THE CAT SCAN

My new favorite place on the internet? thecatscan.tumblr.com

It's a collection of photos of cats on flatbed scanners...and it is seriously fascinating.

And look! My beautiful boys were featured.

Steve...

And Julian...

So, clearly, if you have a cat...go scan it! And if you don't have a cat...get one! They're awesome.

CAT BATHROOM!

As promised, here's the scoop on the downstairs bathroom...which is now a pinky-pink wonderland of vintage cat photos.

Eventually, I'd like to do a COMPLETE overhaul. The sink is really dated...and not in a cute way. The toilet is newer...but I hate the style of it. It's too big and modern looking. And the floor? Ugh. Don't get me started on the floor. It's really unattractive vinyl tiling that I think is supposed to look like red clay tiles (maybe?)...but they're not fooling anybody. Trust me.

Unfortunately, it's gonna be a LONG time before we can afford to replace most of that stuff and give the bathroom the proper makeover it deserves. But, in the meantime, I figured I would do as much as I possibly could with a little bit of paint and some things we already own.

Here are a few before photos so you can see what I was working with. (And yes, those are stenciled paw prints.)

And here is what it looks like now.

I figured if you are trying to transform a room with little more than paint you better go for a statement color. So I went SUPER pink. I know it's over the top...but I personally love a kitschy pink bathroom...and I really had nothing to lose.

I painted the sink cabinet and mirror a dark charcoal gray. Still not awesome...but MUCH better.

And then I covered the place with vintage cat photos. That made ALL the difference.

The sweet vintage frames and black and white photos totally work with the pink and charcoal color scheme. And the bathroom certainly has personality now...which is what it was really lacking before.

Sadly, the hideous floor is still there...but I put this rug down so that I don't have to see quite as much of it.

Eventually, I would love to do the floor with the tile pattern below from American Restoration Tile.

And I think the room would look fantastic with a tin ceiling (painted the same shade of dark gray as the sink) and an art deco style light fixture. Maybe something like one of these two from Schoolhouse Electric.

Luckily, those are all manageable updates which would be fairly affordable as far as those things go. But for now I'll just keep adding cat pictures as I find them...because the bathroom's shortcomings and imperfections seem way less noticeable when there are so many cute kitties to stare at!

COLLECTION: VINTAGE CAT PHOTOS

Here's a sneak peek at one of my most favorite collections: old black and white photos of people with their cats. I get SO excited every time I find one. I mean...I love old photos to begin with. But old photos with CATS in them? I DIE.

I had been hoarding all of these gems in a box until recently...but I finally got down to business and merged them with one of my other collections: little decorative old frames.

(Okay, so the cat in the next photo isn't real...but how could I resist? I mean...look at that bow!)

These are just a few of the ones that I have put together. There are MANY more. And I gave them all a home on the walls of the downstairs bathroom....which I'm gonna show you in my next post. Can't wait!

HELLO FALL

We've been DYING to use the fireplace ever since we moved in back in April...but the weather didn't really call for it. Finally, the evenings are getting cold enough to deem it appropriate...and last night we gave it a whirl.

Justin is quite the little fire builder (thank you Camp La Junta). He had it up and going in no time. We had our fingers crossed, and thank goodness, the smoke was indeed going up and out the chimney and the whole thing seems to work like a charm.

The cats were mesmerized by the whole process. Steve kept a safe distance from the actual fire...but Julian, in his usual fashion, wanted to be as close as possible. You'd think he would have learned his lesson after singeing off half of his whiskers from a too-close encounter with a candle a few weeks ago...but, no.

It's looking like fall is gonna be as dreamy as I'd hoped.

ANIMAL FAMILY

Meet the newest member of the Kitterson clan -- little Julian.

On Sunday Justin and I stopped by the Beacon Cat Sanctuary on a whim...and obviously didn't leave empty handed. (Can you blame us?!)

We've always kind of wanted another cat but we weren't even supposed to have ONE cat in our apartment let alone TWO. (When our landlords found out about Steve they freaked out...yelled at me in Polish...threatened to evict us...and convinced me to pay them $50 more a month and an extra $1,000 (!!) security deposit. Needless to say, Steve was worth every penny...and I DO NOT miss my landlords.) But now that we have our own house my dreams of becoming a crazy cat lady can finally come true. Just kidding. I only want two cats. Two is enough. For now.