Home Remodeling: Master Bathroom Tour

Since I've 'finished' my master bathroom (it is finished for now, I would like to replace the light fixture at some point but that is not a 2011 goal), I wanted to give my faithful reader(s) a tour of the finished product!

So this is the view as you stand in the door from the master bedroom. I have a circle theme going on which is why I chose fixtures that also have a circular element.


Standing next to the toilet you can see the shower curtain and other corner. There really isn't anything exciting over here but I wanted to highlight more of the circle theme.

Finally this is the view of the other side of the door. You can see the hand towel rack that I replaced and the rest of the counter.

So that's my master bathroom! It is pretty hard to take pictures of this room because it isn't huge but hopefully this gives you a good idea!

Home Remodeling: Master Bathroom

One of my home remodeling goals was to change the towel racks in all bathrooms. The current towel racks are cheaply made and not my style.

The first project I wanted to tackle this year was to replace the master bathroom towel rack, hand towel rack, and toilet paper holder. To do this I used a gift card I received for Christmas so the total cost for this project was around $3.00 (what my gift card did not cover).

Here is the old towel rack. It is functional but because it is pretty flimsy you can see that the weight of a wet towel is starting to cause a bend in the middle. So, while it is functional now, it may not be functional for too long!


So for those of you who haven't ever changed out your bathroom fixtures before, I will walk you through the steps. First, remove the old hardware from the wall. Next repair the holes with spackle. I used a color changing spackle that goes on pink and changes to white when dry.

This is now a good time to make muffins because you have to wait for the spackle to dry in order to start the next step.

Once the spackle is dry, the next step is to touch up the paint. This is also a good time to touch up any other areas in the room.

When the paint is completely dry, drill holes to line up with the installation hardware. The hardware may vary depending on the product you buy but in general you have a bracket that you install on the wall and then attach the towel rack to this bracket.

It is all pretty simple if you ask me!

Here is the finished towel rack on the wall.



I also replaced the toilet paper holder and the hand towel rack so that they all match. I am loving this new look. It is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to change the look of a room.

Stay tuned for a tour of my 'finished' master bathroom!

2011: The purging continues!

The purging continues!

I was in the mood to go through more things today after work and managed to come up with quite a few more items to give to charity.

This time around I added:
1 stuffed animal
2 books
1 dress
3 shirts
1 pair slippers
1 bathing suit
1 ipod accessory
1 jewelry box
19 pairs socks
1 hairclip
5 necklaces
1 ring
4 necklace charms
1 pin
2 bracelets
5 pairs of shoes
2 storage baskets

For a total of 51 items added to the pile. That brings my 2011 donation total to 179 items! It feels good to get these items I am not using out of my house and I am happy to know that they will be going to someone who will be getting some use out of them. There is no point in keeping stuff around just to have more stuff, especially when it can be used by someone else.

Here is the impressive donation pile:

Yay! I love how clean and tidy my house feels and I love knowing that my house isn't full of clutter!

Menu plan, week of 1/10/11

This week will be a bit of an odd week for me so I only have 1 meal planned to carry me through.

Dinners:
Chicken and Dumplings and salad (recipe later this week)

Lunch:
Leftovers
Peanut butter sandwich

Breakfast:
Fruit
Muffins

Snacks:
Fruit
Carrots
Fig Newtons

January Eating from the Pantry Challenge - Week 1

I did pretty well this week on groceries. At Kroger I spent ~ $13 (lost receipt - whoops!) on the following staples. I needed milk and bread. The Diet Coke is a guilty pleasure but it is cheaper than buying it in the vending machine which I am prone to do.

The large box of Corn Chex was marked down to $1.75 and I have no idea why. The puddings were holiday themed and were also marked down - to $0.50 each.

I bought 2 shampoos at Target this week because I am on the verge of being out of shampoo. Target was having a decent sale and I had a coupon so it worked out. I got both of these for $2.59 but paid using a gift card so these were FREE.


On a second trip to Kroger I picked up some other items that I am almost out of (Veggie Oil, paper towels, etc) for a total of $6.41.

And I did have a splurge trip that I just couldn't pass up. Harris Teeter has boneless chicken breast on sale for Buy 1 Get 2 Free which is a fantastic deal. So I got 5.6 lbs of chicken for just over $9.

Given that I am trying to eat from the pantry this month, this seems like quite a bit to spend. However, now that I've stocked up on some staples that I was missing following the holidays, I should be in a good position to minimize spending for the rest of the month!

Total for the week: $28.79
Total for the month: $28.79

2011 Goals: Personal Development

As I mentioned previously, I am structuring my goals a little differently this year. The first area I mentioned was Home Remodeling. The second area I want to focus on this year is Personal Development. This means activities that will either teach me something or force me to try something new.

2011 Personal Development Goals:
- Read at least 3 books per month. Topics are flexible but I think the act of reading is important because it keeps me away from the television.
- Try 1 new recipe per month. I find myself repeating the same recipes over and over and while I do enjoy what I cook, I am probably missing out on a lot of other delicious meals. I might even find a new favorite!
- Attempt 6 "Do it yourself" projects. Following MoneySavingMom's example, I am going to try to step out of my box a little and try some new things. Some of these may tie into my home remodeling goals.
- Volunteer somewhere at least once per month. Volunteering has so many benefits - it can even improve your health!

I will try to blog about each of these activities as I complete them so stay tuned!

Booking It in 2011

Another year, another set of goals. I tried to focus on reading a bit in 2010 but didn't have much of a structure to it. I am hoping that by following along with FishMama's Booking It challenge, I'll keep up my motivation to keep up with some reading.

My goal is to read 3 books per month. At this point I don't have any specific topic area goals. Ideally I'd read at least 1 'informational' book and 1 book purely for pleasure.

I'm not sure how this will turn out, but the important thing is to keep up with the reading!