This bathroom has been under construction since we moved into our home IN NOVEMBER. It required a complete overhaul, including moving walls and pipes. For being such a small space, it has been the most demanding and time consuming room to remodel. Get this - there was a time when there was NO tub/shower, NO sink, and we had our dishwasher taped to the toilet. #strugglebus

The original bathroom was much smaller, had a weird (and painful to walk on) rock floor, and was GREEN. 

As far as the work we (mostly hubs) did ourselves, we ripped up the floor, patched the cracking walls, painted, laid new floor and baseboards, installed new vanity & toilet, added a fan/heater, swapped out the light fixture, updated existing outlets with GFCI, created two new outlets, and updated hardware. 

We had our contractor move the wall with the window back about 5 feet to create space for the shower, removed the tub, and basically built and tiled the entire shower. The old bathroom ended where the new shower starts now. I can't believe the single bathroom in this house was so small!

The vanity and sink we bought from Ikea. We had originally wanted a double sink, but this big single bowl was on clearance and we just couldn't justify spending hundreds more for a split bowl and an extra hole for the faucet. But in all honestly we are rarely trying to use the sink at the same time, so no biggie!

All the shower materials (tiles & shower doors) were bought from Lowes. I love the shower, but one thing I would've changed would be to have used white grout on the walls vs the black grout. I think the black grout turned out great with the tiles on the floor and in the shelf, but for the walls the black grout just magnifies any imperfection with the tiles. 

This is the same shower panel we had actually bought for our first house, and we knew we absolutely wanted the same one for our new shower. All the nozzles are great, and it also has a waterfall feature.

A lot of the hardware we bought for the bathroom was through Amazon (they often had the cheapest prices!) plus they shipped so quick. One thing we found that ended up saving us a lot of money on the remodel is that a lot of items on Amazon have the option to buy returned/open box items. But they aren't items that were returned for being broken/defective. We did this for the shower panel, and ended up saving $100! 

Thanks so much for reading, I can't believe we are finally to a point where I can even share a corner of the bathroom! If you have any remodeling experience or tips, help a sister out in the comments below!

Bluelight blocking glasses on Amazon are $18 for a 2 pack! With all this screen time make sure to take care of your eyes!

With everything that is going on right now, it is so important to be staying home and laying low. TV binging time! I feel like I've been preparing for this my whole life. Working from home can be a little lonely, so I love to have a tv show playing in the background while I'm listing new items or writing a blog post. If you are looking for something light and fun that won't cause too much psychological stress (even though I love those too) keep scrolling to see what I've watched and recommend! If you loved The Office, you should watch these next. 

Netflix

This has been my most recent binge, and I'm so sad the last season is currently airing! A very wealthy family finds their business manager has swindled them. Their assets are seized, but they are left with a small town they had purchased as a joke, Schitts Creek. They are living in the podunk town's motel trying to get their lives back on track, and some crazy schitt goes down. I had actually watched the very first episode a while back and wasn't hooked right away, but started it up again a couple months later after hearing so many great things about it and couldn't stop watching. 

Hulu

Employees of a Wal-mart-esque super store are just trying to survive customer service, a bureaucratic company, and their relationships with each other. Between customer shenanigans and employee snafus, every episode is so funny!

Netflix

This series has just aired its final season and I can't deal :( Eleanor (Kristin Bell) finds herself in The Good Place after her unfortunate and embarrassing death. But she finds out quickly that she only ended up in The Good Place by accident, and she is trying to become a better person to find a way to stay. There's a major plot twist at the end of season 1!

Netflix

A group of teenage girls are growing up in Ireland in the 90s during political turmoil. So many bad decisions are made! Make sure to have subtitles on, the accents are THICK. 

Netflix

Jane is the perfect daughter, going to school while working to help support her family. She is also saving herself for marriage...so imagine her surprise when she finds out she's pregnant after a mix up at the obgyn! Narrated and based upon the themes of a telenovela (comas! twins! face transplants!) every scenario is so funny and entertaining. 

Netflix

I don't know how its possible to keep me interested in birth after birth season after season, but this show does that! It follows midwives in post war London as they help families bring new life into the world. 

Netflix

If you haven't already binged this show multiple times, what are you even doing?? This is one of my go to comfort shows. This mom and daughter duo are only 16 years apart, and their quick repartee in the small town they live in is fun and nostalgic (it's from the early 2000s!)

Hulu

A mom who had to give up her career to raise her daughter finds herself divorced and trying to get back into the publishing world. No one wants to take a chance on someone in their 40s, so she makes a fake ID and pretends to be in her 20s to land a job. And OBVS this causes a drama and issues as she makes friends and falls in love. Hillary Duff is in this one so it's kind of like the Lizzy Mcguire reboot we are still waiting for. Plus the fashion is so fun!

That feeling when you find designer pieces for a STEAL!

I'm constantly searching resale and secondhand sites for designer wardrobe staples. You never know when someone is just trying to unload their unwanted pieces, or maybe don't know an item's resale value! Those pieces go fast, so you want to be on top of doing your research. I was searching Poshmark listings with the filters "shoes" and brand "Chanel", and then sorted "price low to high" (what mad person sorts "high to low"??) when I came across these pretties at the top of the feed. Leather + logo detailing on the top and I was in love. I purchased these a little while back so I am not sure what they were originally listed at. I offered $40, which I believe was $10-15 less than their asking price ( I wanted them - no time for lowballing!) and they accepted! After taxes and shipping, I purchased these Chanel loafers for just under $51. 

Currently, Chanel is selling leather loafers for anywhere between $825-$1250 on their website. After doing a little research I found the same pair that had sold on Tradesy for $540, and another used pair currently listed for sale for $640! GUYS! Chanel holds it's value so well. 

Zara Staw Hat [new, $20] Wayf Polka Dot Wrap Top [secondhand, $6] J. Crew Legging Pants [secondhand, $3] Chanel Black Leather Logo Loafers [secondhand, $50]

The goatskin leather is so buttery soft, and these shoes just add a really nice, sophisticated touch to any outfit. Of course, these aren't brand new shoes and show some wear. There is some peeling of the leather at the toes, and the soles have seen some sidewalks. Once the home remodeling starts to die down I will spend some time to do a little DIY rehab, including some leather conditioning and new soles. I will definitely share some after photos on here once I do!

I LOVE Longchamp bags. They are so classic and preppy + high quality pieces that last forever. Back before I was so into secondhand shopping I bought myself a new medium size black Le Pliage tote for my birthday, and then for my birthday last year I got a tan nylon backpack as a gift (perfect thrifting bag!)

I've been wanting a large Le Pliage tote bag for sometime. I see so many chic ladies using them for travel and I wanted one! They retail for $145, but because I know how high quality they are I was willing to buy myself a fixer upper. I had been searching sometime between secondhand sites when I found this pretty red bag on Poshmark! I had originally been looking for a navy one, but red is also versatile and goes so well with everything. The bag was listed at $20, but had been listed for some time. I was wondering if I could get away with buying the bag for a total (tax+shipping) for under $20. I sent the seller an offer of $12 and they accepted! It was all mine for under $18. Total score!

Of course, there was a catch. The bag was very worn. You can see a lot of the wear in the before pics below, but it had a lot of dark marking (probably from rubbing on jeans), small water stains, white paint, and holes had started to tear in the corners (this is pretty common on Lonchamp bags.) Keep scrolling to see what I did to make it look almost new!

To clean the nylon of your Longchamp Le Pliage bag, run it under a low stream of warm and water and scrub with a clear, mild soap. Pro tip: make sure to avoid getting the leather details too wet! Water will stain leather and is a lot harder to remove. I had the leather handles and clasp bound up out of the way, and you can also tie a plastic bag around it. I used a scrubby pad to really clean out the nylon, but don't use anything too sharp! Make sure to rinse all the soap out to avoid any discoloration lines, and let it air dry. 

The staining I was most worried about getting out was the paint. I had read online that a traditional nail polish can get paint out of a lot of materials, so I thought I would give it a try. I applied it to a q tip and lightly applied it to the paint stain spots. It dissolved SO fast! Easiest part of the clean up. 

I think it is really important to mend the holes in the corner of your tote bag because with the heavy items in your bag + gravity the rips can really spread and it's less likely you can repair it without being too noticeable. I flipped the bag inside to sew up the rips so as to make sure the stitching is not as noticeable. I used a very thick needle and dental floss because its much stronger than traditional thread. Make sure to keep your sewing very close to the the rip line to make the stitches less noticeable, and make the line as straight as possible to ensure you get crisp corners.  

The whole process took me under 30 minutes, and now I have a like new Longchamp Le Pliage large tote bag! Sometimes rehab on an item can be off putting (either for reselling or for your personal closet) but always do your research because sometimes you can get away with an amazing steal! If you are looking for your own secondhand Longchamp Le Pliage tote bag, I've linked a whole bunch of options above 50% + off  retail. Thanks for reading!

Happy 2020! 

I've been MIA the past few months because we have just been up to our eyeballs in remodeling our new house. It's going slower than we expected, but it is slowly and surely coming together. I thought it would be fun to share the journey with you guys and maybe our experiences can be helpful to you! I wanted to start by showing you where we started from (wait until you see the color of the bathroom..!!) I'm also sharing some inspo photos to give you an idea of what we want to do with the space. Overall we are going for a simple, modern look with a simple mix of white, black, and wood. Keep scrolling!

So pretty much through the entire house we are keeping the same flooring and paint for consistency. For flooring we went with a nice gray luxury vinyl plank, which I had never heard of before we started researching flooring. It's thick and waterproof, which means we can also run it through bathrooms and kitchen. I also had my heart set on a high base board, and we found a great moulding at Lowes that is 6" high. For walls we are going with a simple ultra pure white. 

For the kitchen we are actually going to be removing the wall behind the stove to open up the space into the dining room / front room. We will have an island where the stove is instead. 

For the bathroom, we have actually removed the wall with the window and moved it back a couple feet. We are in the process of building a walk in shower in the new space and will put a double vanity in beside it. 

This was previously utilized as a tool shed, however with an entry door into the living room (that looks like a bookshelf, how cool is that??) we have decided to convert it into a second bathroom! We'll just close up the exterior door. As far as design, we are going to just make into a mini version of the master bathroom.

As you can see..we have a LOT of work ahead of us. It's already going slower than expected, but we still have hope one day we will have a nice house, just the way we want it. Have experience with home renovations? Leave some tips + words of encouragement (lol) below!