Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Basement Bathroom is Complete!

The bathroom is complete. Yup, complete. I’m doing the happy dance over here. I feel like our basement renovation has been going on for so long and even though the necessities of the bathroom have been finished for awhile, it needed to become a space, our space. Here is what we started with…

To this…
 I didn't know we lived on a beach...holy sand!
To this…
To this...
Let’s start with the floor. We went for an industrial look.
This wasn’t going to be our main bathroom and it’s in the basement, so why not do something fun. I knew I wanted a mixture of brown, grey and black and this was the starting off point.
When you’re thinking about a bathroom floor I encourage you to add in-floor heating. I had never had it before and I’m sold. I wrote all about the in-floor heating a couple of months ago. Warm toes = happy feet.

Paint. The colour that we chose is the same colour throughout the basement. We went with Tulle White by CIL. While the bathroom has a window, it’s frosted, so I didn’t want to make the space feel dark. If you have a powder room upstairs, regardless of window or not…I say go bold. Go black, navy…oh luxe. However, in a basement you’re trying to create the feeling of not being underground.
Storage. Does your bathroom need it? You’ll likely need somewhere to at least put your towels. All the hardware in the basement came from Wakefield, ON when my friend Lisa and I went on our girlstrip.

The cage on the clock lends to the industrial feel but next to the soft towels it just feels right.


You know how much I’m in love with the light but can I also tell you about the faucet? I wanted something that wasn’t traditional but still functional, given that this bathroom is going to be used a lot. I chose this faucet by Delta … a long time ago when I first shared my bathroom inspiration board.
I loved that the chrome matched the chrome in the shower and on the light.
The waterfall effect gave it that edge factor and Delta’s quality is amazing.
Remember when I shared with you the new Touch 20 that we installed in our kitchen? That’s been a lifesaver. The kids love the faucet. Anytime someone wants to see how the basement is coming along, the kids take them right down to see how the water comes out of the faucet J A few added touches here and there and voila! A bathroom that we love.



Do you see the toilet paper holder there? I made it in five minutes at the hardware store. Stay tuned, I’ll share the deets with you soon.
Keep it Beautiful.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Bathroom Lighting

I’ve always been a sucker for beautiful lighting. It’s probably my favourite design element in a room. Having the right lighting is important for many reasons. No one wants “hag’ lighting. Nope, it’s just not going to make you feel good. “Hag” lighting reminds me of when the bar lights turn on at the end of the night and everyone looks a heck of a lot different than they did moments before. Say no to “hag” lighting.

I know that the coiled lightbulbs are energy efficient but some of them cast off fluorescent, blue-ish light. Not good my friends. If you want to go energy efficient (which we all should be…although don’t tell Mr. Fix-It, I swap ours out now and then…think he notices?) go for soft light. Soft light can still give enough lighting power in your space, you don't need to light the airport runway.

We only needed one external light in the basement reno. The rest of the basement is powered by pot lights. We chose the LED pots that are more expensive on the initial output but the bulbs last for ten years or something crazy and they don’t get hot. They also need only a few inches for installation between the beams and the drywall. This is an excellent option when you’re trying to get as much ceiling height as possible.
After looking at all my favourite lighting stores I kept coming back to one of my favourite online stores that I wanted to share with you. It’s called Rejuvenation. I know you all know about Pottery Barn, William Sonoma, West Elm etc. They are all linked together and Rejuvenation is part of that family. It’s AMAZING! It’s lighting, hardware, bath, furniture…beautiful. I knew that the bathroom lighting had to be one of their beauties. I love the industrial meets modern feel.

We planned for the light to be directly over the mirror so these were on my list…
Gorg right? We ended up choosing this one…
Rejuvenation - Mist Triple Sconce

I love everything about it. The porcelain is all hand painted to order and arrived packaged nicely in a bubble-wrap blanket. It takes a few weeks from when you order because everything is custom made just.for.you. The quality of the light is fab.

Speaking of fabulous lightbulbs, I picked up the industrial looking "Einstein" bulbs at a local lighting store here in Ottawa. They’re cool, trendy and fit perfectly in the light.
I also had a hard time deciding whether to go with a black or silver finish. Both are traditional, but the silver/chrome feel gives it a fancier look while the black gives great impact on the wall. Decisions. Decisions. I obviously went for the black but I do love the nautical, industrial feel the chrome finish gives.
2. Austin
4. Tolson


Once the light was up...
 
we added our mirror and a few things to style away...
 and boom! we have a brand new basement vanity!

I would love to see what lighting you are loving right now. Traditional? Modern? Black? Chrome? Ooooh, what about Brass? Super trending! Our front porch is in need for a fabulous lantern out there. So many options!
Happy Friday my friends. xo

Keep it Beautiful.


Monday, October 19, 2015

Halloween Decorating

Hey everyone!

I'm back from my trip, Thanksgiving is over and holy cow...how is it almost Halloween!? Mr. Fix-It and I had an incredible time in California. I'm hoping to do a post on some of our favourite spots we would recommend to anyone who is heading to San Francisco and Napa Valley. We had an incredible time. Just the two of us. 
From our basement reno to being away in San Fan and then celebrating Thanksgiving at the cottage with our family, I feel like my fall home décor has skipped over "fall" and this weekend we got out all the Halloween bins and everything went ghost, pumpkins and spooky. As an aside, I definitely do want to share with you tips on fall décor because once Halloween is over, it's over. You don't want to be looking at ghosts and pumpkins until December. It's a little early to get out your Christmas tree so don't put your fall wreaths away just yet (just back in the cupboard for the next couple weeks). I was on Daytime Ottawa last week talking about this very thing.


This is the first year that all the kids agreed, they wanted scary decorations. So, this weekend we hit Giant Tiger for all things spooky. Scary glowing ghosts (I think they look like the "Death Eaters" in Harry Potter), skeletons, & hanging pumpkins later our spooky Halloween mantle came to life.
Scary eh? The creepy ghost in netting on the left, flashes and yells really loudly at a push of a button and the right ghost's face, flashes all different colours. Halloween is a really fun time to go all out with your décor. Our mantle has gone through a few different Halloweens here, & here . I have to say I was a little creeped out walking up the stairs to bed with these dudes hanging on the mantle.

Of course, I can't go into GT Boutique for just one thing. We also left with stretchy gloves for the kids, gummies, a princess costume & cheese. Thank you one-stop shop.
This is what the ghosts look like when they are on and angry. It's hard to tell what the guy on the left is doing in the photo.
We bought a couple of extra ghosts for the outside to hang from the trees and the front porch.  Kids love helping decorate for holidays. We spent Sunday afternoon outside getting everything up. Yup, there are ghosts hanging crooked off the mailbox and a bunch of things hanging off one random hook but the kids love it and proud of their work. Halloween is perfect for all things scary and random.


This year we have a robot, the Incredible Hulk & a purple princess who will be out there knocking on doors looking for all things sweet.

It's good to be back my friends. Today is Election Day in Canada. I hope my Canadian friends all vote. Please, please...vote. This is your Canada.

This week I'm planning on sharing our basement bathroom with you and talking all things lighting in the bathroom.

Keep It Beautiful.


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