We just returned from visiting our families. We stopped at Bearskin Neck in Rockport, Massachusetts. I have some happy childhood memories there. These shells are a souvenir from a little gift shop there, and are now a part of our coffee table centerpiece:

I love the clearance center for Raymour and Flanigan. We went there to look around the other day, and came home with a new dining set. Micah said it was an early anniversary present. The poor guy has to work out-of-town for the next two weeks, so all of the overtime pays for it. You have to admire his dedication to his job (and me)!

It has a few small scratches on the table surface that are barely noticeable, and it’s missing the leaf. Other than that, it’s perfect. I’ll live with any minor flaws when it means getting a heavy, solid wood table and six chairs for $850 instead of over $2000!

My parents gave me this CD set while we were visiting them, and we listened to them while having our first quiet dinner (ravioli) at our new table. I’m thinking it’s the closest thing we’ll get to a “date night” for a while.

We will have this for many years, and it’s perfect for our family of six.

It started with the hallway flooring shortly after we bought the house. Two years later, we built a wall to divide our giant family room into two rooms. Later, we did a sort of overhaul of those rooms to create a fourth bedroom for Molly and Mia. To complete our budget-friendly renovation of the lower level, we are moving into the bathroom.

Before:

After:

More updated photos of the bathroom are located here.

We were left with bare concrete when the old cabinet came out, and I couldn’t find the name of the flooring to order more. The opening in the wall is two inches wider than the vanity, and some space is also visible in the front. We decided to go with glass mosaic tile (we’ve been in love with mosaic ever since we did the kitchen backsplash). The colors blend nicely.

Here’s a list of everything we used:

Behr Paint:

Mosaic Tile – MS International 3/4 In. x 3/4 In. Ivory Iridescent (The Home Depot)

Medicine Cabinet – American Classics White 15 in. W (The Home Depot)

Faucet – Price Pfister Brushed Nickel Double-Handle (Lowe’s)

Vanity – allen + roth 28″ White Wynn Combo with Granite Top (Lowe’s)

Shower Curtain – Essential Home Bamboo Leaves (Kmart)

As I mentioned yesterday, the gazebo is up.

I finally got around to bringing a power source outside. My parents gave us the light set they had for their gazebo because they hated setting it up. It had a center lantern and 4 others that hung from the corners. I rewired it so we’d just have one:

I’m out there right now! It is so relaxing.

The sound of a bathroom demolition is not so relaxing.

The pile of junk you need to dispose of is not, either.

The result, however, is going to be amazing. I am so excited!

My former next-door neighbor sent us a very nice letter last week. She had stumbled upon this site and noticed this post from December. I never did find Christmas dishes on the clearance racks, but she had a beautiful set and offered it to us for free! She stopped by today, and I was sort of shocked. There were literally boxes filled with every matching piece imaginable! If you are reading this, thank you again! We will use these dishes for many years to come. I organized the kitchen cabinets so they would all fit.

I decided, on a whim, to tackle the overgrown mess near the front steps. I’m sure it was nicely landscaped at one time, but it turned into a mound of ivy and weeds. The edge trimmer got it down to this:

I bought some endless summer hydrangea, plantain lilies, and royal purple veronica flowers. I still have no idea what I’m doing, but I think it looks pretty good:

I hope they will get enough shade. The big tree out front should help.

This is how Micah and my Dad spent father’s day:

The gazebo is up! I can’t take any credit for this. They worked very hard, and it turned out great. I have visions of quiet dinners without bugs, and hours in the shade with Lily while the kids play. I’ll take a picture soon. We can start grilling as soon as Micah replaces the ignitor.

Up next: The downstairs bathroom loses the built-in cabinet and gets a new vanity.

It takes 2 1/2 – 3 hours to mow our lawn (as you can see here). Micah always gets the mowing done on his day off. Meanwhile, I take the edge trimmer along the fence and steps, trim the bushes and rip out some random weeds. The lawn bags fill up quickly. The town only picks up lawn waste every two weeks, so this is what we’re left with after mowing twice:

It’s pretty disgusting, actually. The bags smell too bad to keep in the garage, so we just hide them along the left side of the house (where there are no windows). Have I mentioned how glad I am that Micah handles all things lawn? He’s very good about helping out with things I hate to do (like emptying the dishwasher). Lucky me!

A few months ago, I painted the sink top in the downstairs bathroom. I knew this wasn’t a permanent solution, but I figured it would work until we got around to replacing the sink… Then, the kids discovered it and thought, “Wow! Peeling paint and throwing it everywhere is fun!” We can’t ignore it anymore.

One of our home’s many previous owners added the bathroom sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. It was in total disrepair when we first moved in, and we had to hire someone to replace a lot of the plumbing. The last step is the sink. It sits on top of a built-in cabinet and has unusual dimensions. The “vanity top” is a piece of plywood with a thin fiberglass (I presume) material glued to the top. The sink itself is porcelain, and it has many chips and stains. Hopefully, we can rip it out soon!

We’re still waiting to hear about the driveway. We had it repaired about two months ago, and now we want to have it sealed. The company said they’d get back to us when they started sealing for the season.

We’ve been looking for a screened gazebo for the back patio. The patio is 13 x 13, but I doubt we’ll find one that will cover the entire thing. Most of them seem to be 10 x 12. It would be nice to have a shaded place, away from bugs, to sit with Lily while the kids play.

Lastly, we ordered a new gate. One of the pickets broke off the existing one. We tried just about everything, but it wouldn’t attach again. That should be ready to pick up any day now.