Bathroom Vanity

Yeah!  The bathroom vanity I ordered from Overstock.com has finally arrived.  I think it started it's journey in California, so it had a LONG way to get here. Took nearly three weeks!
Here is a picture of the vanity that is now sitting in it's cardboard/pallet box in the middle of my living room.

I am so disorganized in this house and it is driving me CRAZY every single day.  Gotta love the stack of board games on the piano.  And now we have this big box sitting right in front of the piano because it weighs 230 pounds!  The original plan was to put the vanity in the basement until we are ready for it.  But since it's so freakin' heavy...........in the living room it will stay.  Hubs and I are going to rearrange things tonight to accommodate the box.  Hoping I can keep the little superheros from crawling all over it!
Who knows how long we will live with it in this room.  First we have to figure out where we will shower/ bath once we start the bathroom remodel.  We can't really bath and shower once we get the plastering hard coat.  It takes two weeks for that stuff to cure/ dry.  And the humidity of the showers won't help.  We are thinking of buying a small corner shower to put in the basement for the sole purpose of getting clean during the bathroom remodel.  Seems like a waste of money as we only want a half bath on the 2nd floor to save space.  But maybe our plans will change and we'll put a little shower upstairs instead.  But before we can do that, we'll need to add plumbing upstairs.  And before we can do that, we'll need to rip out some walls downstairs.... YIKES, talk about a chain of events. 
Anyway, we have the vanity.  Now we just need to figure out what we'll do first.
In the meantime, cardboard box will be our decorating style.  Don't be jealous!

Here's what the space looks like now.

 

 

 



Below is a picture of the vanity that we ordered from Overstock.com. 

We chose a 48" vanity in the hopes of creating more storage.

I have lots of ideas pinned.  But not really sure what color I'll be doing in the bathroom.

I have even entertained the idea of wallpaper!  I know! 

What am I thinking? It's not like it's 1982 anymore!



  

You can check out my pinterest board here to see what I'm thinking about.

 

Lots to do!

We're amping up to start our remodel!  Over these last few months we've been slowly getting things in order and preparing to get this thing started. 

 

Hubs building a shelf in an attempt to organize

 

 

We reorganized the basement.  Most of our stuff is still packed in boxes (honestly I haven't really missed what's down there).  Hubs wants to put in all new ductwork and a new furnace.  So we definitely needed to move stuff around so he has full access to the ductwork and can move about freely.  He wants to start by cutting in the register holes.  And then attack the old asbestos taped duct work. 

 

We've got our work cut out for us here at the Windmill Cottage.  My husband will be doing most, if not all the work himself.  I help where I can.....move stuff, clean stuff, wrangle the kids, feed the gang.  I came up with a rough draft of things we would like to get done this year.  I'm pretty sure it's going to take us longer than a year, but one can be optimistic..... right?

Our first remodel we finished in less than a year, but we didn't have kids, and we frequently stayed up late into the night to finish a task.  Not this time around.  We'll have to wrap up when the kids go to bed.  We'll be waylaid by millions of questions and "help" from the boys.  This time will be a patience tester but hopefully we will spark some "do it yourselfness" into the boys. 

 

Here's our list!

I need an outlet

No really, I needed an outlet in the boy's room.  Make that an electrical outlet.  The Windmill Cottage was built in the 1940's.  There's lucky to be two outlets in a room.  The boys only have one outlet and it happens to be behind a bed.  I don't like to plug anything into it in case it arcs or sparks against the mattress.  We have two beds crammed into a 9X12 bedroom.

Since we moved in we've had an extension cord hooked up to a power strip to give power to their room.  They need a night light and a stereo.  The extension cord ran from the bathroom through the hall.  Lucky none of us has tripped on the cord. 

 

But today, the hubs and the boys cut in an outlet.  We can get rid of the trip hazard in the hall!  That's one small step but a much needed one!

My husband deserves a big pat on the back.  If he were to do this by himself it would have taken about 30 minutes tops.  But having the help of a 6 and 4 year old that insisted on stripping the electrical wire and screwing in the outlet for Daddy added an extra 30 minutes to the project.  Hubs said we'll be lucky to have this house project done before we are 50!  I think it's pretty neat that the kids are learning this stuff already!

Shed-Tastic!



 

 Believe it or not, this day was WAY more cold than the next picture with snow.

 

 

We chose white siding! 

 

I love the look of a white cottage. 

Something so timeless and classic about it. 

So, yep, The Windmill Cottage will eventually be white.  So excited! 

 

 

Far away pic cause ya know I ain't trekking through the snow to get any closer!

 

My camera takes an awful zoom picture.

 

It's a cute little 12x12 shed. 

 

 

Today hubby is working in the basement trying to put "shed stuff" in the shed. 

 

And let's keep it REAL for a minute!

 

 

  This is just one side of the basement full of our stuff. 

 I'd guess 70-75% of our stuff is still packed away in boxes. 

 

Hubs working on a shelving unit in an attempt to achieve some sort of

organization until our remodel is done. 

 



Clutter, Clutter, Paper Clutter

I struggle with paper clutter.  I've read all the tricks of taming the paper, applied many of them, but in the end I always have a pile of paper clutter sitting on the countertop.
My little superheros bring home A LOT of papers from school.  Then there are the recipes I've printed, the coupons I've clipped, the stubs of bills I've paid, precious artwork I want to save...you know, the list goes on and on. 

At the old house I had a place for all of this stuff.  I was pretty organized.  At the cottage 80% of our stuff is still packed away in boxes because we are going to be remodeling.  No sense dragging it all out to have to put it all away again.  The boxes for school papers I want to save are buried under other boxes and so on.  I am totally NOT organized.  I need to get a system working.

I'm pretty good at sorting through the junk mail and tossing out anything I don't want right away.  But I need to get better at only handling paper clutter ONCE.  I am going to apply the "Touch It Once Rule".  Clip coupons, put them in the coupon thingy.  Go through school papers and toss out anything unneeded as soon as the kids get home.  Fill out forms and return immediately.  No moving paper from one pile to another.  Touch it once, put it away, throw it away and be done with it!

 

You know what kept me going and energized?  Songza!  Have you heard of this site?  It plays whatever kind of music you're in the mood for. 

Go check it out.

Songza

 

I was listening to a 90's Dance Party.  It was just the right music I needed to power through and finish the job.  Just as I put away the last piece of paper clutter "Who Let the Dogs Out" started playing.

I did a celebratory dance!  Woo Hoo~

Let's hope I can keep a handle on the paper.



The Chaos Cottage

The new oven and the fridge are installed!  The rental oven got a shine job and transported back to it's owner.  The rental fridge also got a shine job but it's still sitting in the middle of my kitchen, which by the way is kinda small.  The house is in complete chaos.  My husband's favorite thing to say is "It's gonna get worse before it gets better!"
We haven't even started knocking out walls yet. 

Chaos

and more CHAOS!

 

 

 



We had to shove everything to one side of the room in order to get the appliances through to the kitchen.  The fridge did not fit through the front door.  Hubs and a neighbor friend had to take off the doors and freezer drawer.  Apparently they weren't that easy to get off and miserable to get back on.  Lucky for me and the boys, we were at the mall getting haircuts!

 

Once we get this place back in working order, my plan is to take some decent "before" pictures.

Well, gotta go get cleaning up. 

 



Fridge ~ Oven ~ Dishwasher



Today I am preparing for new appliances!  The appliances in the rental were not included.  So we needed to buy all new. What a shame bonus!  Truly a WOO HOO moment!  So today I am cleaning the rental oven.  I'm sure there is a much more earth friendly, less toxic way to do it....but I had this oven cleaner on hand and I know it works in 5-10 minutes. 
Hubby ran a gas line last night since we are converting from electric range to gas!  I fell in love with my gas range at the old house so that's what we opted for at The Cottage even though it cost a bit more to buy black iron pipe and fittings. 
We are picking up the appliances later today.  Just hoping that the fridge will fit through the front door.  Wish us luck!