Wednesday, January 2, 2013

January AKA The Morning After

If December is the month of excess, pretty decorations and soft glowing candlelight, January is the calendar equivalent of "The Morning After". 

Once we clear away the Christmas paraphernalia (which by the way I have not done yet), we stop and look around at our newly bare spaces in the cold light of January and say:

1) I am sick of this room!  We need to move some furniture around!
2) I didn't realize how awful that paint colour looks!
3) How can we get through another year with that couch/chair/carpet/fill in your own blank. 
4) who needs all these clothes and where am I going to wear them anyway?  How come nothing fits?  The latter is a rhetorical question, since we all know what happened to make something not fit..

You, my friend, are suffering from the post-Christmas/early January blahs!

But there is a cure!  It is called organizing and decorating!

There is a reason that every issue of every January magazine extolls the vision of exercisem dieting and organizing: they are trying to keep us busy!


They take us from this


and lead us to this:



But it is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in this house, that cleaning and organizing seem to lead to spending money.  We purge, we clean and then we think we need something to replace it.  Or that special bins would make all the difference. Or that we have given away or sold so much clothing, surely it must be replaced....

This year, I will do my best to resist an outlay of cash in my pursuit of organization!  I will resist repainting and will instead tack up a picture or two over chipped spots.  Besides, we are 1/2 way through a renovation of our laundry room and I am sure I cannot talk Mr. WMM into anything else right now!  I will "shop" my own house if I feel the need to redecorate.  But I cannot resist moving the furniture and I know that Mr. WMM will be very sad to hear that.  Ah well, a small price to pay for a fresh outlook on life and avoid the January blahs!

My friend Cate is about to renovate her bathroom.  While I hate the whole renovation process, I am always thrilled by the results.  Since we have been in our house we have reno'd both bathrooms.  I have already shown one of our bathrooms, the more elegant one, in my post here.

My other bathroom is meant to feel like a cottage bathroom.  You have seen parts of it before, as I often take pictures in there.  We did all of the work ourselves. You can decide if that was wise or not!   I don't know what kind of bathroom you have, Cate, but I do have some suggestions that might help.



Looking into the bathroom.  You can see it is very small.  When we bought this house it had terrible tile that was so ugly.  We also did not have a lot of money.  But Mr. WMM was smart, and since I wanted a cape cod/maine kind of look, he simply put beaded board right over the old tile, except around the bathtub, where he took the walls down to the studs.  This saved a LOT of money and work and we even took the beaded board right up over the ugly popcorn ceiling. You loose an inch or two of space, but save a lot!



 This gives a bit better short of the beaded board. 


We have a huge shower in our other bathroom, so we decided to only put in a tub in this bathroom.  We actually bought our bathroom months in advance of starting the work, as it was such a good price.  It sat in our backroom.  It became quite the conversation piece.  We found some lovely glass tiles that look like beach glass to put around the tub and the lower part of the wall.  We didn't have the space to put in a huge whirlpool tub, but we found a very deep regular-sized one that is divine to sit in and have relaxing baths. 


Over the tub is a chandelier.  Do not worried - it is grounded and were it to ever fall, would cut off from the electricity immediately.  It is also on a dimmer, which is a nice for a relaxing bath.  Above it is a large photo of 1990 NYC, an antique door header, some lovely glass, a little painting done by a friend and my turquoise foo dogs, who move around the house.



At one end of the tub is an assemblage of an original painting, flea market finds a photograph of my children at the beach.



At the other end, is a painting I got for $100 at local art show by a young woman starting out. 


And across the way is a glass etagere, which is particularly messy as I took these photos at the end height of Christmas.

The cost of this bathroom reno, tub and flooring and paint in, was about $3000.  Of course, you do need a man that is handy!  Not sure if this is helpful Cate!

And now I know which room needs some cleaning!!!!!

How about you?  Any reno/redecorating/organizing plans now that you are cleaning out the Christmas "row"?(there's a good Maritimes word for you - pronounced like wow!)

*****************************

On the 9th Day of Christmas WMM gave to me:

A taste of the beach!


This picture was taken around 1998 at New River Beach.  New River Beach is practically unswimmable - at the height of summer it only hits a balmy 60 degrees typically.  But we loved to go there as a family and take walks and have picnics and let the kids play on the beach. 

Some of you are lucky enough to live near the beach or somewhere warm year round.  When I look out my window today, I am seeing 4 feet of snow and it is -28 with the windchill.  But like the hummingbirds, this picture makes me smile remembering a very hot day spent on a very lovely beach near a very cold body of water and happy times.  Those days will come again; they always do!  But it is nice to remember that the days are getting longer and summer is coming!

Have a lovely day out there!  I am off to clean and start to slowly pack up Christmas!

27 comments:

  1. CLEAN SWEEP WMM, that magazine cover makes me laugh. I really like your door header and a rug in the bathroom. I may try that in my all-white (sleek but stupid, don't brush your hair) ones. Uber-organiser Peter Walsh had a great piece about not using getting sorted as an excuse to shop for more stuff, will send link. Hope the 10-10-10 is going well and still drooling at your dinner menu I missed yesterday.

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    1. PS 9th day is best photo share yet!

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    2. GF - duck with red currant sauce, champagne risotto and brocolli with garlic chips was amazing! I do have a pic of me drinking champers which I will send along!

      would like the peter walsh link!

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  2. We are reno-ing our extra bath before we put it on the market, and would love to do the beadboard around the walls. We are not extraordinarily handy, however. We managed to pull up our floor tiles and buy the vanities, and that's about it. Thanks for the inspiration! :)

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    1. HI M! I love bead boards - they seem so cozy! I like them going horizontal and wider as well, but our bathroom was too small for that!

      Good luck on the renos - tis the season!

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  3. I needed this post today. I am totally feeling the January blahs! It is my least favorite time of year, such a let down after Christmas. Hmph. But I, like so many others, am going to do my best to cut back on the shopping this year while simultaneously cleaning out my excess. It always makes me feel better!

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    1. I hear you! I always get a burst of energy for some reason in January! Maybe because i know at some point people will come to the house around my birthday and I don;t want them to see what it looks like now!

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  4. Morning WMM, your bathrooms are lovely, both of them! Putting beadboard over old tile is a marvellous idea.
    We don't pack up Christmas until the 6th, so I have a few days yet. That is definitely the challenge of organizing - not spending any more money!

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    1. Hi Patrica - we will definitely keep the tree up till the 6th! I may just put away a couple of little things here and there to make some more room. I wish I had the idea of beadboard over tile, but that is all Barry! Frugal (and not wanting to do what he doesn't need to do!) Scot!

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  5. Thank you thank you!! I was so excited to see this post this morning! The beadboard idea is brilliant and I am going to steal this idea for sure. Maybe not on the ceilings, but I love beadboard and it will most definitely go on the walls. We have terrible wallpaper to hide and I would rather cover it with beadboard than take it down (sorry to the future owner of our house). The blue tiles on your tub are fantastic, that is another thing I love about this bathroom. And the room is warm because of the artwork, rug, door header, chandelier and plants. I don't think I'll do plants, I cannot deal with them fake or living, although they look pretty. The chandelier is a great touch and I have to think about whether that idea would work for our room. But I plan to steal the blue accents and the beadboard and the overall cottage look. And artwork, for some reason it has never crossed my mind to put anything pretty in our bathrooms (partly this is because of the wildly busy wallpaper in both bathrooms that was not of my choosing). Thank you so much for posting this, I think I will show it to the contractor we are going to use and see what he can do with beadboard and tile. He's going to have to put in showers, though. So here is a question, what would you do with a space that is slightly too small for a full size bathtub? We're replacing a stall shower + jet tub with a bigger shower and it leaves space leftover behind a door. If I could figure out what to do with that space, I think we could get moving on the project.

    Your list of 4 items are spot on. I am a big-time furniture mover. I am always dissatisfied with the furniture arrangement in our family room and I move it a few times a year hoping for a better result (no luck yet).

    I have also read that buying more containers does not = organization. Peter Walsh says to do the weeding out and organizing work first and buy the new containers last, what fun is that? lol I've decided I need to buy a rolling rack for off-season clothing storage. That'll show Peter! :-)

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    1. Hi Cate! If I had more space in that bathroom I would build in a vanity closet right into the wall that looks old-fashioned and would match the beadboard vibe. I love built in cupboards.

      take a look here:

      http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=old-fashioned+built+in+cupboard+in+bathroom+with+drawers&view=detail&id=AAFEAB24D1508FAC90289B365F59B02DCD5D38A0

      think of all the towel extras you could store in there! Our house has wretched storage. Barry built cupboards into teh walls of our downstairs bathroom and they have been AMAZING!

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  6. I am thrilled with that beadboard bathroom, I built a very similar one in our old house, it was the nicest room and the one thing I missed when we moved.
    I have to post pictures of my bathrooms now that they are finished, I must get on the ball. I am feeling so lazy these days, I guess it's my version of the January Blahs!
    Today I get cracking, that's it!
    Thanks for the inspiration. And I'm laughing over buying things in order to de-clutter, I was once guilty of this entirely! It's way more fun to shop for organizing stuff than it is to actually organize!

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    1. I hear you! It is quite counter-intuitive when you think of it! I love my stuff! I am definitely a "stuff" person and I also need to see it because I am a visual person. Oh Lordy!

      Pls post those pics. I have some great ones in progress of laundry room - can't want to do the total "before" and "after" - it will be like a magazine layout!

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  7. I love cottage style bathrooms like this, I dislike hotel bathrooms and anything modern or shiny. I'm working on an ebay pile, I loathe ebaying but needs must.

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  8. I'm in the midst of the January blahs too, but your post helps. :) I love your bathroom and am so impressed that you two did all that all on your own! Beautiful!

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    1. Hi Merry Wife! We keep saying we should buy, "do" and sell a house. However, we have very particular and kind of eclectic taste and it is certainlt not everyone's cup of tea!

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  9. I hear you. The problem with consignment shops around here is the customers can't recognize the good stuff. I have all J Crew, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and they want to price is like Reitmans stuff (reitmans is a medium to lower end chain that would be in every mall in Canada. Not to diss Reitmans - they have some great stuff - but it is not of same quality)

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  10. I have a huge reorganizing task this year as well. We have yet to find in inexpensive home improvement project. I need some home office furniture, but I don't have a home office space so my living room will become a multi-use space. It is a very large, rarely used space, so I'm taking it over. Either wall cabinets and a parsons desk or a computer armoire will be the solution. Since I work from home in a small cramped space without storage, I'm slowly loosing my sanity. I'll be prowling Ikea and Craig's List for ideas and bargains.

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    1. Hey Julie! I am with you - I find renos like breeding rabbits - the ideas and expenses multiply quickly!!

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  11. All my christmas stuff is packed away and i feel my house looks very bare.
    On the other hand it si freeing to have all this space in the livingroom.
    I put some hyazinth and amaryllis bulbs in glasses and bought fresh tulips.
    Today i have spent a big part of the time researching for the perfect color i want in a spring handbag,I have my eyes on a chloe paraty in kind of a tan/cognac color.

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    1. No more whoville? I loved your Christmas decor! So great re: researching purses - how fun! Plus you lucky thing, you will be able to go to Paris to pick it up!

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  12. Love your cottage bathroom, WMM! :)

    I am now back in to re-organizing mode after the holidays. I just packed up all of the Christmas decorations today, and the house already feels roomier and less cluttered after more than a month of having all the extras out. Next up is another declutter mission on each room, which I hope to accomplish before next Monday when we start school back up again. Hubs and I have several home reno projects that we would like to accomplish, but are planning to move (hopefully this year), and thus have put them on a temporary hold.

    Funny you mention the beach, as our local weather man was just commenting this morning how it was going to be an absolutely perfect day for the beach. Living in Florida for most of my life, I cannot imagine going to the beach in January, but I know that many people from out of town enjoy it. Our family condo is occupied for the winter, otherwise I would say come down and stay at it. It's right on the beach, so I'm sure you would have a lovely time. :)

    Stay warm and enjoy your evening!

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    1. Hi FFM! Right now I would take that condo! How wonderful to have a beach place! Right now, I can offer you a big snowbank!!! I am slowing starting the de-cluttering! Got a happy call today - my laundry room floor is being laid down this Friday! This is great news as it means that the countertop and painting are not far behind...

      Have a great evening!

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  13. I am in the bath yet again after a hard day cleaning out my kitchen. I actually found a can with expiration date of 2005. And yes, I have a glass of wine in hand. Water and wine is all I drink. Good enough for Jesus, good enough for me. In another life I would either be a professional organizer or a travel agent for the very, very rich. We are starting to plan our master bath redo. Fortunately, I am married to a builder- hey I got can lights in my bedrooms for Christmas. Love.

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    1. Oh good for you! Can lights are awesome! Are you like cobbler's wife - always last to get new shoes?

      Great dream jobs! I am afraid to go do the cans! One room at a time I guess! Have a great evening!

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  14. Love the beadboard! And the whole bath! We have tacky ugly tile on our walls in the master bath, and I hate it but don't quite have the funds for a remodel. Was it hard to put up the beadboard? Could I DIY this? What did you use to attach it to the wall?

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    1. Okay - talked to me renovator. He says that were he to do "do-over ", he would tear the tiles, then put the beaded board up. It won't matter if the walls are a mess behind the beaded board - no one will see them! What he had to do at the time was put some slats of wood over the top around part of the walls were the tiles were do that the beaded board would not buckle inwards, if you know what I mean. The beaded board you can buy in panels now is even nicer than when we bought it. Good luck!

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Kindness is a virtue...