From creepy motel chic to "Spa-tastic"

 So here it is- our icky bathroom (icky seems to be the "theme" word for this house, I really must get the thesaurus out)  Like the title suggests, it is decorated in creepy motel chic.  The walls were dirty white, there was old tile grout and tub grout pasted onto the tub it was due a makeover!

 Blech.

  "hmmmm I wonder why the previous owners left that mirror on the wall?"

 ahhhhhh!  that's why! wow.  There are good surprises and bad surprises, I'll let you guess which one this was for me. It is a wall heater.  Now, I am not an HVAC specialist, but doesn't heat rise?  so, shouldn't a heater be--oh, I don't know, not at eye level?  Unless you were prone to have a cold face or neck?  I'll tell you one thing.  When we sell it, the new owners will be thinking "hmmm, I wonder why the previous owners left this mirror here?"  

 (In case you were wondering....of course I turned it on! but it started to smoke as well as put out heat, so it was turned off really fast!)

 So pretty.  I love blue.  It is my new favorite color.  Now when the kids drive me nutso I might lock myself into the bathroom.....oh wait, but I can't do that because it no longer locks.  One of the kids locked it and closed it somehow and there was NO little keyhole!  what??!!  so after numerous attempts at trying to be Macgyver we instead turned to Mr. T for our inspiration!  Long story short- until we get a new door, there will be no bathroom privacy.  Good thing my kids seldom even close the door when they use the "facilities"

Gotta love those curved shower rods!

So, there is now a picture above the toilet and one to the right of the sink and I just bought one of those pull out mirrors from IKEA , because how can you live without seeing the back of your hair?

Does it get any better than this?

 Target was having a super summer clearance, and since we have trees, we HAD to buy a hammock!  Here is my handyman killing a tree....I mean hanging the hook.

 Comfy!  or as we here at Ivy Hill say "Compsy"

 What do you do when you have a zillion giant boxes???  you build a box fort/city!

 I didn't know the password....so was denied by the bouncer.

 I think that their little box compound had nearly as many square feet as our house!

Observing her handy work.

burn baby burn!

 Cause, what is that?  modern art meets bird bath?  anyway, it needed to go!

The wood was so old, the chain saw was having a rough time.  Yup, he is wearing swim goggles...we couldn't find the safety goggles!  

 Dave tried "attacking" it with a sawzall (did you know it was spelled that way??  I am not ashamed to say that I had no idea)

 That didn't work either.....gasoline worked the best of all :)

 This is a bad picture, but  the way the  stump burned it made a little oven of sorts.  It was perfect for roasting marshmallows!

Here is a better picture....delicious!

Just waiting on the counters!

 Taylor aka Atlas single handedly holding up the microwave!

 Adding the pulls in the wee hours of the night.

That is either a ghost or a dreamy shine on the oven

It's hard to believe it is the same kitchen!  I LOVE it!!  I am crossing my fingers that the counters will looks as good as we hope- it is so hard to make a decision based on those teensy tiny chips.

A sneak peak

 A little reminder of what it used to be

 This red wall was the one that we took out.

 Here comes the floor!!!!

 My attempt at an "oh so artsy" picture....I know I should totally be a famous photographer :)

 SO exciting!!!!  This is what I saw when we came home from swim lessons yesterday!

That's all you get for today!  

Thank you Armando!

 Here is a little reminder of what it looked like before.....

 Here is the man himself...it is a little blurry because that is how fast he was!  He never stopped moving!

 Here is his crew.  I loved that little guy- I don't think he is wearing it in this picture, but he showed up ready to work wearing his tool belt.

 ahhhhh we are getting there!  slowly but surely.

Skeletons in the closet

Nope, no skeletons in here- they would never fit! So here it is--our master closet not very exciting and absolutely NO place to actually, you know, put our things.  We have been spoiled the last few years with walk-ins and stored all sorts of schtuff in our last closet.  SO a better closet was in order.

 This little beauty was on Clearance at Lowes!  

 So handy that he is taller than me- I think I will keep him around!

So we now have nearly enough space for things.  We are going to put one more shelf in the center unit and we put one of the original long shelves back in the closet on the very top of everything and an IKEA shelf system (like that little guy in the first picture, but bigger) with pull out baskets/bins at the foot of our bed that gave us 8 more big drawers and that about did it.  Good thing I don't collect shoes or clothes.....maybe I can start doing that at the next house :)  Still need to figure out a door thing.  We are going to do crown moulding in our room, so I thought maybe to some sort of wooden valence with crown moulding around it and some totally lush curtains???  I don't really want to put in a header to fit a "regular" door because then we would loose all that tippy top storage.  Maybe I should install a big pull down classroom map or movie screen :) 

Maiden Voyage

The oven made it's maiden voyage this week.  It made such a satisfying "whoosh" sound as it turned on. It preheated in lightening speed all the while telling me how hot it was getting....awesome.  

 So I kinda thought that the first thing that I would cook in my new little gem would be a little more glamorous--but what do you do?  If it cooks in the microwave or oven we've eaten it in the last few weeks.  I have had more hotdogs that I even want to admit- although I will admit that I like hotdogs-with mustard and relish....yum, but I am getting tired of them.

 I have no idea how people can eat this kind of food all the time- it is SO expensive! and a little icky.  I think it will be awhile before I buy another "pre-made" food.

 Here is my pan!  yeah, would have worked a little better on an actual pan.  Some of the juice spilled off and I quickly grabbed a towel to wipe the pristine bottom of the oven.

 I have been so wrapped up in taking pictures of the things that we have been working on, I nearly forgot to take a picture of how we have been living.  Here is our dining room table.

 Our "counter"

Our pantry/cupboards. Nice and cozy.  So, we have been eating out a lot and yesterday was Taylor's birthday we usually have a "special" dinner at home, but obviously that is not an option at the moment!  He decided that the Golden Corral (buffet like chuck-a-rama) is where he wanted to go- which was fine since we had free coupons from the library.  Wow.  That is a whole institution in and of itself.  Dave saw a woman who ate an entire plate of rice krispie treats for her "appetizer".  The dude sitting by us had a mountain of brown foods- shrimp, eggrolls, fried chicken, hush puppies etc all fried foods all COVERED in cheese sauce!  Talk about experiencing America!  That was better people watching than all the state fairs I have been to combined!  

The kids also learned a valuable lesson- even though all the food-- especially desserts-- are there, doesn't mean you should eat them!  After not finishing her ice cream, Grace said..."I need to go for a run."  To which Taylor replied "I know, right?  Mom, can you drop us off at the end of our street so that we can run home?"  So you CAN have too much of a good thing and that too much can be found at the Golden Corral.....which seriously?? corral?  for a restaurant?  that is nearly as bad as naming your clothing store the "Dress BARN"