It's Coming Together

This phrase has been the theme of the basement renovation and I have to say, it truly IS coming together.  As of this past Monday, all the walls and trim are officially painted.  Fact:  painting trim is a giant pain in the @ss! We happen to have a lot of it (baseboard moldings, crown moldings, fancy door moldings), so it took what felt like forever and a day.  But it is finally done and it looks great.  It's amazing how a fresh coat of white semi-gloss paint on trim can refresh a room.

Also done are the new outlets and switches.  One of the fatal flaws of this house were old, dingy outlets and switches.  When we first moved in, Ed and good friend Rob replaced every single one of them on the first and second floors.  It was quite a task which included a few electrical zaps for both of them, but once finished, it made such a difference.  Yesterday, the outlets and switches looked like this:

And today they look like this:

A low cost upgrade with big visual bang!  And speaking of visual bang, check out this hottie at work!

On tap for tonight (post James going to bed, of course!) is the moving of the new furniture into place, the updating of the horrible light fixtures (more on that in a separate post), cleaning of the paint drops off the floor and maybe painting of the bannister.  The list is never ending...but it's coming together!

Potty Makeover 2.0: Part Two

It's been a while since we announced that we were going to do a partial renovation to the 2 upstairs bathrooms and we are a little embarassed about it.  It's been 2 months and really, the updates were minimal.  Impactful, but minimal which is why it is sad that it took 2 months to actually do it!  Getting small things done around here these days is no easy task, but alas, we are here and the updates have been made and we are pleased. 

I was never really happy with the way the Master Bath turned out after Ed re-painted it.  I loved the paint color and I loved the new light fixture and vanity over the sink, but I never fell for the color scheme.

Well, a quick trip to Target and World Market changed that. Voila - instant upgrade!

Grey and yellow is all the rage these days so I decided to drink the Kool Aid and take the plunge.  I'm a big fan of how changing a shower curtain and towels can instantly upgrade a room.  I feel like it is a little more sophisticated and spa-like.  My favorite part of the room is the new artwork above the toilet. Because of wall issues, we were not able to hang the glass shelf and towel rod that I had originally intended.  So instead, I scoured Etsy for the perfect art and I think I succeeded.

The attractive state prints highlight the 2 places that Ed and I have lived together - Westbury, NY and Centreville, VA.  The colors match the new scheme perfectly and the frames were a HUGE find at my local Michaels.  All in all, we are really pleased with the final result of our Master Bath update.

Next up is the hall bath otherwise knows as James' bathroom.  We had a lot of fun with this one and with the help of Uncle Jim and Uncle Daniel, we have transformed the room into a sea adventure.

In addition to the awesome fishy shower curtain (thanks again Jim and Daniel!), he now has a comfy, nubby bath mat, a friendly whale tissue box and coming soon...some whale art!  

This little guy still needs a frame and will eventually live here:

So there you have it.  It took a while, but it's finally done...almost.  :)

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!!

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!!