Drum Roll Please--bdddddddddddddd

What is it?  After this week and a half or more of absence what do I have for you.  Finally . . . I have pictures of our completed home projects!  So, without further ado, I present to you:

4 very small and not very extreme HOME MAKEOVERS!

these are the little things we have done since living here

(a disclaimer:  I am having severe formatting issues with my blog publisher--so please don't mind the fact that I am showing only four projects, but the numbers list 10 or so)

1. The powder room:  Please don't think worse of me.  I'm usually not one for wall paper--BUT--I'm a sucker for toile.  I love it.  So this small powder room off the kitchen has red toile wall paper and white bead board.  I think the toile gives you something nice to look at and you can imagine stories about the people in it while you're sittin' around in there. Even if you're having a bad day it reminds you--at least you're not washin' your clothes in the river like that French peasant.  Though she does look so happy doing it . . 
2. The kitchen back-splash:  This was our first tiling project.  I learned lots of things.  For instance:  if you are tiling around electrical outlets, and therefore need to turn off the electricity in that part of the house, try your very best to finish before dark.  Otherwise you will be running around trying to find an extension cord to run electricity from a different part of the house to a small lamp that will cast a light so lean you will be squinting at your work from every direction and contorting your body every which way to avoid casting a shadow.  It turned out decent in the end.
3. Here's a close up of the slate we used.  I fell in love with all the different colors and the few sparkly pieces.  Everyone can use a little sparkly!
4. The boys bathroom:  More than once in my life when taking on new projects for the first time, I read all the directions, am meticulous about following them, attend to every detail, and religiously watch and wait over it, willing it to turn out right.  And it does. Unfortunately, more often than not, the SECOND time I try to do the same thing, I am far to confident in my previous abilities, throw caution to the wind, don't pay attention, and the entire thing is botched, tremendous amounts of time are waisted, and people fall ill (i.e. Chris and my second batch of hollandaise sauce).  This tile floor was hollandaise sauce #2 all over again.  After hours, days, weeks, and months of grouting, grouting, and grouting, and drilling, drilling, drilling the grout out, and grouting, grouting, grouting some more we finally finished.  We added some bead board (I love bead board) and threw up some paint.  Here's what we got.
5. A close up of the tile.  I love the watery wash of blue.  
6. (Another noteworthy lesson:  if you should pull your toilet up and put it in the tub to tile around the plumbing hole, and then haul the toilet out of the shower so a visiting guest can bathe, don't set the toilet nicely on the tiled floor next to, but NOT on top of, it's original plumbing hole post.  This sends a false message to neighbor children that the toilet works, and they might unknowingly use it.  For #2.  And you will be left with a smelly mess.)
7. The master bathroom:  This was all Chris' idea but I did get to help pick out the tile. Here's the before shot.
8. Not bad.  Painted walls.  Linoleum floor.  Here's the after.
9. Travertine floors, wall, and tub front.  Onyx shelf.  And let me tell you--12 inch square tiles are SO MUCH easier to grout the 1 inch square tiles.
10. The best part--the little brick shaped onyx tiles that cover the shelf are packed so tight they don't really need any grouting.  I love that.
11. And their yummy buttery color lifts my spirits each morning.  Anything buttery lifts my spirits in the morning--or any other time of the day.

So there you have it.  Our little home improvements.  Now for our BIG home improvement. The reason I have been gone the past bit is because of the new project coming our way.  I love to be organized but am not the best at staying organized.  This past week I have been de-cluttering, organizing, and throwing away hoards of stuff in preparation for my in-laws to arrive (they should be here within the hour).  They are going to stay with us for the next month or so and this gave me great incentive to do a bit of long needed "spring cleaning."  As for the reason they are coming . . . to take on a project much to big and much to difficult for Chris and I . . . the basement.  Yes, they are coming to finish the basement and I tell you, this mother of three young boys is EXCITED!