Swim Model

When we finished the bathroom reno, I was looking for some art to hang on the wall. Some of you mentioned that you had put up pics of your little ones in the bathtub. Well, now that I have my own little one, what better art than photos of my tiny swim model. I thought about making them black and white, but I'm craving a bit more colour in the bathroom so I've done a bit of Seventies styling in photoshop.



And here's a mockup of how it'll look in the bathroom... because this little one does not like to nap so it will be a while before I actually get a chance to buy the frames, print the pics, and get them mounted! :o\

Bedroom Inspiration

I've got the bedroom renovation on the brain... here's a few of my favourite inspiration pics. I love the colours, the textures, and the feels of these images. How they'll translate into a singular bedroom 'look' is still beyond me. This room is going to be a tough one to design!

2

Wow, has it really been two years since HandyMan and I moved into our new old house? That means it has been two years and then some since I started blogging about our adventures in finding, buying, and renovating this house of ours. When I started this blog, HandyMan and I were engaged, planning a wedding, and living in my condo with only a few power tools to our name. Sure, we had done some work on HandyMan's old condo - laid down some floors, paint, tile - but we really hadn't earned our renovating chops yet.

With this house, we've really had a chance to design, build, and sustain a few cuts and bruises along the way. We've touched most spaces in the house - the entry, the dining room, kitchen, bathroom, office, deck, garage, and spare bedroom. That leaves the basement which contains the second bathroom and the laundry room and the two most used rooms in the house (the master bedroom and the living room) untouched. Okay, not entirely untouched (we just couldn't live with the previous owner's pink carpet!) but our bedroom and the living room really aren't fit for public viewing... yet!! We've decided to start working on our master bedroom next so stay tuned :) In the meantime, here's a look back at our house transformation so far.

The Befores


The Afters!


I love how, with a bit of effort and thought, it doesn't even look or feel like the same house :)

You're Sitting On A Fortune

Remember these chairs from this post? Reader Wolfie and the Sneak kindly referred me to this site and pointed out that those chairs could be worth a fair bit of cashola. Well, we kept the chairs in the family and they went to HandyMan's cousin (we simply have no more room here with Chloe's swing and bouncy chair and playmat and toys strewn about!) so I guess we'll never find out what they could have sold for. Too bad...we could have used the funds for another room renovation, haha!

Moments

I've spent the better part of the last three hours with a baby in my arms, rocking her to sleep. I needed it today just as much as she did. She, fighting an eye infection, forced to feed from a bottle when all she's known was the warmth of her mother's busom, missing her mommy...maybe...hopefully. Me, leaving my little one in the care of her Grandma, while I dive in the waters and start my new consulting business that will hopefully enable me to be a work-from-home mom when my maternity leave is up. I hate the thought of leaving her home when she's so young. I mean, just yesterday we had our first conversation, her and I taking turns speaking, neither one understanding the other, but connecting somewhere in the middle in a way that only mother's and baby's voices can. What other small miracles did I miss today? My heart breaks just a little.

My life is measured now in these brief moments... the months between her doctor's appointments when I can see how much she's gained and grown... the weeks that pass by, where the frenzy and unpredictability is replaced by calmness and routine... the days and nights of sleeplessness gracefully giving way to sleep and play ...the hours of laying beside her, feeding her, changing her, dancing singing reading to her, wondering what else I can do to keep this little creature happy and help her thrive... and the minutes where I hold her in my arms, waiting for her eyes to softly close and sleep to take hold, wanting those minutes to come quickly but wishing I could hold her like that forever.

Sleep baby, sleep.

Shelved

With the new baby, not much renovating has been going on around Rambling Renovators. And the projects we do get to are taking soooo much longer to finish. I'm sure you parents out there can relate! So I'm really happy reveal something we managed to complete - the shelf in Chloe's room.

When I designed the whole built-in wardrobe / window seat area, I knew I wanted a shelf above the window. You can always use more storage in a kid's room and plus we didn't have anywhere to put the toys and books that Chloe would accumulate. HandyMan started by cutting a piece of plywood to fit the length of the window. By resting and screwing it into the top of the window frame, we'd have enough support along the length of the shelf for the baskets. The shelf was made 13" deep, deep enough for the baskets but not so deep that it would create a dark hole above the window and block off some of the sunlight. The variety in depth against the adjoining wardrobes also created a much more interesting design.


HandyMan added a 3" strip of plywood across the front to mimic the shaker details in the window seat. A small one inch strip was added underneath the left and right ends of the shelf to provide additional support. We found a nice chrome curtain rod at West Elm and mounted that directly to the face of the window frame. The curtains our seamstress made looked great hanging off the shiny rings. Now its the perfect inviting space. I can picture Chloe sitting there when she's older, reading her favourite book.


One little faux pas though... the curtains were made before we knew where the curtain rod would be hung and our measurements were wrong. Not a big deal, we'll just have to get them shortened. Just one more thing to add to the project list!

Happy Father's Day

The Top 10 things that tell me Chloe is lucky to have HandyMan as her dad:

1. He won't hesitate to change her diaper - no matter how messy it may get
2. He rushes home every day just to see Chloe's smiling face
3. He saved all his Dr. Seuss books knowing someday he would get to read them to his own little one - and now he does just that!
4. He always puts mommy and baby first and makes sure we are healthy, loved, and safe.
5. When mommy is breastfeeding, HandyMan will take care of whatever else needs to be done like cooking dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house.
6. He doesn't mind carrying Chloe up on his shoulder when she doesn't want to lie in her stroller.
7. HandyMan put Chloe's nursery together, doing the painting, building the window seat, and assembling the wardrobes all by himself because mommy couldn't help with anything
8. HandyMan is the "Chloe Whisperer". He can rock and shush Chloe to sleep in no time!
9. When Chloe wakes for her 5am feed, HandyMan gets up too because he knows that's when Chloe's best giggles happen and he doesn't want to miss any of them
10. Chloe is the first baby that HandyMan ever held in his arms. And now, that is Chloe's favourite place to fall asleep.

Happy Father's Day Sean!