So much for the New Years resolution!

Okay, it's January 31st, about time I get back here. No I have not followed through with my one and only New Years resolution, I have not posted for an entire month nor have I visited any blogs...

No good excuse other than just too darn busy!

Mr. Wild was here and we were both working like mad people trying to get as much accomplished as possible while he was here. I tried to stay one step ahead of him in case something needed painting before he installed it...things like that.

Now I'm on my own to try to do as much as I can in the next 3 months.

He did hang my flea market chandelier in the master bedroom. I love it, more than I ever expected although I think there is something missing around the light bulbs, not sure what but if anyone has seen a similar chandelier and knows please tell me.

I'm definitely okay with it like this though.

Then we gutted the master bath, all but the tub/shower which look good as new.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my wood counter top!!! I also LOVE the large sink and single handled faucet!

New toilet but it's not necessary to show the whole thing (also replaced the toilet in the guest bath which also needs a new vanity, sink, faucet and flooring, next year)

We purchased Home Depot in stock kitchen cabinets back in MN. Mr. Wild modified them to fit a bathroom (kitchen cabinets are about 24" deep but bathroom vanities are about 21" deep)

We packed them up and hauled them here. He glued on the wood applique we found at Menard's and I painted the cabinets.

I sanded the wood top purchased from Menard's. Applied a golden pecan stain as I wanted the room to remain light and then applied 2 coats of Polycrylic, the water just beads up on the finish. It's working out beautifully!

To buy a finished vanity 72" wide was minimum of $1000 and to find one to fit just one sink was near impossible (cleaning one bathroom sink is more than enough for me and we don't need 2 sinks in the bathroom). Then to buy the least expensive laminate counter top would be about $300.

Our cabinets and wood counter top came to less than $400! A savings of $900 bucks I can use elsewhere!!!

And the best part is hidden! Mr. wild surprised me with an under sink water heater!!!

I have instant hot water at all times! (He was still working on it here).

The main water heater is about a mile from this bathroom so to get hot water I had to run the water for what felt like forever and such a waste!

This water heater is SO AWESOME!!!!!

Then the odd ball chandelier I bought...well I didn't know at the time that a European light fixture is totally different and I can't find bulbs to fit so we hung it above the toilet for now and I just set Christmas bulbs in the sockets until Mr. Wild can find time to rewire it (thank goodness he's an electrician!)

I still need to paint the chain to match...some day....

I like it where it is so I may just leave it there and not hook it up to power.

Cork tile floors...love this! You may wonder ...in a bathroom?

YES! We've had cork tile floors in out bathroom in MN for 15 years and they look as good as new.

When I was little my bedroom had cork tile floors and they were awesome!

My Grandma's house had a sun room with cork tile floors...they were around in the 50's.

This is part of the dining room....

Mr. Wild installed the $25 corner cabinet I found last spring at a garage sale in MN.

The seller said it came out of the house across the street which was built in 1939. It still had the shelves and the wood strips that were attached to the walls for the shelves to sit on.

Unfortunately my packed boxes of Vaseline glass are still sitting in the garage in MN. We forgot to bring them! But my plan is to fill the cabinet with green Vaseline glass and install blacklights so they glow.

I painted the ceilings and all walls before he started the cabinet, it's a nice warm light cream color but looks so gray here.

Then we brought in the buffet I rescued from being turned into a vanity...this one was just too pretty.

I picked that up in MN last spring along with the old green window.

You can see my medical cabinet, I took out the old bottles and did something different.

I think the deer head will be moved...still working on this room.

You may mot see my vision here but I fell for this tacky 70's light fixture (see the tassel!!!). It's fits the hallway just right along with the old iron window from a Mexican restaurant in Tucson.

Mr. Wild calls the light fixture a pine cone.

I have big plans for this hallway so this is just the beginning.

Another thing you may not all like but yes, I have a thing for animal skulls...sounds sort of gross put that way. I've always wanted a longhorn skull and I found one at a flea market in St. Paul for half the price they normally sell for along with a Mexican blanket purchased here at the Farmer's Market. Mr Wild hung these above the sofa in the living room.

We previously brought down my parents bedroom set, just the bed and chest of drawers but I didn't have the vanity here yet, now it's here and the whole set is in the guest bedroom. I still need to rip out ugly carpet in that room so this is all I'll show. I removed the carpet where this is sitting, painted part of the ceiling and part of the wall and floor so Mr. Wild could put the vanity all back together. It's an old mahogany set from about the 40's or late 30's my mom brought back to MN from California, now it's in AZ!

A chandelier for my sewing room that I bought to paint and then realized it had holes for crystals so I'm slowly acquiring crystals and will fill this full of them and skip painting it. I'll cover the chain with a fabric sleeve....I think....lots to do in this room yet.

As if I don't have enough rooms that still need tons of work, I decided to start in on my sewing room. Last weekend I ripped out that ugly carpet and painted the ceiling, walls and floor. This place is all particle board floors (except the new carpet in 2 rooms) so when we can we'll install plywood plank floors like the Bunkhouse in WY.

In no way ready for pictures...there's a lot to do here but I can now walk in that room without being grossed out.

Now it's bright and cheery and best of all it feels clean!

I think I'm working on about 6 rooms...all at once...insane!

So that is what I've been up to plus we started painting the outside of the house among a few other outdoor projects. In January...we were painting the house!!! We could never do that in Minnesota!!!

We painted the tall south side and I'll paint the long east and west sides. The tall north side can wait...no one can see it anyway.

Last but not least, I went out today to look...now I get to see what it looks like here when it rains in the summer monsoon season. This is an odd tropical "storm"as they call it here. It started raining Thursday night, all day yesterday, all night last night and I think it finally stopped late this morning.

No, I do not have to drive this way to get home but some people do live on the other side. You would not want to cross this as it was moving very fast.

You can see in the distance, very faintly on the mountain, little white squiggly lines, those are waterfalls. That mountain is also part of Saguaro National Park, just a mile from us.

Now...guess what! time to fix lunch and back to work!

Thanks for taking time to read this lengthy post!

Just for fun...linking to:

Green Willow Pond for What We Accomplished Wednesday