Bathroom Reno - Part 2

Just a quick little post because I was so excited about this new purchase that I just couldn't wait to share it.

Might I mention that you may only be able to appreciate it if you have young children

Say hello to my new toilet seat!!!

Now, I imagine you are saying..."that crazy loon! Why on earth would she be excited about a new toilet seat?"

Take another look with the lid open

See my reason for excitement yet?

How about now?

You got it!  This toilet seat has a built in child seat!  No more removable potty seat to take on and off and store somewhere in the bathroom!  PLUS, it's a whisper close, so no more slamming lids!

I know it's silly to be so excited over something like this, but now I don't have to deal with the potty seat on top of the garbage can or on the floor, etc.  And yes, it does remove for easy cleaning or for when you don't need it anymore.

I originally saw the idea here while browsing Pinterest.  It said you could get it at Home Depot and I hoped that also meant Home Depot in Canada.  We were there yesterday to get new lights for the bathroom and I checked to see if they had it.  It came with a bit of pricetag ($45), but we needed a new seat anyway and I know we will get a number more years out of it's purpose.

Honey, Let's Paint!

Those 3 words that my husband HATES!

It's not that he hates painting, it's just that I usually utter them about the 2nd last day of his holidays.

Not this time!

I am going to be hosting a baby shower for my cousin and his wife.  They are due in a couple weeks with their first little guy and I couldn't wait to have a shower to celebrate once the little guy arrives.  I figure the shower will be in April sometime, so I mentioned to Brian a couple weeks ago that I wanted to paint before the shower.  See how nice I was, I gave him LOTS of notice.

Our bathroom was not that pretty and we hadn't done anything to it.  Each wall was ceramic tile about 4 feet high in a beige with brown specks.  It looks grimy and I really wished we could take it off, but I figured that would be opening a whole can of worms we were not interested in.

See!!!  Not pretty, and the tiles in the tub were starting to lift just a little in some spots.  So, Brian decided to see just how easily the tiles came off.  He started in a corner behind the door and it turns out, they just popped off.

I was left with a bathroom looking like this:

REALLY ugly now!  Our only problem of concern was the tub.  We were hoping the walls behind it were OK, but a bit doubtful to be honest.  Once Brian popped those tiles off, there was a bit of mold behind it, so we had to replace some drywall.  And while we were replacing drywall, might as well put in new taps!

We needed an inexpensive, easy fix for the shower walls.  At first we figured we would do tile board.  Then, the Home Hardware flyer came and they had a tub surround in the flyer for $60. Which was less than the tile board.  Tonight we put up the wall and I must say, it turned out pretty good for $60. It is a solution that should get us by for a few years.

Tomorrow, we (meaning Brian) has to silicone around all the edges and then it should be good to use. Also on the agenda of things to complete:

• New Floor
• Paint
• Baseboard
• Mirror
• Counter top and sink (only if I can find a deal!)
• Doorknob with lock
• Window dressings

Over the next month and a half, we should have it complete.

 I will post more pictures as we go!

Flunk-O-La

There is a whole website dedicated to photos of failed attempts at things you saw on Pinterest.

I had one of those moments tonight.

I wanted to make something simple and small for the Hayden and Abby's Valentine's Day parties at school.

I saw these cute marshmallow pops on Pinterest and figured that would be great!  Hayden LOVES marshmallows!

Cute right?

Yeah, mine didnt' turn out like that at ALL!  I didn't even bother taking a picture of the fail, because basically, it was just a big blob of goo!

I blame in on the fact that the idea orginated in the US and I just couldn't get the same products here in Canada!  But truthfully, it's because I didn't read how to do it, figured my big ol' brain knew what to do!

NOPE!  All I was left with was about 20 marshmallows with sticks in the middle, leaning to one side as the sprinkles slid off!  I acutally only tried about 3 of them, the rest of the marshmallows had the sticks ripped out of them and tossed back in the bag.  The sticks all went in the garbage!

So, now I had to go onto to attempt number 2, with the treats I had planned for Abby's class.

I wanted to make my own version of this:

They are dipped Oreos with sprinkles.  But Abby can't eat Oreo's, they make her sick and nobody wants that!  So, I got myself some chocolate covered graham wafer cookies.  I melted some white chocolate and at the last minute decided to add some pink colour.   I dug out my pink colouring paste and it had hardened up and gone gritty.  Despite my instints to NOT use it, I did.  It didnt' give me the colour I wanted.  I ended up with a bleh colour of reddish/pink, imagine diluted cream of tomato soup.  No turning back now, it was the last of the chocolate wafers.

I dipped in half of the cookie and laid it on the parchment paper and sprinkled with red and pink coloured sugar.  Problem was, the warm melted chocolate started to take off the choclolate coating on the cookies.  I quickly got them done and put them outside to harden up.  They turned out OK, and I had to now split them between Hayden and Abby.

I should have just gone with what I did last year.  Wanna a reminder of how awesome the treats were last year?

Rice Krispie Hearts

Giant Heart Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookie

The 1850 Mile Pinterest Challenge - February Edition

In case you don't remember, last month, I mentioned that a girlfriend of mine and her sister were participating in a challenge to replicate things they had seen on Pinterest.  I horned in and agreed to participate as well.

First let me explain what kind of crafter I am...a half-assed one.  I often see something I want to do, and start even though I don't have all the supplies or I don't take all the necessary steps, like sanding or wiping off the sawdust.  It's just the way I am..my mother can contest to that!

Anyhoo, I had a number of smaller projects or things for the kids that I wanted to complete this month and that is what I did.

First off,

I read this book

It was OK, the ending made me want to read more and there is supposed to be a sequel and a movie based on it.  I was surprised at how fast of a read it was...I read it in one day.  I discovered after that it is considered a "Young Adult" novel, so that explains the reason for it going by quickly.  That also explains why it wasn't as creepy as I hoped it would be, but I enjoyed it none the less and look forward to the next book. The author got the idea of the story based on random old photos he found and that to me, makes it pretty interesting.

Next, was a quick update to the knife block in my kitchen.  I had seen a post here and finally worked on it. I have no idea why it never occurred to me to paint it up.  That is just one more reason I love Pinterest.  I love crafting, but I am not crafty enough to create my own things...I need to copy someone else!  Here is my version of the knife block.

It started out like this

And ended up like this..in a buttery yellow

A close up of the butterfly I cut out using my Cricut and contact paper

The next thing I crafted was something for one of Hayden's daycare teachers for her birthday.   I didn't intend it for her birthday, I had wanted to do it for Christmas, but didn't know how to give just one teacher something different.  In about November, Brian and I ran into her when picking up the kids and we were chatting and at one point, she spilled her coffee and mentioned a quote on a little plaque her mother had on the wall, but when they cleaned out her mom's house, it went somewhere, but she wasn't sure where.  I got in the van and wrote down the quote as best as she could remember...knowing I could look it up on the Internet.   That is exactly what I did and when I gave it her, she was so touched!  It made me happy to do this for her...it didn't cost me much at all to make, but the impact was priceless!

 A couple of years ago, I bought about a dozen of these plaques at Winners,
not having any clue what I would do with them, but they were only
0.30 each!

Here is the finished plaque.  I printed the quote onto some scrapbook paper
and mod podged it on

Finally, I worked on some Valentines for the kids.  Between daycare and school, I had to make about 40 Valentine's.  For Hayden, I wanted to do different ones for daycare and school.  Now, I know I could have gone out and bought a box of them for way less money then I spent making them, but I am an over-achiever! (or a bugger for punishment, you decide)  I also learned last year, that it is WAY easier to just make them yourself and not let your kids help.  Last year I decided to buy some foam hearts and let Hayden put stickers on them, after about 5, he told me I could do them and I was stuck making it look like a  4 year old created them!

I got a couple ideas from here and here and one more, but somehow the link got deleted and I couldn't find it again.

Hayden's for daycare, I just printed off the pictures on cardstock,
glued them to more cardstock and taped on a couple crayons

Hayden's for school...I attached a bouncy ball onto the card

Abby's for daycare, it's a round piece of cardstock, taped into a small
container of playdoh

So there you have it.  My Pinterest completions for this month. Now to search for items for the next post!