Hats

The girl loves hats. She points out any person or book character wearing one, and I'm pretty sure she thinks she has to be wearing her stocking hat in order to even step foot outside the house. Our conversations always go something like:

Me: "You ready? Let's go! We're going to go for a ride in the car, okay?"

A: "Okay. (pause) Hat?"

Yesterday morning she found my hat collection in the closet, and when I lifted her up to inspect them, she chose this fedora. She ran around the bathroom in it for a solid 30 minutes, pausing every other step to look at it in the mirror.

Cuteness x infinity.

Lights and crayons

It's been a busy and productive week, but not one that shows well in photos. Little things like caulking, patching, and sanding trim, getting the final coats of paint on the balcony doors, and applying and sanding the bajillion coats of poly on the vanities.

One accomplishment that we *can* see: light fixtures!

N installed both vanity fixtures, the fixture in the shower area of the girls' bath, the hallway fixture, and two basic flush mounts in the attic closet.

Let there be light! And, most importantly, no-longer-tarnished-gold-eighties-style lights.

In other news, Miss A has been big into coloring this week, and a few pieces of furniture, some of her toys, and the guest sheets have suffered because of it.

Crayon dance!

Crayon concentration.

Countertop and sink install is scheduled for Tuesday. Handyman will be here Weds or Thurs to install the sink and bath faucets and set the toilets. We should have functioning baths by the end of the week! Not sure we will know what to do with ourselves. :)

Happy weekend. Xoxo.

V'tines

Mama got all geeky this morning and busted out some pink pancakes.

Miss A poked them a few times

and didn't seem as enthused as her mama, but she ate them...and then quickly demanded to get down so she could go "cudder" with her crayons. Maybe she'll think they are a bit more fun next year. :)

Happy Valentine's Day! Xoxoxo.

Lately

No major changes to report yet this week. The carpet is 100% gone from upstairs, which oddly makes it seem so much cleaner up there.

It's been cold cold cold the past few days, so we have been entertaining ourselves at home. Making blanket forts has become a favorite. And by forts I really mean just big piles of pillows and blankets. Once A abandons them, J quickly and happily takes over.

With a lot of her toys packed away, the easel she received for Christmas and a few decks of playing cards have seen a lot of action.

I also just realized that she has worn the same clothes two days in a row now. Not leaving the house = lazy clothing selections.

This morning, after some goofiness,

we inspected the upstairs. Something she can do now that a lot of the tools are cleaned up and exposed tack strips removed.

(That's the bathroom mirror leaning against the wall. Another little project still outstanding. Not surprisingly, N has plans to add chunky trim to it to turn it into something more substantial than a builder's grade mirror.)

Somebuddy seems to have a kind of depth perception issue with the lack of carpet, and refuses to step foot onto the plywood. When we're up there, she stands at the top carpeted stair step, leans to see us, and whines. See her?

A quick visit to the toy store this afternoon,

where she found a toy that...looks exactly like mama's phone. Ha. Figures. Pointing out every Disney character she was familiar with also kept her busy.

Not much else to update. Spackling and sanding of the trim nail holes continues. We've been a bit lazy with that. N is upstairs at the moment installing a few of the light fixtures. Besides the ceiling fans, it was getting a little annoying having to drag the big work light around if we wanted to work on something in the evenings. Also, more fixtures installed = less boxes in my dining room. Huzzah.

T.I.L.E TILE

The guest bath Before:

During, with the shower tile installed (still sporting its spacers and no grout) and fresh cement board on the floors:

And After:

We added two corner shelves to each shower using floor tile. Incredibly pleased with how they turned out.

(Ignore that snaking showerhead placeholder.)

Beautimus!

The girls' bath Before:

During:

And After:

I couldn't get any closer to the shower in there because we can't yet walk on the tile.

Even in the During photos, with no grout in the showers and just cement board on the floors, we thought it looked stunning. It feels so good to see the tile installed. Not just from a materials standpoint, but from a project and emotional standpoint too. What a difference a weekend can make. The speed at which one change, albeit a large one, can reassure you that a project is on its way towards completion and boost your confidence, is awesome.

It's also so relieving when you like the way something you chose from a sample looks in real life when installed en mass. Especially when you changed your mind ten times on your selections. :) The shower tile is a 4x12 glossy white porcelain, floor is a 12x24 tile that kind of looks like marble but is just a porcelain! We had both laid in a basic brick pattern, with the floor going the "short" way across the baths. Our tile expert extraordinaire cousin said it's best to see the brick pattern straight on when you're standing in the doorway. Plus, it helps make the room look a little wider. Bonus.

N worked today on tearing up all the carpet once and for all. Not a fun job, but compared to the thinking and calculating required when installing trim, it's a mindless task. Pulling all the staples and freeing all of the tack strips and sweeping up the glue remnants are his favorite parts. #not

(Dusty crib alert. Time to change the sheets again.)

30 years ago, someone seemed to have a paint-tastrophe with the white foyer paint. :)

It's actually enjoyable to walk up there on the plain plywood. After 30 years of wear and now 2+ months of construction, the carpet was beyond gross. Think how much dust it was probably holding! Actually, don't. Yuck.

Making progress! Next up: spackling the bajillion nail holes in the trim, sanding them, and giving them their final coat of paint. Then we can schedule the carpet install. Beyond that it's tiny details...light fixtures and switches and yada yada. Sooo close. So so so so close.