Brick Wall in the Kitchen? + More Cottage Finds & Colors

For a while now, I've been toying with the idea of having a brick wall in our kitchen and dining area. The wall I'm thinking about is a little partition between the fridge and dining room. I've always felt the wall is a bit weird...that it sticks out like sore thumb. I don't know if it's a load bearing wall or not - it is where the kitchen was added on to by the previous owners. To remove it would look funny, too, because I don't want to see the fridge in the dining area and from the living room. Sooo...I've been thinking, why not just enhance that silly old wall and make it look like a really special and unique feature?

I've mentioned before that I've decided to use painted brick pavers for our backsplash (when we get around to replacing the countertop...which along with the new kitchen sink, faucets, lighting, hardwood floors, bathroom tile, vanities, etc., waits patiently for us in the garage:) ). It's hard to see in this photo, but I propped a couple of the pavers up against the backsplash area in the kitchen. This photo is a few months old... (Click to enlarge). I will be painting the pavers a couple of shades lighter than what they are now, maybe they will have a darker basecoat and I'll distress them by sanding here and there... and they will be aged with a subtle coat of brown antiquing glaze. I would use the exact same technique on the pavers I add to the partial wall beside the fridge. To give an even more substantial feel to the wall, we'll cap off the end of the wall with some nice boxy trimwork that would nearly mimic the beams on the ceiling - vertical beam, if you will. I've always loved the look of aged brick, so I'm really excited about this idea. Maybe that strange little, boring wall has potential afterall?

A few weeks back on one of my many Goodwill excursions, I found a couple of really sweet pillows. They are very well made and I just love the juxtaposition of the contrasting patterns and textures. The red and white checked pillow is made of a heavy cotton and the other is a floral wool needlepoint. I paid $4 total for both of them! I've put them in our gutted bathroom for a little color.

It's so ironic that of all the rooms in the house, our gutted bathroom (there is only a working tub and shower in there now) is *the most* accessorized room- no kidding! Since we're always shuffling stuff around in the rest of the house because of renovation projects and things stay dusty and upside down, the bathroom is the only place where things can stay where I put them. It's a nice "practice area" for decorating. I know we're going to have to live with the bathroom like this for another year, so why not work with what's there:)

Oh, I also found a spot for that little handpainted chest that I wrote about yesterday. I put it in the gutted bathroom beside my little basket of soaps and cloths and flowers. It ties in with the red and pink in the pillows and adds just enough color to what would otherwise be a very dark and scary room, lol.



It's such a funny thing about color...I never dreamed that I would ever like pink...or blue, but I'm finding that more and more I'm loving particular shades of the two. I'm not a pastel kind of person, but I really like the deeply saturated colors like dark pink against red and fresh shades of blue with green. Long ago, I bought my curtain fabric for the dining room and loved it because it had nearly all the colors of my living room painting. I thought that I would stick to decorating only with colors that were in both the painting *and* the plaid fabric, but now I think I'll also branch out to some other colors, too. I've already got a pillow with pink in it! How about a nice blue bedroom with crisp trim, furniture, and linens and fresh green accessories? Or what about a pretty white ironstone pitcher overflowing with periwinkle blue hydrangeas for the kitchen table? Ahhh...the possibilities are endless!

Beautiful Reproduction Tins, Boxes, and Labels on Ebay

For a solid week now, our entire family has been battling the flu. It sure hasn't been pretty. I felt relatively ok yesterday and had my hands full taking care of the family. Oddly enough, I wasn't exhausted come bedtime. So I decided to spend some time perusing Ebay for inspiration and special finds.

One Ebay store that I discovered that I just have to share with you is called
Andy and Me Country Treasures. Oh my! They have so many sweet things that if I could only choose one thing to buy, I couldn't do it. This is the place to go if your looking for those beautiful old-fashioned cans (tins) and boxes. Their items are all new, but are reproductions of those artful pieces of long ago. They also carry items like reproduction vintage metal signs and other country accessories (some are a bit too country for me). There are items for the laundry room and bath like soap, starch, and detergent boxes, kitchen things like food cans, spice tins, cereal boxes, etc., and other items like old-time tonic bottles and medicine tins. Too many to name! Like all Ebay stores, their items are organized into categories so that you can quickly find what you are looking for. These are the kinds of things that I'd love to openly display for that true vintage and old-fashioned look:) Let me know if you find anything there you just love! Oh, and check out these colorful herb nesting boxes! They are small, but they'd sure look sweet displayed in the kitchen somewhere.

I haven't bought anything from Andy and Me (yet!) but I did buy a Classic Vintage Labels CD. There are over 900 different labels that can be printed out and used however I like, so I'm looking forward to having fun with that!



You can find either new blank tins or just take the label off a food can in your pantry and with a little spray adhesive, add a pretty vintage label...How nifty is that?! Also, you can buy some bars of white ivory soap (or make your own by grating and melting unscented ivory and adding your own essential oils) and print out a vintage soap label to wrap around it and display...buy clear bottles, blank paper mache craft boxes, plates - anything, really, and add these beautiful labels for a whole new look. If this sounds fun to you, then just do a search on Ebay for vintage labels cd, victorian cd, food crate labels or vintage labels.


Hmmm...I think I'll go have some soup now:)

Cottage Cozy (but Gutted) Bathroom Temporary Makeover Pics

Gutted Bathroom + Guests = EEEK!

When a girl starts freaking out at the thought of guests having to shower or bathe in the world's scariest, darkest, and ugly gutted bathroom ever, she may take the craziest of measures. I never claimed to be sane, but I've always thought there is a solution for every problem if you thought about it long enough (which is what is getting me through this whole remodeling process...)

We gutted our bathroom back last year and so far, we've only installed the new tub. I get distracted easily and decided that I really wanted the kitchen to be finished first. So that left us with said dark and scary bathroom. I hate it and always rush in and out of there quickly when I need to shower. It's our only full bath, so our guests will have to use it, but I hated the thought of them having to be in such a cold and unviting space. Yep, something had to be done to make the space cottage cozy:)

With a few decorative items I had on hand, a new shower curtain and towels, dropcloth "walls", and a few coats of floor paint, I think it turned out great! Let me give you a tour..

(Clicko to Enlargo)

Here is where we began...Ugh!



And this is how it turned out! I'm sorry that the photos are a little dark - I didn't like how washed out the flash make the photos look. But the space itself is very bright and cheerful now! We painted the floor and added a disposable cloth dropcloths to the walls. Hubs thought this was silly but I think it makes the room looks much less cold and dreary.









I bought this old dresser for just $25 and gave it a quick shabby coat of off white paint. So sweet:)


My $6 new embroidered flower shower curtain....


I got the mirror at Goodwill and may some day paint it white. I put the big white bowl on there so guests can fill up with water if they want to just wash up...just like in the good old days!




I typed up my favorite words in various fonts, printed them out, tore them apart, and pinned them to the dropcloth wall. It gives you something interesting to look at and think about while you're soaking in the tub. Another idea is to print each word individually in a large font size and frame it. Less expensive than buying art!








I bought this old towel rack at the flea market a couple of years ago. I've never used it until now:)








The chair is another flea market find. I hung some dried flowers on it and added a couple of books for some added interested and color.




A little basket of soap and washcloths...


What gutted bathroom would be complete without a chamber pot? LOL, this is just for fun as it's not intended for actual use (though it is covering the hole in the floor where the toilet use to be!)


Nothing says cozy like fresh rolled up towels in a basket! Behind the basket, I layered a mirror behind it to bounce light and an old frame.


I nice new rug that looks "old" adds some color and warmth to the white floor...

So there you go...my gutted bathroom that happens to also be my favorite room in the house so far:)

Ahh, The Melodious Sound of a Flushing Toilet

I am pleased to announce that our plumbing system is back on track. After spending *a l l d a y* working on the lines, Jeff and his dad got things straightened out. As of this morning, and even with some very heavy duty drain opening chemicals poured in last night, the clog in one of our plumbing lines wouldn't budge. It was somewhere near our septic tank but they couldn't get to it with the snake. They discovered that the PO had built the sunroom on top of part of the septic tank (I know...unbelievable) which makes it extremely difficult to access all of the line. (Grrrr!) I didn't retain all the details hubs relayed to me about the problem and how they fixed it, but basically, they laid a new line that is much more accessible and easier to snake if need be in the future. So all seems to be fine now. He forgot one plumbing part at Home Depot so we can't use the kitchen sink or dishwasher tonight, but I don't feel like doing those mountains of dishes now anyway.

Today I worked really hard on our office/playroom/sunroom, scrubbing the tile and doing a quasi 'spring cleaning' of sorts. I still have a few toys to sort and we have a couple pieces of furniture to bring in, but hopefully that will get done tomorrow. Our place is still pretty much upside down. I basically purposely turned our (already upside down) house inside out to give it a good decluttering and cleaning (the house looked/looks like it threw up) - and in the midst of it all, we had the plumbing emergency which added to the chaos. Oy. The chaos just overwhelmed me today and I would have cried, too, had I not been so busy trying to get control of it. I finally made it over to Eese's house to take a nice,long, wonderful bath. I felt so much better afterwards. The girls all had a bath, too, but I'm sure they didn't appreciate theirs half as much as I appreciated mine! Thanks, Eese!

I think I'll go flush the toilet now, just because I can.

Plumbing Woes

Since our bathroom demolition, the five of us have been reduced to using one tiny half bathroom. As if that isn't challenging enough, last night our one and only toilet rebelled against us and refused to flush. We're not quite sure what the problem was, but we figure it has something to do with the fact that we have three girls who love to use toilet paper. They go through it like air here. Anyway, the toilet filled up with water to the point of almost overflowing, but fortunately it didn't. Jeff plunged and plunged to no avail. By this morning, the toilet water had gone down and he was able to flush. All seemed fine until a couple of hours later when the bowl filled up again. Did I mention that our washing machine water backed up into our tub last night as well? So something is definitely wonky with our plumbing system. Jeff crawled up under the house last night to inspect and he says that it seems that there is a clog in an elbow shaped pipe. So he's on his way home now with a 50 ft long snake to try to unplug it.

Forgetting all of these plumbing woes, this morning I made myself a delicious cup of coffee flavored with Hazelnut creamer and whipped cream on top. Normally, this would be a perfect way to get my day started. However today - I'm afraid it was a mistake.

I could really use a bathroom right now.

Mundane chores - yippee.

Well, all of my renovation projects have been put on hold this week. I would like to be moving ahead, but there comes a point when one just have to stop and catch up on all the mundane household chores that one has neglected over time. Our poor closets and rooms need to be decluttered and organized once again. I'm really itching to get back to the completeFlyLady routine but I know that until most of the remodel is complete, that just won't be feasible.

Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning our bedroom/ bathroom/ closet and the two little ones room and closet. My goal is to have my oldest daughter's room, the laundry room and the playroom decluttered and organized by the time they go back to school in about a week. The kids will be leaving on Friday to spend a day with their grandmother, so that will be a perfect opportunity for me to get rid of things that they'll never miss:)

This last weekend, Jeff was able to complete the wiring for the gutted bathroom. Happily, he also drywalled one wall of the bathroom so that we wouldn't have any peeping janes when we shower. Last week, I was about to undress and hop in the shower when I see two little eyes peeping in through our makeshift wall (cardboard) and then a tiny voice says, "Hi Mommy. I see you."

I didn't get any walls primed this weekend because I needed hub's help to move furniture and our 12 foot ladder - plus he cuts in much better than I do. He was really busy with the bathroom, so I just helped him out with that.

Hope all of you are well!