Grout It.

Got around the tub grouted. Soon enough it'll have caulk (Friday?) and handles (Sunday?!). I didn't take very good pictures because I was being lazy.

 Mocked up cabinets.

View of the cabinets if laying in the tub fully clothed.

Also, this is spiderweb off our top deck. I like it. I'm keeping it. It's invisible during the day. I just hope he evens out the gaps in the web. I understand though, our house is under construction too.

Tile Update

Okay, so the elves didn't solve my problem, but I worked it out. Cutting those little tiles in half proved to difficult/time consuming for me. I am the sole tiler, so I was too frustrated with it to fight with it. Also, I really love my fingers. Anyways, so I got some white, ceramic pencil tiles and fit them in the space. I think they look pretty good. I did have to trim some of them down, but being six inches long I wasn't as afraid to shave the edges off. Plus they were measures easier to cut than the other tiles I've been using.

Here are some pictures from around the tub! Hopefully it'll be grouted tomorrow and I'll be showering in that bathroom in no time!

The other aspects of our bathroom? Well, they're on hold for the time being. I read some reviews online for the sinks we bought and they're all horrible. They say that the sink is poorly designed and doesn't drain all the well--even when installed properly leveled. Luckily they've just been ordered and haven't arrived at the store yet. We can return them before we take them home. Only problem is now we've got to find new white sink tops :-/. Well? Maybe we'll consider a solid countertop now.

Excitement

I am literally so excited about my bathroom getting finished (it's not, I'm just imagining) that I can't sleep.

On our way to a shower

Sunday was a busy, busy day. We got cabinets and countertops (sort of... they'll be here in 7 days). We also picked out the backsplash and tub 'round tile.

I started the install on the tub tile right away. The sooner I don't have to shower in the blue bathroom, the better.
So, I started on the back wall. Maybe I should've started in the middle of the middle wall, but I don't care. I decided I was looking for progress, so I started there.

I finished around the tub and decided to stop. It takes a while, so I was ready to sit down and watch some Design Star.

I have an eensy dilemma between the tub and bottom of the tile on the skinny sides. The tile saw refuses to cut the tile long-ways into half inch slabs. When I try the backer on the tile dissolves and the tiles go off in every direction. I think the space is a little too big to fill with caulk. Right now I'm leaning towards one of those decorative tile strips along the base. Bleh. I wish the problem would go away (preferably without the tile just falling off the wall---that would be ideal.) I mean more in the terms of "magically resolving itself" or "elves come and fix it in the night."

I asked Jeremy to take some pictures of the tile. He usually just takes pictures of me smiling sitting in the midst of my work.

Important video link detailing the history of furniture

...constructed by those savvy Norsemen.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGkalRgGMhs&NR=1

(Kelly and Rob, I'm looking at you.)

I've waited my whole life for this.

Let's be honest. I've waited my whole life to have a house to decorate. I never spent hours dreaming about wedding or the man I'd marry. No. I wanted a house. I drew so many floor plans. Now I have one for a month and I really haven't gotten around to much decorating other than paint.

Today was the day. I decided to work on my picture wall. I've been collecting frames here and there for a while now. Nothing too special... just black. Most people seem to be going with white, same-sized frames lately. I chose black because a lot of our furniture is blackish and we have light walls and wainscoting to begin with. So, most of the frames I already had were good to go. I had on frame that Jeremy gave me with a rainbow (that he drew--obviously, considering the order of the colors) that was more of a pine color so I fixed that with a little spraypaint.

Black undercoat, satin finish.

Laura, why'd you buy all that spraypaint? Good question. I didn't. When my parents moved to Colorado they couldn't take the flammable containers with them. Hence, spraypaint.

Alright. Now fixing up the wall.

Here's the blank wall I started with.

First I laid the picture frames out on the floor in a pattern that I liked. I wasn't too concerned with having perfect, measured spacing between the frames because the frames are all different anyways. I wanted a more eclectic look--mostly because I'm lazy and it's much less work.

Then I cut out pieces of newspaper to the size of the frame and poked a hole where the "hanger" for the picture was on the back of the frame.

Then I taped my pattern up on the wall and nailed the nails into the hanger marks.

Then I ripped down the pieces of paper, hung up the pictures and voila! Worked perfectly for me. I didn't make a single "extra" hole in the wall. Whole project took me an hour and a half.

Pinwheel from our wedding! The background is some neat, handmade paper that Megan got me for Christmas. I've been waiting for the perfect occasion to use it :-)

Outside Lights

We've been coming home to a dark house for a while now. It's annoying to drive up and have to open the garage door so that you can see to unload the car. That's all changed now with the installation of our NEW motion sensor lights. Now all of the raccoons that run by in the night will feel like they've been caught and scurry away!

Other than the convenience factor, we replaced the lights because A) One wasn't working and B) They didn't match each other at all.

Here's the old cover on the one light. It has a cylindrical light cover that goes down off of it. The other cover looks similar to the new ones, except fancier with gold highlights and a ballast coming off the bottom. I forgot to take a picture of it.

New lights!

We also have some new solar lights (on sale!) lighting the pathway outside. They make a nice star pattern on the ground. I'll have to get a picture if I remember.