Creating A Cottage On A Hill Project: The Bathroom

So. I had some big plans for this post.

Oh, who am I kidding, they were only mediocre. There was going to be some photos of my favorite "rooms for more than just soap" and inspiration images for my current bathroom renovation  re-do (renovation implies walls being knocked out and that I'm replacing my shower with the cast iron tub of my dreams. Which totally isn't happening). And yes, you read that right, even as I'm posting this now, I am working on changing my bathroom yet again. I blame House of Turquoise and Austin Handler for constantly filling my head with more awesome than I can tolerate. Maybe if they'd just cut it out I could be happy with what I got. But no.

So yeah, big plans. I had them. And fireworks. But now I'm feeling lazy and distracted by American Idol. Which is funny, because I haven't watched a season since Kelly Clarkston kicked all that booty. And yeah, let's be honest, I totally didn't have any fireworks.

I guess you'll just have to settle for some lame ol' B&A's.

First, I had to suit up in the "uniform". Now, don't knock the Ralph Lauren shirt from 1999. I got that sucker at Bloomingdales on my first trip to NYC. It was on the clearance rack and at $11.00 was the only thing I could afford. The overalls bear the paint color of just about every room I've ever done. I love being able to just wipe my hands on my pant legs.

See what I mean?

before:

Note: they had not 1, but 2 wallpaper borders up(!)

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I really don't feel like I did that much. Just pretty much just undid all the awful that had been done, cleaned like my life depended  on it, painted from floor to ceiling, and added towels and a shower curtain.

So what's next? Thanks to (again) my darling, Erin from House of Turquoise, I saw this shower curtain and had to have it. And not only did I have to have it, but I had to re-do the entire bathroom to welcome it properly:

But, it needs some friends.

I love this light, I'd love it more in a polished silver or aluminum:

via Shades of Light

What I really want though, is 2 of these hung as sconces:

via Shades of Light

So far I can only find them in outdoor lighting.
Is there any reason I can't use it indoors?

I really would love a mirror like this one, but it's not big enough. 

I found one at Home Goods that I like though that is only $29 so I think I'll get that one.

via Brass Binnacle
(It's only $69!)

 Since I've still got you here, how about I share some goals?

I'm aiming for something that kind of looks like this:

and if I COULD knock out a wall?

This would be on like Donkey Kong:

And what the heck, you guys have stuck it out this whole blog sitting through my rambling,
I'll give you some fireworks after all:

Bathroom by Mabley Handler Interior Design

Can you say yum?!

Aqua owns me.

And presently, I'm trying to hunt down this color or its likeness because I am going to repaint my living room and kitchen the same color. It has been two years. I've waited long enough. 

Be a doll, and if you have a link to a lovely, aqua room that I can use for paint chip inspiration, hook a sister up.

Happy Saturday!

xo

A Lovely Little Batch of B&A's

I seem to have misplaced a rather ginormous pile of Before & After photos of projects that I've done. I kept meaning to post them but you know what they say about the best laid intentions? Well, I'm hoping you do so you can tell me - because the only thing I know is that I can't find those darn photos.

So while you're waiting for me to find my brain where it seems to be nestled next to a plate of no-no brownies (which it totally isn't since my diet doesn't even presently allow brownies), I thought at the very least I could slap up some pictures of what I have just hanging out on my laptop.

Don't get too excited, it's not that awesome.


I got this lovely sewing table from our neighbor's garage sale for $7.00. I had wanted one SO bad that I had been praying for weeks (and I mean literally PRAYING, like on bended knee stuff, people) for one to pretty much just fall in my lap. I had also been praying to find a cheap dog crate for my Lills and she threw that baby in for free. Voila! See, things like this are proof that Jesus likes me and wants me to be happy. That, or I'm just a spoiled brat.

Just look at that thing. It's in mint condition, it came with all of it's parts AND it stood up quite wonderfully to turquoise Painters Touch. Win.

So this poor damn table. It is among the many things that I just couldn't make up my mind about (more on that subject later). I can't find it's original photo at the moment, but trust me when I say it was ugly-as-shit-brown. Like, not even close to not being atrocious. I paid $10 for it at The Habitat For Humanity Restore...or was it $5.00? Either way, it didn't cost enough to make me feel guilty for repainting it more than once to appease myself.

annnd now (ignore the non-matchy pillow situ)

Oh, and lookie, I found the yuck factor
(see, told you it was ugly)

This is a bedside table that I bought to be this unmatched matched set.When I was in my (brief) aqua and yellow stage, I painted it. Since then it's been painted again (turquoise this time) and for it's final presentation it's going white. Stay tuned. Oh yeah, Habitat for Humanity, $5.00.

PS. Eventually I WILL learn that if I just paint everything white, or aqua to begin with, I can save myself a lot of freaking hassle, not to mention time and paint, if I stop painting stuff on a whimsy mood swing. I swear I'll never learn.

I got the other-side-of-the-bed's table at a garage for...free. I was looking at it and the home owner hollers over, "If you want it, take it, I just want it gone". I didn't bother telling her that I was only staring at it because my family (and I'm sure most of yours) had the same matching set to it when I was growing up. But what the hell, I'll just spray paint it. Easy peasy.

Ta-Da

Do I ever loves me some glass knobs and pulls. And Milk Glass.


And hey, I'll throw in my "goofy lamp experiment" for good measure.

 It's for sale. But the shade is crap. Note to self: Mod Podging a lampshade doesn't work. Spray mount or bust. Man, I was SO into yellow that month, sheesh.

Alrighty peeps, I'm outta here. I have to go track down photos of things that I didn't paint yellow. I'll leave you with a photo of my pretty, pretty princess, Lilly. She matches, what, with her yellow and turquoise and all. it'd be a shame to leave her out.

All You Need Is Love.

How many times do you find yourself reading a subscription, then "Ooh! Shiny thing!" and you're onto another shiny thing, and then yet another until an hour later you're wondering where your last hour went?


I was reading the latest Design*Sponge  post, which let me peek inside this lovely little apartment belonging to this adorable little couple, of Harold & Jane - Handmade Vintage Jewelry, and what struck me wasn't so much how awesome everything looked, but more importantly, how I felt while snooping around their crib.

Not everything blantantly matches or seems like it was part of some well thought-out design. On the contrary, the only thing that every thing seems to have in common, is that it appears loved. Well, that is the most lovely design, isn't it? Each item in their home seems carefully chosen, touched...smiled at. I picture them walking around this apartment affectionately regarding the objects that make up their home. They are reminded of trips they took together, the recall the beginning of collections, they make plans for to go together next.

Now, this mind rambling might mostly be because I'm freaking nosy. But aren't all shelter blog junkies? Heck, we're all the kind of sort that love the dark nights of winter when the leaves have fallen off of the trees so they no longer obstruct our views of people's living rooms. We try to be stealthy, we imagine getting caught craning our necks for a better look, "Oh, don't worry, we don't want to see your panties. No ma'am, we just want a closer look at that armoire". But I digress...

So I'm oggling photos of trips, snow, couches, etc. and then I decide to read. Wow, are these guys for real? Is this guy for real? His words made me cry, and not just because he said lovely things, but because their photos illustrated that they are lovely things. It made me feel lovely. And hopeful.


It made me feel hopefully lovely.


"Sitting here typing away on the now famous Chester I look around and realize just how blessed we are. However, it’s not our material wealth that blows me away. Rather it is the love and support of our family, and the legacy that they have given us through their hard work and time that humbles me. It is the knowledge that I am well and truly loved by my wife, by my parents, by her parents. It the deep seated faith that even if our apartment burned to the ground tomorrow we would be alright because we have each other. The beautiful things in our house are just a reminder of the larger truth: we are loved.

All you need is love...." - Ellias Carson

Amen. 

It's funny to me the things you see just by looking at a photo of someone's butterfly collection, or a vignette of dishes, a grouping of mirrors. It's beautiful what you can feel. 


Looking into the life of two people I don't even know, I found myself so happy that they found each other. I prayed for their future. I thanked God that they are so blessed. I was grateful to be a bystander to it even if in this electronic way. And my point isn't to really drive home that I might be a crazy stalker, I'm totally not, but to highlight that we are all surrounded by beauty. We are immeasurably lucky even if only as subtly as reading a shelter blog in the morning because it makes us happy. It connects us. We touch each other. Someone's brain invented Chevron. Someone else's painted it on that floor. Another someone fell in love with it and shared it with a friend. Now, Chevron lovers unite. The fact that every day we have the ability to affect one another, to connect with our souls and send out positive energy to people we likely won't ever meet? 

Well I think that's pretty darn kick ass stuff. 

xo

(aren't they beautiful?)

To see more of their awesome, check out their website: Orange Juice-etc.com

Get busy.

image via Wild & Precious

Seriously. I need to get on the ball. Like, whoa.

To Do:

Find a free-lance gig that I can do from home.

Well, okay, that's a tad bit unrealistic. I'll come back to that one.

Process photography. Now.

Finish Tater's photos. Mail them to April. Oh, don't forget to include her ornaments. 

Mail out Pay It Forward recipients

Set post dates for upcoming blogs. All 10 of them.

Photograph and list milk glass.

And those silver platter thingies.

Wash the couch covers. 

Repaint that cute little table you just bought.

Make the pom-poms, while you're at it, hang those bad boys.

Paint that tall storage thing that goes over the toilet in the bathroom.

Don't forget to take B&A's (!)

Make those book page butterflies.

Mop the floors. Scratch that. You should prolly hand scrub them. The grout needs to be disinfected.

Finish the seat cushions on dining set. List it on Etsy No, it's too big.Craigslist.

Make and mail stuff to Sharri.

Plan BB's baby shower

Finish reupholstering that ottoman or settee or whatever you call it.

Repaint the bedside tables (for the 3rd time (*&$#@!!)

Make the fairy door. 

List the gnome terrariums on Etsy.

Make the girl's plaques. 

Mail them.

Finish B's bedroom re-design. 

Take photos.

Paint your bedroom

List those lamps on Etsy. All of them. 

Paint living room.

Wait. First track down the paint color you saw on BHG. Ask for help (blog action?)

Yes. All of those lamps, I didn't stutter.

Paint the bathroom.

Put up the new shower curtain.

In case I forget to tell you, buy paint

Oh, and before I go, I want to give a shout-out to Shabby Blogs. I have always been a fan of their site, but finally had myself a little sit down shopping spree and snagged and grabbed all of the free awesome I could get my grubby little paws on. Headers, background images, adorable comment icons, blicky things and other adorable swag. (Did I mention, it's all free?)  You can also add them on Facebook by clicking HERE

I mean seriously, how cute is this?! It's a DEER!