Finishing Touches

 My best pal Julie is coming to visit me next week. I have been working hard to get the house looking good. Mostly because I want it to look good for myself, but having company come is great motivation to get things done.

The Family Wall in the corner of my living room is all done. I have raised all the pictures that hung on the left side of the drawing of my grandmother and great-aunt, and I also raised the diamond shaped frame on the right. The postcard from my Dad hangs below that, and in the empty space that was left, I hung one of my quilt calendars showing a picture of Millie lying on a quilt Julie made. I also found a picture (a printed one!!!) of my granddaughter, so that is on the bureau as well. What's interesting is that picture is close to a photo of my son and I when he was the same age - and their smiles are alike!

The guest bath is almost complete. The shower door was partly delivered yesterday - the frame and handles were delivered, but the box with the doors themselves were not. I am hoping they arrive on Monday. They won't be installed before Julie's visit, but that's OK with me. Everything else is done except for a couple of finishing touches.

This cat vase Michelle gave me when I adopted Millie over 15 years ago is the only thing from the old bathroom that will be in the new one. I thought the room needed something, so I brought the vase to my favorite florist in town.

The opening for flowers is very small, but they were able to make a lovely arrangement. The mirror reflects the rose and makes it look like the bouquet is larger than it is.

Sometimes your frame of reference can affect the way you see something. I used to hate the big spa tub in my master bath, but when I dressed it up and made it look pretty, I liked it. So I carried on with that idea.

You can see in the little toilet / shower room that I have replaced the ugly round light fixture with a small chandelier. It cost me forty bucks, but now the room has sparkle and pizzazz. I also replaced the towel bar in there, the toilet and the floor, and hung up a framed print. Now the room is something I am proud to show off.

The final improvement to my master bath was a new light fixture over the mirror. The sharp-eyed among you will recognize the light fixture as a duplicate of the one in the guest bath. I had originally chosen a wider version, but the wiring wouldn't allow it. The solution? Two smaller ones side by side. I literally looked at hundreds of light fixtures and came back to these.

To renovate this room would require rebuilding it, and that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever. I like the changes I made and quite frankly I'm done with renovating for a while. I'm eager to get back into the studio, and believe you me - I will! Julie and I have sewing planned.

Julie arrives in four days...