This is such an exciting day! Our Humble A{Bowe}d has been featured on IHeart Organizing! Visit Jen’s amazing blog to read the feature and see more of her amazing house.
Category: Our First House
Our first house, a 1960 ranch home.
We’ve Been Framed
I think I have some form of seasonal depression. When spring finally arrives, I feel compelled to make everything light and bright. I make new artwork. I sew new pillow covers. I clean like crazy. I still have a few changes on my list, but we checked one off this weekend.
We (when I say we, I mean Ben) painted some of our picture frames. Most were black before, like this set of family photos in our hallway:
And this in my office:
A few (7) cans of white gloss spray paint later and we have this:
The hall frames weren’t the only ones to get a facelift. The remaining frames hung on the living room walls got the same treatment. 
Here’s an action shot:
Add some high gloss brown and my office frames look like this:
I really love the gloss finish. It makes everything feel more chic and polished.
Office Progress
I’m back to show off more of my almost finished office!
I was using the children’s desk we have in our living room to run my stationery shop, Customized Stationary. A little more than a year and a lot of complaining later, I am using my new office! Ben still has some building to do, but I’m happy as a clam to have more space.
Before we go into the present day office, lets take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
This is what the office space looked like before. Then Ben worked his magic. Summer rolled around and we got busy with outdoor projects and life, so my office was on hold. Winter came and we started working again, but now we had a deadline. We were going to have a baby around the end of March 2010. Time to go into over drive. We had an entire basement to finish, including my office. So, 15 gallons of white paint later, we have arrived at our destination.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, MY OFFICE
Once the office is complete, I will have a stack of four drawers on the left side of the desk and four cabinet doors to cover the right side. I will also have adjustable shelving in the cabinet that houses my computer tower and printer.
Here is a look at the other side:
Ben is building the cabinet doors to cover the right sides.
Here we have a door waiting to be filled, sanded, primed and painted.
Ben is pretty smart and had a few ideas to improve the function of the space. One idea was under cabinet lighting. The other brilliant idea was a magnetic backsplash to serve as my inspiration/work board. (I was planning on using a framed metal board, but this is so much better AND it allows artwork on the left wall). The original plan was to install painted steel, but we didn’t know how we would keep it in place without ruining the walls and making it obvious.
Then, my dad suggested using magnetic primer. Brilliant! A quart costs between $20.00 and $25.00, but we covered my entire backsplash 6 times (the can suggests a minimum of three thin coats) with one can. Once the primer has dried, you just paint over it with your wall color and voilà! Instant magnet board. The magnetic primer can’t hold heavy items, but it’s perfect for my papers.
The left side holds three IKEA containers with paperclips, rubber bands and small clips.
The longer right side is my working order side and it extends around the corner to the bookshelf. Notice the under cabinet lighting, too.
Ben is definitely a keeper! I’m so lucky to have such a talented man in my life.
It’s Marble-ous!
Yep, I’m talking about our new marble floor.
Ben installed the new white marble floors in a brick pattern to add interest. I think it looks amazing, but I’m biased. You’ll notice a small corner of our new bathtub to the right. Here she is in all her glory, sort of. It’s a five-foot jetted tub and I couldn’t wait to use it!
After the tub was installed, Ben added beadboard panels to cover up the nasty wallpaper. Then he built our custom vanity. We decided on two drawer stacks, forgoing the cabinet. Ben’s design also hid the sink plumbing, sweet!
The counter top is a green granite remnant from a local marble and granite company. The vessle sink and faucet were purchased on Ebay for $150.00 TOTAL! The sink is a little difficult to keep clean because it’s clear and two sided, but it’s worth it. 
Keeping with the marble-ous theme, we installed a marble tile tub surround, too. Ben wanted some dark tile, so this is the pattern we agreed upon. (The tiles still need to be cleaned here).
The sill around the tub is a matching granite to give the tub edge some stability.
After three weeks of hard work and long hours, our bathroom looked like this:
We added a marble tile backsplash and reused our old mirror. We turned it vertically to add height and reflect light from the new sky tube we installed over the tub. Ben still had to build the drawer fronts, but we can see the finish line, now.
In true Bowe fashion, we work really hard to finish a project and then take a few months off before completing the finishing touches. So, after about three months, we finally had the drawer fronts done and installed.
Here’s the finished bathroom now:
So, that’s how we transformed our ugly bathroom into a spa like retreat. All for under $2000.00 with a lot of hard work.
Bathroom Pinks and Blues
Our main bathroom was an eye sore to say the least. It was almost completely mauve. 2 inch square tiles covered the floor and countertop. Pink metallic wallpaper covered all the walls. Almond (read nicotine-stained) 4 inch square tiles were in the shower and went up to the ceiling cabinet?! Yes, we had a totally unusable cabinet above our shower. Here’s our starting point.
After using the bathroom as it was for one year, we decided it was time to start over. The process began by pulling out the awkward cabinet. Someone seems pretty happy about it.
The next item to go was the tub, tile and sheet rock behind.
Pretty, huh?
Then Ben unhooked the sink and pulled out the vanity.
After the vanity, Ben pulled up all the pink floor tile. Then we spent HOURS removing the wallpaper. We didn’t get very far and scraped up the walls along the way. Time for plan B.
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