Bye bye ugly bathrooms!

     After moving into our home a few years ago, we gradually have made changes each year to some portion of the house.  Most have been a change of paper or paint.  But there have also been a couple of big projects.  The most recent addition was a bathroom remodel of the upstairs kids' bathrooms because they were seriously outdated, dark, and ugly.  And while the original owners who built this home did a great job downstairs, they clearly lost steam once they hit upstairs.  So that's where the fun begins.

Here is the boys' bathroom...make that paper go away!

Oy vey the tile!

This has all got to G-O because I am not feeling the prefab countertop thingy...

And my daughter's room

This was such a dark and depressing sad, sad little room.  Around here we like light and bright!

Clearly this cabinet has seen better days....

Bring on the demolition! 

There was absolutely no natural light in either of the bathrooms, so if you want light and bright you have got to find some natural light.  So knock out the brick and insert a little window...

I wanted to add an architectural element to my daughter's room, so I decided to put in an arch in her shower that would be covered with an amazing sea glass tile.  We also added in a wee little sky light to direct some natural light into the space...

So then I went shopping!  I am a firm believer in mixing bargains with high end, and so that is exactly what I did...although Big D would beg to differ, but who's asking him?

Like with the tile in the boys bathroom...what a deal!!

Then it was time to go shopping for the slab of white marble and I chose to go with Calcutta vs. Carrera

The cabinets in both bathrooms were a mess, so we decided to have them made.  And since my artistic drawing abilities extend only to stick people, I enlisted my daughter to draw up the cabinets that were in my head...and she did a pretty amazing job.

Here is the finished product in the boys' bathroom

Let there be light!!

This subway tile was another cheapy cheap find...

To make up for the not so cheap Walker Zanger tile that I used on the back splash all the way up the wall...faucet by Brizo

Light fixtures are Restoration Hardware, mirror is Pottery Barn

The cheapy cheap travertine looks pretty darn great!

We honed the marble in the boys' bathroom and polished it in my daughter's room...

Her bath is more traditional...

This cabinet is soooo much better!

There is the arch with the sea glass tile also by Walker Zanger

We also used a subway tile in here except I decide on one with a beveled edge
 also from Walker Zanger

Love this rug by Anthropology...

Penny tile in Carrera marble by Walker Zanger

Sink by Kohler

Faucet by Rohl...love the polished nickel!

And the cheapy cheap buy of the day in here is the mirror from Hobby Lobby!

It's going to be a good, good life...

     In a little over a week my not so little 6'4" niño will be a 2011 high school graduate, and I am so utterly ill prepared!

     There are so many things still to do besides cry big mama bear tears thinking about the whole thing, so instead of finishing the announcements, I thought I'd sit down and linger in my state of procrastination and share a few of the things that I thought might come in handy to all of you who are in the same boat.

For the party you might want to hang a few of these cute tissue poms from 

Sweet and Savvy Designs on Etsy...

or hang a reusable chalk board banner

from West Coast Chalker on Etsy...

or some cup cake toppers and graduation tags

from Little Pumpkin Papers on Etsy

or an entire do it yourself printable party.  This is pure genious!  It is 

from Frog Prince Paperie on Etsy

     As we all know these seniors are so over school and the only thing they are looking forward to about graduation besides leaving home

FO-EV-AH

...sorry, I'm having a mama bear tearing up moment.

     The only thing getting them remotely revved up right now is the graduation gifts being thrown at them right and left which they promptly wallow in gloating to their brothers and sisters 

"MINE...IT'S ALL MINE!".  

     This provides the perfect distraction from their sad, sad little mother who is curled up in a fetal position rocking back and forth while drinking copious amounts of alcohol and eating all the dark chocolate she can get her hands on.  

But I digress.

 If they don't already have one, they will of course want one of these...

But I am loving this restored piece of nostalgia from Joe Vintage on Etsy

And just so they look the part for college. or in case they happen to be an extra on the set of Mad Men...they will need a pair of these vintage 1950's glasses

 from Peace Love Eyeglasses

and then you can give them this brilliant card...

from Little Gray Owl

For the girls, they will need this perfectly perfect Frye messenger bag from Sundance

And for their room, who wouldn't want a giant letter in the dorm?

This one is from Hindsvik on Etsy..

And since they are going off to college this hilarious 6 pack holder for a bike might come in handy

from Walnut Studio

For a six pack of Root Beer of course!

Summer is just around the corner...

     May is officially kicking my butt.  Mama can not take much more of the crazy that May has brought me so instead of focusing on crazy May, and since I have nothing really to be complaining about because the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and I'm sippin on my fav cup of joe.  See I have a serious Starbucks problem, and they have yet to develop a 12-step situation to aid my obvious crack-like addiction...

So instead I will focus on potential vacation scenarios.  That's right, I said potential vacation scenarios.  Because I think about vacations the way I think about decorating someone's house that is not mine, that will never be mine and yet my noodle has already torn down walls and installed multiple sets of french doors that will create a more open floor space and flow of traffic for entertaining...I actually do this.  So why stop there?  My noodle for some reason does this with vacations as well.  You know picking the place, the hotel, what to wear at said hotel, bungalow, or villa...One of these days I will actually stay in a "villa" and then I can go prancing around in something fabulous worthy of a villa!

Like Pucci

Image via W

Except icksnay the ridiculous Captain Jack Sparrow boots please...that is going one step too far even for my imaginary vacation scenario.

And I will prance around in said Pucci in my villa on the Côte d'Azure glaring at the paparazzi through my Chanel sunglasses for their rudeness and lack of discretion, because I'm on holiday and they need to give me a break already...Oh and did I mention that I will have an English accent in the villa, prancing around in my pucci and chanel, whilst glaring at the paparazzi?  Well I will, because being "on holiday" sounds so much more fabulous than being "on vacation".  

C'est magnifique!

Then it's off to my yacht...where I will be wearing this...

Suit by Giuseppe Zanotti Design image via W

Because you simply can't go on a yacht without a pair of rhinestone studded heels and a captain's hat...it just isn't done people.

Here you will find me on the deck of the Princess Mariana a 257' luxury yacht where I will be having champagne soaked soirees with Beyonce and Jay Z...because that's the way Mama rolls...

Now you want to go too don't you!