In the works.

Happy 2012! Here's to a year of happiness, health, success and more house projects!

I know this Etsy business of mine has totally been cramping my d&r style (and therefore this blog), but now that the chaos of the holidays have died down, I'm ready to jump back in.

I've actually been borderline depressed about the lack of weekend house projects lately, and I can't handle it anymore. My New Year's resolution is to get back on the wagon and finish some of those projects I thought would have been done a long time ago.

First thing's first... that master bathroom of ours.

I finally swapped the twine-wrapped handles for some real rope ones. Check out this in-progress comparison shot:

I think I like them better.

Next, I bought this bamboo bench (from Macy's, $80) to put inside the shower:

Very spa-like. I think it will go well in there (and useful for storage!)

Also, I finally pulled the trigger on this wide angle lens I've been craving (Canon 10-22mm)

Which means I can also finally take the official "After" shots of the bathroom... and then retake shots of every other room in the house. Woo!

I did manage to sneak in a quick project yesterday. We stumbled upon the doorbell aisle in Lowe's which reminded me how badly we NEEDed a new one:

Brad did not think we "needed" one but he clearly had forgotten what ours looked like. Once he saw the word "LED" written on the package, however, he changed his mind (I can convince him to do any house project if there are LEDs involved).

Here is our pretty new ORB and LED-lit doorbell now:

Here's something else I bought yesterday (Brad doesn't know yet... surprise!)

How sweet is this aqua chevron rug? It's a 5x7 from Urban Outfitters, and only $73 shipped! I was browsing through pinterest and it caught my eye.... I had to have it. I decided it would be perfect for the office. Last year I spent months searching every corner of the planet for the perfect office rug, and when I finally found "the one" and placed the order, they told me it was out of stock. So I gave up and forgot about it. Now I'm glad that happened, because I like this one so much more.


Because I've been deprived for over a month of making progress on the house, I'm in a bit of project overload mode and trying to do a billion things at once to catch up.

First on my list... building open shelves on this empty wall (on the right):

The weird wall angles in our house usually end up creating challenges, but this one is a blessing in disguise because it's just begging for some good old fashioned open shelving. Talk about untapped potential from the last homeowners. I am so excited for this one.

There will be two shelves, painted white, each held up by two wood brackets like these (also painted white):

It will be a little tricky, however, because we have that weird corner angle where the microwave and cabinet stick out, so we'll have to outsource this one. I'll also feel more comfortable with someone else who can properly drill through the tile and locate the studs so these things are secure. Then I can get some painting tips from them for high-use and durable surfaces, because as soon as those shelves go in it's cabinet painting time! (I'll be doing the work on this project).

A few more things I've been aching to get done include:

Replacing the stained glass front door with modern frosted glass

Making an upholstered headboard and getting some art on those walls

Getting a new mailbox/post (sorry, no pic available... just picture a giant white plastic rust-stained dinosaur box)

Installing a new closet system...

We clearly need this. As heavenly as it would be to have California Closets come in and build the closet of my dreams... I just can't justify the cost. Instead, I'm going to attempt to find a way to plan everything out using pre-made systems... like this allen + roth from Lowe's:

I haven't actually taken any measurements or done any planning yet, so that may all change if those angled walls ruin my plans (see how they are problematic?) but I really hope I can make this work. I can't exist in this disorganized manner much longer.

Then of course there are the other projects nagging at me... like adding stackstone to the fireplace mantle and front of the house, planting some palm trees in the side yard, adding a large mirror and gallery frame wall in the living room, figuring out a better storage solution for all of the supplies for my business, remodeling the entire sunroom, figuring out a garage storage solution........ the list never ends. I really hope we can accomplish it all by the end of this year. I've been trying to convince Brad how amazing our house would look if he would just let me do whatever I wanted. So far it hasn't been working... but I'll keep trying.

Thanks for sticking with me through my extended vacation away from this neglected blog :)