The master bathroom renovation

Have I mentioned that I’ve been working on renovating/sprucing up our master bathroom for awhile now?  Oh yes, and although it’s not a major makeover, the work done has made such a difference in there!

I wanted to wrap up this re-do fairly quickly, and my main goal was to inexpensively refresh the place and pretty it up a bit.

I started by restoring the grout on the floors using a toothbrush and a jug of white-colored Grout Renew.   Amazing what this miracle product can do for your old/stained grout.  And it sealed it too!  

I can’t stop admiring how clean the floors look now every time I step in…

I then repainted the yucky beige walls all in white.  Our little white cottage deserves all white walls… couldn’t have any other color there. 

I’m not one to cover up my walls in art/pictures and things like that.  I prefer the freshness of clean bare walls.  So I’m leaving the walls here as they are.  The room looks particularly lovely with the walls painted in white.  Everything looking clean and bright. 

Applying molding frames to the large mirror above the counter sinks was the next step.

We measured, cut, painted, removed the light fixture, and painted some more, glued, caulked, attached the light fixture back (twice because we did it wrong the first time), cleaned up... and voila! I chose to paint the frame in gray because it makes such a pretty statement against all the white… a boring sheet of glass turned into an elegant mirror!

The master bathroom in our little cottage doesn’t have a linen closet.  So baskets that fit in the corners were the key.  

Roll the towels up into a roll and put them endwise in the basket. Closet issues resolved.  

And this idea looks really nice.  Consider it part of the décor. 

I later rescued and restored this pretty vintage chifferobe here 

that now holds all of our bath essentials and more…

I love that it only cost me $80.00 versus the $775 chifferobe found on at Etsy store that served as my inspiration.

I added some feminine touches to the room too…

always changing things there; moving things around...

Cut glass candle lights holders for those bubble baths by candle light

White roses in a pretty vintage vase

Lovely things...

A $5.00 candelabra found at "El Pulguero", a fleamarket in FL

White

My new shower curtain is the final touch… for now...

I wanted a double ruffle shower curtain similar to one I discovered on an Etsy store, but I wasn’t going to pay the $325 for it… so I bought this lovely shower curtain with crouched, bottom edge at Target for $40 and then had my friend Mayra added the ruffles and lace peeking through between ruffles.

So pretty!  I cannot love it more!

Little changes under a budget that can make such great difference!  I’m still planning on applying molding frame to the larger mirror above the tub to match the other and a towel rack above the toilet for some pretty towels.  I am also looking for a smaller version of the chandeliers we have in our kitchen area to go here for some added charm and elegance.   For now this is it.  Hope I was able to inspire you!

A witchy day...

I remember, when we were living at the house in the roses how confused I used to feel when people referred to December 21st as being the first day of winter; forgetting that we were already deep in the 3rd month of truly cold wintery days by then… here in the South I finally got to realize that winter does indeed starts at the end of the year.  

Ah yes, Father Winter looked down at us from way up there where he sits in his glacial northern throne last night, and decided he should remind us that he’s still king of the January land… even here in the south…

Our pond got solid iced… so pretty.

Ready for a witches game of broom-ball! Anyone?  

 It gets in your blood you know!

Ah but such beautiful, delightful blessed sunshine… 

My little white cottage is a nugget of sunshine everyday at nine AM… 

a faultless pearl in the sea where I am the absolute irrefutable Mermaid Queen

And princess of my days...

I am so blessed and, amazed at what has transpired in my life in the last few years… that I can stay home and enjoy my little life as it is, in my solitude, in my peaceful surroundings and quiet ways with no ogres to have to obey or endure it truly is amazing to me.

Oh an ogre yes yes… have I not mentioned it?  One day long long ago when we were living at the house in the roses I used to work at The Three Broomsticks.  If you don’t know what that is, it is an inn and pub in the all wizarding village of Hogsmeade.  Yeap, that very village in Harry Potter's.  I surely did worked there once!  My ogre-like being boss used to fly his Hogstick all day long; spinning around like the crazy Hippogriff that he was…  I’m still waiting to see him flyin’ off from a cliff one day… na na na ma ma ny na na ny na…

My goodness I’m feeling so witchy today… and happy!  Happy too, because happiness is when you feel good about yourself without feeling the need for anyone else’s approval…

Happy day to you my friend!

A day in January

Have I ever mentioned that it can get pretty cold here in the ‘south’? At least in these parts of the south where we live it does.  Cuddly pajamas and two pairs of super thick socks cold...

We woke up to 24 degrees this morning and a frosty world outside. Wintery breath had clouded the garden and created a universe of icicles over the pond. 

January’s footsteps were seen all over the garden… January always reminds me of my favorite childhood movie, “The Snow Queen”, a fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen and one I could watch time and time again and never grow tired of… I like to think of January as the Snow Queen—a woman who wears a gown of winter frost and blows ice particles that get into people's hearts and eyes, freezing their hearts like blocks of ice… burrrr!

The ferns I’ve been nursing in the garage for the winter had to be brought inside where is warmer.  I like how they look here in our sunny dinning room; love the bohemian flair and the feeling of well-being they impart to the room.  Here's the room in evening light

 And in morning light...

A firefly nest in my bowl!

Can you see them flapping their wings?

If you watch them for too long I’m sure you'll see them fly away

It makes me want to sit by the big square table and enjoy my quiet mornings even more…

Mornings always find a way of peeking in my dinning room windows 

and waking up magic all around me… 

 Do you love mornings?

“I let my head fall back, and I gazed into the Eternal Blue Sky.
It was morning. Some of the sky was yellow, some the softest blue.
 One small cloud scuttled along.
Strange how everything below can be such death and chaos and pain
while above the sky is peace, sweet blue gentleness.
I heard a shaman say once, the Ancestors want our souls to be like the blue sky.”

Shannon Hale, Book of a Thousands Days.

 

Winter days in the South

A strange little creature came to visit the garden early yesterday morning.  It moved so fast—from one side of the garden up to the trees down to the other side where privets and bushes gather together in a massive clump of green that, at first, it was hard to identify what it was—a mad little squirrel that was. 

   

I wonder if perhaps the creature was just sensing something unusual in the air imperceptible to us humans. Maybe she was predicting that night's weather conditions in her own special way? Indeed, a flood of a night that was with some nasty tornado like winds...

Tornadoes are not unknown to this area. Based on historical tornado data, our little town is located in a very high risk area. The largest tornado to cross our path happened not too long ago. In fact, just a mere few years ago and it caused terrible injuries, including over a dozen deaths. We only learn about this right after we moved here. I’m summoning the angels to keep us safe from harm and stand watch at each corner of our little white cottage this tornado season.

I’m craving light and craving quietness and peacefulness, and perhaps that’s what had me substituted all the colors in our dinning room area, which is the place I mostly live, for white? White, white and the clean restful feeling it bestow. It’s been sort of chaotic around here lately. Oh tell me again about the girl whose soul has no color. Whose soul is completely white. At least that’s how I’m feeling lately, after all the excitement and bustling activities of the holidays, which have left me pretty drained I should say.

I also decided to put all the patterned pillows in our master bedroom  away
and leave only the whites...
For now...

Which had a domino effect that spilled over to washing all my all-white bedroom linens…
all of them.

Just some touches of aqua in the living room

Love it

If there’s something I truly love about rainy wintery days is lighting up little fairy lights all around the house... so romantic.

Fairy lights found in unusual places…

Like little fireflies nesting among fern leaves…

Then this morning after all that rain… magic!  

I worked in the garden for several hours today; cleaning, weeding, removing debris.  It is almost hard to believe this is even possible… could it be that I’m just dreaming?  This is just the beginning of January, right?  Spring cleaning in January… really!  Oh this sizzling winter sun of the south!  How marvelous and how alive it makes you feel… I could never ever go back to the cold of the North.  Oh yes it can get really cold around here too, believe me, but how comforting it is when after a few days trapped in our burrows always comes out this marvelous, warm sun spreading magic everywhere…

Thank you for stopping by!

May love and peace shine bright on your way...