1 Down, 10 to Go

Better late than never, right? The 1/2 bath is complete! It's actually been finished for a week, but we're just now finding time to upload the photos. Drumroll, please...

Here is the view from the doorway.

We basically gutted the bathroom (we left the sheetrock up, but that was pretty much it. With all the patching and sanding we had to do to the walls though, we may as well have replaced all of the sheetrock, too!) We have had lots of painting help from Megan's mom & dad, and Mom was nice enough to Kilz the walls and ceiling (remember the horrific BLUE?? Scroll down to the last entry if you've blocked it out) and paint the first coat of the grayish white paint color we chose.

Originally, we bought a quart of the same color in a high gloss finish to use for the stripes. After lots of taping and painting, it turned out okay, but just wasn't quite enough contrast for the look we wanted. So, we went back to Home Depot and picked a lighter white in an eggshell finish (the original paint was flat). The second try turned out perfectly! It's just the look we were going for.


The floors are the same bamboo that we installed throughout the first floor, with the exception of the dining room and front hallway, in which we left the original oak. Stephen & his dad did a great job on the floor installation, and we bought and painted new baseboard and quarter round for the bathroom.


After Stephen put in the new baseboard, we (and by that I mean he) installed the new vanity (which we scored for 1/2 price!) and toilet. We hung the mirror and quickly framed a piece of fabric to serve as temporary art, and that was that! Finito.


So there you have it. Our first finished product in the house! The goal is to have the majority of the house presentable (we're realistic enough to know that it will never be "finished") by Monday, the 21st when we are having guests. Wish us luck! Here is one more pic of our new bathroom. Happy December! Just 2 more weeks until Winter Break...

Here we go...

Welcome to our blog baby! It'll be a long time before our parents get any grandkids out of us, so maybe this "blog baby" will suffice for awhile. Doubtful... but worth a try, right?

As the holidays approach and we prepare to be asked a multitude of questions about our house and life in general, we decided that it might be fun to start a blog that will answer many of those questions! Of course, we LOVE talking to friends and family about these things, but hopefully we'll be able to use the blog to share pictures and give regular updates.



We bought our first house in August (on my 25th birthday, to be exact) and it has been a major work in progress ever since! We actually started painting and doing minor repairs a few weeks before we even closed. The house had been vacant since March (and our offer pending since early April!), so the realtor and previous owner were kind enough to give us our keys a little early. It's been a definite learning experience, not only about short sales (better known as LONG sales) and buying a home, but also learning about budgeting, prioritizing, and taking things one step at a time.

We've done an incredible amount of work to the house, and there is still so much to do! I can't wait to share some before and after pics (as soon as we actually HAVE "after" shots). We are very close to finishing our half-bath, so I'll leave you with the photos of the bathroom as it looked before we touched it.

Ahh! Look at that BLUE. It was a disaster. Let's just say that we couldn't decide what to do first... rip up the ugly, smelly floor or cover the terrible blue walls with as much Kilz as possible. We'll post the after shots soon!


P.S. This color blue was in 3 rooms of the house, and also on the CEILINGS of 2 of those rooms. Needless to say, Kilz was temporarily our best friend.