Powder room

 I have nearly gathered all the fixings for our new main floor powder room. I have decided to try this lovely shade called Punch by Martha Stewart paints , my husband isn't too sure about it but I am willing to give it a try , he doesn't see my vision. This is a windowless room and I thought this would be a fun spot to try a "punch" of color....lol. It's just paint , if its not nice guess who will re-paint it, me!
I came across this very rustic over sized peg board at Winners yesterday . I went in to look for toilet paper holders and or towel hooks and I won for sure this day. I love the toilet paper holder in brushed nickle finish for only $5.00 on clearance. I will eventually get a brushed nickle faucet .

 We have already decided on the galvanized lantern fixture for the lighting for the powder room $30.00 at Lowe's , I love this light. We really like this vanity by Martha Stewart , available at Home Depot, it looks green in the picture but it is actually more of a soft grey . Its great , nice storage for a powder room, it comes with the simple white sink. I will paint the trim to match the vanity , it looks great with the punch paint chip.We are going for rustic and polished ...still haven't decided on the floor I am actually considering carrying the wood floor into this room .

Speaking of flooring , I went out to a country mill on Friday to source out the pine flooring we are installing in the new house. I spent the weekend trying out stain options. It took a few tries but I settled on this stain , it is an oil stain in a color called Kona , it is just what we like , deep rich and chocolaty. I am a complete convert to oil stain , it goes on so well and doesn't leave lap marks and it really soaks in too. This is after two coats , so excited. We will have to wait two weeks for the wood to acclimatize so we will be living in limbo for a lot longer than I had originally hoped. Fun!!!

Here's proof positive it was the country. I parked and immediately this little kitty jumped right onto the hood of my car , it gave me a good laugh, I guess he was checking me out.

Wrapped up

 I wrapped up my lantern making project , I love how they turned out. I used some really heavy chain I had outside , it has the perfect weathered rustic finish . The tool I showed you the other day is so easy to use , even my 10 year old can easily open and close a link of chain with one hand , do you know how hard that can be?

I hung up the lantern and gave it a try , I think it looks great. I think it will really be nice in the upstairs hallway , its casts such nice light and shadows because of the grid pattern.

I am still deciding on the counters for the kitchen , definitely going with quartz for the ease of use . Either Bianco Rivers above or Lyra below ? what are your thoughts? I love some helpful feedback.

We are settled on the simple square edge.

I think we have settled on this style of sink , under mount , stainless steel square edged, we were thinking of farm house apron front but I think its getting a little over done and I don't want to do anything too trendy or dating even though I still love them. I think this will be a great choice, I can fit anything I have all the way into it and the counter install and faucet install will be a little more straight forward. As well is is much less than the apron front .

 Can you tell I've been thinking!!! ha ha

We are down to 35.5 days to go , not long now ....

Making a lantern , what it may take?

 The oil paint has dried on my new lanterns I'm making, I am excited to get them all ready and assembled . I decided to attach one link of iron chain right to the handle so that the weight of the lantern will be carried by this handle. But how do you properly attach metal to metal ? Welding right? well I am not welding , I considered soldering but I was told it will not hold well, so I went with glue.

 It worked so far , only 5 minutes of holding it in place. Like my little bag trick to hold the handle up right? my arm was getting tired.

 I am using this easy to install swag kit , I am using a more rustic chain that I had laying around the one that came with the kit is too new and shiny,

 plus a canopy kit ...

 here is the glue , a two part epoxy. I've never used this before , its very neat stuff, really solid when set. I was on the hunt for a great lantern and happened to make my own perfect lanterns are you wondering how much this is going to cost me ? well the large one is coming in at $65.00 and the smaller one at $55.00 , I can not beat that and they are really truly one of a kind.

Ok breaking news...I spied this tool in the electrical lighting kit area at Home Depot today. I thought " what is this?" OMG its a chain opener/closer tool , are you serious !!!! I've been struggling with chains for 20 years and there was this amazing tool. It is so easy to use , no swearing needed and no damage to the chain at all . I can't believe I didn't know this even existed , did you?

I have to share with you this super exciting deal I found at Lowe's the other day. It took me a day to decide where and how to use these mosaic's and to go back and pick up 5 sheets. On the fireplace surround , I am going to use the vertically all the way around and 12x12 tiles on the hearth , this is a great place to splurge on tile . But what is better than finding an extra special tile for a steal $5.49 a sheet , normally around $15.00 of more a sheet for marble, LOVE!!!