Rub a dub dub

It was time to make the bathroom pretty and make it ours. In addition to the issues with the tiles, the bathtub had a built-in non-slip treatment that someone tried to clean off, but it simply resulted in gross. (Don't even look at the caulking job.)

I was not sad to see the tile go away. And look at how solid the structure was underneath:

We wanted something classic and a bit personal. We decided on subway tiles, but we wanted something beyond just plain white subway tile. One day it came to me: if we wanted subway tile, why not make it look like a subway? And not just any subway, but why not the Paris Metro? This would fit the bill perfectly: personal but classic. We took the Metro to the Blanche stop when we were in Paris the day we got engaged. Ah, romance!

Here's how it all turned out:

It's lovely and white and clean and exactly what I wanted. A few things that make the difference: dark grout, beveled tile, and the custom-made sign. I'm so happy with how it turned out!

The bathroom gets its update

The bathroom was functional and had some good things and some not-so-good things about it. Here's the sink and floor:

Things we like: the marble top and legs, the floor, the general lay-out. The floor is in decent shape, and I love the legs of the countertop. But someone got crazy for gold, which I just can't understand. The gold/brass/gross metal sink is terrible. Not only does it not match the beautiful silver legs, but it never looks clean. Just a nightmare.

The grossest: the tub and shower area. The tiles were practically falling out, which led to water sometimes leaking into the kitchen.

The thing with home repairs is that you come home after a day of work and you are faced with mysteries:

Stay tuned to see what happened next!

Open a new door

Some projects are small, but make a big difference. This is the case for our garage door.

We have a separate garage. It's a nice garage, but the door was possibly original. The spring wasn't working, so I could barely lift it on my own (and I was always afraid it would come crashing back down on me.) It had been repaired (poorly) more than once. (Below is the only picture I took of the old door. Trust me, it was in bad shape.)

We have since gotten a lovely new door that I can actually open with just one hand! It's a little thing, but it makes a huge difference.

One year (more or less) later

I've neglected this space (the blog, not the house), but, after a long winter, I am back. A few more projects have been crossed off the list, and it's

Unpacking is somewhat done (don't look in the basement), so the house has gone from spaces like this:

To this:

The house has truly become our home. I feel so lucky that we found this house. Here's a bonus, we're only blocks away from this:

Painting the town

The painting is done and it's glorious. The living room has gone from the multicolored crazy (yes, they painted around the corner cabinet):

To one color (parchment white, if you're into that sort of thing):

The foyer is crack-free and wonderful:

The kitchen is now all one color:

The bedroom had gone from this:

To an actual color:

I'm planning to take better pictures once we're somewhat unpacked. For now, we climb over boxes to try to get a decent angle on it all.

The heat is on!

Okay, the heat isn't really on, but it could be! Although poor Fred was stripped of his asbestos coat, he was still not up-to-date. Sadly, we needed to let him go. (Not so sadly, we also got to get rid of his associated oil tank.) We also got a new hot water heater, so toasty showers for all!

Look at how lovely the new pipes are:

We miss Fred, though. He will be remembered fondly.

What's going on?

This is my office. And we haven't even moved the stuff from the apartment.

Sigh. But we're getting there.