Jumbo Photo

Another wish crossed off the list! What do you think?

The margins on each side bug me. We had the option of printing a photo that was wider, and then cropping off the top or bottom to fit perfectly, but I was stuck on this print...

Now I am not sure if I like it. I am too busy thinking about the millions of other photos I could have printed....and thinking about the millions of sizes we could have gone with...you know, when having too many choices leads to unhappiness*? That's what I am experiencing! Classic.

  

Cost: Approximately $100 with shipping, taxes, and 20% Valentine's Day discount.



ps. the third photo is like the toilet cam - this is the view!
pps. we are quite happy with the quality of the printing from posterjack.ca  We will use them again!  
ppps. not a sponsored post!

*I'm sure I watched a Ted Talk on this at some point... 

UPDATE: Well, it took a while, but it happened!  I LOVE THE PRINT! I want to hug it! It's huge, right...42x56...I am talking huge!

  

Basement Bathroom

This is a room I've finished decorating in my head, but we haven't executed. There isn't that much to do, really, and I may have said some (or all) of this before...

We are going to order a large poster size peel n' stick  image from posterjack for the wall across from the vanity/toilet. I used green tape to map out the size that we are considering. Now that I see it through the lens, I might have to go one or two sizes larger, to make the image fill the entire space. That way it will feel less like a poster, more like a mural, you know? 

We are waiting for posterjack to have a sale. We missed their black Friday 30% off discount by two days, and now we are sitting on the project. Yes, that green tape has been on the wall for over a month. We will wait an entire year if we have to...just to get a deal! I am sure you understand! (In the meantime, I should really take the tape down.)

I've moved the spider plant all around the house, and no matter what room it sits in, I forget to water it. So this morning, I pulled out the ladder and the drill. Here you go little guy - this is your new home! 

ps. I still haven't painted the vanity black...waiting for nice weather
pps. We need a stronger image in the white frame beside the mirror - something darker...waiting for my husband to print it. Actually, I am not sure if I have even asked him yet!
ppps. I need to fill the shelves behind the door with TP - up to the very top! You can never have too much...I will take care of it right now! 

'New' Idea

Tell me what you think about this, hanging three separate canvases each painted a solid colour...I would be stealing two ideas...

#1 - If you flipped through the latest Canadian House and Home you saw the Joe Bradley on page 61...I ADORE THIS BLOCK COLOUR FIGURE!!!  SO simple, so WOW!

#2 - While in Vanves, this frame with three pieces of colored paper caught my eye...

Do you think it will work? Needs more? Different colors? Go for it? Paint the vanity too?

These pictures are cold & dreary, I know...would primary colours freshen it up?

Way to go Home Depot!

New Mirror!

- Chunky black
- Great fit!
- and <$70

What's not to love????

(it might take a week or so before we attempt to hang it)

Over/Under

Welcome to this week's edition of 'where to hang the towel bar'...ok, so its not a weekly series...but I still need help...

We went with an 18" towel bar for beside the vanity...I'm not sure if I should mount it over the tile, or on the tile.  Over the tile avoids putting holes in the tile (i like)...on the tile just seems like the 'right' thing to do...

So please let the advice start to pour in...

ps... I want a frameless mirror above the sink, mounted with a french cleat, just like Peter Fallico did in the bathroom on his recent home to flip show... 
pss...still haven't ordered a light for the artemide basic strip
psss...the westelm light needs windex...
pssss...I think I made up my mind, looking at the photos side by side, but I still want to hear what you have to say!!!!!!!!!! 
psssss...one of my hand towels has clearly been washed with the 'colours' a few more times than the other...




UPDATE: AFTER PHOTO

Plumbing complete!

That's it for the plumbing...we have a fully operational bathroom!  We need a florescent bulb for the light, a mirror, a towel bar, toilet paper holder, some towels, art, etc...

I like the colour of the vanity! A-LOT!  Its too bad that the floors are still incredibly dirty...I gave the floors a once over, but I think I need to scrub them with something more toxic than green Palmolive. 

The drawers on the IKEA Godmorgon cabinet need to be customized, because the plumber could not get everything to fit nicely in the space provided.  We need to make the top drawer more shallow, and notch the back of the bottom drawer.  The plumber was cursing the 'hardware' that came with the IKEA Odensvik sink...definitely not high quality plastic tubes.

We went with square faucets, and square shower head.  Something we hoped would have good water pressure!  No rain shower for us...

The plumber also installed the bar sink and faucet! LOVE THEM!  Check out my stainless steel counter top too!  The back splash needs to be re-ordered because the guys measured wrong (it happens)..so we all have to wait at least another week before the full reveal of the bar area.

My greatest fear was realized tonight1 - we don't have enough storage space.  Of course I could see this coming.  We had junk sprawled out from one end of the basement to the other (click here to see the before picture)..how could we possibly contain it in the laundry room?  We should get rid of half of it.

This could be a problem.  We took back space for family, for living, for everyday...there is no longer room for things that live in boxes and never see the light of day.  What storage space we DO have is very open, so we should try to make it beautiful.  Its possible, it really is, but we have to let go of old baggage (Literally, where am I going to stash the suitcases?).  Or get built-ins. Or get a storage locker. 

I vote for letting stuff go.  Its just stuff...when did stuff get priority over living comfortably?

How do people in modern homes do it?  With not even a book out on display and no stuff in sight? 




1. That's not actually my greatest fear.  My greatest fear is getting older (too late!), but also giant flying spiders that swoop down from the lights and land on your face while you are sleeping. Oh and sea creatures, not sea monsters- that's just silly, but fish and whales and sharks and eels and sea horses and jelly fish and giant crabs and anything else that might attack me.

Glass shower installed!

They swung by this afternoon to put in the glass for the walk in shower (The shower is 42" across, and they room is just over 6' wide.  I think the glass is 42" wide too)

It is secured with silicon...nothing else...this wasn't my call, but I am a fan...no metal strip to get gunky

I can strike this off the to do list!

oops, it doesn't look like I wrote it on the list...(I will squeeze it in, and then cross it off)

What happens when you pick the wrong colour?

I slapped two coats of Benjamin Moore Chelsea Grey on the bathroom vanity. (Its laminate, I primed it yesterday)

EEK...I went a tad lighter than the floor...but a tad greener too...OOPS!  Not a complete miss...do I let it ride, or start over??

I want the room to be boring, I mean tone on tone...monochromatic...simple...pared down...basic...you get the point.


update: ooooohhh in the fading light it looks soo beautiful...it really is a gorgeous grey....

Pulling the bathroom together...

Wall tile: 4x8 stacked white ceramic subway tile (Saltillo); medium grey tone grout; skinny grout lines; tile to ~44 inches around full bathroom, and to ceiling in the shower

Floor: 2x2 porcelain (deciding between white with grey grout which will be high contrast and very busy; or grey with grey grout. Leaning toward grey on grey, but its a taupey grey...we will do some more tile shopping.  The KEY is the shower floor will be seamless with the bathroom floor.  There will be no curb, no shower pan, no shower door, just a glass partition)

Fixtures: Riobel (Tiles Plus; the brand was recommended by plumber...great quality for the price; yes the squares should look nice with my square-y floor...chrome, chosen by my DH)

 Sink: Ikea Odenvik

Vanity: Ikea Godmorgon birch veneer. (I am always thinking up different ways to hack this vanity.  I am not a fan of veneer, but its the right size and look.  I want someone to use this vanity as a template to cut me some real wood and then I can just assemble it with the ikea hardware.  Is that, like, crazy talk?  Can that be done?)

 Toilet: Aquia II (Roman Bath Centre)

Light above mirror: Artemide basic strip

Mirror: A smaller version of this west elm mirror.  I like the simple metal frame.

Bathroom Tiles

I thought I had made my final selection on tiles a while ago.  It was going to be 18x18 medium grey tile from Ciot. It was the following picture that led me to believe it was possible to continue the floor right into the shower (I mean if they can do it, why can't we?)

Well we can't.

Enter 2x2 tiles from Olympia Tile1.  I thought we could do the slate...then this morning I took another look...do you see how far apart those tiles are set?  Thickest-grout-lines-EVER!

So back to porcelain.  This is my 4th choice...my FOURTH favorite....lets recap: 1) Dying for penny tiles (shut down), 2) Large grey is nice (shut down) 3) Slate - dirt magnet grout lines 4) Porcelain...


If anyone has pictures of bathrooms that use 2x2 square tiles on the floors, I would love to know.  I really dig the whole boys-schoolhouse-gym-locker-room feel (vs spa)...as long as it at least feels like a euro boys schoolhouse.

1. picture taken on our slate countertop

Update: I have now learned that they can take slate tiles, cut them down, and put them on mesh, so you can have any slate tiles you want, with whatever thickness of grout line you want....too late!   I have also learned that unglazed porcelain shows water marks like cray- no mater what you do...oh well...

I don't care what those other guys say about you....

...I like you just the way you are!

Here are pictures of my new bathroom (yes I know the wide lens makes you feel like you've had one-too-many-wobbly-pops) 

There's that stupid support pole accidentally sitting inside the bathroom. We will box it in, and put some open shelves. 

I felt that these two "features" (bulkhead, and new cubbie) were enough oddities in this small space. That means we will leave the other wall as is - and skip building a ledge in this room (it would have been an 8" deep ledge/shelf, about 47" off the floor, behind the sink/toilet, tiled; a nice place to put your bathroom stuff on).

Rain shower

Its the thing to do - put a rain shower in your new spa bathroom.  Its not my idea - its like, the LAW or something.  On our shopping trip this weekend we found this shower system by Cabano:

You don't want to know how much these bad boys cost!  So maybe we do a normal shower head and skip the magic wand! Simple-simple-simple!!!  Nothing wrong with this, right?