Bathroom remodeling almost done!!

We are finally using our new bathroom.  Our daughter, Julie, works for Platinum Kitchens and she guided us thorough the process.  We love the granite and the tile design.  The expresso color of the cabinets are so rich!
The story of the destruction was posted on this blog a month ago.   The whole process has not been easy and has taken longer than we thought.  Some of the work we did ourselves, but we did not do the tile this time.  We did all our tile in our previous house.  We enjoyed watching it done for us!

The plumber set up the pipes and then Don and I put the cabinets together.

We had to balance the top for the granite and then Don attached it to the wall

The electrician put an outlet inside the top drawer for the hair dryer and flat iron, like I saw on    Pinterest.  Here you can see all my Pinterest inspirations

We love the granite.  It was boneyard so had a seam.  That was a problem because they put the seam in the wrong place and had to redo the big piece.  The same granite was for the shower curb and the seat.

Glueing the last shell - brought from Cuba by my sister on her trip there last month to see the anniversary of the Virgen del Cobre and the Pope.  The other shells are fromSt. Simons, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Florida beaches.  I made the grapevine wreath the first year after we moved to St. Simons in 1980.  

Before

After: Two sinks, mirrors and lights.  See my special makeup area!  I have to reupholster the little chair.  We have a large window though we lost our other one.

The other side of the bathroom.  Shower designed by Ceramic Technics. Tracy made the design with glass tiles.   

I wanted an adjustable shower for myself and the grandkids.   Can you see the diamond pattern in the middle?The floor looks yellow because of the top light.  

We had room for the seat and another niche.  

We are using the shower without the shower doors.

To the right of the shower is the space for the toilet and bidet.  I have been missing the bidet since our other house!

 

Most of the wall decor is from my favorite store - T.J. Maxx Home Goods  but the jelly fish is to bring back beach memories from St. Simons Island.  Bringing the real island flavor from Pane in the Glass and made by Missy!

Before: shower and garden tub and window.
Demolition had already started

To the left of the tub was the "water closet."  Don made me a linen closet from the extra space.

Creating for others is such fun at Christmas!

I caught Andrew looking for presents under the tree.  But there were none there yet. We super-enjoyed this Christmas season.  From being with the family to making Christmas things.  My house almost looked like Ani's house - my older sister who has a Nativity in every room of the house.

I see my new pillows, the new tree skirt, and on the tree, some of the special ornaments from years past.  The starfish we made for Julie's wedding.  I see one made of an oyster shell and cedar from St. Simons Island, and some made of fabric by my mother many years ago.   I wanted this year to do some things to remember my first year retired and having more time with the grandkids.

Once I brought down the decorations from the attic, I decided that I wanted to make some new things.  First was the wreaths with some sparkle inspired from Better Homes and Gardens.

The most favorite thing that I made in December is this Christmas tree:

Inspired from this pinterest pin I enjoyed going through Don's wood scrap pile and deciding what to use and then how to decorate it.  I even used several pieces of pallet wood and shells.  The snowflakes I had made a few years ago but never got them stiff enough to hang them on the tree. This is the only thing I don't want to put up in the attic until next year...

My next favorite thing is the snowman.  Andrew is such a wonderful artist that I knew he could make a snowman face better than I.  Instead of the stair rail snowman from pinterest, I used a table leg that Don bought at a yard sale with other scrap wood.  I painted it white and glued two pieces of wood for the hat.

Andy painted a great snowman face!

I tried the beachy ornament from pinterest but it did not come out right.  Maybe if I had used a blue one.

For years I have been wanting to do something with the beautiful Christmas cards that I have saved through the years.  I googled for ideas and came up with several  I tried to make a wreath from them but did not like how it looked.  In years past I have used them as tags.  (My sister Cristi makes some beautiful tags from them.)  My mom used to make the ornaments , but they take too much time.  She also used to make accordion fans from them and glued magnets to the back for the refrigerator.  I forgot to take a picture of those.

I made a memory type game to play with Lauren and we made some into decorations for a tree.  Also, I picked up sticks from the yard and set them up.  I glued and cut cards back to back that fit together.  The the kids had the fun of putting them on the tree.

Lauren punched the holes on the cards.

Andrew putting the cards on the sticks.

For a Christmas gift Don made Julie and Angie the shelves for books like the shelves from pinterest  Here they are:

Caroline got her book

Lauren needed a headband holder so I made this one from an oatmeal can for each girl.

Don has been working so hard making cutting boards.  Brian suggested that he try the endgrain style and he was so excited about it that he made a bunch.  Some he finished with tung oil.  Some had a food safe varnish and finishing wax.  He experimented with them and them gave them away.

Now we're on the countdown to El Día de Reyes - Three Kings Day

My baby Jesus from Spain.

Week of sewing and crafting - Getting ready for the Holidays!

This week I have been relaxing. crafting, and preparing for our upcoming trip.  I haven't even seen the grandkids all week.  I have been watching lots of my recorded TV shows.  One of the shows that I like to watch is Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer.  I have been enjoying my everyday life! 

  I have read some blogs where people get too busy and regimented after retirement.  The only thing on my weekly schedule right now is Yoga on Mondays.  I have put off joining the Bridge group.  (I may have to join the beginners, and don't want to.)  Well, anyways, I'm not in a hurry to get busy.  I'm already filled!!

When I knew that I would have a few days straight for projects, I decided on doing one of the things love - sewing and crafting.  One of the things that keeps me from doing more crafts is having to put everything away before I'm done.  I knew that guest room/ craft room would be open this week so I can leave everything out until I get tired of it.  Now that I'm retired I can work on my crafts anytime.  I have so many things on Pinterest that I want to make!  I prefer sewing things that are simple and that I can complete in one day.  So, before I start anything, I make sure that I find any shortcuts and ways to make the project easier, that way I can make the best use of my time.  

These are some pictures of things that I made this week (with the inspiration of Pinterest.) 

First I made the window treatment with some Christmas fabric and ornaments from Hobby Lobby on sale.  It was fun!

This is the window where we eat.  It took me about an hour to hang the ornaments!

I sewed the fabric and pinned the ornaments  to the fabric using random ribbon I already had.  Original pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/164522192606930279/

I ironed some doilies and sewed them to my pillows that I had made this Summer.  My daughter said they were too plain.  They are so much better!

My niece Faith is making lots of crafts.  She had a tutorial on making these fabric flowers.  I tried it.  The first one is on the left.  The last one is on the right.   Read her blog the life of Faith.  the link is on the sidebar.  She is selling her beautiful crafts on ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/faithkonrath?ref=seller_info

Fabric flowers on the pillows.  What do you think?

 Ever since I saw this Christmas tree skirt on Pinterest (see bottom of post), I have been wanting to make it.  I have wanted a new tree skirt for the last 3 Christmases but haven't found one I liked for the right amount of money.  Actually, I didn't like the last one I bought.  My other 2 tree skirts were small and I made them around 30 years ago (before I started to work) when I was a stay at home Mom.  They are still up in the attic in one of the Christmas boxes.  

  First I read the tutorial and see what I needed.  I have been frequenting the Goodwill store on Senior Day especially looking for fabric and crafts and baby items.  A few weeks ago I bought some cream colored fabric and a roll of yards and yards of this Christmas fabric.  I ripped a 3 inch strip to see what it would look like.  I made the ruffles wider than the tutorial but the circle 4 1/2 feet like it says. 

Round and round until the center.  I'm glad that I bought the long sticks of glue for the glue gun.

When I got to the middle, I did the center by folding it to the back.  I did not make ties because I'll just bring it together in the back.

 The color looks blue but it's green and silvery.
What do you think?  I can't wait to put it on the tree!

I'll post a picture when I get it under the tree!!  Do you think it will look as pretty as the one below?

This is the original pin with the picture.  and the link for the blog with the tutorial. http://missmustardseed.com/2011/10/christmas-halloween/

Pictures of fun projects with the kids

These are the Halloween projects that I completed with the kids with the inspiration of Pinterest and other pictures...

We're making the wreath at my house.  Lauren didn't want to help at first but then she made some of the eyes.  When I bought the wreath at the Goodwill, it was white.  I spray painted it black.  I had the feather thing but too short.  I bought the eyes at the Dollar Store.  Does the yellow yarn complete it?

The finished Wreath hanging up in their house

Andrew drew and colored this at my house.  We finished it and is hanging at their house. I used yarn that I had to hang the creatures and wrapped a wire hanger (made into a circle) with the same yarn.

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We made the mummies with the hot dogs for dinner one night at their house.

I did not make this - but this is Lauren with her new button dress (the buttons crafts on Pinterest)...  Look at the boots!

I can't leave out my sweet grandson Durham.  His mama, Angie, has been doing the picture in the basket each month as shown on Pinterest.  He is now 3 months!  The shirt from Etsy.

My pinterest obsession

About a month after my retirement, Angie, my youngest told me about Pinterest and sent me an invite.  It has been 3 months and I am at 745 pins and following 296 fellow "pinteresters".  It is an inspiration every day.  When I used to teach, I would go to the yearly conferences for inspiration.  With Pinterest I am inspired every day.  Mostly I follow the recipes, and crafts.  But I hope to put to use my bathroom board when we finally start the bathroom remodel; am using the gardening board now that we are finishing the patio and back yard grass area.  I started a board on refinishing furniture  http://pinterest.com/beaskeens/refinishing-wood/  when I started working on my yard sale finds to redecorate the beach condo.  I took notes on 8 different posts to decide what I wanted to do with my pieces.  I did not take before and after pictures but I will explain what I used for each piece.
Mostly I have had so much fun with my grandchildren making some of the Halloween crafts.  I show them the pinterest picture and then we do our own thing.  Here is the link to the board on completed projects http://pinterest.com/beaskeens/completed-pinterest-projects/   In the next post I will have pictures of the kids making them.  I love it!!

We bought this at an antique store.  It's hanging where I can see it every day from the dining room.

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Most of the pinterest members are young mothers, and as I looked at the fun activities for kids, I went to some wonderful blogs, mostly made by stay-at-home moms- like I was.  What wonderful blogs  I love how these mothers share and support each other with ideas and suggestions while sharing their life experiences.  I have done some of the activities with my grandchildren,  Here is Caroline playing with shaving cream

At first she didn't know what to do, but then she got all into it.  Then she started to put it on my legs.  I was sitting next to her.  At school the next day they told me that they had to take away the yogurt because she started to play with it...

Angie traded this table for another one that I redid.  I love how it turned out.  It was a bright green.  I sanded to the brown stain on the edges and rubbed wax from a candle on the edges to keep the brown.  I used a blue glaze from Hobby Lobby with some white and a grey that I mixed,  Then I spray painted it with a polycrilic combining various post ideas for what I wanted to experiment.  When we got to the condo, I was so upset that the color did not match the brand new bedspread.  It is still in the corner of the bedroom.  See the next picture.

Little green table

This is the second bedroom in the beach condo.  The little green table is on the left. 

The canoe is from an antique store.  The table used to be a dark stain.  We got it for $5 at a yard sale and Don took it all apart.  We stripped it, primed it and painted it white.  Don made me a new top for it.  It was supposed to be for my daughter but she decided on another one.  Otherwise I would have stained it.

Pinterest shows these from IKEA but we found this painted black at an antique store, I painted it white and grey and sanded the edges.  It is over the toy box that Don made the kids 30 years ago.  It will be refinished this year...

In Don's workshop.  Working on the dresser that we bought for $20 at a yard sale.  It was olive green.  I sanded, primed, and painted white.  The drawers I painted with ocean colors.  The top was not attached.

Yellow pop of color as on pinterest.  

When we got here, and the colors did not match the bedspread, I sanded and repainted the front of the drawers and the top white.  The peach goes with the bedspread.

I added twine and shells to the
 lampshade

 I hot glued the shells to twine.  Saw it on pinterest, but couldn't find my pin.

Bought it in an antique store, I rubbed my blue acrylic on it.  Instead of cups and plates, shells!

Andrew and I made a Christmas tree last year and decorated it with shells.  Can't wait for Christmas this year!!

Made a hat for Durham's newborn picture.