Bath From The Past

Howdy friends!  Happy Monday to you all!! Lately I find myself reminiscing more than normal.  I don't know maybe it's because my baby is graduating from high school in a mere 7 weeks!! Anywho, as I was looking through some old photos, I came across our master shower remodel that we did a couple of years before I started blogging. It really is one of the projects we've done in this house that I am most proud of, so I thought I would share it with you.  

Keep in mind that when I was taking pictures, I was only taking them for documentation for us. Having a blog was not even on my radar at this time.  

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I don't have a before picture to share with you but think basic bath-tub/shower combo, with builder basic 4x4 tile, and a shower door that sits on the tub.  This door, and the size of the shower area were the two things that spurred on the reno.  Here is a pic of our other bathroom that is identical minus the shower door.

So, we tore everything out.  No one ever used the bath-tub in the master - again because of the shower door and the size of the room - it just wasn't relaxing.  The shower area was also very small within the restrictions of the tub - so we decided the tub was not coming back.

We had a concrete shower floor poured, and had the plumbing moved - drain, controls, and shower head.  That was the other thing that was annoying - my hubby had to bend down to wash his hair - and he's not a tall guy.

We did a lot of looking around at other shower designs.  Magazines, books, and the internet were very helpful.  We decided we wanted a small corner bench (which you can see built out in the photo above) and some niches for shampoo and soap and such. 

The floor got tiled first.

Then everything got covered in cement board. 

And then tiled the rest.  We chose a sanded grout (recommended by our contractor over the non-sanded) that matched the tones of our tile.

  

We splurged a little on the floor tile, but not a whole lot.  Since it wasn't a huge area.  

For the wall tile we simply used some inexpensive 12x12 tiles.  We also splurged a bit for some accent tile, just to add some interest.  We found some 4x4 tile that was a close match to finish of the edge by the floor and the niches.  

The finished product was more than we could have ever hoped for.  

We had never tiled before, but with a few pointers from our contractor friend, we got the job done.  It took us a good 3-4 weeks (sorry I really don't remember) from start to finish because we were DIYing so much of it. We were exhausted in the end, but really the feeling of accomplishment of doing it ourselves was worth it!!

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Daily Cleaning Schedule {Family Friday}

Family Friday time!!  Yay!!  If you're new here you might not know that I am just this year adjusting to being a full-time stay at home mom. After 18 years of working (in one form or fashion) in our Church Weekday ministry, God called me out of that and home to take care of things here full-time.  

Needless to say I am LOVING it.  God plans are always better, am I right??  So, as I said, I am adjusting.  Before I would cram all my home duties into my 1 or 2 days off, and then stress about it over the weekend.  

After a few months at home, especially after the kids went back to school in the fall, I noticed that I was still having a hard time keeping up with it all.  Not because I didn't have time, but because I was just used to doing it because it HAD to be done.  For instance, someone is coming over - "hurry clean the toilets, do the dishes, shove the laundry in the laundry room, and sweep the floor!!"  

Now that I have the time I would really prefer to keep things tidy on a regular, manageable basis. I am not a neat-freak (that's my hubby), nor am I a schedule keeper. So, when a young mom first asked me if I used some sort of cleaning schedule to keep up with daily tasks, I laughed, and said "no".  And then, on the way home was thinking, 'well duh, that would make sense.'  

So, naturally I started scouring the internet via Pinterest, and I pinned plenty, and totally ignored all of them.  Most of them left me completely overwhelmed, certain I would be exhausted by the time I finished with the tasks each day.  And, ya'll know I need time for my projects!!  The rest of them just seemed like over-kill.  Like I said - no neat-freak here!!  Until I came across this one at Of The Hearth (thank you so much for the great plan!).  I loved the simplicity of it, and I didn't feel like I was overdoing it or myself. There were a few things that needed tweaking of course - no ones house or needs are exactly the same.  So, I finally sat down and made my own.  I used a very similar design and a lot of the same tasks.  

Below each picture is the link to the printable version.

Printable Daily Cleaning Schedule

I also created one that is semi-blank

Semi-Blank Daily Cleaning Schedule

and one that is completely blank - just in case you want the inside to say something different.

Blank Daily Cleaning Schedule

All are yours to print, use and share.  

I have to admit that I just made the schedule this week and I will start using it next week. I will have to come back and let you know how it is going!!  

How about you??  Do you use a schedule for cleaning, or do you just do what you think is needed day to day??  Have a great weekend!!

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Updating Thrifted Frames

As promised, I am back today to share with you how I updated my thrift-store frames. Yesterday I shared how I gave the mats from the frames new life, today we are going to focus on the frames.

I spent some time in the beginning, looking at the frames, and deciding what I thought would be the best treatment for each.  Here are the before pics just for a reminder.  I have numbered the frames (based on the treatment used) in the before and after collages so you can get an idea of the transformation.

These are the supplies I chose to use for my make-overs.  All I had on hand aside from the Rub-N-Buff.

1. Treatment #1 simply involved using the Gold Leaf Rub-N-Buff to highlight the details in the frames.

For the large frame, I used the Rub-N-Buff to cover up the majority of the red accents that no longer match our home decor.

2. Treatment #2 involved first painting the frames with the black acrylic paint, then a quick spray of the clear sealer, and then again using the Rub-N-Buff to cover, and accent.

I had two 8x10 frames that were very plain, so they got a little extra attention.  You can see in the photo above that after the black paint and clear sealer, I measured and taped off each corner.  Then I applied the Rub-N-Buff to each corner of the frame and there ya go!  I did give the corners another light coat of the clear sealer as well.

3. Treatment #3 was another easy one.  The frames were simply sprayed with several light coats of spray paint.  I love this color it is called Blue Ocean Breeze.  That name even sounds lovely doesn't it??

All of that together, combined with updating the mats and you have this finished result!!

I hope that you are inspired to make a few stops at your local thrift stores for some frames!!  After that - get creative and see where it might take you!!  Thanks for stopping by today :).

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