An Update on the Bathroom and A Bathroom Update

I am sure you have all been sick with worry over what happened with our marble countertop. Okay, well, perhaps not. However, if you are the least bit curious... the crisis is over. If you weren't aware there was a crisis, you can read all about it here.

Mister Marble came out to work his magic, and he was able to get the little "pits" much smoother. He also re-polished the countertop. It's an improvement, but it's not perfect. We had a decision to make. Ask for a replacement or ask for a refund. My husband was most definitely leaning toward the refund. He wanted this job DONE. Yesterday. Replacing the countertop would mean weeks or even months of waiting.

I was in favor of asking for a replacement. However, I did a lot of research and called several marble suppliers and fabricators. Two of the suppliers said that for the past 10 years or so, the carrara marble has been coming in with "bubbles." That sounds nicer than "pits," doesn't it? 

After much debate and many sleepless nights, we ended up negotiating a refund that we were pleased with.  Now we can finally finish this project!!  I'm hoping my camera cooperates, and I can take some nice photos of the finished bathroom and post them this week. 

In the meantime, I decided to make some small changes in my boys' bathroom vanity area. I replaced the shiny brass towel racks with the oil-rubbed bronze ones that were previously in our master bathroom.

Before...

and After...

I also replaced the plain brass knobs with something a bit more interesting...

And, hopefully, this weekend I will be replacing the current faucet...

with this...

As I worked on these small projects, I discovered some material for my first-ever tutorial. I'm quite certain the topic has never been covered by another blogger. I'm thinking of calling it, "How to clean up after boys who brush their teeth in such a manner that more toothpaste ends up in the cabinet drawers and on the walls than on their teeth."  Case in point...

YUCK. I'm wondering how my children could even get the toothpaste up as high on the walls as they did.  I envision them filling their mouths with toothpaste and shaking their heads like wet dogs until the paste splatters in every direction.

The toothpaste on the walls came off quite easily with my handy dandy Clorox wipes. The toothpaste plastered to the drawers required the use of a screwdriver to pry it free, and then a good 'ole scrubbing. To avoid the mini-toothpaste sculptures from forming on the wood drawers in the future, I lined the drawers with my all-time favorite shelf liner...

Ahhh... that's better...

As I measured and cut the shelf liner, I wondered why I hadn't done this sooner. I mean, it only takes a few minutes of time.

But when I went downstairs and found our dog happily chowing down on food that my 2-year-old was shoveling repeatedly into her bowl, I remembered why I don't get these seemingly small projects done. I'll probably be cleaning up after the over-fed dog in a couple of hours, if you know what I mean...