Before and After: Jessica's Bathroom

 My friend Jessica is a mommy to 4 children and an amazing photographer. I’m not sure where she found the time to do her mini bathroom remodel , but she’s a crafty girl with an eye for a bargain and good design, so where there’s a will, there’s a way. Would you believe this whole bathroom remodel cost her a mere $83.50?! See the breakdown in what Jessica had to say:  

All the walls and ceiling were painted. The wall behind the toilet and mirror are a light shade of grey, the rest of the walls & ceiling are white ($2.50 for oops paint & leftover white from other rooms). Cabinets were painted a dark grey ($17). Mirror was cut down and framed ($5 to cut, $30 for framing). Repurposed flowers and new yellow ones ($2) and I got new hand towels ($2.50 for 2 at Target this week). I made the little framed art next to the mirror with free paint chips and frames I already had ($0)! New rug from Costco ($13). Mirror above toilet from Goodwill in Turlock, it was brand new in the packaging still ($7.50). Scrubbed the tile & grout today with some heavy strength grout cleaner we already had... it looks brand new! I have one last little project... I bought a large canvas from the thrift store for $4 (someone had started a painting but didn't finish it) that will have a quote of some sort stenciled on it. I'm very proud of how it all turned out... if only it would stay this pretty and clean... I'm sure the kids will have it smelling like a boy’s bathroom soon!

And here is the refreshing after…

Before and After French Door Installation

 When my husband and I moved to our town back in 2009, I had decided that it was temporary and we’d “try it out,” and we definitely wouldn’t be raising our family there. A lot changes in two years I guess, because in 2011 we did what we said we weren’t and bought a house. It was a great time to buy because we could pay just as much for a mortgage as we could for rent. It just made more sense. So, here we are. Our new house is old and along with old, comes funky. It was built in 1969 and it shows. The selling feature that the realtor highlighted was that it had seven ceiling fans. Really? Is that they only thing you could come up with? Maybe she should have added that there’s only paneling on one wall. That would have been a good selling point.

 The cool thing about buying an old house is you can put your own fingerprint on it. We looked at newer houses and while, they’re nice and clean and new, they just aren’t our style (and the neighborhoods are questionable). We’d probably be tearing that one apart all the same. Despite all it’s unattractiveness, we’ve been told by several people that our new home was built really well, plus it has good “bones” and lots of storage (with the exception of walk-in closets).

 There’s such an exhausting list of things that need to be done to this house, it’s hard to know where to start. I’d say the first thing we did was paint the kids’ rooms and tear down those funky 70’s style custom made black-out curtains and accordion doors. All those little things made a difference, but what I really want to show you is the installation of our french doors. It’s the thing that has made the most impact on our living area so far (next will hopefully be flooring).

 We used to have one door opening up the the back yard, flanked by two large windows. Yes, the windows were large, but somehow the house still didn’t have a whole lot of natural light and felt really dark. We debated for quite some time on what window we would replace (and keep as a window) and what opening we would put the doors in. I thought the doors would be better put in the room that will one day be our dining room, but my husband thought they would be better going into the living room (Or is it family room? I can never keep those straight). Here’s a before pic of the wall to give you a better idea (watch for an upcoming post on that horrid fireplace). I apologize for the terrible angle, but you get the point.

 So here we are trying to figure out which window to turn into a door when...AH HA!...it occurs to me that we can make them both doors! Here we go...

 That guy right there is my brother-in-law and owner of C3 Builders. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for him. He (along with the help of my hubby and dad) finished the installation of both doors in one day. Yep! He’s pretty awesome.

 And now the reveal…

Aaaaaaaaawww! Can’t you just hear the angels singing? Now it’s time to do something about that horrible carpet.