Here's the bathroom before I cleaned it up & beautified it:
And after:
At least it's pretty now, right? I bought a super cheap mirror & hung it behind the sink so that we can use the sink the right way and still be able to see in the mirror.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Our bathroom may be unusable, but at least it's pretty!
Our bathrooms here have been seriously depressing me... SERIOUSLY. So I spent a few hours the other day attempting to clean ours, which was very difficult considering I can hardly even get back into the corner where the toilet is. To remind you, this is what that corner looks like:
It's so bad. Cleaning back in that corner was not fun! Anyway, so I spent a good deal of time cleaning all the dirt, dust, and other crap left over from the construction workers who never clean up after themselves, and then I got the bathroom set up! I had to buy a cabinet that sits on the floor to give us at least somewhere to put our stuff, since there isn't a single cupboard or shelf in the entire room. I wish I could have done something a little cheaper, but it was really my only option as a renter. I couldn't get anything that you have to actually install & screw into the walls. I'm still amazed that I found a cabinet small enough that it wouldn't be too much in the way. It was a miracle. I spent probably 3 hours looking around online to find something, anything that could work!
Here's the bathroom before I cleaned it up & beautified it:
And after:
At least it's pretty now, right? I bought a super cheap mirror & hung it behind the sink so that we can use the sink the right way and still be able to see in the mirror.
I love our shower curtain. We've had an ugly, dark, plain brown shower curtain for the past 4 years. Our bathroom was always so dark. I wanted a brighter, happier shower curtain and brighter colored rugs this time. I love the bright green!
And that's our tiny little cabinet! It's super tiny, but it holds what I need it to hold. And somehow, it's actually not too much in our way! That wedding picture won't be staying there for very long. I just wanted something on that side of the cabinet for now, but it will be replaced soon, probably by hairspray or something like that.
Here's the bathroom before I cleaned it up & beautified it:
And after:
At least it's pretty now, right? I bought a super cheap mirror & hung it behind the sink so that we can use the sink the right way and still be able to see in the mirror.
Monday, August 26, 2013
They finished painting our house!
They finally finished painting the outside of our house. I definitely wouldn't have chosen these colors, but anything is better than the way it used to look. Here is the before & after:
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| Before--Super ugly. |
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| After--Not as bad! |
Friday, August 23, 2013
The Playroom is Finished!! (Almost)
We still have a million things to do to get our house in order, and our bedroom is full of boxes that need unpacking, but I spent most of the day and all night finishing the playroom instead! Because that's way more fun.
There are a few things that I'd like to do before I'd call the playroom 100% finished, but most of those things won't happen for a long time, if ever. For example, in my dream world, I'd love to have a giant bean bag chair, like a lovesac, as part of the reading nook. But that will probably never happen, because those things are freakin' expensive! I also want to hang a few more pictures above the dress-up center. I have some cute photos of the girls in their dress-up clothes that I want to put in some 4x6 frames and hang up. So I'll do that someday. And I have an AWESOME poster print that I want to hang up above the bookshelf. It's in a frame, but the frame is cheap and won't work, so I have to wait until I can find a better frame. Anyway, it's a poster print of the mural on the wall of the children's section of the BYU library. I love that mural. It's got characters from nursery rhymes and lots of children's stories incorporated into it. I got the print as a gift when I was in college, and I've been planning on hanging it in a reading nook for my children ever since. So now that I have kids and a playroom with a reading area, I am going to hang it up! And it's going to be awesome.
That's my big poster print... I don't know if you can actually see any of the details, but it's awesome. Just take my word for it. :) Some of the stories that are in the mural are The Chronicles of Narnia, Shiloh, Aesop's Fables (You can see the Tortoise & the Hare)... those are just a few.
I had to order a toy organizer thing for our toys, because they looked something like this:
It was ridiculous. But now they look like this:
So pretty! So organized! I love it. I maybe was super ridiculously excited to get that organizer. I knew it was coming today, because I was tracking it online, so I was waiting for the FedEx guy all day. Naomi & I put it together as soon as it got here, and she actually helped me clean up and organize all the toys! It took almost an hour, too, and she didn't stop helping until we were done. She is a pretty great helper!
Here are some more pretty pictures! I organized our playroom into sections.
Reading Area... in my dream world, if I had a giant bean bag chair, it would go right under the window. Lots of natural light for reading! But for now, they use their animal pillows that they got from Aunt Rebekah for Christmas! Also someday I'd like to put up some fun curtains.
Because I'm a perfectionist, I had to organize the books all pretty before I could take pictures. It took me about 45 minutes. And by 10:00 tomorrow morning, they'll probably all be on the floor. But it looks pretty for now!
Kitchen Area:
Dress-up Center:
When I was teaching, one of my students gave me this framed thing as a gift after I had Naomi. Her mom made it for me. I thought the saying fit in pretty well with the dress-up center.
There's a lot of empty space on the wall above the dress-up center, so I want to hang some cute pictures of the girls in their dress-up clothes. Here are some photos I took just a couple days ago. My mom sent the girls little tiaras in the mail, so we had fun dressing up and playing with them!
Ridiculously cute, I know. :)
Ok, Art Area:
In the magazine holder above the table, I have coloring books & paper. In the 3 little buckets above the easel, I have markers, crayons, and chalk. And the chalkboard eraser is beside the chalk bucket. And it looks like the buckets are kinda crooked, so I will have to fix that! You can't see it, but the side of the easel facing the table is a chalkboard.
The art supplies are super high on the wall, but I had to put them high enough that Naomi and Aleta can't reach them even when standing on the table or the easel. They are both climbers now, and I don't want them to be able to dump all the art supplies on the floor. Eventually, I will start hanging some of their artwork on the wall there, too.
The last wall is all the rest of the toys. Someday I'd like a cuter way to store the stuffed animals, which are just in that big plastic bin right now. I saw a cute swing idea on pinterest, where the animals are all sitting on little pieces of wood that hang down from the ceiling like a swing. But that's not really practical for our house right now!
I love the playroom so much! Having all of this space for the girls to play and keep their toys has made life SO much easier. It's so nice for them to have their own space. And they have been playing with their toys so much more now that they're organized and in a room of their own.
So, who wants to come play with us?
There are a few things that I'd like to do before I'd call the playroom 100% finished, but most of those things won't happen for a long time, if ever. For example, in my dream world, I'd love to have a giant bean bag chair, like a lovesac, as part of the reading nook. But that will probably never happen, because those things are freakin' expensive! I also want to hang a few more pictures above the dress-up center. I have some cute photos of the girls in their dress-up clothes that I want to put in some 4x6 frames and hang up. So I'll do that someday. And I have an AWESOME poster print that I want to hang up above the bookshelf. It's in a frame, but the frame is cheap and won't work, so I have to wait until I can find a better frame. Anyway, it's a poster print of the mural on the wall of the children's section of the BYU library. I love that mural. It's got characters from nursery rhymes and lots of children's stories incorporated into it. I got the print as a gift when I was in college, and I've been planning on hanging it in a reading nook for my children ever since. So now that I have kids and a playroom with a reading area, I am going to hang it up! And it's going to be awesome.
That's my big poster print... I don't know if you can actually see any of the details, but it's awesome. Just take my word for it. :) Some of the stories that are in the mural are The Chronicles of Narnia, Shiloh, Aesop's Fables (You can see the Tortoise & the Hare)... those are just a few.
I had to order a toy organizer thing for our toys, because they looked something like this:
It was ridiculous. But now they look like this:
So pretty! So organized! I love it. I maybe was super ridiculously excited to get that organizer. I knew it was coming today, because I was tracking it online, so I was waiting for the FedEx guy all day. Naomi & I put it together as soon as it got here, and she actually helped me clean up and organize all the toys! It took almost an hour, too, and she didn't stop helping until we were done. She is a pretty great helper!
Here are some more pretty pictures! I organized our playroom into sections.
Reading Area... in my dream world, if I had a giant bean bag chair, it would go right under the window. Lots of natural light for reading! But for now, they use their animal pillows that they got from Aunt Rebekah for Christmas! Also someday I'd like to put up some fun curtains.
Because I'm a perfectionist, I had to organize the books all pretty before I could take pictures. It took me about 45 minutes. And by 10:00 tomorrow morning, they'll probably all be on the floor. But it looks pretty for now!
Kitchen Area:
Dress-up Center:
When I was teaching, one of my students gave me this framed thing as a gift after I had Naomi. Her mom made it for me. I thought the saying fit in pretty well with the dress-up center.
Ok, Art Area:
The art supplies are super high on the wall, but I had to put them high enough that Naomi and Aleta can't reach them even when standing on the table or the easel. They are both climbers now, and I don't want them to be able to dump all the art supplies on the floor. Eventually, I will start hanging some of their artwork on the wall there, too.
The last wall is all the rest of the toys. Someday I'd like a cuter way to store the stuffed animals, which are just in that big plastic bin right now. I saw a cute swing idea on pinterest, where the animals are all sitting on little pieces of wood that hang down from the ceiling like a swing. But that's not really practical for our house right now!
I love the playroom so much! Having all of this space for the girls to play and keep their toys has made life SO much easier. It's so nice for them to have their own space. And they have been playing with their toys so much more now that they're organized and in a room of their own.
So, who wants to come play with us?
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Lafayette Park
There is a gorgeous park not far from our house called Lafayette Park. It's part of the National Historic District of St. Louis called Lafayette Square. We took the kids today to check out the park, take a walk, and play on the playground!
You can't tell in the pictures, but instead of mulch, it has this soft, foamy-feeling ground around the playground that I LOVE. I've only seen it in one park before, but I love it. It's awesome stuff.
I am no photographer, but I tried to take some pictures of the park to show how pretty it is. The pictures don't do it justice--it is a beautiful park!
The other thing I loved about the park was the houses on the streets surrounding the park. The houses around the park were so gorgeous. I tried to take some photos, but most of them were taken out of the car window as we were driving past, so they didn't turn out too great. They're beautiful homes though!
Living in center-city St. Louis isn't all bad! :)
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| You can see the playground in the distance. It's a good-sized playground. |
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| Turtle! |
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| You can see Naomi running in the corner of the picture. She loves the playground! |
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| Climbing! |
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| There are swans! |
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| Walking down to the water to see the swans. |
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| The swans came right up to us as soon as we got to the water. They thought we had food to feed them, but they were mistaken. |
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| I love bridges. This was my favorite part of the park. |
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| It's so pretty! |
Living in center-city St. Louis isn't all bad! :)
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Our New Place
Here is a picture of our new place!
It looks awesome, right? hahaha... Don't worry... the outside appearance is deceiving--it looks much better inside. And on Monday, they are painting the outside so that it looks prettier, too. Our next-door neighbors also rent from the same guy, and their house looks pretty outside, so I think ours will look nice when it's all done!
I love our new place, but I also seriously hate it. As with every place we've lived, there are pros and cons, but this place seems to have much more extreme pros and cons. For example, a major pro--the place is huge... easily twice the size of our last place. The playroom alone is twice as big as our living room at our last house, which functioned as living room, playroom, and computer room. So the girls' playroom here is gigantic. I LOVE it.
Now for a major con... and I mean MAJOR--the bathrooms. Just everything about them. They are so terrible. I'd rather have the bathrooms from our old place, complete with the roaches (Both live and dead! When we moved into our last place, there were layers of dead roaches & other bugs in the bathroom cabinets. It was extremely disgusting.). I thought I couldn't hate a bathroom more than I hated our old bathroom, but I was wrong. These bathrooms are seriously terrible. Here are some photos to show you what I mean:
Those pictures are of the master bathroom, which is the worst of the two bathrooms. It's basically unusable. And by the way, because it's so bad, we haven't been using it at all, so I didn't bother to clean it when we moved in. So all the mess & dirt is from the construction... they don't always do a very good job of cleaning up. Anyway, what they should have done with the master bath was make it into a bathroom with a shower instead of a tub. The owner wanted it to be a full bathroom since it was the "master bathroom", but instead, he has basically made it just a tub. Because that's really the only part of the bathroom that we can use. I can barely, just barely, fit into the space to get back to the toilet. But once you're back there, you can't move. And your left side is being smashed against the wall. The sink is turned the wrong way, so you can't look in the mirror and use the sink unless you stand in front of the toilet and use the sink sideways. It's completely idiotic and ridiculous, and I wish the person who designed it could be forced to use it for even just one day to show them how stupid they are. Did you notice in the picture that they actually had to CUT A HOLE IN THE WALL to make the toilet fit into the space?! Oh, and to top it all off, there is NO storage. Not a single cabinet. Not a single shelf. Nothing. In either bathroom. And there's no space to put anything in. So. Freakin. Stupid.
The other bathroom is a TINY bit better. But it's still pretty bad. You're at least not being smashed against a wall when you sit, and the sink is turned the correct way. And the toilet fit without the need for any holes in the walls. But poor Naomi hunches over when she is trying to get to the toilet, because she has hit her head numerous times on the sink as she was trying to get to the potty. It makes me so sad! And so very angry.
Anyway, so that's the biggest negative. It's bad enough that we never would have rented this place if we had seen what the bathrooms would be like. But at least none of the other cons for the place are so bad. They are more like annoyances that we'll just get over or get used to. Or they are minor issues that I can fix by spending a few dollars at Walmart on a helpful gadget.
Well now that I've gone on and on about the terrible bathrooms, I will tell you about more of the pros for the place, before you feel too bad for us! I already mentioned the space, but seriously, it deserves being mentioned again. It's HUGE. We were used to a teeny, tiny little townhouse with absolutely no storage. We have 4 bedrooms here, a nice-sized living room and kitchen, and tons of closets. There's a closet in the living room, and in that closet is another closet. There's a closet in the big hallway/open middle area of the house. Then there's another closet in the hallway, and that closet is super big. There's a pantry/closet in the kitchen. There's a closet in each bedroom, and the girls' closet is almost a double closet. There are two closets in the master bedroom--one is just a single closet, and the other one is super big. So there is tons of storage space, which is SO nice after having almost no storage in the last place we lived!
We have granite counter tops and marble floors in the kitchen, and we also have marble floors in the bathroom. They're super pretty. And I love the windows--they're all huge. So the place is sunny and bright and happy.
The street we live on & the surrounding streets are pretty nice, and everyone around has been super friendly. There's a really cute playground 3 blocks away which was just redone. There's a huge park just a mile away, which is so pretty. I love it. And the houses on the streets around the park are GORGEOUS. I'm trying to convince Jacob to take us all for a walk around the park tomorrow after church!
Oh, the air conditioning! I love it so much. To compare, at our crappy townhouse in Columbia, our air conditioning was so bad. It would run all day and all night, and if it turned off at all, it wasn't until maybe 4 or 5 in the morning when it would FINALLY get down to the temperature we set it to. For most of our summer days, the temperature in our house would be between 75 and 78 by mid-afternoon. And the downstairs was always at least 5 degrees cooler than upstairs. So if you wanted to be comfortable at all when sleeping, you had to let the air conditioning run until the main floor was down in the 60s. Our utility bills in the summer were insanely high since the air conditioner would run all day and all night just to keep the place somewhat cool. I'm talking like we could rent another apartment for the amount we paid the utility company every month. But our air conditioner here is AMAZING! I love it so much. It turns on, and runs for a few minutes, and then turns off. And if I set it to 72, it gets the temperature to 72, and it stays there! And for the majority of the time, it's not even running. Amazing!
I wasn't going to post any photos until all of the construction was done and everything was unpacked and organized and looking awesome... but that could be a while. Maybe a long while. So I'm giving in to the people who have asked for pictures--Here are a few photos of our place looking kinda terrible! This way, when you see it all finished, you'll appreciate it more... right? :)
Here are the kitchen counters and floor... I just took a picture of the corner of the counter, because all of our counters are still covered with boxes/things that I have to put away. And I haven't bothered sweeping or mopping yet since construction guys have been coming in and out all day every day, so the floor is a mess. But it's pretty, huh?
The last room I tried to take pictures of was the playroom. I have been cleaning that room twice a day, but it is still a disaster area. We have nothing to organize toys, so they all get thrown into a bin, which just gets dumped again 20 minutes after I clean it. I plan on getting something to organize the toys as soon as I can.
I hung my PLAY signs, but they are bugging me. One, they look so small. They're each 10-inch squares, which seemed so big when I was making them, but on the huge wall, they look kinda silly. And I think I need a 5th square, to make it more even. Oh well!
Anyway, there you go! Give me another week or two, and we'll have the place looking awesome. I hope. :)
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| The big black rectangles are not part of the picture... I added them to cover up the numbers! |
It looks awesome, right? hahaha... Don't worry... the outside appearance is deceiving--it looks much better inside. And on Monday, they are painting the outside so that it looks prettier, too. Our next-door neighbors also rent from the same guy, and their house looks pretty outside, so I think ours will look nice when it's all done!
I love our new place, but I also seriously hate it. As with every place we've lived, there are pros and cons, but this place seems to have much more extreme pros and cons. For example, a major pro--the place is huge... easily twice the size of our last place. The playroom alone is twice as big as our living room at our last house, which functioned as living room, playroom, and computer room. So the girls' playroom here is gigantic. I LOVE it.
Now for a major con... and I mean MAJOR--the bathrooms. Just everything about them. They are so terrible. I'd rather have the bathrooms from our old place, complete with the roaches (Both live and dead! When we moved into our last place, there were layers of dead roaches & other bugs in the bathroom cabinets. It was extremely disgusting.). I thought I couldn't hate a bathroom more than I hated our old bathroom, but I was wrong. These bathrooms are seriously terrible. Here are some photos to show you what I mean:
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| See the toilet hiding back there in the corner? |
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| Notice that the sink is turned the wrong way. |
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| So ridiculously cramped. |
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| They actually had to cut a hole in the wall to get the toilet to fit. |
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| Idiots. |
Those pictures are of the master bathroom, which is the worst of the two bathrooms. It's basically unusable. And by the way, because it's so bad, we haven't been using it at all, so I didn't bother to clean it when we moved in. So all the mess & dirt is from the construction... they don't always do a very good job of cleaning up. Anyway, what they should have done with the master bath was make it into a bathroom with a shower instead of a tub. The owner wanted it to be a full bathroom since it was the "master bathroom", but instead, he has basically made it just a tub. Because that's really the only part of the bathroom that we can use. I can barely, just barely, fit into the space to get back to the toilet. But once you're back there, you can't move. And your left side is being smashed against the wall. The sink is turned the wrong way, so you can't look in the mirror and use the sink unless you stand in front of the toilet and use the sink sideways. It's completely idiotic and ridiculous, and I wish the person who designed it could be forced to use it for even just one day to show them how stupid they are. Did you notice in the picture that they actually had to CUT A HOLE IN THE WALL to make the toilet fit into the space?! Oh, and to top it all off, there is NO storage. Not a single cabinet. Not a single shelf. Nothing. In either bathroom. And there's no space to put anything in. So. Freakin. Stupid.
The other bathroom is a TINY bit better. But it's still pretty bad. You're at least not being smashed against a wall when you sit, and the sink is turned the correct way. And the toilet fit without the need for any holes in the walls. But poor Naomi hunches over when she is trying to get to the toilet, because she has hit her head numerous times on the sink as she was trying to get to the potty. It makes me so sad! And so very angry.
Anyway, so that's the biggest negative. It's bad enough that we never would have rented this place if we had seen what the bathrooms would be like. But at least none of the other cons for the place are so bad. They are more like annoyances that we'll just get over or get used to. Or they are minor issues that I can fix by spending a few dollars at Walmart on a helpful gadget.
Well now that I've gone on and on about the terrible bathrooms, I will tell you about more of the pros for the place, before you feel too bad for us! I already mentioned the space, but seriously, it deserves being mentioned again. It's HUGE. We were used to a teeny, tiny little townhouse with absolutely no storage. We have 4 bedrooms here, a nice-sized living room and kitchen, and tons of closets. There's a closet in the living room, and in that closet is another closet. There's a closet in the big hallway/open middle area of the house. Then there's another closet in the hallway, and that closet is super big. There's a pantry/closet in the kitchen. There's a closet in each bedroom, and the girls' closet is almost a double closet. There are two closets in the master bedroom--one is just a single closet, and the other one is super big. So there is tons of storage space, which is SO nice after having almost no storage in the last place we lived!
We have granite counter tops and marble floors in the kitchen, and we also have marble floors in the bathroom. They're super pretty. And I love the windows--they're all huge. So the place is sunny and bright and happy.
The street we live on & the surrounding streets are pretty nice, and everyone around has been super friendly. There's a really cute playground 3 blocks away which was just redone. There's a huge park just a mile away, which is so pretty. I love it. And the houses on the streets around the park are GORGEOUS. I'm trying to convince Jacob to take us all for a walk around the park tomorrow after church!
Oh, the air conditioning! I love it so much. To compare, at our crappy townhouse in Columbia, our air conditioning was so bad. It would run all day and all night, and if it turned off at all, it wasn't until maybe 4 or 5 in the morning when it would FINALLY get down to the temperature we set it to. For most of our summer days, the temperature in our house would be between 75 and 78 by mid-afternoon. And the downstairs was always at least 5 degrees cooler than upstairs. So if you wanted to be comfortable at all when sleeping, you had to let the air conditioning run until the main floor was down in the 60s. Our utility bills in the summer were insanely high since the air conditioner would run all day and all night just to keep the place somewhat cool. I'm talking like we could rent another apartment for the amount we paid the utility company every month. But our air conditioner here is AMAZING! I love it so much. It turns on, and runs for a few minutes, and then turns off. And if I set it to 72, it gets the temperature to 72, and it stays there! And for the majority of the time, it's not even running. Amazing!
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| Our beautiful thermostat! |
Here are the kitchen counters and floor... I just took a picture of the corner of the counter, because all of our counters are still covered with boxes/things that I have to put away. And I haven't bothered sweeping or mopping yet since construction guys have been coming in and out all day every day, so the floor is a mess. But it's pretty, huh?
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| Marble floors! |
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| Pretty counter tops! |
I hung my PLAY signs, but they are bugging me. One, they look so small. They're each 10-inch squares, which seemed so big when I was making them, but on the huge wall, they look kinda silly. And I think I need a 5th square, to make it more even. Oh well!
Anyway, there you go! Give me another week or two, and we'll have the place looking awesome. I hope. :)
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