Making it Ours - The Master Bath

So, we bought the house....but then we began to say, "what if we did this…. or that?" We couldn't leave well enough alone. We had to make it our own. 

First to go was the master bath. When it was originally designed and built, almost 30 years ago, it was quite ahead of its time. At that time it was one large room with the vanity, toilet and shower along one wall, and a huge, black Jacuzzi tub on the other side. Apparently the owner tired of having g water from the shower spray and splash everywhere and a glass block wall was installed. The bath was very usable, but we have grown accustomed to our own vanity space, and we knew we would NEVER use the black, jacuzzi tub. It was questionable whether we’d have enough hot water to fill it, and then there was the question as to whether we could actually get in or out of it! So, we began to reimagine the space: remove the tub, move a wall to expand the small walk-in closet, move the shower and toilet and expand the vanity … I felt like I was living in an HGTV show, only in those shows all of the planning, demolition, and rebuilding all happen within 45 minutes!

Our plumber, who also took on the job of keeping all of the other contractors in the queue, began at the end of February. He pulled out some sheetrock, soffits, and the fixtures. He then began jackhammering a lot of concrete to reroute some of the plumbing. 

The carpenter built a new wall to extend our closet a smidge, and changed the door from entering the closet from the bathroom to entering from the bedroom. 

The electrician wired for a few new light fixtures and relocated the fan. 

Our tile guy patched the concrete when the plumber was finished installing the new pipes, smoothed it all, installed underfloor heating and tiled the floor and walls. 

The cabinet guy put in the cabinets and the granite/quartz guy put in the counter and sinks. 

Plumbing fixtures went in, a piece of glass was installed, light fixtures were installed, a coat of paint and new mirrors went up and our transformation was complete, 

WOW! What a transformation!!

And finally....our new bath evolved:

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The landscaping around our new home is lovely. ("What?!", you say?  A "new" home??? It's a long story and you really don't want to know...trust me! 😂) Suffice it to say that the Mister and I became disillusioned with the community where we had chosen to settle.  We were finding that in our travels the extra 5 +/- hours of  driving to get in/out of Florida to be tedious. And, we wanted a house with some property. We were drawn to the home by the scrub oaks and palms, providing dappled shade in the hot Florida sunshine, and having plenty of sunny, grassy areas in established pastures. 

The previous owners were gifted in creating a few amazing garden areas with unique touches. I think their gardens called to me. I never felt a need to dig into the dirt at our Babcock Ranch home...but here, I'm itching to get out there and trim, weed, remove and replace plants!

Here are a few shots of the garden areas when we acquired the property: 

Limestone boulder, decorative cordyline in background, grasses and ??

Leaf shape concrete bird bath made my previous owners

Inviting walkway around the pool cage

Concrete plantar in a metal stand, settled on a rustic bench

Cordyline in a pot near the pool

Northern Florida winter wasn't especially kind to some of the plants in our garden. We had a few nights below 32 degrees. The cordyline and ferns were hit especially hard. The sword ferns received a trim and they are bouncing back...all over the place. The colorful cordylines are just beginning to show the promise of new shoots. I'm thrilled because their color is very striking. 

As spring has been creeping up on us, We have been adding new greenery throughout our yard. 

The Mister & I have begun to clear out the understory at the front of our property, near the road. It's an area with scrub oaks and pines and a few small trees underneath. 

The view to the road. Oaks and pines, and smilax vine that I'm slowly weeding out. The picture shows three newly planted azaleas that will provide us with bright blooms in future springs.

...and two Corgis who love running and exploring our almost 6 acres!

This is "Elizabeth" (in honor of the Mister's mother).  She is one of 6 or 7 camellias we have planted 

Leopard lily that survived the winter

Butcher's Bloom Plasticus climbing an old pitchfork in the garden.

I felt the pitchfork begged for a vine, but didn't want something that would 

take over the pitchfork and bury it under leaves and flowers. This vine was acquired at Hobby Lobby. 

It is an "always-green", and will last years without changing!

The bench along the path behind the pool begged for a flower basket