First floor bath

Happy fall!  It's my favorite season of the year.  Isn't it wonderful to walk outside in the evenings and smell the crisp, fall scent of leaves? :)  Mmmmmm....I just love it.  Here's a little look at how fall is showing its colors in our backyard.

Now, I know.  It's been awhile.  And for that, I sincerely apologize.  But, I have to say that it has made me feel pretty excited that some of you have asked me when my next post is coming!  That means people are actually reading! Woo hoo!  Although this is my favorite time of year, it is always a busy time of year too.  As most of you know, I am a Speech-Language Pathologist that works at a school for children with autism.  Since the school year just began, my days have been chalk full of IEPs, making new materials, meetings and all of that fun stuff.  I am currently in the midst of writing 5 IEPS (3 down as of today and 2 to go!), so life has felt crazy.  On top of my regular work, Kevin and I have been busy visiting friends and celebrating birthdays (Happy 30th Birthday to Dan Buckley!).  Oh!  And I forgot the most exciting thing that has happened in the past month.  My mom and I took a trip to California to visit my dear sister Angela, my brother-in-law Chris and our niece and nephews (the always spunky Des, Wes and Penny).

Wes, Penny and Des

Kevin, me, Ang and Chris at a wedding

We saw the Hollywood sign!

And even had a celebrity sighting!  Mario Lopez
and Maria Menunos shooting Extra!

But, back to the house!  Are you ready to see what we did with the first floor bath?  Although this bathroom is small, it took quite a bit of intricate work (all by Kevin, of course).  Personally, I was not involved with this project other than a few decorating details at the end.  This was a full on Kevin episode and he deserves ALL the credit.

Lets start by explaining what needed to be fixed.  The walls in our house are tongue and groove, there is no drywall.  So, when the previous owners built our home it was apparent that they decided to finish a lot of the inside structure themselves.  Also, we have beautiful log beams that run across the ceiling of our first floor.  With that being said, tongue and groove walls and the log ceiling beams can create a tricky puzzle.  When we moved in, the walls of the bathroom did not completely run up to the ceiling.  In fact, there was another piece of tongue and groove tacked on that went to the bottom of the log ceiling beams.  Basically, the bathroom was not very private.  Which in the case of a bathroom is a problem.

Kevin set out to make the bathroom usable.  He put his carpentry skills to the test and it turned out great.  Take a look below and see the beautiful work that Kevin did.

Before from the inside of the bathroom.  Look
up!

Before from the inside again.

After!  Isn't it great?  Ok, this may be one of those
things that only Kevin and I appreciate :) But, Kevin did an
amazing job.  Check out the beautiful rope detail!
All Kevin's idea!

Before

After

Before:  Notice, no light, paneling missing
on the right and a whole lot of nothing
at the top!

Before:  Now, this is where I come in!!!! I had been
searching high and low for something to store linens.
This space is small, so it was a difficult task.  But, thanks
to my wonderful Aunt Nancy I found it!  Amazingly, she
gave us this piece of furniture.  And to make it even better,
it actually belonged to my grandmother before. :)

After!  Kevin moved the light to the center of
the wall, we bought a light (obviously!), Kevin
added some beautiful trim and rope accents on the
left and we decided to add a little hook on the right
to hang your robe or towel.

Before

After:  Kevin added trim and the rope accents
on the far corner by the sink and I added
blinds and curtains (thanks to my mom for the
help!  I am admittedly, terrible with curtains.) :)

Last, but not least, the shower curtain and
the door.  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture
of the original door, but it was an ugly "barn" like
door with a latch.  We ordered this door from
Mentor Lumber and Kevin stained it and hung it.

Now presenting, my first attempt at a video!!!!  Even though I just walked you through all the pictures, there is something fun about watching a video.  It's like really being on HGTV, but Log Blog style.  Pardon my voice, I'm just getting over a cold.

I think that's it!  We hope you like the bathroom transformation.  Stay tuned for our next installment! :)