Big Bang Master Bath Redo for Notalotta Bucks

Here's the BEFORE pic of our master bath with the redo already under way. I did this last year before cancer sidetracked my plans, but it is still one of the best projects we've done, housewise. And, it was CHEAP. I LIKE cheap.


You can see the new medicine cabinet the Welding Man was building for me and yes, you see ivy stenciling on the cabinet and walls. I loved me some ivy stencils back in the day and I had them in my kitchen, too. But finally I knew the master bath needed a new look even tho, again, I had no room in the budget for such frippery. I had used alot of mirrors in there (badly) to make the room seem bigger but it felt outdated and tired.

But with lots of work, some yummy chocolate brown gloss paint and a whole lot of mirror reworking, we now have this........

I LOVE the new look of my master bath!!

Since the dwarf size budget had no room for new towels I had to come up with a scheme that would go with the 80s/90s oh-so-cool-at-the-time raspberry sherbet colored towels which were still perfectly serviceable, darn it. I knew I wanted to go with a rich, dark color on the vanity and after seeing a few chocolate brown bathrooms in magazines and online I just went for it.

So I picked up a gallon of creamy vanilla for the walls and a quart of deep rich brown, both in a semi gloss finish and soon the ivy stenciling was toast.

The Welding Man built the medicine cabinet to fit a door we already had which featured a pebbled plastic window but hey, it had all its hardware and was perfectly usable and it was the right size for the wall. I had some very cool textured wallpaper left from the kitchen redo and I mod podged it over the plastic then painted it with the wall paint. It actually looks pretty cool! Nice textural interest, too.




I picked up some big float glass mirrors from a local contractor. At $8 apiece these 2' x 4' mirrors were a steal! I found some bullseye corner blocks in the bargain bin at the lumber yard for 2/$1. They had small flaws in the center but I soon fixed those with filler and once painted, you can't tell they were repaired. We framed the mirror out with molding and put those corner blocks in place and voila! Big freakin' framed mirror in my master bath! I painted the molding chocolate brown, of course. We added the painted pine shelf beneath the mirror with some curly metal hangers and I LOVE HOW IT ALL CAME OUT.

The light fixture was a steal at $3 from St. Vincent De Paul's, and when $$$ allows we'll replace it, but for now it's a bargain and it works well with the space. I can live with that.

I also shopped the house and pulled in all the accessories on the high shelf above the medicine cabinet and the new mirror shelf. Almost all the original bathroom mirrors got their frames spray painted brown and Insanely Creative Christy gave me the decorative wood "carving" from an old couch she was junking. Love the intricate, curvy, vintage look! The cutout "etc" is actually from the 70s.

So, here's our old medicine cabinet in it's grungy, outdated wonderfulness.....



...And here's what that corner of the room looks like now......



See the corner block on the mirror? Love the way it turned out! And the vase on the shelf? A clear glass gift which got cracked across one corner. I glued it together and reinforced it with packing tape then took the same textured wallpaper I used for the medicine cabinet and mod podged it to this vase. For the tall flower arrangements I stole eucalyptus and some colorful flowers from other parts of the house, then filled in with twigs, branches and lots of manzanita from our Oregon mountaintop. The red bark and green leaves are PERFECT for this room.

So the costs for this redo break down like so....

Paint total $26
Lumber total $9
Molding $4 (including corner blocks)
Mirror $8
Light fixture $3
Round light bulbs $10

TOTAL ..........$60

You know, I love it when a project looks this good and doesn't cost a lot of money! Don't you? Now if I can find a totally modern light fixture at a really bargain basement price......

Thanks for reading my post. Hopefully I can get going on some more house projects this spring, when I graduate from chemo to radiation. "They tell me" I'll be feeling pretty good by then. Looking forward to that, I am.

I'm going to link up to some blog parties in my sidebar this week, hope to see you there.

Time Flies....

....in a succession of fuzzy days when I've been fogged in with chemo, fatigue and a touch of the flu.

As usual, I did too much over the holidays and my compromised health smacked me down for a few weeks. I guess enjoying multiple family homes and meals, attending a holiday wedding in a cold church and being out and about in freezing weather was not a good combo. My own bed never felt so good! Dealing with my very low energy levels has been daunting for me, but I'm finally adjusting.

So I'm back and hope to blog faithfully now that I'm on a lighter dose of less toxic chemo. I feel better and have some energy these days. Speaking of which, we finally took down the Christmas trees, including the blue beauty you see above. Usually I just plunk a large houseplant in that corner and rearrange the glassware and call it good.

Last summer I scored a HUGE hurricane glass and it kept looking at me reproachfully, since something that grand deserved a bit of attention. This thing is BIG, as in 20" tall and 8" across at its "belly." I had filled it with gold and silver balls for Christmas, easy peasy, but for now I wanted something a bit different.

So, vine balls from Dollar Tree and some driftwood chunks....


A glittery moss green Walmart dragonfly. Some rearrangement of blue glass bottles and jars.....



....add some of my book page decor balls in two sizes, and a few glittered cinnamon pine cones. Plus several jute monkey's knot balls for more texture.



A closer shot of that gorgeous dragonfly. Only one dollar at Christmastime! Love it!

And off to the left you see a wooden pedestal bowl with a trio of Insanely Creative Christy's Mod Podged book page veggies with bronze glittered stems, just gorgeous. But you know, now this little display is making me long for spring and all the greenery that comes with rain and the warming temps.

I'm thinking of doing something very green and springlike to my counter display area...something that will incorporate Valentine's, Easter and St. Patrick's. LOL, that should be an interesting project and I'll post it when I do!

Ladies, thanks for stopping by. I'll be posting to the parties on my sidebar and visiting as many of you all that I can in the next weeks. Come check all the fun projects out, blog land is chock FULL of amazing, creative folks.

See you there!

I'm still here...with Christmas wreaths!

Yes, ladies, even chemo can't keep me away from the glue gun and all the Christmas balls I can get my hands on. So even with a bit of fatigue and nausea (British stiff upper lip and steely eyed glare goes here) I'm still decorating for Christmas with a plan and a schedule, starting with crashing my stash so I didn't have to spend more money and then making lots of wreaths.


My daughter, Insanely Creative Christy, made this gorgeous red yarn ball beauty for my counter top display area but we soon deemed it worthy of sale and moved it to our teeny tiny craft mall booth.

Where it joins a table top tree, my wooden spool yarn angels, Christy's creative clothespin sets (the ones on the shelf have chickadees and finches on them, so cute!) and her thread spool prim trees. Surrounding them all, my ruffled muslin garland. That's 8 feet of ruffly creamy goodness, so pretty!


Ahem, back to the wreaths. I made this red yarn ball beauty for the inside of our front door, reasoning that I wanted to see it more than I wanted the outside of the door to look good. I added satin covered balls, glass balls, beads and poinsettias before I said enough. Yeah, in wreaths I am no minimalist. I go for the gusto, baby!


This is the wreath I made to replace the craft booth wreath. Not quite as wonderful as Christy's wreath but full of color and texture and perfect for this empty spot at the end of my counter.




Which did not remain empty for long. Insanely Creative Christy decorated the tree on one of my exhausted days then I started filling in with everything red and shiny and Christmasy. Plus my painted branches got a bit of play after their duty for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I like that!


Whoa, look at all the STUFF! "Less is more" went out the window and "let's cram everything in there" became the operative phrase. So much fun, so much to see! What you can't see on the book page gourds (another Christy creation) are the glittery bronze stems, they look amazing with the book pages and the scalloped wood bowl. I made the paper mache Santa and snowman and put the googly eyes on the bottle cork. Seemed like a good idea at the time and now he makes me smile.

Dollar Store candy canes in a fluted glass and an apothecary jar full of red potpourri and I laughed when I figured out that the satin ball fit perfectly into the tarnished brass doorknob. It's serendipity.

This is the counter area I pass by dozens of times a day, and it lifts my spirits with it's exuberance. It's the first thing you see when you come in from the deck, and it is amazingly colorful and charming. And it didn't cost a bundle, just a few Dollar Store items and lots of "let's put this up there and see how it looks." Win, win and win.

Ah yes, another wreath. This one is for my Etsy shop. Not quite done at this point...Christy and I added a big gossamer butterfly and more beads and a few more balls. Gorgeous nonetheless and NOT just for Christmas. Girly girly bedroom, baby shower, breast cancer warrior gift, pink and silver Christmas.....this pink wreath has lots of decor potential!

And finally, a gold wreath this time. I hung it over the window and am still considering it. It suffers from "big bow syndrome." Perhaps I'll deconstruct the bow and string it in and out of the balls? Add more balls? Add more snowflakes? This wreath, it mocks me. I will do something more to it as soon as I decide what it needs.

The next project is 25' of lighted garland for the ceiling beam in our livingroom. The Welding Man and I will be tackling that today! He is also building me a storage rack for my studio which will let me organize some of my fabric. Did I mention how much he "loves" my spiral notebook full of lists? LOL

Ladies, tomorrow is my last round of "hard" chemo. They tell me the next rounds of taxol will be easier. Let us hope. In the meantime, I'll be making Christmas gifts for the fam and also giving you guys a nice post and tute on yarn angels. Soon. Very soon. Keep in touch, I love your comments!

Bless you.

Lovin' the blue.....

Of pretty blue cobalt glass!

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors is running a little party in addition to her big Saturday Night special party titled, "Non gift things, what do you love to make or have in your home you love?"

Here's a link, http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2010/12/sns-59-brings-you-your-favorite-things.html

Well, Donna, that would have to be blue glass, as you can see from my header.I love blue in my house and garden and in addition to manufactured gazing balls, have made my own blue ornaments from blue half marbles and different size glass globes.




The Welding Man made me this baker's rack years ago and I've loaded it up with all kinds of glass, some of it true cobalt, most of it just "true blue." If it looks good, I stick it up there.

I also have glass shelves in my corner windows stuffed with the stuff. I love the glow of the sunlight through all that blue anytime of the day.


Even our "million dollar view" is improved with a bit of blue, isn't it? And here's what Insanely Creative Christy did for me this year for Christmas, in that corner window with all the blue glass...
And just recently I've run into a few pieces of true green and true red glass, and you just know I had to have them. Methinks I may soon need a bigger house, lol!

Thank you, Donna, for hosting your fun parties and letting us all share in the fun.

Sometimes pretty just happens.

Well, we're making the change over from Thanksgiving and autumn decor to Christmas this weekend. Insanely Creative Christy and I have a list and together we have a plan. But sometimes things just happen and you have to seize the day. I have a big, old, oval trencher with a beat up chippy paint finish and as we took things down and put things up we started throwing the odds and ends in that old bowl.....

Hey, neat!

That's looking pretty cool, almost like we planned it, but we didn't. Had to take pics anyway.

Book page Christmas balls, vine balls, shiny balls go in. Chuck in some random silvery, pearly, metallic garlands next. Hey, that looks good!

A pretty yarn angel, a tangle of tiny pearl beaded garland...and a trio of rusty tin stars. Better and better!

Hey, these pretty little string angels need a place to rest before we hang them on a tree. Put 'em in the bowl. Sweet! So many pretty things together in one place, maybe we should leave this as is?

Maybe, but probably not. We've got plans and lists and schedules. But don't worry, old beat up chippy painted trencher bowl, we'll do you good when we're all done with things.

Just sharing the spontaneity of the moment ladies, sometimes good things happen if only fleetingly. Seize the moment and ENJOY!

Beautiful, simple book page Christmas decor

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and then you know what happens.....time to decorate for Christmas, ladies! Woohoo!

I love the riotous color that comes with Christmas decorating as much as the next creative gal, and yet when Insanely Creative Christy and I started brainstorming about little display trees for our tiny craft mall booth, we decided to try a shabby chic look using, what else, vintage dictionary book pages. Here's the start of our project and we're liking this clean, white, crisp look very very much. So wintry white and elegant, we think.

Of course there's the book page decoupage balls with hand written script that say Live, Laugh, Love, Family, Joy and Peace. We'll try some smaller balls too just for a bit of balance. And don't forget the tiny paper chains. Book pages and hot glue, baby, easy peasy and cheap! The snowflakes are punched then glued together for a REALLY REALLY lovely garland, very simple and beautiful. LOVE IT! For a little extra body we suggest gluing two layers of paper together before punching. We're also trying some garlands of hearts and primitive stars. If you've got some craft punches try them out for some lovely and creative garlands for your Holiday House.

I crashed my stash for the metal star and the 18" twiggy trees, but really, everything and anything is a candidate for this classic, simple look. The paper looks so sweet against the deep green of the trees.


Christy made these gorgeous gorgeous paper flowers, they are so sweet nestled in the branches and give the whole tree a bit of needed texture. We're working on angel tree toppers made of more book pages and a couple of other surprise projects and we're having so much fun! We'll add a few more things and a bit of bling and who knows what else. We're a little giddy that way ;0)

I'll be posting the how tos for these sweet flowers starting this Saturday on the blog parties on my side bar. Please check back, they are super clever and easy to do, you'll want to make some for your own projects!

Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday, dear friends, and be sure to count your blessings during this most personal time of the year. Life is beautiful. And please, as James Taylor sings, "Shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel, things are gonna be much better if you only will."

See you on Saturday!

Gallery of Dolls on my Ruffles and Crows Doll site...

...come check it out and see if you find something you'd like to order for the Christmas season of giving or just for yourself.

http://rufflesandcrows.blogspot.com/2010/11/gallery-of-dolls.html

I'd be so glad to see your visits and comments over there! Thanks!

Thar she blows! My hair, that is.

My hair came out in clumps and handfuls yesterday. Awesome. The doctors, nurses and oncologists have been telling me to expect this for a couple of months and boy howdy, here it is. And so, I'll deal as usual and make the best of things. Here's a lame bathroom mirror shot from last Christmas a year ago.

Thin hair but lots of it.

Sort of a modified version of my high school flip.




Pinned up in back most of the time since hair in my face annoys me. Little did I know....

Short crop after first chemo thanks to my clever daughter. This length was doable and spikable and kinda sassy. I thought I'd sneak up on the bald thing by going shorter every couple of weeks.

But my hair brush tells a different story. Wow, it came out fast once it started to go. So scarves and ballcaps and crocheted beanies to the rescue. But hey, I've discovered a newfound love for dangly, pretty earrings. Yes, Insanely Creative Christy is making them for me ; 0 ) Even futzing around here at home I'll wear them cuz I like that little spark of pretty when I look in the mirror.

I knew I wouldn't be blogging about my breast cancer woes, but in keeping with my whole outlook you'll see entries like this...me making the best of the situation, hopefully with grace and humor. And you know, the more I try to keep my chin up, the better I feel, even with heavy duty chemo and meds and multiple testing and the various aches and pains. So, a good attitude is working for me, looks like I'll keep it up!

Thanks ladies for all your wonderful wishes. Bless you!

Thankful wreath and autumn display.

Despite everything, I do have alot to be thankful for this year, and I knew I wanted this display to remind me and cheer me everyday. I love the way it came out!


Here is "display central" on the end of my kitchen counter. The textured wallpaper
looks good as a background no matter what I put up there. My first round of chemo went smoothly, and it surely did not keep me from switching up my Halloween decor to Thanksgiving. If you'll recall, this is how it looked for Halloween.....

...crepe paper bats, mod podge balls, a rosette wreath, black spray painted branches and foliage plus Dollar Store knick knacks. That was fun! Now I've changed it up for autumn and Thanksgiving using a bag of Dollar Store leaves and a bit of stash shopping. So this changeover was not only fun but it was CHEAP. Win win!



I hot glued the leaves to the spray painted branches and also used them on a twig wreath that had seen better days. I added some book page leaves leftover from my garland redo and then painted a banner for the middle of the wreath saying, "Thankful." Painting the muslin with country white paint gave it enough body to curve and hold it's shape when I glued it in place. Simple, easy and almost free! A colorful spray of silk leaves is in the white vase now instead of the black foliage.


These are my Thanksgiving napkin rings made of grapevine wire, more miniature silk leaves and tiny book page leaves. A few have tiny berry sprigs. They look GORGEOUS with white dinner napkins but until I need them, they look pretty on this tree.


We've found that with a good pair of craft scissors we can cut 8 layers of paper at a time, so very quickly you can have LOTS of maple and oak leaves cut from book pages for your autumn decor. They are very versatile, I've used them ALOT this year.


I added my restyled candlestick trio to the mix. They started out as tired, old and white but now look pretty cool in gloss black, thanks to my daughter, Insanely Creative Christy. Wrapping the candles with jute and giving them some mini bows of satin ribbon dressed them right up. I kept some of my mod podged balls on the tree and added a few small grapevine balls, too. My fat fabric pumpkins stayed, as well as my little apothecary jar. Looks like all the mini Reese's cups are just about gone, lol!


Peeking out through the candlesticks is a bit of graffiti art my middle daughter, No Nonsense Mom Kelly, did for me for Mother's Day. I'll have to do a post on it all by itself, it is too cool for school! I am enjoying this bright display everyday now that the weather has turned grey, cold and wet. I have BIG plans for my Christmas display, plus lots of projects that feature my two rules....they have to look good and cost next to nothing. Can't hardly wait.

And for all you wonderful ladies who have left such wonderful comments for me, you make me teary eyed with your positive thoughts. My second round of chemo is this week and I know it's going to be a bit tougher, so I truly love and appreciate all of your support. I'm so thankful for all of you! Bless you.

Ahem. I'll be posting to the parties in my sidebar since they are so much fun. Come check them out, the creativity out in blogland is amazing.