As Finished As You'll Get

Welcome back! This afternoon I wanted to take some time to look back at our little Toronto home. Last week, while catching up on some blogs, I realized I never gave you a full reveal of our bathroom makeover. Crazy right? Well, I guess that's probably because we never even saw our bathroom completely finished. Um, WHAT? Yeah. My father had to finish a few things like the transition between the bathroom and the "hallway" and putting up a shower curtain rod AFTER we moved out. 


Even without pictures of the 100% complete bathroom (or as close to 100% as we would get), I thought I would do a mini reveal (with the 1 "after" photo that I have). So first things first, why not take a trip down memory lane and check out the bathroom when we first moved in, in July 2009...

Ooooh, absolutely ugly - no? WOW! What did we ever see in this little house? haha. Anywho - we painted up that bathroom the day we moved in, tile and all, and that October we painted the wood vanity. So for two years, we lived with our bathroom looking like this...

Still not the best, but significantly better than what we had started with, thanks to lots of paint and a new toilet! Then, along came Halle... and with a baby meant the need for a tub. So, back in November we started to rip it all out and start again. It was a long process (clearly), and before we left, the bathroom was looking like this...

Probably not the best angle, but I guess I thought the floor was  a bit more important that the ceiling. Makes sense, right? Taken from the exact same spot as the previous photos as well.

Oh, how I wish I had, had more time to enjoy that little bathroom! B and our father's did such a fabulous job making that place as great as it turned out. I'm glad that at least Halle had a chance to bathe in there quite a few times before we left.

Sources:

Subway Tile: RONA

Vanity: IKEA

Faucet & Shower Hardware: Delta Faucets

Sconces & Mirror: The Home Depot

Light That Fire

What an exhausting weekend! I hope all of you had a good one and are feeling more rested than we all are. Friday night, it was officially decided that this little ol' house will go up for rent (anyone looking to rent a place in the west end of Toronto?). Of course, there is nothing like a tight timeline to get our butts in gear, and that's exactly what happened this past weekend.


Saturday morning, things started off right after breakfast, with B and my Dad tackling the bathroom. Our new storage cabinet (that my father built) was installed next to the tub, some caulking was completed around the tub and the door trim was finished. 

Just a few minor things left - paint touch up, shelves to go into our cabinet, centre the mirror, fill the holes in the vanity drawers and then finishing touches - like a towel bar, toilet roll holder and shower rod and curtain. We're SO CLOSE! FINALLY!

There were some other projects finished on Saturday as well, like trim in our bedroom, and some work in the kitchen that was never completed. I'll have to share other projects this week as we go. So much is happening, and that is the #1 reason B is so tired. I just keep reminding him... in about a month (yes people, a month!) we should be in our new place, enjoying a renovation free lifestyle for a while. We're feeling pretty excited, seeing as I have finally started to really get down to sorting and packing. There are a ton of boxes residing in our living room at the moment, and I have a few items up on the Facebook page as part of the "Blogarage Sale". I hope to get more up between today and tomorrow as I continue to tackle packing.


What did you get up to this past weekend?

Finishing Touches

The only way I can possibly start today's post, is by saying thank you to everyone who commented on my announcement yesterday. The news is huge, and is definitely a big change for us. It was so nice to read so many positive and encouraging comments, and we can't wait to share this new adventure with all of you!


With our little home soon going up for sale and rent, it's time that we start putting the finishing touches on our projects, and getting this place into tip-top shape. Here's a little look at what's been happening.


Last Saturday, while I was at my parents place, setting up for B's party, he was at home installing our new bathroom mirror.


We knew we  wanted something with pivots and had looked all over for the perfect mirror. We ended up finding one we liked on the Home Depot US website. B's parents went to find it, but it wasn't available. They did however, have this beautiful Delta Silverton mirror, that was $5 cheaper. Score! It looks perfect in the bathroom...

Now B just needs to go back and centre it properly. From the angle the photo was taken you can't tell, but the mirror sits further to the left of the vanity. This should be fixed this coming weekend.


Yesterday, my Dad came out to spend the day helping us finish up and fix some thing arounds the house. After making some quick adjustments to our front door and closet doors, he got to work on our window frame in the bathroom. Let me say, just having the window frame on makes a huge difference in the space!

Slowly but surely, we are getting there! The outside door trim should be finished off this weekend, as well as the caulking around the tub and our paint touch ups. My father is also building us a small unit that should just slide directly into the storage area at the end of our tub, with adjustable shelving. If all goes to plan, he will deliver it on Saturday when he arrives to help B out around the house. Hopefully early next week I'll be able to share the reveal of the renovation, with before and afters. I think even I am starting to forget how drastic this renovation has been.

Even with a move in our future, the fun isn't over yet! Lots to be accomplished and I'll do my best to share the projects worth sharing!

Onto the next (and a Nomination!)

Two weeks ago (while I wasn't blogging), B and I made some alterations to our to-do list. Primarily, we changed around our priorities and added some things. I'll share more on the why and what in the coming weeks, but for now I'll just share what we've been getting up to. 


Even though the bathroom is not 100% complete, I decided to start making some progress on the next room in our home - the living room. Yes, I've been working on this refresh for a few months now, but the space really hasn't evolved into something I love. Hopefully, the next few changes in here will help to change that. The first thing I wanted to take care of was the fireplace...

You may remember that it looked like this the other week after I started cleaning it. Of course, cleaning was just the first step in preparing it for a facelift. B and I had agreed it needed to be painted, so last week we pulled out my Para Paints paint deck and started to browse through the different shades of grey. We finally landed on "Gale Force Winds". The next day I headed over to our local Home Depot, with the gift card they provided to me after completing my chalk board project back in the fall. I colour matched our Para Paint to Behr's paint and primer in one, and that night I got to painting.

It went on nice and thick and gave us really great coverage. Once it was on though, we started to question it next to the blue on the walls...

{Apologies for the photo quality. We are still using an old desktop and I have no photo editing software... and the TV needs to be moved back to the basement. It's been over our fireplace since the SuperBowl - that's coming this week...}

Thankfully, we don't anticipate having the grey next to the blue for much longer! Our next step in this room is to get new flooring down and some pretty white built-ins and a mantle (care of my talented father). This is my inspiration photo - but our built-in's will go up to the ceiling...

{via The Yellow Cape Cod}

Of course, instead of the TV over our fireplace, we plan to expose the rest of the brick and paint it the same grey as the lower portion. I'm so thrilled for this part of the "refresh", I know it will make a huge impact in the room. Now we just need my father to be freed up from all of his other projects.

Do you have any big new projects coming up? Maybe anything custom being added to your house?

I also want to let you all know that First Time Fancy has been nominated as Best Remodeling Blogger in the 2012 JDR Industry Blogger Awards! Voting is now open. Please vote for us here. The badge to the right also links to the site where you can vote for us! Voting is open until April 13th, and we'd love your support!

Just Around the Bend + How to Hack an IKEA Sink

Our finished bathroom is in sight! Since last week B absolutely motored his way through the bathroom, in order for it to be functional for our SuperBowl party this past Sunday. When I posted last week, B and my Dad had finished most of the tiling and installed the pocket door.

Things were looking great, but there was still a lot left to do. During last week B kept himself busy finishing painting, putting up the rest of the grey face tile and grouting the subway tile. On Friday night he stayed up until 2am grouting the subway tile and cleaning it. Unfortunately for all of us, Halle also slept horribly that night. On the upside, the bathroom looked like this (note: early morning light in a north facing room is awful for photos, but was our only option with B working late and him and my father starting early again on Saturday)...

It's hard to tell in these photos, but we used the same warm grey for the subway tiles, as we used on the floors. It's the perfect amount of contrast for the look of the room. All white would've been too stark for my liking, and anything darker just wouldn't have fit.

Saturday morning when my father arrived they got to work trimming out the pocket door, and finishing the ceiling and the last of the tiling. 

I wasn't around to get many photos, as Halle was left fussy after getting a shot on Friday. I did however get a chance to photograph the biggest job they did all day - the prep and installation of our Godmorgon vanity. The first and most important thing to do was to get our ODENSVIK sink ready for our Delta Victorian Two Handle Widespread Faucet. They started out by measuring and marking the sink for our handles to make sure it was 8" center to center spacing.

Then outside the sink went. B started by using his drill to begin the holes for the handles. This part made me extremely nervous as I could see the drill bit bending, and B didn't throw on safety glasses until he moved onto the bigger drill bit. Thankfully he still has both eyes. The important part while doing this, was to keep the sink and the bit wet. It helped keep the drill bit cool and clear of dust for a cleaner cut.

With a small hole started for our diamond bit, B pulled it out and got to work. Again, it's important to keep the sink wet to keep dust down and to stop it from heating up too much from the friction, which could potentially cause cracks. It's also important to keep the drill steady and work slowly - as in, take frequent breaks to wet the sink and the drill bit in order to ensure the cleanest cut possible...

Thankfully, they were successful and we ended up with perfectly cut circles to install the faucet handles.

Then came the exciting bit - finally getting the vanity into place and working! It fits perfectly into the space, with a couple inches on either side of it - perfect for sliding the shower curtain behind.

But did you think I was going to give it all away now? We are SO close to done, I am tempted to make you all wait until the finishing touches are all in place I am ready for a big reveal.... and I just may do that! Halle says "Nothing to see here people"...

So, I guess now you will just have to wait! 

A Clean Slate

Or brick fireplace... personally, I was more looking for the latter. The other day while playing with Halle, I decided I'd finally had enough of looking at our soot stained, dirty brick fireplace.

{I know... can you believe we've been living like this?}

I mean, it's been months since we ripped that awful white brick off, so it was time I finally got busy and did something about that eye sore. First things first, it just needed to be cleaned - straight forward right? Well, I'd heard of different cleaning solutions from different people, but after reading this tutorial on Young House Love, I opted for the damp cloth route to start. After going over the whole thing once with a damp cloth (minus the bottom left corner), it was already looking a lot better...

Cleaning the brick was honestly one of those things that was so easy, I'm actually embarrassed by how long it took me to get around to doing it. Can you say lazy much? Okay... maybe just preoccupied, but either way this little project should definitely have made it's way to the top of my list! Geeez.

After seeing it cleaned up (at least a little), there is no doubt in my mind that we will paint it... and hopefully sooner than I had originally thought.

Do you have any simple projects you've been putting off, and need to finally cross off of your list? Put it out there, maybe you'll find that motivation that you need to get it done!

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.

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!!