Half Bath Electrical

The first step in the half bath renovation was the work behind the walls - the electrical wiring. Since we are installing a drop ceiling in this tiny space, we decided to install a light over the vanity in the wall instead of replacing the overhead light. The space is so small that we only need one light, and when looking in the mirror, it’s better to have your face illuminated instead of the back of your head.

Mike is adding a light switch next to the GFI outlet and running the wires for the light while the wall is open (so much easier to run wires without walls!). The big loop of wire below is the the extra line (and it's not live!) - it will be trimmed and put into the box when the wall goes up, our next step.

Before we install the ceiling (which requires four walls to attach to), Mike is removing the hideous exposed bulb light fixture that’s there now and capping the box, which will still technically be accessible behind the drop tiles if we ever need it.

Half Bath Accessories

We’ve been planning this renovation for a long time, so we actually purchased most of the accessories for this room already. Here it is all together:

We bought the paper roll holder and the towel ring when we bought the fixtures for the bathroom upstairs. I ordered the roman shade for the window at the same time as the ones for the sun room. I found the medicine cabinet for a steal ($5!) in perfect condition at the Far Hills Rummage Sale over a year ago. We picked up a glass shelf from Ikea for the upstairs bathroom but it didn’t look right, so we saved it for here. The faucet and the light fixture arrived and coordinate with everything else nicely - I can't wait to see everything put together!

First Snowstorm of the Year

Georgia greatly enjoyed the first real snow of 2012. She loved frolicking in the fluffy white powder. While I would have much preferred a snow-free winter after last year’s blizzard-fest (and October’s surprise), it’s hard to begrudge Georgia such joy when she’s so adorable. Plus two days later it reached 51 degrees again and melted all away.

Summer Dreaming, Garden Planning

It’s that time of year again. That long stretch of short cold winter days where garden lovers like me keep warm by the glow of seed catalogs that come in the mail, dreaming of summer. I love browsing through them, imagining an even larger yard and vegetable garden where I’d have room for things like pumpkins, butternut squash, soy beans, etc. And who wouldn’t want to plant a sweet cherry tree? Or a couple of small apple trees? Maybe someday...?

It’s hard to decide what to actually put in the vegetable garden this year. For every new thing I add, something else has to be cut. Some decisions are easy - my watermelon growing was disastrous (every beautiful looking fruit was rotted inside), we didn’t like the taste of ground cherries enough, the marjoram was finicky, and we had too many string beans (we don’t need both bush beans and pole beans). But other decisions are much harder. When there’s only one bed for nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers), and every single tomato plant was so successful that they choked out half the peppers, how does one edit things down to add in something new like a black beauty eggplant?

So right now I have 2 lists. A long dream list for my future backyard that includes everything I’d like to plant, and a short realistic list of the things I’ll probably order this year. Ordering online is actually safer for me, I’m weakest when we go to the local nursery and I see all of the plants alive in person. A lovely climbing rose to be trained up a trellis? Yes please. Peonies? I’ll take a dozen! Unique irises in shades of pink and peach? Load up my car!

Rainbow Swiss Chard, Rhubarb, Blueberries

Here’s what I’m ordering this year:

- A new fig tree (we have a voucher to replace the one that arrived dead last year)
- 2 new blueberry bushes (to replace the ones that died over the summer)
- Gladiola bulbs (I love these and want to add more)
- Flower seeds: zinnias and snapdragons
- Rainbow swiss chard (something fun)
- Rhubarb (for the perennial garden, because I love pies)

Brown Turkey Fig, Gladiolas, Zinnias

I’ve also been given some new cucumber and brandywine tomato seeds to try from my favorite gardening mentor. I really can’t wait until spring!

*Images are from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds, Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds, Burpee, Jung Seed, Burpee, and Burpee.

Half Bath Accessories Ordered

This is the vanity light we ordered for the half bath downstairs from Overstock.com. It’s similar to the one we have upstairs bathroom, but with two lights instead of three. Since this room is so small we want to keep all of our accessories plain, simple and on the small end of the scale.

We ordered a new faucet as well (the old one was corroded and ugly) at the same time as the ceiling tiles from Home Depot. Currently we're still waiting for everything to arrive.

We actually already have the rest of the fixtures and accessories we’re planning on using in the bathroom, things we’ve cobbled together over the past year and a half in anticipation of this renovation. We can’t fit much in this teeny tiny room, but we do want to be able to maximize the space we do have.

We Ordered the Half Bath Ceiling

When we first bought our house and updated the upstairs bathroom, we hired a plumber to fix some things up. He replaced our super-slow bath tub drain that was improperly installed when the house was built. We were of course very glad to have it fixed, but were left with a huge hole in the half bath ceiling and a new drain pipe that was 2” lower than the plaster. Ever since then the bathroom has only gone downhill.

Our plumber recommended that we install a drop tile ceiling instead of drywall to allow for additional future access (in old houses things break). But I couldn’t bare the thought of installing those ugly, cheesy tiles that belong in office buildings and retro basements. So I researched other options and fell in love with the idea of doing a faux tin ceiling. It’s a little bit more expensive, but in such an extremely small space it wasn’t bad.

The pattern we chose is by shanko and comes from Home Depot online. It comes in 2 ft x 2 ft sheets, so we only needed 4 of them to cover the whole thing. We also bought the matching suspension kit and are waiting for everything to arrive.

New Year, New Half Bath

Our next big project is the last untouched room in our house. The room we sometimes pretend is a closet or pantry when new guests come over because we’re so embarrassed by it. The room without all four walls - our half bath. 

A refresher on why it's so bad - first there's a big hole in the ceiling from when we had the upstairs bathtub drain fixed, and now the new drain pipe sticks out. We're missing a sink and an entire wall, and where the walls are still in tact they are in terrible shape. The light is a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. The window paint is chipped and peeling.

Finally it's time to fix it up. Here’s the to-do list:

• Put up new wall with green board (and plywood for sink support)
• Wire new light and add a light switch
• Add a drop tile ceiling (to hide hole and pipe that’s lower than ceiling)
• Patch all the walls
• Paint all the walls
• Reinstall sink
• Install new sink faucet
• Repair window
• Install privacy film on window
• Paint window trim and base molding
• Install new medicine cabinet
• Install glass shelf, window roman shade and other finishing details

Cleaned Up

The sun room looked like a bomb went off after Georgia pulled a million toys out of her toy basket.

So I cleaned it up... and this is her pouting afterwards. All her hard work was wasted!

Blooming Citrus

It looks like we can finally say we won the war against the aphids on my citrus trees. Even better, both trees are getting ready to bloom with lots of little flower buds.

Buds on the lemon tree

Until now, the lime tree has been too young to produce blooms/limes. We’re very excited - hopefully this year we’ll have our own home-grown lemons and limes!

Buds on the lime tree

The Unorganized Garage

We’re admitting defeat... and giving up on the garage until spring. It’s the same issue that everyone runs into - it turned out to be a much bigger project than we thought and time ran out. Mike spent a ton of time working on it, but then he had to switch to the radiator covers. And then with all of the holiday activities, we were too busy and suddenly it’s full-blown January winter. And it could snow any day this time of year.

However, the main goal was accomplished. He managed to squeeze everything (patio furniture, deck furniture, plant pots, wheel barrows, etc.) into the garage before we started having snowstorms. It’s definitely not pretty or organized (and will be a little scary to untangle in the spring), but everything is safely put away for winter and that’s what matters most.

Guest Room Radiator Cover

Radiator cover #9 is in the guest room, finished and installed. In such a tiny room, it’s really nice to turn the radiator into a usable surface for half the year when the heat is off. And since the radiator is the first thing you see when you walk into this small space, it’s so much better to have it covered up - it makes the room feel a lot nicer.

This is also the fourth and final radiator cover that Mike made this year. We still have to make covers for the kitchen and half bath, but those will require special custom covers that we will tackle next fall.

Sun Room Radiator Cover

Radiator cover #8 is finished and installed in the sun room. The sun room has the largest radiator in the house, and is the largest cover that Mike made. Like the one in master bedroom, this cover has two screen cutouts to accommodate its large size (since the screens are only 3 ft across, max).

But it’s Nice Outside

So far this winter we’ve had an odd mix of warm and cold days. One day it’s a high of 25 degrees, and a few days later it’s 52 or even 65 degrees out. Today it snowed a little. Georgia of course loves the warmer days. She doesn’t want to come inside, but she also doesn't want me to close the door.

How can I explain to her that 52 isn't 70?

Office Radiator Cover

The 7th radiator cover is up in our office. I love the white cover paired with the softly spun gold walls, crisp white trim, and the breezy white curtains. It’s a huge improvement to the room. Mike does such a nice job making these.

Dining Room Radiator Cover

Radiator cover #6 is finished and installed in our dining room. It’s beautiful, Mike did an excellent job. It makes the room finally look finished and I’m so glad I no longer have to look at the ugly, permanently dirty radiator. Plus it’s always nice to have another usable surface to put things on when company is over.

Mike made this cover wider than the actual radiator to center it under the window. We think it looks a lot nicer in more “formal” room like this. Like our first 5 covers, Mike followed the plans and instructions found on This Old House.

January Garden? Carrots? What?

We have fresh carrots. I should have dug the rest of them up from the garden in early December before the ground froze. But November and December were so unseasonably mild, I kept delaying it. I figured as long as the tops were green and healthy looking, the carrots were still happily growing below. And then I forgot about them - out of sight, out of mind - until Saturday when I was puttering around the yard enjoying ridiculously warm 65 degree day.

A nasty freeze earlier in the week had nipped some of the tops, but the dirt was still soft and crumbly from the mostly mild winter. And while this was an accident, it's most certainly a happy one. Now we have a big bunch of delicious carrots to eat up - nothing like a little garden produce in January!

Feeding the Birds

I’ve always wanted a nice looking bird feeder, and for Christmas we received this lovely cedar one. There’s nothing prettier than a white snowy winter landscape dotted with brightly colored birds like blue jays, cardinals, finches, etc. It will make the future snowstorms more bearable (since I’m totally sick of snow after the ridiculous amounts we had last winter and our October storm).

We already had this hook off the side of the garage from the previous owner, so we decided to hang it here for now. I might move it around if the seed gets too messy, but this works for now - it's nice to have it up!

Holiday Hot Dog

Georgia loves Christmas. She loves opening presents and ripping apart new toys. Georgia will respond to “Santa Clause” by running around wildly. She even lets me dress her up in ridiculous holiday costumes for our annual cards.

Now that the decorations are packed up and the tree is on the curb for chipping, I love looking back at these photos of her under the tree and remembering all of the holiday fun.

More Flowers

What’s better than two amaryllis plants? FIVE. I am now the happy owner of three additional bulbs that I planted in two shiny new pots. The green pot was big enough to hold two. In the darkest and dreariest part of winter, our house is going to be full of bright flowers and the promise of spring. I can't wait!

The two new pots are on the left, the ones I planted previously are on the right.

Kitchen Happy

For Christmas this year, part of my gift from Mike were these lovely ceramic berry baskets from Anthroplogie. I’ve had my eye on these for a while and I’m so happy that they are now mine! They look great in our aqua and red kitchen and match the accessories I already have (like my utensil crock, ceramic egg crate, and teapot).

Radiator Cover Progress

Over the long holiday break, when we weren’t celebrating with family and friends (or in a food coma from all the holiday treats), we kept busy. Mike made a lot of progress on the radiator covers. Once all of the pieces were primed, he put all four of them together on the driveway, complete with tops. In the warmth of our basement he began the long process of painting everything and adding several coats of polyurethane for extra durability. They still have a long way to go, but doing four at once takes a lot of time and effort!

Grill-Happy

Santa was very good to us this year. Right before Christmas, Mr. Clause made a delivery from his sleigh (actually a delivery truck) - a fully built and functional Weber Genesis Grill! We were even given a protective cover and a full propane tank! (If you’ve ever seen the instructions for how to build one of these, or have had to build one, you would understand why we’re so grateful that it came fully assembled and ready to use.)

Isn’t it glorious? Seriously this is the most amazing grill ever and we are so grateful to my parents. It fits perfectly in the nook of our patio next to the deck.

We’ve been grilling as much as possible ever since and will continue to do so throughout the winter despite the cold. We have a lot of recipes to try and a lot of good quality grilling to catch up on!