Spring: Messy Babies and Geocaching

Spring is just around the corner! Yahoo!! We seriously got hit with one of the coldest winters this year, maybe not record lows but a record had to have been broken for the longest stretch below -20°C. It seemed like months I was stuck inside with little Pens, Mr.Loonie and I were taking turns walking pups as it was just too cold for sensitive baby skin.

It was Mr.Loonie's first day off shift today and with the sun shining and temperatures above 5°C , it was perfect to get outside. We even let Penny crawl around on the driveway, she was having a blast playing with rocks and water pouring out the downspout from melting snow. She was a mess but who cares! That's what being a kid is all about. And yes, by the way, Penny is a kid now not a baby! 

A kid most of the time until it is time for a nap or bedtime and then she is still a little baby with sleep issues.  Who knew it would be so hard to get a damn baby to bed.  Last time I spoke of our sleep "problems" it was during her four month sleep regression and now at nine months, it looks like we are back in it. It is honestly not that bad though because I have given up looking for answers and have decided to just be there for my girl. We are still in the family bed and don't really see our "situation" as a problem because we believe in "waiting it out". We see progress most days and and I feel good knowing that she will never be trained or put into any type of stressful situation. So in an attempt to get an afternoon nap in (we don't normally do this but desperate times call for desperate measures - there are also two top teeth busting through) we went for a geocache 10km out of town off of the main highway.  We have been meaning to get this one for awhile now so it was the perfect opportunity.  Surprisingly we got the FTF (first to find) which was a Chinese ear cleaning pick.....weird.

Bathroom Reno Reveal!

Once again I was in a love-hate relationship with this damn blog.  I must have been a deep hate because I am so proud of the bathroom renovation....you would think I would want to share it with you all.  I was even avoiding clicking on the "Two Loonies and a Penny" bookmark in my tool bar until a fellow blogging friend who I play volleyball with asked if we had even finished the bathroom since there were no pictures up.  So Lace, here ya go...thanks for the kick in the ass. It has been at least a month now we have been done.  It really was the longest bathroom reno of all time....about 9 months! But with babies and shift work, things get put off pretty easily.  So first let's have a look at the nasty before...

Blue counter tops, peach tile, green walls and white, blue and pink linoleum....YIKES.

And this was my inspiration picture.....

And now for the reveal.....

We finished tiling in November with the help of my Dad. I love the white hexagon tile with the lightest grey grout.  I realized that I LOVE WHITE! If we ever move (foreshadowing) I am seriously considering whiting out the whole house, by that I mean every. single. wall, WHITE! There are three rooms in our house which are painted a shade of white; the kitchen, Penny's room and this bathroom (which is mostly white) and they are all my favorite rooms in the house.  Nothing beats the cleanness of it. The dark greyish blue color we chose to compliment all the white is "grilled sardine" by Benjamin Moore.

The next step of the reno after tiling was the wainscoting and trim which Mr.Loonie completed effortlessly.  I really am so proud of him, it looks awesome.  Especially after I went behind him twice with the wood filler, silicone and white paint.  ;)

Then it was the accessories, the best part!! It could use a little more styling but I think that just comes with time.  I need to stroll through a vintage store or my Grandma's house to find a little tin or wall hanging for the wall opposite the towel ring, something to just give the bathroom that extra charm.  What we do have is an IKEA accordion mirror, storage boxes and white frames.  To add the needed punch of color I edited two corally colored flower photos that I took on our Oregon vacation.  The grey striped mat is from Crate and Barrel and the white waffle shower curtain and bathroom accessories (cup, toothbrush holder, soap dish, towel, garbage can) are from Superstore.  Hmmm....what else...toilet brush holder and shower rings from Home Sense; mirror from JYSK, cabinet hardware from Lee Valley and the rest I already owned (towel ring, and glass apothecary jars).
You also might be wondering what that silver thing is hanging off the toilet.  It's the cloth diaper sprayer where we spray out little Pen Pen's poop into the toilet.  At least with the toilet surrounded in white, if the poop splatters it is easy to spot and clean, keeps us extra diligent.

So that's it....all for under $4000. I don't have the exact bills in front of me but from what I can estimate we spent around $3500 so add a few hundred bucks for random items.
Approximate Expenditures: $1400 for tub, toilet  faucet and sink. $1000 for cabinet and countertop, $300 in tile and grout, $350 in paint, trim and wainscoting, $160 for lighting and $400 in accessories and finishing details.
What do you all think!?
To view all the bathroom posts while the reno was in progress click here.