Let there be light! With the new garage door with windows and the largely glass-framed side door to the garage, there is daylight flooding into the garage, which is purifying, healthy, and better for the environment since we don’t have to use electricity constantly. It is a graveyard for old furniture but it also has some utility when we entertain, have people over, a place to store extra food in the extra apartment fridge, and store things, of course, with the help of the attic access, and an indoor playground for the dogs when they can’t be in the rest of the house, complete with divided backyard access.

Some final touches around the house including a higher end office chair made for big men which is sort of a game changer. It rolls nicely on the hardwood floors and does some fancy tilts, but the most important thing is that it can feel comfortable and allow to maneuver around the office without much effort, being mindful of the dogs at my feet.

Inspired by our recent trip to an art colony on Mare Island I started repurposing some of the old items I organize in drawers and containers for the purposes of art. The recent fake plant and correctly fitting vase really stretch up the cathedral ceiling, but there was something missing on the “face” of the vase, which I remedied with some museum glue and parts I dug up and cut to size (at least in the case of the eyebrows). I might find other blank surfaces inside and outside that are screaming for faces or other design when I get an order of fresh superglue.

I love my new (safe) dartboard, along with a miniature bowling set for my desk). These kinds of toys make my home office a joy and more “me.”

While I loved what Shando did with the wreath and xmas decorations on our hearth, he wanted to see the two cool fake plants I bought in that area, so I moved them to the mantle.

We struggled with where to put the ashes of our deceased dogs, but it turns out the storage in the wood house on the mantle fit the four sets of ashes perfectly.

You’ll see we took down our xmas tree on New Year’s Eve also, even though we usually wait until after the stroke of midnight. It’s always nice to reclaim that space and get our living room back, even though we don’t use it nearly as much as the family room.

Without even knowing what we’d do with our gently used bar stools, I wanted something more robust and traditional looking (even though Shando says they do not match the modern kitchen) since I spend quality time there each day cutting fruit and vegetables while watching TV in the family room. I cannot imagine a kitchen where I do not see the main TV in my future. Fortunately, our friends who just moved to the area were happy to take our previous bar stools, so it worked out very well.

The backyard is doing well with most of our plants, but it’s been joyfully raining a lot, so not too many pictures of the garden this month.

The trip to the thrift store also inspired me to reorganize our coffee station.

Speaking of dogs, you’ll see I also got Shando a piece of metal art that we have in our foyer with two men with umbrellas kissing and a dachshund by their feet.

Our dear friends mentioned above, Greg and Steve, who bought a house nearby did not want this violin display that came with it, so I added it to my office decor.

Other little touches from before and after xmas:

I try to keep the wall behind me particularly entertaining for those who I meet virtually. Sometimes it’s a conversation starter!

As a follow-up to the common bathroom renovation we’re doing, we finally got the vanity and fixtures put in that we wanted and we’re so proud of the results, even though we did it piecemeal.

I love our small, common area bathroom. The only complaint I have is that it is a place in the house where having a window is not an option. Our neighbors and friends inspired us to swap our bathtub for a double shower and glass doors, which at the very least makes the bathroom appear larger. While I’ll miss my Eiffel Tower-themed shower curtain (the bathroom has a Francophile motif), it’s good to have the depth that was lacking before.

It turns out the enclosure also comes in handy for separating dogs when we’re feeding them too!

We even considered making our primary bathroom walk-in shower much bigger by getting rid of the adjacent tub, but then someone reminded me that the resale value of the house would be affected. While I can’t fathom moving at this point, it also occurred to me that when I have grandchildren visit, they’ll need an actual bathtub to bath in, so we are leaving well enough alone. The bathtub in the primary bath is actually amazing and has huge windows, so it’s worth the sacrifice to have the primary single walk-in shower remain the size it is.

We used a company that does these bathtub-to-shower replacements with kits that are pretty universal, but it turned out that we had a protruding pipe that needed us to work around it. Fortunately, our handyman was able to come up with a solution that worked. He bent the pipe from the dryer in the adjoining laundry room a bit inward which barely changed the volume of the exhaust and then they were able to put the shower piece in as planned.

As it turns out, we often prefer to shower in the much larger shower in the small bathroom now. It has more modern fixtures, which make it convenient as well.

This stage of the renovation is before the vanity is replaced.