Sorry we haven’t been posting as often lately. We’ve just been horribly busy, with my way above-average summer workload and with Kristi working nights at the plant. We’ve gotten into a rhythm but there really is rarely any time to sit down and breathe around here.

During the week plant shutdown before cranking up peach pack – the week of our anniversary – we decided to use part of the time to repaint the bathroom. It needed it. When Kristi first bought the house and moved in, everything had to be repainted (the previous owners did a terrible job with the place), and the bathroom was the last to get done. And so, it was the “let’s just get this over with” job. We’d been talking for a long while about repainting it properly, and we figured we’d take a day or two that week and do it.

Right.

Our bathroom is a perpetual cycle of improvement, and any home improvement task we embark on inevitably ends up with something new done to the bathroom. And so it was thus. Paint led to shelves, shelves led to lights, and so on and so forth. So here’s the photos – sorry for the blurs. I didn’t have much time to set up a tripod. In the end we did our latest “remodel” for just a couple hundred bucks, mainly for paint and the new lights. Much of the rest we already had on hand, just needing a bit of repair and paint to look new.

Our house was built around 1940, and we’re trying to keep as many of the original design features as we can. These shower tiles are all original. The shower caddy came from Bed Bath & Beyond not long after I moved in.

Other side of the shower. Dual shower head (and curved shower rod, out of frame) from BB&B. A curved shower rod is awesome for the cheap price – put one in and instantly add 50% to your shower area. It also radically cuts down on curtain billow.

Kristi’s grandmother died earlier this year, and her grandfather moved in with her parents. Much of their house was distributed among the children and grandchildren, and among other things we claimed this big blue shelf from their utility room. We repainted it white and put it up in the bathroom.

The shelf from the other side.

Okay, this photo is badly blurred but you should get the idea.. we repainted the cabinet white and moved it under the window. Also bought a new trash can (BB&B), repainted the window panes. We’ve had that teak bath mat for about a year and a half. The white towels we got as wedding gifts – we love them.

Finally, this little shelf had been sitting in the garage collecting spiderwebs. Kristi’s father made this for her a long time ago and now we finally had a home for it. Painted it white and put it up over the toilet, for Kristi’s “pretties”.

And it’s still not done. It probably will never be done.

Part of the red/pink tiles needs to be fixed, and next up we’ll probably replace the square-sheet-of-glass mirror. The bathroom in general needs to be recaulked. And eventually – though this one may be a while yet – we’re going to retile, replacing the weird 1980’s green tile with honeycomb tiles that more fit the period. Maybe black and white honeycomb; we’ll see. Like everything else, time and money.

We ended up spending five days redoing the bathroom that week, and we enjoyed every minute of it. It’s a good feeling, throwing your energy and elbows into building up the home that you own. The home you’ll raise your family in, where your kids will likely grow up and remember as their childhood home. As their parents home. Not too many years ago I remembered teasing my friend Em about her “domestic” homeowning instincts; that was the teasing that only a renter thinks to do. It’s a whole lot different when it’s your life and your house.

Em finds my gradual conversion endlessly hilarious. 🙂