Our half bathroom is not exactly complete, but it does have new paint, new floors, and new baseboards. We decided to tackle these things before we moved in, and still haven't touched the room since.  Yikes! Time to get movin'. 

Here are before photos of the bathroom. Before, the bathroom had the generic baseboards installed by the builders of the home. Please also notice the awesome linoleum on the floors. I sure miss that stuff...

Before

Before

Before

Brandon being the awesome handy man that he is, installed every single plank of hard floors! Wow I am glad I didn't have to do that!  In order to put the floors in the bathroom, he had to remove the toilet and the sink.  Yum. I'm sure he was thirsty during this process.  (Oops..Was that going too far?)

Closing up the toilet hole.

                     

              

                

Before we installed the floors, we decided to paint the half bath. We considered waiting to do this after we moved in , but reconsidered.

We scored some discontinued Martha Stewart paint at Home Depot while we were shopping for other paint, and we're very happy with how it turned out. We ended up buying two quarts, and only paid $15! We still have about half of one left, for any touch ups and future painting necessary in that tiny space.  We chose Walmart's paint color, "First Morning Dew." We had it color matched to the Martha Stewart paint.

First Morning Dew. A light, sea-foam greenish color.

 We really wanted a fresh, cool feel to the bathroom. This is the bathroom that is used the most by our guests, so we wanted to make sure they felt comfortable. We're VERY happy with the color. 

 
After we painted, we put the original, boring baseboards back on. We decided they were washed out in this tiny room. They didn't do anything for it. So we removed them once again, and decided to put the new baseboards we installed in our new living room throughout the entire first floor of the house. BEST DECISION EVER!!

I then added a white hand towel (Target), white trash can (Walmart), white toilet brush (99 cents from Ikea) and some coconut hand soap (The Body Shop). A bunch of white, but a bunch of clean and subtle additions to not overwhelm this tiny room.

I also transformed our old paper towel holder into a toilet paper holder! Pretty proud of myself here. There's no storage for this bathroom, and we've already experienced too many times running out of toilet paper while on the toilet! haha. 

One of the awesome perks of owning your own home is making holes and permanent changes to things. I've always wanted a paper towel holder that hung from our cupboards. It's the simple things in life that matter most right?! We've never been allowed to make holes in the cupboards, so we've had this awesome paper towel holder sitting on our counter for almost 4 years now.

 

It's gotten worn out from water and let's face it, it was never really an attractive piece in our kitchen. We removed the smaller metal piece, and with some white paint (leftover from our table in our living room ), this paper towel holder is now a toilet paper holder!

What do you think?

Now for the full reveal of the bathroom:

Sea Foam Green paint, new 4 1/2 inch tall baseboards, and dark alder wood floors.

A fresh feel with white accents and clean, simple lines.

Clean, fresh feel for all those who will visit this little corner in our home!

And for all those who love a before and after like I do:

Ok so maybe saying half completed is belittling our work a bit. But we need some help people. This is where your comments are needed!

We need something to put on the wall above the toilet, but just haven't found what that is yet. Since the bathroom door is in the middle of the room, that seems to be the only place we can put something. What do you suggest?

Please be a friend and click on this link to vote for our video!   It will only take you two seconds! I promise! You can vote everyday, so set a reminder on your phone, and start clicking!

https://apps.facebook.com/certainteed/showentry?entryurl=%2Fcontests%2Fshowentry%2F1218655

Now for the explanation:

There is this contest going on... you submit a video to Certainteed explaining why you deserve to win outdoor supplies for your home (siding, decks, fences, railings, etc).  The video needs to be creative and catch the attention of the judges.  Well with everything that's been going on around here, it's taken us a lot longer than we thought it would to get this video submitted.

Videos have been on the website for weeks now.  And we just submitted ours today.  So we clearly need all the votes we can get!

So how it works:
The 10 videos with the most votes by June 15th will all win a small(er) prize. Then the judges from Certainteed will choose their favorite from the top ten and that video will win the grand prize of $75,000!!!

Obviously the other videos that have been submitted for weeks have been accruing votes each day. Since we just submitted today, we are far behind... and we must get in the top ten!


So we beg you from the bottom of our hearts to help us out by voting! A simple click on the blue button will do it! VOTE HERE

Jack says, PLEASE ?!!!!

Jack is sad at the thought of not winning!

Oh and have we told you guys lately that we love you?!  Thanks a bunch.

With all the house stuff we've been doing around here, we felt like we needed a little "us" time.

So we headed to Vegas for a quick, cheapish vacation. We call it the "your baby just turned one-moon." Get it? Anyways, we left Jack home with my mom and my older sister Lindsey who both so kindly flew out to Utah to stay at our house with our baby while we went and basked in the sun. Awesome.   We joined Leslie and Mike McCabe, two of our bestest friends. I grew up in Colorado with both Leslie and Mike. Leslie and I met the summer before 3rd grade and have been best friends ever since. Mike and I have been really good friends since high school! Leslie and Mike both went to school with Brandon at BYU-I, so they are one of the few friends couples that we both know and LOVE!

We stayed at hotel called Tahiti Village. It was just south of the strip and this infamous sign. So most of you can probably locate it. I recommend it. 

It had a lazy river, a pool with a sandy beach, and really nice rooms (they could probably use an update in decor though! ha). We stayed in a huge suite that had its own kitchen and two separate rooms and bathrooms. Perfect for us!

View of the lazy river from above.

Awesome pool.

We spent most of our days sitting right here... next to the lazy river. Listening to music, catching some UV rays, and reading some literature. It was relaxing and I wish I could do it everyday.

We spent our evenings eating at different restaurants on the strip and walking around aimlessly up and down the strip. People watching is my favorite thing to do there!

                                            

We acted like tourists and stopped to take pictures. I know, I know, weird.

I bet you can't guess where I'm at?!

                              

Cosmopolitan Hotel

                                     

                                

Aria Hotel

                                           

The boys needed a moment.

Yes, we often match. No, it's not on purpose.

                                      

We ate at this pizza place called Hidden Pizza. It's literally hidden. It's not advertized, has no signs, nothing. It's in a long hallway inside the Cosmo Hotel.. but it was amazing!

We were going to go to a show one night, but we all decided we would rather go shopping instead. And it was a GREAT choice! Brandon and I realized we both have never been shopping since we met. We've purchased a shirt here or there when absolutely needed, but other than that, we've been sporting 5 year old wardrobes... and it was obvious.

So we checked out the 3 story H&M store in Caesars Palace. It was huge! And very overwhelming.

Leslie and I in front of H&M.

Brandon discovered this awesome wetsuit like shirt. We made him try it on. But for some odd reason he didn't end up getting it.

The clothes I got for the price of a show ticket! Shirts, capris, a skirt, workout top and bottoms, and a swimsuit!

Brandon's clothes. Lots of shirts, tank tops, shorts, and a bathing suit (not pictured). And he still has more left over in his budget!

It was a short trip, and I was sad to leave, but was so happy to see my baby! The way home was the longest drive ever. But it seemed like Jack was perfectly happy without us. He got spoiled....

He got to eat an entire cupcake.

He got to eat blueberries with his pajamas on.

He got to eat an ice cream cone!

He got to have a shaved ice!

He loves an audience.

He helped Grandma in the kitchen.

He got to wear big boy shoes... Air Force Ones!

 And he got to play peek-a-boo as much as he wanted! (video )

 No we're counting down the days until we go to Mexico as a family in August! We can't wait to spend everyday together.. WITH Jack.. hanging out on the beach!

Anyone else traveling this summer?