Oy! What a month May was! Between the birthdays, weddings and holidays, I'm not sure which way is up anymore. I told myself I was going to enjoy the summer and since it only just started--well, I gotta say I'm off to a pretty good start.

Now, as many of you know the, the bathroom has been an anchor dragging the whole house down. Initially, it was the kitchen bringing the whole house down and before that the living room and so on...
But now NOW!

Class-ey!
But wait, in case you forgot what I used to look at day after day...

Ok. Now scroll back up and look at the after photo, then scroll down quickly and pretend like you never saw the other photo. That's how I live my life.

So, if you'll look at that cabinet in the corner, Bones actually tore out the old one and rebuilt it. He got two of those stained glass panels off of eBay for $20! Some men hunt with bows and arrows, Bones hunts with a mouse and a keyboard. So much more humane.
In keeping with his bargain hunting ways, Bones bought the mirror from the ReUse Center and built the frame for it.
Oh, and I feel the distant drum beat of the ancient bargain hunter in my heart, too. That shower curtain? Among a wall of $25 curtains, I found that one for $4.98+tax. And I used a gift card! (Tarzan yell)

Here's a detail of the corner of the mirror. The frame is curly maple, and the spline is purple heart. From what we understand, it is particularly unhealthy to breathe in purple heart sawdust. Bones is putting his life on the line, people!

It's a big mirror, right? Well guess what? It opens up!

Can you see the medicine cabinet behind there? Really, though, I just like the picture because of its cinematic qualities. Do you see the bucket? Now just picture a hand with a knife in it over that bucket. Then picture some young blonde out of the shot pawing unaware through the medicine cabinet looking for her mascara.
I watch a lot of horror movies, sorry. Don't worry, the blonde wins.

Let us step once more into the Wayback Machine and check out the way it used to look when we first moved in.

Ah, yes. Institution green, my favorite of all the washed out greens.
Moving on. Remember when I wrote about redoing the bathroom so it was like peeing in a millionaire's library?
Well, it's totally like that.

The painting is by Bones's Aunt Margaret, by the way, who has an unrivaled skill with watercolors. That is not an easy medium. You pretty much have to go in with confidence, or at least have a lot of paper to waste.
While that is an amazing painting, it's the divider that I'm into. Specifically this:

That is an inlay and yet another example of the man's talent. The design comes from a book of Japanese designs. You have to realize that he had to carve the shape into the board and then cut pieces to fit in them.
I just love that he puts all these cool, random details into the house. Our house has a long way to go, but when it's finished--or as close as it can be--it will be one of the most unique homes I've ever seen. And whatever happens to these old digs, at least it has given him practice and a portfolio.

Maybe I'm gushing, but if you went from this:

And this:

You would too.

As an added bonus, since I surprisingly don't have pictures of Scruffy, is one of my lovely birthday gifts.

That vase was made by Bones's sister Marty, and serves as yet another example of the bottomless well that is the Dwyer talent.