Master Bathroom Reveal

OK, I told you when we had a sunny day I'd take photos. I kept my word. Welcome to my Master Bathroom...

 

This is the view from my bedroom into the bath. Please ignore those two stink bugs on the floor! Now that the weather is warmer, they are popping up everywhere. Yuck. 

This room was a new addition to our house, built on over where the old porch was built. The previous owner told me a story about when he and his wife first moved into the house over 50 years ago...she was out on the back porch cleaning the windows when the whole thing fell in on her! Can you imagine? At the time he had bought the house it had been vacant for a couple of years (like when we bought it) and was in disrepair...but they moved in to their first house and fixed it up and lived here for almost 50 years!

Anyway, I knew that I wanted a bigger bath with room for a clawfoot tub (had one in my last house), separate shower and toilet. This is what I came up with. It was all done by DH and me, with the exception of some of the plumbing and electric. I must also tell you that as everything in our house, most everything was bought at discount. I scour sites and the big box stores for deals and make things work for a fraction of the price.

I painted the walls my favorite Martha Stewart Araucana Blue. I  love this paint because it changes colors as the light changes -- sometimes it looks blue, while other times it looks green. It was Valspar MS313 when they still carried her colors. I think they can still mix it. The sinks are Pegasus from HD and faucets are these from Overstock. The mirrors are from IKEA. Not my first pick, but they work for now until I get the money for these medicine cabinets.  The angel above the sinks is from The Wooden Hen, one of my favorite craftswomen. I love her creations, but they had a fire a while back so I'm not sure if she's still making items.

Other items here include a Baldwin Brass towel bar I got on clearance at HD, towels from T.J. Maxx, and see that wooden box on the wall? I got that at the Salvation Army store. I knew exactly what it was when I saw it. Can you believe it is from David T. Smith? I think that I paid $4.00 for it and it had a tag on it from an interior decorator that is cost $90.00! (Just ignore that hole right by the can light...still fixing where DH cut the holes a little too big!)

Door to toilet.

 

On the opposite side of the room we have the toilet room. It's nice to have this when you have kids that don't know how to knock before entering! The floors in the bath are 18 x 18 travertine from HD, Kohler toliet (no longer made).

Inside are photos of my little ones with bare bottoms. :)

Bedside the toilet is the shower.The floor is travertine and walls are marble with a green/blue rock insert. The marble is a pinkish-brown-gray mix. I'm not sure I would go with this again. I'd probably go with white marble or white subway tiles in a running bond. But at the time, the price was right. The fixtures are from Kohler that I bought from the HD Expo when they were going out of business 5 years ago.

 And the shower curtain that I made myself, based on this inspiration.

Here's the full shot. The top piece is made from white heavy cotton decorator fabric I bought at JoAnn's on sale from the clearance bin. The patterned fabric is Heather Bailey Nicey Jane.  I needed a curtain a little longer than normal, so it made sense to make it myself. It total it cost about $30.00. The branch hook on the wall is from Tag -- a Marshall's purchase for $3.99! The blinds were also another bargain at Lowe's for $16.99 each in the clearance section.

Next is my pride and joy. My clawfoot tub.

This has been sitting in my backyard for over 5 years, after I bought it in Chicago before we moved. I finally got it refinished through Miracle Method in January. I also had to find matching feet, which is not an easy feat! Not all feet are the same and vary from tub to tub. So after a lot of research, I found the right ones on eBay. I had the pillow and rack from my last tub, but all the fixtures are new and also from eBay. It was a job to find all the pieces that needed to work together, but I think it looks beautiful. So nice to take a bath in this deep tub.

And last, my cabinet that holds all my bathroom supplies. This was found in our garage, but it must have been part of the original china cabinet in the house. It was really dirty and had red plastic where the windows had been. I had originally intended to paint it, but I kind of liked it after I had stripped off many layers of old paint. I still have yet to fix the right hand door (it needs some TLC) and add some chicken wire or screen to the door openings along with a barn board top. What do you think? Should I leave it with the paint or paint it?

I hope you enjoyed my tour. Please ask questions if you have any! 

Where I've been for the past 3 months...

...mostly at home, doing projects. Hockey Start also began for all 3 boys. And Mark was traveling a bunch for work to Austin, San Francisco and Boston.

First on the project list was doing Coaches' gifts for all the coaches on my sons' football team. I didn't have a huge amount of money to work with and 6 coaches to buy for, so I had to get creative. I got hooded sweatshirts on sale at Kohl's and also bought a matching t-shirt that I cut up for the freezer paper stencil I did on each.

Here's how they came out:

I wanted them to look a little distressed, so I stenciled in a rough font and then sewed around it a couple times randomly. I also used a football button for the apostrophe.

 I also added an iron-on on the inside for identification.

I added the bulldog from the shirt I bought to the back of the head coach's shirt.

I hope that they liked them. We gave them their shirts at the banquet, but that was chaos. It was a lot of work. Each stencil was cut out by hand, stenciled, ironed on, and sewn on x 6! If you are interested in the freezer paper stenciling technique, check out this link where I learned.

We also got to finishing our Master Bath. It was mostly done with the exception of installing my clawfoot tub. The tub had been sitting in my back yard for the past 5 years where it had sat since buying it in Chicago before we moved back. I got it refinished in January for my Christmas gift. It took a while to get all the pieces together! I had to find feet to fit (not an easy task, but I found them on eBay after a lot of research) and a faucet (eBay again - from England), adapters so that it would fit the holes on my tub (another eBay find) and the fittings and drain.(eBay again!).
After getting everything together, we found out that the pipes where plumbed in at the wrong space. So we had to pull up 6 travertine tiles and subfloor to move them. After moving the pipes and replacing the tiles, we were ready to move on. It took a while to get that all done, and now I am happy to say it is all done! I will share photos soon when we have a sunny day...
I also made a new shower curtain for my shower. I based the design on this dishtowel I found on Etsy.

The fabrics are all from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric. Like I said, I'll share more photos when we get a sunny day!

I also made a few things for my Etsy shoppe. Here they are

I enjoy making these things, but it gets hard to make them when they don't sell. I just keep making things that I would like to have in my own house. And it gives me creative outlet!

And the last thing that I have been doing is getting myself back in shape. I've lost almost 10 lbs. since the beginning of December. I got EA Sports Active 2 for XBox. I'll tell you, it kicked my butt for the first couple of weeks! I could hardly walk. But after keeping at it, I actually enjoy it. It's easy because you can do it even when the weather is crappy (which is most of the time here during the winter), it keeps track of your calories burned (I've burned over 5500 calories) and you can miss days and go back and make them up. I had a bunch of that back in January and February because I got a sinus/ear infection. Good times -- not! I'm also eating better and keeping track of what I eat online.

I promise to share more of my renovations when it gets sunny and I can take better photos!


Have a great day :)

My Dining Room - DONE!

While I was going through my photos the other day, I noticed that I hadn't shared photos of my dining room since I repainted it. It had been painted the same color as all the other rooms when we moved it just so it was done! Since I had to do the whole house at one time, I didn't have time to make those decisions. Now, 3 years later it is done. The wall color is Silver Fox (2108-50) from Benjamin Moore. I chose that color after seeing it in Stefanie's home here. (You can click on the photos to see them larger).

The table was acquired when I lost my round one in the trailer fire when we moved back to PA. This was a quicky replacement, but I do like it. I may repaint it and stain the top darker in the future. The flooring is from Lumber Liquidators, Bellawood Brazilian Cherry. We installed it ourselves, as we did everything in our house. The ceiling medallion is from Fypon. It was something that I wanted for a while and it wasn't that expensive. I'd like to change out the light fixture to a vintage crystal chandelier. Keeping the search up on eBay!

This is the view to the left side of the table. I bought this hutch over 15 years ago at a outlet store in Chicago. It is from Lane and has the most beautiful crackle finish on it. It houses my cookbooks, kids activity books, some of my china and misc. other stuff. The doorway you see here goes to the powder room.

My beautiful piano. I wrote about it here before. This bump out was original to the house, but it was in sad shape. The whole thing was leaning and the windows were all wonky. So, after tearing everything down to the studs, we found out that the foundation was only set on a few block a few inches in the soil. Ugh. We had to tear the WHOLE thing off and start again. This time with an actual foundation down to the frost line, new walls, and new windows.

This is the view to the right of the right of the table. The doorway goes to the living room. All of the drywall and trim are new in this room. I originally wanted a smaller crown moulding, but the small was more expensive than this big one. Can you explain that? Most of the prints on the wall are antique and the plates are from Laura Ashley. I worked there for over 5 years while I was in college and after. I wish they were still in the states!

What's been happening here?

Not a whole lot, but at least the kids made it back to school today after being off the whole week. They had a two hour delay and then seemed to goof off the whole day anyhow. Movies and a Valentine party. At least I got a little free time. I worked on some taxes and then painted the fireplace. I had primed and filled in all the holes earlier in the week. I also had a lot of caulking to do. So much that I needed to let it dry 24 hours. Either our wall isn't straight or the mantle was warped. Maybe a little of both. I took Lisa's advice and painted it white. It is true that all the rest of the trim in the house is painted white. I do think I like it better painted white. I have at least one more coat of paint. I use Sherwin Williams Proclassic Acrylic Gloss Enamel trim paint. It covers the best and holds up well, even though it is pricey. I have tried the others and this works and looks the best. Maybe we'll get the tile done this weekend!

I also got a present this week. I loved the serverware from Martha Stewart, but really didn't need it. I had gotten a $25 gift card for Christmas from my sister-in-law. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I waited. I had ordered the smaller version of this compote first, but it ended up being out of stock. Then I ordered the bigger one. It ended up being the same price as the smaller one after the sale and discount. I am guessing the line is being discontinued since there are only a few pieces remaining online at Macy's.

Here's a view outside of our house. The ice is crazy. Even though it is not warm out, we still are getting melting snow. That long one is getting close to touching the ground. We'll have to knock them down soon. I knocked down the ones I could reach in the house because they are heavy and I don't want the gutters to come down.

A beautiful end to the day. It was mostly sunny out today, even though it is cold. Supposed to be the same everyday for a week.

Looking forward to the Daytona 500 this weekend. Kasey did a great job winning the 2nd Duel yesterday, now he'll start 4th. Seems like the Fords are agreeing with him. I hope it goes better for him this year.

Some Background to the Story

I thought that before I go any further, I would give a little background on how we came to buy the house that we now live in.

We moved out to Chicagoland right after finishing college. While it was a nice place to live, we still wanted to move back to the Pittsburgh area someday. We finally made that move in 2005, after living in the western suburbs of Chicago for 13 years. My dad had found the property for us--almost 23 acres and it was close to where I grew up, close to my parents and my brother. It was definitely a fixer-uper, but we had plans to build a new house on the property and just fix up the old house to be livable while we built it. HA.

After tearing into the house, it needed WAY more work than originally thought. 4 years later we are still working on it.

We have done ALL of the work ourselves. The only paid help we had is with the install of all the heating, plumbing and wiring. Other than that, the only help we have had in this project has been family. Lots of man hours. We did have lots of experience in doing the work ourselves. We did a lot of rehab on the last house we owned in Oswego, IL. It was stuck in the '70s when we bought it and totally updated it.

So that's how we came to where we are. Just so you don't think we haven't gone off our rockers, he is a photo of what the house looks like today:
Still a little rough around the edges, but most of the hard work is done.

Floor One - Before Work

We'll start our tour here. This is the front porch that had been enclosed at some point in time. It was rather dirty and had no heat except for the hole in the wall that lead from the living room. We designated this the area for the kids to play in and stay out of our hair while we worked. On the top photo, you can see the doors on the left that did not open (at least easily) and how much the floor sloped away from the house.


Here we are in the living room looking at the foyer and the stairs that lead upstairs. Just look at all that wood paneling. Yuck. And notice the dirt by the registers. The house was heated by coal. That's right. When we started demolishing, we found coal dust everywhere. Everything was filthy. The door way in the middle (where you can see the door) led to the kitchen and also outside.

Look at this kitchen. Stuck in the 70s. Gold counter tops and bad linoleum on the floor.

A photo of the dining room. Note the all the paneling again. And the brown shag carpet. And that cool light fixture. And the built-in!


In the foyer, looking into the living room. Just look at that fireplace!

We are beginning the deconstruction phase. Removing the paneling. Notice the original wallpaper underneath. The carpet is gone too, but the wood floors underneath were not good enough to salvage.

Removed paneling in the dining room reveals the same wallpaper. And patched wood floors.

See the hole were the stove pipe went through? There was a chimney there that we totally removed. The doorway to the right goes to the kitchen.
Here my dad is getting into the nitty gritty of the tear-out. We tore every bit of wallboard and nasty blown-in insulation out. What a mess. We were black every time we did work there from the coal dust and insulation.

Wall in the living room, bordering the dining room and kitchen.


Wall in the living room along the front of the house. Notice the balloon framing (runs from roof to floor). We did find several of the boards marked from Sears (as in kit house) but I am not sure if it is one or they just used left overs for part of the house. We are close to the railroad (Freedom) so it could be a possiblity.
The fireplace in the living room with all the stuff removed. I tore off the brick too and maybe someday will have a fireplace that looks like a fireplace in this area.

This photo shows the old knob and tube wiring and the gas lines for lighting. We had a gas well on the property at one time, so that must be where the gas came from. We have no gas now. All electric.
This was a disaster area. After we look all the wall materials off, we found out the bump-out was sinking quite a bit. We found out the problem was whoever built it did not install any foundation, just laid stone and block on the ground. We tore the whole thing off, made a new block foundation, and rebuilt it.
This is a view from the kitchen to the dining and living rooms. Note the floral wallpaper.


This was another disaster we had to rip out. The sewage and water to the 2nd floor bathroom. It was leaking and we wanted it out of that wall.

Here is a shot from the kitchen to the foyer. More paneling. We tore this room down to the studs too as we did with all the rooms in the house.

Next time I will tell you about these two disasters.

What I have been working on for the past 4 years...

This is what we have been working on for the past 4 years. These are the BEFORE photos. I am going to be adding photos every couple of days -- since I have a lot. The house was built around 1905. We have found boards labeled with Sears shipping labels, but I don't think that it was a Sears house.


This is a photo of what the house used to look like. Pretty bland. Ugly front porch that had been enclosed somewhere along the way. Front doors that don't open. Old aluminum siding. Overgrown vegetation. And it hadn't been lived in for years by humans (but had been by animals).

A shot of the garage (still looks about the same today). That red building had an unknown purpose. It was pretty gross on the inside. Smelled. Held old bags of dog food and miss-matched office furniture. Needless to say we tore it down and also removed that nasty black walnut tree (they must be the dirtiest tree on earth).



Shot of the front yard looking to the right side. There is a creek down there in the weeds. On the other side is land that used to be a pasture for cows. It is pretty flat, but can stay wet.


This is the view to the left of the house. Quite a steep hill that used to be a pasture for sheep. The hill is pretty overgrown with brambles and scrub trees. I need a DR Brush Mower for cheap!



This is a shot of the backyard behind the house. To the right is the back porch that had no real foundation so it had sunk. We removed that and put on an addition. We also added a deck off of that.
To the left is an old screened in porch (attached to the garage) that was no longer screened in. It was used as a place to store firewood by the previous owner. The squirrels used it as a storehouse for their food. We tore this down. It is now just a cement pad that we plan on tiling with slate. The hot tub currently resides here.


This is the view up the back from the house. There used to be a barn on the right and the red building up there used to house the farm equipment. Now it is just falling down. It will be burnt down sometime in the future.
The area is not as grown over now. I have trimmed it back, but there is still plenty more to do. Behind the building, to the right is another pasture.
Over the hill to the right of the building is a mine of some sort, closed off by a previous owner, and a spring that runs most of the year.


This is the view from the top of the hill to the left of the house. Quite a hike. We plan on building a new log home here in the future....the far off future! We currently own 22 acres. There is another piece for sale at the back of our property that we would like to buy. It would add another 20 acres.


This is the view in the opposite direction on top of the hill.


Ok, one more. This is the view from where the barn used to be. This is the creek and the pasture on the other side. It is not as over-grown now, but I need a bigger tractor to keep all this cut!
The pasture is to be the future place of a dirt bike track. I'm sure the neighbors will love that.



Stay tuned for new photos in the next week. I will take you on a tour of the house before we started work.