The Bathroom Project

John and Roberta were touring their brand new house. It was a house that Roberta had paid for with her money, a fact of which she constantly reminded John. In each room of the house she said to her husband: "John, if it were not for my money, we would not be here." John didn't say a word. That afternoon a truck delivered a load of new furniture... furniture which Roberta paid for with her money. After the furniture was in its place, they toured the house again. As they observed each room, beautifully appointed and magnificently decorated, Roberta reminded her husband: "John, if it were not for my money, this furniture would not be here." Again, John was silent. Late in the afternoon another truck came with a special piece of furniture which was to be the focal point of the family room. It was a combination stereo-television-computer center all wrapped into one gorgeous piece of furniture. Roberta paid for it with her money. When it was in place, Roberta again said: "John, if it were not for my money, that beautiful electronics system would not be here." Finally, John spoke: "Honey, I don't want to make you feel bad, but... if it were not for your money, I wouldn't be here either!"

Ummm, that would be the role reversal in this house. Fred says, "If it weren't for my Aunt Ruth.....this wouldn't be here" True. Thank you Aunt Ruth and Grossmom Naomi for the blessings we have received.

Note the lovely window propped open with a can of hair spray. Classy, huh?

Green laminate, original floor and toilet from 1974 when the house was built. Can you say water guzzler? Silver and brass fixture upgrade from the 80's. Dang, Fred could you have at least flushed the toilet before you snapped the before picture????

Yeah, vessel sink. O.co purchase! A steal of a deal.

Flooring was an issue. I ordered the wrong color online and could not be returned. Major issue. It was supposed to be darker. It is a wood look tile and we had it set on the diagonal and it looks like basket weave. Kenny did a great job. I wish I could find his invoice to give his business a shout out. He deserves the recognition.

Next up, wallpaper. Ordered my gorgeous scrubbable prepasted paper from Steve's Wallpaper and Blinds. They were awesome and helped me figure the square footage. Found a wallpaper genius through Service Magic. McGowen Enterprises. He did an awesome job with the wallpaper in 3 hours.

Justin Pierce did the granite work and built the custom niche in the where the old rusty medicine cabinet was previously installed.

New window with low-e argon and easy slide. Bamboo shade from O.co, decorative accessories from Walmart, HomeGoods and Marshalls. Refaced cabinetry, oil stained bronze bath accessories from O.co, black granite with gold fleck installed and it is almost done. Majestic new low-flow throne from American Standard. Easy to clean and a water saver. We are missing the baseboards. I might never see them if left up to Fred's time frame. I'll see the baseboards when pigs fly, I suppose.

Trying to figure out a towel color. Taupe is too grey, yellow is too light, orange is...objectionable to hubby and child. Who will win this battle?

Please tell me what do you think? I love the result and am so happy with the way it came together. And to think the bath inspiration came from a visit to a restaurant, Habana Cafe!!! Gotta love a hubby who drags you into a men's room to take a look.

"Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation." ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

How to survive a kitchen remodel during the Holidays

Face it, you can't. I thought I had it together and was capable of hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year, but when I faced my kitchen with no counter tops, no sink or running water, not even a microwave. Pictures are the week before Thanksgiving.  Justin took a

I lost it. Any Southern gentility was long forgotten. I was beyond angry, disappointed, unhappy and spewing cuss words that would make a trucker proud.

Not exactly one my finer moments. Fast forward a short two weeks and there is progress. I had hopes of having Christmas Eve dinner with my family. I tentatively made the invitations to my loved ones, with the contingency, that should Justin/Justin fall behind again, we would make alternate plans. I was beginning to think I was going to have to buy Justin a Christmas gift at the rate he was going.

The Friday before the Eve, Justin was at the house and finishing up the installation of the two windows, and he hung the new dining room chandelier as a "gift" to me. (umm, I think not, dear, you owed me 140 dollars in a drawer pull allowance, but I'm not going to ruin my karma before Christmas and quibble with you.)

Christmas Eve was lovely. I planned momma's best company dish. The famous fish and yellow rice dish that she learned from Celma Mastry. I had a deal with a man and a truck...LOL the CRAB man at SeaHags hooked me up with 6 lbs. of fresh Black Gulf grouper for Christmas Eve. I had to meet him after dark in a parking lot. I'm not kidding. Contraband grouper? Aw, back in the day there were packages of flat square "grouper" that could put you in jail for a long long time. Now, it is the fresh grouper that is prized. I'll have to share that special recipe on another day. It is a keeper!

The kitchen turned out lovely. My guests oohed and aahed over our choices. There are refaced cherry cabinets, bull nosed granite counter tops, deep double stainless sinks, lovely modern pulls, scratch and dent appliances that match in stainless steel, all of them, microwave, refrigerator/freezer, dishwasher and ceramic top convection oven. A wicked strong ceiling fan, it will blow you away. The new Kraus faucet is phenomenal, great pressure and a breeze to use. My sink came from Overstock.com, the plumber looked it up in his showroom and said it would cost $785 to purchase, I bought it for $345  including the drains, stoppers, wire racks to protect the bottom of the sink, a colander and cutting board. What a steal. The new nickel plated chandelier over the sink is a stunning and the cherry wood blinds echo the crown molding around the upper cabinets.

I cleaned, I purged, I splurged. It is complete. It is truly the kitchen of my dreams and I can't wait to create some lovely meals in such a pretty kitchen. It is a breeze to clean, completely reorganized and easy to work in. It truly was worth the aggravation and angst.

Next up, the bathroom.....as it is, we are short a finished floor, without wallcoverings, no mirror and a "excuse the pun" crappy toilet. We have made our choices and they will debut on the blog at a later date. I can't wait to show you the steal of a deal we got on that sink!! Tweet