Bathroom Cabinet Reveal

Isn't she pretty?  We just love her more than we ever could have believed and can't believe we waited two years to get her in.  Oh well, waiting makes the heart grow fonder, right?

And here she is all filled up (so nice to finally have some toiletries, towels & extra T.P. live in the bathroom).

I spoke to our carpenter Alan about what he recommended for paint.  We have previously used Miller paints (a local paint company) acro pure paint for our doors and trim.  The color (a nice creamy white) that we have used throughout the house is Polar White.  While we like that the acro line is low VOC, I keep hearing things about low VOC paints not holding up long term.  I have also noticed that our kitchen cabinets have not held up as well as I would have hoped after 5 years.  So while I like low VOC, I think that I like long term durability better.
Alan recommended going to Miller or Sherwin Williams and asking about their latex paint line that has similar properties (hardness, durability) as oil paint.  When I went into Miller, they recommended either their Evolution (the best) or acrinamel (also good).  And when I heard that the Evolution was 20% off, making it less than a dollar more than the acrinamel for a gallon, I was sold.  I got the 20% off after signing up to be a member (FREE!)-basically they will keep track of all of your paints and also send you coupons AND you get 10% off each time you come in.  The gallon came in just shy of $40 (a lot, but worth it if it lasts a long time and doesn't chip) and I had a coupon for $10 off of $50 (I linked it for you and it doesn't expire until the end of the month). So I got $10 worth of paint supplies for free!

just after Ben told me something along the lines of "more paper mama"

They recommended a thin coat of primer along with 2-3 thin coats (it dries more slowly than typical latex so drips might form quite a while after you are done with the coat) of the Evolution.  I put on 3 coats. It is a nice thick paint so you have to be careful not to slop it on.

we've just started potty training-several successes so far!

I am so glad that spring is in the air-it inspired Steve to get the yard ready for spring, got us out on a hike and got me in the purging and organizing mood!

Now we just need to put on hardware but first we are hoping to find stoppers for the hinges so that the hardware won't dent up our door trim since the doors knock into the door trim  when they are opened all of the way.

We just got this print of R&R market in the mail (used to be in our neighborhood but now Fire on the Mountain (awesome little pub) is at this location).  It was a photo that I had a friend snap a couple months before the sign was taken down and that my sister-in-law and I photo-shopped together.  I had a living social deal to print it on canvas.  I can't wait to hang it in the bathroom but first we need an exhaust fan!

The cabinet is in

Well, I proved to not follow through with sharing photos of our new cabinet on Thursday, but here is proof that it is in!  and we are thrilled.  What a relief to have it in after 2 years of an ugly open gap in our bathroom. 

Here is a picture of what our bathroom niche looked like just last week (with no plans to change it anytime in the near future)

Alan stacked the three cabinets boxes to make one big cabinet (I helped hold the top two up while he slid in the bottom)...a rather precarious thing but we did this to avoid needing to remove any door trim or tile

shelves with veneered edge

inside of cabinet

and here are a couple snippets of what is there now.  Not really sure how to photograph something this tall in such a tiny bathroom-I will play around when it is done.

And Alan also made the trim and door for our laundry chute which I absolutely love. 

I am over half way done staining and painting and hope to be finished tomorrow (will then let it cure and harden up for a couple days before loading the cabinet and installing the chute door & trim).  My fingers are covered in white paint as proof.

Ben enjoying the sprinkle of snow we got March 1st

Built-in Updates

It has been quite awhile since I have updated on our built-ins. They were finished being built in early Spring (our contractor was fabulous). He did most assembly off-site and did the final details and installs in our home (not surprised by how many little adjustments that we can't even tell are there were needed being that our almost 100 year old walls are not level). We were left to hours of staining and still need to install glass door panels as well as re-install that electrical outlets. We are debating on stained glass and regular glass but are unsure based on the price of stained glass-may just do regular glass for now and add stained as the budget and design creativity allow in the future. Fireplace tile has finally been delivered and is set for install next week.