Our Bathroom Remodel

We have lived with an embarrassingly ugly bathroom for eleven years so it was overdue for a remodel. I disliked our old dusty rose shower tile and matching cast iron tub so much that I didn’t take many photos of it. However, I did post our bathroom when we re-tiled the floor in 2011. Liv gets a week off from school in October for “ski week” so we skied off to my Mom’s house while poor Antz was stuck at home without a bathroom for seven days. Luckily, he survived with the help of friends and family. After going through thousands of photos I somehow found one shot of our pink tub in action.

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Our kid loves bubble baths. We both laugh at how hideous our taste was when we first bought our house back in 2006. Orange and lime walls looks so juvenile but I thought I was rad with my Jonathan Adler Seven Sins bathroom set. I still have that shower curtain for some strange reason.

We attempted on our first DIY home remodel project when Liv was just under a year old, installing tile on the bathroom floor and painting the room grey. It only took about four days (two for work and two for drying) and I thought we did a pretty good job however, the pink tub and shower wall constantly annoyed me.

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Tiling Bathroom Floor (6)

Before and After

The new tile floor was an improvement, but the pink tile shower wall and tub stayed hidden by our shower curtain of shame. I originally planned to remodel our bathroom last October when we remodeled the living room but an unexpected new air conditioner system caused us to go over budget which meant we had to postpone it. By the time we were ready to start the bathroom job my friend Rene was no longer available. He’s so busy with other jobs I would have to wait until next year and I couldn’t wait any longer. It took awhile but I found a replacement contractor. The guy we found was reasonable and nice but he doesn’t compare to Rene. It was extremely stressful because I was away for a majority of the project and Antz was at work most of the day. The workers didn’t speak English and drove us crazy making little, sloppy mistakes. So unlike me but, I forgot to take a before picture the morning they started working but you see how it looked above.

After demo, we discovered that most of the wood in the walls was rotten and needed replacing. The demo took no time at all but one of the workers checked the floor and… surprise!

Wheee! Look at those lovely black holes. Turns out we aren’t the greatest contractors we thought we were. The shower was leaking water under the tile floor for years and the subfloor was rotten. As every house project, our unexpected expense showed up right on time. I was just looking at buying a glass door for the shower but new floors were priority. I was preparing myself for a huge estimate because my guy wouldn’t give me a price but after two days of holding my breath, it turned out to be much less than I thought. Whew! Antz bought affordable floor tile and the project added two more days for the floors to dry. The workers installed new floor joists, every 4 inches and now you can breakdance on the floor without falling through.

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I was so happy the walls were open so I could finally build a much needed shelf to hold our shampoo and stuff! It’s huge, I can fit my giant size bottles and no more falling bottles from the bathtub ledge.

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Buh Bye pink tub!!

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Hello new, straight floor! Shout out to Antz for choosing a classic style of tile that fits our 1923 house so well. One of my favorite elements of our bathroom is changing the paper in our medicine cabinet. This is a cute way to add color for less than ten bucks. I used this lovely wrapping paper from my friend Samantha Santana rad wallpaper shop. Her amazing home was just featured on Design Sponge.

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Those Jonathan Adler orange lacquer tumblers are still hanging around along with Antz CK One cologne. We decided to squeeze a new sink/vanity into our budget after seeing how beat up our old sink looked. Ikea had this Hemnes two drawer sink that fit in our small space and provided us more storage. I found these cute rabbit knobs on sale at Anthropologie.

We chose black for our walls to contrast all the white tile and trim. I am so happy to finally have a wall-mounted mirror to use in the shower. We previously had a mirror with suction cups from Target and it would fall in the middle of the night and scare the heck out of us! I stayed up until 1 am when I came home, putting everything away and editing our toiletries. It’s insane how much junk you amass in ten years! I threw away half full bottles of shampoo and only added the essentials.

I love our new shower tile so much it took me three days to put up the shower curtain. We took down the old toys on the shelf and added these quirky planters from Anthro. I need to go plant shopping soon. I also bought a new pretty toilet paper holder. I’m happy to have such a grown up bathroom to display my Unicorn poop spray!

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I ordered this flush mount light at the last minute when I saw how awful or our old light looked. It was $50 from Lowes and similar to the fancy ones over at Schoolhouse Electric. All these house projects has taught me how to make quick decisions and work with a limited budget. The finishing touch is a piece of artwork. I love art of Emily Winfield Martin but Antz is concerned about the print holding up to the moisture in the bathroom. So we are waiting to find something waterproof.

That first shower I took was pure heaven. We finally have a showerhead that we fit our tall asses under. I love our new bronze fixtures and the clean, white tub.

Here’s the finished Salle de Bain, everything including labor was a little over $4,000!

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I’ll add more photos when we get the art, or maybe a vintage shelf? Hmmm, see how great I am at making up my mind?!

À bientôt.

My DIY Midi skirt

I mentioned here all about my love affair with midi length skirts/dresses. You see, they are perfection for me, I am a giant. Someone of my stature can always use more length yet a maxi dress looks like I’m swimming in fabric *ie:a tent* Midi is in between your knees and your shins. Finally I won’t feel like I’m wearing a mini skirt all the time. So, I am doing my daily online window shopping and I stumble upon a midi skirt at ASOS.

Image 4 of Love Midi Skater Skirt

Everything fell into place, right fabric, right cut, right price *ASOS is always having a sale*, I put this guy right into my shopping cart. Then I looked in my closet and saw a sea of black skirts of various lengths *pencil skirt, maxi skirt, mini skirt…* We’re right around the corner from spring and I’m gonna buy another boring black skirt? I decided I needed something bright and cheery to add to my wardrobe. Ideally I’ve been wanting this lovely skirt for years but I haven’t found one in my price range *the one pictured was $200*

Stockholm Street Style
Image from Carolines Mode

I love this yellow Gorman skirt *yeah, I love how blindingly yellow it is*

gorman yellow skirt
Guess who’s out of stock? Bleh.

So I decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Why not use my dust-collecting Hello Kitty sewing machine to make my own skirt? I could custom tailor it and save major buckaroos at the same time. I enlisted my amazing seamstress Mommy-in-law to help me out.

Plenty of yellow fabrics to choose from
Two yards for ten bucks? Yes, please!
This was my first time using a pattern
Awww yeah, POCKETS ARE MY JAM!! *but very fucking hard to sew!*
Testing out my pleats

It was tricky and took all day but I had tons of help, thanks Mommy! Also, thanks to Gorman Australia for the inspiration of the design and color we used. I am so giddy that a skirt I was going to pay $169 for, we made with our own hands for $20!! You obviously got a peek of it yesterday, but here she is again.

R A D N E S S

I know I hated on roses last week but these guys matched my skirt so well and peonies aren’t in season yet

By the way, did you notice my lavender sliver of hair?

There’s no way I was gonna bleach my chemically straightened hair, so here’s my trick.
I wanted a silvery lavender color *definitely not grape* so I used Matrix SoColor 3VR
I bought white hair extensions, sewed some hair clips on the extensions and colored it myself.

I’ll take more photos of my hair this three-day weekend!

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2013: Looking Back

Days, weeks and years are really warp speed ever since Liv was born. It’s ridiculous how much fun we are having with this kid. Even her worst days are fantastic because she cuddles up to us and says “I’m sorry I was bad and says I love you Mommy and Daddy.

Feels like yesterday she was this small

When I hear that, I’m done. I love her so much I could die. I never knew love like this which makes me love so hard and appreciate every one else in my life so much more *Antz, My Mom, Maria, Debra, her Godparents: Aimee, Leslie & Stephen* They are so supportive of us and I feel forever indebted to my family for putting up with my annoying antics. Thank you for a terrific year guys!

*and now I’m in tears!*

Anyway…my point is, this has really been an awesome year. I didn’t get to blog as much as I would have liked due to ongoing technical issues but I would love being able to look back at the highlights of the year.

The best & raddest of 2013

I started off the new year with a list of non-resolutions

I was in full-steam ahead in kitchen planning mode

Liv went to her first birthday party of the year…

…which turned into going to a birthday party every single weekend for the entire year!

We took Liv to an open casting call for kid models at American Apparel.

Unfortunately, we didn’t hear any feedback but it was good experience

I had a delightful Valentine’s Day thanks to my lovely husband.

Almost three years later, I finally made a video of Olivia’s birth. *go ahead and click, there’s no gross parts*

Aimee & I dorked out on several occasions.

Our tribute to our dirty Uncle Terry

We celebrated our seven year house-anniversary and I gave an extensive tour of the house before we moved in.

Our living room the day we moved in
Our living room now

I dragged my engaged friend Jes to the wedding event, The Cream and we had a blast!   

I bitched, moaned and complained about our kitchen, A LOT!

I celebrated my 36th birthday in such an epic way, it was posted in one, two, three parts.

My new lovely friend Jihan
Her studio was fantastic
Jihan making the frill magic happen
My Geronimo birthday balloon
We partied at The Standard downtown LA
Antz beat me in a bed-jumping contest
My bestie came out to party
Rooftop photo shoot
Thank you Antz for making my birthday so much fun!!

Olivia booked her first modeling job with Misha Lulu at the beautiful Humphrey’s Estate

I met an amazing group of people.

The creator of Misha Lulu, Karen and her daughter/muse Bela are wonderful.
Here’s sweet Rubyellen of Cakies

After seven years of whining, I finally put my money where my mouth was and we began our kitchen renovation.

Our choice for wall paint and ceramic subway tile
It took ages to choose a wall paint color
Antz tried to remove the layers of paint himself, then we found the wonderful Rene
New copper plumbing happened *and a new fancy showerhead*
We got BRAND NEW floors!!

 I posted our kitchen remodel in one, two, three parts.

The kitchen before



 the kitchen during
This floor almost gave me a heart attack.
I still hug my dishwasher everyday
Our kitchen after
Our amazing contracter, Rene. I love our new lovely kitchen, what do you think?
For Mother’s day we took a crazy road trip to Salvation Mountain
A very weird but remarkable place
This child spazzed out over her Cinderella gown, she’s worn it everyday since

//player.vimeo.com/video/83003410 Olivia grows from sunkissis on Vimeo.

We celebrated Liv’s birthday at Disneyland.

Liv met her favorite Princess

Liv modeled for Geronimo Balloons!!

I saw my incredible Björk at the Hollywood Bowl!!

Our friends Tom & Jes got married *on our same beach in Malibu!*

Antz & I celebrated our eleventh year of marriage at the first annual Diner en Blanc in Beverly Hills with friends.

//player.vimeo.com/video/72957003 Diner en Blanc from sunkissis on Vimeo.

I did a thirty-day photo challenge.

I blogged my thousandth post!

Liv started her second year of preschool.

Liv also started a new ballet school and hip hop class!

Anna Maria is an amazing teacher and Liv loves going to dance class

My BFF Aimee got her dream car *it’s really super cute* Allegra!

She got the most beautiful tattoos with Liv’s name and my initials *I’m so touched and honored* I love you bestie!!

Liv and I were a part of the 100 portrait project by Marcello Ambritz.

My Mom made her big screen debut in the documentary Sample This. I’m so proud of her!

 Liv started soccer class. She’s a natural!

Our little kitchen was featured on The Kitchn!

I changed my blog’s blogspot address!

Grammy Bobbye taught drum class for Liv’s class

Liv vamped out for Halloween.

She really got into character, she loves being a vampire!

We went Trick or treating on spooky Carroll Avenue

The house where Thriller was filmed
We didn’t get murdered by the scariest Micheal Myers dude ever!

Liv made two major discoveries this year, Pippi Longstocking *she loves the 1970’s movies* my favorite as a kid!

This rad costume was a gift from my friend Aura and she borrowed her Dad’s shoes.

…and Michael Jackson. Thriller is seriously her jam!! *We are very proud of her awesome taste* The house on Carroll Avenue sparked her obsession with Thriller. She loves to watch the full-length video and she wants to be the werewolf “Michael” for Halloween next year. She’s totally not afraid and she says it’s just makeup Mommy.

I got a new car.

My Bestie is moving into my neighborhood!!! YAY!!

I co-hosted a RAD baby shower for my good friends Story & Chris *and made the best cheese platter and spa water ever*

We met Tunameltsmyheart and he really did!!

We went to Liv’s school Winter Solstice.



We took silly holiday photos at Poketo.

 GSyFQr on Make A Gif, Animated Gifs

We spent Christmas at the Palms Place in Vegas.

05eJC7 on Make A Gif, Animated Gifs

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 Santa paid Olivia a visit.

I had a pretty fabulous year. The highlight of it would be this lady here.

Always laughing, eating her fingerberries

 And lastly, here’s a video of my favorite Instagram photos of 2013.

Thank you for stopping by Violently Happy. I wish you all a very stellar & Happy 2014!

P.S. I start my new ecourses in January! I’m hoping to post about my 2014 goals in a fancy way.

The little kitchen that could!

Good morning lovelies!

It feels like an eternity since I’ve blogged but I am back and with exciting news to share! Our sweet little cucina made her debut on theKitchn this morning. I can’t help but cringe at our before photos, yet it’s funny how so in love I was with that awful orangish/yellow kitchen when we first bought our house seven years ago. I really, really love my new kitchen.

 
That fabric swatch we picked up at the Ban.do garage sale has really functioned well for us! A steal at $7!    
I’m normally not a huge fan of blue but I love how the colors pop in such a neutral palette.

It would be rad if you head over the theKitchn and leave a comment on what you think.

Enough about our kitchen, I finally have some photos I salvaged from my Instagram since I still can’t upload any to my laptop *so lame!* Last weekend we went to Liv’s good friend Jianna’s 5th birthday party at an indoor party place called Scooter’s Jungle. It was super fun, the adults were playing just as hard as the kiddos. Here are a video of us being dorks on my Instagram, Super slide.

Ready to party!
Antz and his whimsical wrapping
Making silly faces with the birthday girl in the mirror
Please note the huge NO RUNNING sign!
Princess posing, Liv shows you how it’s done.
Eagerly waiting to go inside
We kicked each other’s butt in table tennis
Cayce, Chayanne and Ann-Marissa *this was the least blurry I got*
I bounced so hard the kids were hitting the ceiling!
 
 
 
Liv on the zipline cracks me up!
 
Group shot
Happy Happy Birthday Jianna!
 
Thanks Nicole & James for the wicked fun party

Ready for the best face ever?!!

My kid is super rad!

Thursday Liv’s class had a pumpkin carving party at school. I baked spookie cookies for the potluck.

 
What would any typical three year girl want to carve in her pumpkin? A vampire of course!
 
She kept calling the pumpkin guts gross, that’s my kid!
Liv’s most awesome teacher, Miss Maricris
 
Liv’s BFF Liam and his Mommy.
Scary Vampire!
Mwah ah hah!
 

 Have a lovely day!

 

Lizzie

 
 
 
 

Our Kitchen Remodel Part Three The Grand Reveal

We began our remodel April 8th and finished this Monday, May 13th. We learned a lot, spent a little more than our original budget but made it through the remodel with relative ease *only a few tears were shed* I searched for ages to find my metal stools. I couldn’t afford these stools from Industry West *which is in Florida and would have cost an additional $70 in shipping* I was lucky to find a set of two at Overstock for half of what the other stools sold for, YAY! I also saved money on curtains by reusing the fabric I bought at the Ban.do yard sale.

We are in love with our kitchen. It went from being our least favorite to our absolute favorite room in our house. I am so happy we did it for us. I wasn’t really thinking about resale value or designing it for a future owner. We poured our hearts into this room and I think it shows. I can’t help but smile when I walk in the kitchen. You can watch a full slideshow on my flickr.

I scrubbed every inch of the stove
New laundry nook curtains
I love our faucet!
Eventually I plan on new curtains over the fridge
I love our new pinboard, keeps the clutter off our fridge doors

I’m so glad I returned the Ikea faucet, this guy is rad!
Before we had to get on the floor and dig in the back of the cabinet to find our pots, now this carousel makes it easy to stay organized.
Even our old upper cabinets look great!
hello blue lovely interior cabinets!
Remember I told you Anthropologie was having a sale? Here’s my new pretty dishes!
I am still on the search for the garcon plate *update, I found it in San Diego, it’s being shipped this week!*
Bonjour
Olivia’s new apron
My stools are so gorge! I may order two more.
I love my new faucet and the water pressure!!
Even the inside of the fridge got a makeover

Here’s the source list for the kitchen.

Contractor: The amazing Rene Cardona

Copper Plumbing: Rene Cardona
Floors: We got brand new floors from our amazing contractor!!
Electrician: Leonardo *Borrowed from our neighbors*
Cabinets: Ikea Akurum/Lidingo Base cabinets, Interior Fittings – Rationell Corner base cabinet carousel
Countertops: Ikea Numerar 1 1/2″ beech butcher block countertops *use wood conditioner to keep them moist*
Sink: Ikea DOMSJÖ single Sink bowl with strainer
Faucet: Overstock.com Concord Modern Oil Rubbed Bronze Spiral Pull-down Kitchen Faucet
Dishwasher: Ikea Intergrated Renlig Dishwasher
Stove/Microwave: Already Owned GE
Refrigerator: Already Owned Samsung
Backsplash: Home Depot Datile Subway Tile Panels *only needed 2 boxes*
Island: Ikea Groland Kitchen Island *Industrial castors from Home Depot*
Paint Colors: Glidden/Martha Stewart Whetstone Grey and Pure White
Knobs and Pulls: Pottery Barn Classic Hardware
Light Fixture: Pottery Barn Pendant Kit, Bronze finish + Bell Shaped Shade, White / Teardrop Filament Bulb, 60 Watt
Rug: West Elm Gradated Stripe Cotton Dhurrie – Half Moon 2 x 3 Rug
Stools: Overstock.com Tabouret 24-inch Lemon Bar Stools
Affirmation Banner: Etsy Secret Holiday & Co
Vintage Letters: Nordstrom
Accessories: Anthropologie, Etsy, West Elm & Target
Curtains: Fabric purchased at a garage sale and Anthropologie dish towels

Liv told me “I like your kitchen Mom, it’s bweautiful!

Thanks to all my readers for allowing me to go on endlessly about
kitchens for the past few months. Our next project is our backyard.

Our Kitchen Remodel Part Two

Here’s where it gets real. I was terribly stressed out over the Ikea delivery which weirdly was scheduled for a Sunday. The ape who called me to confirm our appt. put that unneeded drama in my head by telling me we will have 3 boxes that weighted 800lbs. Umm, okay Ikea is famous for their efficient packaging but a dishwasher, a sink, cabinets, countertops and a faucet condensed into 3 boxes sounds crazy, right? Plus our living room already looked like this.

Oh man, nothing makes you feel more of a Hoarder of junk than emptying out your cabinets.

Also the crew was moving all our appliances in the living room while they worked on the floors so we were running out of space. Antz and I thought we had two options, take everything out of the boxes and store them in the garage until our cabinet installation or put them on our deck and stand guard for 5 days so no one would steal them.

Turns out when the delivery guys showed up, they had more than three boxes and the heaviest box was the dishwasher. Nowhere near the 800lbs the guy on the phone told me.

These guys ran the boxes up and down our stairs like they were carrying feathers, I don’t know how they do it!

So crisis averted {LESSON LEARNED} Don’t spazz out unless you have to. I was being overly neurotic and sensitive. Most of the time things works out so being worried isn’t productive. Besides, the floors were stressful enough.

The floors!! Rene gave us such an incredible deal on all the other stuff we needed to get done that we were able to splurge on having our floors professionally refinished. It made sense to spend the money because A. we would have spent time and money just to ruin the floors ourselves, since we learned from a previous lesson, know when to hire a professional and B. with our Ikea new cabinets and all the work being done in the kitchen, why leave the floors looking crappy?

Then I got a call from Rene {LESSON LEARNED} When you get a call from your contractor, it’s usually bad news. He told us our 90 year old floors were done. There was no way he could refinish them in their condition. He then pushed the dark clouds away and brought in the sunshine and told us he would install brand new hardwood floors for the same price as the refinish job. Rene can in fact make miracles happen!

Our floors before *real horrorshow*
These guys were fast, they installed the floors in 6 hours
They smelled so nice too!

The new floors did push our schedule back a week. We had to allow the wood to settle so we got to live with unfinished floors for some time. During that time we finally chose a wall color.

I wanted pure white walls for a cleaner look

Antz was right, we needed some contrast from the white trim so I love the Whetstone Grey color he chose. I am so happy Rene fixed our bumpy old plaster walls. Now they are as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

We got a fresh coat of chalkboard paint too

I almost started falling in love with the idea of light floors *blame Pinterest*

Antz talked me out of keeping the floors light. So Friday morning the guys came back to stain the floors. I couldn’t peek through the doorway like usual since they had to seal the room, so I could only look through the windows from the back door.

Then I almost shit my pants when I saw this!

Now to their credit, we never really specified the shade of the floors with the floor guys, only Rene. I was adamant about them being dark but this looked too dark to me. The camera lighting isn’t showing it but all I saw BLAAAACK. I, of course begin to have a panic attack, texted Antz frantically, then called Aimee and began to cry. My beautiful new floors have been ruined. I was inconsolable. The guys working didn’t speak much English so while I’m showing them this photo on my phone and trying to communicate in Spanglish, all I could get across was “TOO DARK!” The guy was like, this is what you said you wanted, this is Ebony. No way, I do not like Ebony and I want them lighter right pronto! Finally Antz came home from work to calm me down and he told the guy we wanted more brown and a more warmer tone. I was ready to have them rip out the floors and start from scratch but the guys were giving me the side eye. He somehow got a light bulb over his head after talking to Rene on the phone and did this.

They were a little sloppy on my baseboards but they repainted them

YAY!! Holy cow, my heart left my throat and I finally chilled the fart out.

Shiny Happy People holding hands!!

{LESSON LEARNED} Know when to micromanage. I left the floors guys alone too long and it almost bit me in the ass. If I didn’t see the floors when I did we would have had the wrong color floors and not been happy with them. I wish the floor guys would have let me know they were ready to stain and showed me the color first, but it’s up to me to watch them more closely.

So after waiting 3 days my floors were dry and just perfect.

I am so happy we went dark. They really look rad. Now was finally time for the cabinet installation. We planned to use the company Ikea works with *Signature something-or-other* who came out for a quote. Ikea has a pricing guideline but when installing countertops they needed to see the space in person to give us a more detailed quote. I was visiting my Mom with Liv when the company came out for the quote but they guy was sure it would be close to our budget. Then I got an email which immediately gave me a stomachache. Double of what I planned to spend and they were charging us tax to install cabinets!! No freaking way! I went to Yelp and started looking for cabinet installers. That’s when I saw the Ikea installation company’s reviews. Not good, all one stars and everyone had a negative complaint about the poor work and the price gouge. I found a company with great reviews that gave me an over the phone estimate that was within my budget. {LESSON LEARNED} Do your research. I could have gone with the Ikea recommended company but I looked around and found someone much better on my own. Mike was fabulous. He built and installed everything beautifully, quickly and even built my island for me.

I still tipped them even though they rocked out to Bon Jovi while they worked *and it wasn’t Living on a Prayer either*
This was the only configuration we could come up to fit the tight space after weeks of planning at Ikea and I love how it turned out!
I had to get a single bowl sink instead of the double but it’s stellar
hello, love of my life!!

Can you believe this is my kitchen? I love it so much!!

Note to Ikea; make your island/carts come with optional casters. We had to buy ours from Home Depot and ask Rene to install them.

The finishing touches are coming soon. I’ll include a source list of all our goodies in the finale post. HAPPY HAPPY!!

Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

Today was epic. I am pleased to announce our cabinets have been installed in our new kitchen. I wish I could share the photos but please hold your horses until the grand reveal *we’re looking at next Thursday*
 

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So far this process has been relatively stress-free. We did go over budget a tad, but we also saved money unexpectedly. Now, by all means, I did have my share of stressing out, for instance, the floor guys almost made me cry but I’m happy with the end result and I spazzed out more than necessary.

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Sorry for all the Ron Burgundy memes but I love that guy *and I’m looking forward to the sequel*

I’ve got to head to Home Depot and Ikea now. I’m looking forward to Mum’s day this weekend and finally having a functioning kitchen next week. YAY!!!

You stay classy San Diego!

I’m gonna miss my floors

Boo, yesterday was my last night with my beautiful unfinished kitchen floors. This morning they will be sanded and stained a darker color. Just how dark we’ll go, we’re not sure yet. Antz has a strong opinion and he’s an artist so I’ll go with what he says. He already knew best when choosing our wall paint *We finally picked a darn color after weeks of deliberating* Is there such a thing as loving floors too much?

I have spent more time on the floor in the last week than I have in seven years.
I almost slept in the kitchen last night, but it was too hot!

It’s gonna be about 4 days until we can walk on the floors while they dry, so I had to reschedule the cabinet installation. So that is pushing our project up another week. *we’re looking at a six weeks timeline now*

The good news is rad Rene hooked up our washer and dryer yesterday and now we can do laundry in 18 minutes! You may be used to such luxuries but for seven years we have been dealing with a washing machine that takes hours to fill up. I’ve already done 4 loads of clothes in the past 2 hours. *STELLAR!* Now if only they can create a machine that folds and puts the clothes away. I used some good ole elbow grease and some bleach to spiff up the old set to sparkle like new.

Don’t mind that old vent, we got a new one properly vented and secured

Yesterday was my BFF date day. We finally reunited with our other bestie after a whole month, la Tarjey! Aimee and I stocked up on tons of lipchap *Mint Eos is my fave* I was giddy to find 3 new books that I had on my wishlist to add to our library.

1. Fifty Shades of Chicken *just when you thought it was over* 2. Pantone Colors *for Liv but really for Mom* 3. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls *by my man David Sedaris*

So may I geek out over my friend’s beautiful wedding invites for a moment?

Their personalized stamps, and return address are lovely!
I love the wax seal
Loving their color palette! So glad I dragged Jess to the Cream to help her find some wedding inspiration.

I looooooooove weddings!! Happy Friday!!

friday_meme_coupontrade_2

 

 

Our new kitchen floors!

Beautiful is an understatement. The crew was here at 8 am this morning and by 2pm, we had brand new kitchen floors. The house is full of the sweet smell of fresh wood and I’m finding it surreal walking into our kitchen without the familiar sounds of old floorboards creaking.

The floors looked like this on Friday

 

 All done!!

 

They are so pretty I want to breakdance on them!
Liv says “Mom, I like your new floors!”
Antz and I are even contemplating leaving them this natural color. Rene *our rad contractor* said it would be harder to maintain and we already chose a dark stain. I do want a distressed finish, so we may take a hammer to them. We’ll see.
These are our old *literally 90 years* drain pipes
This little hole is not where you will find Alice and the white rabbit but this…
The new drain pipes that no longer back up in the bathtub when we do laundry and allows us to flush the toilet, do laundry and turn on all the sinks at once without any change in pressure!!

Sadly, this will most likely be the last update I share until the kitchen is finished. I want it to be a grand reveal and I am terrible at keeping secrets. I may leak a few photos on my Instagram.

This is how I’m feeling at the moment!

Oh, this man’s voice gives me shivers!!

Just a few hiccups

I am starting to believe there is no such thing as an easy peasy remodel. I am totally happy with the work, the mere speed and the compromise of our contractor, Rene. However, we have to pay an additional $400 for the wall patching/painting. To be fair, our walls feel like they have braille written on them and are as crooked as a dog’s hind leg so it’s a big job to make them appear straight.

Doesn’t it seem that most kitchens have a pastel wall color?
Smooth as butter!

Guess who still hasn’t chosen a wall color? This girl! We are going to look at a new store because I’ve exhausted every single color choice Home Depot sells. In the long run, $400 is a bargain for painting the walls *since it would take us a week and look like shit and only take them a few days* but that $400 has to come from somewhere. So it happens to be my fucking metal stools and new curtains budget!! I’m optimistic about it though, we are selling Liv’s stroller and once we do, I’ll have my $400 back for my stools and fabric for making new curtains. Yesterday I had to buy house paint since they had to cut through the wood siding to access the bathroom pipes. Yay! Another $73 on stupid paint.

Pretty incredible before and after

Today the guys are working on our fence. Tomorrow, they are installing our new hardwood floors. Somebody buy our rad stroller so I can buy my stools!!!

Our Craigslist ad

I was planning to have a much needed date night and go see Room 237 tonight with my sweetums but after playing at the Laemmele *aka the old folks movie theater* for weeks, it’s no longer playing. Boo! Maybe we’ll just go to dinner, I’ve been wanting steak and I could use a drink!

Happy Friday!!

Enjoy some Goopy rapping courtesy of My Man Michael K!