Bath Shower Home Design

The secret of a long-lasting marriage? Never tell your wife: 'I told you so.' For that reason, I will not remind Mrs U how I warned her months ago that her elaborate home-improvement plans would subject us to weeks of out-and-out misery. Sure enough, the work of enlarging the kitchen and converting the smallest bedroom upstairs into a shower-room still grinds on, more than eight weeks into a project that was meant to take six. I will not remind Mrs U how I warned that her elaborate home-improvement plans would subject us to weeks of out-and-out misery As I write, the house is still barely habitable, with furniture, pots and pans stacked up in the living room, dust everywhere, nowhere to sit in comfort and hardly a moment's peace — for us, or our long-suffering neighbours — from banging, clanking, drilling and problems, problems, problems. Mind you, I'm not blaming the builders, plumbers, tilers, decorators and electricians who've taken the place over since the midd...

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Moen, Incorporated for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.  The bathroom remodel continues , this time we are replacing our old sink and faucet. I’m really excited about his part, you’ll see why… So here is the previous vanity. It’s bottom of the line apartment chic , not to mention too small for the space. There was a few problems with our current faucet/sink. First, it was disgusting (I say was because it’s currently sitting on our front porch). The counter/sink (it’s one solid piece) had a sand-papery texture which makes it impossible to clean. I thought it was mineral build-up, but tons of vinegar and cleaners had no effect on it. Second, the faucet leaked so bad that Adam had to shut off the hot water valve to keep it from dripping constantly. He did that TWO YEARS ago. We’ve just never gotten around to messing with it again. Lastly, the faucet squeaked like you wouldn’t believe. It squeaked so bad that when you used it i...

By Rachel Stuhler Aug 21, 2017 In the days after the birth of my second child, anxiety took over my mind and nightmares consumed my sleep. As soon as I'd drift off, I'd remember the nurses crowding around me, speaking rapidly, but I couldn’t understand their words. I'd remember picturing my 3-year-old son’s eyes — bright and expressive and the clearest blue I’ve ever seen. I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to him before coming to the hospital, and in that moment, I was sure I never would. I would die right there in the labor and delivery ward, and leave him and my new infant son without a mother. When I'd awake in the dark, I'd panic, thinking I’d been taken back to the hospital. I would freeze, convinced my hands were covered in IVs and moving would tear them out. I was afraid to tell anyone what was happening, lest they think I was crazy. I knew many young mothers and no one talked about this kind of trauma. Had my mind been damaged by the delivery? I'd never fe...

I don’t know if it’s the planets or the meds or the darkness of winter, but this week I’ve been a bit down in the hole and I suspect I’m not the only one.  Then I heard this song that I’ve loved and forgotten and it saved me a little bit.  Little things save me from myself all the time.  Sometimes it’s music, and sometimes it’s words from writers who’ve been dead for years, and sometimes it’s you. [embedded content] If you’re sad or lonely or feeling like you’re one of the misfit toys, know that you are part of us.  And remember that those misfit toys were always far more interesting than the normal ones. Tell someone that you love them, or that they’re important.  And tell yourself.  Because it’s true. PS. I wrote this last night but I was too mentally exhausted to publish it, and this morning I looked out and saw a mostly full moon and realized that’s probably partially to blame.  It sounds insane and vaguely werewolfy to blame the moon, but I know that weeks with full moons are wors...

Well, my work pace has slowed considerably over the last two days.  The phrase “as slow as molasses in winter” seems to be appropriate.  Our beautiful 60-degree weather has left us, as has been replaced with temps in the teens, 20’s and 30’s, accompanied by freezing rain and just all around dreariness.  (Temps in the teens, 20’s and 30’s accompanied by the gorgeous Texas sunshine feel MUCH different to me than those same temps accompanied by rain, sleet, and lack of sunshine.)  And of course, we still have no HVAC system. That’s #1 on our list of priorities as soon as we sell the condo. Fortunately, we’re in Texas, which means that our winters are pretty mild overall, and when we do have cold spells like this, they generally only stick around for a couple of days…a few at the most.  I did try to prepare a bit for this cold spell by putting heavy plastic up between the kitchen and dining room.  That dining room is one of the draftiest rooms in the house, and just sucks out any warm ai...

Whew, the last 2 weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of hustle and bustle around the Dekker house as we have officially kicked off our 2015 “project season”. It’s a bit earlier than we normally start working on projects, but with a new baby due around the end of June / early July, we felt the need to start early (even though Dave is still in school yet) so we can cross off a few big items before the baby arrives. Here are the projects on our list for this spring/summer: Get a new roof for our house Remove 9 ugly, dying pine trees and have stumps ground out Potentially remove 11 more dying pine trees (later this fall) Finish the last section of our fence (we couldn’t do this until the last line of trees and stumps were removed) Partially gut our upstairs bathroom to replace the standing shower with a tub/shower combo Completely gut our 2nd main floor bathroom for a total renovation (this might have to wait until later in the summer as well) Power wash our house, garage, and extra garag...