It's Great To Be Home

Reader Re-Do: A Masterful Master Bath

December 13, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 9 Comments

Have I told you guys lately how talented you are? Well, you are! Keep on reading for the proof. :)

A few weeks ago I started emailing with a lovely reader, Shannon U., who just so happens to spruce up houses with the help of her handy hubby. Check out what she had to say about one of their recent renovations:

This is the master bath in our house we just moved from. It was a HOT mess!

The bathtub had originally leaked under the shower and ruined both the shower and floor tile. It started to grow mold. We didn’t like the layout anyway, so we took the opportunity to rearrange while we updated. We GUTTED it! Hubby and I are pretty much total DIY’ers. We only hire out plumbing and masonry. Everything else is all us.

Originally the toilet was smashed right up against the tub and was almost unusable! We moved it to the opposite wall next to the vanities. Hubby laid new 16″ marazzi tile from Home Depot. We bought the vanity with granite attached for only $600 on Craigslist.

We used white solid surface material for the inside of the shower because I was sick of scrubbing shower grout! The glass for the shower was not expensive because we used a “mostly” frameless look with just a couple of clips. It made the cost less than half of a “true” frameless.

Hubby did all the tile work and I put a metallic brown finish on the walls. I’m the paint gal. :) We got the tub from a salvage yard and had it redone for about $350. The tubs are plentiful at most junkyards, the hard part is finding 4 feet that match! We had the inside sandblasted and I painted the exterior metallic bronze. I painted the walls a metallic bronze to match.

Hubby installed beadboard around the bathroom to go with the cottage look of the tub. I guess I was going for a PB inspired look. All faucets and light fixtures were bought from Overstock.com. Total cost for everything including lots of plumbing was just under $5000. Not bad for a totally brand new master bath!

Didn’t Shannon and her hubby knock it out of the park? And talk about serious bang for your buck – a bathroom of that quality could easily cost 2-3 times more than they spent! What’s your favorite feature of their renovation?

P.S. I announced the giveaway winner this morning – click here to see if it was you!

Reader Re-Do: Farrah’s Pimped Piping

September 22, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 7 Comments

Nothing makes my day more than hearing from a reader that has given one of my projects a whirl. Seriously, it makes me freakishly happy.

So, I was freakishly happy the other day when an email arrived in my inbox from Farrah, letting me know that she had added a fun and custom detail to her daughter’s nursery by painting the piping of her Ikea Ektorp chair, like I did here. Here’s what she had to say:

I thought you might like to see my 2 year old daughter’s finished chair . . . It WAS time consuming to do, but I think well worth the effort! She chose the orange. (I do not, however, recommend trying to paint with said toddler in the room). Thanks very much for the inspiration!

Sophie’s chair will continue to be a well-loved reading spot (she’s 2 but you can hardly pry the books out of her hands most days) – but now it’s just so much prettier. :-) ~ Farrah

The painted piping adds so much character and definition to the slipcover, which can otherwise tend to look a little shapeless.

Didn’t Farrah do a great job? And I love the pop of orange that her daughter picked for the piping. I’m thinking she’s a little designer in the making!

If you’ve been inspired to try out a project that you saw on IGTBH, please just shoot me an email with a few pictures and your commentary. I’d love to feature you!

Show Off Your Space {3rd Edition}

August 18, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 5 Comments

Without further ado, here’s the latest edition of Show Off Your Space, a series here on IGTBH dedicated to showing off you guys and the fabulous things that you’ve done with your homes! {If you missed the first two editions, you can find them here and here.}

Space #1

{ Nodakademic }

Welcome to our master bedroom. Here’s what I love about it. First, it’s the only room in our house that we’ve painted “for us.” We do like all of the colors we have used in our home, but most have been chosen with the knowledge that we will not live here forever. In contrast to the otherwise un-shocking, future-buyer-pleasing color scheme of our home, this room is um, dark orange {which is one of my husband’s favorite colors}. In a climate where the outside world is gray and frozen for half the year, it’s nice to have this bold, warm retreat.

Additionally, the furniture in this room makes me happy! Such a mix of old and new. I love our big fancy sleigh bed, flanked by cheapo little nightstands I bought online and assembled myself {they match the bed surprisingly well, too!}. While I generally stay away from gold and brass, the table lamp – freshened recently with a crisp white shade from Traget – is one of a pair my parents had in their formal living room in the mid-1980s. And as another throwback to my past, let me tell you a little about the pièce de résistance: our massive 11 x 8 area rug is over 20 years old and was used in several of the homes I lived in growing up. It really ties the room together. :) ~ The Nokadamic, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Space #2

{ Little Blue Chairs }

My favorite place in my house is my kitchen, because it was done all by me {smiles}. I knew I was unable to do a full-on remodel, so I decided to have fun with it, bringing in unexpected color and fabrics. It is just a joy to be able to wake up and get my coffee in the morning. ~ Laurie @ Little Blue Chairs

Space #3

{ Aisle to Aloha }

My favorite space in our home is our colorful living room. It seems like our lives revolve around that lime green couch. It was here that I spent many hours alone {blogging, reading and vegging in general!} while my husband was deployed last winter. In fact, I’m pretty sure there was a big dent in one of the cushions for awhile there! Now that he’s home, we love catching up on our days here and snuggling in for a movie every now and then. I painted the art above the couch as my own version of Crate & Barrel’s Classical Symmetry Prints {which I love but don’t have the budget for} and the shelves are filled with treasures and trinkets from our travels together. I love this series and look forward to seeing more editions soon! ~ Lindsay

Great job, yet again! Thanks to The Nodakademic, Laura and Lindsay for opening your homes to us! Be sure stop by their blogs to tell them hello if you get the chance. :)

If you’d like to be included in the next edition of Show Off Your Space, here’s how to join in the fun:

~ Pick the very best photo of your favorite part of your home. This is your home’s glamour shot – that doesn’t mean your house needs to be magazine perfect {whose is?} but please make sure the photo isn’t too dark or grainy and that it’s as high resolution as possible {I like to aim for 500 x 375}.

~ *NEW* Include a “before” shot. Due to popular demand, this series will now be including “before” shots along with the “afters”!

~ Write up just a few sentences describing the photos and what makes that part of your home special. Please include your first name, city and state. And if you’re a blogger, please include your url so I can link back to you!

~ Send me an email with “Show Off Your Space” in the subject line. Include your photos {just one “before” and one “after,” please} and description.

And if you’ve already been featured, feel free to snag this button for your sidebar and link back to your feature: