Last week I received a comment from Harlie from Love of Sunshine letting me know she selected my little blog for the Liebster Award.


"Liebster, in German, means endearing, valued, lovely, beloved, etc. This award is a way to acknowledge new, up-and-coming bloggers and talented, long-time bloggers with few followers and to help recognize them for their outstanding accomplishments in design as presented on their blog."

The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It's a way to show appreciation to smaller blogs and to help bring in readership that may not have found you otherwise!  Thanks Harlie, it made my day!

So, along with being nominated, there are some rules to play along.  Sort of a "get to know the blogger" thing.

• Add the award image with a link back to the one who gave it to you
• Post 5 random things about yourself
• Answer 5 questions from the person who gave you the award
• Nominate 5 bloggers (and let them know)
• Post 5 new questions to the bloggers you pass the award to

5 random things about me:

1. I have a birthmark on my left knee that's kind of in the shape of Ohio.  It might be hereditary because my cousin has one on his knee too.
2. I hate most vegetables.  I try really hard to eat them, but they are so gross.  I've started juicing to get some veggie nutrients and seem to be fine masking the taste with an apple or lemon.
3. I have a tattoo on my right foot.  My sister, mom, and grandma, (who's 87), all have a matching one.  
4. I love Harry Potter.
5. When I was in 4th grade a boy ran into me in gym class and broke his two front teeth on my forehead.  One piece got stuck in my head and we didn't notice until the swelling went down and it started coming back out weeks later.  I have a scar about in inch long. 

Answer 5 questions from the person who nominated you:

1. What would you do if you became independently wealthy tomorrow? Pay someone to finish our renovations!  Then quit my job and become am event planner.
2. What simple or modern convenience can’t you live without?  I hate to admit it, but my iPhone. 
3. If you could instantly move your house to anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Is there somewhere that simultaneously is next to the ocean, has mountains for snowboarding, is in the woods, and has nice weather all year round?  If so, that's where I'd move.
4. What is the longest you’ve been “off-the-grid” since you started blogging (if ever)?  Probably 2-3 weeks.  Sometimes we're just not that interesting, well not enough to write home about.
5. What is your particular first world problem?  Hulu Plus not having the third season of Downton Abbey.
6. Bonus: What have you got in your pocket? Nothing, I never put anything in my pockets.  Mike on the other hand has gotten his wallet, knife, and misc. metals washed numerous times because I always forget to check his pockets before washing them.

Pass along the love to 5 bloggers and let them know you appreciate their blog:

I usually only read bigger blogs, since I check mostly at work in my downtime, but this was a good excuse to find some smaller blogs to start checking out.

1. Little House on the Corner
2. Little Old House 
3. Faith, Hope & Love
4. The House of Bing
5. Julie Loves Home

Ask 5 new questions to the bloggers:

1. What is your favorite decorating or renovating tool?
2. What is your favorite color combination, personal or decorating?
3. What is your favorite social media platform?
4. What is your favorite TV show right now?
5. If they made a movie about your life, who would play you?
6. Bonus:  What is your particular first world problem? I liked this question from Harlie, so I'm including it too!
   

I had a lot of fun with this, and hope those that I've pass the award on to do too.  Feel free to play along, or simply appreciate the fact that I like your blog!

I recently blogged about the general progress made in the basement, I posted a picture that hinted at some major progress in the bathroom.


That's right we have a working toilet!

After my trip to Ikea, Mike finished the floor trim around the bathroom.  He even graciously allowed me to paint it before installing the toilet and vanity.  Although, he did end up jumping the gun a little and installed the vanity before I had touched up the wall paint, but you'll never see it so I'm okay with it, (I paint the trim first, not caring about getting it on the wall, then go back with the wall paint to get a nice crisp line on top, if anyone was wondering).

Once the trim was crisp white the toilet and Ikea vanity went in.  Mike attached the vanity to the wall and siliconed the front feet to the floor to prevent it from moving at all.  He also installed my mirror and I have to admit it's just as awesome in person.



I would have liked it to be a little larger to fit over the vanity below, but I still love it and to be honest, no one's going to be using this bathroom to put make-up on or anything so a big mirror wasn't necessary.

I love the industrial feel of the light and I think the mirror is just enough industrial to tie it together with  the vanity.

I was so excited to have running water and wanted to get a picture of the mirror and light together that I even snapped a rare photo of myself in the new mirror.  I figured a dusty bathroom mirror is enough to hide any blemishes, so why not?


I would like to say that installing an Ikea vanity to standard hookups was seamless, but we knew going in, (from reading about Ikea vanity horror stories online), that it was going to be a bitch.  And, they didn't lie.  Mike was stressed for a good 2 days about how he was going to fit the included Ikea drain and trap.  Mike wasn't happy with the design, so he decided to modify it a bit.  The original trap is designed in a configuration that allows full drawers.  Mike decided to change it and then modified the drawers to fit around the new trap.   



The top drawer comes with pieces to install dividers.  So Mike used some of these pieces to divide the drawer into a configuration that allowed him to remove the center section to fit the trap.  Since we have a ton of storage, much more than we need, in this second bathroom, I wasn't worried at all about giving up this small section. 


The bottom drawer remained the same.  I still don't know what I'll use these drawers for since I've already planned to use the built-in as a surplus storage for toilet paper and paper towels.  Maybe I'll become a couponer and get crates of toothpaste or something and store it down here.  We actually recently had to use our "travel kit" toothpaste for much longer than I'd like to admit because I kept forgetting to grab some at the grocery store.


The toilet is the same model as the one in the upstairs bathroom.  We love the style and the included soft-close lid, as well as the higher-efficiency model.


The trim on the other side of the room, as well as the window is done, but the holes need filled and sanded before I can paint.  I gave Mike and myself until the end of the month to get the basement done, so I should keep my end of the bargain and get my paint on!


Currently the storage and shower is used to store more construction supplies.  Painting this bad boy is going to be a pain in the ass, but I'll be happy when we can call at least one part of this giant renovation done. 

Mike's not one for flowers and chocolate.  He's never really been that big into holidays.  I was impressed when he sent me an email last Thursday morning wishing me a Happy Valentines Day.  It made my day, because it showed he was thinking of me.  Yeah, that's about as sappy as he gets.  And, I'm okay with that.  He's given me flowers exactly once in our 5 years together and it was in the first couple of months of dating.

I, on the other hand, love gift giving and making holidays special.  I made him a card, bought and wrapped a bunch of his favorite junk foods, (we've been eating really healthy lately in preparation for the wedding so, it was a nice treat), and also grilled a steak, (per his request).  I even grilled outside in the 20 degree weather because it's so much better on the grill, and I'm pretty damn good at it too!

I was thinking of how different we are in our "love languages", when I realized that Mike shows me he loves my in his own way - by building me things.

When we were cleaning and organizing the laundry room I mentioned that I would love to have some storage for the laundry items like detergent and the iron.  (I would love to have a fancy shmancy laundry room that I could decorate and enjoy doing laundry in, but I'll settle for some designated storage).  Mike went out in search of a cabinet to fit the space.


When we moved in, Mike put that shelf above the utility sink and it held all our laundry items.  It worked okay, but every once in a while when Mike brewed beer, the sink was over taken with a whole chemistry lab of items waiting to be washed and hanging to dry.  While the major renovations where happening next door in the future family room I had to do my laundry like this:


Unable to find a cabinet to fit in between the dryer vent and water lines and such, Mike decided to build me one, because that's what he does, my crazy furniture building fool.  On Valentines day it was finished and ready to stock up.


It's probably the worst thing to photograph since it's right under the florescent light, but it's too dark in the room to do anything with the light off.


He even earned bonus points for adding soft close hinges.


It's the little things that excite me!

It's not trendy, and even looks kind of awkward in the space, since we were confined to that small space in the middle of the washer and dryer.  But, I think it's the most beautiful thing in the world.  And, it's made doing the laundry a little more bearable.  He measured and made sure even the largest liquid detergent fit.

       
To bring this story back around, the jar on the top right is actually a spaghetti jar that we cleaned and used as a vase for the first, (and only), flowers Mike bought me.  We were poor cheap college students at the time and it was what was on hand.  I added the ribbon to make it pretty and after the flowers died, Mike cut a slot in the lid and we've used it as a piggy bank ever since.  I thought it was a perfect place to put it so that I can add any change that I find in his pockets! 

And, I'll share the other improvement that Mike made to the laundry room, the pocket door.

He' actually installed the "pocket" part maybe a year or two ago when we removed the old oak built-ins, (seen here in the basement before photo in our home tour).  But, it wasn't until recent that he installed the door and the trim around it.  We figured with repainting the laundry room, we might as well finish out all the details we can, even if it is just a laundry/storage room.

I still haven't painted the trim, but the door is awesome at keeping the sawdust out of the laundry room, and it's working great at keeping the sound from the laundry room out of the family room.  We haven't needed this too much lately, since the sound of belt sanders and chop saws usually drown anything out, but when we install a TV in that room, we knew we wanted to keep the sounds of the washing machine and dryer from being too disruptive.  

Now you see it.


Now, you don't.