Fixer upper - The 1st floor bath

When we bought our new house, we knew there would be a lot of work involved, even before being able to move in. The previous owners had not bothered with much renovations beyond painting so a lot of rooms we still much in the same state as in 1985 when the house was built. And then the house sat empty for almost 4 years. We set priorities to having at least one functional full bathroom and a serviceable kitchen. 

  

This is what the first floor bathroom looked like when we first toured the house

First a bit of demo: 

Remove the old vanity, toilet and fixtures, peel the grimy glued on vinyl flooring 

then fix the holes

We had a good laugh when we found a patch of the original wall paper behind the toilet tank:

Space Invaders style :)

Then new floor and fresh paint,  new vanity and backsplash

Tada !!

 

We did keep the light fixture above the vanity after a good scrub of course

New bathroom for under $1000

Quiltspiration 365 - Free motion walk in Boston

There are so many aspects to quilting, design, fabric selection, piecing, and of course quilting. The quilting can be as simple as straight lines, a stipple or complex as feathers and other motifs. During our New England vacation, I took many pictures that I will use in future projects, many of them in unlikely places. You can find your inspiration everywhere:

A tin tile in a bakery

A window in Boston's North End

Woodwork in an old whaling ship

Ultra modern building materials on the New England Aquarium

The sidewalk near Fenway Park

or even jellyfish ...

Visit the Quiltspiration 365 bloggers:

Kitty: http://nightquilter.com

Chelsey: http://www.niniandthesea.blogspot.com

Laura : http://www.niniandthesea.blogspot.com

Jennifer : http://neverjustjennifer.blogspot.com

Brenna : http://www.beknitpicky.com

Cheryl : http://sweetdreamsquilting.blogspot.com

Jessica: http://sweetdreamsquilting.blogspot.com

Cathy : http://www.aquiltingchick.blogspot.com

Sarah : http://www.aquiltingchick.blogspot.com

Quiltspiration 365 : A day of wonder and wander

We are on vacation and taking a trip to Boston.  We left Maryland Friday and stopped in Poughkeepsie NY overnight. Our firmed up plan only included a visit to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome for Saturday afternoon. So in the morning, we did a little research and ended up visiting the FDR Springwood Estate and the Vanderbilt "Hyde Park" mansion before heading to the airfield.

The grounds near FDR's house were absolutely stunning. A true color overload.

At the presidential library, a floor mosaic made me smile

And the Vanderbilt estate was full of patterns, geometrical arrangements

interlocked wit more organic patterns

Even the ventilation grates were pretty 

Not to mention the amazing  carved stone patterns

Beauty is everywhere, in nature as much as in man-made wonders.