#13 - A new look for the bathroom

It's no secret that I've spent most of my summer on repairing damage in my house from ice dams last winter.  It took me about 7 weeks to repair plaster and repaint 6 different rooms in my house.  I'm happy with how they turned out, but I also didn't really change much about the decor while I was working on them - a different shade of paint in 2 rooms, that's it.

However, while I was on a roll with all of the paint stuff out, I tackled redecorating the room that was actually ON my DayZero list ... namely my tiny bathroom.  I've been dissatisfied with the look of this room since I purchased my home ten years ago, but inertia and other projects kept me from really doing anything about it.  Here's a shot of how it looked ...

Before!

You can see there was a huge linen closet to the left just inside the door (what you can't see it that it totally blocked the only heat vent into the room - which meant it was freezing cold most of the year).  I recently had new windows installed and the new white was a bit of a glaring contrast to the old green painted woodwork - and not in a good way.  While I'm on the subject, I just have to say ... who decides to paint their beautiful woodwork dark grey-green anyhow??  You can't really tell in this photo, but the green of the woodwork doesn't match the green on the wallpaper which doesn't match the green in the floor ... and none of them matched the green in the wallpaper border.  I'm not a southwestern theme girl, so the border really didn't do much for me ... I took this photo after I had started taking things out to paint, but I did have a print of wolves on the wall ... mostly because it was a piece of artwork that I had when I moved in that didn't seem to go with any other rooms. 

After

 

My first step was to move the linen closet out permanently!  Muchos gracias to my friend Peter who took a few minutes out of his day to help me carry it up two flights of stairs.  Then I used my friend Anne's steamer to get the wallpaper off.  A combination of vinegar and water in the steamer worked great, but the bathroom does still smell a bit of pickles.  Then much repainting ... the woodwork took 7 coats to cover the green.  I decided to hang photos that I have taken on the walls along with a print I got in Paris that I call my diet inspiration photo - it's really the Winged Victory statute.  Lightening the color of the walls gives the room a much brighter feel.  I bought a narrow wire rack that I can put towels and a few other things on without blocking the heat vents (I look forward to a much warmer winter bathroom experience).  And here's the final result, more space, more light, and much more of a reflection of my personality.

#97 - Post cards!!!

When I was making my DayZero list, I came across a fun site called PostCrossing - where you send and receive postcards from random individuals across the globe.  I love getting mail and think its fun to see a bit of the world, so I knew that this was something that I needed to try. 

Originally, I had planned to go for a month and see how I liked it; however, it's been two weeks now, and I'm hooked.  I thought that I would be all about getting the cards, but I'm having just as much fun sending them out.  (Which is probably a good thing since I haven't received very many yet).  It's surprising how much of a picture you can make in your mind based on the few sentences that each person writes in their profile.  And I'm having fun sorting through the postcards that I have on hand looking for one that I think each recipient will like.

My first card - thanks Krissy!

At this point, I've sent out 12 postcards - 7 of which have made it to their address - and received 2.  Ironically, the first postcard that I got in the mail came from less than 100 miles away.  However, over half of the postcards that I've mailed have been going to another country.  You can see whether the cards you've sent have been registered by the addressee or if they are still in transit; however, you can't see if your name has been given out to someone else to send a postcard - so finding one in the mailbox is a fun surprise!

If you are like me and love to find something personal (not just bills or junk mail) in your mail, I'd recommend giving this site a try.  Everyone has been very friendly and it's a great way to make little connections all over!