Pregnancy Confessions: Volume Four

If there's one food that's grossed me out the entire pregnancy, it's avocado. Guacamole is fine, but I can't do the real thing. Of course, I don't publicize this because I don't even want to talk about them. And because I thought morning sickness was behind me.

But I was wrong.

My co-workers and I were talking about grilled cheese sandwiches, because I decided that's what I needed for lunch today. Then one of them starts talking about making a grilled cheese this wknd with ... the "a" word on it. And it was just too much for me. So much so, that I had to RUN to the bathroom, with people darting out of my way in the hallway. Unfortunately I turned the corner just a little too quickly and ran - literally ran - into our COO. And then subsequently fell over. All the while trying not to vomit just yet.

Could I be any more embarrassed?

Don't worry, I didn't throw up anywhere I wasn't supposed to. I apologized to the COO and she thanked me for not doing it on her.

But seriously?

Pregnancy is so weird.

Stuck in Cary: Volume 4 ... THE BATHROOM IS FINISHED!

This may be hard to believe for anyone who has not had their downstairs bathroom under construction for 2+ months, but Friday was one of the happiest days of my life. My amazing husband and amazing father-in-law finally finished! Sweet sweet Ben made a promise (possibly against his will, but that's irrelevant) that it would be finished by the time my friends arrived and, although it was truly down to the wire, he didn't disappoint.

To be fair, we flip-flopped on how we wanted to handle the updates a number of times. "Let's put in a stand-alone vanity" / "Oh we can't, because we're out of tile". "Let's buy a scrap piece of granite and cut it to fit our stupid custom-sized counter top" / "Just kidding, it's going to cost $200 to get the granite cut". A lot of flip-flopping. So when we finally came to an agreement that we would purchase pre-cut "granite" from Home Depot and my talented FIL would cut it to fit our stupid custom-sized counter top, it became a race to the finish.

Before:

Ugly Ugly brassy fixtures, horrible blue paint

Wallpaper that was a pain in the butt to take down (at least it appeared to be, ask Ben) 

More ugly brassy fixtures, I hate you mid-90's construction 

Poor painting job which resulted in blue all over the floor boards

Things "we" (read: they, with my supervision / sustenance by providing food and drink) accomplished:

• Tearing out fixtures (toilet paper holder, counter top, mirror hanger, towel rack)
• Ripping down poorly applied wallpaper ... to reveal horrid bright ugly blue & green paint
• Painting a beautiful gray/purple color

New flowers, New toilet handle and no-slam seat (sounds silly, but it's cool!)

Polished nickel fixtures - on places where there are actually studs!

And Beanie hand-scraped up all the paint off the floor boards

Fancy rectangle sink

Pretty, pretty new light fixture with beautiful marbled shades & mirror

Installing a great multi-colored granite-esque counter top and fancy new sink

Needless to say, I'm super excited. Once I recover from the 12 extra people who were staying at my house all weekend, you may all (read: the 4 of you that might occasionally read this blog) come over and use my beautiful new bathroom. Huge thanks to Ben & Beanie for rocking it out.

Stuck in Cary: Volume 3

Once upon a time, there was a lovely couple who bought a lovely home in a lovely town. They had a lovely wedding, then had a lovely daughter, and the lovely mother only worked a lovely job part-time, which was a lovely schedule. And then, the lovely mother decided she would paint the lovely rooms in the lovely house THE MOST GOD-AWFUL COLORS UNDER THE SUN. And then, the lovely couple decided to sell the lovely home to another lovely couple. That lovely couple, you may know. They are none other than Aubrey & Ben Eckerson. This is the story of conquering the ugly.

Our downstairs bathroom and/or powder room was wall-papered. Or, IS wall-papered, depending on whether you're a glass-half-full kinda gal. It's neutral wall-paper and light colored, which is great for such a tiny room, but it's still wall-paper. I, for one, am not a huge fan of wall-paper in general. It's nothing personal, and there's plenty of folks who can pull it off, but it's not for me. This particular paper was starting to peel up, so I asked my father-in-law (the eternal handy man!) if we could borrow his wall-paper steamer. He brought it over and as we discussed possibilities for our tiny bathroom, the next thing I know my mother-in-law is tearing off huge chunks of the paper. So I guess our demolition began Sunday!

The before:

Not-horrible wall-paper, the vase that the previous owners left behind + flowers I added, and the photo Ben had of NYC that seemed to go with the whole black & white theme

My least favorite light fixture of all time, I think. Also, here you can see the obnoxious blue that the bathroom was painted before the previous owners decided to sell. Good choice on covering that mess up, guys

Beginning the demolition / a look at the complementary wall-paper and border

The little toilet paper holder that can barely hang on!

I actually did some minor improvements on this bathroom a few months ago, which basically consisted of: 

• Removed the tacky "gold" plastic mirror and replacing with a silver one
• Replaced the non-matching, tarnished towel rack & toilet paper holder with new silver ones
• Upgraded the cabinet pulls to match the rest of the fixtures
• Purchased the replacement light fixture, but we haven't installed it since we know we're doing a whole lot more.

Our plan is as follows: 

• Remove the wall-paper
• Buy a new "drop-in" sink
• Replace the counter with granite
• Patch the shoddy installation of the towel & toilet paper racks
• Paint the walls
• Purchase shades for the new light fixture
• Upgrade the hideous brass light fixture (this brass WILL be out of my house if it is the death of me!)
• Re-install the brushed nickel towel & toilet paper racks I purchased a few months ago (but have been barely hanging onto the wall)

*whew* I think that's everything. So here are the beginning steps of our journey, I imagine this will be a long one. Input / encouragement is welcome! Especially for inexpensive sink / granite sources and wall colors (thinking a mossy green, perhaps?).