere you put the towel bars they will be in the way of something.  In the end, above the toilet was the least intrusive place.

 The finished bathroom looks great.  I love the shower tile, I love the white/dark contrast. It needs some bright color, but we planned for that to come from the accessories, such as towels and the shower curtain.  I'm thinking red-orange will be my accent color, but we'll have to see.

I am also excited about the fact that I now get to hang a shelf and/or some actual grown-up art on the wall.  I may even take a trip to Ikea to make this happen!

There are only two things I regret about this bathroom.

1.  Despite my initial desire to try to keep the bathroom "traditional" to the time the house was built, we ended up going completely modern.  I was involved in all of the decisions that resulted in what we have, so I really can't blame anyone other than myself.  Does this mean I don't like the bathroom?  Not at all.  I still love it.  But sometimes I think about how great those tiny hexagonal floor tiles would have been.

2.  Now that the bathroom is all new, I really want other parts of the house to get a similar treatment;  I have the remodel bug.  Luckily, I have Sam to think reasonably and squash the bug before it gets me to spend too much time, energy, and money where it's not needed.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 12

 We are in the home stretch! All of the major parts are complete: the walls are painted, the vanity and medicine cabinet are installed, and toilet is restored. Lighting and trim are also complete.

The last bits to be complete are some touch-up caulking, and installation of towel rods, a decision that we have thought way too long about.

It's not a bad birthday present!

Bathroom Remodel: Day 11

 It gets dark so early now, and the bathroom photos look even better because the light is not coming through the window.

Today we got grout in the shower and the floor.  We stuck with darker colors (not that you can tell so much), but they provide a nice contrast to the white and are easier to keep clean.

 We also got shower hardware.  I have to say that I thought long and hard about that shower hardware and in the end, pretty much anything would have worked.  But now I have fancy shower hardware.

In the corner we have the new linen closet.  It is much deeper than the old closet so as to take advantage of the usable space behind the shower wall.  It is also not going to have a door.  This will be an experiment in my ability to keep organized.  I plan on buying "fabric shelves" to make it easier to access the stuff in the back and to keep visitors from seeing my collection of toiletries.

The lack of door also gives us a little more flexibility for towel rods on the adjoining wall.  There are very few options for places to hang a full-sized towel in this bathroom, and we want to be able to consider all of them.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 10

It turns out that I didn't have to go shopping today.  Yay!  But I did have to make some decisions about the linen closet.  In the end, those decisions will help me make decisions about towel bars.  Oh, the decisions!

The shower tiles are not quite secure enough for grout, so the contractor moved on to the floor today.  I love the floor.  It looks like wood, but is actually tile.  It took several tries to find a tile that matched the coloring of the wood floor in the rest of the house, but I am really glad we did.  It flows nicely between the hallway floor and the bathroom floor, minus the now more obvious hump in the hallway floor in comparison with the now level bathroom floor.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 9

 The tile is hung, and I like it quite a bit. The vertical orientation really does make the room appear taller.  Next up for the shower is the grout, which we chose to be dark in order to provide contrast and to be easier to clean.

It turns out that our floor is particularly uneven, so much so that our contractor had to add yet another layer of leveling stuff to about 75% of the floor. Once it's cured, the floor tile will go in.

Tomorrow I get to spend some time at the store picking out hand towel rings, towel rods, and toilet paper dispensers. I have a feeling I am not going to have a great time.

Not As Advertised

We painted the bedroom yesterday and today.

 The pre-painting conversation went something like this:

Sam: I want off-white.
Laura: I want bold.
Sam: Everything else in the house is bold.
Laura: Okay, off-white, as long as it's not yellowy.
Sam: Hey, how about this blue?
Laura: Bold! Yes! But not that blue. How about this blue?
Sam: Not that blue. Scratch blue. Back to off-white.
Laura: Grey/tan slightly darker than off-white?
Sam: Not too tan. Silent Smoke?
Laura: Deal.

Painting ensued.

Sam: This looks really white.
Laura: This looks really white.
Sam: Well, at least it looks better than the previous color.
Laura: True. Can I still complain to Menards?

Really, the color is nothing like the swatch, don't you think?

Yellow Afternoon

Okra plants, especially the flowers, are very beautiful. I told Sam that I would grow them ornamentally even if we never harvested the vegetables.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 8

The tile is going up!

The tile was a big decision when designing the bathroom.  I wanted something that was not too busy, not too peach/pink, and not too dark.  The first tile we tentatively agreed to was pretty much all these things.

We looked at another store and I found this, which I liked quite a bit more than anything else we had seen.  It is white with blue/grey/brown streaks.  That keeps the peach/pink out and keeps it light enough without being too busy.  Perfect.

The problem when installing this tile, however, is that the tile pieces themselves are very long, but the shower area is very small.  Initially, we were going to arrange the tiles horizontally, but this meant that almost every single tile would have to be cut.  That would introduce more lines and more of a cut-up feel.  I suggested vertical alignment, and my contractor agreed that it was a good idea.  This way meant more tiles could be full size, and vertical lines theoretically make the space look taller.

After he saw this progress, Sam said he thought the horizontal would have looked better, but we're too far along for any change now.  I think I like it, so we'll see how it all ends up.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 7

The photos don't show many dramatic changes, but most of the walls are up and mudded, which means the tile can't be far behind!

The shower plumbing setup went in today as well.  Sam thinks it might be tall, but I think once the shower head goes in, he'll find it to be just fine.

The contractor and I had a discussion about how tall to make the vanity mirror as well.  It's tough to balance the tall and short people difference.

Bathroom Remodel: Day 6

 And we're back on track!

It's the sixth actual day of remodeling, but it's been sixteen days since the construction began.

The long-awaited shower pan went in today, and we are very happy we waited for it.  It has a nice ledge at the bottom for soaps and shampoos, which will be helpful because we are not having any ledges built in to the tile on the upper half of the shower.

Some of the structure of the bathroom is up as well. The space behind the shower where the linen closet goes is framed in, and half of the drywall is up. The green, moisture-resistant wall surfaces give the entire bathroom a green glow.  The color does not show up well in this photo, but believe me, I thought for a moment that something was wrong with the shower pan .

At the end of the day our contractor said, "With all the stuff back in there, I am reminded of how small that bathroom really is!"

Indeed.

NaBloPoMo once again

I'm not sure how popular NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is anymore, but I still enjoy giving it a try every November.

The next few days will be easy as the bathroom remodel will begin again, but the theme otherwise will be "photos from the summer that I never got around to uploading." These will mostly be of plants in my garden, like this sage plant just beginning to bloom in May.

I hope you enjoy.

Cuddle buddies

Millie is not generally the cuddling type, but in the winter she begs to sit on the couch between us.  Sometimes Sam tries to convince her to get a little closer.  She tolerates it.

Made with love

My grandma has always been a sewer.  She made me and my dolls clothes when I was little, and she helped me with my 4H sewing project when I was in middle school.  About the time I was in high school, she started making quilts as well.

Since then, she has made a quilt for every grandchild and great-grandchild who was born to our family, and in the meantime has made quilts for those who were already born, for weddings, and just because.  She made me this quilt in 1998.  It's in frequent rotation on our bed.

The itch

July was ridiculously busy, and the subsequent months have not been significantly less so. In fact, this coming weekend is the first of two weekends in a row that I will be at home, an occurrence that has not happened since last June, I think.

I am looking forward to puttering around the house, and yet, I am already itching for another travel opportunity. The southwest in January, you say? That sounds nice...

Curling in the fog

Ultimate season has pretty much wrapped up, and curling season has started again.  It is odd going into the ice arena when it's 70 degrees outside, but that will soon change.  In the meantime, it's foggy down the sheet as the compressors work to the keep things cool inside.

Early Christmas

Sam has rightfully noted that I have been drinking more coffee lately. He has also done some research in the past year on the inventor of the Aerobie, who has coincidentally also created the Aeropress, an innovative coffee maker.

He kept saying that he was going to get me one for Christmas. Well, it's not Christmas, but this came in the mail today. There will be fun times with coffee in the morning thanks to Sam!

Double hung

The best part of getting new windows in the house is that it was 70 degrees in November and I could open up all my windows.  Up until this year, these storm windows would have been in place and I could not have enjoyed the warm fall air in my office.  It is lovely.

Millie, Crab Eyes, and NaBloPoMo

Millie would like to welcome you to November, which is NaBloPoMo.  That means I'll once again be attempting to post something here every day.

We start with Millie's second costume ever.  She wore this for about five minutes and cared not about it.  Her main interest was the ball and getting me to throw it.  The crab hat did not survive the ball-chasing for very long, and joined the "Super Mom" sweatshirt of three years ago in the discard bin of Millie dog costumes.