New additions

Since we have now just enjoyed Mason's grade 8 graduation followed by Sophie's 11th birthday and then Mason's 14th birthday I think its time to show you a few things that have happened in the meantime.

I have decided it's time to focus on the master bathroom. We are expecting the arrival of the carrera marble for the tub deck on Friday, cross our fingers it actually comes , deadlines seem to come and go when it comes to my marble. Smile! I cut down some masonite and attached it to the tub apron tile that I think is dreadful on a vertical surface . I used no more nails and I will attach beadboard to the center and I will paint it all birch white. 

 I finally sanded and stained the upstairs hall, today I will top coat.

I baked Sophie some red velvet cupcakes for her birthday yesterday , these are Betty Crocker and come with frosting. I found this pkg cake mix at Wal Mart. So very moist. Like my wooden cake stand , purty.

 Back to the master bath then, I moved this cupboard into the bath because I was finishing the upper hall , but then figured it works well here especially since we will be hanging a tv right above there , it will work perfectly for the little cable box. It was blue yesterday but I painted it the wall colour to keep things calm.

 Last I told you I was planning on painting my side tables, but I finally found these new lamps and they seem to make the tables work. So no painting the tables then.

 As soon as I saw these lamps I knew I needed them , the pretty blue and lucite touches, perfection and they were on clearance.

Here is a photo of the lamps I had that weren't the right scale. Cute but too small.

 I am not a big fan of the antique brass door hardware that come standard, it had a lock pad which is convenient but not so pretty. I have had my eye on this lock set from Rona for about 6 months. It has so much style and character. They are closing the Rona near us and are clearing out lots of great stuff including this lock set so I grabbed it before it was gone forever. Let's just say it was a good deal.

 It was fun installing it with its Ikea style directions. I was left with some holes to deal with but it luckily fit right into the exsisting holes, phew to that . I used bondo to fix and fill the holes since our door is metal , it works quite well.

So the door is all done , the lights are up , now bring on the grass , PLEASE, I am told July 3rd .....yippy for progress.

Graduation time

 Mason graduated grade 8 last Thursday , it was an exciting day. We went to the hair salon for an up-do and make-up. I think the dress we chose was perfection , she looked so beautiful. She is so grown up now.

 The hot hot weather turned nasty right as we were to leave for the ceremony, major thunder storm, so we didn't have a chance to take enough time for proper photos. It was so rushed. I didn't get the coming down the stairs shot I always thought I would, darn , I hate being rushed. Oh well.

 Her make-up was amazing, her skin is so pretty.

 The parent child dance was sweet , this is their very first dance, sniff sniff, it was so dark and crowded , it was difficult to get a good photo, I'm glad I at least got this photo of the occasion.

                         

The ceremony was long , lots of awards were handed out. Mason received the visual arts award , amazing as well as an achievement award. We are very proud of our young adult. Her birthday is in a couple of days she will be 14 yrs , it is kind of freaking me out that she is 14 already , didn't I just have her.  

The ceremony went on and on and it was one of the hottest days , it felt like 100 with the humidex, so the non air conditioned gym was stifling. 

Mason found this neat hair on pinterest , it was a challenge for the negative nelly  hairdresser we had. OMG she was so annoying, the curls might fall out , your extensions are too wide the color is wrong , blah blah blah, after a second stylist saved the day and made a bow the style stayed in all night and the extensions were perfect. I wish the stylist was quite so negative, I had to bite my tongue. We thought it was so funny when a second stylist asked if the extensions were in and said how they matched so well, some people need to look on the bright side.

Onto enjoy the summer with the kids .

fresh coat for the closet

Here is the before of my laundry room pantry/closet. It is outfitted with built ins I made out of MDF 12"x 8' shelving, edged with primed select pine. Lots of shelves to keep things stored and organized. When we bought this house I was very excited to have this space , I looked very forward to having a dedicated spot for my vacuum and brooms and such. I also looked very forward to getting the dog food , bowls and gear out of my kitchen. It has turned out to be a great asset and I just love it. I even have space for drinks and extra food items which I never really had ever before.
It needed to be primed and caulked , which I was putting off because who really wants to do all that .
I was thinking of painting it all a punchy color , but I was easily swayed to keep it fresh and white, or off white I guess with our Birch White.

After taping off and filling holes and sanding then dusting I tackled the priming followed by caulking. 

 Gave it all a couple of coats of semi-gloss Birch white general paint.

 I re-attached all the gadgets.

 Doesn't it look fresh and crisp , I love a good built in.

Now I wait to be able to put all the contents back where it all belongs , and maybe I will make some doors for this closet , or maybe it will just get a curtain, that might just work better. Heck maybe I'll keep it open , its my laundry room.
OMG I just realized since I added wheels to the dog food container I have room for another shelf... that I can make from scraps....