Making it livable....

Like I said earlier, we are new at this whole home ownership thing and with that, home renovation.  While I would love to be able to go through each room and give them the full over haul all at once, I can't.  Time and budget just won't allow so in the meantime we are making each room just livable - hopefully in a comfy and cozy way - until that day when we can really take our dreams and turn them into a reality.  That's most of the fun anyway - dreaming, designing, exploring all the possibilities.  For years now I have been keeping an inspiration binder full of beautiful, creative and fun ideas for life...decorating, gardening, crafting and whatever else catches my eye. All the fun is in scouring the magazines and blogs for whatever catches your eye.  Each time I look back through it I am always inspired in new and amazing ways.  I never want to throw any of these pages out because they have become a journal in a strange way.  They tell an ever evolving story of me.  Plus, I would hate to throw away a great idea!

Enough about that....I wanted to share my make-shift bathroom.  The one that I made livable - for now.  Let me first share the before pictures.

I wish there was more creativity and design stories I could share about the after pictures but everything just fell into place.  The sink was gifted to us from good family friends.  She owns a pilates studio here in town and was moving to a new location and couldn't bring this sink with her but hated to leave it.  No worries though - I came in and happily rescued it.  We bought a new toilet - well because we just wanted a new toilet and the wall color - well I just grabbed a random paint chip and bought a quart of it.    It definitely is not one of my colors - I do not do bold but hey it's fun when temporary.  Oh and the mirror, it's from Homegoods, of course.  Have I mentioned that I L-O-V-E, Love Homegoods?  In the meantime this is it....

I think this reno isn't too far away fortunately.  We are planning on ripping out that nasty, old cream tile and replacing it with perhaps this....

or maybe we will go a little more earthy and go this route...

In which case I may need a new sink - ha.  The free one is just a bit modern.  Maybe some white or grey paint would help the base.  I am pretty set on using basic, versatile, white subway tile for the surround shower.  And perhaps I could tone down the aqua to a more muted, relaxing tone - I wish I could show you but I haven't figured that out.  I'm still new at this blog thing.  The next thing that room needs is a window treatment.  Something soft and airy that still lets the light shine through but gives some texture and pattern - haven't found one I like enough yet.  

It is an extremely small space but I would love to re-create the feel from one of these rooms.

I love the soft, simple feel of this space.  

I would die a thousand deaths for a tub like that.  Someday I will have one...someday....

I also love the floor to ceiling shower curtain.  Already ordered my own - that's an easy and cheap way to change up the space.

So I'll keep you updated on the final product - hopefully sooner rather than later.

The not so hot tub

After all those days of hard labor we could not wait to get in that hot tub and soak for a very long time.  

Oh, what hot tub, you ask?

After spending hours squatting inside and scrubbing years of scum and dirt away (did I mention that before this home was vacant for years, it was rented out to boys who went to our local college?)  A homes two worst enemies - renters and boys.  Yea.....it needed A LOT of scrubbing.  No worries though, it would be completely worth it and our inspector assured us the hot tub was in great, working condition.  Finally, it was time to fill 'er up and heat 'er up.  Hours later we went out to see that all the water except for one foot had completely drained back out flooding our yard.  Yup....leaks.  Not just some small leaks, the pipes underneath the hot tub were shattered into millions of pieces.  The pipes hardly existed anymore.  Someone (not pointing any fingers - boys) let the pipes freeze up with water in them over our long winter.  

So guess what we did the next day?

This

So long sweet hot tub.  You will be greatly missed.

Jungle Madness

When we first visited Cherry St. Cottage during our home search we definitely had a hard time seeing the potential in the backyard, let alone seeing the backyard.  It was an absolute, abandoned disaster.  However, a large backyard was one of the most important factors in our home search.  You see, my husband grew up always having four dogs in the house so it was only natural that we of course would get one right away.  I don't think he knows how to live without a dog.  So when we saw this -

- our jaws dropped.  

This is not a dog friendly backyard.  This isn't an anything friendly backyard.  However, when we saw this - 

  

- we perked up a little bit.  

At least there was a hot tub to sit and soak our aching muscles from the hours and hours of hard labor we would be doing.  Which was exactly what we started doing - hard labor, not soaking, at least not yet.

So fast forward several days through lots of yanking, pulling, swinging, chopping, and lots of nasty, sticky burrs.....

  

to this...

And when I say several days, I mean several weeks.  We had several trees, including the giant evergreen removed and the biggest change was the wood fence my husband and his friend built.  All for this adorable little guy - 

Blogging world meet Hudson.  Hudson meet the blogging world.

Remember when I mentioned that my husband grew up with four dogs in the house at one time?  Well soon after we brought Hudson home we decided to bring her home - 

This is little Lola and yes, she is a showgirl.

And they love each other.

And their backyard.

Thanks Dad!

Oh and now for that hot tub soak.  Well, it broke.  But that will be another story for another time.

And so it begins....

Let me take you back to the very beginning before I catch you up to speed.  Our house hunting journey was fairly simple and fun.  It did not take long to fall in love with this quaint fixer upper.  Having been vacant for 3 years before we moved in, it definitely needed a lot of TLC but it also had a lot of potential. Here it is on closing day.

Welcome to our backyard jungle.

Oh yes, it has a hot tub.  Let the parties begin!

Parquet floors.....not my favorite at all.

Dirty fireplace - yuck.

Oh my wallpaper.  Never a fun prospect.

And floral carpet.

Outdated.

So there it is.  Do you see the potential?  I hope so!  If not, stay tuned and hopefully we will be able to show you. And so it begins......check back soon!