It's been a LOOOOONNNGGGGGG time! If you've read many of my past posts, you know I place high importance on life balance. Between home and work, I've been a bit overwhelmed this year and decided the blog had to fall off the "to-do list." Just for an extended time out...

Work has continued on the house and the kitchen has been complete for a few months now. While the space configuration wasn't that bad, overall, the room was plain, very boring.

Our first priorities were paint, flooring, and new appliances.

We liked the bar area, but found it too low to be useful. We had three options: 1. buy new stools; 2. cut the legs down on our existing stools; or, 3. raise the bar height.

After much deliberation, we opted for raising the bar. My industrious husband configured the solution.

The next step was granite. To be honest, we were not pleased with our selection: Giallo Ornamental. We selected it from a granite warehouse - as we've done with our previous homes - however, it seemed too brown upon installation. We thought we'd selected something with a whiter, brighter background.

But, it's installed and it's going to stay!

Jesse's first attempt with tiling a backsplash was a huge success. And once it was installed, the granite seemed to brighten up a bit. We went with a tumbled travertine subway tile.

For a final finishing touch, Jesse installed a couple of pendants over the bar area.

What is especially genius about this project is the base that he created to hang the pendants. We've had a hard time matching the ceiling textures in this house. He knew he would have to patch a few holes with the install of this lighting. Rather than go through the trouble for results that wouldn't be perfect, he fashioned this base.

I was worried that it would look odd, but it turned out nicely.

The final item to highlight is this faucet. We installed a Delta Touch2O faucet and it is awesome! Touch it anywhere and it turns on. One of those weird things you never knew you needed...

The only problem is that I now have the same expectation for all faucets I encounter. I touch them over and over, yet they don't respond!

You'll notice that we painted the window box above the sink white. It really brightened the entire room and convinced us to continue the white trim throughout the house - the entire house...

Hazel says, "Really?! You guys are gluttons for punishment."

Why, yes. Yes, we are.

Wanna see something really gross?

Any ideas why this is so gross?

How about now?

This is what cigarette tar build-up looks like on your walls! And here's what it looks like when you start to clean it.

The previous owners of our home used one of the upstairs bathrooms as a smoking room... apparently for a LOOONNNNNGGGGGG time. This room was so saturated with smoke, we had to gut the whole thing.

But, we weren't giving up much, considering this is what it looked like.

Seriously dated cabinets, more peel-and-stick tile, and a PINK shower. Whew! What a mess!

But it sets the stage for a pretty remarkable transformation.

First, we scrubbed down the walls, grout and ceiling, painted and laid new flooring...

Next, the shower was professionally refinished as a clean, beautiful white...

It was finished off with new cabinets, lighting and fixtures, granite countertops and a few fun accents.

We have a little bit of trim work left to complete, but, all-in-all, we're counting this project as done!

It's perfect for a little boy to enjoy... or swap out the art and accessories and it's perfect for the grandparents!

{Hint-hint, Mom and Dad...}

This has been my favorite transformation to date. The hubby is finishing up a new tile backsplash in the kitchen this week and we're on the downside of our master bathroom renovation. I can't wait for that to be done! It's been a BIG job.

Welcome to the former entrance to our master bedroom.

Pretty grand, huh?

Among the many bizarre things about this house was the decision to route traffic to the master bedroom through the laundry room.

But, we'll talk about the master bedroom in a couple of weeks. Let's go straight to the dirty laundry (room).

I know this is not what you might consider an inspirational makeover. There is nothing "frills or fancy" about it. But I am so proud of my husband for making this super functional change to the house!

I left the house for work one morning and came home to find this!

The cabinetry in this room was repurposed. See where the cabinets are hanging on the right side of the room. Want to take a guess how many times I ran smack into those when I wasn't paying attention?

A little paint, new flooring, and we're all done with this room!

It's actually the only room in the house that we can really consider "complete." I'm so tired of living in a construction zone that I may just move in here for a while!

From the get-go, this room had more personality than any other in the house.

I mean, look at this fireplace feature. It screams at you as you walk in the room.

Not necessarily the "belle of the ball," but sort of cool. Definitely worth embracing.

First came the paint...

Next came a new entertainment center...

We have a WONDERFUL Amish furniture store in town. I would gladly take one of everything! We lucked up with this unit. It was marked down because it was a floor model and they wanted to make room for new samples. The craftsmanship is unsurpassed.

Then came the flooring...

This flooring was a sort of vinyl plank... somethin' or another...

It was hard to get off and it shredded like cardboard.

To replace it, we wanted to go with something durable and sustainable. We decided to go with a bamboo at Lumber Liquidators. We did our research. We looked at samples in the store and finished rooms online before making the decision to purchase.

The sample we saw in the store essentially looked like this:

Nice, natural, variegated... However, we discovered (upon opening the boxes) that the dark tones on every single plank is sprayed on in a fairly consistent pattern. That was a bit disappointing - but also the risk you take when you order flooring online. There is a 20% restocking fee (which equaled a pretty substantial chunk of change) so we opted to go with it.

The end result isn't as terrible as we expected, though.

Yes, there is a definite pattern, but it's still a huge improvement over what was there.

A little unpacking, fluffing, and new window valances (I used McCall's 3632) and we are in pretty good shape!

And there's a place for our collection of lucky little guardians!