Paint Clothes

It's time to paint again. I used to be at Lowe's almost every weekend picking out paint, it's been a while. In fact I think it's been about 9 months, the last thing I painted was Dietrich's room and I was about 7 months pregnant then. No, no, that's not right, I helped Shawna pick out paint for her house, and Dietrich was around 2 months old then, so it's been 5 months. But 9 since I did my house. Yesterday Dietrich and I spent about an hour at Lowe's picking out paint and new towel bars (Dietrich mostly just ate paint samples and smiled at strangers), and a door knob for the new closet door in the bathroom. I picked out paint and bought a gallon, which I don't usually do. Usually I have to do a few of those little sample colors. I am really hoping I like this color...I will have pictures to post later today or maybe tomorrow. But the real reason I got on here to write a quick post about painting is that my favorite painting jeans, the ones that I purchased in college, fit me (mostly)!!! 6.5 months after having a baby and I can (mostly) fit in these old jeans again. I love them, I especially love the little hole between my legs where my thigh hangs out....HA-OTTT, I tells ya (the un-buttoned top button and post baby belly hanging over is also pretty sexy). I know it doesn't matter if you look good or not while painting (especially because who's going to see me, the dog?), but right now these jeans are making me feel great about painting. That and my "Beer, it's what's for breakfast" t-shirt. Oh painting clothes, how I love thee.

We can shower again!

On Wednesday night Dietrich was able to have his first bath in the new bathroom. The tub is in, the tile is sealed, everything is caulked and we can finally use our shower! Dietrich loved it, he can finally play in the tub instead of taking a sink bath.

Bryce and I both agreed that our first shower in here was the best shower we ever had. The new shower head feels like it's raining and the bathroom is so bright and wonderful. I was going to go take some real "after" pictures for you, but when I walked into the bathroom I changed my mind. We don't have towel racks yet so towels are hanging on the shower curtain rod. My niece is here so there is a potty chair and stool in the bathroom. And Dietrich's blow up tub that you see here is leaning up against the wall. Oh to heck with it, here it is!

I love this new shower head. We raised it up quite a bit when we had the wall open so that we giants can stand under it. It feels so good! Check out those corner shelves, I love not having one of those hanging shower things that falls off all the time.
Here's the new handle and spout. Bryce had to do a little plumbing work to make this new handle work, it was of course more difficult than using a more plain model, but this one was so pretty!
This is our new light/fan. We didn't have a light or a fan in this bathroom before. Now the extra light is great in the shower and we no longer have a steamy mirror when we are done showering.
And this was our 2 year anniversary present from Bryce's family. We did not plan on replacing the toilet, because it still works and we really couldn't afford it right now. But it was gray, and was going to stand out in our new pretty bathroom. So Bryce's family bought us a gift card and we were able to buy this dual flush toilet. One flush for small things, another flush for big things. We like to be green and save water too :)
Now I need to pick out some new paint colors and new towel racks for the bathroom. I loved my teal walls, but they really don't go in this new pretty bathroom. I told Bryce he can have a break from house projects for a while, but after Christmas I am hoping to put in a new counter top and back splash, then we will be free of all the gray in the bathroom!

Tile all weekend

I know that sometimes on here I go on and on about how awesome my husband is because he is so talented with the remodeling. But I just can't help myself! I know it embarrasses him a little, but really, he does so much! When I was dating I made a rule that I would not marry someone unless they could drive my car (and I drive a stick, clearly I dated SEVERAL boys who could not drive it, which um...was a problem for me, and them), and what a good rule this turned out to be! Because not only can he drive my car, he can fix it, and he can fix just about anything in our house, and even when he's not exactly sure what to do, he figures it out (thank goodness for youtube!). So I decided before starting this post raving about the tiling that Bryce accomplished this weekend that if he had a blog I am sure he would write about how awesome I am. How I make seafood alfredo for dinner, and these awesome pizzas for lunch:

so that he can take a break from working to eat something (for once). He would also write about how I take care of this little guy all day:
Who by the way decided to get a tooth over the weekend. Bryce took last Friday off to start tiling. Our wonderful neighbor came over to give us a few pointers, and so that we could make sure we knew what we were doing (okay so that I knew that Bryce knew what he was doing). He tiled for 10 hours on Friday and 13 on Saturday. I cannot believe just how hard he can work. No way could I go all day the way he does. On Monday night he came home from work and did the grout in the shower until after 10:00. I am in love with the glass tile in the shower and I am really glad that we decided to do this pattern with the tile.
We also got a great deal on these shelves that we put in the corner. We paid for three and got one for free! So we were able to put two in the front and two in the back, no more crazy hanging thing that falls on your head during every shower.
On Saturday, Bryce was getting ready to start the floor and asked me if I wanted him to do accents with the glass tile like my mom has in her bathroom. I told him I had not planned on it so he could decide. I took a nap and when I got up, he had started the floor and had decided to do the glass tile accents. It made way more work and took much longer, but I think the floor is BEAUTIFUL!
Bryce is busy with Church stuff tonight so he is taking a break from the bathroom. Tomorrow he plans to grout the floor. Next week we should have it sealed and ready for an actual shower! We also put in a new light/fan and will be getting new towel racks and a new paint job, so as soon as I make some more decisions on those things I will have more pictures to show you!

Shower progress

Remodeling is so hard sometimes. There are way too many decisions to make, what color tile, what style, which way to we put it in, do we make the cuts at the top or the bottom of the shower? The ceiling and the floor are not level, so um...how does that work? And then where do you want the border and the shelves and what kind of layout are we doing with these tiles?

Sometimes I really struggle trying to make all of these decisions. Especially because whatever decision I make is usually the most difficult way to do the project. And then my amazing husband figures it out and does it the way I request, even though I'm sure he's thinking the whole time how if he just wouldn't ask me how I want it he could do it the easier way. Here's a cute picture of Dietrich in the bathroom. He had to help Daddy while I went to the grocery store.

Dietrich learning how to mud and tape the sheet rock. This will come in very handy in his life because clearly as soon as the kid can move he will be helping us remodel. This totally reminds me of how my friend Shawna came to town last night and her sister Sarah came too. Sarah was here once before, last January when we were working on the kitchen cabinets and had just finished the lower bedroom and laundry room. As Bryce worked away until 10:00 last night we all sat in the living room visiting. Poor guy has to go clear down to the garage to cut the tile because those water tile cutters are very messy. We all felt pretty bad watching him run up and down the stairs, and Sarah says to me "when will you be done with house projects?" "I'm pretty sure never."
And after finally making a zillion decisions on what color tile, which direction to lay it, what pattern to use, what to use for a border, and picking out shelves, Bryce could finally start tiling the shower yesterday.
Close up of the glass tile border.
Two walls done!
So far I can say that I totally LOVE IT! I was so worried about picking out something that I would walk in and just be kinda "meh" about. But I love this tile, and I love the glass tile boarder. I love that my husband took a day "off" of work to spend 12 hours working on the bathroom. And most of all I love that during this long project we have a SECOND BATHROOM!!!