Dress up

For the first time, Jeff and I carved pumpkins and bought candy to hand out tonight. I'm still not one to dress up for Halloween but I think these costumes are just great:  

Hot Pot

By the Costume Cafe on Etsy

Lobster

From here

Washing machine (complete with water in the window and bubble blower)

My friend Kate

Sesame Street Yip-Yip Martians

From MarthaStewart.com

Sunmaid raisin box

My friend Kate

Jeff's also not big on costumes, but he's nuts over this tetris-o-lantern

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Build-A-Bathroom Week 8

We continue to trudge forward toward the bathroom completion. Jeff wasn't able to grout the floor until Saturday morning (there was not a single bag of grey grout to be found in Nanaimo so we had to special order it); it looks great but after 4 days, it's still not dry. The good news is that watching the grout (not) dry has completely affirmed our decision to install in-floor heating. Jeff has just about finished all the electrical work needed to hook that up. Once the grout dries, we can seal the whole floor, put the toilet back in and install the baseboards (which are already painted and ready to go). 

While waiting for the grout to dry, we installed the shelves in the recessed cabinet and put up the shower curtain rod. 

Once the floor and baseboards are finished, we've got to fix the hot water issue in the tub and figure out a door for the recessed cabinet. With a deadline of November 12 coming closer (the day one of my best friends arrives for a week visit and we have to be out of the guest bathroom!), the pressure is on. 

Feed me...

If you've ever seen Little Shop of Horrors, you'll understand why I think these handmade earrings are so great. I think I'll stick to my standard gold and silver hoops... but these certainly make me smile.

 Photo courtesy of the  LizGlizz Etsy Shop

 Photo courtesy of the  LizGlizz Etsy Shop

Not Forgotten

For some reason, a number of close people in our lives have received bad news during the past two weeks. And, as you've no doubt heard, last night a major earthquake hit our part of the world. We did not feel anything, but it was another close reminder of how fragile our world and our lives really are.

I was at a loss of what music to play this morning until I remembered the poignant old Shaker hymn, "Not One Sparrow is Forgotten". This touchingly beautiful arrangement was done by William Hawley.

Not one sparrow is forgotten,

E'en the raven God will feed; 

And the lily of the valley 

From His bounty hath its need. 

Then shall I not trust Thee, Father, 

In Thy mercy have a share? 

And through faith and prayer, my Mother, 

Merit Thy protecting care?

Little bit of inspiration

Breakthrough

The biggest challenge in our bathroom renovation was finding a sink that fit our less-deep-than-usual vanity. After that, the second biggest challenge has been finding a white counter top that will accommodate an under mount sink. Since laminate could not do that (and we seriously could not find a white laminate that was not a throwback to the 70's) we looked at other options. We like Corian but the size we need did not meet Corian's minimum charges (by over $400). Granite was never a consideration for me- I simply don't like how it looks or feels and it's impossible to get in white. Quartz is beautiful and Cambria's White Cliff was a perfect match... until we found out it is not available until next year.

Three weeks ago, a good friend recalled a newspaper article about a supplier in Victoria fabricating quartz-like counters out of recycled glass. We were intrigued... and after sending several white-ish samples back and forth, the whitest Environite counter (the colour is called "Ice") is going to be perfect for us.

We love that it's recycled, made locally, cheaper than Quartz but just as durable, stain and scratch resistant, and very pretty. I think it's going to look fantastic with the back splash tile. 

This means that after 3 months, my job of sourcing and obtaining materials is almost done! I still have to figure out that shower curtain...

Today...

my view includes what is likely the last of my deck planter blooms.

Build-A-Bathroom Week 7

I'm not sure how it happened, but our bathroom frustration turned back into motivation and we have accomplished a few things this week:

The shower fixtures are all installed. We haven't quite fixed the hot water issue but Jeff's working on that.

The sink arrived and FITS! It's not a big sink, as you can see, but we think it will work just fine for us.

And for the piece de resistance... we have an installed floor! We went with Jeff's favourite, a gray Brazilian slate, and it's beautiful. It also feels great under foot and is not slippery when wet. We decided to heat it, so it will be nice and toasty warm during our chilly and wet winters. This week, we'll grout and seal it. Once that's done, Jeff can put the toilet back in. It's going to be GREAT having a throne back on our main floor. 

In the meantime, I'm trying to find a hard surface white counter that will not bankrupt us and can be installed sometime before 2013. Hopefully, that drama will be resolved soon.

When 'art' turns to the rediculous

I like hats and fascinators. I know it's frivolous and a little strange, but I love them anyway. I also pride myself as being a hat and fascinator wearer before they became fashionable.

Fascinators, in all their creative glory, have had a bad wrap since this happened at the British royal wedding last year. Recently, Parisienne couturier Alexis Mabille gave fascinators a further bad name when her spring 2012 collection looked like this: 

I'm all about creative license and vision... but painting models faces and sticking matching massive cabbage blossoms on their heads? I don't think so.

Peace and calm

As I've hinted in posts this week, we've been needing some peace and calm in life right now. For peace and calm, I often turn to Brahms. I hope you enjoy The Geistliches Lied (Sacred Song) as much as we do. The translation is below.

Do not be sorrowful or regretful;

Be calm, as God has ordained, 

and thus my will shall be content. 

What do you want to worry about from day to day? 

There is One who stands above all 

who gives you, too, what is yours. 

Only be steadfast in all you do, 

stand firm; what God has decided, 

that is and must be the best. 

Amen

Cuckoo

Yesterday, Jeff and I both were feeling frustrated and rather down about the bathroom renovation. We're having trouble finding floor tile we like, and I'm feeling more and more that if we tile the floor, we need to heat it as well. In addition, we found out that the quartz counter we chose (the only quartz option we really liked) is not available until sometime early next year. We're researching another, more affordable counter option that seems very promising (these recycled glass counters manufactured in Victoria) but can't get our hands on the colour sample we're most interested to see.

To break us out of our bathroom funk (and get me away from obsessively researching counter options on the internet), Jeff installed the bath fixtures and declared it was time for me to take the inaugural bubble bath in the new tub. He lit candles in the shower niches; the candlelight made the tile sparkle and hid all the other parts of the room that are still a mess. It was all looking spectacular until I got into the beautiful bubble bath... and froze. It seems our fancy new thermostatic valve isn't calibrated quite right- instead of regulating the hot water to keep us from scalding ourselves, it's holding the water temperature well below tepid. 

I'll admit- it took me a few minutes to see the humour in all of it. But as Jeff hauled in several buckets of hot water from the kitchen, it all became rather hilarious. By the time the water was warm enough to enjoy the bath, Jeff and I had fallen into complete fits of hysterics and I could only wonder how long it will take before someone has to come and cart one (or both) of us off to the funny farm. 

Here's hoping we retain our sanity to fight renovate another day.  

Art courtesy of Lonely People Art. They have an awesome Spider Man cow as well. 

Yesterday...

my view included roast beef sandwiches shared with Jeff at lunch before a frustrating hour of tile shopping. It was a great sandwich. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the tile shopping.

October

Seemingly overnight, we went from an extended Indian Summer to a chilly, windy, wet fall. T'is the season for galoshes and warm drinks in front of the fire. As such, this soundtrack fits well. 

Build-A-Bathroom Week 6

And we are at a standstill.

This time, it's entirely my fault. Last night, Jeff was about to start laying floor tile when I stopped him. For a few weeks, I've had a nagging feeling that the tiles weren't right... so we lay them out on the floor to see what it looked like.

I'm 95% it's not the right tile.

Why? I think the colour variation in the tile is too loud (if that makes any sense at all). The single tiles look great but the collective floor is looking very busy. Too busy. I know it would look different with gray grout, but it still just doesn't feel right. My poor husband (who has every right to be quite exasperated with me) was thankful that I voiced my doubts before any tile cement was mixed... and promptly invited me out on a "date" over our lunch breaks today to look for other options. Thankfully, our local tile shop has a great return policy and we can easily take these ones back.

 Jeff mischievously reminded me last night that this is not a room I can avoid if I don't like it in the end! I'm probably being too picky but I feel like we've come too far to put in a floor I don't really like.

The good news is that over the weekend, we FINALLY figured the sink. Our beautiful custom vanity is 5 inches narrower in depth than a standard vanity- that was the only way we could extend it wall to wall and accommodate our bathroom door. 90% of the bathroom sinks on the market would not fit... and it seemed that the remaining 10% would fit but have no room for a faucet.  I finally found an under mount sink that will work and it should be here this week. It's not going to be a big sink but I think that will be just fine. With the sink chosen, we've been able to order the quartz counter as well.

Textile art

I love textiles. I love art. And I think I like this way to combine the two.

Photo from Grapevine Furniture & Design

Compassion

I've had a song stuck in my head and in my heart this week. I don't know why- it's just been stuck there.  It's one of my favourite new pieces of church music- The Compassion Hymn by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty and Kristyn Getty. The text is amazing (click here for the lyrics) and the music is beautifully singable. That's probably why it's stuck in my head and in my heart... and that's just fine by me. 

Where do you fit?

It seems that the busiest birthday season of the year has just passed... did you know there was such a thing?

photo courtesy of Gawker.com

This data (collected entirely in the USA between 1973 and 1999) was compiled by Harvard professor of public policy Amitabh Chandra and published in the New York Times. Interesting, huh?

My view Yesterday...

...included lots of turkey stock. The homemade kind (this recipe, which roasts the turkey bones for an hour before boiling them, makes the most amazing stock).

Lingering debate

My post last week about shower curtains yielded some great ideas about what to do in our new bathroom- I particularly loved the to have a different curtain for each season. Brilliant! As you saw yesterday, the bathroom is looking very peaceful and calm... and that's something I really want to retain. I'm hesitant to break up the serenity with too much pattern but I also don't want to be too boring. I saw a great alternative idea- a plain white curtain with a wide hem of patterned fabric on the bottom. Overlooking the fuchsia walls- what do you think?

photo from DecorPad

Build-A-Bathroom Week 5

While we took some time to enjoy family (and a ton of amazing food) this weekend, we continued plugging away on the bathroom. There's much progress to report- progress that has created a boost in energy for us to continue. Here's where we're at:

Grout. Grout. And more grout. We spent two romantic evenings in the bathroom- Jeff troweling on grout, and me carrying and emptying buckets of water to wash it off. It was actually a good project to do together and I promise I am not biased when I say that Jeff did an absolutely fantastic job. 

My dad asked for a closeup of the shower accent tile- in the centre of the main shower wall is a vertical row of textured "Rainfall" tiles with two rows of clear glass 1"x 1" squares on each side. We wanted an accent with minimal colour contrast and after hunting around three tile showrooms, this is what we came up with.

Grouting the shower niche was a painstaking job but Jeff persevered and it looks great. It doesn't show up well, but we also used the "Rainfall" accent tile for the back of the niches.

And voila! Almost finished shower tile. The plan next week is to seal it, add silicone between the tile and the tub, install the fixtures and hang the curtain rod.

This weekend, Jeff also put up the new vanity light, and primed the recessed cabinet. The highlight, however, came yesterday with the installation of the new vanity. It's made of alder wood; the stain colour is a medium brown with a tinge of red. It's the first piece of furniture both Jeff and I have ever had custom made and we couldn't be happier about how it turned out.  

It not only looks great, it works great, too. 

After 5 weeks and a few surprises, here's the view from our main entrance into the bathroom. There is  still lots to do but it was absolutely wonderful to step back yesterday afternoon and see it all starting to come together.

Flower art

While I considered sharing a number of turkey crafts in today's post, I decided that I enjoyed this beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece of orange pincushion proteas, Sphinx Gold and Naranja roses, hypericum berries, berzellia, and silver leucadendron much more. So pretty.

              

Photo courtesy of House Martin Inspired Home & Floral. 

Thanksgiving

Its Thanksgiving... for us, that calls for some traditional Thanksgiving music. I picked "We Gather Together" and Jeff chose John Rutter's arrangement of "Now Thank We All Our God." Wherever you are and whatever you are doing today, we hope you have much to be thankful for.

Special Lullaby

One of my best friends lives far, far away. Today is her birthday. And I would like nothing more than to have coffee with her and chat... in person. We have plans to do that over video Skype next week, but it's not the same as being in person. A few years ago, she recorded a wonderful Strauss piece with the Wellington Winds. She's a fantastic soprano- those of you who were at my wedding will remember her singing. In honor of her birthday, I thought I'd share.

Happy Birthday SandyPants! I miss you tons and tons and tons.

Beim Schlafengehn (While going to sleep)

Now that the day has made me so tired, 

my dearest longings shall be accepted kindly by the starry night like a weary child. 

Hands, cease your activity; head, forget all of your thoughts; 

all my senses now will sink into slumber. 

And my soul, unobserved, will float about on untrammeled wings 

in the enchanted circle of the night, living a thousandfold more deeply.

Yesterday

Carrots, ready to roast for dinner with fresh rosemary, pepper and sea salt. Yum.