But before all that fun talk, I need to share with you my new purchase...
TA-DA!
After a number of years of dreaming and wishing, I finally decided to treat myself with a new camera (Nikon D90). There were a lot of factors that decided to push me over the edge, a couple included a new baby on the way and a nod of approval from my financial adviser, Sara. However the biggest push was the realization of the large amount of cash back bonus I had accrued from a certain credit card. So much so, that I was able to pay for more than half of the camera with these rewards. I guess that patience paid off. Now I just need to start playing with it.
So onto the remodel. Our first plan was to tile the floor...which lead to wanting to tile the shower...which lead to the idea of redoing the wall behind the sinks. So what do we do first? Why the wall behind the sinks of course. Since we couldn't decide on a tile color or layout for the shower, we opted to put that and the floor on hold and focus on the mirrored wall.
We had a strong idea for the wall and hoped it would bring us inspiration for the rest of the bath. Below is the before picture. We had painted the bathroom a couple years ago, but were never happy with everything else.
The original idea was simple; replace the lights and faucets. I tossed out doing something different to make it an accent wall...so we came up with slate tiles. Then since our mirror was so large, we swapped it out for two smaller ones to show off more of the wall. We ended up leaving the vanity and sinks to save on costs and repainted the walls to lighten up the room.
The Taylors were a big help as always. Jason was able to come over Friday night to help me get started and the rest of the tribe came Saturday to help wrap things up. (Thanks again!) If you want to see more pictures from the event, you can visit our flickr 'Bathroom Remodel' set.
Now before everyone loses sleep, I should probably share what part 2 will entail. This will consist of redoing the floor (probably tile) and sprucing up the shower. Time frame? Who knows. Thanks to this current stimulus plan, my work schedule for the next month or two has suddenly multiplied, so my free weekends are becoming scarce. And with less than 3 months till May day, there is a lot baby preparation and events to attend. Plus there are some outdoor projects that have higher priorities once the warmer weather comes.
Long story short...it won't be anytime soon.
2 comments:
Wow! Awesom remodel!! And I am SOOO jealous of the camera. :) I've been looking at one for myself lately, as well... D-80 or D-90. Is the D-90 worth the few extra hundred dollars?
Thanks. We are happy with it.
Having this be my first Nikon DSLR, I have nothing to compare it with, but I can try my best to explain my thought process.
Up until I stumbled upon my "free money", I had planned to get the D40 since the 90 was WAY out of my price range. My plan was to start with that and invest my money in better lenses. I follow the belief that more mega-pixels doesn't always mean better pictures, but good glass will produce better shots than cheap glass. However once I knew I had more money to play with, I decided to treat myself and get the next step up.
Now there are a blue million pages where guys debate between the 80 and 90. You could waste an afternoon reading different points of view. I think I have read most of them because I was in the same boat as you. The gist I got from them is the decision is more a matter of what your shooting habits are and what your cash flow is. If you have the extra money for the D90 body, you won't be disappointed. There are charts that compare the differences between the two, but the 90 fixes some of the minor nuisances that the 80 supposedly had.(I think it was along the lines of metering and high ISO shots) If you plan on taking a lot of action/sports shots or work with low light, than it might be beneficial to upgrade.
Now if cash is an issue...and you know down the road you may want to upgrade bodies, than you can find some good deals right now on 80's. That extra money you save you can put towards the purchase of some quality glass that you can take with you from camera to camera.
I bought the 90 because I was paying less out of pocket for that than I was for a D40 with out the gift cards. Since I knew this deal wouldn't present itself again I jumped all over it. If I take the free money out though and had to chose between the two, I would probably have gone with the 80 and put the extra money towards our future child or lenses. (haha) The quality of the picture is almost identical between the two and I doubt any of the minor mechanical flaws I would have noticed. The fluffy extras on the 90 (video, live view) aren't deal breakers for me so I wouldn't have factored those into the equation. If you can live with the older sensor and are just happy to get out of P&S land, I think you would be happy with the 80 knowing you have more money for lenses.
However the D90 sure is wonderful....
Well, hopefully this either helped or confused you even more. Just do a search for d80 vs. d90. Spend some time reading other peoples thoughts too and after awhile should have a better feel of what features are more important to you. You are welcome to stop by sometime if you need play with it.
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