Bathroom Update - We have a new (framed) wall!

A long overdue hello again!! We have been pouring our time into the bathroom reno and a couple of other projects we have on the go, so my at-home computer time has been taken up with research and ordering (online shopping with store returns makes my life sooooo easy).  Fortunately "research" tends to involve Pinterest so I've been getting my fix.

Ok now time for the real updates - a couple of weekends ago the Mr and his very handy friend framed the new wall for our bathroom. Our main change to the bathroom is moving the wall into our guest room by 20 inches. 20" is a lot of added space to our teeny tiny principal bathroom.

Exciting, right!??! As you can see, once the wall is down the bathroom will have a nice amount of space for a proper vanity and space for good old moving around. We aren't going to be able to tango in the bathroom but that's a good thing considering the maneuvers we have to pull right now if we are in there brushing our teeth at the same time.

The wall was framed in advance of demo so we could wrap it in plastic in hopes of containing SOME of the mess to come from demo (demo in a 90 year old house with plaster walls will always be messy).

Oh - and an update on the light fixtures - we ordered both the top and side fixtures to see what will work best in real life with all of the other finishes we have (and we can return the ones we don't use directly in store...so easy).

Hoping to put together a mood board soon so you can see where I am going with all of this!

On top, or on the side?

Happy (belated) Easter everyone! Hope the Easter bunny was good to you. My weekend was extra long since the Mr. and I took Monday off as well, and it felt relaxing yet full of family and friends. The Easter Bunny was exceptionally good to me, except I forgot my new pillow covers that my mom sewed for me! Sooo it will be a month or so until I see them in the living room...c'est la vie. We will be in a construction zone throughout our bathroom reno though, so maybe it's all for the best.

Speaking of reno...I've moved on to some light fixture choices (PS - we've ordered the vanity, tub, and fixtures / taps!). I need your help with this one - lighting on top or on the side?

Or

Mirrors (yep, I ordered those too), Top lighting, Side lighting all via lowes.ca

What do you think? We are also still debating whether we need 2 potlights - any thoughts? The bathroom will be approximately 50 sq ft when we're done with it.

I did it

Good Friday morning!!

I did it.

Well, I actually did 2 things (and no. one of them wasn't "write a blog post"...although I have been slacking in that regard so if we count that I'm up to 3. Woah.).

1- very exciting...my last post was about pillows...I typically hem and haw about online purchases (ok, about most decisions), but really liked the multi-coloured pillow, which turns out was sold out. As soon as it was back in stock, Chapters/Indigo tweeted me with an update and I ordered it immediately. Well played Chapters, well played. The good news? I love said pillow. Check it out on my beautiful chair:

{iphone pic...haven't had time to play with my camera much lately!)

The second thing I did? Hit up Target. This is BIG news in Toronto. From my instagram (InteriorGroupie) and twitter (@interiorgroupie) feeds I was worried that other bloggers had already scooped everything up, but the shelves were pretty well stocked when I went on Thursday, and I ended up with this loot:

Here is a lot of other fun stuff I came across:

Aside from spending money, we're busy planning the bathroom (oh..."did it #3" ordered the vanity. Woot! Oh wait, that's just spending more money) and wishing for spring to make an appearance (I know we're not as badly off as other places...but the flakes have been a flyin' here and I'm ready for sun and green).

Have a good first weekend of "spring"!

Pillow patterns

Ok...I have seen a bunch of pillow posts lately. Which kind of makes me feel mega-late on my pillow ideas / living room facelift. I've come to the conclusion that the green is out, and navy will be in. I want to do a mix of grey and navy, and then hopefully if the pillow gods are in my favor, this puppy for our gorgeously re-upholstered gray herringbone chair:

via Chapters Indigo, brought to my attenion by the lovely Sundeep at DesignWali

 

Here's a reminder of my sofa and living room:

 

Yep, I'm so over the green and brown ikat, and green pillows (I have 2 of the same on the other side of the sofa).

I've got 4 pillows to re-do (2 16" and 2 18"), and am thinking of navy and gray. ahhhh I LOVE navy right now (well pretty much always...but especially right now, and especially in my living room).  Here are some of my options:

Cameron Storm, via TonicLiving

Small ikat dot navy (also in gray) via Tonic Living

Zia birch navy (also available in charcoal), via TonicLiving

Right now I'm thinking 2 of the gray ones in 18" and one of each (16") of the navy ones. 

Please excuse (aka stop laughing) at my lame-o attempt at a rendering. Oh, and our ghetto coffee table (still on the lookout...anyone know places in Toronto that will sell slabs of wood?)

What do you think? More navy, less grey? All 4 differernt (e.g. maybe one of the big ones in a gray version of one of the navys?)

Rethinking bathroom space

I hinted in my last post that some recent measurements may lead to my dream bathroom not coming true. We were looking at 60" vanities (which seems to be the smallest common size you can get for a double vanity), but we're a tad worried that if we go with 60" it will be too clunky and "there" in the bathroom. We have a radiator at the far end of our bathroom, beside the future vanity. The radiator currently takes up about 8" of precious space. We could look at slim rads (like StelRad) but we assume those would still need 4-6" to be hung on the wall and to allow some breathing room. All this adds up to our 90" long bathroom being just a tad short (for you know, things like the 26" door swing). We aren't changing where the door is so we can't do a pocket door to save on swing space (the only option would be put the pocket door behind the shower...which for obvious plumbing reasons is not an option).

We came to the conclusion that a smaller vanity was the answer and would make the bathroom look better in the end because it wouldn't be stuffed with furniture.I've contacted Lumsden Custom Cabinetry for a quote for a smaller vanity (check out the beautiful vanity they made for Janice at Life Begins at Thirty, Right).

We also did some shopping this weekend.  We came across a few wall-hung vanities that are still double vanities, but only 54" in length. They are also a bit more shallow than the other vanieites we were looking at, and being wall hung give the illusion of space (and provide enough room to propoerly clean underneath). They are very modern...which we're not against, just a different look than we were initially going for. Here are a couple of options:

(PS - check out those prices)

These vanities are 54" but I think they still allow for a lot of counter space while maintaining good sized sinks (19" wide). 

What do you think of wall hung vanities? Clean and sleek, or not your style? Do you think a large single mirror is better than 2 separate ones for a vanity of this size?

Update and my bathroom moodboard

Happy March!! I for one am happy that March is here...and just waiting for Spring to catch up :)

Sorry for being MIA last week...I have a feeling that is going to be common over the next little while. My day job (real life!) is cookoo right now and I'm putting most of my energy into that, which unfortunately leaves little time for blogging (and creative inspiration) on the side. So, I'll be here when I'm here, and look forward to catching up on your blogs whenever I can.

Thank you so much for all of your comments about the bathroom vanity options!! Based on some of the posts that I did on the vanities, here is my initial vision:

via my Olioboard (under InteriorGroupie)

A mix of marble, black and white to round it all out. Based on some recent measurements however this may be more of a dream bathroom scenario vs. reality...more on that later this week.

Until then...what do you think?