Twinkle Twinkle little seahorse :)

I made some fabulous art for the bathroom out of pallet pieces!!

First, I butted them up together and glued them with wood glue.  I used boxes of tile as "clamps" and totally forgot to take a pic of this step! 

Then I stained it with some stain I had in the garage:

Remember my inspiration for the front bathroom?  I had this seahorse:

I copied it into the paint program and split it into quadrants to draw it.

Then took some chalk and outlined the seahorse on my pallet wood:

Then filled it in with white paint!

I love my seahorse :)

Plus it's total cost ZERO DOLLARS!!

I am linking to these awesome parties!!  Go check them out :)
Thrifty Decor Chick
Metamorphasis Monday
Made by You Monday
Market yourself Monday
Just something I whipped up
Craft O Maniac Monday
Tip Me Tuesday
Today's Creative Blog
Penny Pinching Party
Make it Yours Day
The Shabby Chic Cottage Transformation Thursday
Strut You Stuff Thursday
Under $100 @ Beyond the Picket Fence
Hookin' up with HOH
Homemaker on a Dime
Creative Juice Thursday
Weekend Wrap up

-Make your life beautiful!

Painted Stairwell and bathroom remodel part 1ish

We got so much done this weekend!!

Mr. TSL and my parents all had Friday off.  Because of this, I took the bull by the horns and dove in to the front bathroom remodel!   Then, let my decorating ADD kick in and worked on some other projects too!!

My mom painted the super scary, very vaulted, I'm not getting on the freakin' ladder, stairwell!  I couldn't figure out how she was going to paint up so high with a lack of scaffolding or the adjustable gorilla ladder.

Didn't have one of these :( 

 

Here is the stairwell being painted!!

Here are some before pics of the stairwell:

Here is my super-cute-no-fear-having mom painting it:

It actually made me dizzy just looking up there while she did this!

The mess to the left of my dad is his contribution :)

Yes, that is the cinder block we used to hold the ladder at one point-I didn't get any pics of it in use because I may have been having a mini panic attack from the fact that she was so far up with no net or anything (but my dad) to break her fall!

I will post the after pics later this week because I have to touch up the blobs of paint I dripped on the stairs handing her the paint brush/roller/edger. :)

And now for the Bathroom Remodel Part 1ish

Looked like this before:

before we bought the house

You can read about my inspiration here.

I painted stripes in the bathroom before we removed the vanity, the old light and the toilet.  I am a little impatient :) So, I had to do a little paint work and patching-no biggie!

We took apart the old vanity and took out the old toilet with a little help from the girls :)

That's my girl!

Vanity is gone and the new one is a little smaller-have to fix the paint!

This is behind where the toilet was---YUCK!

The walls in this bathroom when we moved in were nasty!!  In an attempt to get by I had half a can of Stratton Blue left over from our old house's bathroom, so I painted it 3 days before Audrey was born while Mr. TSL was at work :)  

We tore up the nasty old linoleum and decided on a tile pattern and rocked it out! 

Hopefully we'll have the big reveal early next week!!  As for now, I have 2 little girls home from school and a baby that are beckoning my attention!

-Make your life beautiful!

What have I been up to you ask?!?

Okay, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you anyway!! :)  The entry way is done for now (Mr. TSL is building me a bench and I am super excited about it!  The one sitting there is only temporary and will find a new home on the sun porch when the new one's finished!)

Before entry way:

Remember-not my picture! 

I lost the curtains for some bamboo blinds. Mr. TSL and I made the coat hooks and I made the letter/number art for above at my New Years Party....yes I said AT...I know, the party was off the hook.   I couldn't drink and no one else was drunk enough for board games yet (that came later).  I had wanted to complete it prior to every one showing up, but I was cleaning for-e-ver!!!  Apparently having two big kids, a baby, a neurotic border collie who likes mud puddles and eating 2x4's, and Mr. TSL and I, our house can get messy quickly!
So, without further ado..... here it is!

Okay, a break down of the costs.  Most of this stuff I've had for a looooong time, so I am trying to remember it all.

1. Picture Frame Art-$3 each (Dollar General Frames) $15 total
2. Art inside-$.75-(It's just poster board!)  I use poster board as mattes in pictures because it's  über cheap! 
3. Bench-Free (it was a gift from my mother-in-law!)
4. Umbrella holder-$15 on clearance at The World Market (It has handmade kites from my mother-in-law in it, a few umbrellas and our racket ball rackets.)
5. Coat hooks- $2.50 each (from eBay like 3 years ago, I lost them for a little while and found them while we were moving!) $15 total
6. Clock-my aunt use to sell Home Interiors (I did too...well mainly I just bought discounted stuff) $10
7. Frame with post card- $3 (Goodwill)
8. Hanging Giant Keys- $5 clearance from Hobby Lobby
9. Metal Locker Baskets-FREE (Their were 6 in the garage cabinet holding old spray paint when we moved in!)  Pottery Barn sells some like it, but they are way to expensive for my tastes!
10. Potted Plant-FREE (mom gave me the fake plant and the crock was here when we moved in holding a fake plant with real dirt-strange)

Total cost- $63.75 (It didn't feel like that much because the only thing I've bought since we moved in was the frames!)

I know your thinking, "What else could she be up to?"  Well, thank you for asking. I would love to show you!

In an old post I told you that Mr. TSL and I have dreamed of moving to Colorado for a very long time.  We found a house out there a while back that was in Red Feather Lake, CO.  At the time, we were no where done with college and knew it wasn't going to happen, but we still looked at it and we still talk about it.  So I made a sign from a piece of wood I saved from the burn barrel.

Cost-FREE   We had all the paint leftover from other projects.  It's kind of warped because it sat outside before it's life as a sign, but I still love it just the same!

Oh wait, there is more!!  This is my favorite.... 
I had really ugly faux Tiffany stain glass butterfly lights in the kitchen-I hate them!  They remind me of a cheap version of the lights that hang above the tables at Scrapplebee's (that's Applebee's for those of you who don't speak kid).  They looked like this:

 
Here is another view:

Not my picture!

Here they are done!!

I LOVE THEM!!!! 
Cost- I scored the bases for both lights for $10 each on eBay (No shipping charge!!)  The Mason Jar is a half gallon blue mason I picked up at the flea market for $8!  The other blue jar is currently housing homemade pickles in my mom's fridge, but she's bringing it to me this weekend and then they will both be up!!  Right now, Mr. TSL put my big clear jar up from my beachy tablescape.

And a sneak peak at the front bathroom redo.  The rest is getting done during spring break!!!!
It looked like this before:

Just a sneak peak-remember?

I can't wait til it's done!!  :) 

Make your life beautiful!
-Kari

Inspiration for the Front Bathroom!!

Oh the choices I have :)....unfortunately, I am in a constant state of crazy!!  But, I have decided on a design for our little front bathroom!

I have completed the following:
1. Primed and painted all the old trim and the back of the door.
2.  Decided midway through painting the trim to scrape the popcorn ceiling off.  (apparently, this is extremely dirty and dusty, but I'm glad I did it before I worked so hard to paint it!!  I did this without a mask.  Not cool, Kari, not cool!!  I had dust boogers and could smell drywall dust for 3 days!
3. Painted the ceiling
3 1/2 .  (Forgot I did this) puttied all the old holes and sanded them flat to the wall
4. Painted the walls white
5. Eagerly tediously measured and taped off the stripes
6.  Impatiently waited to pull of all the tape it took me 2 hours to do :)
7.  Ripped the tape off and admired my work!!
8. Installed (Okay, Colin did it and I handed him tools) installed a new curved shower curtain rod

Things left to do:  fingers crossed I think this will all get done during Spring Break
1. Tile the floor (already have the tile from a project that didn't get completed at our old house) Woohoo, no new costs!
2.  Install the new bathroom vanity I scored at Home Depot...was $450, got it for $150!  I had admired it for a while and heard they were having a paint sale (half price Ralph Lauren paint)  and they were getting in new vanities and this was marked down!
3. hang the new mirror-scored on Craigslist for $20
4.  Install the towel hooks Mr. TSL is making for the girls
5.  Install the new light and exhaust fan w/light  (Hayley told me when we moved in she didn't like showering in their because it was too dark!)
6. Accessorize.... I think I have almost everything.  I've got 2 small projects for a beach sign and a large wooden seahorse to hang above the toilet.


Here is my inspiration for the bathroom:
This is the reading room created by Layla and Kevin Palmer over at theletteredcottage.net  (Check them out, they are AMAZING!!)  Eventually I will learn how to make a button, so you can just click a word in my blog and it will lead you to their posts!   Until then, google them!

The next is something similar to that with the horizontal stripes.  It was designed by the Sherry and John over at younghouselove.com .  Again google them they are astounding at making something fabulous on a budget!

I am planning on making a seahorse like this one to hang above the toilet:

The bathroom vanity looks similar to this:  (I think this one is black, ours is espresso)

I will post pictures of my progress when I figure out the camera....the button is pissing me off stuck. :( A new camera would be amazing!!

Kari