More Choice

We painted the first two coats on the bathroom last night- new paint always makes a room feel so fresh and new. Jeff reminded me that once the shower is grouted and sealed, the shower rod can go up and we'll need a curtain.

I forgot about the curtain. 

In the midst of choosing all the "big" stuff (and revising our plan several times along the way so that it was compatible with reality), some of the little stuff is not on my radar. I spent a few minutes tonight online looking at options and I'm not sure what to do. As shown in yesterday's post, the room is very white. White walls, tile, counter and fixtures. The only colour comes from the wood vanity, a matching thin wood frame around the mirror, a grey floor (all shown below) and a new set of medium slate blue bath towels.

Do I stick with the modern, serene white vibe and go with a white curtain?

Crate & Barrel Matelasse Curtain

Embellished pom pom trim from Chez Larsson blog

Pottery Barn White Curtain wit Pearl Embroidery Trim

Do I add a tiny bit of colour?

DKNY Spring Tree at Bed Bath & Beyond 

Pottery Barn Vintage Ticking Stripe

Premier Prints Towers Village Blue fabric from Fabric.com

A little more colour?

P Kaufman Chloe Sapphire fabric from Fabric.com

  

Duralee Dalesford Blue fabric from Fabric.com

June 2012 House and Home magazine

Or do I add a LOT of colour?

Panima Bari Sintra fabric from Designer Fabrics

Braemore Tribal Find Ikat Chevron fabric from Fabric.com

Pottery Barn Woodland Curtain

I could really use some help. What do you think?

Build-A-Bathroom Week 4

Yes, we (well, mostly Jeff) are still plugging away on the bathroom. Here's our progress over the past week:

Jeff moved the sink plumbing and overhead light box.  Both tasks had some hiccups that slowed things down and required a bit of MacGuyver-ing on Jeff's part. Thankfully, he's a great MacGuyver.

We also took out the old parquet floor and scraped (and scraped, and scraped, and scraped) what appears to be very old black linoleum glue that was stuck to the subfloor. Jeff patched the drywall and it looks like we'll be able to paint the walls and cabinet before the new vanity is installed on Thursday. 

Jeff also replaced the two damaged shower tiles. That means that the shower tiling is DONE! 

Jeff reminded me that I've not included a photo of the niches at the front of the shower- the back of them is in the same Rainfall textured tile as the stripe on the main wall. It looks beautiful and Jeff did an amazing job. Of course, it will all look different with white grout.

Jeff assures me that the mess is over- with paint going on the walls and grout going into the shower next, it feels like we are finally past the demolition stage and into the finishing stage. That, after four weeks, is a very, very, very, very happy place to be. 

Art

The last of the major mess making in our bathroom occurred over the weekend (photos will be up tomorrow) and Jeff assures me that from now on, the renovation is all about "prettying up". We finally decided on the material and colour for the counters, and chose the light fixtures and what shade of white to paint the walls (!). It is going to be a very serene and very white space... and I'm strongly feeling the need to add some colour to liven it up.

Laura Amiss is a Dutch artist whose very whimsical style makes me smile. It's not my typical style (and I  don't feel any particular affinity for Amsterdam, especially as I have never been there) but I just love it. 

Photos from Laura Amiss' Etsty shop. Take a peek there at some of her other creations. 

Soon

A classic... complete with harmonica and Hammond organ.

UPDATE: After not hearing or singing this song in decades, it was our closing song in church this morning. And it was the song that everyone sung out the loudest. 

Friday giggle

Jeff and I saw this recently and thought it was awesome. Have a great weekend!

Build-A-Bathroom Week 3

Work on the bathroom continues... I'll admit that we were a little disheartened about our progress last week but things have picked up and we keep forging ahead, despite some ongoing challenges. Here's where we're at:

The tiling is ALMOST done. The wall opposite the shower head (on the left in the photo below) was supposed to be easy as I had designed the tile to go on without any cuts. Alas, it was far from easy as the wall was significantly bowed.

The top 6 tiles went on and off five times on Saturday, until Jeff decided to use his belt sander and un-bow the wall. That plan worked wonderfully until he hit a nail and sent sparks flying onto the two top tiles on the back wall. They are now permanently damaged so we had to special order two more replacements. This weekend, we'll pop the damaged ones out and put new ones in and FINALLY be done tiling the shower. Next week, we should be able to grout and seal it. 

This week, Jeff pulled out the old vanity and started moving the plumbing and electrical for the new one. While the new vanity is going in the same location, the actual placement of the sink is different so everything has to move. The new mirror will cover up the entire width of the wall so the bathroom's only electrical plug (which was in the middle of the wall) has been moved to the side wall. That plug has always driven me nuts and I was very happy to see it disappear!  

What's next? Installing the new vanity, figuring out lighting, finishing the recessed cabinet, grouting and sealing the tile, and laying the floor. And we need to make a decision about the counter. It feels like we have a long way to go, but it's also great to see how far we've come. 

 

Double Standard

Since I've already ventured into political waters last week, I'm going to jump right in again! Jeff and I are watching coverage of the upcoming US election from the sidelines... probably only in our peripheral vision. I get too frustrated at the sensationalist slant of media and the lack of real conversation about what's truly important in our current world. Here's an example of this that I just couldn't resist posting (taken from this interview with Hillary Clinton).

Moderator: Okay. Which designers do you prefer?
Hillary Clinton: What designers of clothes?
Moderator: Yes.
Hillary Clinton: Would you ever ask a man that question?
Interviewer: Probably not. Probably not.

AMEN SISTER.

Painting with textiles

I’ve been trying to kick start a few sewing projects and have taken to reading some sewing and quilting blogs for inspiration. One of the blogs is by quilter extraordinaire Elizabeth Hartman- I think her vibrant and modern creations are just amazing.

Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Hartman.