Newly Renovated Master Bathroom

Hey Everyone! So I am so excited to show you guys our newly renovated master bathroom! It's been one of the first things I wanted to do ever since moving in two years ago. We'll we finally did it. Prior to the reno, the bathroom was, once again, the old 60's style powder pink and blue that we absolutely hated. On top of that, the shower door was cracked and water leaked to the floor every time we opened it. The toilet was also very rocky due to the floor being slightly (well, majorly) sunk in. Floor tiles were loose, and it was just a complete mess. Here's what it looked like before:

Yes, our master bathroom is SUPER small. I knew I'd have to be smart with design to make it stand out. I decided the light and bright was the way to go. So we called a contractor we found on Craigslist (oh Craigslist...), got a decent quote, and he got right to work on demo. He demolished the entire bathroom. When I saw it, I couldn't believe it. My entire bathroom gone in a matter of hours. I was taken aback, but I knew that I was going to be thrilled with the end result--a brand new bathroom all to my liking.

For the next few weeks (yes it took my contractor a little over a month, smh), I was in and out of Lowe's and Home Depot looking for the right things to make our bathroom come together. Here is the list of the things I bought for the bathroom:

1) Style Selections Leonia Silver Porcelain Tile
2) Kohler Wellworth Toilet
3) American Olean Mooreland Carrara White Ceramic Tile
4) American Olean Delfino Stone Paradise Blend Pebble Mosaic Tile
5) TEC Skill Set Sanded Powder Grout in Silverado
6) Lancaster Glacier Bay 24-inch Vanity
7) Glacier Bay Framed Medicine Cabinet in Copper-Pewter
8) Hampton Bay Brushed Nickel Bath Bar Light
9) American Standard Chatfield Brushed Nickel Sink Faucet
10) American Standard Chatfield Chrome Shower Faucet
11) Sherwin Williams Stone Isle Paint (Flat) 
12) Custom Glass Shower Door

The bathroom was coming together and I loved every minute of it. 

Finally the bathroom was done and I couldn't believe I designed such a calm little retreat. The neo-angle shower glass came from a glass company in New Jersey.

Here are the final pictures:

What do you think?

Keywords: bathroom, renovation, lowes, home depot, design, reno, white, gray,  tile, faucet, neoangle, toilet, kohler, vanity, light, medicine cabinet, recessed, glass, shower door, silverado, grout, marble, carrara, ceramic, tile, olean, mooreland, leonia, porcelain, soap dish, contractor, bath fan, stone isle, sherwin, paint, repair, home, master bathroom, suite, small, corner, remodel, hgtv

Christmas Time!

So Christmas season is just lovely...I can't get enough of it. The lights, the Christmas songs, the family, the presents, the food...the list goes on. It was our first Christmas with AJ and we wanted it to be special. As far as decor, I wanted to keep it simple but cheerful. My mother-in-law is really big on celebrations, so she practically bought most of our decorations for the tree. I bought the tree for $40 at Big Lots. It's 5 feet tall I believe. I didn't want it to be too tall because there wouldn't be enough room at the base since our sectional was there. Here is a pic of our tree:

I always wanted a fireplace because I just love decorations on a mantel and the warmth it brings. I plan on buying a faux electrical fireplace one of these days (plenty online), but for now our Ikea TV stand will have to do. I bought some garland and stocking holders from the thrift store and wrapped it around the front of the of the television.

For our dining room table, I simply placed a red tablecloth and Poinsettia plant on the table. I placed some treats on the server table and also a string of white Christmas lights. So gorgeous when lit up. Might keep them there year round.

I also placed lights along the border of our outdoor window. Not really fan, but it'll do for this year...

Below is our family Christmas pic right before our little family gathering. How was your Christmas?

Living Room

On to our living room. We spend most of our time here and wanted it to be cozy but also durable. I knew that with future kids, things could get kind of messy. Although I loved the idea of a white/tan couch, I knew that I'd regret it after a few months of use. Aside from kids, the living room is the heart of our home, so it's pretty well used by everyone, including friends and other relatives. We all sit here to watch television and talk. My husband would probably be upset if I did not mention our love for our Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick devices. We literally use it to watch everything--movies, shows, Youtube, you name it. Here is the before pictures of our living room:

So anyway, I decided to go with a dark gray couch. Here was the living room inspiration:

I searched and I searched and I searched some more. We looked in all of the furniture stores and Philly, until I finally saw what I wanted. Unfortunately, I thought that the store that was selling it was charging way too much, so I decided to check online, and guess what? I found it! For super cheap, might I add. Here it goes:

It's called the Alenya and its perfect for our living room. I ordered it and it came in about a week and a half later. My husband liked it but complained that it was a bit too small. So we decided to purchase the extension seat. In total, our sectional can fit about 6-7 people comfortably. We bought it from Coleman Furniture, check out the cheap price in this link.

(Last picture is purple hue due to the LIFX lights my husband purchased for our floor lamp, really cool btw)

So we kept our Ikea Expedit bookcase from our last apartment as well as the Ikea Lack coffee table. I went ahead and bought a huge 7x10 natural looking woven rug from Target. The pillows are from Burlington Coat Factory and the faux sheepskin piece is from Ikea.

I was loving the look of our living so far, but hating the old curtains. They were these old faded light pink vertical blinds that were a headache to open and close. Ughh...they annoyed me so much. So we finally decided to take them down.

In it's place, we put the Ikea double curtain rods called the Racka/Hugad. I bought some blue and white patterned curtains from Homegoods. I had to purchase two packs of each of the curtains since my front window is so big. One of these days I plan to change the living room windows, but for now we'll wait until its in the budget to do so.

We also decided to put a desk behind the sectional since there was still some space there. We bought the Ikea Micke desk placed a cool gold lamp on it that I found from Target.

Here are some final pictures:

I plan to change our the TV stand and coffee table one of these days for something more substantial.

Oh, and I also decided to put a picture wall atop our piano:

Anyway, what do you think?

Dining Room

So if there's one room I consistently work on, its the dining room. Even though I think I've finished it for now, I know that I will still be working on it for some time. The dining room (or space, I should say) is right next to, and open to, the living room. It is also adjacent to the kitchen. Here is what the space looked like empty:

I knew that I wanted to get a long table that could extend for more guest, so I went to Ikea (of course) and got the Bjursta extendable table in color black/brown. I also bought four Stefan chairs. Overall, I like the table and chairs. I like being able to extend the table, which can fit ultimately 10 people. It is also very easy to extend as long as you have help from one other person. The Stefan chairs were very easy to put together. They are VERY lightweight, but also very sturdy and comfortable. Pretty nice for only $25 each! The table was $249 because I bought the largest one.

For the end seats, I wanted to do something different. So at first, I went with two upholstered gray/purple chairs from Ross. They were $60 each. I really like the look of the chairs at the end of the table. Later I changed the chairs to the Ikea Kaustby chairs ($50 each) because I ended up moving the Ross chairs behind a desk in my living room (pics coming soon). As soon as I find some other nice upholstered chairs, they will again replace the Kaustby chairs.

I went for a long time without a sideboard/server/buffet (whatever you want to call it). It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I bought this very important addition from, of course, Ikea. The sideboard is the Hemnes sideboard and it was on sale for $255. Its a very nice piece and its big, so it holds a lot of my glassware. My husband set up it like he does with all of our Ikea furniture (bless him...). He also anchored it to the wall for safety.

Overall, I am very happy with our dining room. I went with the blue beachy theme (which we have going throughout the house). I bought the painting and surrounding mirrors from Homegoods ($50 for the painting, $10 for the set of mirrors). On the sideboard, the lamp, mirror, and most of the decorations came from Ross and Target. I am still on the lookout for a cute rug for our dining room. Here is one option from Wayfair:

What do you guys think? Too much going on? Anything that might make our dining room look better? I love opinions!

Master Bedroom

On to our master bedroom. Here is a pic of the master bedroom when we bought it. The carpet was a hideous blue. We called Empire and got new tan colored carpeting. It cost $500.

So our bedroom is definitely a working progress. I wanted to buy all new bedroom furniture, but I haven't done so yet. The furniture we have now is some old furniture we got from a second hand furniture store. It was cheap, but also very strong. Even though it's an eye sore, it holds a lot of my clothes and is built to last.

We did buy a new bed. Since we already had the Ikea Kullen nightstands, we decided to go with the Ikea Malm bed with storage underneath. Both in the color black-brown. I love the bed, but I don't like how low it is. On top of that, the headboard was simply too plain.

So I decided to get a little DIY going. I was going to upholster our Malm headboard (thanks for Ikea hacks!). Here was the inspiration:

After researching different ways to do it, I went to Jomar and bought the fabric and foam. I bought the nailhead studs from Walmart. Here was my process:

Those lamps are from Ikea by the way (very old peices). And the bedding was actually bought at Big Lots (really cheap). I went with a blue theme because I am totally into the coastal vibe.

Months later, after countless amount of times arguing about space for our things, my husband and I decided that ultimately we would have to buy a wardrobe...The closet was decent size, but not for the both of us. I have way too many clothes and I needed to kick his stuff out of the way. So we ended up going to Ikea (oh, how I LOVE Ikea) and purchasing the Brusali wardrobe. I chose this one because I believed it would match our old furniture as well as our new furniture. Here it is:

Because we bought the wardrobe, we unfortunately had to move the chest. Now it is right next to the dresser. I know, totally tacky...Oh and we flipped the room around.

Ugh, so much going on in our bedroom. I wish I had some pros to come and really make it amazing. But until then I'll keep trying until it fits both of our likings. Here are some more pics.

What do you think? How can I make our master bedroom look better?? Help please!