As 2011 began, I set my sights on some long put off goals and now that the year is over, I’m happy to look back and say I completed them.

I signed up for and ran my first half marathon back in February while my hubby and kids stood in the cold for 2 hours to cheer for me for the 15 seconds it took me to go past them. I still get choked up thinking back to that moment of running past my daughter with her “Go Mommy” sign.

I also signed up for and finished my final class for my bachelor’s degree and am officially a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate. Woo!

My two big goals for the year complete. What next? Probably a full marathon, maybe more school.

Around the house, we painted the kitchen a new blue.

We turned our guest room into a playroom.

We did a quickie little makeover at our entryway.

And added a beadboard headboard in our bedroom that just celebrated it’s first birthday.

In the rest of our not picture perfect ready for it’s closeup just everyday living life:

I spent a month cooking all new to me meals.

We spent another glorious summer at the cottage.

Back in January of this year, I wrote this post about The me I want to be and the struggle I was having with blogging, sharing, writing, taking pretty pictures and the pressure that I felt from all of it. I think that this year brought big changes to this blog. I stepped back a lot more. I didn’t share just to share. I took time off when I needed it. I enjoyed the moments and began to really live what is in my heart more than just talking about it. I think it’s safe to say now that the year has passed that I really did become the me I wanted to be this time last year. What a wonderful thing for anyone.

I thank you all for being here over the past year or years. I appreciate all of you and wish you all the best in the coming year.

Happy New Year!!

 and like this on the other:

It’s the second picture that always bothered me. The upper cabinets were too tall (we have low ceilings) but since they came in the lot of them that we found on ebay way back when, hubby used them. He hated to *not* use them even if they weren’t quite right. So, he made this little corner. What bothered me was that I had this whole area of countertop that I could barely use for more than a few do dads and for piling up organizing papers.

Imagine my delight when while we were away, hubby got a new – free! – microwave that got the ball rolling on a whole new kitchen project. I don’t think he knew what he was in for, and neither did I. The day we got home from vacation, he ripped down those too tall cabinets to put shorter ones in their place (that we already had in another spot that wasn’t working – more on that another day).

Of course we had painted since the installation of the cabinets which meant we needed to repaint. I figured if we had to paint, we might as well pick a new color. So, I chose Behr Cumberland Fog. You should know this about me and choosing paint. I am not one of those people that brings home sample after sample until I get a color just right. I walk into a store, pick up a handful of paint cards and choose one. The only color I’ve ever hated was one someone else made by mixing colors and chose for me. I am not the queen of choosing paint colors – I just know what I like and don’t waste time, I guess. You could show me 26 light blue paint colors and I’d love all of them so why bother wasting time making sure it’s perfect? I know I’ll like it just fine.

Hubby got to painting – which also meant that he painted all the trim white again – yay! So fresh and shiny clean looking now. Having him paint the trim sure beats me having to scrub it. Then he put up the new cabinets, built some open shelving between them and we finally had a functional space in my kitchen where I can store stuff and use the countertop for more than clutter. I also took this opportunity to make a new not clashing curtain for that little section of cabinet. A friend gave me a shower curtain she’d never taken out of the package. I didn’t need a shower curtain so I used it to make this instead.

Here’s the rest of the kitchen with the new blue paint color:

That shelf in the middle of the kitchen isn’t staying. Hubby is still working on one area, so that has been floating around and I’m trying to decide if I can live with walking around a kitchen island all the time before I bite the bullet and buy the island that I love at Ikea. Enough explaining. There it is. New blue in the kitchen and some new functional counter space!

Yes, the chalkboard in the background says First Day of School 2011. Aren’t they cute?

I am having a slight panic attack just writing this post, but here it is out there to the world. Two weeks from today, exactly 5 years to the day after we bought our home, is the closing for the sale of this house (if all goes as planned, which we expect it will). We are not moving. This has been a dream for my hubby for a long time – to buy sad, neglected, once charming homes and make them nice again and then rent them. This is step one in beginning that journey. I am terrified and excited all at once. I am so happy that his dream is becoming a reality after lots of hard work and pinched pennies. The house, as you can see, has seen better days. I like to think it was once quite charming and will be again with a whole lot of sweat and a bunch of nails among many other things. I am having a hard time looking past the broken and seeing the renewed, but I know it will be beautiful one day and become what we are hoping for. I am warning you now, this is not going to be one of those quick little fixes. I expect a finished product in 5 years, so that probably means 10 years. Nonetheless, we are one step closer. I am going to have to come up with a name for this home. Maybe it will come to me as time goes on and I get to know her better.

It seemed a little silly.

I suggested we move the queen bed from the guest room into our daughter’s room. Guests could use her room when they come and she can sleep in a another space that we create sometime. There are a lot of options for her when the time comes for that – and she’s still little enough that crashing in our bed for a weekend isn’t a big deal if we don’t have that sorted out by then. I wanted the space to be much more useful for our daily life.

My son’s room – small!- had his bed, his train table and a play kitchen in it. This left little room for anything else and barely any room to even move/play/walk through it. His toys weren’t getting used and his space could be much better served with just a bed and dresser and space to move.

Before we even drove home that day from our date, we swung into Home Depot and got paint, trim, and some shelving brackets. I was convinced we could do this without anything else. I didn’t want this project to cost a lot but I wanted big impact. A space my kids would feel at home being creative and playing. I was sure I could pull elements from the rest of our house to cover the rest of the space.

We started Saturday morning by emptying the room of the queen bed and the small desk that was in there with my computer on it. The bed went to my daughter’s room, the desk moved to the kitchen and the rug moved to the living room. We were left with a blank slate:

My handy dandy helpers got to work:

And now my kids have this to call a playroom:

We bought paint and some shelving for the closet (which isn’t ready for it’s closeup). The paint is the tintable chalkboard paint in charcoal gray. The window and door trim and chairs are Behr Intense Teal and the table is Behr Daredevil. I chose these on a whim in the paint department – I figured we’d make it work, and I think we did. It’s so cheerful and playful and perfect for a playroom for both my girl and my boy.

Everything else came from around the house. The table and chairs were curbside freebies painted for just this room. They were the standard oak table and chairs that you can find all over Craigslist. The toys were in bedrooms.

There are some finishing touches – like touch up to the paint job and choosing what artwork to put on the walls, but it’s pretty good now, I think.

I am glad they have their own space to play and create now. For not a whole lot of dough.

I’m adding this to the Paint Projects Linky Party at Centsational Girl. Check it out for all kinds of awesome painting projects!!

Also, adding to TipJunkie!

I was feeling a lot like a moose with a muffin or a cat with a cupcake or a mouse with a cookie when I got new cabinet knobs.

Twelve hours before hosting my son’s 3rd birthday party, I painted and rearranged furniture in the living room.

I handed my kids paint brushes and let them paint their Ikea step stools.

I learned how to make an ottoman slipcover. I also learned that white and my kids don’t get along and it didn’t last. But it was indeed nice while it lasted.

I painted a yard sale chair green and have used it every day since. I am sitting on it right this instant, in fact.

I gave my daughter’s dresser a makeover.

We finally converted what was once a garage into our master bedroom.

and last but not least

finished the master bathroom.

I am adding this post to Rhoda’s Top Projects of 2010 Party.

I wish I could show what this space was when we bought the house, but hubby was so fast at ripping ugly old stuff out back then, I couldn’t even snap pictures fast enough. This space was once the dream of the people who owned this house before us. Sometime in the 70s they dreamed big and decided to renovate their garage into a master suite – bedroom, bathroom, walk in closet. They never came close to finishing. What we bought the day we signed on the dotted line and were handed the keys was a house that had been neglected for 30 years by a family who didn’t have the money or gumption to make it what they once thought it could be. The old garage space had plywood floors, laminate walls and what should have someday been a bathroom was just a framed room with an avocado tub/shower and an avocado toilet with no plumbing to anywhere.

While we worked ourselves like crazy to make the rest of the house cozy and livable for our family, this space was storage. It’s where the tools lived, where the things lived that would’ve otherwise gone in closets if we had them. We learned over the last 4 years how little we really needed that we’d taken the time and energy and space to store. Gradually we emptied the room and learned to live with what fit in the house. Finally the space was ready to become what that couple had dreamed of 40 years ago now. We made it our master bedroom with a walk in closet and master bathroom. As usual, we put our own twist on it – changing doorways and deleting a hallway. And we love it. It’s perfect for us.

It used to look like this:

I didn’t have a perfect vision for this room. All I knew was that I wanted it to match our other bathroom and I wanted a clawfoot tub. I got the clawfoot tub (on craigslist) and it became the painted clawfoot tub. I wanted it to be new old. I love old. Everyone who really knows me knows my heart is in old homes and the beauty and character they exude. I wanted all of that in this one tiny room.

My parents remodeled their master bathroom 4 years ago and gave us their pedestal sinks. After years of storing, moving, and dreaming of them being installed, they both are now – one in one bathroom and the other in this bathroom. After hubby knocked over and broke the pedestal a few weeks ago, we weighed many options. We considered changing our vision altogether and going with an antique buffet to turn it into a vanity, we considered buying a vanity, we considered simply replacing the pedestal to the sink. At the end of the day, hubby left it up to me and I chose to simply replace the pedestal. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the reasonable decision. It would’ve been not nice of me to take his $150 mistake and choose a $1000 replacement as much as I would’ve loved an antique buffet turned vanity. Another day, another house.

So, here we are.

I wanted hooks for towels just like in the other bathroom, but this time I wanted no excuses for my kids to leave their towels laying around. 3 up high for us and 2 down low for them. No questions. No gray area. Just hang up your towel when you are done with it. We haven’t had it this way long enough to know if this will work or not, but gosh am I hopeful.

I went shopping for a mirror or medicine cabinet the other day and was annoyed at how expensive everything was. Thank you Lowes, but no I don’t want to pay $50 for a cheap mirror. I found this at a local antique shop for $12 and was practically jumping up and down to give the owner my money. I am so sick and tired of projects and spending money that the last thing I wanted was a $50 cabinet that was white or a $5 cabinet that I had to paint. I have probably never been happier to buy something than I was this mirror. I bought it, I brought it home, I hung it. End of story.

The hooks are from Hobby Lobby, the only place I’ll ever buy knobs or hooks from again. $1.50 each during the 50% off sale and I was more than happy. Anthropologie, I love your knobs but not their $8 each price tag. Again, happy thrifty customer.

The curtain is Pottery Barn and was $1 at a yard sale. I used it a long time ago in my kitchen as my frugal excuse for a curtain. When this room was done, I knew it was perfect for the space so I moved it and I love it here.

I realize that the room is completely empty except for the necessities. Right now, I am loving it this way. My mom bought towels and bathroom rugs for it but they are a Christmas present so we have to drip everywhere for a month. I am loving how open and simple and pretty it looks right now that I am ignoring the need for storage and stuff in here. Please just let me live in my happy, clutter-free space for a little while. It makes me smile ear to ear every time I walk in, even if there isn’t a towel or roll of toilet paper in sight.

All the details:

Floor: Daltile from Home Depot – no idea why they don’t show it online.
Wall color: Behr: Blue Fox (we chose one shade darker than the master bedroom for coordination)
Tub: Craigslist, painted Behr Blue Fox by us
Sink and toilet: Kohler Memoir series
Hooks: Hobby Lobby
Light fixture: Home Depot
Curtain: Pottery Barn

There you have it. Our new old bathroom that I am in love with. That I can’t believe is done. That I adore my hubby for making a reality for me.

linked up with Centsational Girl’s budget bathroom makeover linky.

The master bathroom is so not complete. It is all kinds of pretty and hubby has done such a great job making it what I want it to be. But it is missing important things like a sink (He knocked over and broke the pedestal to the sink that was ready to be installed and we haven’t replaced it yet. I cried.) and a toilet. Coming soon.

For now, what we have is a room, painted, beaded boarded, tiled, and with a bathtub installed. Lest you think that we just set that tub in there and everything was rainbows and butterflies, that is not what happened. There was swearing, grunting, yelling, and even one point where hubby swore and yelled so loud that I came running from the other room and when I got in there, thought the tub was on his arm crushing it. He was fine, but I lost a few years off of my life.

We painted the walls of the bathroom a shade darker than our bedroom. The bedroom is Behr Cloudy Day. The bathroom and the tub are Behr Blue Fox. It took a lot of debating on what color to paint the tub. I was sure I wanted it to be red like the one in the cottage bathroom but we decided the tub and walls matching would be really nice.

I like it. Even with tools strewn everywhere.

If you never see me again, you know where I’ll be.

For 4 1/2 years as we’ve gutted, remodeled, and made ours each and every inch of this home, one space has eluded me. My permanent master bedroom. I’ve always had a spot to lay my head, but I’ve always known it wasn’t the spot. And so I never made those other spaces all mine. We’ve moved beds around so many times in this house, I’ve lost count. Now – finally – the moving around is over.

This space once was this – a sad reminder of a family that once lived here but ran out of money and/or desire to continue on a project dreamed up in the days of avocado bathroom fixtures and laminate paneled walls and plywood floors.

The space served a good purpose for us over the years as we made our way around the house with project after project. It’s where we stored a lot of stuff, and where all the tools lived for a long time. Finally, it became this room’s turn. And magically, before my eyes over the span of a long weekend, my amazing husband turned what we both envisioned into reality.

As I spent the days cursing drywall dust, I was still happy. Happy to see this space finally become ours and join the rest of the house in having it’s facelift. The space did not disappoint. Packed full of potential, it became everything we had hoped.

Now having a space that I loved, I could actually dream of things to really make it mine. Not just a bed and a blanket with some pillows to lay my head on, but pretty things that make a space complete. I wanted pillows – more than 2! I needed new bedding since we were given a king bed and didn’t have any king sized anything. I was going to for the first time in my life buy lamps and curtains. With my mom at my side, a heap of thrifty in my blood, and a day ahead of us without a schedule, I went shopping and found all the touches I wanted.

The room feels grown up, but cozy and fun now. A space that has been so long coming, I finally have a spot to call mine. As you can see, I am good at sharing because it has become their favorite place to snuggle now too. It has truly been worth the wait.

Do you know what the top post on this blog is?  There are a whole lot of google searchers out there that are looking for pictures of Cottage Style Bathrooms. I have said to myself over and over again that I won’t ever post another blog post full of cottage bathroom photos simply because it amuses and slightly annoys me that it’s my most popular post here at this place that has nothing to do with cottage style bathrooms on a day to day basis. But, here I am yet again about to post some bathroom inspiration photos. Why? Because we are finally working on building our master bathroom and I have been searching the internet far and wide for inspiration.

We bought this last weekend:

(not the boy – the bathtub!)

I spent months searching Craigslist in all areas of Florida trying to find just what we needed for this project. It took a lot of patience and frustration but finally the stars aligned. We got one that didn’t need refinishing and included the shower ring attachment and faucet we wanted. It looked like the sale wasn’t going to work out when someone else was going to get there before we could – it was far away and took coordinating of schedules. The following week after I thought it was long gone, the seller emailed me again that it was still available. The other person never showed AND he dropped the price from the already good deal of $300 to $250. All the others we’d been finding anywhere around here were over $700 if they included faucets and shower attachments. We made arrangements and hubby went and got it last week. I was nervous until he called and said it was in the vehicle and he was on his way home. It was truly ours and our patience had paid off.

Now, to decide what color to paint the outside of it. You can feel free to weigh in but I already have so many conflicting opinions from everyone I have asked that it will just have to be what inspires me when the day comes I am ready to paint it. The bathroom still needs a floor so I have some time to think about it.

Here are some of the images I have found online that are helping me put this bathroom together in my head. Hubby can’t work on the room as fast as my brain can come up with this stuff. The walls are up though – a major necessity!

We are keeping it cohesive and going with the same black and white scheme as our other bathroom that we made over this time last year.

Here is some of what is inspiring me as I search the internets for beautiful bathrooms:

I hope you enjoy your Tuesday while I am daydreaming about long bubble baths!

There are two cottages. To get a visit of the other one, you can see this post Melissa at The Inspired Room did last year: Come Snoop Around This Cottage on the Lake.

The cottage my kids and I stay in is up the hill from that cottage. My parents bought it when I was little, it was a falling apart mess. For years it sat there neglected until about 6 or 7 years ago when they remodeled it and added on to make it what it is today. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree).  Watch your step as we duck down inside:

Right as you enter, the kitchen is on the left. I shared a whole post about the Cottage Kitchen last summer.

My kids have a play area behind the kitchen island. I’ve shared it before, back when I was really bad at taking pictures Creatively Concealed Under Stairs Play Area.

I also shared the Cottage Bathroom. That link will provide a larger glimpse than the tub, although I admit the tub does steal the show.

Through the kitchen is the living room. You won’t want to linger there long when you see the front porch. This is where I am if I am not in the kitchen eating or in the lake swimming.
I read and write and drink coffee in that (overexposed) green chair. Can you tell? It looks loved doesn’t it?

The bedrooms are small. That’s one thing I love about cottage living. All you need in a bedroom is a place to lay your head and a place to hang your towel.

I hope you enjoyed today’s little tour, getting glimpses of this place I call home in the summer.