Bathroom Sprucing

In news of other, smaller projects, a few weeks ago I took the vent covers off in both of the upstairs bathrooms because they were gross and rusty. 

After taping off the plastic knobs, I went to town spray painting them. Everything I know about spray painting, I learned from Young House Love. Apparently the key is to do many thin coats and to always keep your arm moving. This is a partial explanation for why it took me two to three weeks to complete this simple project. I started outside and put a few coats on, then moved them inside to the unfinished area and put down dropcloths to do some more, and then I'd just forget about them for a few days, then check in and decide yep, they still needed more paint.

Finally, two days ago I declared them done and put them back. But. Now that I look at how much more beige they are than the before photo, I'm not sure I love them. This may call for a re-do at some point, but they'll do for now. Definitely an improvement over the rust. Side note: Posting this photo really drives home to me how much I need to deep clean the grout in the bathroom.

Additionally, re: the bathroom. My parents came for a visit two weeks ago and I took my mom to the antique shops in downtown Hopkins. Our stay there got cut short, but not before I found something that I had to take home with me. Will you like it? I don't know; do you like things that are fabulous?

It is a peacock made of aquarium gravel on black velvet and it's pretty much... the greatest?! No, actually, the greatest is what I paid for it, which was $11. Now some of you are scoffing that a person would pay anything for this, but I just made an amazing discovery of the exact same thing on eBay, in a pair, that is selling for $150! And there's actually a bid on it! Did they sell these in kits like paint-by-numbers or something? Well you know this is going to spark a collection. Soon we'll be calling it the peacock bathroom. And I am not ashamed.