Plugging along with lot's of progress and pretty details

 Last week was truly busy with lots of home projects , I am happy to say I wrapped up the master bath updates as of late Friday night. I finished off the furniture foot detail I had planned for the vanity. What a difference this pretty simple projects makes.

 Before without feet ...

 I also after much searching found some art for the bathroom , this print I found at Winners. It reminded me of our trip to Mexico , stormy beach which we experienced there, believe it or not it conjures up fond memories. This print came with a black frame with a reveal gap around it that I found strange so I simply removed the outer frame. I was happy to find a piece that had the color of my vanitiy in it also , that was a bonus.

 I was asked to explain how I attached the frame to my existing mirror. Well there are lots of tutorials out there but I will explain how I did install this extra wide frame. I decided to use construction adhesive to the mirror to attach the frame. I started with the bottom piece , I placed four long screws just below the mirror to act as support to hold the wood in place while the adhesive dried. I added the tape to hold the wood in place while it dried. After 4 hours the adhesive was set up enough to hold the wood solidly. I added the side pieces and leveled everything . After several more hours I attached the top piece of the frame. I painted everything and trimmed it all before I attached anything as well as the back of the wood, because of the reflection. That was it , pretty simple. I didn't remove the clips and they didn't pose a problem.

 I then moved on to creating furniture detail feet for the vanity.

 Creating these is pretty self explanatory from this photo.

 Wondering what this is? Well it was a pile of boards that I glued and laminated together...to create a wood counter top for my laundry room. I could have just bought a butcher block from Ikea but I thought what if I can make my own? It worked out . I used a belt sander to get an incredibly smooth finish...I then routered a beautiful roman ogee edge. I am going to install a under mount sink and I am planning on routering that cut out too. Exciting !!!! Now that I have learned how to do this the possibilities are endless.

Before the sanding started...

After a lot of sanding...

So now that it's Monday I will work on cutting out the sink hole , finishing the staining and sealing . Then moving onto building a sink cabinet and support for the counter, moving onto tiling the laundry baksplash. We will see how productive this coming week will be , I will keep you posted.

Love for the Master Bath

 It took me a very long time to settle on a colour to paint the walls in the master bathroom. But I did it, 
I chose Pensive Sky by Behr. Lucky me , I bought a gallon of flat Pensive Sky, took it home and I knew right away it was perfect.
I wanted to paint because I decided to finally frame the big old mirror and I figured painting behind it would be easier than painting around it . I'm sure it was.

 I realize how much colour can change and pull together a room but I just kept putting it off, but I am so glad that I painted it , it is transformed... The last thing I have to do is to create a pretty kick plate detail and some day new stone counters nicer sinks and faucets , but that is phase two...everything is on phase 1 right now.

 This is as streamlined as I can get my counter...a girl needs things with in reach. The colour I was looking a colour similar to the glass. Still looking for the perfect art, that can be so hard.

 Still haven't got a TV for above this cabinet so I put up one of these mirrors , I love these mirrors. They were from Homesense many years ago a Christmas gift from my husband.

 My pretty drapes I made and the tile are all pulled together now with the right shade of soft grey greenish barely blue.

 Oh let's revisit how it used to look ... U.G.L.Y...

 And when we moved in the bare bones...gotta love those lights. Ah paper window coverings.

I sometimes forget how far we've come.

Hallway definition with trim

 Well after several days of work I finished up the trimming of this transition in the hall way , we love how it is so much grander than before and how it defines this detail.

 I think I might start looking for some real lanterns , although I like these and I made them , I think I might be open to something more refined.

 It nearly broke my heart to tear out perfectly good upgraded baseboards but I am so glad I did tackle this project.

 I really need to replace those brass door knobs...

Mill work details

 Now that I have recovered from our recent vacation I need to re-focus my attention back towards home projects. I will admit I suffered a little (actually a lot ) burn out after the major kitchen renovations I did , how could I not be burnt out , it was all I did for three months. But I am ready to make some improvements again.
My focus this week is the main hall transitions, I had always thought they would be a great place to add some mill work. The trouble with mill work is just deciding which way to go , there are too many options. I want to do it right and do what is right for the house, so I have struggled with decision making the most.
I had thought to dress both transitions but the kitchen transition is too big and difficult to figure out, so I will just do the one , looks like it will be just enough.

 I decided yesterday to dive right in and tackle this little opportunity for some special trim. I'm about half way through , hopefully I will be able to start the priming later today.

 Just need to add the crown moulding to the top of the header after I sand everything out with the orbital sander , its gonna be messy.

 I decided to most closely copy the trimmed pillars as seen here in this H&H, magazine image. This home is such an inspiration for my home , I love this show home from 2010. http://houseandhome.com/design/guide/2010-princess-margaret-showhome

 It was difficult however to decide what kind of transition to create. Love this look also.

 And this one , clean and shaker, gorgeous.http://www.tiekbuilthomes.com/daybreak-befores-and-afters/

 After I complete this small project , I will move onto our bathroom , where I will  frame out the builder mirror. In the meantime I will try to nail down a plan for the family room to move forward. I have decided to focus my mill work efforts towards the ceiling and not the walls. I am really loving the white walls and trim.
I am going between beams with v-groove, or a simple design of coffer. Neither will be simple to accomplish but won't it be beautiful?

image found on pinterest

 http://www.stayathomeista.com/   I am loving this dining room and the beams , what a wall colour, I am in love with rich deep tones for the dining room, I think I am gonna give it a try for ours.

For the dining room I am also thinking coffered ceiling and wainscoting, but what kind of wainscoting. This is a contender above.

 Maybe this for one wall in the family room ?

 Gorgeous deep dark walls.

Here is the second option for our family room....beautiful...

Maybe I keep simple coffer like this for the dining room and beams and v-groove for the family room. Help , it's just so hard to decide. 

Fabric overload

 We are still living with our old furniture from our old house , it's not quite right for this house and more importantly our sofas are needing replacing. Most of our pieces are Ikea Ektorp which I love but our three seater sofa is 10 years old and we are on our third slipcover for it . If not for new slipcovers I'm sure it would have need tossing many years ago , I love slipcovers, there is nothing like machine washing your sofa and freshening it up. So until we get new sofas to purchase I figured some new pillow covers were in order. I had this zig zag fabric collecting dust in my linen closet so since I had the sewing machine out I figured I would make some new covers.They will be perfect for the new sectional we are planning on getting for this room.

 I finished up the roman blinds for the dining room, I used an old cream roman blind and covered it with the same grey drapery fabric. I am planning on some wainscoting or trim and soft grey for the walls. I will eventually tackle a coffered ceiling here.

I really need to get the painting started. I'm tired just thinking about it .

Mexico 2012

Well it took us 15 years to finally get away on our own again, but we did it. I consider it our 

second honeymoon. We just got back from 8 days in paradise , Riviera Maya. 

We went with three other couples and had a really great time. We will be back. 

      This is my favourite photo from our trip , it sums it all up , we were so relaxed and fell into vacationing so easily. It rained a bunch for the first three days but not constantly. It didn't dampen our fun even a little. After that the weather was incredible.

 This was my first trip to Mexico and my hubby's first trip to this coast . The water is incredible. It was so nice to not have to do anything mundane and to get dressed up for dinner nightly after lounging by the pool and swimming in the ocean. What a life style if even for a week.

We went jet skiing , that was certainly the most fun we had , I would do that again and again, its a great arm workout. My arms are still sore today.

 5th Ave was full of beauty and many surprises around every corner. We saw in a matter of 30 minutes a baby tiger , parrots, a tucan , baby monkey's, baby tiger and baby jaguars if you paid a fee to help care for and to preserve the animals you could take photos. We saw a little girl all of 7 years old with her sibling baby in sling selling bracelets, heart breaking , sweet and shocking all at once. Its a different world.

 The man with the lizards handed my husband these lizards, they are so gentle, crazy right? How could we resist. We learned a little about lizards too.

 Little doggie just hanging out in a shop door watching the street.

 When researching what kind of things you can do in Mexico I came across the fish spa treatment. I had to do it , luckily Todd and our friends were good sports and did it too. Let me just say it was hilarious then neat and I thought it was just a great thing to try. We were brought down to the lower level where the very knowledgeable young man with great English  proceeded to wash our feet and calves with water that flowed from a conch shell. We then gently lowered our feet into the fish tanks where the eager fish began to remove dead skin cells from our feet not with teeth but with and substance they create.It was very cool. Then we ordered Corona's all around, perfection.

Who doesn't need a new mask? The sales pitches were quite humorous. After the vendor of the stand heard me notice the whips she said " romantic whips!!" hmmm let me ponder that "no , I'm good"

We were called honeymooners, and once someone sized me up and called me "Texas" close , Canadian.

 Oh the nights laying on the beach watching the incredibly bright sun was breath taking.

I was almost amazed that I could still fit into this dress for our last dinner in Mexico after I lost 22 lbs to go on this trip. Somehow I didn't gain much back, all those long walks on the beach and in town I guess really helped things not get too far away from me. I'm back on track now and back to reality. 

It was so rough relaxing under palm trees and enjoying the ocean views.

                                                      Even over cast it was beautiful.

                                               Pool , palm trees and endless icy beverages.

The biggest problem was where to enjoy our time , the beach, the pool , the swim up bar or the resorts down the beach , how do you decide... then the mammoth task of where to eat at the many restaurants...so many problems ....

 Rising early and starting the day by the pool in the just the right location.

 This area comes to life at night with live music , it was so romantic and magical, I loved it all.

We will miss the Riu Palace and certainly Ricky Bobby ... couples massages on the beach , jet skiing on the ocean , the ocean , the sand the friends, the pools , not worrying about much of anything, constant delivery of drinks and all the friendly warm staff , Adios..

This was our first visit but not our last.

Next time we go we will bring the kids they will love it too.