Choosing Chair Fabric

Some of you may remember, a while ago, I posted a list of projects I would like to complete around the house in 2010. One of those projects was to refinish an old chair to use in my laundry / office / craft space in the basement. Even though the room itself is not 100% completed (baseboards, storage & work area need to go in), I already have a vision of what I want my chair to look like. Thankfully, we were out a few weekends ago at a second hand furniture store, just down the street from us, when I happened upon these two lovely chairs:

Okay, not so lovely right now... but the shape and quality of the chairs is excellent! I was able to snatch both for $40! Not a bad deal!

My orignal plan was to finish one for my own little space, and refinish the second a little differently for the basment living area. However, as time has passed and I have thought about what I want to do with the chairs, I think I would prefer to finish them both to look the same. Since my craft / office area is a small room off the basement living area, it would be nice if the two chairs matched and could both be used as extra seating.

My vision is to sand down and paint the chairs a glossy white to freshen them up. I'd also like to add more cushioning to the seat, and of course change out the orange tweed for some new fabric. After scouring the Designer Fabrics website today, I came up with a few ideas for the fabric I would like to use (In the order in which I am considering them):

I know they vary quite a bit, and I REALLY love the first two fabrics the most! I'd just like to get some input on what others think. Below is a picture of our upstairs bathroom - the paint colour is the same colour that we have used in the laundry room.

It's an incredibly pale blue, and I think looks fantastic with some really bold colours next to it. So I'm putting it out there readers - what fabric would you choose if you were in my shoes?

Basement Progress (FOR REAL!)

Believe it or not - work has once again resumed in our basement! Yes my friends, we are once again in the process of completing our basement reno. The other weekend, while I was outside, spraying the doors for our kitchen pantry, B was busy working on the basement bathroom floor so we can start getting it back together again.

What, you may ask, was B doing with the floor? Well, during my little blogging hiatus last month, we weren't exactly doing nothing around the house. We spent some time down below with a cement saw and a jack hammer taking up a portion of the floor. Since we removed the old tub, we decided that this second bathroom only needed a shower stall. However, with a ceiling that was only a little taller than 6-feet, we needed to get down a bit further so people who aren't vertically challenged as I am, could comfortably shower in our second bathroom.

Putting in the shower stall also meant, that the bathroom layout would be changing - therefore, B would also have to move the drain for the toilet. So for a while there was a lot of dust, dirt and noise in our basement... and eventually, a lot more dust and concrete (43 bags to be exact). Once he was done the basement bathroom had gone from this...

To this...

Not too bad, huh? This is how our bathroom stood when I left for Ottawa last Thursday. I was, of course, beyond thrilled, when I arrived home Sunday night and found our basement looking like this:

FINALLY! WALLS! Well... almost anyway. Cement board and drywall to come still (obviously)!

Of course, there is always a bump in the road. This time, it turns out, despite our measurements and floor plans, we aren't too happy with the location of the toilet. After getting the walls framed, B had pulled out the base of the toilet we purchased (as can be seen in the last photo), as well as the sink for our vanity and placed them where they were supposed to be. This led to the unfortunate discovery that the toilet is a little too long and leaves the bathroom feeling small and squishy when placed across from the sink. This means we are currently looking at options for more compact toilets. They seem to be a little more pricey, but we know it will be well worth the investment to add a little space to our smaller second bathroom.

We also discovered that we may have to crack up the concrete around the recently relocated toilet drain. Why? So we can move it again! Good times! Despite these little blips, I am happy to see progress once again! Maybe one day, we'll even have functioning bathroom down there again! :)

The Return

Friday morning... and I'm just sitting back, on my friends couch, enjoying a latte and a little time off work. As those of you who follow me on Twitter already know, I'm spending a long weekend in Ottawa visiting some friends. I spent four wonderful years living in this city, and don't get back to visit as often as I would like. So when the trip was being discussed, I decided to take a couple extra days off work and enjoy a four day weekend in one of my favorite cities. 

With the spring weather here, I've just been enjoying time wandering around the city and catching up with some old friends. It's been nice catching up with people I haven't seen in a long time, and visiting places I used to frequent. 

Ottawa holds a special place in my heart, it's where I truly became the person I am today. It made me independent, and I made a lot of wonderful friends who I will forever cherish. I look back fondly on my days living in this wonderful city, and always enjoy enjoy coming back for a visit.

Thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my photos from past visits back to Ottawa. 

All wintry wonderland snaps are from March 2008. Hard to believe, two years later, same time of year we have have wonderful sunny spring weather!

These happy sunny photos are from B's first trip to Ottawa with me - August 2008. I definitely think it's time for me to get out and take some more up to date photos of the city.

The Kitchen Refresh - Partial Reveal

So, for a while you've been seeing some periodic posts about me working on freshening up our kitchen. It's something I'm extremely happy about, largely because this is a project I have 100% tackled myself! B has stood by and offered a hand if needed, but for the most part, what I will reveal has been completed entirely by me! Of course, it's a temporary solution until we have the money to create our dream kitchen, but I know it will most definitely keep me happy for now.

So, just to remind you - this is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in (and right up until the end of January actually):

And this is what our giant pantry looked like...

Now, a lot of people have commented to me before how much they liked the kitchen as it was. I think when it came down to it, it was the original backsplash that I really hated. Then, after painting our living room grey - the yellow just wasn't cutting it anymore and it led to my complete overhaul!

So, with more work left to do before I can do a final reveal, let's get a sneak peek at what's to come with a reveal of my completed pantry....

I'm pretty happy with the results. The cabinet itself I primed, using just a basic latex based primer, and then used two coats of a semi-gloss white paint. Using a small brush for cutting in, and a small sponge roller for larger areas. Once the doors were off, I used a paint sprayer that we got on sale at Home Depot, to prime and paint the doors. We used a melamine paint (I sprayed outside, it's oil based an stinky - so don't use it inside!), as was recommended by my father (a cabinet maker) and a friend who is a painter. It is meant to stand up better to being touched and washed and cleaned all the time. Even though this is only a temporary solution for our kitchen, we plan on repurposing the cabinets around the house once we completely renovate the kitchen.

The hardware I took off and sprayed using an aluminum spray paint we had laying around from other projects around the house. I think they turned out pretty great! Now I just need to start thinking about getting the rest of the cabinets finished up - hope to start that final stage of my kitchen refresh soon. So what do you think?

Fancy Friday Love

So I'm back, with another Fancy Friday Love! It's been a while - but this past week, I've just found so much to love that I absolutely had to share!

Starting off with this adorable print (Who would've thought - me loving wall art?)

Though the print comes from madebygirl, I actually found it on the wonderful blog Lavender & Lilies. As soon as I saw this, I knew I needed to have it for my basement office / craft space / laundry room. I haven't bought it just yet, but you can be sure that I will have it hanging in there once I share a final reveal (if we ever get there... which I assume, by this point, some of you believe we never will!). At $9.50 - how can you possibly say "No"?

Of course, what would Fancy Friday Love be without a little love for my girl Kate? 

 

Loved the "Soda Fountain Stripe Jillian Dress" from the moment I laid eyes on it! It has me day dreaming about sunny Spring and Summer days. It's so versatile - excellent to go from work to evening, or even for a casual weekend. I feel it's a sign that my size is one of the only two left... but unfortunately my bank account does not agree. With a price tag of $355, I just cannot afford a piece like this at the moment.

To continue with my love of Kate, I discovered this gorgeous necklace (ON SALE!) this week during my usual (and frequent) browses of the website. At $98, the Waldorf Pearl Triple Strand Necklace, reminds me of a pearl and ribbon necklace I had a few years back that sadly broke... only WAY BETTER! I'd love if I could spend the cash right now, as it's a great price for a necklace that was once $245!

To round off this edition of Fancy Friday Love, I want to share with you a purchase I made this week. Well... a purchase B made! Back in December B told me if I wore high heels all the time, he would buy me the shoes. I don't know about everyone else, but that sounds like a deal to me. So this past week, after buy an adorable outfit, I knew I needed a new pair of grey shoes. I emailed B and asked if I found a pair of high heels under $50, would he buy them for me and he agreed. That was when I found these:

Nothing overly fancy - but I think it was the understated look that I loved. They will look great, not only with my new outfit, but also with the above Kate Spade dress (which I am sure I will never own). Can't wait for them to arrive!

Of course, I also loved that we finally picked up our basement bathroom vanity last night (and by we, I mean B)! We also got a little bit of work done down there. I'm hoping that by the end of this weekend we can have the bathroom walls framed. Can't wait to have a second functional bathroom again! Happy Friday all!

Bad Blogger..

Yup - that's me. A bad blogger. I know I haven't been around much, and when I have been, there hasn't been a whole lot of home renovation / project posts. I'm hoping it will change soon. There has been a very long break from work in the basement, but we're ready to get back down to business on the bathroom down there. Just a quick recap on the bathroom...

Bathroom when we first moved in (above and below)

And, the bathroom as we began the basement Reno back in December...

Surprisingly, not too many other photos on hand (doesn't help that MY computer isn't work - so we're using B's work laptop...). I hope to change that very soon, as the plan tonight is to get to work on that bathroom! I hope to be updating you throughout the weekend with the going's on down below in what currently resembles a cave (with the exception of the bright laundry room - which of course is full of construction supplies for the rest of the basement).

Of course, the basement bathroom isn't all. I also hope to have some updates on my kitchen refresh project up soon, as well as a few other projects that are waiting to be started! Sit tight friends - I'm back :)

BRING ON SPRING!

The sunshine and beautiful weather have me longing for spring to arrive! With thoughts of sunshine and blooming flowers, I headed back to take a look at some of my personal photos from Springs past. Enjoy!