{Bathroom Planning} Day 1 - Floor Plans and Flooring

Hello Friends! Happy Monday! 

Next week is going to be a big week for our bathroom! It'll be completely gutted and become a brand new bathroom. If you follow the blog on Instagram (@thebrickbungalow), you'll see that we actually started demo last week. But that was just to get a measurement, as we are expanding into what used to be an old closet. Anyway, before I get too ahead of myself, I wanted to do some inspiration posts for the bathroom.

Day 1 - Floor Plans and Flooring
Day 2 - Vanities 
Day 3 - Mirrors vs. Medicine Cabinets
Day 4 - Lighting
Day 5 - Colors and Hardware

Now, before getting down to it, I wanted to thank our parents because without them, this wouldn't happen. We've wanted to update this bathroom since we moved in. I temporarily updated it as much as possible with paint not long after living here, but we need a full update.

Our family of four, plus our guests, use this bathroom. It's in constant use so we need to update it. Along with updating it, we will actually be making it just a bit bigger. When making Lily's room, we made sacrificed some space in her room, knowing that we'd tackle the bathroom at some point. Her room is just fine and we can hardly wait to see this new bathroom take place.

Now… the floor plan…

We started with a bathroom that is roughly 68" (5 feet, 8 inches) wide by a little over 8 feet in length. The set up is as shown. You walk through our hallway into the bathroom and there's not a lot of depth between the countertop and tub (more than this makes it look though). The window is also right next to our shower, so that's an issue.
Once we knock down the wall into what used to be a closet, we gain almost 3 feet of space, making the bathroom an almost perfect square. We are moving the vanity to where the tub used to be (by the window, as shown), probably turning the toilet 90" and building a wall between it and the shower (since it'll be a wall anyway due to a shower surround). This opens up the area a lot, giving us room to move.


Now, onto pretty things…

Flooring

via
This is the one thing I am dead set on, and so is Doug. It's actually about the only thing that he has put any say into because we both want it that much. As for other things, there will be some things that kind of vary but we'll get to that. This floor though. It'll also be used in our kitchen remodel (down the road). We will probably buy this exact version at Lowe's. It's Mahogany and a perfect color!


And just to refresh your memory, here's what we started with when we bought the house.




Oh my. I forgot how bad it was. The wallpaper (border, decals, dots on the ceiling) were all removed pretty quickly and easily (luckily). The shower curtain was replaced. The walls, ceiling, trim, vanity were all painted. I'm sorry for killing your eyes… now just stay tuned for some beautiful inspiration and then follow us for the remodel stage!

Day 1 - Floor Plans and Flooring
Day 5 - Colors and Hardware

{Bathroom Remodel} Goodbye Ugly!

Say goodbye to this hideous bathroom….




OK… so in all honesty, that bathroom was painted before anything in this house was touched. The wallpaper ceiling "medallions" (aka cut out wallpaper circles) were removed. So was the wallpaper border, the cut out wall decal, and then everything was painted. The shower curtain was thrown away (or donated, I don't remember) and replaced with a new, solid color one. The trim was painted. 
But now, we are tearing it down to the studs to rebuild it all. 

New window. New trim (or all refreshed with white paint!), new drywall, new vanity, sinks, tub, toilet, paint. You name it! 

Come back next week as I plan out our bathroom in 5 installments. Day 1 starts with a floor plan and our floor choice. 

Until then, I'll leave you with the following photos because I started this post with such uglies…

In the above photo, which I did share a version on Instagram (follow me @thebrickbungalow), I had already hammered a hole into the plaster and lath wall. Doug then punched through the lath to reveal the other side of the wall (which was a part of the old closet in Lily's room that was closed up in that remodel). We need to punch through it all to measure the true depth of the new bathroom to know the size of the room so we can order the correct items! 

You can also see how I painted the room a nice mocha frappe color. I didn't bother removing the wallpaper here, knowing that eventually (now, finally!) that the whole room will be remodeled. 


And just because… a beautiful flower in Lily's Garden. I need to do an updated flower garden post to show all of the mid June growth. The day lilies, coneflowers, and annuals are all doing amazing. That'll come after the week of bathroom posts next week! 



{Tour} Barbie's House


When I posted Lily's Room Tour the other day, I realized that the Barbie house my dad made for her deserved its own post. He made it for her a couple of years ago for Christmas after I showed him a picture of the Pottery Barn version. He loves building her things and had already built her a giant, three piece kitchen set. 

My dad built it and my mom worked on decorating and furnishing it. So, not only did she get this amazing house, my mom bought her the furniture to go with it. Since then, Lily was received additional pieces, the RV from her grandparents, the car, and an IKEA set with matching IKEA furniture and a foldable house (it's right next to the RV for storage). I love how she has the striped black and white rug that I now want in my house too. 


The house now holds additional items such as the Littlest Pet Shop building. It's actually two separate pieces. One is the pet's building (or the shop) and one is Blythe's bedroom set … for those that are curious. My knowledge of little girls' toys is insane. 

Above the house, Lily has her collection of My Little Ponies on the board and batten we installed. There's a small collection of plushy keychains and a walking, talking dog that sit on the roof. Her teddy bear, pom pons, and pink rugby ball also call the roof home. Because where else would the pink rugby ball go to hang out with pom pons? In case your wondering, Doug plays rugby so he found her a bright pink ball. 


Every Barbie needs a bathroom, plus a sink (that really works) to wash the crazy, dirty dogs. 


Barbie has an eclectic mix of friends and furnishings. IKEA, Barbie, My Little Pony, doll babies, and Monster High all get along in the living room.


The bedroom has a bunk bed for family and sleep overs. It's decorated with an IKEA throw pillow. 


The house even has a garage… or two. An RV, a convertible, and a mini convertible (for Barbies' smaller friends…aka McDonald's toys) all have room to visit. 

{Tour} Lily's Room

After posting Nate's room (before the bed switch), I realized that Miss Lily's finished room has never made it on here. We documented the creation of it and how we took it down to the studs, ripped out both windows, moved a closet, and built it all back up but we never took finished photos. I blame the pregnancy on that one. And a busy schedule. 

Anyway, almost two years later, here it is. It's a bright, colorful, little girl's dream come true. 


We recently upgraded her twin to a full with the donated mattress from my aunt. The bed frame matches the night stand and the dresser (plus a small rocker that's not in the room) and it was my grandmother's. I inherited it almost 20 years ago when she passed and used it until Doug and I upgraded to a king. 


Her My Little Pony plushy collection sits next to a few other favorites on her bed. She fixes these so they stay like the picture.  


A few favorites, above, that she sleeps with. The sheep is a pillow pet and she normally uses it as a pillow. 


I had to have the Rise & Shine canvas before I even found it and I, luckily, snagged the last one at Target years ago. The Lily perspective drawing was one I created as an example in my classroom then framed and gave to Lily. It's pencil and colored pencils. 




Her room isn't large but definitely fits all of her stuff. Next to her bed is her night stand. Inside holds most of her books (we have a huge collection in our living room but these are typically "her" books), plus a basket on top holds her recent reads as we cycle them through, a jar of Squinkies, and her lamp. She picked out the lamp and loves the bright pink. 


Her dresser is covered in a lace doily that was on there when my grandmother had it. It's been covered in the glass forever and I love it. On top is more of Lily's collections - jewelry, more My Little Ponies, and her toys. She made the recycled melted record bowl and it holds random stuff. Right now it's small toys, lip stick, and bubble gum to name a few. 

Above her dresser, when this wall was for her bed, we hung an IKEA hanging system for her artwork. I don't recommend them in bedrooms but with it being by her mirror now, it keeps the art from moving and making too much noise at night (which was something she had issues with for awhile as she likes to sleep with her fan on). 
  

This amazing doll house deserves its own post soon. My dad built it after I saw it on Pottery Barn's site. I loved it and so does Lily. She doesn't play with it as much as I thought, but she's only 6. I loved playing with Barbies growing up and would have loved this house. I typically made one all over our playroom floor out of books for walls after my doll house fell apart (it was plastic and a weird thin masonite/cardboard type material).  


As you first enter her room, you almost go through a small hallway. There's her toy closet on one side and her gallery wall and hooks on the other side. She loves the gallery wall and adds to it occasionally (or wants me to add more too it) and she loves the hooks. It can get a little messy but that's when I step in and remove bags and clothing. Right now it holds her random bags, her Rainbow Dash sweat shirt jacket, and her softball things - her bag and helmet.  

 I didn't take a picture of her closet but it's just to the left of the board and batten in the above photo. It's a nice size closet with double mirrored doors. She loves it. 

We actually moved her closet into her room a couple of feet to make the bathroom bigger (once we get to that…soon!). It did make her room a little smaller but nothing too bad. It'll make a world of difference in our bathroom though so stay tuned for that! 

{House} Plans

I recently revamped our Home Tour page if you haven't noticed. It got me thinking of everything we've done to the house since we bought it in 2007. It's so easy to get sucked into the whole to do list that is never ending, but it's nice to go back and look at what we've done. 

In 2007, we had just celebrated our first year of marriage and I was in the middle of finding a career instead of a job. We bought the house on Doug's salary alone (I didn't even have a job!), just 5 short months before the government fell apart and they started handing out money for homeowners. If we only knew! 

Our house the day we moved in, July 2007. Check out all those giant bushes. 

By 2008, I started taking college classes to become a teacher (I already had a bachelors degree in art). The house saw little progress as we made just enough to cover the bills. We found out we were pregnant with Lily that fall. We also started the longest remodel known to man, our upstairs gut job

Our second anniversary, May 2008.

Our upstairs remodel, looking towards the TV area

2009 was a great year, focusing mainly on Miss Lily's arrival. 
Lily, May 2009.

2010 was the start of this blog! We had previously been blogging on an all baby blog and felt the switch was necessary. 


2011 was a shitty year. I'm just going to say it. Losing my brother at age 31 has by far been the worst thing in my life. But, as for the house, it did see the end of the upstairs remodel and us actually living up there again, plus we fenced in our back yard. 
One of my favorite photos of my brother, taken years ago. 

2012 didn't seem to see anything major but I graduated with my Masters in Teaching and had finished my first year of teaching middle school art (ok so both of those are major and totally kicked my butt!). 


2013 was by far the busiest year this house has seen yet, although 2015 may rival it (except the pregnancy and birth part!). 2013 saw the entire pregnancy of Nate, a bedroom remodel for Lily, a nursery makeover for Nate, and the construction of the back deck. Plus, I worked hard in Lily's Garden. It also saw a major curb appeal update with the new side walks

Nate, November 2013. 

2014 saw more work in Lily's Garden and the creation of the raised bed for our blueberries. It was a busy year dealing with two kids. 


2015 is shaping up to be a busy year too. Small projects started the summer and it grew from there. Painting, organization, gardening, building, it all seems to be happening this year!



Over the years we've updated our HVAC system completely, we've painted almost every room of the house (at least once), we've completely gutted our entire upstairs and Lily's bedroom, we've replaced 6 windows during said remodels, and we've made our house a home to say the least. I could go on and on about the future plans, but that's not the point of this post. I look forward to what we can accomplish this summer and I love looking back on what we've already accomplished! 

{Garden} Grow, baby, Grow!

Between the heat, humidity and down pours, we've had a great growing season… and these babies are showing off! You can see here just how much they've grown. Unfortunately the weeds are enjoying the weather too… let's ignore those, ok? Thanks! 

Please ignore the rusty shed too… I don't know if painting it will happen like I had hoped due to the crazy rain forecast. So let's pretend it's painted a nice grayish/tan with a red roof. Or something like that. 


I may have ate all the ripe berries… Lily would be mad. But luckily for her, there are a few more that are about there, plus a lot that aren't even close. I'll try not to eat them all but after the back yard makeover I'm doing, I deserved a treat. And they are so yummy! 


This cucumber plant took off! I swear it doubles in size almost every day. I look forward to having a few home grown cucumbers. Luckily for us, they are one of the few vegetables both kids will eat. 


Do you garden? If so, what do you grow? We're currently doing the raspberries and cucumbers seen here (in the same bed along with cilantro), blueberries in our raised bed in our front yard, and a variety of peppers and tomatoes in our main garden bed. 

{Back Yard} Dry Creek Bed

Good Morning, friends! After the crazy amount of rain we've had in Missouri lately, this project will be well loved. Actually, it's not even done and I love it already. 

During the creation of this area, Doug and I were planning the container locations and realized that the gutter would create a great little dry creek bed aka gutter run off aka rain garden. I like the name rain garden so it may stick. For now, it's just what you see here - dirt, mud, mulch, and rocks. Oh so many rocks.

But lets get to the pictures. Here it is before I did anything. I didn't spread the mulch out everywhere knowing that I would be back at it for this project. The handful of mulch between the fish and the square container was just poorly placed mulch that I got too lazy to deal with at the time. This is also after super heavy rains over the past few days and the gutter definitely showed us where to dig the dry creek. 

Here you can see more of the actual path that the gutter run off created. Due to the slop of the ground (the nature of our backyard and then enforced by us as we worked on it), it already drained away from the house. This is definitely key here! 

The green plastic was leftover from a previous homeowner. We still run into those problems even after 8 years of living here. That's how unloved this back yard area really was. Not anymore! 

So bright and early this morning (after dropping the kids off at daycare anyway), I started digging. It was definitely muddy and easy to create a little stream. Like I said, we had help from all of the rain. If I could send some of this rain west, I would. I know California needs it. 

The black liner is from my dad. He picked it up so it wasn't just thrown away from his old job. It's been hanging out at his place (along with LOTS of extra… so much so that I may find another spot for it…) and worked perfect for this project. While out at my parents' over the weekend, we cut some up for this project. I then took the whole sheet and cut it in half to make it more manageable. I then continued to cut around the containers and to tweak it here and there. No pictures of that process due to it just being a here and there type thing. 

I then grabbed a bunch of the smaller, thinner creek rocks we picked out of my parents' creek weeks ago. Some of the heavier rocks help hold down the liner and hold back the mulch. The thinner, smaller rocks are great for lining the creek and to hide the black liner. 

Due to the slop, I thought it would be fun to overlap some of the rocks to create a waterfall type area. I also put this one on top to cover the rest so that water, when it rains, will go under it. I hope to take some photos of this actually happen at some point. 

Now you can see it coming together more. It's still not done, but definitely pretty close! 

 At the top of the creek, to help hide the downspout, I used this crazy piece of driftwood I've had for years. I'm not sure if we picked this up at my parents' farm or on vacation somewhere. I used to pick up cool pieces for my large fish tank that I've since sold. This one never saw the inside of a tank though and always was in the garden. I moved it from Lily's Garden where it wasn't really a feature and placed it around the rocks and gutter. It fit perfectly! 


I'm not done but you can see the progress. I want to wait until it rains some more to actually mess with the placement of everything I've already done. I have more creek gravel to place in, plus more creek rocks to use to hide the edge of the black liner. 

What do you think? Would you ever make a gutter run off aka dry creek bed aka rain garden? 

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