The bathroom is nearly complete. I’m sure everyone around me will be pleased when it’s over, so they don’t have to hear any more about it. This week I managed to install the light fixture, which replaces a Home Depot $6 fixture put there by the previous owners. If you’re wondering how good a $6 fixture could possibly look, I would have to answer, "not very good." I had a before picture on my camera, but I guess the fixture was so bad that the camera decided the memory card should be re-formatted so no one would have to see it. The new one, from Schoolhouse Electric, is much, much better.

I can’t recommend them enough. They were great to do business with, and I love that they let you pick out the fixture and then pick the shade. That way you end up with a really custom, one-of-a-kind light. I thought the prices were really reasonable too, considering the care that goes into all their products. I think they have an interesting story.

Our bathroom isn’t a super fancy master suite spa sort of thing, but it feels so luxurious now. I may still look for a shower door, but I hung a tension rod and curtain, and it’s actually working out okay. There’s so much room now when I shower. Before, there was alway a shower curtain touching something or other, an elbow or a shoulder, but now I can practically put my arms all the way out before I hit a wall or curtain. And no more doing the limbo to wash my hair. The shower head is way, way above my head. Then, of course, there is the hot, bubbly baths I’ve been taking! Heaven!

I’ve still got baseboards to install, a couple towel bars to hang, and paint to touch-up, but when it’s done you better believe I’ll be showing the whole thing off right here!

Another little luxury item I’m working on:

Embroidered 100% Linen pillowcases. I think these little bluebirds are so sweet. These little iron-on transfers are from Patternbee, another business I highly recommend. This pattern is from the Dream Home set.

Some other luxuries for which I am currently grateful: my trusty iPod that holds all my music, so I can take it with me everywhere; fresh eggs whenever I want them; really good cheese.

What are some of your favorite little luxuries?

We’re still a couple weeks away from a completed bathroom, but the most important things are finally done!

The cats have been supervising the progress quite closely. Lucy says, "The toilet is solidly in place. I approve." We’ve taken a few baths now (ahh! to be able to get clean in my own home, rather than using the showers at work), but I think I’m going to have to put a door on there for the shower. My big showerhead sprays kind of wide, and I don’t think a curtain will work.

I haven’t taken pictures of the chickens for awhile, and I know you are all missing them, so here are a couple from this morning:

 
Unlike Edwin, who has become increasingly cranky with the wind, the chickens are just as sweet-natured as ever. They’ve been hunkered down under the porch and in the coop, but come running every time I come outside, hoping for something good to eat. I’ve made sure they had some good treats this week, lots of apples and a bit of brown rice, which are some of their favorites. The General is looking particularly regal these days, don’t you think? He struts around like the supreme leader, but he’s really such a sweetheart. When he is the first one there when I come out with a treat, he makes a particular clucking sound, as if to say, "Ladies, there is something fine for you to feast on, come at once!" And he waits until the majority of the hens are there before he takes any for himself. What a smart man!

And because stress levels are still quite high around here, I started another mini quilt:

I’m almost done quilting. I love making these little guys. They’re just as satisfying as completing a big quilt, but so much quicker.

These pictures are for certain family members who have been asking:

We started out at picture number one. Actually, that is after we’d stripped most of the wallpaper. In 1983, I would have loved that ivy wallpaper, but now? Not so much. Oh sure, it looks relatively unoffensive in that first picture, because there’s only a tiny bit left, but that stuff was on the top half of every single wall, and it was really a bit much in that small room. Also, the floor was a hideous linoleum and because the floor underneath was damaged, there were gaping tears in a couple spots.

I know a lot of people are not going to understand why we’re replacing our claw foot tub. Believe me, I really love the idea of a claw foot tub, but the reality, of ours, at least  is not so great. First of all, there is the hideous faux paint treatment. It’s not just ugly, but it has a lot of texture to it, so simply re-painting was never really an option (an aside: the previous owner also left us with the matching plunger. That’s right, it wasn’t enough to paint the tub, someone took the time to lovingly faux paint the handle of a toilet plunger). We would have had to strip it and then paint. If that were the only problem, then maybe we could have invested the work in it, but the inside of the tub is really stained and never looks clean. I’ve tried everything I could think of, even some pretty toxic stuff, and the only possible solution is to have the whole thing re-porceleined. Also, it’s just a pain in general to clean around it and we are both tall people, so actually taking a bath in there was never that much fun. I think I might keep it and if we add a second bathroom then it might be worth salvaging and re-using, but for now we’re going with a nice big drop-in tub with a rain showerhead. I think the subway tiles keep the vintage look going and the glass tile strip makes it a bit modern. At least I hope so. I hope it doesn’t say, "hey, these glass tiles are expensive and these cheapskates could only afford a single stripe." It might be saying that, but whatever. I really love the look of glass tile, but at $25 a square foot, that little stripe is gonna have to do for now. 

For the floor, I just went with a 20" pretend travertine. I thought about penny tile, but I don’t think that would be fun to clean, and once everything is back in place, including the small dresser and clothes hamper we keep in there it’s not not going to show hardly at all. So that’s the bathroom so far.

My stress level hasn’t gone down too much, as evidenced by the progress on the little quilt.

I’m just about done sewing the binding. I like it, but I think something is missing. Maybe I need to do more quilting or something. I don’t know. I used some leftover wool batting from the baby quilt, and I like how puffy it is. I took a picture in the sunshine so you can really see how bubbly the bubbles are:

I got a lampshade, so that’s one project down. I took my lamp with me to Lamps Plus, and tried a bunch of different styles, and I think I was right about the drum shape, and Keri was right about the burlap-y fabric. I still think I’d like a yellow shade, but I think I’d have to do that myself. Maybe one day I’ll get brave and recover this shade, but I’m enjoying this one in the meantime. It creates a really lovely glow in the room too.

I tried a white shade and it looked really horrible, it made the lamp look rather dirty.  I mean, I know it’s old and a little dinged up, but i love that about it. In fact, when the salesman came over to help me, he changed out the old harp for a new shiny brass one. Then he thought he was being so generous and offered to let me keep the new one for free. I didn’t bother trying to explain that I like the old, tarnished one much, much better, and please get that nasty shiny one off my pretty lamp. I just smiled and nodded, and changed it back as soon as I got home. I know it doesn’t even show with the lampshade on, I just don’t see why I’d need a new harp when the old one works just fine and the patina matches the lamp. There was also a lady at the store offering me advice on the shades that I was looking at, and she was all for me getting a bell-shaped shade because it was more feminine. She claimed to be an interior designer and I didn’t know how to politely tell her that despite the fact that my lamp is, in fact, quite flowery, I didn’t want it to be too frilly. I’m such a wimp that I bought my shade and walked around the perimeter of the store to get to the exit so she wouldn’t see that I ignored her advice. It’s so good to know that I can come here, to my blog and there will be you lovely readers who understand what I’m doing. Thank you!

I stuck to my Saturday plan pretty well, and finished reading Harry Potter late that night. It was a very satisfying read, and although the book has its flaws, overall I liked it. There were a couple deaths that were particularly heartbreaking, and I was feeling emotionally drained the rest of the weekend. If anyone wants to talk about it, add your thoughts to the comments, maybe we can have a book discussion there. I really need to talk about it! So if you haven’t read it yet and want to remain un-spoiled, stay away from the comments!

And now I have another request. If you have a moment, could you go here and submit my brother‘s name for unsigned Sunday? I would love to hear his music on the radio, and if he has more fans in San Diego, that means he’ll play down here more often, and I’ll get to see him more. That would make me happy! I’ll have a little thank you giveaway later this week :o)

Lucy approves of my lampshade choice too.

First of all, I’m so excited that my internet friend Yvonne (which is how I refer to her to my real life friends, who think it’s a bit weird that I exchange gifts and magazines and important things like pop-tarts and jus mix with someone I’ve never even met) is featured this month in a beautiful spread in this magazine. If you live under a rock and have never visited Yvestown, you should go there right now and see all the beautiful eye-candy on her blog. Gefeliciteerd Yvonne!

Okay, now I could use some decorating advice. I recently bought this lamp at an antique mall, and I need to get a shade for it. I’d could use some opinions from you very tasteful and talented readers. I’m thinking a nice big drum shade would be cute, but should I go with white? natural linen? I was even thinking maybe yellow, but where would I find something like that? Would I have to make it myself? The lamp sits on a table between two wing chairs that will soon be slipcovered in natural linen, and the curtains that will eventually cover the windows behind them will be white and this green fabric which I got for $5/yard. The walls will eventually be painted a very pale periwinkle blue and the settle you may have seen before is covered with this fabric and has throw pillows out of this fabric as well as the orange cushion I made and a yellow cushion I made from a couple vintage placemats. I want the room to be very cheery, light and fresh, sort of like this. I have my own inspiration photo of delphiniums. I really need to get all my ideas together in one spot. Now that the wallpaper is stripped, and I’m in the process of selling my piano, which takes up a lot of space in the room, I’m nearly ready to finally finish this room.

Now the second request for advice: I also got this awesome birdcage at the antique mall. I want to use it in the living room as well, but I’m not sure yet just what to do with it. Should I paint it? If so, should I go dark or white or a color, like turquoise or yellow? Should I leave it as is or decorate it somehow? I love what Heather has done with this birdcage, but I don’t know if I could get the same effect with silk flowers of which I’m not really a fan. I just don’t know.

Thanks in advance for anything you can come up with. And just because he’s so darn cute, I’ll leave you with a picture of Petey, who must be involved in whatever I’m doing, and couldn’t manage to stay out of the frame when I was trying to take pictures of the lamp.