Transformations of 2010

Since I'm battling a bad cold, I seem to have plenty of time to blog.  So I decided to join the various parties that are taking a look back over 2010 projects.  I'm happy to be linking up with:
Kim's Boring to Better Party
Table Top Tuesday -- Anything Goes
Top Projects of 2010
Transformation Thursday
Thrifty Thursday
Inspiration Friday
The Best of 2010

The first major project of 2010 was really finishing off our backyard landscape project which had been started in the late spring of 2009.  Not too much happened throughout the summer -- Arizona, remember!
The Man had this pad poured for a garden building when the landscape team laid all the pavers.  This is the view down the side of our sunroom looking right at the concrete pad.

The Man knew exactly how he wanted the building to look and I kept interjecting "Old World" into the conversation.

I got my wish and then some.  Love, love, love how this turned out.  The Man is pretty pleased, too!

We had been discussing trying our hands at growing grapes, so The Man built the pergola & planted grapes on either end.

Lest you think that all I do is take pictures, I'll just remind you that there is always a "helper."  You know, the one who has to "fetch" this or that to hand to the person on the ladder or roof, the one who holds the "dummy-end" of the tape, the one who hops in the car for a quick run to Home Depot, the one who.....well, you get the picture!  Sorry, I just wanted to clear that up.  So, anyhoo, we gradually added some patio furniture, a firepit, and a fountain.

We had been making big plans to do major renovations to both our bathrooms, but not at the same time!  It was going to be a major job -- gutting said rooms & redoing with new floors, new cabinetry, new countertops, etc.  Then one day, a couple of months ago, we were visiting our son and dil and they said they wished we would move closer.  Our son knew that his dad's retirement was due to happen at the end of this year.  Well......we started thinking about that.  We were all over the place about whether we should, could, really wanted to, etc.  As the end of year drew closer, we finally made up our minds.  Yep, we are going to move!  Of course, we have to sell our townhouse or possibly lease it out.  The Man will continue to work until the house sells or we decide otherwise.  That being said, discussion of renovating the bathrooms quickly turned to doing some cosmetic things without spending too much money.

This is what we started with in the guest bath.  It had a rather shabby chic look which is great if that's the look you are going for;  but here it was shabby because it was getting old and worn and not in a good way.  As I've said before, we have had to add storage wherever we could and our little $3 garage sale side table has served well in this small bath.

The Befores:

The Man did some painting, regrouting & the tile looked very good.  We also changed out the cabinet hardware.

The Afters:

Just about the same things happened in the master bath -- regrouting, repainting the vanity, changing the hardware.

The Before:

The After:

We are quite pleased with how both baths have turned out.  They fit the overall look of the townhouse without going over the top (which is what we were planning to do if we had stayed here).

It has been a very long time since we had a house for sale, so any advice from anyone would be much appreciated.  I'm so glad I have this blog with so many wonderful "blog sisters," because I'm sure there will be times during the next several months when I will be close to pulling my hair out.  I will need a place to vent, but I'll keep it clean!  Anyway, thanks for coming along on my wrap-up of 2010 projects.  Hope you will come back again soon.

CAS