Little Homestead In Boise : 3/1/14

Thanks To Mama Pea for the spring quilt from her giveaway! It's up on my bulletin board at work:)

The demo in progress

Bathroom Remodel Starts, Day 1-
Dave hit it hard today in the bathroom. We knew we wouldn't know what the water damage was on the floor until he got in there. Not too bad, because it hadn't spread underneath the wall into the adjacent small bathroom. He treated the mold, and it's drying out pretty fast with a small heater on. The decking is pretty intact, dry underneath. We have a makeshift shower set up, until the plumber can come and swap tubs. Then we'll install the shower, have the flooring done, and we'll install the rest. Here's the "before pics"-

We installed the medicine cab, sink and toilet. The rest was here 7 years ago. Cabinet and pitted tub is original, 25 years old? I painted the cabinet white and changed the knobs. It was a really DARK brown, ugh.

My beachy theme, I'll recycle those somewhere else, we added the lights too

Icky shower, not installed properly, didn't use the right material

More beachy

I'll keep the shelf, paint it maybe green or deep blue?

Our light fixture we will move over and keep

Possible wall colors, going with a cream or very light gray, neutral

First layer of vinyl off, wear respirator when working in mold!!!!

previous vinyl

Water damage by tub

Shower walls down and sheetrock down

Shower wall off, at least the vapor barrier held and it was nice and dry underneath!

Mold remover drying, heater on, fan on

my original turquoise, then I lightened it

Shower ready! Til the plumber comes :)

Anya got thirsty watching Dave work!

She discovered last week that the filtered water tastes best right form the tap :)

Thrifting & More Decor-
On a practical note, towels were calling my name yesterday! Our were getting pretty faded. I buy new ones every few years, and like heavier, quality made ones. They last much longer. Ross, the local outlet store, is always hit and miss. While I like white, forget it in hard water :( I've always loved a bright blue, it reminds me of the ocean. Since I couldn't find the apple green I was hoping for (at Ikea but too thin) I dropped by. Come to Mama! What a great deal, so I stocked up for both bathrooms.

I found some vintagey-looking, new green Ball Heritage canning jars today at Wallyworld (which I avoid), so I think I'll be doing a craft of 3 of them for a shelf in the bathroom. More green! I also found a cute white ceramic farmy looking liquid soap dispenser there. I got some green paint to (maybe) paint the tall bathroom door mirror green.

New solar exterior lantern for our shepherd's hook by our front door, like a silvery mason jar! Cute and works well. $15.00 at Home Depot.

Little ginger grater I got for a friend for a gift, so I got one too $6.00 on Amazon, it's a blow fish, and the glaze is eve prettier in person!

Also got this cute birdbath at Ross for our deck for $10.00. How cheery! Our main birdbath is in the back of the garden. After seeing our heated one on the deck all winter, I really wanted one there. It comes with a long spike you stick in the ground. Perfect! Or maybe my herb box?

I also got a "jewelry tree", that I saw somewhere else, dressed up for the winter holidays, Easter, etc. with little ornaments. I saw one last year at Cost Plus, $25.00, ouch. I got one at Ross for $8.00! I love the bird on top.

Here's the "before" picture of my kitchen window. The old pull up blind was 8 years old, and not washable. My new one is! I looked all over and found this white cotton twill (I think?) one at Ikea. $19.99, nice weight, heavier than I expected for the price. I had to hem it, but I'm sewing this weekend anyway. It's the perfect width, exactly. At WWorld I finally bought a cheap floor lamp, with a reading lamp. $10.00. It was so dark in the spare room, I couldn't sew very well. It was like the Sahara today, dang bright, alright! After I hemmed it I decided to use the extra fabric for ties. That way it's more adjustable. I don't like looking at my neighbor's messy deck. It's so much brighter now, love it!!!

More Decor- I need to sat away from Google images! I'm looking for some decorating ideas, on the cheap, including recycling some things I already have, of course. Since I was in Ikea recently it gave me some more ideas. Sadly the closest store is 7 hours away, but probably good for the budget! While I don't like all of the more modern stuff, I love their prices, and quality of their better items. I found this online, what a cute bedroom storage idea. It used 2 ladder shelves next to a bed. It's from Stockholm-vitt.blogspot I never would have though of using that there. Good use of space! I would probably knock one over slamming off my alarm clock daily :)

Ladder shelf from Ikea.com

From English Bathroom In Royal Inn Love the cabinet!

Fun Ikea display, love the greenhouses

A Little Inspiration 2-
We came back from our trip last night. The weather was dry most of the time, and we had an easy drive. We saw Dave's family, then went to Ikea yesterday. I found lots of inspiring things and design elements there! While I don't care for modern design, I really like the Scandinavian country type designs, like this kitchen-

from Modern Scandinavian Country Style Kitchen

We were really happy with the sink and cabinet we had wanted. I got a free "family card" last winter and we saved $50.00 on the combo. After looking at all the big box stores, and more, this was by fair a huge saving for us! $350. for the sink/cab combo, and it seems very well made. We checked all the big items before we bought them. It all easily fit in our Subaru wagon, with our travel gear. We also bought a medicine cabinet, as our will be too big (downsizing the counter). We got this one-

to go over this 39" cabinet, the counter and sink are nice, heavy ceramic, gorgeous!

I'll probably replace the knobs with something more fun, like these Worldmarket Knobs

Cute!

We bought this faucet, since we didn't like the finish on the other one, pretty cheap looking.

I got a new roll up blind for over the kitchen sink. Nice and heavy and washable. The current one is a fiber and filthy, so no washy. I looked everywhere, and this fit the bill. I'll just hem, and maybe add some decorative fabric in the middle. We have an icky view of the side of our neighbor's messy deck. I leave it 1/2 down, with a nice valance. No icky view!

Shower curtain on the bottom (Swedish folk artsy), cheese slicer, fruit garnish set, whisk, green runner

Then some edibles! A frozen chocolate almond tart (took the cooler), salmon spread, King's cheese, jams and fruit juice syrups. I find the fruit juice concentrate syrups very economical, just make what you need, by the glass. No waste, and no junk, just all juice. I LOVE Lingonberry juice :) Yummy!

Anya test driving the green bench for the bathroom, I'll get some paint to cover the screws

It's stained bamboo and much sturdier than it looks, $14.99

Got the color block apron $7.00, no frill for me!

A little solar light for evening in the kitchen, hidden in the flowers!

How To- Decorative Solar Night Lights-
I had been thinking about making up some homemade solar light for indoors. For emergency use, or just some ambient light. Most of the ones I had seen people make were just stuck in a small bucket of sand or rocks. Then I saw these- Solar Night Lights/Reading Emergency Lights Much more cute! SO I got to work. You can buy these kinds of solar light, with rechargeable batteries, almost anywhere, pretty cheap. I have some in my backyard from Walmart and Home Depot. I got 2 more today for $3.00 at Walgreen's. I may put these in something else but for now here they are!

First start off with your light-