We have got the sink in and all the plumbing changed out to accommodate the new vanity. And we have painted! It's very dark and blue, but I think it's going to work well. The vanity still needs to be built and lighting to be done. Hopefully we will get to it this weekend. Lots more details on the plumbing replacement next week. For now, here is the before and after of the paint and new sink!

This chair looks like a lot of fun to have in your living room. Kids would love it too! Check out this Canadian chair, called Exocet, by Montreal designer Stéphane Leathead for design studio Designarium. It can be configured many different ways for different sitting positions. So much fun!

The bathroom renovation is coming along quite nicely. We have the sink up, and all the pluming done. Exciting! Hopefully we will get lots more done this weekend. More on that next week. In-between working on the bathroom, I got to spend some time outside in the beautiful sun doing some gardening. I had bought a few herbs, and decided to plant them by our deck for easy access when cooking in the future. I even added little ceramic name plates for each herb. We have a lot of extra interlocking that was left with the house, so I created a path in the soil to make a separation between the lilies and my herbs. It felt great to work in the garden and get my hands dirty.  

I love the shape of this modern house in Japan. Lots of bright, large windows with interesting lines. It was designed by Future Studio. For more photos go to Contemporist. 

Everything that's going, has been torn out of the powder room. Now it's time to build back up. More progress to come this week! 

We have started the gathering stage of the powder room renovation. We will probably start tearing out everything this weekend. Exciting! Below is the official lookbook for the bathroom, as we have finally picked colours and items for the room. 

Here is the bathroom as it currently sits. We are changing everything except the toilet and the floor. In fact we will be adding to the floor. We found extra tiles in storage that we will use to cover up the hole left behind when we take out the vanity. I'm not a big fan of the flooring but it continues into the kitchen, so we will change it at the same time as a kitchen renovation. We will also have to add more baseboard behind the current vanity, but we are now baseboard pros. We recently replaced the ceiling fan so that's all set to go. 

We are planning to turn the current mirror sideways (if it doesn't break during the process). It's quite tall, and I thought it would look neat going all the way across the wall, covering both the sink and toilet. Originally we wanted to add a funky mirror, like this, but practicality won out. As Jeff stands a foot taller than I, we noticed with the fun mirror, only one of us would be able to see our selves depending where it was hung. So we decided to stick with a regular mirror. However, I still think it will look quite modern, with its clean lines. Then we will add new track lighting to sit across the top of the mirror (as seen below). 

I also ended up getting the towel bar, toilet paper holder, and soap dispenser at CB2 (pictured below). 

Below was our inspiration for the vanity. Of course this is much fancier than we will be doing, not to mention we have a much smaller space. However, we are buying a sink/vanity top and then building a shelf underneath using planks of wood. Should look pretty neat!

We picked paint by Behr called Bermudan Blue. It's a dark blue mixed with a bit of green. I think it will be quite rich in the small space, giving it a luxurious feel. I also found this fun drawing (below) I think will look great on the wall. Can't wait to see how it looks! Lots of work ahead, I will post more next week on our progress. Wish us luck!

Check out this neat geometrical glass house. It was designed by L3P Architekten in Zurich, Switzerland. Lots more photos at Contemporist. 

About:
After the removal of border limit clearances only 5 m x 9 m are left over in this small steep lot at the vineyard at Dielsdorf. With a maximum of 83 m2 above-ground level living, this lot has long been considered unbuildable. A classical residential house with solid outer walls, conventional access staircase and traffic area has no space on this site.

Room and structure are one, resulting from an interdisciplinary collaboration between the architects and building engineer. The sculptured reinforced concrete and steel framework in black-coloured exposed concrete is omnipresent: walls, ceilings, floors and even the bookcase are a part of the framework. Floor beddings, sound insulation, flooring, plaster work and paint work that would cover the framework do not appear. The residence is reduced to the elementaries on naked exposed concrete, complemented through diverse handmade furniture and enveloped in a glass mantle.

This past weekend I decided enough was enough! All my baking stuff had been crammed into one small cupboard, piled on top of each other. It drove me mad! Daydreaming, I realized a had a huge cabinet going underused with just a couple of appliances in it. So after some switching around I designated the bigger cupboard for baking stuff. However, what started as a simple rearranging turned into an all weekend project. I already had few things in jars, but now everything has it's own matching jar with labels. 

The preexisting jar labels were just stickers, which means if I ended up changes the jar contents I was stuck with the old label. Now all the jars have chalkboard labels so they can easily be erased. I even got a chalkboard pen, which is easier to write with and doesn't wipe off with your fingers. But it does come off with a bit of water, perfect! 

Everything is much more organized now with lots of space. Can't wait to get back to baking, in a more enjoyable space!

It's finally here! We have opened up the BBQ and put out the patio furniture. We have even enjoyed a meal or two out on the deck. 

We have also started to work in the garden (whenever the little one will let us). Lots of weeds to pull already, but there are also some wonderful tulips and sprouts coming up too! Happy Spring, enjoy the nicer weather!

Check out this intriguing mug. Made to look like a goat's horn, it's almost a link back to ancient designs of drinking vessels. You can see more about these mugs and watch a video here. The mug was designed by desnahemisfera, and is a Kick Starter Project. 

About: 
First and most obvious is its shape, which resembles the shape of a goat’s horn. The shape itself also makes drinking from the mug easier because of the angle that a curve creates. We designed a special holder which easily transforms into a coffee mug stand. It has a perfect leather touch. The mug is made from a completely healthy material and it is BPA FREE, which means it is totally healthy for you to use it. It holds 330 ml or 11.2 oz and it keeps its content warm for up to 2 hours.