Bathroom Progress

You may be wondering what I'm going to talk about based on the title of this post....but you can keep reading and is safe! My goal is to get our master bath looking better and I've done a few first steps, but still have a ways to go. I posted earlier a new rug that I have down in the kitchen...well that was triggered by the fact that I moved the old black runner that was there to the master bath. I think the black rugs look good in the bathroom cause is in contrast to all the white walls and the light gray floor. I think our vanity area looks pretty good now except I would like to just paint the small space that is between our mirror and ceiling, where the light fixtures are. I think that would just kind of finish this area off.


Next up, we have this crazy-sized unique round shower. I can't stand it cause the shower water sprays everywhere and leaves the floor soaking wet. So a few months ago Dustin got real ambitious and created a shower rod by talking to the Home Depot people-- just got some brackets and bent a pipe....was a lot more work than it seems! So next up was finding a shower curtain to fit this. I was able to at least get a plastic liner that was extra long at Bed Bath and Beyond....but no curtain. So I was at Target and got to thinking... why don't I look in the curtain section because I know they sell drapes in all sorts of sizes and maybe I can get something there that works. I found this curtain that had holes up top- perfect to put my shower curtain rings through....and it was the perfect length! I would have liked a bit more width, but I'm done being picky. So far I think it's worked just fine!


So finally, we have this back area that has the toilet and tub. We hung some shelves above the toilet, so I just need to work a bit more on getting some better items there. And the tub area definitely needs some paint....is driving me crazy how white it all is. So this will be a project for a coming weekend!

Europe....around the corner!

We're SLOWLY making progress on our Europe trip! So here is where things stand now.

Sat 9/4- Flight booked leaving around lunch time
Sun 9/5- Arrive in Paris in AM. Travel to Bruges, Belgium.
Mon 9/6- Belgium- Bruges
Tue 9/7- Belgium- Bruges
Wed 9/8- Belgium- Brussels. Travel to Paris in PM.
Thu 9/9- Paris- Museum Pass day
Fri 9/10- Paris- Museum Pass day
Sat 9/11- Day Trip to Versailles
Sun 9/12- Paris- Museum Pass day
Mon 9/13- Day trip to Reims or Beaune (most museums closed in paris, so want to go to champagne caves or winery)
Tue 9/14- Paris
Wed 9/15- Paris and travel to Munich
Thu 9/15- Munich
Fri 9/16- Munich
Sat 9/15- Munich Oktoberfest starts!!!!
Sun 9/16- Munich. Return to Paris in evening.
Mon 9/17- Fly home :(

We've booked our room in Paris, which can be cancelled if I find something better. We got for 116 euro most nights, so thought was decent deal and the reviews say there are restaurants, cafes, shops nearby, and no crime.


We've also booked our room in Munich, which is non-refundable so we are definitely staying here! It is outside of the city, but we got for a good price since everything in the city was booked or super expensive.


Next up- get the room booked for Belgium and get our train passes or travel reservations made!

Kitchen Update

So the same day I had my detergent experiment, I also did some MAJOR cleaning and got some other projects done. I'm so proud of myself cause I've kept everything cleaned now this entire last week! This is huge for us and I'm hoping to break a lot of my bad sloppy habits. I've realized it's much easier to take 3 minutes for instance each night and put all dishes in the dishwasher vs. the counter/sink and to wipe down the countertops rather than let it pile up and do all at once days later. I finally got around to getting a picture of one of the projects tonight...I don't think it turned out awesome, but was an improvement. Using some paint I had in our storage unit, I added a splash of color in our kitchen/family room to my wall of mirrors. I do like it cause it ties in our family room furniture that is all different shades of brown. I then bought a new rug at wal-mart that fit the color scheme really well. So it was a fairly cheap project to change things up a little!

Before Pic:


After Pic:

Detergent Review :)

So next up I tried not diluting the mixture in the 5 gallon bucket. I researched some other recipes and none were as diluted as much as mine was, so I think they were just trying to stretch this one a little too far! I took an older towel and rubbed into it Ketchup, Mustard, Toothpaste, and liquid foundation Makeup. My homemade detergent took everything out 100% except the makeup. Next up, repeated the same test with my store detergent and......the same result! The store detergent didn't take the makeup off any better, so I think I've now achieved the same product as what I was buying! Doing more loads of laundry tonight with it, so am crossing my fingers no surprises pop up!

Detergent Review :(

So I tried a load of laundry last night with the detergent I made. I took an old towel and rubbed ketchup and mustard into it as a test. At first glance when it came out of the laundry it looked clean...but upon further examination you could see faintly where the food was. And I'm pretty sure my normal store detergent would have been able to take care of it. So, I've been researching other recipes and user comments and am going to try another test without diluting the soap mixture. So basically I'm just going to try using it straight from the 5 gallon bucket...whereas before I used half mixture from my bucket and half water. I'll report back!