Bad, Bad, Bath! Take 3

So here we are living with the knowledge that even though we budgeted time and money to redo 1 bathroom, we now had to do 2 bathrooms.  At least we don't have to rush to complete the guest bathroom.  It gets used rarely.

We had chosen a beautiful travertine tile that we are absolutely love.  We also wanted to install radiant heat under the tile because we have some heating issues on that side of the house.  Our tile guy laid out the wire mesh mats and things seemed to be working out well.  However, after a few hours of trying to figure out how to set the thermostat with my husband's assistance, he realized that he wasn't supposed to cut the mat.  He had trimmed off the excess mat and now the wires couldn't complete their loop (whatever that means).  In turn, he needed to buy a special patch kit so that he could fix it.

So this puts a delay on completing the floor.  He is able to do the walls in the meantime, and they turned out beautifully.  We redesigned the shower and added half walls to give it a more closed in feeling.  With the detailed tile work and our design, things were moving along and turning out even better than we had hoped.  The shower pan was now installed properly and our water problems should be at an end.

SHOULD have been at an end...

Bad, Bad, Bath! Take2

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SCENES MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ...ANYONE!

When our construction worker,

who is absolutely wonderful 

by the way, tore up all the old 

tile, he found our worst nightmare lying beneath.  There was so much water damage that

 the flooring looked like it should be what you'd find in a house about 100 years older!  Had we gone on much longer, we likely would have fallen straight through the subfloor and

 down into our crawl space.  The water damage was also so bad that we needed to have part of a load bearing beam replaced.  So our wall could have come down too!  

So here we are, happy that we decided to have this done when we did,  and reassuring ourselves that it wasn't out of vanity or that we didn't like it, there were going to be serious problems had it stayed that way.

But, our little vacation away from home, within our home, is disrupted, because now there is evidence that the other shower pan was installed the same as the first INCORRECTLY.  So in order to avoid further damage in that shower, we moved into our son's bathroom.  A dire inconvenience for all of us because now his bathroom is just full of mommy's and daddy's no touches, and we don't have anywhere to put anything that he won't get into.  

So you got it!  Some things stay in the guest bathroom and some have gone to his bathroom.  The GBr is in between the 2 bathrooms so we feel like we have some sort of refugee camp set up with all of our worldly belongings strewn through 3 rooms.  Opps!  4 if you count that we are now just leaving our clothing stored in the washer and dryer rather than taking all the way back to the bedroom time has seemingly forgot.

And the beat goes on..stay tuned for part 3

Bad, Bad, Bath!

So in the midst of opening 2 new Etsy shops, ByEveryWord and Fabric Flair, we have had a major bathroom renovation project going on.  Let's just say, some things just never quite work out like you plan.

Months ago, maybe in the beginning of February, we decided we were going to redo our bathroom.  When we moved in we weren't very fond of the previous owners choices and we suspected that there might be a leak or something causing water damage in the shower pan.  So we decided to change all the tile.

Once we decided, I began taking down the ugly pink wall paper, which I wish I still had a photo of but lost on our last computer.  I decided I hated having to look at the bright walls through all the glass of the shower, and moved to our guest bathroom.  It was nice having my own bathroom, not sharing with my husband.  It was warm, it was pretty, it was great...for a while.

At the end of March the tile guy came to begin tearing out the old tile.  Well, low and behold it turns out that there was serious water damage occurring under the tile and that our subfloor was rotting away.  Mind you this is a 6 year old house.  Well, that was problem number one.

Here are some photos while I keep you in suspense. (keep your screen wide to see them matched up with the captions.

ugly lights and cabinets     bottom of ugly cabinets               weird tile floor pattern    shower with stupid

                                         & part of ugly tile and pattern      & no tub                         shelf and seat, boring

      

MOVING SALE!

   Joel Dewberry - Aviary            Amy Butler - Daisy Chain
     

I am going to be dividing up my Simplicity Interiors Etsy shop so that fabrics are in a different shop.  I am still working on my grand opening of FabricFlair. There's nothing there yet and I just registered the shop name.

In the meantime I am having a store moving sale.  Instead of relisting all the fabrics in a new store, I want to clear out my inventory.  I have reduced prices on almost 70 items. 

Stop by and take advantage of pricing that is far below retail!

Pear                                           Multi Floral

  

Announcing Fabric Website!!

Simplicity Interiors now carries fabrics that you can buy directly from my website. If you are looking for high quality home decor fabrics then this is the site for you. Find everything from brand new patterns to clearance fabrics at a reduced price. Can't find what you are looking for? Link directly to Greenhouse Design/Fabrics and search by color, type, and style. Then go to the contact page and let me know what I can do for you.

Prioritizing

When you are overwhelmed with an entire new house to decorate, the task can be quite daunting. It is easy to stand slack-jawed at the mountain of boxes and not be able to decide where to begin or what to open first. If you are not careful, you can end up bouncing around from box to box and room to room like a ball in a pinball machine. I have done this many times. You don't get a higher decorating score for how many obstacles you can bounce off of.

This time I am trying to go about things in a more organized, logical fashion. Yes, that implies that there was, in fact a last time, that wasn't so organized or logical. 3 years ago when we built our previous house, Jason and I went out and bought everything imaginable BEFORE we so much as stepped foot into the finished house. Yes, we were there every day and really got to know the house as it was being built, but that's no substitute for actually living there. You can't truly know what your house will need until you spend more time in it, get to know it, let it tell you what it needs.

Sounds crazy, right? It's not. It was the first house we had ever lived in that had higher ceilings and open spaces. Lack of experience in these two areas alone was enough to knock me down before I ever began. Nothing I bought fit the space. The house ended up with a cluttered, out of scale feeling from the lack of balance. If you have a big space, you cannot just put more little things in it to fill it up. And no, even though it's what I've done to compensate, you can't just fill up the empty spaces with more greenery. I have enough greenery to put Michael's to shame.

So priority number one should be to get to know your house first. Some very wise friends of mine have recommended that I make sure to do that this time. And I'm so GLAD! It has already made me realize that there were things I thought I'd have to change, that I really ended up liking once I spent time here. And things that I will change, I'm taking the time to make those decisions so that I only have to make them once.

The next priority for me was to pick the most important room in the house and complete it from top to bottom. I was trying to decide if I wanted to work a little bit at a time in each room, or one room at a time. I decided that I feel as if I am making more progress when I finish a room. Yes, my mattresses are still lying on the floor, and no, there's nothing on any of the main living walls. But my son's room is completely finished. A huge priority. I wanted to help his transition into his new house.

Then working on the guest room was next. Why the guest room? Partly because it is on the same side of the house as Conner's room, so we painted them at the same time to cut down on how much he would be exposed to fumes. Also partly because I had the most pieces for that room. Lastly because we live away from our families and that's where they stay when they come. Just because it looks like we live on the inside of a toy box doesn't mean that guests have to feel that way. I want them to be comfortable.

My priorities may make no sense to anyone else and that's okay. You need to come up with the priorities that work best for make sense for you. In the meantime, if I want to enjoy a little peace, I walk into the guest room, close the door, and take five minutes in the tranquility of a completed space.