Cottage bathroom 06/26/09

Here are a few "before" pics of the bathroom. This is how it looked when we bought the cottage. Where the tub was, will now be the laundry area. (Boy, that tub was HEAVY to remove! Lucky for me, I'm married to the Hulk....short but powerful.)






Here is what it looks like right now. I am hoping to get it finished this week since I am off work for the whole WEEK!





Before the new ceiling.



During installation...it is so hard to put something on the ceiling! I drilled my finger...twice!

Vintage Laundry bag pillow 06/26/09

I purchased this vintage blue satin laundry bag for a dime. I brought it home, put it through the washer and stuffed it with an old bed pillow. It has a drawstring opening so I just stretched it open, kept the string inside and hand stitched it closed. It is embroidered with "Laundry" and has the most feminine ruffle all the way around. How do you like it?





The pink satin pillow was a .50 find last year. I got two similar larger ones that are just as pretty.



Do you know what this is? Besides being a mulberry tree, it is a sure sign of summer's arrival. My neighbor's tree is FULL of the tasty black berries and she has given me free reign to any fruit from her trees. (She also has a pear tree and some grape vines!) I can't understand why no one ever makes mulberry jelly or why they don't sell them in the stores like they do raspberries, etc? They are SO good!

All those little black spot are berries! See Mr. Squirrel sitting on the branch in the middle? He is STUFFING his face!

Even though it's in the 90's here, I sure thank God for summer!

Running WATER! 06/26/09

YES! The cottage has WATER! After a year of trucking water over in coolers, we now have the modern convenience of stepping over to the sink and...PRESTO! Welcome to the 21st century!

The plumber has hooked up my kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub and toilet. So not only do we have water for washing, we have water for flushing! I won't tell you what we did during the year whenever nature called....

Here is a picture of my son removing the old sink in the kitchen. Notice the burned formica countertops and lack of backsplash. (I removed the peel-and-stick tiles that were up there.)

I wallpapered the backsplash in a pretty embossed paper that mimicks pressed tin ceiling tiles. I will paint it with enamel white for durability. I covered the formica with crisp white ceramic tile....ah...Dad would be proud. Check out the old medicine bottles found on the property. 

Here is a close-up of some of the many layers of wall paper on the old backsplash.

On a side note, we had a HUGE blessing last weekend with a surprise visit from some dear friends of ours on their way traveling on vacation. We hadn't seen then in about 5 years.
They have 10 of the sweetest children you will ever meet! They were driving home from a week at Suzuki Camp. You can see the older kids with their instruments in tow. They drive a 15 passenger van and haul all their belongings in a horse trailer. Clever! I hope to see them again soon!