Oops! and My IKEA Find

I personally thought this was just hilarious, but the hub - not so much.

As I am looking at this sad 1991 ceramic towel bar in the hall bath, I think to myself, "Self - there might be a crack in the calk there attaching the towel bar to the wall, I wonder if I can get a knife and just cut it off the wall. Hmmm, maybe I will try a swift little tug and see what happens..." and the whole thing is suddenly in my hands! (And there are two gaping holes in the wall, all the way through to the studs!)

Towel bar on the wall:

Towel bar off the wall:

Problem of the ugly towel bar on the wall - solved.

New Problem: two gaping holes in the wall.

Me: We can do the drywall repair, no problem!

Hub: What do you mean by we?

Anyone have any dry wall repair tips?

As hard as I tugged, I could not rip remove the toilet paper holder of same design off the wall - so we still have two of those. One ugly ceramic one that you need to be a gymnast to reach while on the potty, and another pretty oil rubbed bronze one in a nice normal spot, easy to reach while seated.


On a positive note, we took a trip to IKEA yesterday with everyone else in the suburbs of Chicago, looking for a bookcase for Claire. I was hoping to find a desk and bookcase option that we could modify to look like built-ins in her room, and add a nice little window seat to boot. But no such luck. But I did come across these niffy little storage boxes that are perfect for holding all of her school papers year by year:

They were only $7.99 for a box of two. I thought I can grab a couple every once in a while until I have enough for every year of school,  PreK-12. No messy file folders like I have now, nice and organized.....ahhhh......

Oh Woe Is My Shower Curtain...

Here is my downstairs guest bath - I like the way the previous owners updated the counter with a nice granite (I think they replaced all the baths with granite remnants, none are the same, but all are pretty) and painted the cabinets.

Here it is while we were looking at the house:

(They were potty seat up people - we are potty seat down people, do you have a preference?)

Here is is after we moved in with the shower curtain from our previous house:

Now - I saw this inspirational picture of an extra-long shower curtain that Young House Love used to hide that unsightly gap between the top of the shower curtain and the shower ceiling:

 I bought that shower curtain:

and after a "Target shipped to my old address, was it really my fault, but the new owners of my old home now have some new towels and an extra long shower curtain" debaucle - it finally arrived here! It's extremely wrinkled, but it's here. And if I'm just trying it out, do I really need to iron it to get the full effect? Maybe...cause I'm NOT lovin' it!

And how hideous is that towel bar that I have trained my brain to ignore? Should we replace it with a pretty one, or totally take it out? I was planning on some monogrammed towels there, but it would only be decorative. The functional towel bar is on the back of the door.

The walls now are Gourmet Mushroom, a discontinued SW color that is a nice beigey gray that I will leave, but modify.  Here is what I have planned for the walls:

The DIY Show Off

Here is shower curtain option #2. I was thinking I might add a nice strip of patterned scrolly black and white fabric to the bottom to make it that extra long length:



Too frou frou foofy?

Any suggestions here, please!?

Wash That Gray Right Onto The Wall!

One of the reasons we chose this house was because of the downstairs bedroom and full bath. We both have grandmothers that can't navigate the stairs - so this is a great choice! It was a bit thrown together for a visit, and has been neglected since then.
I've had some trouble deciding on a color scheme, but I have finally decided!

Here are some of my inspiration pics:

Designer Samantha Pynn Photo Virginia Macdonald

homesandgardens.com

I LOVE this pom pom fringe! I think I might have to make it work somehow in this room.

http://emilyaclark.blogspot.com/search/label/before%20and%20after

I am working on putting it together and need to pick a wall paint! Any gray suggestions?

Kitchen: Step One

Over the holidays, we were finally able to finish painting the kitchen! I couldn't talk the hub into starting on the kitchen cabinets, but we did get the walls done! One thing at a time, right?

The color is Comfort Gray by Sherwin Williams. We used their Cashmere paint, and it went on like pudding and only took two coats, even to cover the hideous green that was in the window bay of the dining area.

Here is my magnetic chalkboard wall (more specifics on this later):



Here is a pic of that green and the lovely wood trim before (and check out those curtains that my MIL sold in the yard sale for about $13):

My latest project is researching a new kitchen versus painting the existing cabinets. How much is a new kitchen? I have heard that I am naive to think that I can do it for $20,000. I am going this week for my second consultation with a Lowe's kitchen lady to see what a ballpark number would be. So, what is more functional, finishing the basement like hubby would love to do, or getting my dream kitchen that I have always wanted? Hmmm.... What do you think?

Linking to:

 

The entry is coming along...

Here is my new light! Freshly installed, dangling. and sparkly!

After much discussion and many returns to Home Goods, here is the vignette I finally decided on for my entry hall table:

This apothecary jar is full of sand and shells from the trip I took recently with my mom and sister to Sanibel island. This was a special trip, so it needed a special place in the house.

I am however needing opinions on a few other options for the area - it seems like it is taking me forever on this area that is the smallest square footage in the house. But it is the entry! Your first impression, your first glimpse of what is to come. It might be coming a few years later - but it is still coming!

No. 1: The rug
I bought this rug at Steinmart when we moved into our first house in Tennessee. It has been our entry rug in all four houses we have lived in. I still like it, surprisingly enough, and even more surprising, it has fit perfectly in every house. But I might need to spruce it up a bit, mix up the style to give it that "collected over time" feel. What do you think?

I tried this rug, and when it came in the mail it was Cheapo McCheaperson, so it went right back:



Here is the rug I might want to replace it with:



I would love to have this rug by my BFF Nate Berkus, but they don't have it available in this color anymore:



Or this one from West Elm might work, but I can't decide if I like the little touch of red:



No. 2: The lighting
The hub was finally home during daylight hours this weeked (kind of sad for him to think that in two weeks time he was never home while it was light outside), so he could turn off the electricity to put in my new light. There is a spot in the front of the hallway for a light, and one in the back of the hallway. So...do I need two of the fancy dancy chandelier? Or should we convert the boobie light in the back of the hallway to a recessed can that you probably wouldn't even notice? Opinions?

Linking to:

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

I think I am finished decorating for Christmas, well - mostly finished. I think I continue to tweak until I start packing everything up. This year in our new house we are still figuring out where everything should go. I did really enjoy putting together my mantel this year - I started with your basic garland and I was able to add pine, juniper and boxwood from my yard (and a tree that is straddling the line between my house and a neighbors - I doubt they will miss a few twigs!).
I got this Santa picture last year at Kirklands, but it got broken in the move - I started to be sick about it when I saw they didn't have any this big this year, but I just emptied out the broken glass and touched up a few scratches with a sharpie, (don't you love a sharpie?) and almost good as new!

Can you see my pretty greens?

This is Ryan's Nutcracker Collection:

This is a fun snowman hat I picked up at Cracker Barrel. It was headed for the top of my tree until I found one I liked better. I thought it might be fun on the kitchen table.

Here is our elf friend Mittens that comes and hides in a different place every morning. Sometimes he even brings gifts. This is his hiding place today.

Where, O' Where could Mittens be?

O' Where, O' Where could he be?

Here he is, I found him now,

Hiding in the tree!

Linking to:

 

My New Chandelier!

I got my fancy dancy new chandelier in the mail today!!



This is going in my entry.  Now to get enough daylight for Mr. Workaholic to put it up! Might be waiting for the weekend...
I also need to take pics to share our chalkboard wall and my new kitchen chairs - woohoo!