Clop, Clop, Neigh: Kentucky Derby 1st Birthday!

May 10, 2016May 10, 2016Leave a comment

Welp, we survived. One full year of parenthood. The late nights, early mornings, breast feeding ups and downs, emotional roller coasters, highs and lows, fights, baby cuddles, milestones, bumps, bruises, giggles, cries, teething, ginormous poops, spit ups, fevers, stroller schlepping, tears, yelling, singing, laughing, heart-bursting-right-out-of-your-chest first year of raising a child is behind us.

So, like any parents do, we celebrated baby H’s first birthday in style. With lots of drinks.

Christian and I are fairly…preppy. We love a good Tommy Hilfiger sale, freshly pressed collared shirts, gorgeous pair of loafers and old fashioned lawn games. Yep, we’re those people. I, in particular, also have a slight obsession with the south. I actually have a theory that I was meant to be born in Georgia, South Carolina or perhaps Tennessee. I love all things southern charm: wrap-around porches, big hats and of course…the Kentucky Derby. (Fact: Attending the Kentucky Derby Race is actually on my life bucket list). So, we decided to bring the Derby to Toronto! Self-serving party theme? Maybe.

First up: a fun and creative welcome sign for our front door. I wanted to mimic a First Place ribbon from a race; this was super easy to do using:

a party “fan” decoration from the dollar store
glitter paper
white & blue bristol board
Hot glue gun
mini star hole punch

Just as I did for my mother-in-laws British Invasion themed 60th birthday party, I love to spread little touches throughout the house during any party, and I squealed out loud when I found these incredible and FREE (free!) Kentucky Derby themed printables on Pinterest from the Hostess with the Mostess. Simply amazing coordinated ready-to-print cut outs from cupcake toppers to bunting banners.

Check out the framed sign and win-place-show flags below:

What’s that? You’re wondering about those Bourbon Balls? Don’t you worry – I’ll be sharing that recipe shortly. My sister-in-law even voted them MVP of the party (next to baby H, of course!)

For the living room, which is a bit more formal feeling and also happens to be the room right at the entrance of our house, I opted for something a tad more fancy.

I found the “Run for the Roses” themed printables on-line at Polka Dot Chair …also FREE…also AMAZING. I loved the classic black-and-red color theme so much that I had to include it too. The black and red mini paper “fans” were actually left over from my friends little mans’ first birthday, so they were also FREE (do you see a theme here!?)

One of my favourite little details came from my dear friend Alison, who not only grew up riding and racing horses, but who has actually BEEN to the Derby! She dug up some old ribbons from Carriage Races her family had placed in and they were such a welcome and authentic addition to the decor around our home:

In keeping with the theme, it only seemed appropriate to tweak the traditional “pin the tail on the donkey” game. I bring to you: Pin the Baby H Jockey on the Horse! Big shout out to my friend Charlotte for masterfully photo-shopping H’s head onto the jockey. Such an awesome touch – it’s already been saved in his baby book!

You can find both the poster and jockey printable (you guessed it…also FREE!) here at Hostess with the Mostess as well)

We tried to stick to southern-style cooking as best as we could, while also offering some healthier options (we are the “Happy Healthy Huggetts” after all!). My mother-in-law whipped up some delicious finger sandwiches, our friend Merv made his epic Mac’n’Cheese (rumor has it he used FOUR bricks of cheese in that baby), and Christian and I made:

This super easy slow cooker pulled chicken from Clean Eating Magazine (I will absolutely be adding this to our regular meal planning rotation!)
Kale & Strawberry salad from Cookie and Kate (which also happens to be my absolute favorite site for healthy versions for those with sweet cravings like me)
Kentucky Hot Brown Dip (a much lower fat version of the original Derby classic dish thanks to Cupcakes and Kale Chips)

For dessert, we didn’t want to give baby H a complete sugar rush on his first time having something truly sweet, so we opted for these Mini Chocolate Quinoa Cupcakes with Avocado Icing. (TIP: They are very cocoa heavy, so if I were to do it again, I would pick to either do the cake OR the icing as cocoa-based, not both)

Here is Baby H giving the cupcake a try (he wasn’t so sure about them)

Oh…and about those Bourbon Balls. Yeah, there’s NOTHING healthy about them. But boy were they good. You can find the recipe here – we doubled the amount of Bourbon, because, why not?

And the birthday boy: he certainly looked the part. I bought this seer-sucker blazer off another mom in one of the on-line buy and sell groups I’m a part of for $8 when baby H was about 6 weeks old. I hadn’t planned the theme for his party yet, but I KNEW he was going to wear it. And wear it he did.

The bow-tie actually makes my heart melt.

… BOTTOMS UP to a fantastic FIRST BIRTHDAY celebration!! Happy birthday my love!

Baby H’s Nursery: Getting Started

August 31, 2015February 18, 2016Leave a comment

Well, this blog has been on a loooong hiatus. So long in fact, that I’ve gone through an entire pregnancy and now have a 4-month old son since my last post! Oopsie. Umm…time flies?

But, there’s no post that has excited me more than this one, so let’s get things rolling again on here! It’s time to share the story of Baby H’s nursery (in several parts, because there’s far too many details to share in just one post!)

It took zero time to come up with the theme for this room. Yes, I decided on the nursery theme of our future child long before he came along…err…dare I say, long before he was conceived!? Seriously, I think I’ve had this theme picked out for about two years. Those of you who know me know I have a ~~love for~~ major obsession with all things nautical. Perhaps it is a sub-conscious nod to my west coast upbringing? For whatever reason, it had to be addressed, and what better room to address it in that a sweet baby nursery.

Nautical can be done in so many ways. You’ve got your “Nantucket Nautical” with navy blue, red and white and lots of lighthouses and lobsters; you’ve got “Beachy Nautical” which is very soft and neutral, and I came up with “West Coast Nautical” as the type for this room. Think Nantucket-meets-Beachy-Nautical 🙂

Enter my Pinterest Board, which slowly evolved into the style that we landed on many months ago. This lovely collage is the one that caught my eye as the overall “look” we were going for:

One of the first things I bought was this amazing stencil from Cutting Edge Stencil, appropriately named “Perfect Catch”. It seemed like a good idea at the time, stenciling the entire room. But then my brilliant husband came up with the idea of add some wainscoting into the room as well. He’s been wanting to try his hand at DIY wainscoting and this provided the perfect opportunity. Yes, I love that he gets excited about this stuff too.

After we cleared out the stuff from our “home office” (which we quickly realized we never used…no harm done making room for baby!), the first step was to measure out the wainscoting. Christian used basic, pre-painted MDF trim from Home Depot. Starting in the centre of each wall, he measured out to determine the distance between each piece of trim.

Taking time with measuring is KEY. It’s all about the prep work. Christian also used a level and a chalk-line to ensure that everything was straight as an arrow.

After filling in all the nail gun holes, it was time to paint the lower half of the room in good ol’ Benjamin Moore CC-40 aka “Cloud White”, which is the colour of all the trim in our house.

What’s clever about this method is that it gives the illusion of actual wainscoting but costs waaaaay less as you’re not actually covering the entire bottom on the wall in wood panels. (If you’re really interested in some home decor nerdery, here is the wikipedia definition. FACT: I knew what wainscoting was by the time I was 10 years old…missed my calling? Perhaps).

For the top half of the room, we chose a neutral blue-grey: CIL Paddlewheel Grey. We agonized over this colour because of the next, and very tedious step (no, no, wainscoting was not enough for baby H…we also stenciled the upper wall! And by “we”, I mean Christian).

Now, let me warn you: stenciling is NOT for the weak, procrastinators, or the impatient. In fact, it’s not for perfectionists either, which is an adjective that could be used to describe Christian. He. Spent. Hours. And I mean HOURS, stenciling this room. I think it took him two full 8 hour days to just get the stencil done. He vowed we were NEVER using a stencil again ~~and I would have to agree~~, but I might try to convince him again (don’t tell him I told you that!)

But oh, the finished product…worth it!? We think so. I mean, I endured 10 months of being prego, PLUS labour, so I’d say we’re even now after the stencil incident.

Check out this beauty progress shot:

And no, we didn’t just opt for a feature wall. Christian stenciled the ENTIRE room. Initially we were worried it would be too busy (hence the concern over finding just the right base colour), but we were over the moon with the final result. I kid you not, everyone comes over and thinks its wallpaper, and Christian can’t help but beam with pride (how to compliment a perfectionist 101).

….looking for the final reveal photo? Sorry, you’ll have to wait until a few more posts! So much story to tell about this little room before I share the final result!

Come back and visit soon.

Party Planning 101: British Invasion

January 14, 2014March 20, 20161 Comment

Well e-friends, it’s been 1.5 months in our new home and we’ve already survivied the “ice vortex” (including 3+ day power outage), nearly completed a basement renovation, spent a few sick days on the couch, and have thrown two significant parties! We’re starting to feel good and settled, with the exception of the empty living room (we’ll get there one day). I also owe you a post about buying awesome furniture on Craigslist. But today’s post is reserved for a topic that I truly love: party planning!

My former career before joining the dark side of sales was event planning. I’d like to think that I always had it in me, and that my professional experience just made me fall in love with (some) elements even more. Over the years, I have helped to plan and execute 4 friends’ weddings, plus my own wedding, and now I’m in the midst of helping my dear sis prep for her upcoming April wedding! I also threw a heck of a 30th birthday (if I do say so myself).

This past weekend, Christian and I hosted his mum’s 60th birthday. She’s was born in England and lived there for the early part of her life. Although she’s been in Canada for decades, she still loves all things Brit – I look forward to pouring over her “Hello!” magazines every time we visit. You can take the Brit out of Britain….

Christian and I chatted about a way to elevate the fun factor of the shin-dig, and quickly landed on a “British Invasion” theme. So fun.

First, the menu. A good theme starts with some menu planning. And plan we did:

Cottage Pie (basically the British version of Shepherd’s Pie)
Bangers and Mash
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (our first time making either)
Classic Fish n’ Chips

We cheated and just did store bought Fish n’ Chips, but everything else was made in our new kitchen! Here’s the Cottage Pie coming out of the oven on Saturday afternoon, all bubbly and delicious

Whilst our food was being prepped and cooked, I got to decorating! I managed to find a few jems on-line, including a red, white and blue pennant banner (aka – bunting) that I strung from the ceiling.

Then it was onto the little touches, some of which you can already see in the photo above (yes, there are cut-outs of a London Bus and Beefeater on my patio doors). One of my favourite big-bang-for-little-buck decorating ideas it to find simple printables on-line. Who doesn’t have a bunch of simple photo frames kicking around the house? (yes, I removed family photos from some to make way for my British invasion). Stack ’em up and replace your framed photos with some clip art or printed pics from Google images. Here below we pay homage to her Majesty the Queen. The Union Jack flags were a steal from the Dollar Store at 3 bucks a pop:

Now that the mantle is looking festive, on to the next location = the couch! We actually had Euro-sized red cushions on our bed upstairs, so I brought them down to the join the party. My wonderfully generous colleague brought a toss cushion of the London tube map from his bed at home! The best part is that the pillow is made out of tea towel (next project anyone!?). Anyways, it came together quite nicely in our living room with the red pillows in the background:

Onto other areas: the bar! The bar menu included:

Gin & Tonic (Bombay Saphire Gin is my fave, but a friend recently introduced me to Dillon’s Small Batch Gin. It’s quickly become my “lady” gin. Delicious)
Pimm’s (apparently the second most popular beverage in the UK after tea?). Check out the receipe here, but we made ours with Pimm’s, lemonade, cucumber, blueberries and strawberries. It’s very refreshing – you can see it in the pitcher below!
Boddington’s beer, Strongbow & Guiness

Yes, even Christian’s City of Oxford bar towel made an appearance – an ode to his time spent there on exchange in university!

And finally, dessert! We opted for classic English Trifle and my favourite: Sticky Toffee Pudding. To make these mess and fuss free, I actually found these neat little disposable baking cups at Home Sense (they come in mini loaf containers as well). You actually don’t even need to put them on a baking sheet or anything and they are good in the oven up to 400F. I was able to serve out of these as well. The best part? No pre-greasing required! They are coated and ready to go in all their non-sticky goodness:

Because I’m all about the presentation, I took a cardboard cake stand (also purchased from Home Sense for just $3.99! Again: big bang, little buck) and attached a Union Jack decoration that I picked up for a few bucks at a party store on top with scotch tape. Instant pizzaz!

You can see my sticky toffee puddings have now been topped with caramel sauce…and that a few have already been eaten – nom nom!

Playing in the background for most of the evening was Songza’s British Invasion Playlist. Oh, and we of course awarded the birthday girl with a jeweled crown and sash when she arrived – living like the Queen herself for the evening!

So there you have it – how to make a theme flow 101, brought to you by Melissa. The opportunities are endless…just remember to think beyond the napkins and include all the senses 🙂

Mirror, Mirror

November 19, 2013Leave a comment

Sometimes I go a little crazy trying to find the right thing. Then I find what I think it’s the right thing, and Christian hates it. So back to the store I go. This cycle happened once already during my hunt for a mirror to put above the fireplace in our dining room.

Here’s the previous mirror (yes, it looks lovely, however, it’s borrowed from our upstairs bedroom! So was just a temporary fix):

The good news is, we finally found a great option from the wonderful world of HomeSense. At an already decent price $129.99 + a bunch of saved up gift cards, we were able to score this beauty for a mere $40 out of pocket. So, off this glam mirror went back up to our bedroom, and enter our new Home Sense friend

The final product? Stay tuned….we’ve had a few er…changes since we bought this, so let’s just say that this mirror isn’t the only thing that’s finding a new home 🙂

Summer Porch Refresh

August 6, 2013January 15, 2016Leave a comment

I’m one of those nut-cases who likes to swap and update decor as the seasons change. The air changes, the temperature rises or falls, the colours adjust and I just get inspired. Ever since we renovated our front porch two years ago, I have been adjusting the decor every so often….but I quickly realized that a) I have a pillow problem, b) it can get pricy, and c) storage of seasonal decor items creates an issue.

And then I realized that it was time to take a sewing class.

My solution is to simply re-cover my toss cushions and make smaller swaps to things like candles and art. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is my idea of a fun Saturday night. No joke.

Here’s where I started. Cute, but blah. I was so ready for some summer lovin.

Swapping our view towards the interior door and things aren’t much better. Another print from my gal Angie at Romantica Home on Etsy, and that’s about it.

PS- see the wine box sitting under the chair in the mirror reflection within the photo above? Well, guess what’s in the box….!? Okay I will make it multiple choice for you:

a) all volumes of my Style at Home magazine collection, dating back to 2008

b) wine (what a concept)

c) Justin Timberlake singing this song

d) the shards of every single piece of safety glass that we picked up off of our living room floor following the fatal glass coffee table incident

Did you guess? It’s D! Isn’t that hilarious? Actually, it’s not funny at all, but what else can you do but laugh at this point?

Anyhoosin…moving right along. So, I needed to inject some summer life into the porch. Enter: punch of yellow! First, it was time to make some art. IKEA Ribba frame + glue gun + fabric + left over letters from our wedding cake topper = ART

Then, in true meant to be fashion, I found this adorbs print at Target for $25 to hang above our double doors:

And, out came the sewing machine to re-cover my dull winter pillows with this precious bird print. Because, who doesn’t want to put a bird on it!?

And speaking of birds, I didn’t stop there. Look at these little guys on my standing mirror: “Tweet, Tweet!”

Add a few other sun-burst touches like this little planter (for $3.99 @ Michael’s)…..

And this beautiful throw from Indigo (a steal on-line for $14.99!)

….and this porch is summer-ready! Time to mix up some mojitos and start enjoying the sunshine 🙂

Beyond our 4 walls: Tracy’s Guestroom Redesign

July 30, 2013January 22, 2016Leave a comment

I love my job, and my company. I enjoy going to work every day and work with amazing colleagues. Honestly. But, if I had to give it up and pick something completely different to fill my days, I’m pretty certain it would be some combination of decorating/ staging/ making-over people’s spaces. It just brings me such joy.

A few months back, my dear friend Tracy asked for my help with her guest room. She had this sort of pained expression on her face when she said “I have this guest room, that you can hardly call a guestroom…it’s so un-inviting! Would you be willing to help me fix it up?”.

I first laughed, because she was acting like this would feel like work for me. Hardly. I had a field day. As Tracy’s wedding was approaching, I set up a gift registry that ended up bringing together most of the items needed for a welcoming guest room. A few weekends ago, Christian and I headed to Peterborough (or P-town as the cool kids are saying these days) and completed the transformation. It’s almost like we could hear angels singing from the rafters of Tracy’s 10-foot ceilings.

First, a before picture…because who doesn’t love a good before and after!? Here we have the view from when you walk into the room. Gorgeous old wood floors, lovely blue-grey walls and a big, bright window. It’s a dream….except for the fact that it’s just…err…a bed. And a mis-matched antique floor lamp with an IKEA Lack side table:

Well, this bride-to-be had plenty of other things to do, such as plan her May wedding…enter Melissa!

The best thing about working with Tracy was that she is incredibly easy-going. Actually, she is probably one of the most easy-going people I know. Her only stipulation was that we weren’t going to paint. Well, perfect, because I’ve painted enough walls at my own house, thank you very much.

Fast forward a few months, insert a wedding shower, wedding, and the invasion of Christian and Melissa, and this is now the vision that welcomes guests as they walk into the guest room:

For the win! There are still a few finishing touches remaining, but you get the idea (for example, you will notice we have only one side lamp, and I’m working on a few additions, such as a repurposed old bench for the foot of the bed). The headboard was something that Christian and I built as our wedding shower gift for Tracy and her hubby to be, and we actually ended up reusing the duvet, which was a total bonus. Those light, airy curtains were a total at $10 per panel and I just love how they frame those gorgeous, giant windows and blow in the breeze. Ahhhhh.

My favourite “I love my husband” moment was when he suggested swapping out the light fixture. You can’t see it in the original photo, but these glorious 10 ft ceilings were adorned with….a basic builders light fixture. Womp womp.

Tracy and I are both all about finding great deals, so I promised her that the only way we would replace the light, would be with something under $50. Victory was mine at Home Depot when I scored this adorable antique-looking chandelier for…. $18! Yes!! It was already marked down on clearance to $35 and then marked down again to $18. Amazing. I was like a kid at Christmas, babbling away to the check-out lady at Home Depot about what an amazing deal it was. I do that. A lot.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the lovely blue, grey, white and yellow combo on the bed:
Purrrrrrrrdy.

In my opinion, a great guest room should always include the following:

Extra pillows (you never know if your guests like firm, flat, or somewhere in between. Having extras lets them decide)
The feeling of checking into a charming B&B (because, really, who doesn’t want that?)
At least one bedside lamp and one nightstand (no one wants to fumble for their phone in the night in a foreign room)
Access to a wall outlet (speaking of phones, we all need to charge our phone – make it easy for guests)
Water glass/ pitcher beside the bed (see point above re: fumbling through the night in a foreign room)
Handy guest towels (I like to put these in a basket on top of the dresser; don’t make your guests ask – always anticipate!)

Here’s a close up of the charming Eclipse bedside lamp from Urban Barn – I love the touch of glam in a somewhat “country chic” bedroom. The night stands are IKEA Hemnes in white.

I’ll be back in the coming weeks with a few more updates here….I joked with Tracy that I will likely keep going for the next year until I have it just “so”.

So there you have it….another happy customer. Okay, well she wasn’t a customer, but that’s fun to say 🙂

One day…..

Dream Bathroom: Revealed!

April 18, 2013January 22, 20167 Comments

It feels like we’ve been sidetracked with all of this flooring drama. Actually, no, not “feels like”…we really have! We’ve had the bathroom about 85% done for several weeks, but all this flooring nonsense stopped us in our tracks.

This past weekend, we managed to get a lot accomplished. There’s nothing like the impending arrival of my parents from Vancouver to cross things off the to-do list. Oh yes, we have been busy bees. We can proudly say that our bathroom is now 95% done. A few finishing touches, along with the much-anticipated arrival of our bathroom art (really? 2 weeks at customs? For art posters!!??), and we’ll be able to bump that number up to 100% finito.

But I can’t wait. Must. Share. Progress. Photos.

First of all, remember this picture?

This has got to be one of my favourite renovation-related photos of all time. Anyhoo, back in this post of yore, I shared all the challenges that we had with our tiny, oh-so-narrow bathroom: we couldn’t physically be in there at the same time, the sink literally overlapped with the toilet, the shower head hit Christian in the chest (I think I forgot to mention that one), etc etc. It really boiled down to a non-functional layout for us.

So we changed it. A lot.

Before – view as you walked into the bathroom (sorry it’s so stretched…my SnapFish album went a little crazy):

This photo does not do the narrowness justice: the entrance was just 24″….Christian and I had to do the Tango every time we passed by each other in here. So, onto the money shot:

Yes, our bathroom is now a VERY happy place.

Let’s zoom in on a few fabulous things! First, the toilet. Yep, I’m leading with the crapper. Honestly, I never thought I’d be someone who got excited about a toilet but this thing is seriously gorgeous. And comfortable! I was kind of against the square at first but I’m so glad that Christian got me on-side. It’s a conversation piece. Yep, my toilet is a real conversation starter….what can I say?

The floor tile is from the store that never ceases to make me chuckle at the simplicity of the store name, The Tile Store. Soapbox moment warning! If there is one thing you take away from this post, let it be this: do not go to big box stores for your tiles without shopping around. The tile options that are available in this world will blow your mind! We have been so surprised at all the options that are out there, many at very reasonable prices. Yes, you can get lovely tiles at Big Box stores, but if you have a specific “vision”, shop around. Go to the mom & pop shops that only sell tile…you’ll be glad you did. Don’t compromise your vision just because Home Depot doesn’t sell it.

Moving on…..we opted for a teak-look vanity. Originally, I was really feeling the ash-grey look vanity (which this very same one comes in, by the way) but again, points for Christian for convincing me of the “warmth” of teak (I love that my husband actually cares about these decisions):

We picked up both the toilet and the vanity at Toronto Vanity, where Miguel was super helpful and responsive. If you’re into a bit more of a contemporary/ modern look, this is the place to be. Most vanities come with the sink top, faucet (see photo below for a close up of the faucet), AND medicine cabinet for around $1,000. Even IKEA vanities have a hard time beating that price…trust us…we did our research. What’s great is that there are about 8 different faucets you can choose from, all for the same all-in price. Customization without all the “I love this faucet more but it’s twice the price” drama. Cuz you know I’m always the one who wants the more expensive one. Always.

Now for a zoom-in on the backsplash, which matches the tile in the shower surround. It’s a beautiful ice-blue frosted square glass tile. Again, we shopped around and had a hard time finding anything like this for under $8.00/ sq foot….on a whim, we hit up Ceramic Tile World in the east end of Toronto, and there she was…on sale for $5.00/ sq foot. It was destiny! And I’m in love with my marble soap pump with a hint of sparkle that I picked up at the Bay…it’s so glam-squad.

Finally, the shower head. Christian loves the square look so I let him run with this one. We went to Bath City in the Beach and they were amazing. Honestly, if you want to learn everything you ever wanted to know about plumbing on a Saturday afternoon, go here. Their hours are awesome and the staff are super knowledgeable. We picked up the shower system and glass shower door from them. A+

The best part is? The shower head doesn’t even come close to hitting Christian in the chest…or head! It’s so tall! Yay! It’s a beautiful chrome finish rainfall shower and again, I’m in love. And yes, I *might* sometimes sing into the wand that you see in the photo, as it totally resembles some kind of futuristic microphone. Whatever.

What’s cool is that we really stuck to our “vision” board and things really came together! What the heck did people do before Pinterest?

So, there you have it! Our 95% complete bathroom! More to come on artwork, towel bars and other riveting finishing touches. But we’ll save that for later…too much excitement already for just one post!

xo M

The Carpets are IN!

April 16, 2013August 31, 2015Leave a comment

Yes, shout it from the rooftops and sound the gong: we have carpets! It was a looooooong wait, but last week, the carpets went in, and they are beautiful.

We decided on the Martha Stewart carpet collection at Home Depot, in “Gull”, which is a grey-ish off white. Very neutral….and so CLEAN. My heart does a little flip flop everytime I get upstairs. Let’s bask in the glory of before and after photos, shall we?

Main hallway facing the bedroom BEFORE:

And the same view AFTER:

Here’s a view of our master bedroom, just after Christian put down the plywood (following the extremely drawn-out flooring saga) in preparation of the carpet:

And a “progess” photo, just after the underlay went down:

But before we get to the final reveal, let’s take a trip back in time to 2009, from photos that we took on our very first day of official home ownership. Wowee:

Yeah, we’ve come a long way, baby…..

It’s beautiful. And our house totally smells like new car! Now it’s time to slowly put things back together….

Progress update: the luxury bathroom we’ve always dreamed of!?

February 6, 2013March 8, 2013Leave a comment

I came home tonight to this glorious view of our bathroom:

The spacious room we always wanted? No! The wall between our bathroom and den has officially been removed to make way for our tub! Day 1 is complete, our house is a mess, and we’re pumped.

Here’s the view “into” our den from the “open concept” bathroom:

Gorgeous.

Bathroom reno inspiration!

January 22, 2013March 20, 2016Leave a comment

It’s official = 2013 is the year of the major bathroom renovation!

Here’s to having a proper sized bathtub, not hitting our elbows on the wall every time we shower, being able to brush our teeth at the sink together (at the same time…what a concept) and not having the top of our toilet tank overlapping with our sink (true story)! Before, during and after photos will come as the weeks pass – we plan on starting this overhaul in mid-February. Until then, and as we begin shopping for all of the elements that go into a bathroom reno, I thought I’d share with you our ideas and inspiration for the design and aesthetic of the soon-to-be-finished product.

Our goals:

make use of the existing window inside the bathroom and allow natural light in
create a ‘spa’ feeling
create enough room so that we can both be in the bathroom at the same time

I’ve been adding to our Pinterest board for…about the past 6 months (what can I say? I was excited!) and it’s been neat to watch the progression of our vision. First, ‘spa’ meant more grey tones: stone tiles, and neutrals. But as the months progressed, our images started to move towards lighter, clean and crisp tones with pops of ice blue or seafoam green. I suppose spending a week on the west coast over the holidays, including a trip down to Cannon Beach, helped us to channel “sea shore” inspiration into our plan!

So, with beach inspiration fresh in our brains, it was back to the Pinterest drawing board! Here’s where we are at, and as we finalize our tile choices in the coming weeks, we are feeling great about our percolated vision (yep, it’s like coffee…you just have to let it brew, and it will come):

The main bathroom images above come from here, here, here and here…let’s highlight the one the really started it all, and really got us thinking about the beauty that is blue and white:

I love the simplicity of this bathroom (from Houzz.com). Plus, the fact that is the very same layout that we are moving towards, complete with an in-shower window, the look just clicked. So, our path is set and this shopping has begun! New bathroom coming very soon…

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a lifestyle blog for those looking for a bit more "happy" in their life.

Category: decor