bathroom facelift

man it's been a minute. i keep meaning to sit down and write stuff, holla a little here and there but then it happens. i'm called into the other room, summoned for a snack, needed to assist in the mystery of a missing shoe, or called to jump in the car to pick up a kid, which by the way, at times i feel like i run a day care. i only have 3 of these little people but they do keep you busy no matter how old they get. 
that, and taxes are the sure things in life.

OR, february comes around and you are ready to remodel your kids bathroom!
yes, my life is very very exciting.
my kids bath is a pretty small bathroom and i've always disliked it for all kinds of reasons so i chose to ignore it. 
for years. 
the day finally came to strip it down and get it all prepped for surgery! 
come, take an ugly bathroom tour with me. hope you're up to date on all your shots....

oh look! ugly everything. 

ugly paint...

 ugly flooring...

ugly square tile...

i could keep going but i feel like by now you must be catching on 
because i really only know smart people. 

i couldn't even muster up the will to clean the spilled body wash off the tile (or the unknown off the floor for that matter) for the before pics. 
i do wish i had taken a picture before we took down the shower curtain and removed the linen cabinet that was on the right wall to show you how crowded this small space really was.

there actually was a pretty oval mirror here from pottery barn that was taken down before this pic-it might have been the only nice thing about this bathroom but otherwise, more of the same. ugly.

yes, all 3 littles shared that tiny sink. 

we never really knew the purpose of that odd 

little tiled box there on the right of the tub.

on the day of surgery i was up early and literally peeking out the front window waiting 

for the crew to show up. i really wanted to be the one to take a sledge hammer to the wall! 

we were remodeling the 2 downstairs bathrooms and decided to do this one first because it would take the least amount of time and was the smaller of the 2.

this photo is kind of fuzzy. i was doing the "demolition dance" in the hallway plus, i didn't want to be all up in his kool-aid as he was breaking the ugly. 

i'm sure he thinks i'm weird, dancing and smiling and taking creeper photos from around the corner. whatever. i kinda am.

i had to leave for work but when i got home that evening it was pure beauty! 

i love construction. love. love. love.

pahukoa family 2014. always gotta leave your mark.

after about 3 weeks, a few missed days from rain and tons of crazy creeper/dancing pictures....

the bathroom!

 i'm in love with the floor. i bought 16"x16" slate squares and had my contractor 

cut them in 4"x16" pieces and had him create this herringbone layout. 

he hated me after this but it's fabulous so it was worth every hateful glance.

we wanted to stay dark with the floor so you wouldn't see every little piece of kid dirt 

and keep everything else light to help make this tiny bathroom appear larger.

 

 what a difference huh? 

we used glossy white subway tile that is beveled on all 4 sides 

and kept it as simple and classic as possible.

 

 for this bathroom we just picked up a simple vanity from home depot- i didn't want to go custom or too high end here because kids are rough on things and i've learned that the hard way many, many, many times. i liked that the sink was on the far left which left space for the girls to put their arsenal of hair products and tools, make up and whatever else they use without everything falling into the sink.

 i'm really into over-sized mirrors and i spent a long time looking for the perfect mirror 

for this spot and then one night we decided to try this silver leafed mirror we had in our 

master bedroom. it ended up being perfect!

i love the sconce and it's also slightly over-sized which works great with the mirror.

the shelf came from target and instead of adding too many holes in the wall i had the 

hawaiian attach the towel bar to the bottom of the wall shelf and put the q-tips and cotton balls

up there since there really isn't a lot of surfaces- 

you may remember the glass jars from an earlier d.i.y. project.

the walls are a very pale gray but at times they can look powder blue. 

remember that tiled box to the right of the tub in the before pictures? i decided to create a tile wall that went up to the ceiling and use slate pieces from the floor to create nook shelving for them to store their shampoo, body wash, razors, etc. it's nice because now that there is glass on the tub/shower (i will never go back to shower curtains again, they are kind of like wire hangers, a big big no no) the tile wall helps to hide all that stuff.

we placed a slate shelf above the window to store the towels. 

this looks nice and neat and it's easy for them to grab a towel and dry off inside the shower rather than step out and get water everywhere.

i wish the photos were lighter, brighter, not blurry, better quality, blah-blah, but these are the kind of photos you get from a girl who only uses her iphone to take pics. yeah, i have a good camera somewhere..... 
maybe i will update them and replace them later but... probably not.

next up is the master bathroom that we are just finishing and that 'before photo tour' will be an all new kind of ugly straight outta the 90's! 

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hanging succulent garden

a few weeks ago i decided i was gonna give a wall garden a try. i had been viewing them in hotels, magazines and reading all kinds of diy's on them.

 i have been a lover of succulents for quite sometime and last year i had a whole bunch of them planted in my front and back yard. recently we had another yard overhaul and had a professional service come in and do all kinds of pretty work which included yep! more succulents!

i had planned for this project to take all day and to get all kinds of dirty, surprisingly it only took about 1/2 the day but not surprisingly i did get really really dirty.

here is what you need:

-1"x4" pieces of wood. these will be your box.

-wood screws to ensure your box will be strong enough

-plywood or alder for back of the box

-outdoor varathane that is water resistantchicken wire,

-chicken wire

-cactus soil

-molding. this can be whatever size you'd like and will be the pretty around the box edge.

-lots of succulent pups

1"x4" wood strips

here is what i love about shane.
i told him how i was gonna try to make these boxes and he built the frames for me ahead of time. this may of been because he didnt want to see me with a nail gun in hand.
hmmm.....he's such a bro.

here is the box with the back on. i made a large box and a smaller box. 

they are about 24"x30" and 16"x20". 

i also have another larger frame built which i will work on soon so i have a nice display large enough to fill the side of my garage wall over my fountain.

remember when i said that if you didn't have a hawaiian you should go out and get one? i stand by that.

use regular nails and wood screws as well. if you want to paint your box now is the time to do so and you will coat it with varathane once the paint is dry.

i chose to leave my garden box looking natural. 

after your box is made and the back is attached you will spray it with the varathane. be sure and get all the corners, sides and the back. you will want to do 2-4 coats of this to keep the wood from rotting over time.

because the boxes have to lay flat for 4-10 weeks (or until they take root) we decided to make a few at one time. i did buy some succulents but you can also trim pups off any of your existing succulents and just let them dry for a day or two so the end will callus over. you just want to leave (in the very least) 1/4" stem to bury into the soil.

succulent pups drying out on a plate

be careful for friendly cute yard animals that think you brought them treats.

once your varathane is dry (about 30 min. to 1 hour) you can fill the box with your soil

next you will stretch the chicken wire over the box and staple it on. cut the excess wire off.

add your decorative trim molding.

look how baddass i am with that staple gun!

now is the fun part. 

designing! 

i decided to run a zig zag through the larger of my boxes with the pinkish succulents. you will want to leave some room for the succulents to grow and spread so don't fill every wire opening.

finished large box

finished smaller box.

now is the really hard part.

waiting for them to take root so you can hang up your garden and enjoy.

while they are laying flat you will want to water the boxes every 7-10 days. 

we are going to hang our boxes on the wall with hooks to make it easier to take down and water. after you take them down to water be sure and leave them flat for a few days to firm back up before hanging again.

once my succulent boxes are ready to hang i will update you and post some pictures- i can't wait!