Sorry, just channeling my inner Ke$ha (minus the raunchiness).

But, speaking of Tocks, what is this space here missing?

ShizzBLAM! 100 points if you guessed a CLOCK.

Now let me wicka-wicka-reeeewinnnnd.

This is our master bathroom. When I get ready in the morning Chef Kev is still fast asleep. As a result I keep the master bathroom door closed and find myself constantly peeking out of the bathroom to check the time on the alarm clock on my nightstand. Annoying. I found myself constantly thinking ‘hey, I should get a clock in here’…

So I did.

Might just be the best $9 I ever spent. Thank you Real Canadian Superstore.

I especially like the lightly brushed finish on the frame.

Now, since I’ve invited you in to my bathroom, I should offer you the courtesy of a tour (aka, turning around).

I did touch on our master bathroom WAY back in this post but here are a few pictures as I’m sure many of you have never seen it before.

I think most of this is pretty self-explanatory but I’m sure I’ll ramble about it anyway. The only really major change we’ve made since we moved in is the blue paint. It used to be fire engine red. It made me kind of angry. It had to go. Now she feels much calmer… (the bathroom AND me).

So, to state the obvious, here are a few towel hooks right outside of the shower…

And the shower itself. She’s a biggin’.

Turning around you will see the ‘sink and mirror wall’. Complete with ugly tile counter that shows every single mark and water drop. That is my way of saying that we did not do that ‘upgrade’. If I had an unlimited budget it would be gonzo.

A few other little touches that I do like… starting with our little ‘his’ and ‘hers’ hand towel hooks that I picked up when we visited England in 2008.

The ‘soothe’ sign that sits next to the ‘renew’ one you saw earlier…

I should paint those with the same white as the panelling shouldn’t I? They look a bit off-white but in reality aren’t/shouldn’t be.

Here is the funky ‘stem’ of my favourite pedestal mirror. I love this mirror so much that I actually bought it before I ever purchased my first place. And I still love it all these years later.

Chef Kev bought me a large jewellery case a few years back for Valentine’s Day (you can see it above next to the sink). I especially love the delicate little knobs…

And on top of that sits my pretty collection of perfume. And of course, I work in a perfume-free office.

Ha. Oh well. I can wear it on weekends. You know, for when I do laundry and dishes.

I hope you enjoyed this random virtual tour through my bathroom. I’m so glad you could stop by? Awkward… Umm, I’ll just end with another Ke$ha quote from the post title song.  “Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy”. Oh man. Still awkward isn’t it…

Linking to:
Design, Dining and Diapers
DIY Dreamer

First off, sorry for the long hiatus. Without going into detail, I’ve had a tough few months. That being said, it’s time to get back to a somewhat ‘normal’ routine and in that routine I need to make time for things I love – this little blog, and all of you readers!

My goal is try and post two to three times a week. I know having a good blog is largely in part to regular posting (with awesome content of course) so that is what I’m hoping to do!

All we (all) need is Love. And our loved ones around us…

So, would you all please be my Valentines? I’ve decorated my mantel all pretty like for you…

Have you decorated your mantel for Valentine’s? If so, please share!

Back soon with the tutorials…

Linking to:
Serenity Now
i heart naptime
the diy dreamer
craftberry bush
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating


Bower Power

Making of the Mantel: 2012 Edition.

The mission – should I choose to accept it – (um, yes please) was to make my mantel merry and bright.

Merry – check.

Bright – check.

Mission accomplished.

Like my Christmas mantel last year, I started with a large piece of feature art and built out from there to support it. See how I turned a tea towel into my big piece of art here.

Pulling back from there, here is what I did on the right hand side.

First I draped a few garlands (snowflakes and shiny beads) loosely across the front. Then I put out my little silver ‘twig’ reindeer.

Beside Twiggy, I placed a ridiculously large mercury glass artichoke and beside that I placed Sparkle (who I blogged about fixing last year).

Past Sparkle I have a few votive holders as well as a fun mirrored snowflake.

Here is what the left side looks like. You’ll see Chace’s stocking…

As well as one of my favourite ornaments beside another sparkly reindeer and shiny dove.

Watching over Chace’s stocking is this acrylic penguin…

Behind him you will see a pillar candle holder (sans candle because I just like the shape as is) and some more tea light holders…

And there we have it!

Although not technically part of mantel, I can’t help but give a shout out to the polar bear in the foreground aptly named Plumpy (by me).

I mean dude couldn’t even bother to sit up straight for the picture. Lazy bear.

And in the corner are my white log vases which I used recently for my Autumn mantel here.

So, like the presents under my tree, that’s a wrap! All ready for Santa’s arrival!

Christmas crazy? Me too! See all my Christmas posts here.

Are you ready for a relatively underwhelming post full of a lot of pictures? Well then you’ve come to the right place! This isn’t flashy folks, just a slice of what’s been going on over here.

And don’t let the bathroom reference scare you off. There is nothing stinky here – pun intended.

We bought our place back in 2006. It wasn’t new so of course was previously painted to the old owners taste. Surprisingly enough (for a paint freak like me) the spare bathroom upstairs has remained largely untouched since then. It’s nothing special but was clean and did the trick. The paint colour was neutral and the space wasn’t used as often as our other three (yes – three-no-fun-to-clean) bathrooms.

Since Chace came along a little over 3 1/2 years ago it has been used much more. Especially now that he’s a walkin’ talkin’ potty-trained, hand washing, tooth brushing toddler. Used MUCH more.

So let me share some un-earth shattering mini updates that I’ve done in that room.

Here is a picture I took back when we were touring the house before purchasing it. Behold, the bathroom in all it’s brassy glory – and what I said as I took the photo bottom left…

I’ll admit it stayed that way for awhile after we moved in but eventually that bossy brassy shower door got the boot! And this would also be a good time to say again that you really can get rid of ANYTHING by listing it for free on Craigslist. Thanks Craig. I love you and your list.

So, after I was done yanking out the shower door the room looked more like this…

To seal up the few holes left behind by where the brass frame was drilled in to the tile I used some small plastic plugs which I sealed with clear silicone.

A tension rod and new shower curtain later and we had left the 90’s. Yeeha. Sorry Paula Abdul, we had to part eventually.

And I added this cute little pebble mat so that similarly little feet had some grip while getting in and out of the tub.

The bathroom vanity is your basic builders vanity but again, serves the purpose and is in good shape.

BUT, I had two knobs from our old house and two other that I bought EONS ago – seriously, so long ago I was surprised the package listed a website – at a home décor shop for $1 each (clearance bin). I’ve been carrying these around forever and finally put them to use!

After some unscrewing and re-screwing those white knobs were gonzo!

I love the little swirl details on these ones…

And how awesome are these!? I still love them all these years later. It’s true knob love.

Sweet.

And now that I have a little step-stool-standing hand washer on my, well, hands, I thought this bare span of wall could benefit from a hand towel rack.

I had picked up the “Lillhommen” from Ikea in the summer (back when I returned something too late and could only get a credit note) but had yet to install it so finally did so last week.

It was easy. First I searched for a stud (no, not Chef Kev –  har dee har har) but mine was not in the right spot for this project so I marked where I needed to drill…

drilled two holes where marked, hammered in my drywall anchors…

drilled in the base hardware…

hooked the hand towel rack onto the base hardware…

and tightened the ‘invisible’ screw.

Move over Mike Holmes.

Ta Da!

And here it is with clothes on. Not Mike Holmes, the towel rack.

Now Chace doesn’t have to hop down off his stool and cross the bathroom to dry his hands. He can reach this one from his perch atop his little step stool.

Speaking of towel racks, our other one has a simple art print above it that came along with us when we moved. I bought it years ago but still think it has some neat charm.

And nothing says “charm” (cough.sarcasm) better than a bunch of kids toys. At least they are wrangled.

I’m just kidding. They are charming.

And bright.

And last but not least, Chace’s little ‘C’ towel hook which I simply attached to the back of the door using a 3M picture hanging strip.

The C hook now proudly holds Chace’s little froggy towel.

Now THAT is charming 🙂

So there you go. One basic albeit functional bathroom with some mini updates that make it just a bit more special.

What about you? Any little updates that go a long way? Drilled any new knobs lately? That sounds kind of gross but I think you know what I mean? If not, focus on the frog towel. That will distract you just long enough for you to move on.

Want to see what I got up to on Saturday night? Warning – it’s pretty X-Rated. As in X = wrong. Bad. Solution required.

I organized.

It was a party.

I was the only one invited.

Contain your excitement.

In an attempt to stop the dining room table being a dumping ground (you know, so we can actually eat dinner there) I had to find a new spot for the biggest culprit – my laptop. I usually take it with me to work so when I bring it home, it generally gets parked on the dining room table and used throughout the evening/weekend many times.

It needed a home. A new one.

And this mess needed to be cleaned up.

I like things being tucked away, Chef Kev likes them out in the open and accessible so the cooking oils and utensils had to stay. The cookbooks also needed to stay on the counter (by request). The doggie treat canister gets used daily (lucky Belle) so that made sense to stay as well. The canisters got moved to the ledge above the stove and the phone also stayed where it was due to the phone jack being right there. The espresso machine is too big to tuck away anywhere else. But it all could be tidied up some.

But look to the top far right at my dirty not so little (or hidden) secret.

Totally my fault. Look closer at Casa Clutter over there.

But don’t dare open it unless you brace yourself for the avalanche.

Holy CARP (yes, I mean the fish). Do you like my collection of vases (original purpose) plastic plates, cutlery, bubbles, outdoor toys, things that I thought were too small for a baby (now a toddler) and miscellaneous ‘decor’ finds? No? Me neither.

This needed to become a home office station STAT.

After some serious Saturday evening organizing I filed everything into their rightful home – bubbles and outdoor toys to the outdoor storage bins, paper plates, plastic cups and cutlery to my storage elsewhere which housed their ‘friends’ and the once-too-small-kids-toys-now-okay-for-toddler got put into the potty training prize jackpot.

The large vases and decor items got relocated to our closet that has new shelving (via Chef Kev) for safe (non-avalanche inspired) keeping.

And since I was on a roll, I thought I better tackle this ‘issue’ as well.

double CARP (two fishies).

Too make a long Saturday evening short, this got a major file and in the end this drawer holds a few misc. household items – removable hooks, tape, candles etc. but most importantly, I finally created a usable system for the danged CABLE STORAGE PROBLEM!

Oh label maker, you make me so happy.

At the end of my organizing rampage spree, I had a nice new TIDY home for my laptop to be parked each night. I still take it up to my office when I do design work and plug it into my larger monitor but for all the other little things I use it for, this is great. Plus the perfect spot to charge it each evening.

In the boxes you see through the frosted glass are small home decor items (napkin rings, tea light candles, small candle holders etc) as well as all of my ‘office’ type stuff that I need on hand – lap top case, note paper, back up drive etc.

The mat below is where we feed Belle.

And the nice thing is if I do need to sit for a quick moment, I just turn the chair around and make my self comfy.

I had everything on hand so this was a nice and easy free makeover. yippee!

Things that are uncluttered seriously make me very, very happy.

And, because I was having such a rocking night, I went on to make Chace’s Halloween Haunted House after all of this.

I told you I lead a pretty exciting life. So different than my Saturday evenings of 5 or 10 years ago… But I wouldn’t change it for anything 🙂

What about you? Any quicky clean ups that went a long way in your mind? Do you have a computer ‘station’ that is easily accessible? Any vase/decor related avalanches at you place? Do tell!

If you were to walk in our front door right now, this is what you’d see.

But then you’d see my sitting at the dining room table in my pajamas (on my laptop) and quickly turn and leave (good choice).

So, to save you the awkwardness of walking out on me in my t-shirt and pajama bottoms I’ll break down the little autumn decorating party that Chace (my three year old) and I threw tonight (no hats, no games, no cake = lame party in the mind of a toddler). Woops. Better like next time Chacey.

The inspiraton was this awesome subway art (downloadable here from eighteen 25) that I simply framed (VERY simply) in a frame I had on hand. I say ‘very simply’ as you will see it doesn’t quite fit right but I kind of like that sliver of creamy matt. It plays off the gold text. I also like the fact that the frame is a bit beaten up – nice and rustic.

I actually used another one of Eighteen 25’s amazing subway art creations back on my Christmas mantel last year too. Love them!

Then I simply put out an assortment of Autumn coloured candles. You should smell it in here (too bad you left so quickly). It smells like Pumpkin Pie and Spice Latte had a baby and named it Harvest Apple. I could make a joke here about a kid named Apple but I did that last time. Awkward. What’s up with that?

To add some texture, I took some small frames I had on hand and thought, hey, I could make these into candle coasters!

So I trimmed up some scrapbook paper…

Removed the backs of the frames (so they would lay flat) and added the paper behind the glass. Allow my assistant to demonstrate…

When we were done, this is how the other one looked.

You may have noticed, but our front hall table is actually an old sewing machine that I got with my dad back at an auction 11 years ago (and restained here). At that same auction I also got an old crockery jug that worked nicely with the little vignette I was creating.

Looking back at the door you see my wreath and cool black bamboo. The black bamboo is a gift from Chef Kev’s co-worker Ellen (Thanks Ellen!) who thought of me while helping her daughter cut some down. So sweet!

My helper assisted in assembling the bamboo. Note the different pair of pajamas than seen in the picture above. We are potty training. Say no more.

I made the wreath a few years back by twisting together two long faux berry garlands that I bought at Michaels (craft store).

And a few pictures of it all lit and glowy. Since you ran out so quick and all…

So what about you? Done any completely free entry way makeovers lately? Started your Autumn decorating? Had a helper who burned through two pairs of PJ’s like it was nobody’s bidness? Do share!

Linking to:

Cherished Bliss