Half Bath Remodel and New Year's Musings

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It's been awhile hasn't it? Life has been a bit crazy as I am now working full time again. Now, you would think that having two young adult sons in college and a 17 year old in college that life would be simpler and easier. Not. so. much. Yeah, that is exactly what I expected as we started this school year and boy was I surprised! I am not sure how life keeps getting busier but it sure does.

But despite the business of everyday life, I have still been working on projects in our home. Just takes me twice as long as it used to!

I recently finished a slight upgrade to our 1/2 bath that was totally not part of my plan or even on the radar. Does that ever happen to you? Seriously we are in the middle of a HUGE basement remodel and one day I decide to start tearing up the bathroom. Don't ask! The good news? I started and finished the project before the basement was completed. I hope you enjoy the remodel.

Let's start with the ceiling. I used Evertrue pine planking, stained with a watered down brown paint to give the ceiling some character.

New vanity with granite top, new towel bar and toilet paper holder.

Added a mosaic tile chair rail around the walls and trimmed out, top and bottom, with chair rail trim.

Used picture frame molding to add character to the wainscoting. This was the hardest part of the whole project! Each wall measures slightly different and the are bowed as well. Very frustrating to get the boxes straight.

Used the same paint color as what I used in the basement stairway. It looks almost a dark, dark grey most of the time but has a definite purple tone. Love the color!

A bad picture of the new vanity. Could not get a good picture because of how small the bathroom is.

Found this beauty at a salvage store that I thought could be used for the mirror. Turns out that didn't work but I just loved the frame so much I hung it up for wall art.

The bathroom is small enough that it is impossible to get a picture of the whole bathroom but I hope these pictures show enough that you can get a good idea of the change. To see older versions of the bathroom, go here.

Linking up this week to:
Amaze Me Monday
Top Projects of 2015 Party

Ahhh, the taste of Fall

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So, yeah by the title you might be led to believe that this post is about fall food, right? Nope. It is about the gloriousness of the fall season. Can't you just feel it and taste it? When they say that fall is in the air, there is just something about it.  I. totally. love. it.

Simple baskets with pumpkins and gourds is my preferred fall style.

But, despite my love of fall I really don't pull out all the stops to decorate for it. In fact, I am just coming indoors (so to speak) from spending the summer outside enjoying our pool and gardening. Oh and vacations! So I am just not ready to spend a ton of time decorating but I do like to have touches of fall in my house.

I love osage oranges, don't you! They are cheap and smell great.

But back to the cooking. Fall makes me want to cook. There I said it!
Seriously don't tell anyone though. Fall is a busy time in our household, mostly with outdoor work. Lots of leaves, winterizing the lawn, closing the pool, pulling all my garden decor and storing it. You know the drill. Between that and the trips to the apple orchard, making apple sauce, I don't have time to spend it decorating inside when I can be outside.

Simple switch from the plate that normally hangs here and adding the fall leaf art contributes to the overall fall appeal.

Baskets of fall flowers in simple crates is my look.

Love the simple, rustic look.

So yeah, I still love decorating but I love fall more and I cherish the time enjoying the beautiful outdoors. Besides God is a much better decorator than I could ever be!

Enjoy your fall, Christmas is coming!

And More Garden Tours...

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Can you ever see too many beautiful gardens? I say no. After all, in Michigan, we are lucky to get 4-5 good months of gardening so I say enjoy them while you can!

The first house we went to on the garden tour had a beautiful waterfall landscaped backyard, with a big patio, a 60" screen tv and a sectional couch. To. die. for. That is until I saw his sign and realized he was a professional landscaper that owned his own business. Then I felt much better.

Had to catch this butterfly!

Great use of sculpture in this garden!

Loved, loved, loved this pool. Waterfall into the end of the pool a small log cabin to change clothes in and use the bathroom, or just hang out. Very sweet!

I don't usually go in for the cutesy type stuff but I seriously thought this was a great drain for eavestroughing.

Very cool sculpture from cut tree stumps. Great way to use them!

I love anything unique and this totally caught my eye. Great way to use rocks! Now I'm not sure exactly how they did it but from what we could tell, they drilled a hole up the center of the rocks and put a rod through. Probably glued them as well. May have to try this.

This home was amazing and had so many cool sculptures mixed into her garden. Like the homeowner said "I decorated all I could on the inside and I love it so I had to come outside." I totally get that.

Finally is this cute wine bottle sculpture. Not sure if the wrought iron base was something put together by the homeowner as I've never seen anything like it. But regardless, very cool!

That's all for now. Check in soon for my summer project updates.

Linking up this week to:

Feathered Nest Friday

Ducks'n a Row Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Idea Box Thursday

Garden Tours Galore!

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My favorite time of summer, by far, is garden tour time. Always beautiful, always inspirational, our area garden tours are fabulous and really get your mind going.

I love snapping pictures of the things that inspire me most to take home and keep only my favorites as an idea file for 'some day'.

Enjoy.

This was a garage that was gorgeous and beautifully landscaped!.

Loved these iron figures standing guard over this homeowners garden.

What a cool stepping stone that wasn't a stepping stone. Instead it was mounted on the top of a fence post as a sort of 'pillar'. Can't wait to make some of these and use up all the stained glass pieces I have.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this gorgeous pool area. Jealous for sure!

This homeowner had these cute and simple little plant boxes. Why didn't I think of that? Great way to use up that extra wood!

The inside of this 'tool shed' was simple yet elegant.

Beautiful hardscaping around this house.

Beautiful window boxes. Add this to my list for sure.

Loved the statue and sun dial here.

This house used lots of pots and planters out of just about anything that could hold a plant!

Beautiful waterfall. Definitely on my list!

Simple yet makes a statement. Great way to use an old wine bottle and candle holder!

Loved this little squirty fountain! Okay, I love any kind of water feature.

This beautiful wall surrounded a tennis court.

 Hope you enjoyed this week's garden tour. Next week: garden tour number 2. I can't wait!

Linking up this week to:
Idea Box Thursday
Sunday's Best Link Up
Sunday's Down Under

Happiness Is Homemade...Join the Fun!

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Welcome to another great weekend with us ladies!

We love see all your links. But please remember to visit a few other links and share some love and meet some new friends!!

Happiness Is Homemade Linky Party

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Welcome to another great weekend with us ladies! A very Happy Fathers Day to the dad's in your life!

We love see all your links. But please remember to visit a few other links and share some love and meet some new friends!!

Cheap and Easy Bird Feeder That Even Your LIttle Ones Can Make

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Here is a repost from a couple of years ago that I thought would be great to revisit now that it is spring. Well, okay that makes it sound really important and stuff but really I am just getting ready for vacation and a graduation open house and just too busy to work on any projects right now! You won't tell will you?

I probably shouldn't admit this but my ideas come from the weirdest thoughts. Seriously.

To make a bagel bird feeder, first cut the bagel in half.

Like, for instance, today as I was getting ready to pitch a day old bagel. Well, okay it was day old when I bought it which was probably a week ago. Let's not go there though.

Anyway, back to my story. So I'm getting ready to pitch the last uneaten bagel that, according to my oldest son, was hard as a rock. Then it hit me, I could reuse that bagel for something good.

Spread with peanut butter.

So I cut it in half, got out the peanut butter and spread it on the top. Dug in my pantry closet for some bird seed and sprinkled it over the peanut butter and pressed it in. Then I went downstairs and found some twine and cut off just the right length. Ran it through the bagel hole and tied it to the apple trees out front.

Add any bird seed.

The perfect bagel feeder! Well, so I thought. In face I was so excited I told my oldest son about it. You would've thought I took his last meal. How did I know that, even though the bagel was 'hard as a rock", he still planned on eating it?

Use twine, ribbon, or jute to string through the
bagel hold and tie on a tree branch.

Hang from a tree and watch the 
birds and squirrels!

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Welcome to another great weekend with us ladies! We love see all your links. But please remember to visit a few other links and share some love and meet some new friends!!

Those Darn Weeds

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Welcome to my garden!

You know what I'm talking about. We all have them and we all hate them!

Those little (or big) pesky weeds that keep popping in all the wrong places and causing you lots of pain and heartache.

My Little Garden Angel

Garden Edging

Not much different than the weeds of life, weeds take work to keep them away. If you don't regularly weed your gardens, soon the weeds will take over and destroy the beauty of your flowers.

Garden Globe from last year

Spring Blooms

The weeds of our life are really no different. But the easy way to control those pesky weeds and keep them out of your garden? Pull them right out after a good rain. The ground is soft and moist and you can grab those pesky weeds and pull them out, roots and all!

Sometimes that is the best time to get those weeds out of our life is afte a good rain.

Guest hosting today at

Welcome to another great weekend with us ladies! We love see all your links. But please remember to visit a few other links and share some love and meet some new friends!!