A private window

Hey hey laaaaadies! (And men. Hello Dad!) How are you this fine Thursday? Today I’m sharing a super simple project that solved an age-old problem for us.

See, we live in a neighborhood. Like, a real, suburban neighborhood with houses next to us. (That gives some people the shivers, I know.) Our bathroom window is one of those that doesn’t open. (And I still don’t understand why. Moisture issues I think? But wouldn’t it be better to be able to open it and let moisture out?) Deep questions people.

So this window has been a thorn in our side for going on nine years now. Of course we love the natural light, it’s great, cause the other light in that bathroom stinks. But at night I feel like I’m in a fishbowl – not so much because of our neighbors, but because houses across the street can see in.

Now, who knows if they can really see in, it’s not a short distance. But at night when I don’t want to be seen, I feel like I can be seen, so there’s lots of ducking and rolling. OK, just ducking – but I do it without even realizing anymore.

I know I could do window treatments, but I don’t feel like they look right there. And we have had blinds, but you have to climb into the tub to put them down:

See? Neighbors. No, I can’t reach out and touch them, it just looks like it.

Years ago I was looking for a solution to cover the glass on our pantry door:

I wanted something that would hide the food but would also let some light through (I installed rope lights around the inside of the pantry door).

So a few of you suggested regular clear contact paper and it worked like a charm. It was a total pain in the butt to install on those window panes, but it works PERFECTLY. (I shared how I did that here.)

There is window vinyl you can buy at the hardware store, but it is a.) expensive and b.) not always the prettiest. This regular old contact paper was a few bucks for a HUGE roll and will last me a very long time:

So anyway, I decided to use it on the bathroom window. Thing is, it wasn’t wide enough. To make it work I decided to cut it in three horizontal strips to kind of match up with the window panes. I just held it up and marked with a pencil where I needed to cut, then laid it down on the floor and used a steady hand and scissors:

Excuse me. A steady hand and scissors:

:)

I was going to try cutting it with my paper cutter to get a nice clean cut, but the piece I needed was much longer than the cutter. The lines aren’t perfect doing it with scissors but thankfully you really can’t tell.

It’s super easy to install this stuff – the trick is getting it on there right when you start. Just spray the window with water:

And if you’re smarter than me, wash the window first. I ain’t got time for that. ;)

Don’t be stingy with the water. Spray it on good. Then tear a bit of the paper off the end of the contact paper:

And line it up and push it on, over the watery glass:

Then you can start peeling the rest of the paper off the back and smoothing it out with  your hand as you go across the window. I thought it might be a pain to get it straight but it went on perfectly.

This is one of those rare projects that I thought would be easy and it was. Usually when those thoughts go through my head I’m in trouble. 

When the contact paper is on the window, you’ll freak out a little and curse me and yell hey Sarah I thought you said this was easy, this looks like crap!!

Relax. You’ll have bubbles, lots of them:

You’ll need something with a straight edge to smooth them out:

I just use a pan scraper. Just make sure it’s got a clean edge with no raggedy things that can tear or scratch the contact paper/vinyl.

Just smooth them out – this part takes the longest, but it’s not bad. This is why you want a wet window, so you can easily push all those bubbles out from underneath.

I installed three horizontally just because I figured vertically might look jail-like. :) It turned out better than I even expected – it still lets all the light through and I can walk around in my bathroom after a shower without ducking.

And everyone is thankful for that, just saying:

I took the old blinds down and that actually lets even a little more light in.

If you’ve ever tried to take a picture of a window during the day, you know its nearly impossible, so forgive me that you can’t see more detail.

Here’s a before and after just to give you an idea:

 

Sometimes it truly is the little things that make such a big difference. My husband was SO excited about this small change, I don’t know why we waited so dang long to do it!!

Here it is at night, so you can get a better view of how it looks:

A private window, for pennies. Can’t beat it! I still have a TON of this stuff left, I’m on the look out for other projects.

Do you have a window that lets in light but you still want covered? This would be PERFECT for side lights by a front door, or maybe even glass in a door? (Allison put this over a window by her front door and it worked GREAT.) If we ever add glass to our front door I’ll be doing something like this.

I bet it would look great if you have glass doors on your kitchen cabinets too. You know, for those cabinets that aren’t perfectly pretty inside?

Bathroom(s) progress – the floors!

Well helloooo there! I’ve been meaning to show you updates on our two bathroom renos and today is the day. And we’re talking flooring. SO EXCITING. ;)

I say “renos” but one bathroom is coming up from nothing and other isn’t exactly getting walls knocked down or anything, but almost everything will be new it in when I’m done. Which will be in four years I’m sure.

First up is the basement bathroom. I’m SO glad we had plumbing roughed in down here all those years ago! We paid for a half bath, just a sink and toilet, but we ended up getting plumbing for a full bath. (Score!) We didn’t realize that until later when we asked someone what the huge hole was in the floor (that I saw a huge spider come out of once and covered up from that point on). It was roughed in for a bathtub, but when we started the finishing process last year we knew a tub would be a waste of space down there:

So obviously we went with a stand up shower instead. I much rather would have the space for a bigger storage room than a bath instead of a shower. So this bathroom is long and not very wide – only four feet wide to allow for more space in the storage and laundry rooms.

All along I had planned on tiling the shower, but when it came time to do the walls and framing I decided at the last minute to just plan for a standard shower. (We needed to decide on the size during the framing process.)

So for almost a year the bathroom has sat like this – the only things done were the drywall and shower. The hold up was two-fold – saving up the money to tackle the room and I was trying to decide on heated floors.

I had finally decided to just go ahead with them but after talking with the guys who helped us out with a lot of the work (and who were going to install them), I decided against it. The kit and the thermostat thing were going to be more than $300 all together – and for that price I decided we would just wear socks. ;) I mean, the tile does get chilly down there, but only in the winter, and we do have socks on most of the time.

So I saved $300 right there, and I don’t regret it at all. I love the thought of toasty feet, but I couldn’t get past the thought that if it breaks there’s nothing we can do about it. I don’t know how well those heating elements hold up over the years. Maybe in our master bath someday, but not in the basement bathroom.

Soooo…it was time to pick out tile. I had been eyeing the gray version of this stuff at Menards for months:

I liked the linen, strie kind of look to it. But it was special order (when I want it I want it NOW) and it was not cheap. So I kept looking, and found JUST what I was looking for at Lowe’s:

   

It’s called Leonia Silver Glazed Porcelain tile and I looooved it! The price was awesome too – you have to buy it by the box, but each box is $31. The Menards tile was almost five times as much! This tile is the same size too – 12 by 24 inches.

We spent about $90 on the tile for this bathroom and had plenty leftover too:

The grout color is called warm gray:

It was hard to get good close up pics with the light but here’s an idea of how it looks with tile:

I love it! We went ahead and had the toilet and a vanity installed too while we were at it. I figured it’s almost done, let’s just do it.

I still have to finish painting and install baseboards and shelves, but it’s already looking so good! We love it – I’m just sharing the floors today because I want to hold off showing the rest:

We’ve already used the shower (OK, not we, together – me. Alright let’s just move on.) Anyway, it’s a tiny little thing, but it functions! It was helpful to use it because I realized some changes I might make, including adding some tile in a couple spots on the wall around the shower.

But it’s functioning GREAT and we love having a potty down there. ;) Which brings me to the next flooring decision we made in the powder room on the main floor. It’s a good thing we have the basement bathroom done because our toilet for the powder room has been sitting out in the garage for three weeks. Perfect spot for it really.

If you’ve been around for a while you know this is the bathroom that I just simply cannot finish. I shall call it that from this point on – The Bathroom That Will Never Be Done. Anyway, the main reason it’s been held up is because I knew I didn’t want to make all the changes until one big project was done.

I thought about it long and hard and decided about a year ago to add hardwoods to this bathroom. We didn’t have them done when we had the rest of main floor installed a couple years ago, but back then I asked how much he would charge to come back and do it. He offered to do it for $300 total and I thought that was pretty darn good.

Fast forward to now and I asked him if he would still honor that price and he said no problem. So we got some help pulling up the vinyl floors, underlayment and removing the toilet and sink:

I had planned on removing the sink myself but that turned out to be the biggest bear of them all – it was glue to the wall so it took a huge chuck of drywall off when they removed it.

Good thing that’s all getting covered up. ;)

It took the flooring guy just a few hours to cut, install and get the stain and then a coat of poly down. It was so fast – all I could think about was how long it took to do the main floor, so this was a nice surprise. He came back the next morning to do another coat of poly and we were walking on it by that night.

The animals were in awe:

;) I thought that picture was cute of them checking him out while he worked.

It looks SO good. So so good:

You can see the ever so slight difference in the tone of the floors from the threshold on – hardwoods will darken over time and ours have already gotten quite a bit darker. But when you stand back and look you don’t really notice it.

I thought about doing hardwoods for quite awhile. I asked the guy who installed them initially about having them in bathrooms and he said it’s fine for powder rooms, but he hesitates to use them in main bathrooms with showers or tubs. I thought that made sense. I asked friends who have them in their powder rooms and all said they hold up fine.

I’ve also learned over the time we’ve had our hardwoods that they hold up to water amazingly well. At least our on-site finished floors. I’m thrilled with how they look!:

We used white oak with the Jacobean Minwax stain like the rest of the main floor. I love it.

But, like I said, it’s been sitting without the regular bathroom stuff for three weeks and I NEED to move on this room. I’m kicking myself for not getting the walls treatment up and painted before the floors – it was just too busy at the time and I spaced on it. Not a big deal though, I’ll just protect them like I do in the rest of the house when I paint.

So there’s the tale of the flooring in two bathroom renovations! One is almost done and one is just getting started. You’d think a toilet in the garage would spur me on, but no, I find plenty of other things to do. This weekend. For sure.

Sure.

Do you have hardwoods in a bathroom? How do they hold up for you? In our main baths upstairs we still have vinyl, but someday they’ll go to tile. I considered the wood-like tile for a while too, but just liked the one I found better (and it was cheaper).

Would I do it again? (The floors)

Hello and good Thursday to ya! I’ve always loved Thursdays for some reason. The anticipation of the weekend and all…I just love them.  :)

Anyway, I am going to try to update you more often on things I’ve done around here – mostly big projects, just let you know how they’ve held up, if I still like them, would I do it again?

I am always honest with you about how things turn out and I gotta say, usually I’m pleased with my big projects in the long term. This is because I sit on ideas/thoughts/plans for SO LONG…I make sure I have all the pros and cons weighed out in my mind and think of solutions along the way.

Today I’m talking about our hardwood floors. If you’ve been with me for a while, you might remember the leaking fridge we woke up to about a year and a half ago.

It had died overnight and everything in the freezer defrosted and came out of the fridge…in the form of water. :) I was shocked at how much water that amounted to. We had laminate floors in the kitchen and family room at the time and after some moisture testing by the pros it didn’t take long for the kitchen to look like this:

It had seeped into the laminate and traveled across the floor underneath. They found water across the room. :(

With our floors (Pergo we installed about six years ago) you couldn’t just replace sections. And it had worn down over time anyway and was not holding up well. (I felt like I couldn’t get them “clean” to save my life.)

So we weighed our options – new laminate, prefinished hardwoods or finished on site hardwoods.

The laminate was nixed immediately because I did not want to go through this same experience again. Then we thought we would go with a pre-finished wood:

Simply because it would have been much simpler to install, in terms of time, mess, and hassle.

But when a few of you mentioned your experiences with stuff getting into the small grooves between the planks of wood, it changed my mind. I never thought I would do hardwoods finished on site in my house – I thought it would be way too expensive. But if I remember right the price was the same or even a little less to finish on site.

When I say finish on site, it means they bring in all the wood (let it acclimate in the house for a few days), then lay it down, sand, stain, sand, stain…and then put a protective coat or two on top.

At least I think that’s how it went. ;)

We didn’t do anything fancy – three inch wide oak boards (we were told anything wider may have issues with cupping with the weather in Indiana):

I knew when I saw them unfinished and loved them that we had made the right decision – they just looked seamless and like they were always meant for our house.

It’s been about 16 months since we had them installed and I have to say, I’m thrilled with them. We are NOT easy on them either – big and little toys are pushed around on them every day:

And they still look as good as new.

I love love LOVE how they look up against crisp white trim:

It still makes my heart flutter a bit. :)

We do have had plenty of scratches – nothing too horrible. The first one happened with weeks of them being done and I did freak just a little…come, on, it was the first one!! But now I can’t even find where it is. :) And since I’ve totally let go – I don’t notice them and I know no one else does. All together I think we have maybe four or five scratches, all small.

A few weeks ago the cat knocked a pitcher off the kitchen island – the pitcher survived. (Wow!) The floors got a couple decent dents:

There are two -- one is pretty deep. But that’s by far the worst of it, and you still can barely see them. It was hard for me to get a pic of it, even close up. (There are two right in the middle of the photo, if you can’t see them.)

There is an additional cost to hardwoods to consider – you will want some rugs:

It’s a bit cold feeling without at least a couple – at least it was in our house. (Not cold on your feet, just sparse.) That is an added expense for sure.

Overall they have been very low maintenance for use, way way less work than the laminate. I think the biggest reason for this is that I chose a satin poly – not a shiny one. It has helped tremendously when it comes to stuff showing on them. And ours are dark but not too dark (the color is Jacobean by Minwax) – I was warned that I would notice every little thing on them and I don’t.

Here’s the pros and cons, as I see them after living with hardwoods:

Pros (finished on-site):

Look more “original” to the house
You can have them stained whatever color you want and can mix stains to get the right look.
I never, ever have to clean them. For real. I’m not going to tell you how often I do.
(I think) they hold up GREAT. We have had very few scratches, dings, whatever. (And over the past 16 months we’ve had four cats, a dog, and three humans on them every day.)
They can be dried out and *should* go back to normal if we ever have another water issue. (Which I’m sure we will someday…water hates loves us.)
They can be sanded down and refinished over and over again. They will be in this house forever.

Cons (finished on-site):

Installation is no fun. We had to move every bit of furniture out of the main floor, then we had to be completely out of the house for what I think was two nights when they stained and poly’d. (The smell was bad and we obviously couldn’t walk on them.)
I was really worried about all the dust from sanding, but it honestly wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The machines they use now really cut down on that.
The cost is a big issue of course – it’s not cheap. I don’t think there is any way we could have swung them if we hadn’t had a decent insurance check. (Well, we could have, but we would've had to save for a while.) We only paid about 30 percent of the whole cost. But keep in mind our total cost included the remediation from the water – all the clean up, tearing out the floors, removing and reinstalling our island. So with all of that taken out it wouldn’t be as bad.

We are actually looking to get a quote on hardwoods upstairs now too – our carpet is going on nine years old and it’s either those or new carpet. Hubby’s allergies are awful and he actually suggested the hardwoods – I didn’t argue. ;) The square footage up there will be about two thirds of main level, (when we take out the bathrooms), so I think the price will be more manageable.

So there you go! Would I do them again? YES, in a heartbeat. I LOVE our floors. I would go through the hassle to do them again for sure…but not for a long time. :)

Here’s the deets on ours one more time:

Three inch wide oak flooring
Finished on site
Stained in Jacobean by Minwax
Finished off with a satin poly

Do you have hard floors? Laminate, prefinished or on site like ours? Do you love or hate them?

Inspired You

**This giveaway is now closed. Winners have been notified. Thanks!

Hello and happy Friday! Any fun plans this weekend? We are heading into the last few days of marching band for the year, which always makes me both sad and happy. I always miss the activity when it’s done, watching the kids…but I’ll be happy to have my husband back, at least for a few days. :)

I’ve got a special post for you today because I get to brag on a friend a bit. :) I found Miss Mustard Seed’s blog years ago and am happy to say she is now a dear friend in real life.

Marian just published her first book this week, a lovely one called Inspired You:

When it came in the mail I was immediately taken with how pretty it was:

I’m a decor girl, what can I say? I mean, am I wrong? :)

As soon as I started reading, it felt like Marian was reading it to me – I love how it’s such a casual read. I have avoided design/decor books all these years just because they’ve felt over my head when reading.

This one feels like you’re talking with a friend. And I nodded my head so often – I can’t agree more with the message in Marian’s book! She proves you don’t need crazy talent or lots of money to make a beautiful home.

One of my favorite quote in the books is this:

“Beautiful homes start with inspiration and a willingness to try.”

Love that!

Marian’s words are inspirational, and the photos are the eye candy:

You know how you study photos of beautiful rooms in magazines for a good long time, looking at every detail and figuring out how you can replicate it in your home? Or is it just me? ;) Well, I think I spent as much time studying the pictures as I did reading.

But it’s not just filled with finished spaces – Marian shares the before pics of many of her rooms and projects. And a bunch of really detailed tutorials as well:

There’s a tufted headboard tutorial I am determined to try!

I’m so incredibly thrilled for Marian! She is an amazing person, decorator and business woman.

I’m also thrilled that I get to give away Marian’s book to two of you! To enter just leave a comment here (make sure to include your email with (at) and (dot) spelled out to avoid spam) this weekend. I’ll email the winners on Monday after noon!

Good luck and have a GREAT weekend!! What are you up to?

Beautiful family rooms

Hello all! Hope you had a fantastic week and have an even better weekend planned. I’m looking forward to some time with some girlfriends and perhaps some pumpkin picking? The weather is supposed to be fabulous.

Why do I always talk about the weather? I don’t know. It’s my thing.

Anyway, today I had to show off some of the LOVELY family room spaces you all linked up last month at the August Show Us Your House party. I looove family rooms. LOVE. them. It’s all about cozy and comfy for me and I so enjoyed looking through these spaces.

Let’s kick it off with KariAnne’s spectacular DIY chalk board made from an old window:

Isn’t that amazing? SO cool. And you’ll just die when you see what they did with extra panes from the window. Brilliant. Doing it. Someday.

I love the warm stone around Kelly’s fireplace, mixed with the bold striped drapes:

When I saw the close up shot of her mantel, I thought it was an inspiration shot from a magazine, no lie.

OK, I am drooling over Sita’s beautiful white molding wall in her family room:

Her pillows and fireplace and sofas and rug and lamps don’t hurt anything either. ;)

I’m digging the mid-century modern feel of Kelly’s family room:

I am drawn to this look for our basement – love it. All of the white accessories in the shelves make a beautiful statement too.

I think I’ve shown you Kelly’s (yes, that would be three Kelly’s this time. Kelly’s must just have pretty family rooms in general.) space before, but for some reason I don't remember this gorgeous console:

Oh my, that is just a fantastic piece. I love looking at her space – SO many cool touches in this room.

Kristen’s mantel full of candles shows the power of simple pieces in numbers:

Don’t you just want to curl up on one of those chairs with a throw in front of the fire? Kristen, we’ll be right over. ;)

I really loved all of the COLOR I saw all over the place, and I was especially swooning over Erin’s ottoman in her family room:

I LOVE that print. What a great statement – check out the whole space here!

As always it was hard for me to pick just a few rooms to highlight. I love this series and getting a chance to peek into your homes!!

Have a GREAT weekend and stay safe! See ya Monday!

Right Now

Right now I’m in knee-deep in holiday STUFF. Every year I swear I’m going to have everything perfectly planned and decorated and non-stressed by now and every year about this time I laugh manically at myself.

It just doesn’t happen. :)

And I’m OK with that.

Right now the basement looks like a Christmas bomb went off. Every year I say I’m going to keep it organized as I go:

And you know…then the crazy person laughing ensues.

I blame Halloween. You can see from the five foot wide spider legs sticking out in the back that once I don’t get that all away it turns into “Awwww, I’ll just do it all in January.”

Right now I’m wondering WHY FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD it is I can’t keep the kitchen island cleaned off:

I read once online that someone thought I staged these photos. It made me laugh.

It made my husband fall out of his chair. He wishes.

Right now I’m trying to get creative with our Happy Elf (named by the Bub) every day, but I’m failing miserably. Last night it looks like he had some fun though:

And all I can think of is this:

Love that movie. Did you know it’s coming out in 3D next year? SO. THERE.

Right now I’m struggling because I was up till 2:30 a.m. reading this:

It’s good. Obviously, so good I can’t GO TO BED.

This is why I don’t read books as much anymore, which I hate. The only time I have is late at night and then I get completely sucked in.

Right now I’m getting ready for a Christmas party with the girls tonight. I’m making these (ohhhh yeah) and I sent out the call on Twitter yesterday for a festive, bubbly drink idea.

Becky’s suggestion was the easiest (I already had one of the ingredients) so I went with that:

It’s a Poinsettia Cocktail and it’s cranberry juice, triple sec and champagne. It’s yummy! I just mixed everything together till it tasted right. I may know this because I may have sampled it last night. ;)

I had about 25 things on my list today and I’m feeling pretty awesome because I got four done. Like every year, it will all get done. All the presents will get wrapped, all the food will be yummy, and if I don’t get it all done, I’m totally OK with that. All that matters is we’re happy and healthy and together. Nothing else.

Are you sampling any festive drinks, reading any good books, watching any great movies or just trying to get your house under control right now? I’d love to hear!

Have a GREAT weekend!!