The Bathroom is Finished (for Now)

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? The car is fixed, but it cost a pretty penny. On the plus side, I found curtain fabric for our back/family/TV room and had a late night baking extravaganza on Friday. I'll share more about all of this later this week or next week.

In the meantime, how about a reveal of the second bathroom? We put the finishing touches on it over the weekend. Here's a refresher of the bathroom before I went to work.

And here's the mini-inspiration board I created.

Here's how it looks all prettied up!

As planned, I hacked a Home Depot roller blind using these instructions from Design*Sponge. It was super easy. Just be sure to cut and sew straight lines and that the fabric is level with the roller. It would probably also help if I centered the pattern with the roller, but I'm OK with it not being perfect.

Instead of the West Elm striped shower curtain, I found a single gray curtain panel from Target. Stripes ended up being a little too much with the curtain fabric and the gray panel was less expensive. Win! You can't tell from the picture, but the curtain has a pebbled texture that adds a little more interest to the room.

Artwork was really inexpensive because the picture frame and matting were already on hand. John's Dad graciously printed my photograph of The Alhambra.

The biggest purchase was the West Elm zig zag bath mat at a whopping $31. You can also see that the curtain panel is a little too long. Maybe I'll hem it once I make the curtain panels for the back room. And I had to share my silver sparkle TOMS.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Bath mat from West Elm: $31

Curtain panel from Target: $27

Shower curtain liner from Target ($4, cut in half): $2

Tension curtain rod from Home Goods a while back: $5

Roller blind and universal window bracket from Home Depot: $10

Waverly Modern Essentials fabric in Solar Flare (Onyx/Lilac) from Joann's (on sale for $10/yard): $5

Picture frame and matting (already had): free

Printed Spain picture (thanks, Chuck!): free

Vase and wine glass for flowers (already had): free

Total: $80

Not too shabby! We might still tweak the bathroom by painting the walls or changing the mirror, but I'm happy with it for now. 

Post edit: My Mom also reminded me that we need a shower rack to hold soap, shampoo, etc. for guests. I also remembered that we need additional towel hooks. We have a towel bar for the hand towel, but nothing for bath towels. I'll be sure to get those by the next time we have overnight guests.

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Painting the Town Red

Loft ruffle top, Zara red pants, Kate Spade earrings, Kate Spade pumps,
J. Crew leopard belt, Jess LC clutch

I'm not really going to be painting any towns since this is the first weekend in a while that I'm not travelling. Which means I don't have any one specific outfit to plan. Therefore, I'm keeping with the Friday's Fancies theme for the week of RED and created an outfit just for fun. And how much fun are those red pants? They're $60 at Zara and I could totally see myself working them into my summer and fall weekend rotation. Or even just getting a leopard belt to add a little dose of "RARR" to my wardrobe.

I took the car to the dealership this morning, so we'll see what they have to say. I already know they're going to replace the timing belt since the car is over 100,000 miles. Hopefully they don't find any other surprises and my negligence doesn't bite me in the butt.

Other than that, I'm going fabric shopping with Jess and we have a graduation party for one of John's cousins.

Have a great weekend! Do you have any plans? Or is it just a chill weekend?

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Four Years Ago

Four years ago, John asked me to marry him. Would you mind indulging me in a walk down memory lane? I didn't have a wedding blog, so I'd like to document our engagement story here.

I was out of town with work for the month of August 2007, coming home on the weekends. While home for a weekend, we planned on going out for sushi at The Drunken Fish. Afterwards, we were going to a party at a friend's apartment. We finished dinner early, so we decided to take a walk around Saint Louis University's campus. The campus is between the restaurant and the friend's place, so it made logistical sense.

SLU has all sorts of fountains and statues on campus. Earlier in the week a friend told me there were some new statues by the business school of a bull and bear, similar to the one near Wall Street. John and I had been to NYC for spring break, so we thought about stopping by and seeing them.

As we walked past the clocktower, close to Cupples House, and towards the business school, we pass the pond. On the stony ledge near the water, I see candles, champagne, and roses. We walk closer to the spot, and I realize it's for us. We stop by all of the candles and John gets down on one knee. He tells me, "I love you" and all sorts of other wonderful things.

John asks me to marry him and I say, "YES!" He shows me the ring and it's beautiful.

Afterwards we proceeded to call our family and friends to share the good news. And of course we started planning the wedding within the following week.

If you were wondering, there weren't any statues and we didn't go to a party. John's friend set up the candles and display while we were at dinner. And as an excellent planner, John had timeline broken down by the minute for dinner and our trip to campus. He even had some stall tactics if dinner finished early or the set-up took longer than expected. John had also worked for campus safety while a student at SLU and cleared the whole proposal with his old boss.

I love you, John! Thank you for asking me to be your wife.
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Lessons in Chic-onomics: Car Repair

Hi, there! How was your weekend? Did any of you try my easy summer hair tutorial? If so, I'd love to hear or see how it turned out. This weekend was the winery bachelorette party. It was super fun and we enjoyed some excellent wine. I think my favorite was the raspberry sparkling wine from Chandler Hill Vineyards, which is appropriate since I baked raspberry champagne cupcakes for the occasion.

The guests went home with winery-themed favors which included cheese, a cheese spreader, almonds, chocolate, a wine opener, and a bottle stopper.

Unfortunately, the fun ended during my drive back to Chicago. What should take 4.5 or maybe 5 hours took 7! So is the love/hate relationship with my car.

I love my car for the excellent gas mileage and safety. It's fun to drive and it gets me where I need to go. On the other hand, it's a little expensive. It takes premium gas. And being 8 years old with about 108,000 miles, it's starting to require more expensive repairs.

It's latest tricks include the oil pressure light (while telling me to stop the car), a check engine light that will turn on and off at will, and a broken side mirror (I tried to have it replaced, but the shop couldn't locate a replacement). The most recent addition is a grinding noise when I accelerate and push the RPM's past a certain point.

I haven't been very diligent with car maintenance because I don't drive the car as much in Chicago as I did in St. Louis. Plus, with moving to and around Chicago, I haven't been able to find a good car repair shop. And herein lies my problem, I don't trust car repair shops.

When I walk into the shop, they see it as an open invitation to max out my credit card with seemingly unnecessary repairs. What should just be a wheel alignment turns into a new set of tires and tie rods. Ugh!

Since I haven't had the best experience with a dealership or any other shop, I've been doing the bare minimum with the national chains. It may have come back to bite me now.

I've done a little research on finding a good auto repair shop and wanted to share some tips:

• Ask for recommendations from family, friends, or neighbors. Especially ones with similar cars, lifestyles, and income levels. A normal tune up for one person might not be appropriate for your car.
• Also ask whether the estimates were accurate, the repair was done right the first time, the job was done on time, and if the shop is clean and presentable. You will also want to know if the staff and technicians are friendly, polite, and helpful.
• You can look at Yelp, but the reviews tend to be extreme. Some people rave while others rant. Can you tell what's the baseline service experience?
• Find a mechanic with certifications, licenses, or memberships in associations with qualifications. Some include ASE [National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence] or AAA [American Automobile Association]. Others include NAPA Autocare, Parts Plus, TechNet, ATEA (Automotive Technology and Energy Association), ASP (Automotive Service Professionals), and ICAR (Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair). Is the shop certified by your car manufacturer?
• Check your local Better Business Bureau for recent complaints and whether the shop is accredited.
• Does the shop have the latest equipment to diagnose and fix the problem?

Once you decide on a shop, the fun really begins:

• Use the owner's manual to learn about your car and any warning lights before taking your car into the shop. The owner's manual will also list different service requirements based on the mileage on the car. [I'm guilty of ignoring this....sorry Dad.] It's better to say you need the 50,000 mile service (including the specific services) instead of a general tune up.
• Get a detailed parts and labor estimate before proceeding with service. You want to know what they plan on doing before starting to work on your car.
• Once you get the estimate, ask plenty of questions. If the price estimate is much higher than expected, ask if all of the services and repairs are totally necessary. Ask to see the parts and explain the problem and procedures. 
• If the job still seems too expensive and the car is drivable, get a second opinion.

I plan on taking my car to the local VW dealership this week. I'm hoping for a good experience, but will definitely keep these items in mind with my guard up.

Do you have any good car repair experiences? Any horror stories out there? How did you find a reputable car repair shop? Has anybody had experience with a VW dealership in Chicago?
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Easy Summer Hair

Loft striped shirt, Gap jeans, Jess LC Ainslie earrings and necklace, J.Crew leopard flats

Also known as the "lazy girl's braid." More about that later.

I managed to blast my writer's block yesterday after a walk around the Loop and a trip into Loft. They're starting to bring out some of their fall items and I love this striped shirt. It also comes in navy or gray stripes. In addition, I want to share a few pieces from Jess LC's new Ainslie collection! I saw the pieces in person a few weeks ago and they're so pretty! A bit delicate and can be dressed up or down. I decided to dress them down.

In addition to the dressed-down clothes, I'm going to show you some easy dressed-down hair...with a twist. Some girls seem to have the "hair and makeup" gene. Their hair is always perfectly placed and their makeup is never smudged. I, on the other hand, inherited the "cooking and baking" gene, which is OK by me.

Over the weekend, I realized that my bangs had grown out of control and I didn't want to pin them up again. So I started experimenting. I tried to braid my hair, but that was less than successful. Then I started to twist my hair. It worked!

Here's a short tutorial for my "lazy girl's braid." This is perfect for when your bangs have grown out or you want to spice up day-old hair. My hair was easiest to twist when it was wet. If you're twisting dry hair, I would use some product to give the hair a little extra hold. I used Aveda's Phomollient styling foam for some light hold.

  

Part your hair to one side and grab a one or two inch section of hair next to the part.

Start twisting the hair along the hairline, picking up small sections of hair as you go. I twisted towards the back of my head.

Keep going! Make sure you smile for the camera :) 

Keep twisting until you make it to the back of your head. I stopped at the center. You could stop earlier depending on how you want to finish.

I finished things off with a messy ponytail.

There you have it! An easy summer look that keeps your bangs off of your forehead and still looks chic.

Have a fantastic weekend!

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De-Feet-ing Writer's Block

Peeps, we have a problem. And it may or may not include the fact that I just called you "peeps." I have writer's block. It might be because I have my first contributor post on Makeunder My Life (it's about our financial intentions, if you'd like to stop by). Or maybe it's because I was sick earlier this week. Yes, my creativity is still hanging out on the couch with a bottle of Gatorade.

Either way, I have writer's block.

When I don't want to run, I eventually lace up my shoes and head out the door. Of course I wear the rest of my running clothes. With writing, what am I supposed to do? Write? What if I have nothing to say?

I looked all around for inspiration. My Google Reader...nothing. Etsy and Pinterest...nope. I even scanned MSN, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chicago Tribune. I came up empty.

I complained to John for a little bit and he offered a few suggestions. I turned them all down. He even offered to put on his painting clothes so I could write a post about painting. I still said, "no." There isn't anything in the house to paint.

Off to yoga I went. When I came home, my mind was still blank. I suppose that's a good thing. More Etsy and Pinterest....nothing. I decided to shower and get ready for bed when my idea struck. Why don't I paint my toenails at 10pm to show you my go-to nail polish color? Yes, that seemed like an excellent idea.

So here we go, my favorite fruit punchy pink...OPI's Peru-B-Ruby.

Well, look at that! It seems that I have a blog post! And some pretty pink toenails :)

How do you overcome writer's block? Any surefire inspiration bringers?
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Curtain Call

Fellow MML contributor Byrn shared her introduction last week. She'll be writing about designing a home with intention and shared a very insightful quote from William Morris: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." In addition to following this principle, we're also trying to decorate the house with long-term purchases. That means many of our rooms will be half-finished or empty for a while.

Though I made an exception for bedroom curtains. The house didn’t come with any and we’re sick of being woken up during the middle of the night from thunderstorms.

So off to everyone's favorite Swedish superstore...Ikea! I wasn't sure if I would find anything for the bedroom, but I knew I wanted white curtains for the front room. I picked up a pair of Vivan white curtains and a Beskada curtain rod (83 - 152 in).

I love them! The front room is one step closer to finished.

Now for the bedroom. The tricky part is the windows wrap around a corner. And we have our bed underneath the windows. Oh, and did I mention we're not sure how we want to decorate the room? 

As luck would have it, I found something I loved at Ikea. The store carried some new styles of curtains that aren't online. They remind me a bit of Kate Spade.

I bought two pairs of Ninni Rund curtains and the Kvartal curtain track system (3 single track rails, 1 corner piece, 5 brackets, and 2 sets of gliders). The dots are shiny and seem to glow at night. We might go neutral in the bedroom with pops of color, so the texture of the dots will create some visual interest.

By the way, make sure you pick up the necessary hardware before trying to install your curtains. Ikea doesn't include screws or anchors with their curtain rods. They sell the hardware separately. I didn't realize that, so I had to make a quick trip to Home Depot.

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