I guess the bathroom is starting to get to me a little.
And by a "little" I mean a lot. A whole lot. Only a couple of things are actually left on the "punch list" but it feels comparable to a 5 years old's Christmas List.

Oh, did I mention that I had started stenciling the floor this week?

Because really - refinishing the tub, refinishing the tile, refinishing the floor tile, painting the walls, changing the toilet seat, the showerhead, the spout and the faucet handles has not been enough. Have you ever read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" where the woman stays in a room with yellow wallpaper and goes all Mad Hatter? Well, I think that might be yours truly... why else would I decide to stencil the floor this week when I am packing to drive 20 hours to Lil' Sis' house this weekend, rounding out the quarter at work, and prepping to host a conference call for a project kick-off?

One of the benefits of having what feels like the World's Smallest Bathroom, is there is not much square footage. I had been looking online at stencil tutorials and getting all jealous at the stenciled floors at had been seeing and thought that a pattern in the bathroom might add interest in a pretty benign (albeit greatly improved) space. 

Stencil Ease (whom I am not affiliated with nor have been provided any samples, $$, gifts etc) seemed to have a through site and also happened to have a few reviews from other stencilers. So I decided to give them a try. They also had a lot of instructions and helpful suggestions on their website for first timers. The product I ordered, a pattern called "Verona" (a smaller version looks like it can be found online at Hobby Lobby) arrived within a week and with it I also ordered some adhesive spray as it was recommended on the website for this particular pattern.

The instructions advised that you start in a less visible corner of the room and that you make sure the stencil is level. It is here that I would caution: remember often time the area you are working on May not be square. As you can see in this picture, I had aligned my stencil in a way that was level and but it leaves an uneven space at the top because the area around my tub is not square. I have decided that when I am done with the rest of the room, I will go back and fill in this area, because right now it looks sort of funny.

The handy thing about using these stencils is that the stencil has 4 teeny tiny triangles on the edges so that you can make sure that you have aligned the pattern correctly.

You can kinda see in this in the picture below (since I couldn't take my own picture, I relied on one of the teens to do it for me - which was probably mistake #1).

The instructions also advised using either a rag, a sponge or small dense foam roller. I used a roller for the first part but found it a little tricky to work with due to the limited space. I ended up using an actual stenciling brush that my daughter had lying around.

The instructions also advised washing the stencil frequently, to avoid what I call "globbiness" on your stencil. However, since I was using Rust-oleum Countertop paint in Grey Mist (I figured due to the high traffic area and the moisture in the bathroom, acrylic just wasn't going to cut it) it didn't really lend to doing this. So, I just tried to not glob on too much paint.

I still ended up with some fuzziness around the edges of some of the pattern. I plan to touch this up with a paint brush and white porcelian touch up epoxy once I am actually finished with the rest of the stenciling. Right now, I still have behind the toilet and next to the cabinet to finish up. By the time it got to those tricky areas, I was exhausted from the day (one of the downfalls of getting up at 5:20 is that I turn to a pumpkin at 8:00) and was beginning to get a little careless. 

After the unfinished areas get completed and the touching up is done, I plan to give the floor a few coats with Polycrylic to hopefully add to its durability.

So, in the ongoing bathroom project, one of the challenges I wanted to solve was the issue of storage. Our bathroom is maybe six feet by 7 feet...on a good day. We live in a 1940's bungalow style home. While there is lots of "character" like original hardwood floors, a cozy bricked-in fireplace and plaster walls -- there is also the problem of no storage space and very small bathrooms.

Some people dream about winning the lottery or going on a safari. I dream of a double bowl sink. Oh, and closets. I dream about lots of closets. Nice big walk-ins with organizers, complete with drawers and laundry hamper...on days where I really let my mind wander to never-never land there is a revolving shoe closet ala Goldie Hawn in Overboard (if you haven't seen it, congratulations you have 1.5 hours of your life to waste on something else - but if you have you know what I am talking about).

I went looking for solutions to my space dilemma - where else - but Pinterest! There wee a few interesting ideas and one I particularly liked had baskets found from Home Goods.
HOME GOODS! YAY! AN EXCUSE TO GO! UNSUPERVISED BY THE DH! (It seems, according to the DH I need supervision in Home Goods since the time I came home with two dish sets and three tablecloths).

Needless to say among other things, I found some suitable crates that would work as shelving...we'll discuss those "other things" later on a tablescaping post.

The only catch was that in order for me to hang these awesome crates and give myself some extra space in the bathroom - is that I would need to drill through tile. I had never drilled through tile before, but after some internet research it looked plausible.

This is what I used:

A ceramic tile bit, a level, a drill bit the size of your screws and wall anchors.  I used 3/16 which can hold up to 25lbs.  Masking tape, a screw driver, a drill, something to pound your wall anchor in with and not pictured here but definitely needed: protective eye wear and depending on what you are drilling maybe a face mask to prevent you from inhaling wood dust, ceramic particulates and other nastiness you don't want trapped in your lungs.

Told you my bathroom was small. Seriously.

• There are some great tutorials out there on making a stand up (literally) rainbow. Since I found those tutorials AFTER I made the cake, the rainbow was laid nicely on top of the cake.
•  I also found a great tutorial on making the gold on the cake really shiny and very deep -- but again it was after I had already made and painted the shamrocks. Didn't help this cake much but definitely improves the chances of the next one not looking like a gummy lump.

• I tried a Pinterest Baked Jambalaya recipe it was very good and approved of by the smallish folks who inhabit my house. The  DH gave a thumbs down due to the presence of "spice".  (Note to readers: to Minnesotans ketchup is "spicy," bless their hearts). My one caveat is that the included rice didn't take cook in the 1.5 hours allotted in the recipe. So, not knowing how much time to give it - I ended up overdoing the good thing. There is always something to learn here folks.  Next year, the rice gets done separate. User error, its a bummer.  The other do-over will include the amount made, somehow in my enthusiastic glee I failed to notice that the amount I was preparing was for 16 people. Luckily, I have a teenage boy in the house and I'm fairly certain he will make short work of all leftovers. He's handy like that!

• I tried a new Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice Recipe and it was really good. The best part was there was no "learning curve" with this one - it was just straight up tasty with just the right amount of kick. You really can't beat slow cooker red beans and rice, I came home and smelled my grandmothers kitchen for just a minute.  

•  I made the young people a virgin hurricane (and served it in Dollar Tree champagne glasses. True story.) They were all thrilled at their pseudo-sophistication. I was thrilled they didn't know to complain that their drinks weren't in hurricane glasses. (Seriously, like I could find Hurricane glasses in the tundra?)