$38 saved and I didn't hurt the environment!

My mama and I have been itching to check out our local Habitat for Humanity Restore, so today we went. I found the exact sconces I've been ooo-ing and ahhhh-ing for my bathroom. (new from store)They are technically outdoor lights, but I love the vintage look they have. I have a 1920's boat house thing going on in my bathroom (you know minus the finished tile and walls and floors... so I have the accessories) The best part was the price. I picked these bad boys up at a dollar a piece! They are $20 new, so I saved $38. Oh yeah, I'm good!
Here they are with my mermaid soap dish, who is 1920's reproduction cast iron. (The soap is Chamomile scented olive oil soap I bought in a Greek community in Florida... best soap ever!)Here are my seahorse hooks, which my loving husband hung up for me a week or so ago. As you can see they will get a lot of use!

This is the "classy" tube lighting my fabulous new sconces will be replacing eventually. (The sconces aren't actually new... I think they were outside before because they are a little weathered, but all the better for it. I couldn't have given them such a natural patina if I tried!)

Also, I had mentioned we have the roof redone. They did an awesome job. Greg even came by on the 4th of July because our tar paper was coming up a bit, and he was worried it would rain. I was really suprised by his dedication. The roof is beautiful. This picture does no do it justice.

...but such it is with cell phone pictures... They put in a ridge vent as well, which is already keeping the house cooler. The a.c. is running about half as much (YAY!)

However, I really do not like the gray I was painting the house with the new tan roof. I am thinking of painting a color like yellow or blue. Any thoughts? Maybe a light buttery yellow with a blue door? *ponders*

And also, I told you Justin was going to start laying the floor we ordered... Here's what it looks like after one day of work.
He pulled up what he did before and put an under-lament down. I can't wait to have one continuous floor!!! It is going to be so beautiful when it's done, and it shouldn't take him much longer. Also it will be wonderful to set up our living and dining rooms and actually be able to use them :) It makes me giddy! I want to get to the fun part already.

That's what we have going on right now... it's kind of a lot all at once, but it's going to be so worth it. I can see the big picture, and our house is gonna be amazing! Hope you enjoyed my thrifty score. Check out your local Restore! You never know what you might find :)

My pretty new floor!

This morning, I woke up and walked barefooted onto my brand new kitchen floor. The hubs and I have been working very hard on the floor for the last week, and I'm happy to report I have finished photos!

Here is Justin laying the last bit of flooring down... and...Here she is!!! This is while the sealant was still a bit shiny. It's a light gray commercial tile. We chose it because it's

• pretty cheap
• easy to install
• looks nice
• easy to maintain and clean
• and because it is going to wrap down our basement steps and into the basement

The only things left to do in the kitchen are

• put up baseboard trim
• paint the tiles (good-bye yellow!)
• paint the accent wall
• replace the stupid desk thing with a stock cabinet with dish washer housing
• make built-in for accent wall
• hang some art

Seems like a lot, but the floor was a major milestone that we are glad to have finished!

If you can't take the heat...

So yesterday I spent the better part of my afternoon taking up two layers of vinyl from my kitchen floor. My mother-in-law and Justin's cousin Scottie helped. Justin's mom showed me how to use a heat gun... and they do get very hot! Poor Scottie, he was just dropping by to say hi, but he ended up helping anyway. (Thanks Scott!) With three sets of hands, we were able to get the entire kitchen floor up in a couple hours. It went from this...Sorry, one of the best pictures I have pre-floor.... to this...
Tonight, I need to clean up all the glue that was left behind. I put those long boxes down so I can still walk in there without getting stuck. Hopefully Justin will be able to lay the new floor in the next few days or so, although it's hard for him to get anything done on the weekends because he works so much...

As for the heat gun... It was my best friend in the whole world. I was pulling up two layers of tile in the time it would take me to do five or six one layer pieces. Heat guns are awesome BUT they are very, very hot. I accidently hit my elbow on it once after I set it down to cool off.
That was the fastest I moved all day. I jumped up and ran it under cold water.... ouch, ouch, ouch!!! If you are ever planning on using a heat gun, be careful! I got a nasty sun burn at mom's yardsale, so I had plenty of aloe on hand, which has helped a bit... but seriously ouch!!!! Unlike e hot glue gun, heat guns take hours to cool down. We finished up in the kitchen around 5:30 or so, and I went to bed around 10:30 or so, and even though I had unplugged the gun, it was still warm five hours later. YIPES! They are kinda dangerous, but we started pulling up the floor at three... The heat gun made it a 2.5 hour job... but I have a lot more respect for them now. Ouch :(

It will all be worth it when Justin puts in the new kitchen flooring. It's a pretty grey composite tile. It's gonna wrap down the basement stairs and into the basement as well. It will be very pretty when it's all done :)