bathroom remodel: phase one

So when we bought our house I knew the main bathroom was going to need some love and attention. I mean y'all, it was yellow-green baby food color. Ick. We avoided doing anything in there because we knew it was going to be a beast, and a beast it was. 

It all started back in May when I wanted the hubs to paint the guest room. Our house has an intercom system that doesn't work, so hubs has been removing the boxes from the walls and patching the holes. He removed the box in the guest room and thought "might as well do the bathroom one too." That turned into "well if we're going to be patching holes, might as well remove the toothbrush holder/soap dish/toilet paper holder/towel bar that's in the wall", which led to "well we want to remove the mirror and light fixture and make it two mirrors and two lights fixtures", and then "we need to change out the light fixture and fan in the ceiling" and OMG Y'ALL my bathroom was a wreck!

Here's the one before picture I could find on my phone. It ain't pretty. Not only is the wall color atrocious, but the paint job itself was just as bad. One coat with brush strokes everywhere. Ugh. Hubs had to sand the entire bathroom.

Fast forward to last weekend and hubs was finally able to prime everything. Good golly Kilz stinks! It filled up the whole house and gave me a major headache. I don't know how he could stand it actually being in the room and painting. I helped paint the trim and hubs did the rest. God bless him because I stink at it. 

Last night we were able to hang everything up. New mirrors, new light fixtures, new towel bars, new toilet paper holder, and best of all NO MORE BABY FOOD COLORED WALLS!

They grey is perfect…after I went back to Lowe's and had it re-tinted. I picked a shade that was too light and looked white, so we went for one shade darker and I love it. It compliments the blue-grey tile perfectly. 

Bathrooms are expensive though! Everything added up quickly. I found the mirrors at Homegoods for only $40 a piece. Such a steal since everything else I liked seemed to start at $100 a piece.

The bathroom feels much more soothing now with all of the cool tone colors. I plan on hanging some navy curtains as soon as I buy a curtain rod this afternoon. We're taking a break from the remodel for now, but we're definitely not done. 

Phase two includes a new tile floor, a new countertop/cabinet base, and adding a second sink. This second part is going to really add up so we need to save some pennies first. For now, I'm as happy as a clam!

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big boy bed

When we were at the beach this past month, we came to the realization that Quinn was too big for his pack n play. The poor thing couldn't stretch out in it and after waking up from a nap crying, we decided to give a big bed a go. The condo we were staying in happened to have a toddler railing, so we set it up and he did wonderfully. Once we were back home, bubs immediately asked for a big boy bed in his room, ha! It wasn't exactly part of the plan, but we already had furniture for him stored at hubs' parents' house so we went and picked it up. 

While the furniture is in great condition, it wasn't exactly what I envisioned for the big boy room, so bubs had to wait a couple more weeks while I painted the bed. I told him Friday morning it was all ready and he would get to sleep in his big boy bed that night. He was pumped!

He was so excited I could not get him to sit still and smile for a picture. He wanted to check it all out and make sure all of his friends were accounted for.

And of course there had to be some wrestling with daddy to really start off the big boy status. Lots of giggles.

His new quilt came in the mail Saturday evening, so it was washed and added to the bed Sunday morning. He loves his anchor sheets and new blankie, as he calls it. He did so well sleeping in it too! I was worried he would get out of bed on his own about a million times, but he didn't. Not even once! He did so well each night and each nap. I'm very proud of my big boy.

The hubs was finally able to prime our bathroom on Saturday, so Quinn and I headed to the park. It was operation wear him out so he would take a good nap. I'd say we were quite successful.

He loves being able to go down the slides all by himself. He kept shouting, "watch mama!" and it made my day. He also shared his chalk with another little boy (after a bit of coaxing haha).

I was embroidering some shirts when little man woke up and of course he wanted to see what I was doing. It didn't last long though. He sat in my lap for about two minutes and then promptly raced off to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I could hear him singing the theme song down the hallway. Adorable.

I've started making different appliqué designs and selling the shirts through my Facebook page. So far it's been a lot of fun. The only problem is that I pretty much want to make one of each for myself too ha.

This morning I went to get Quinn ready for daycare and he was still out cold. He had wriggled himself underneath his new quilt and he looked so precious. The hidden bonus to the big boy bed would have to be that he looks so tiny in that big bed. He still looks like my little angel baby.

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swing set

One of the perks of our new house is that it came with a swing set in the backyard. I knew that Quinn would love to climb up the rock wall and fall down the slide and I could picture evenings spent pushing my bubs in the swing, back and forth.

For his first birthday (which was in November), my parents gave Quinn a brand new swing for his swing set. We put it in the corner of the breakfast room until it was warm enough to go outside. One evening after work I asked the hubs to put it up.

Quinn loved it!

The setting sun was pretty bright so I put his little whale bucket hat on while he ran around. It's a little goofy looking but totally cute!

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just call us the Griswolds

This past weekend the hubs and I finished putting up the rest of our outside Christmas decorations. A small part of me wonders what the neighbors must think. Are they shaking their heads and questioning, "Who in the world moved in next door, the Griswolds?"

But a bigger part of me remembers. I remember sitting in the car with my parents as a child, driving through neighborhoods looking for Christmas lights. The more a house had, the more ooooos and ahhhhhs we gave it. I remember being so excited when we would find "a good one," the kind that you can see from miles away. I want my house to be one of those houses. So let the neighbors call me crazy, but I bet you a five-year-old will say it's awesome.

Hopefully as Quinn gets older, he'll be proud of his house and not embarrassed by it. I know it makes my heart happy.

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

If you know me at all, then you know I love Christmas, especially decorating for it. If you know the hubs at all, then you know he is obsessed with Christmas. Not even kidding a little, he blows my love for all things merry and bright out of the water.

This year we have four trees. That's right, four seven and a half foot, full blown, fully decorated trees. It all started with a Clemson themed tree. Then we added a traditional tree. Then came my Coca-Cola tree. Now we have added a tree on our front porch.

With the baby this year, I'm having to decorate in stages. Tuesday night we decorated the Coca-Cola themed tree. I just love this how it looks. It fits so perfectly in my Coca-Cola themed breakfast room.

The next tree we decorated last night was the traditional tree. This tree needs some help. I feel like it's seriously lacking something. We definitely don't have as many ornaments for this tree. The ones that are currently up there are things we've picked up on trips or received as gifts or brought home from ornament exchange parties. I do have some "fillers" in there but I think I need more.

The next tree would normally be the Clemson tree but we are currently waiting on replacement lights to come in the mail. We bought a brand new pre-lite tree this year and of course the very top section was a dud. Maybe I'll decorate the tree on our porch next. I'll be sure to post more pictures because Lord knows we are far from done adding to the holly jolly!

mish-mash

I haven't been so good at keeping up with blogging lately so it's time for the good ole bulleted list and iPhone picture dump. Do you ever find that the longer since your last post, the harder it is to get going again?

• The hubs went to Asheville to work on a press there and he stopped at one of my favorite stores, Bloomfield's. They carry one of our china patterns. {Yes that means we might possibly have more than one...maybe five} This is the pretty he brought home.

• Quinn has been sleeping in his crib for a little while now and I always get so tickled at the different positions I find him in.

• When you announce you're in the mood to bake something, this is what you'll come home to ha!

• We moved Quinn into a big boy car seat. He loves it! It's a little more challenging when he falls asleep, but so far I like it. 

• I was unpacking some more boxes and came across my grandparents' china. This was their everyday stuff. Lucky for me my married name starts with the same initial as theirs!

• Our friends Jessica and Bryan had their beautiful baby girl Parker on October 4th. We went to visit while they were still in the hospital. I'm itching to visit again soon!

• On our way into Clemson, the hubs and I decided to order a pizza from Papa Johns. I found it so funny that when I went to give them my phone number for the order they still had it stored in their computer under my maiden name. I definitely had my fair share of pizzas at college.

• For the Clemson vs Georgia Tech game, the bestie and her beau came to town. It was such a great game! We decided to skip tailgating and instead ate at TD's downtown and did a little shopping. It was the perfect decision.

• The Sunday after the game, we ran errands as a little family. I love days like that. We had breakfast at Denny's and picked up pumpkins. Quinn loved riding in the race car cart.

• I'm so happy it's soup weather! I've been bringing soup to lunch almost every day and my mom even made a batch of chicken noodle that's in my freezer. Yum.

• Some cuteness of my baby boy.

• This weekend we decided to make a trip to Ikea. It all started because the hubs saw this sink. I've always wanted a farmhouse sink in the kitchen but not for the price they normally cost. Ikea's version is much more reasonable!

• We ended up leaving with a red table for the breakfast room, a rug for the den, and some toys for the kiddo. We picked out chairs to put on our wish list and save for plus I'm inspired to make a version of this circus top to hang in Quinn's room

• The new rug for the den led to this remodeling project last night. 

• My little Sophia snuggling in bed with me.

• And one last picture of the kiddo to wrap it up. He loved bouncing while I worked on unpacking in the breakfast room.