A Month Without Blogging and a Half Bath

My sister texted me this morning and asked if I had any blog posts in me.  "You really need another post."  True, I know it is true.  I have left this blog languishing for nearly a month.  Not sure why... we've had wonderful visits with extended family, the autumn colors that we missed so much in Shanghai have been glorious, a new nephew has been born, Caleb has brought friends home for the weekend, and slowly but surely we are finishing up the renovations in our house.  So it's not as if there haven't been events to note and photograph and post about.  Maybe I've just been lazy... but maybe so many things have changed for us that now that I am figuring out what my life looks like in this new phase, it hasn't seemed like there has been a place in it for blogging.  Not sure.  But for now, I give you this little remodel~

In this post I have a "before" and several "afters" from the little powder room update we've just completed.  The sink came from the Hong Qiao flower market... Shanghai friends, you probably know even know the booth where I bought it.  I'd hoped we could incorporate it into this little half bath, and I'm so pleased with the results!  The wall paint color is more blue than it looks in these pictures.  The vanity is the same old oak one as in the "before" photo, but painted soft black, and the counter is a granite remnant.  I found the mirror at a thrift store for cheap and spray painted it as well.  You'll notice a few other Shanghai treasures... fun memories made with friends when these things were purchased during our last year there.  The two framed photos on the shelves were taken by a friend within the month after Gwen came home, in early 2005.

So that's the powder room renovation.  We've worked our way through the house renovating... and we're slowly remaking our lives here in Chicago too.  :-)