Sunday, July 24, 2011

Thrift-store score

Thrift stores are so hit-and-miss, but I snagged these very collectible vintage paint-by-numbers paintings at the new local Value Village last week. At $10 apiece, they were pretty pricey by VV standards, but I snapped them up the second I saw them. Score! Not sure yet if they'll end up in the PEI house or in William's room, but I love them.


Friday, July 15, 2011

This post brought to you by RBC

Exciting news! Just yesterday I called our PEI contractor and told him to go ahead and start the plumbing (mostly just upgrading it, as well as moving the pipes that ran through the one wall we removed in the kitchen/back room). Once the plumbing is done, he also has the go-ahead to start insulating and drywalling. Our hope is that by the time we arrive on August 1st, we'll be able to hit Home Depot (or Kent?) and buy bathroom fixtures for them to install. With walls and a functional bathroom, I think the place would be damn near livable. Very exciting indeed!

As for the bathroom, I plan to keep it very simple, and white, white, white (with colourful accessories, eventually). It's a rather small space, and we're leaving everything in the same footprint as before. So a basic white five-foot tub, basic toilet and either a pedestal sink or a small vanity is all we need (plus lighting, faucets and flooring, of course). My mother-in-law has half a box of 2" white hexagonal tile left over from her bathroom reno, so I would like to get a bit more of that and use it for the floor in there. While my plan is to keep it simple and inexpensive, I refuse to consider vinyl flooring or those hideous plastic shower surrounds. Tile is the only way to go.

Although we won't be going for the clawfoot tub (we had one in our first house in Toronto, before we reno'd it, and it sucks to shower in one), here are a couple of bathrooms I love for their unfussy simplicity and their classic vintage vibe:



Crisp green and white (source unknown)


Ravishing red via House Beautiful




Michael Penney's apartment bathroom via House & Home (love the polka-dot shower curtain and black-painted vintage wall shelf)




This is definitely the beginning of The Fun Part. I can't wait.