Another year another bath redo

 A little dark and a lot old and ragged- wall paper peeling off the wall - mold and bad linoleum!  A master bath in desperate need of a makeover!

 A very old and original sink- and make do cabinets - also a border print - throwback from the 80's!

 The door to the closet inside the bathroom- never really used to it's capacity- shelves and storage for suitcases mostly- we could use this space for a larger bathroom- I would love it to be a desk and hair blowing area- George had other ideas! Large tub whirlpool and heat! His favorite thing!


 

 Yep great shelve - gotta go- lets make this room bigger!  Should be brighter too with an extra window shining right into the room.

Yep this is the last we will see of this moldy old tile!  And the horrible shower door - yuck! Glad to see it go! Even my cleaning guy is happy he doesn't have to attempt to clean it anymore!

So these are the pics our cleaning guy sent us - we haven't seen it totally done yet as we don't go up to Maine until May! Can't wait to get decorating!  You can see we took the wall and door to the storage room off- but we inserted a tub so not a whole lot of space left!  A little tight but George loves it and he's the one using it! Need to get some window treatments- I'm thinking of a Smith and Noble pull shade with fabric in gray tones. Need to get up there to measure and order!

View from the bathtub area- I am so pleased with the look - that shower is going to be great! Need a cover on the radiator and something to place towel or cosmetic bags on - will have to Homegoods for some decorating ideas!

 What a difference this walk in shower makes!!  A pleasure to shower in!  Beveled subway tile in carerra marble and carrera basketweave tiles floor! Pretty happy with the way it turned out!

The beadboard is came out beautifully - I am pleased with the gray Benjamin Moore paint in Wolf gray!

All in all a great redo - not easy with how long our contractor took but finally done! Now I just have to get up to Maine to get to do the finishing touches!! And enjoy a new bathroom!

View from the House

This year a 3 mastered schooner has made its way out of Belfast Harbor to give tourists and guests a sail around the area. What a great view we have of it everyday sailing by. The pleasures of living on the Penobscot Bay in Maine! Happy End of Summer in Maine! 

I'm Back!

It's been forever but since I have a week to myself I thought I'd better update for this summer in Maine. I've been back in Maine since Memorial Day weekend. Great fun great weather! We've already had one set of guests - had loads of fun and loads of lobster! July should be chocker block full with guests every week and even some overlap. So much for updating blogs.

One of my ongoing issues have been flowers. So far the window boxes are flourishing this year!

It's still early and I hope they will start cascading and show a better view from the ground.

They look great from above- when I look down on them from the window but still need to hang down some.  I am pleased with the color- funny that less is more- these are all just petunias - less exspensive than other plants.

The view out the bedroom window.


Have been fertilizing them with special bloom fertilizer that Alyssa my flower lady got me this year!

However the urns out front have a ways to go! Still not too many blooms but always hope that a month or so from now they will be growing strong!  Stay tuned!   

Bathroom make over!

It's time it's time!! We have a new bathroom! Can't really believe how great it came out and can't really believe how truly horrid the old bathroom was!!! I don't have too many photos of the before bathroom but take my word for it - horrid is the word!

Having a footed tub seemed so cool when we bought the house 9 summers ago- the leaking and the shower curtain sticking to your body soon made us regret the tub!!! Couldn't wait to put in a new walk in shower!

We gutted the bathroom straight to the inner walls.  The workers found an old medicine bottle in the walls! I want to frame it to hang on the walls!  The workers back in 1911 seemed to be imbibing in a little "medicine" or liquor during the workday!!

 Adding some insulation on the outside wall and making sure the leaks stop!! So smart to go right to the plumbing and redo! Will make the shower first rate.

 Mark the tile guy did a great job- subway on the walls and hexagon on the floor. We first had intended to put beveled subway on the wall but the tile store made an error - it would of added 2 weeks to the job so I settled for the plain subway- and I love the gray grout! Way better than white grout- that I learned to dislike in another bathroom! 

 Bead board up and looking swell! We did keep the original medicine cabinet! Paint needed but should be fine!

TA DA!!!! The reveal!   Went with "sea glasss" from Benjamin Moore on the walls - happy with that shade.  Did a pretty good match with accesories from TJ Maxx and Macy's towels! 

Great lighting and clean as a whistle - what a new bathroom brings to the house!! Love it - now on to the other bathrooms! Maybe this spring - next will be the master bath! Can't wait!

Waterlogue! My new fav app

Having a bit of fun with this new photography app that turns regular old photos into beautiful water colored paintings! What a great way to filter your photos. Some pics come out better than others- for example anything with a pop of color seems to look great in watercolor!!  People not so much. I think you'll be surprised at how great some of them look- Thought I would do some before and afters!

Oh it costs only 2.99!! What a bargain to turn your photos into masterpieces!!!



 A lovely setting in my neighbors yard in Maine

 Turns into a water color perfect for some note paper!

Side view of our porch in Maine-

Becomes a soft focused picture perfect setting-

 Martha's Vineyard and the girls on a cloudy day-

Becomes a beautiful boat scene-

 Our view while sailing out of Camden harbor-

 Picture perfect postcard-

 Paris - one of my favorite spots

 Now an original piece of art!! So much fun

  


Check it out- I think you will have as much fun as I did!!!! Enjoy Waterlogue!!!

The Frozen Winter-

We spent the week of Christmas up here at Lucky Stars and boy was it cold and snowy and especially icy!! The trees are totally enclosed in ice. Many trees down and lots of damage. The clean up will be extensive this spring. But the beauty is all over the place...

     Merry Christmas from our house to Yours!!!
 

FIVE YEARS OLD!!!!
 Yep - I've been blogging for 5 years- well semi-blogging at least- when the spirit moves me!! It's been fun and I've "met" and met some great people who have been much more diligent in keeping up with their blogs! I admire their stick-to it ness!!!  Well may be I will get better this year- heading to Maine this Thursday for some Thanksgiving fun- will take some photos and maybe a video or two!  Hope everyone has a great holiday and I promise to be a little better!!! 

 Flowers flowers everywhere!!!    This year we have had some success with our window boxes but we are not anywhere near perfect yet- The water side boxes did much better than the front of the house. I think that's all about the sun. So much sun in the front the swedish ivy just went crazy and really crowded out all the other colorful plants.

You can see how much more colorful the window box is under the awning versus the monotone color of the upper boxes.  

 Here is that Swedish Ivy that crowded out everything else- it certainly grew like crazy and does hang beautifully.

 This mandevilla plant is a true success in the urns on either side of the front entry. It grows like a weed and is colorful and boom heavy. This will be repeated next year!

 Here is a close up of the boxes on the water side - that coleus is positively huge and does a great job- I think next year I want the coleus to be of the pink variety - more color is our goal.  The biggest problem with our window boxes is that they are so high up! You really can't see them from the street - they look great as you look down on them from the window but we are always judging them from their street view.

A subdued color palette is NOT what we want - this is how the front boxes looked at the end of the summer! Goal for next year is bright colors!  We'll try harder! 

Redecorating with your own things!!!

My dear friends Kip and Nan paid their yearly visit to Maine and you know what that means- redecorating!!!! I think they need to start a business that uses your own things to spruce up your spaces! They did a beautiful job and as usual I draped myself over the couch and watched!!  :)


New wooden whale we found in a Camden antique shop has found his perch about the front door and the many books on the round table have been reorganized.

The moving of books and plates from the living room take on a whole new dimension when arranged in the foyer!

 We went on a great antiquing expedition to pick up some of these buoys! They look great in the Chinese bucket but I am looking for a mussel basket and that would really display them nicely!

 The dining room mantle got a new look- but the USN sword remains in place!

 Yes, I should be polishing silver but the new arrangement looks great!

 

I asked Nan to "beach up" the living room mantle and she did a great job! Now I have to add a few Fall accessories since the weather is getting colder!!!

 I love the desk with the doors open and moving the John Derian whale plate to a stand shows it off beautifully!

We had so much fun and all this work got done too!!! Love it when they come to visit!