for instance

It’s been, oh, five years or so since I’ve done the whole drinking while nursing thing, and I need answers. I can’t have a drunk Lucia. Brett and I are going out of town for a wedding this Saturday. I’m so stinking excited to get out of the house and be with my husband. Just my husband AND me. I plan to have drinks, and possibly several. How to I orchestrate this with my pumping schedule?

It literally ended up taking all of spring (mid-March), and most of the summer (mid-August) to complete our downstairs bathroom. Here are the before and after shots. I would love to take you all step by step, but I lost count on step 2,697.

Our bathroom started out like this:

It’s embarrassing, isn’t it? I found myself apologizing before guests even mentioned having to go to the bathroom. This, and the exterior paint were almost deal breakers when house hunting, as both required lots of work…and lots of money.

But with time…

and breaking down walls, and rearranging pipes…

…we completed our second biggest house project.

Eventually.

I will advise, for a small space go light and minimal. As my husband and I both like color, we began this journey seeking out colorful glass tile for the floors and walls (after all, we were starting from scratch-the sky is the limit), but then we realized this space is too small and we needed to make an effortless statement. With this in mind, we boldly went white. I wanted the tile to be modern but timeless, as our house is not a young broad (she celebrated her 109th birthday this year), but she’s totally hip for her age. Brett sways toward a bachelor pad motif, and I’m more of a vintage girl, so we compromised. He got his over priced glass shower backdrop, and I got my subway tile. He also go his glass wall sans door. Well, he almost did until we found out the contemporary look was not practical, so now we will be adding a glass door to shield the water, because the 90 degree pipe connecting the shower faucet was just not enough to “seal the deal.”

We opened up the space by taking out the tub (why in the hell was there a tub in the downstairs bathroom?), and moving the toilet next to the sink. I was okay with the idea of converting the bathroom to a half bath, but Brett desperately wanted a shower. It was difficult finding a toilet small enough, yet mighty enough. Even more difficult finding a sink to fit the space. We lucked out and found a simple, chocolate brown sink on sale at Home Depot, relieving us of some of the tile cost. We faced many struggles. Many. So many that I may never (EVER) allow family to help with major house projects again.  Brett learned a lot, however, (and I honed my supervising skills). In the grand scheme of things, sometimes cutting costs just doesn’t cover one’s mental health.