Oops, I did it again! Or, I will. 
I liked my guest bathroom makeover so much that I’ve started a similar one in our master bathroom. But I can’t show you an after without showing you a before. I’m sparing no mess or clutter. I want to share what we’re living with right now. It definitely needs some sprucing up and could use a bit more storage and better organization. That’s the main goal as I move forward with this project. Continue reading “Bathroom Makeover Before…Again”
I wrote a Thursday Thoughts post yesterday saying how I couldn’t believe that we’ve been living in our apartment for almost a year and a half. I also mentioned that I’ve got some big and fresh ideas for our apartment to make it more functional for us. It seems to be my pattern to need to live in a space for almost a year before I really know what I want to do in it. If I want to change anything, paint anything, add anything, etc. I have come up with some ways to help make our bathrooms a little prettier and use the space we have to be super efficient.
I have always just known when a house or apartment was right for us. When we bought our house in Louisiana, I went to see it without Paul and knew right away that it was our house. I told him I thought it was the one, he came back for a second visit with me, and we just knew it was right. I sort of felt that with our apartment now, but it was in a different way. I knew we were going to move in to this apartment when we decided to move. It was a bit of a site unseen situation, but I knew I had to trust that it was going to be alright. When I finally did see it (just before we moved), I knew that it was right. It was smaller than what we were used to, but it was going to work for us.
I’ve had a tough time figuring out what to do in this space. Part of that was because I didn’t know how long we’d be here, and I didn’t know if it would make sense for me to do anything to it. If I wasn’t going to be here long enough to enjoy it, I’d probably not want to invest the time, money, and effort into making the changes. But as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am feeling quite happy here in this apartment. It seems to be the right time to customize the things we can and want to do, because we don’t plan to leave anytime soon.
The previous tenant had the bathroom walls repainted, but the job wasn’t up to my standards. I know that makes me sound like a snob, but there were paint brush hairs stuck to the wall. Nothing wrong with wanting to fix that. Also, I really wanted it to be bright and white. The beige color is a bit warm for my liking, so at the cost of a gallon of paint, I could really make this space over.
I want to first say that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with this bathroom. Everything works perfectly. I just wanted to make some changes that make it a little bit easier on the eyes…well, my eyes and that would make it function in the best way possible.
Here’s what I’m planning to do:
Things I’m keeping:
This will in no way be a gut-job. It’ll be a little mini-makeover. Like getting your hair and makeup done. 🙂
Here’s the inspirational photo that most accurately shows what I could do in my bathroom.
I’ll keep you updated on the progress. The colder temps deter me a little from painting because it doesn’t dry as well. I’m hoping it’ll be a quick weekend project, though. I’m looking forward to putting this in motion and showing you the results.
Have any of you done a mini makeover? How did it go for you? Let me know in the comments.
Have a great weekend, y’all!
PORCH UPDATE
Before school was over in May, I posted a Before post on our back porch. I had all of these wonderful plans set in motion to really update it and make it an awesome place to hang out this summer.
Before 
It was a hot mess (still is). I have done a bit of cleaning and rearranging, but we still aren’t finished yet.
I bought this beautiful black and white striped umbrella that I just knew was going to look amazing and fit our umbrella frame that we already own. Well….
That was a big ol’ no. I spent $50.00 on the umbrella thinking it would fit our frame, then I thought I might as well just buy the new frame and stand, but that was $50.00 more, and I just didn’t want to spend that much. I can do better than that. (Just so you know, I’m still looking.)
Then, in my rearranging and cleaning process I was moving our water hose out of the way and found this! 
Yep, that’s a snake skin. Now I’m paranoid about snakes being coiled up along with the hose. But to look on the bright side-at least it was just the skin and not an actual snake. Pretty sure I’d have told Paul to start packing because we were moving.
Progress
Basically I’ve rearranged the furniture. I put the table in the middle and the bar cart off to the side.
Yes my dead ferns are still sitting there. When my niece was staying with me one afternoon, she wanted to go outside. Well, she took one look at my ferns and said, “Oh, we need to water your plants.” 🙂 Bless her heart! 
I don’t have a pretty pot for my Zinnias yet, which aren’t doing so well. My mother-in-law is an amazing gardener. She just has that green thumb that I was not blessed with. She planted the colorful flowers in the terracotta pot on the cart and gave me the zinnias on the table. She said to water them and talk to them. I do both, but I don’t think they like what I have to say. 
My pineapple rug got so dirty from all the rain and water runoff. 🙁 
So that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Maybe by the fall, when the weather gets nicer, it’ll be ready for some al fresco dinners and entertaining. Until then, I’ll enjoy the air conditioning and searching for a cheaper umbrella (preferably one that will fit my existing frame) and keep my eye out for more slithery friends. Let me know in the comments if you’ve seen any striped umbrellas that are cheaper than $100. Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great one!
It’s that time of year where I’m in the end-of-the-year teacher mode which, unfortunately, comes with other things that take precedence over projects for the house.
Case in point: I’ve started a painting project that is taking an unnecessarily long amount of time, but I’m hoping to put my nose to the grinder (or is it grindstone?) and get it done this week after school. Fingers crossed that that actually happens and that I’m sharing it with you next week!
I’ve also been scheming a design plan for my back porch. I’ve purchased two things already to be used for the “after”, but I haven’t quite gotten to putting any of it to use yet.
I’m showing you the before of the porch today. It’s a mess, and I’m almost embarrassed to show you just how bad it is, but I’m pretty real here on the blog, so here it is…pollen-caked table, dead ferns, and all. 
This bar cart was something my parents had on their back porch that wasn’t getting much use, so I happily took it off their hands. I had it inside at our house in Louisiana, but it lives outside here and clearly doesn’t do anything useful. That’ll be changing soon.
We’ve had this table set for nearly seven years, so it needs some love and sprucing up.
Isn’t it a mess? Oh my goodness! *Insert face palm emoji.* You can see that it’s an area of our home that’s been pretty neglected. We spend a decent amount of time out here supervising the dogs so that they don’t run away when they have to do their business, but I’d like to spend even more time out here now that the weather is pretty warm. And once things look pretty, well why wouldn’t I be out here more? 🙂
So here’s a sneak peak at what started the design wheels turning in my head.
Isn’t it great? I am having quite the moment with pineapples; I totally jumped in head first on that trend. I also love pink, and let’s be honest, that is one pink doormat, but I knew I had to have it when I saw it and saw that it was on sale for $10!
I have a lot to do (and clean), but I really want to be able to enjoy this space this summer. So that’s where I’ll be for the rest of the month-cleaning up, organizing, planting, rearranging, etc. Can’t wait to share the “after” with y’all.
