Check out these amazing houses in Muskoka in this article called "The Luxury Market of Muskoka". I say houses, because who are we kidding, these aren't cottages. They would be amazing to retreat to, or stay in full time. Heck, I could just live in some of these boat houses. See lots more photos and cottages here! 

It's finished (for the most part)! It has taken us weeks to get this done, mostly because there has not been much time to work on it. I'm loving the new vanity we created. So simple, yet very modern. It was created by sawing a piece of pine to size and staining it! Here is all about our process. 

First step was to rip out everything we didn't want in the bathroom anymore. This included the mirror, towel rack, toilet paper holder, all art, lighting, and of course the sink and vanity. After all of that was out we cut open the wall, where the plumbing was, in order to be able to move the pipes for the new floating vanity. 

We marked out in pencil on the wall where the sink would sit, so that we knew where the new pipes would have to be placed. Then my father helped us cut out the old plumbing, and inset the pipes in the right spots for the new sink. This included sawing out the old pipes and soldering the new ones in place. 

Under the old vanity was simply the subfloor, so we needed to put tile down. Luckily we found a few extra tiles under our stairs to use for this corner. These are not my favourite tiles, but as they continue out into the kitchen we will keep them for now, and perhaps replace them all one day. We also ended up using the grout we had bought for our fireplace project, so it didn't cost us anything. The tiles needed to be cut to fit along the sides, then we added a layer of glue to the floor and spaced out each tile. The glue took about 48 hours to dry. Once dry we added the grout, washed down the floor, and waited for that to harden. 

We also had to replace the baseboard where the vanity was. Which consisted of painting it with a coat of primer and then a coat of white paint before they were on the wall. Then we nailed them to the wall, covered the nails with compound, and then added the last layer of white paint. 

Next we created a support structure for the sink to sit on out of wood. We screwed the wood supports into the wall studs and added brackets to the outer corners. Then we added a cross support (as seen in the third photo above) for help as the sink was really heavy. The sink then just simply sits on top of the supports. We actually ended up gluing the back of the sink to the wall, as well to keep it in place, using silicone chalking. 

Next we had to finish connecting the plumbing to the new sink, and then replace the dry wall. 

Next we took down the old lighting and added the black track lighting seen above. We also repaired all the walls with compound and painted!

We new vanity is simply two pieces of pine cut to size and then sanded and stained. They butt up against each other at the corner of the sink and are simply screwed into the support system we created. Simplistic, yet modern! Last step for the sink was to add a boarder of silicone chalking between the sink and the wall. 

After everything else was up we then added the towel rack, toilet paper holder, and art! We also took the mirror that was there originally, turned it on it's side, and added small mirror clips to hold it up.

I'm so happy with the results! A new, fresh powder room, all done without too many huge changes. One more thing I would like to do in the future is paint large horizontal stripes across the wall that holds the towel rack. Maybe in a soft silver/grey. Still trying to convince Jeff of that one, but that wall definitely needs something. Overall we are very excited for the new powder room!

I have been wanting to paint our baby's crib, but didn't really have the time before, and I was worried about the toxins in the paint. However, I came across this brand, Lullaby Paint. Their paints are free from VOCs, fumes, and other harmful chemicals. I thought a fun colour like citron (seen above) would look great with the walls! Maybe a future project.

A bit about the company from their website:

Made from the finest ingredients, our baby safe paints are carefully selected for their safety and performance. In fact, our paints are so safe they include food grade ingredients. Our rich, deep pigments are imported from Europe and meet the highest environmental and safety standards. And because our resins are not diluted with cheap solvents, they’re thicker and cover your walls with ease.

Our award-winning paint is praised as much for its color, coverage and durability, as it is for its safety. Attaining the highest certifications for product purity, Lullaby Paints is known in the industry as the safest paint available. Recognized by consumer advocacy groups and leading environmental organizations, used by hospitals and maternity facilities, lauded by magazines, designers and bloggers and, most of all, enjoyed by moms as pregnancy safe paints. We’ve revolutionized how safe and eco-friendly paints can be, for mom, baby, everybody.

This Peterborough, Ontario house was cracked open to let lots more light in. It was designed by architect AGATHOM. Check out more photos at Contemporist. This house is just amazing, I would love to live here. I really like all the wood details, and of course all the big windows.

About:
AGATHOM was brought on to renovate and reorganize the interiors, and to create a connection among them and to the outdoors, while also maintaining the home’s modest street-side appearance.

As many plans were possible, the clients were free to choose a preferred interior layout. Upon their decision, the most important gesture was to create a window wall at the garden, and position it on an angle that brings it – and the dining room beyond – closer to the outdoor setting.

My mother made us the sweetest mobile for Elara. She loves it so much! They are the cutest little safari animals hanging from three balanced sticks on different levels. Each animal was lovingly made with the letters of baby's name, spelling out Elara. The letters were created each with different types of stitching, making every one unique. So gorgeous! Thanks mom for the wonderful gift, we will always treasure it.

And here is baby enjoying the new mobile for the first time. Definitely a great idea when your little one starts becoming interested in objects. Keeps them occupied for a bit in their crib, and helps them calm down before sleep. Lots of fun ahead!

Take a look at this super cute micro kitchen, to be put anywhere. What a great idea for an office or a room in a guest house. The LO-LO, a capsular micro kitchen was created by Tanya Repina and Misha Repin. Check out more at Contemporist! 

About:
A collection of objects to complement the basic office kitchen. Each module is intended for one of electrical appliances and its accessories such as cups, plates, cutlery, tea, coffee etc. The objects may be easily located all around the office, wherever it is needed.

I have been wanting a more storage in the baby's room, especially as she out grows clothes I'd like to store for the future. The closet in the baby's room only has two huge shelves in it, which are not at all practical for the tiny baby stuff. We came up with a great idea that wasn't going to cost much! We took one of the many white bookcases we have hanging around and cut it in two to create a shelf for the bottom of the closet and another for the top. Then we bought a bunch of storage bins that fit on the shelves, and I used my leftover chalk board labels from the kitchen storage project on the bins. We then cut the white bookcase in such a way that they would work well as two shelves. Gotta love having a saw! 

The small shelf (seen below) fits on the lower shelf in the closet. For this shelf we used the original top of the white bookcase. Since the top was more secure by being screwed together it created a strong bridge for the new construction, especially since there wasn't going to be a bottom for this shelf. For the second taller shelf, to be placed in the upper section of the closet, we measured from the bottom up to the mid section of the original white bookcase. We did this for the same reason as the first shelf, that the mid section was screwed together so it created a strong bridge across the new top. And being taller, it also had a strong base by using the original bottom of the bookcase.  

They are working so well in the closet, giving me lots of extra storage space. Everything is much more organized and stored better for long term. Part of me hopes baby number two will be a boy, but it would also be great to have another girl considering how much stuff I already have. Ah well, that's far into the future. For now, everything is all stored away and organized. Now it's time to play with the baby!

This desk has been made from the airplane wing of a Boeing 737-800. It was created by Les ateliers FLOWN. Pretty awesome! 

We decided to start using cloth diapers. It's definitely a bit of learning curve in the sense that it takes a while to work out a good system. Although, we did go through the same thing with disposables in the beginning. I am still trying out different brands to find which work best for us. I still don't own enough diapers to be full time cloth yet. However, so far I really like it! If anyone is thinking of changing over, do it! It's really not much harder than disposables. Of course our baby is not on solids yet, so that could be interesting. It will save you a ton of money in the long run, it's healthy for baby as disposables have so many chemicals in them, and it's environmentally friendly! 

For storing the dirty diapers, we ended up buying a separate diaper pail with a washable liner, so everything goes into the washing machine. We now have one diaper pail for cloth diapers and another pail for wipes and disposable diapers (until we are done with them). When using the diapers I add a biodegradable liner that catches most of the mess and can be flushed down the toilet. This makes clean up much easier before the diapers go into the wash.

One down side I have noticed is a lot of her clothes don't fit over the larger diapers. Although people tell me I'll get used to the big fluffy bum. And as she gets bigger the diapers will fit better too. Plus they come in cute patterns and colours so they could work on their own.

Bumgenius
The most popular cloth diaper out there. It is known as an all-in-one, which means it's just like putting on a disposable. The snaps make it adjustable for babies of all ages, up to potty training. I like that the waist has elastic in the back, and that the closing flaps are also elastic which makes it a good fit. The only thing I'm not big fan of on these diapers is that when she sits up they are bulky and dig into her belly. They are also on the expensive side.

Thirsties 
We have an all-in-two from this company. I love their patterns! The all-in-twos have a snap up microfibre diaper and then you add a waterproof cover overtop. The great thing about these is they come in lots of sizes, so they are more trim. However, economically not the best as they will outgrow one size and you will have to buy more. They also have other options like an all-in-one which could be good to try.

Giggle Life
A cheaper all-in-two cloth diaper. They fit like an all-in-one with snap sizing, that will fit babies up to potty training, much like bumgenius. Then you need to add inserts to absorb liquid. You can add more inserts for heavy wetters or overnight. Even though this is more work I really like these ones. Since you remove the inserts to wash them, they dry much faster. When they come out of the dryer I just pre-stuff them so it's not something that needs to be done at the time of changing. They fit really well, and cost a fraction of other brands.

Kushies
This all-in-one diaper is huge, without any options to make it smaller. Maybe it would fit a bigger baby, however, the middle of the diaper is narrow, which seems like it would allow mess to escape. It has a velcro closure which is super easy to put on, but my baby has already figured out how to take it off! I wasn't happy with this one, and probably won't end up using it. I have other Kushies products that I really like, just not their cloth diapers for me. 

Apple Cheeks
This is Canadian company that looks quite easy to use. We actually have a swim diaper by them that we haven't used yet. 

Sun Diapers
We have ordered some of these diapers. Very similar to Giggle Life, with the snap cover and inserts. They are cheap and come over from China. Yet the website states they are not made in sweat shops and use natural materials. We shall see how they are. Thought I would try them out as I read a lot of people liked them, and there is not much to loose at $7 a diaper. Plus they had some super cute patterns!

Grovia
This is another popular company that I would like to try. Also looks easy to use.