Second Bathroom Complete! +A Penny Floor

We finished the second bathroom a while ago but I didn't share the process. The pictures don't do it justice...it turned out amazing. My husband did it all, with a little help from myself and his dad. The penny floor was so tedious, but, we love it! 

Before: 

During: 

After:

New Renovations!

Two more rooms...torn apart and being put back together. The living room has been drywalled and painted, but we continued into the other room so we could finish the floors in both rooms all at once. Such a mess--but it will be worth it! 

Crafty Holiday Porch Idea by @carolynjbraden

Though a dreary, rainy winter day in Louisville, I felt festive and got my porch holiday ready. The burlap covered pots were the perfect addition.

Carolyn Braden's Guest Bath Bliss

This is a mock up of our 1st floor guest bath remodel. It's still in the demolition phase but we've purchased the shower pan and have decided on a copper penny floor and white subway dimensional tile walls.

Carolyn and Tommy Braden: 1st Floor Bathroom

Construction has officially begun on our 1st floor bathroom. Tommy started the demolition part over the weekend. The wall you see below that separates the toilet from the shower is going to be gone soon in order to open up the entire room. We did this in our upstairs bathroom and it made the area look much larger. He's going to move the water lines to the other wall which is what should have been done when the bathroom was first added by previous owners. We think we will be putting in a tiled stand up shower instead of a claw foot tub/shower as we did upstairs. However the bathroom looks at the end of the renovation, it will be a million times better than it looks now. 

Carolyn Braden's TOIE: Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Summer 2013: Carolyn and Tommy Braden House Update

I haven't posted our home renovation updates in a while. We finished the upstairs bathroom last summer. After that we focused on decor. The house isn't completed inside yet but I still wanted to liven it up a bit. We designed a sofa for our living room. I decided to switch the living room and the dining room and it made a wonderful difference! Who said the living room had to be in the front room of your house anyway?! With the switch came 3 new rugs and the couch. 

I moved a modern chair we had left over after all the rearranging that fit perfectly in the foyer. We also switched the second floor rooms around. I switched our bedroom with our office. I love having the screened in "sleeping porch" off our bedroom now. We went to several thrift stores until I found the Louisville Ballet poster I wanted. It's the photo of the toe shoe balanced on an egg by Julius Friedman. It's beautiful! I also found a framed Kentucky Derby sepia etching print from 1983. It was perfect for the living room. We took a trio to Ikea to get new bedding, pillows, a record cabinet, curtains and more. We took a trip down memory lane in our attic. T and I found all our old toys. He loved Star Wars and I loved Barbie. We set up our 3rd floor workout room to also be a toy room. It is like a museum of 1980's stuff. My niece and nephew love that room! 

That was our winter; focusing on the indoors. Last month we had the outside of our home painted. It looks like brand new siding was put on our home. Nathan's was the business that gave us the best quote and the best customer service so we had them do the job. They did fantastically. We have planted some organic vegetables in old whiskey style barrels and that's about it for my gardening. I really don't like yard work so most of what I plant are things that come back year after year without my help. Tommy has been working on our camera surveillance program for our home and it is fantastic. We have cameras watching every angle of our home, recording all around us. We live in a wonderful neighborhood but we love having the extra bonus of cameras with our security system. You can never be too safe. Anything Tommy puts his mind to, he can do it and do it well. Such a genius mind. 

Next we will be finishing up the outside of our home with new front porch columns. Then maybe the 1st floor bathroom. Since we are still doing the majority of the work ourselves, it a slow but steady process. The more we accomplish, the more it feels like home.