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You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

This post has been a long time in coming. Even though I don’t consider the bathroom totally “finished,” I’ve reached that plateau where I’ve made all possible updates that don’t require waiting and saving lots of money, two things I’m not great at.

BEFORE:

So, here are some “before” shots. The first two are from the real estate listing, and the third is after we had moved in — the only changes I had made were hanging a new curtain and putting a plant on top of the cupboard.

Sometimes I feel like an asshole for complaining about a perfectly fine and functional room. I’m pretty fortunate and privileged to own a home. It’s great that we haven’t had any plumbing issues, knock on wood, and overall, I try to stay grateful. Now that that’s out the way…

Pam Kueber of Retro Renovation (one of my favorite blogs) has a thing about not calling things “ugly.” In that spirit, I’ll describe this bathroom, as it was, as “deeply not my style.” You can’t necessarily tell from the pictures, but the brown tile in the tub surround is also used on the floor. My first impression was that it screams early ’00s faux-Italian chic, everything brown, wrought iron and oil rubbed bronze with tufted maroon valance over window. I don’t think decor is inherently bad because it’s dated, but I do think we can all agree that in the world of home decor, there’s this 20-30 year waiting period before “dated” becomes cool and retro. I also appreciate “dated” more when it matches the style and time period of the house. Regardless, this is a moot point because the tile is staying for a while.

AFTER:

Knowing that the sink, tub, and especially tile weren’t going anywhere soon, my tactic was to distract from them and make the brown tile fade into the background. I added pops of red and a lot of terra cotta to try to pull off a sort of warm, boho, desert-y look. The biggest changes are obviously the walls (brown to pale pink), and the replacement of the white cupboard with some live-edge wood open shelves, a new light fixture, and new mirror. I also do think the shower curtain is pulling a lot of weight in here in terms of making the room feel more fresh and modern.

Here’s another B&A from a different angle:

Some people may wonder why I took down the cupboard. Well, it really was not anything special. It was a basic MDF thing; the crystal knobs were something I added in an early attempt to make it seem a little nicer. We also were not keeping much inside, as the bathroom that houses our actual toiletries and things is upstairs. I’m not super gung-ho about open shelves in every situation, but I thought they would work well here to give the illusion of more space and showcase more plants and colorful objects. The wicker basket is full of extra TP, bath bombs, tampons, and the like.

As you can see in the “befores,” one of the shades was missing from the vanity light. We replaced it with a new fixture that’s somewhat trendy, but still fairly classic. It was also only $40! I also opted to uninstall the oval mirror. The way it stuck out from the wall seemed to make the room look smaller, despite the fact that it was larger than the new mirror. We have no need for a medicine cabinet in this bathroom, so I bought a cheap round hanging mirror with a wooden beaded cord(?).

I had a bad time installing the shelves. The walls are plaster and difficult to drill into past a certain point, and I was terrified of hitting plumbing or wires. Fortunately I did not. After making a billion holes and then patching them, I got the shelves up and am very happy with them.

SOURCES:

Paint: Clark & Kensington (Ace brand) – Delicate Porcelain 12B-1

Shower curtain: Society6.com (They have the coolest shower curtains! You will pay, but worth it).

Mirror: At Home

Vanity light: Menards

Towels: Target

Shelves: World Market

Planters & vases: Mix of vintage, Target & Ikea

Basket & containers: Target

I chose to use two really small framed pieces on the walls so as not to overwhelm the small space. One is an Art Nouveau illustration I cut out of an old college textbook, and the other is one of my favorite poems, “Karma Repair Kit” by Richard Brautigan, which I printed out to the size of a frame I already had. To me, it has a very “self care” message that seemed nice for a bathroom).

Bonus Ozzie the cat:

As a final thought, here is some inspiration for the beautiful 1936 (year our house was built) bathroom I dream of: classic white square or subway tile with black trim, hexagon or basketweave floor tile, and pedestal sink. Not pictured, a gorgeous clawfoot tub.

(I can’t find original source of this image).

In terms of what’s next for the house, I’m getting the itch to paint the dining room, but I think my next post might actually be about the basement bathroom or guest room.

OK Bye!

It’s been just over 6 months in the house, and while the first few months were a blur of unpacking, painting, and hemorrhaging money on furnishings, I slowed down over the summer and started enjoying a more sustainable pace. As an aside, it’s funny how certain things that were so abhorrent to me on day 1 (the kitchen backsplash) have faded into the background and are now solidly in the “living with it (for now)” category.

I’ve been watching a lot of HGTV shows lately. I know they’re all scripted fantasies, but there is something addictive about watching houses transform, seemingly in a matter of weeks, on $100K budgets. (There is also fun to be had in snarking at the whiny homeowners and screaming at the television because they’re gutting another beautiful vintage bathroom). Anyway, until we have that kind of disposable income, we’ll be happy with paint and décor as updates.

These “before” pictures were obviously taken with great attention and care… 😉

On the left is moving day. The shelf on the wall was left by the previous owners. On the right is a snapshot of post-paint but pre-rug, curtains, and couch upgrade.

AFTER:

Our cat Ozzie graciously models.

It’s not perfect — there are still things that bother me a little. There are pieces of furniture that can eventually be upgraded and things I wish I’d done a bit differently. But after I added a few fall themed decorative touches, I was pretty dang happy with the room and figured it was time to take a few pictures.

We painted the room and crown molding lighter grays, but kept the theme of a darker shade on the molding. We had painted the entire room in a color I picked out without sampling (one of my flaws is charging ahead impatiently without proper preparations), but the next day in the morning light, it was wrong — way too blue. It pained me to admit I’d messed up, but the color would have driven me crazy. I’m glad I bit the bullet and painted over it. After another trip to the store for another gallon of paint, we found a good shade that’s not too warm, not too cold.

Other than the paint and removing the wall shelf left over from the previous owners, my only updates have been furnishings. I think I struck the balance I was going for: Well considered design and knick-knacks, a place for everything and everything in its place, but still cozy and inviting. The color scheme sort of emerged over time. I love the warm colors against the gray walls. I also tried to move away from heavily mid-century and put together a slightly more eclectic look that I think works with the style of the house. I culled a few pieces that were a little “first apartment” looking, and I feel like this is our first, real-live-adult living room.

I created this mantle garland by drilling holes into a bunch of shell-on hazelnuts I ordered online. Throw in a few gourds, and my fall decorating is complete! I like the garland so much I think I’ll keep it up through the winter.

Regrets? I sometimes wish I’d have saved up for this rug in an 8×10 instead of a 6×9. It would have looked nicer and less “static” fully underneath the sectional and accent chairs. But area rugs are hella expensive and I’m impatient.

I bought a new curtain rod for the main window(s) and hung it higher and wider than the original, but it could probably still be even higher up. I don’t follow the popular idea that the proper rod height is an inch from the ceiling, but I think a few inches higher would be perfect.

Not a regret, but on our list for the future: We’ve talked about a larger shelf for the records. I also think that built-in or built-in-looking shelves on either side of the fireplace would look amazing.

I’m also considering a nice gallery wall above the couch with lots of reds, yellows, oranges, and pinks in lieu of the two side-by-side framed pieces.

Sources:

Couch: Apt2B
Rug: Overstock.com
Modern orange/red chair: At Home
Vintage orange rocker: Estate Sale
Coffee and side tables: Estate Sale
Mirror above mantle: Estate Sale
Mirror by records/door: Antique Store
Floor lamp by couch: Target
Table lamp: Garage Sale
Floor lamp by records: Thrift Store
Record shelf: Free from a previous job
Rattan ottomans: Thrift Store
Bookshelves: Mike’s college housemate (lol)

Omaha map: Mike’s brother-in-law (originally an antique store?)
Special Motor Oil Print: Etsy shop Freedrugs (an homage to Steve Martin’s “The Jerk!”)
Quilt on couch: This is an amazing weighted blanket made by Mike’s Aunt. I snuggle up under it pretty much every night.

Not quite everything, but I’m stopping there before this gets too ridiculous.

Until next time! I’ll probably show the dining room or maybe bathrooms next.