There's MORE!

... Bathroom renovation that is! While I was out chatting with some fabulous bloggers on Saturday night, B and my Dad were at home slaving away on the bathroom (Halle was hanging out with Grandma). Before I get to what they accomplished, I need to post a photo of where the bathroom was at my last update...

{Start of the tile in the tub}

{Last of the drywall}

{grout going on the floor}

The bathroom was a little further than this when they started working on it on Saturday. B had did some more mudding on the walls and we had both added some more tile to tub area, as well as onto the side of the tub. Those men worked hard on Saturday though and when I got home Saturday evening I was thrilled to see this...

You'll see that paint has already started to go on the walls. B primed while I was out and started painting the bottom half when I got home. We started at the bottom so that we could put on the baseboard and not have to worry about taping it off to paint the walls. The colour is called Epiphany from Para Paints. I actually picked it out at the same time as the living room paint and have been anxiously awaiting getting it on the walls. A huge thanks to Para for supplying us with the paint - we love it! The coverage is fantastic and it dries in the perfect amount of time. Not too quickly that it makes it hard to paint, but quick enough that you aren't waiting ages to get another coat on. It's absolutely the perfect shade of blue too, with the right amount of grey undertone in it - I am in L-O-V-E!

Sunday, my parents were over again and those men wasted no time at all. There was all kinds of tiling and mudding going on. Thankfully we have been having a very mild winter, so cutting those tiles on the back deck with the wet saw was not too big of a deal for them. Look what they accomplished on Sunday....

Are you seeing how fabulous this is!? I stand in Halle's nursery and that bathroom just shines! A far cry from the old, dated space it was when we moved in just over two and a half years ago. 

Aside from finishing the tile in the tub, and on the side of the tub (did you notice that?), B also tested out the heated floor (perfect!), and they started to install our baseboards...

Yes, you are seeing that correctly. We are using our floor tile as baseboard as well. My Dad did this when he tiled their main floor and B and I loved the look and how much easier it was to keep clean, so we opted for it in the bathroom as well. The tile was cut to 4" and we used silver edging on top to hide the cut edge of the tile. It's so much easier to wipe clean, and no worries of having to paint it, or touch it up in the future. 

One of my favourite additions though, is our new pocket door...

It's so nice to have a door on here again, especially since we just want to get our toilet back in place at this point. We managed to find the door at Lowe's, in stock. It looks similar to the closet doors we put in the front entrance, without the lines in the panels. 

We liked this, since it carries on the look without being exactly the same. If we continue to replace the glass panelled doors in our home, we have a style we want to stick with as well. Now just to decide how we want to paint it. I'm thinking of just pulling out the plain old white and sticking to that for now. It's a really small landing so I don't want to overwhelm it with colour - what would you do?

We're still hoping to have most of it wrapped up for our Superbowl Party this coming Sunday. At least have a functional toilet and vanity again. It's so exciting to finally have this whole project coming to an end.

Canadian Design Blogger Meet-up - 2012 Edition

Good Monday Morning to all of you! What a FANTASTIC weekend! After a glorious Saturday morning of being pampered at the hair salon, I was thrilled to head down to Brassaii Restaurant for the Canadian Design Bloggers meetup!

Not only was it fantastic to see so many old friends, but I loved meeting new blogger friends, as well as finally putting a face to a number of blogs that I already read! What a treat. Vie and Daniella did a fantastic job rounding up some incredible speakers. We got to hear from Cameron MacNeil & Lisa Murphy of House & Home, Cassandra LaVallle of coco + kelley AND the man himself Brian Gluckstein! Seriously, it was mind blowing and invigorating being in one room filled with so many inspiring and brilliant people.

The line-up of event sponsors was beyond impressive: House & Home magazine, Delta, Cottonelle, IKEA, C.I.L Paint, Gluckstein Home, Aya Kitchens & Bath, green light district, Rowenta, CB2 and Kravet! I know right! These lovely sponsors sure hooked us up with our swag bag as well...

Halle's favourite part of it was the Jonathan Adler toilet roll cover from Cottonelle...

 

I have to admit, I decided not to bring my camera with me to the event. I don't get out often to chat and see friends on my own anymore, so I was excited to go and just meet people, chat and catch up. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to be a part of such a positive, inspiring and supportive group of bloggers! I came home feeling fabulous and completely re-energized! I know this is short and not very detailed, but to be honest I think I am still trying to process the whole thing.

I'm recovering from a crazy weekend today, even after my coffee I still feel like I could crawl back into bed, and Halle and I have some visitors dropping in shortly. Be sure to come back tomorrow for some bathroom updates... and let me warn you - there has been quite a lot of progress since last week!

Fancy Friday Love

The last Friday of January! Can you believe the first month of 2012 is already behind us? How time has flown! For us, 2012 has started off very exciting and I have a ton to share and announce over the course of the next month - so keep an eye out! With that teaser out of the way, let's see what I loved over the last week...


I would gladly take some time away in this sweet treehouse found on bliss blog last Friday. Isn't it so cozy looking?...

I loved this powder room, from theLENNOXX the minute I laid eyes on it. What a great way to take your builder basic bathroom vanity and update it with a bright colour and some door knockers for hardware! Isn't it brilliant?

Windows like this in my dining room (or kitchen), have been added to my "must-have list" for my dream home! The photo is actually from the Greenwich Hotel in NYC - care of Daily Dream Decor...

This looks like the ultimate outdoor space. I mean, it could almost fool you for a living room - couldn't it? Maybe something for us to keep in mind when we work on the back deck this spring.... No? haha

Well, my hair has been fixed up after a salon visit this week, and my outfit has been picked out! Tomorrow afternoon I am off to the Canadian Design bloggers meet-up and I cannot wait to see everyone (and hear about Blog Podium, which I am missing today!). What fun things do you have planned for this coming weekend?

It's Growing With Her

When I revealed Halle's nursery back in July, her gallery wall looked like this...

Well, up until last night, it still looked like that. Since switching up the wall was on my 2012 to-do list, and her shadow box was completed, I knew it was time to cross this item off. I stand back and look at it, and think I can still make some tweaks (which I am sure I will), but here is what we have now...

So we removed the empty frame since her H is now in her shadow box. Then we added the shadow box and that little tiny embroidery hoop of fabric at the top. You may recognize it from a previous post I did on some fabric I loved. I ordered three sample and when I held that one in my hand, I knew it would look great on her wall.

So, another item sort of crossed off the list. As I mentioned, I am sure I will continue to tweak it a little. I think our owl is up a little high... and something else needs to be added to the top corner with the puppy plaques, unless I just rearrange how those three things are laid out entirely. Something just seems off - what would you tweak?

Bathroom Progress

As I shared on Monday, B and my Dad have been trudging along, making huge strides in completing the bathroom reno. The floor tile was done as of Saturday night, and on Sunday they got right back to it. The last piece of cement board went up, near the shower head and then they used some thinset to mud the joints of the cement board...

While that dried, they worked on finishing up some plumbing. Us women decided to escape during that to go on a shopping trip. I was determined to find something to wear to Saturday's meet-up, but came home empty handed. I swear it's like I've completely forgot how to shop for myself people! SOMEONE help! My worries of nothing to wear were later forgotten however when the Patriots won a way-too-close-game against the Ravens to move onto the Superbowl, as well as seeing this happen...

Oh, beautiful white subway tile! You can do no wrong! B asked my father to get the subway tile started for us, as he is quite the perfectionist, so we knew we would get a straight line from him. While my Dad was busy tiling, B was installing the last piece of drywall.

{The lower hole is for the light switch for our sconces and an outlet, and the upper hole is for the thermostat for the in floor heating}

It was shortly after this that they called it a night, and it was so easy to do so, knowing that the whole room is FINALLY coming back together! Of course, seeing this progress has also given B more motivation to keep moving. Monday night, he came home from work and got back at it. He added more tiles to our back wall, and when he was done for the night (as in, he had no desire to go out into the cold and rain to cut the tiles he needed) he got the grout on the floor...

Seriously! Grout on the floor!? I'm glad we went with this nice silvery grout. Our favourite part about it was that it cost us nothing! My Dad had it left over from when he retiled the kitchen and front entrance in their home, so we snagged that at no cost!

While we had hoped to make more progress yesterday, I must admit that the bathroom looks exactly like it did on Monday night, and I'm not ready to share photos as there is still a bit of a haze on the tile that we need to scrub off. It could have been done yesterday, but instead B spent some time with Halle, while I took some time to accomplish things for myself. More to come on both the bathroom, and what I've been up to, on the side, next week...

In other news, I've had a sweet reader let me know she's having problems leaving comments on my site alone! Is anyone else have issues? If so, please shoot me an email and let me know!!

Anxieties Aside...

B has been toiling away on our bathroom and making some great progress! I can't wait to share more with you tomorrow. It's looking fabulous, but by nature I am a worrier... and I have been worrying about how small our bathroom is. This is not even a valid thing to worry about, as there is nothing we can do to enlarge our space, so instead I hit up pinterest to remind myself that small can be beautiful as well...

pinterest via decorpad

pinterest via apartment therapy

via pinterest

pinterest via 6th Street Design School

The best part is that our bathroom is not anywhere near as tiny as these small, but functional spaces. Thank you pinterest, for making me feel better about our small space. I know it will turn our beautifully (not that I ever doubted that, really).

Do you have any really small, but functional spaces in your home? What do you do to make the space work better for you?

Six Months of Halle

I can hardly believe that half a year has already passed since our sweet little girl joined us. In the same breath, it seems as if I have known and loved her my entire life. What would I do without her? (Okay, maybe I would sleep more, enjoy some hot showers and still get to read every single magazine that lands in my mailbox... but it's okay, I have her). Here is my little bundle of sweet celebrating six months of wonderful...

What is our Halle up to these days?...

- See the blurry little hand? Halle has been twisting and turning that wrist non-stop, as if she is wavin. She "waves" at everything! Mommy & Daddy, the puppies, her toys.... nothing at all. She just loves waving that little hand around, trying to figure it all out

- Babbling started the other week. Lots of "Ah-ma-ma-mum-mumum" and "AH-bla-bla-bla-bla". AND, sometimes, she just loves to open and close her mouth as if she were babbling... but with no noise coming out.

- Thankfully, after a few long nights last week while she was sick, we are back to 5+ hours of sleep each night... and all 3 of us are loving it!

- She is the happiest little girl - full of smiles and giggles for us, and I cherish each of those moments! Her little giggle is the best sound in the entire world!

I also need to thank ALL of you who voted for Halle in Bittersweet Photography's "Pic of the Month" contest! We found out this morning that we tied for second place! Which means we get $100 to use towards another session with Nicole this year! I can't wait! What should we use it for? Halle's one year photo's? Family Christmas Card photo's? I'm torn!! 

He Soldier's On

Good Morning! I hope that you all had a great weekend! I may not have made it to the salon, as I spent the weekend taking care of our recovering babe, but a lot of progress was made in the bathroom, and that makes me just as happy. 


Have I ever told you how dedicated B is to what he does? Well he is! The man works all day, comes home at night and still motors away on the bathroom. Needless to say, since last week's post on the bathroom, he has made some serious progress. Another quick look back on where we left off...

Last Wednesday night, after dinner, B headed back upstairs to get to work. The first thing he took care of was to finish installing all of the cement board on the front of the tub and the area around it. Then, he switched his focus to the floor. 

One of the big problems we had with the bathroom before, was how cold the floor was, especially in the winter. We always vowed that when the time came to renovate, we would install in floor heating. So my friends, the time has come and last Wednesday night, the heating system went in... 

It's only on a portion of the floor, because there is no point installing it in area's we will not be standing on, like to the side of the toilet or under the vanity. Who knew a bunch of wires stapled down to sub-floor would excite me so much! I can already imagine coming out of my nice warm bath (with a glass of wine of course), and stepping onto that scrumptiously warm floor tile! Bliss! Okay, enough daydreaming and back to the work at hand. With the wires down, B's next step was to poor out a floor levelling substance, that ensured we had a nice level surface to get our floor tile down on...

Thursday evening, he was just as busy, measuring and cutting the Ditra-mat, and mudding and taping the walls. 

He had the best intentions to accomplish more on Friday, but family came first. Halle seemed to be nursing a cold all week, but when she had us up all hours of the night on Wednesday and Thursday screaming and crying, we became more concerned. Friday morning I brought her to our family doctor, who told us he thought it may be Norwalk. So Friday was completely reserved for family time cuddles... and catching up on much needed sleep.

With Halle more or less back to her normal self on Saturday, B and my Dad got back to work. They started off with some work in the ceiling. Moving the location of our main light fixture, as well as the vent fan.

With that work done, it was on to the big stuff - floor tile. I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it was to find out we were getting floor tile! They worked all afternoon, laying the Ditra-mat, measuring, figuring out the tile placement, and finally, getting that tile down on the floor...

{Putting down thin set to lay the Ditra-mat}

{Ready for the tile to go down}

{Our lovely 12x24, light grey tile! Oh how I love it}

And that just leaves us at where they left off on Saturday evening. Sunday my parents were over once again, helping out with everything. I'll be back to share more on Wednesday. This bathroom is finally all coming together!

Did you accomplish a lot this weekend? I'd love to hear what you got up too!

Fancy Friday Love

Friday is here again! What a great feeling knowing the weekend is upon us! My list is a tad shorter this week, as I spent a lot of time not only nursing my own cold, but also taking care of our wee sweet baby. But, to look on the bright side, I did find these fabulous bits...


Beautiful flooring in this apartment by Messana O'Rorke Architects, featured on desire to inspire...

Stunning photos of Sarah's home - photographed by Tracey Ayton. Make sure you head over to Sarah's blog to see more...

Can I PLEASE move into this over the top home, featured on Decor de Provence, last Friday? Everything about it is perfect!

On Tuesday, as Halle started to feel better, we took some time to whip up a batch of these delicious Hot Chocolate Cookies (recipe found on my favourite baking blog, Beantown Baker). I recommend giving them a whirl!

Carissa shared this fun stencil project that her sister tackled. She designed her own stencil, and then used a Sharpie paint pen. It looks so great, and has me wanting to do something like this.... hmmmm...

This poster from Evermade Art Prints has to be my new motto! I want to try and reduce the amount of "stuff" we have around here and try to live a bit more simply. I found myself stressed out and overwhelmed by things this past week, and not simply enjoying my time with Halle. Time to simplify around here... Less is definitely more!

Another weekend is here... and after last weekend being so crazy busy and all of us being sick, we're sticking close to home. Of course there will be some more bathroom work, and I plan to sneak off to the spa on Saturday for some "me" time, and get this hair taken care of. What are you up to this weekend?