Potty Makeover 2.0

Two of the potties in the house are about to undergo a makeover.  Nothing major - just a little sprucing to tide us over while we save our pennies for a major renovation.  And really, who doesn't love a makeover.  I know I do...and could use one these days, but that is another story. :)

You may remember that we started working on our master bathroom last Fall but weren't able to do all the renovations we had hoped to do.  Lucy's knee surgery took priority and that is where the funds went.  We were able to make some small upgrades ~ a new paint job, added a new light fixture and replaced the boring old mirror with a medicine cabinet.  It just still feels blah.  We never really loved the shower curtain and the paint color against the white fixtues makes it feel very washed out.

While we save up for the big reno job, we decided that it is time to make the bathroom feel like a true master - well, as much as it can.  Here is what we currently have:

The long term goal is to bring in a medicine cabinet and vanity made of dark wood...similar to this:



The dark woods will help the wall color pop. And speaking of color, the color pallete will also be different with these as inspiration:

We are hoping that the small, suttle changes will tide us over until we can afford the big reno.  Stay tuned for the reveal!

But that is just one of the makeovers that the potties are undergoing in casa de Mangiaracina.  We are also looking to spruce up the upstairs hall bath and make it a little more James-friendly.  He is now old enough to take baths in the big boy tub (with some assistance from Daddy), so it's time to bring some big fun into the bathroom. Here it is now:

We painted the room this beachy blue color when we first moved in and still love it so it is going to stick. Plus it matches the new theme which is a double bonus. The makeover is going to include a shower curtain change and some decor upgrades to make it a bathroom that any kid would LOVE to spend time in. Behind the curtain are some clues as to the direction we are going in...can you guess?

And let me interrupt this regularly scheduled program to tell you how much we LOVE the bath products from Skip Hop.  From our Moby spout cover to the Tubby bath toy organizer to the Dunck stacking rinse cups, we are HUGE FANS!!  Don't be surprised if the makeover will include a few more Skip Hop products.  But I digress...We can't wait to put this room together - it is SO much fun to decorate kid areas and this one will not disappoint.  Stay tuned!!

My Hero

The definition of hero is different depending on who you talk to. For some, a hero is a man in tights who flies around Metropolis and saves small children from high rise windows. For others ~ say Lucy ~ it is someone who rescues her favorite floppy disk from under the stove. For me, it is my hubby.


As you know, we have been working on some small house projects before this little bun in the oven makes his big debut in March. And when I say "we" I really mean Ed because, let's be honest, he's been doing all the manual labor. Sure, running back and forth to the tool box to grab the flat head screwdriver counts for something, but Ed has been busting his butt to get things finished around here. He even took 4 days of vacation to get the Master Bathroom in order so that we didn't have to live out of shoe boxes anymore.


I was in NY for work when a bulk of the work was done in the bathroom so I don't have a ton of "progress" photos. But really, what do they matter when you have an after that looks like this:


We are loving the lighter color (Burnished Clay by Behr) and the contrast that the green curtain and towels make. It really opens up the small room as does the new light fixture. The best part is that there are no more water stains on the wall. It's amazing how a new coat of paint (or 3 coats of paint) makes walls look like new!

The last thing to do in here is to hang a glass shelf over the toilet, but Ed has reached his max for the week so we are putting that on hold until next week. Fine by me. Seriously, he has been busting his butt - on his vacation no less! He drives himself crazy to make sure that everything is perfect and even though I think he is a little nuts, I love him for it. :) For this (and many other things) he is my hero.

Love you Bubby!! xoxoxo

Some "To Do's"

In addition to fixing up the nursery, we are also taking this pre-baby time to tackle some other projects in the house. If you are a home owner, you know that the list of "To Do's" is never ending. I actually have a "To Do" notebook and 3-ring binder filled with lists and ideas for future projects (nerd alert, I know!). This coming weekend, we are going to be checking a few of those projects off the list.

Our friendly neighborhood contractor, Doug Kidd, will be on hand this Saturday to build us a window seat / storage chest in the front window bump out. While we don't have a full on bay window, we do have an 18" bump out giving us plenty of room to create some much needed storage in the living room. With a new custom cushion (that I'm hiring someone to make) it will give us some extra seating and be a great vantage point for Lucy to look out the window.


As you can see, this area is kind of bare, but in the next 2 weeks or so there will be a total transformation. In addition to the bench, we (meaning Home Depot) will be installing new blinds so that we can finally stop everyone on the street from checking us out.


Another happening this weekend is the minor remodel of the Master Bathroom. Ed has been working hard to get the walls into shape so that they can be primed and painted. Since this bathroom has no window and flat paint, the walls had started to look shoddy so we knew it was time for some updating. While we can't afford to do a major remodel, we do plan to paint, add a new light fixture and medicine cabinet as well as some glass shelving. Once tax time blesses us with some cash flow, we will be adding a clear glass shower door, a canned light in the shower and a vanity for storage. Here is what the bathroom looks like right now...


...not a pretty site. But things sometimes need to get ugly before they can be pretty again. Luckily, we have another full bath on the 2nd floor so we've been living like this for the past week:


FYI - we decided to add a medicine cabinet to this bathroom as well so that our child's future toiletries do not need to live in boxes on the toilet bowl.


So it looks like we have another exhausting weekend ahead of us. Luckily Dad Q. will be back in his snazzy attire to help us finish the trim in the nursery. Gotta love a man with a paint wardrobe!

So Busy!

Things in the Mangiaracina household have been crazier than ever and it is just going to continue to go nuts! I've been a bit MIA as I was out in California attending a conference for work. The conference was good, but seeing pals Patrick Wilson and Franco Anzini (and lovely wife Dawna) was GREAT! Patrick just so happened to be in town from Portland so we were able to catch up. Franco and Dawna call Santa Clara home so they gave me the tour of the swankier part of silicon valley. All in all, it was a good trip.

Unfortunately, because of my time away, there is a lot of playing catch up going on. And I don't just mean with work (which is out of control nutso right now thank you very much Toy Fair!). We have been working on many things around the house in anticipation of our bundle of joy and everything seems to be happening right now.

We figured that once little baby boy Mangiaracina makes his entrance, life as we know it will cease to exist so we need to get things done now or forever hold our peace. So, with that said, here is the laundry list of To Do items that will be blogged about in the near future:

1. Install blinds on all windows throughout the house. Or rather have Home Depot install them so we don't screw it up!
   
   
   
   
2. Build a window seat in the front window bump out that seconds as an attractive toy chest for all the anticipated baby stuff. 2A. Order cushion for said bench. (P.S. We also hired a pro for this as we do not have the skills nor the tools to conquer) (P.P.S. Not our house in photo below...but you get the idea.)
   
   
   
3. Paint and prep nursery. This one will happen in stages but painting is a must in the near future. The color will be revealed shortly.
   
   
   
4. Paint and minor renovation of the Master Bath. I've mentioned our issues in here before. We have some serious wall issues in here since the previous owners thought it would be a genius idea to put flat paint in a bathroom with no windows. It's time to slap up some satin finish paint, install a new light fixture and a new medicine cabinet. The full renovation is unfortunately out of budget at this time, so our mini reno will have to do. 4B. Find said light fixture and medicine cabinet (harder than you would think!)
   
   
5. Install medicine cabinet in the upstairs hall bathroom. For some reason, this house has terrible storage situations in all 4 bathrooms. It's now time to fix that ~ especially since we will have a little person who will be using this bathroom soon! Our fav:

This laundry list of items is more for me than for you so that I can keep track of everything, but I promise to share with you the progress of each project as we are very excited for the end product.

Anyone else out there doing some light home renovations? Share, share!!

Swatch Me

I've become a bit obsessed with paint swatches. Every time we go into a Lowes or Home Depot or Sears, I grab paint swatches for our next house project: the master bathroom. The paint in the master bath is starting to look very sad. The room has flat paint courtesy of the previous owners ~ a BIG no-no for a bathroom that does not have a window. There is nowhere for that moisture to go except for in the walls causing them to look all streaky.


So before we start running into mold issues (YUK), we decided it is time to paint the bathroom with some nice semi-gloss, moisture-friendly paint. We also plan to remove the tacky mirror over the sink and replace it with a proper medicine cabinet and switch out the light fixture to something a little more modern...


...and replace the ugly white mirrored cabinet with some over the toilet shelving.


We have some other big plans for the space including a new vanity sink, a glass shower door, some overhead lighting but because of budget reasons, we are starting small and will end big a little later on.

Back to swatches. We want a blue/gray color that will work well with dark woods (part of the future plan) and won't make our small bathroom look like a cave. So this is what we got:


Sure, they all look pretty much the same, but up close you can see that some are more gray, some are more blue and some are more green. The green ones will most likely go.

But not yet.

We are going to have to live with these swatches for a bit as we don't have time to dive into this project until late August/early September. I think a good 8-12 weeks will give us plenty of time to pick the perfect color, right? I know, we are nuts. And what is even sadder is that the number of swatches will most likely increase before a decision is made, but at least we will have all of our options on the table. Or in this case, on the wall. :)