Bathroom Peek (Still not finished)

This isn't the final unveil, we're still waiting on the mirror from Restoration Hardware, which should arrive at the end of February or the beginning of March. In the meantime, we're using an Ikea mirror that will move to the bedroom when the other arrives.

There are a few tweaks to be made (like lowering the towel hook) and we'll happily call it finished. Now I wish I'd taken before pictures, the room has been completely transformed!

Bathroom Bliss

Two of the mirrors I liked were from Ikea (top left and bottom right), the shield shape is from Umbra,

and the triptych is a clearance mirror from Restoration Hardware.

I'm still, miraculously, focused on the bathroom, determined to stay the course until all is finished. With full intention I'm repeating to myself that I will not let the minute details pass as acceptable. I'm not sure if that's a realistic expectation with a curious 3 year old as my supervisor, but we'll see. What's done, you say? The beadboard is up and painted, the walls are mostly painted (except for a couple problem areas, i.e. gaping medicine cabinet hole), the moulding over the beadboard needs caulking and a last coat of paint, a few pieces of baseboard need to be added and painted, doors and jambs need painting, and the oddly shaped door to the basement needs to be rehung so it's straight and closes properly. The P trap on the sink is missing a piece, but the sink is otherwise installed (as is the potty). Yep, yours truly installed the faucet!

With those things to-do, the end still seems quite distant, but I've been obsessing my days away over finishing touches for after all is painted and prettied up.

The sink and faucet were much less than I'd anticipated, so I splurged on a mirror from Restoration Hardware. It was on clearance and also on sale beyond that, and still came in at $123. It took a lot of consideration before I decided to splurge. (Um, yeah, I know a good mirror can cost way more than that, but I was *almost* as happy with a $50 Ikea mirror, so spending that much more was a big decision.) The mirror also meant my budget for the functional pieces of the bathroom was lower than I'd anticipated.

We need a towel bar, storage for toilet paper,  a step stool for the little ones (to climb onto the potty or up to the sink), a washable rug, and a trash can. Also, while not a need, I wanted some art for the walls and hand towels that aren't stained with paint or ridden with holes. While baskets are pretty for things like t.p. storage, I could only imagine the worst when it comes to potty training a boy and having any sort of porous material near the potty. Thankfully, I had an unused 2.5 gallon glass jar that will work like a charm and tuck unobtrusively to the side of the rear of the toilet. We already have a Treela waste can from Umbra that will fit right in. I also have Cougher, a silkscreen by Jeremy Taylor that has been in it's packaging since it arrived from Virginia. In my twisted sense of humor, it seems perfectly suited to hang by a sink.

Today I'll do the caulking, painting the trim and doors, and maybe get that P trap fixed. Tomorrow? Looks like the right day for a trip to Ikea!

There's no such thing as a simple project

On Friday, while Charlie was at work and I was home with the kiddo, I decided it was a good day to strip some wallpaper and repair the cracks in the walls of the downstairs bathroom. Seemed productive and reasonable enough.

Several hours into the mess, most of the wallpaper was down and I came across old house oddity # 3,995: the poorly patched spot where a medicine cabinet once hung. At this point the evolving dreams solidified, and I was well into plotting a full bathroom renovation. Since everyone dreams of coming home after work to discover plans of gutting and rebuilding a bathroom, I'd also whittled those plans down into the fewest, biggest impact tasks we could do in, oh say, a weekend. I don't know how I do it, but every "small project" I dream up seems to take less than 2 days to complete...in my mind. The reality that I should know by now? Very different, especially considering the old house oddities I mentioned before..

C came home and I gave him a "Look! It'll really be simple, here's all we have to do" pep talk and he was on board with the project. Our Friday night included visits to 2 hardware stores, a couple of purchases (including paint and a pedestal sink), and a few hours later a hungry little family ready to chow down on pizza.

There are a few things I've come to know about the Mr. in our several years of marriage and one of those things is that if I want to stay involved in a massive project I've just started, I have to firmly butt my way in, otherwise he'll take it and run with it while I keep the little one happily engaged for the weekend. 

So here's where we are: the wallpaper is stripped, the new floor is down, the beadboard has one coat of paint and is installed, except for one piece that needs some holes drilled for plumbing. The baseboard and moulding need to be installed and painted, as does the other trim work and the entry door. Plumbing needs to be hooked back up and the medicine cabinet spot needs insulation,  wallboard, and patching to be installed.

Then I can finish painting those walls I started on Friday.

Helping Hands: Drawn Together

In the past W&tS has offered wares as an incentive to support different needs: Owego, breast cancer research and support groups, aid to personal friends...Many things speak to us, and it's difficult to reach out and help all of them, but the recent school shooting in Sandy Hook cannot be overlooked.

While brainstorming ways to aid in the healing process. I kept going back to art therapy. I know my pregnant-mama limits, and I know Charlie has an ever-growing list of things (I'd like for him) to do around the house. We just have too much going on to spearhead something, so I put a little hook in the twitter waters and heard about Drawn Together.  Amber, the brains behind Damask Love and Drawn Together, is a pediatric psychologist, so she knows the ins and outs of the hapless victims of last week's violence. She has the knowledge, she has the plan, she needs the "stuff."

If you have some money to spare, might I suggest you donate some to help cover the increasing shipping costs for this project? Drawn Together has already collected enough supplies for about 200 creative kits for the kids to use as part of their healing through art therapy.

As an incentive: If you donate $20 or more, and send confirmation to nobiting at gmail dot com, I will send you an 8 1/2 x 11" print from the shop! If you have a print preference, please let me know and I'll try to get that one to you.

I don't have any experience in art therapy on a professional level (obviously) but I know how clarifying making art can be when you have time to put pen (or paint, pencil, etc.) to paper and let everything out. I can plainly see the joy on our little one's face when she gets to do the same. Providing such an outlet  during a difficult time seems like it would provide unlimited benefits for their future.

“One important aspect of art therapy is the creation of a safe space where traumatic feelings can be processed. Sometimes the verbal skill is lacking to describe traumatic experiences and by creating art, the person can feel more confident.”

— Breat, E.A., & Ostroff, R.

American Journal of Psychiatry 142: 417-424 (1985)

Since we learned the gender of baby #2, I've been a little nervous--well, a lot nervous. The anxiety is fading and turning into excitement, but I thought sharing my feelings would help me speed up the process, the transition of mindset.

When Bunny and Dolly asked me to write a guest post about pregnancy, I thought about a billion different ideas, but settled on the one that was most personal during this time around. Take a look and see what you think: Coming to terms with raising a boy.