Decorating bathroom shelves

I love the recessed shelving next to our bathroom vanity (who doesn't love extra bathroom storage?) - it keeps a few essentials within easy reach and has room for some "just because" accessories too, like my DIY silver-leafed frame. The top shelf used to be empty, until one of our wedding guests gifted us with this lovely lavender (favourite scent) candle and vintage snuffer - so cute!

While I was playing around in the bathroom (that sounds weird), I also added this little guy - my bff and I bought matching birdies to remind us of each other (she lives in Virginia, I'm in Nova Scotia). Hope she doesn't mind that it's in the bathroom!

(yes, that's a zombie survival guide - you never know people)

Installing a new shower head

Adam's brother stayed with us for a couple of days last week and although we forced him to sleep in a room without a door, he was nice enough to install our new Moen shower head (a wedding gift from our friend Kate - thanks Kate!). This is our old shower head.

Small, but mighty. Taking a shower was a bit like having an overly-aggressive massage, while using a MASSIVE amount of water. And we couldn't give our dog a bath (we were secretly dreaming about a rain showerhead, but decided it wasn't worth the smelly dog).

I'm happy to report that we can now wash our faces without crying, we're saving water, and our dog smells a little better (for now).

Yard work

Since our wedding on Saturday, Adam and I have been "honeymooning" by putting in long hours working on our lawn (we're taking an actual honeymoon to Iceland this fall). We started the process a few weeks ago, but we had to take a break for our DIY wedding.

So far, we've 1) given our weed ridden driveway a facelift with peastone 2) disguised an ugly cinderblock retaining wall with multicoloured patio stones 3) covered a former flower bed, but more recent dirt strip with peastone (next year we'll add planters and annuals) 4) overhauled our jungle of a front bed by ripping out weeds and invasive ground cover (which we then replaced with peastone and black bark mulch), moving plants and adding a few new ones, and building a few rock walls (including one to help stop the spread of our pretty, but invasive ornamental grass) 5) replacing an overgrown, weed-filled flower bed with a holly shrub, a blue star juniper, a dwarf japanese juniper, a couple of brightly-coloured annuals (just for fun) and some bark mulch (I want a border, Adam doesn't). Oh, and I finished painting the windows.

Unfortunately it was raining when I took these pictures (I was going to wait until the weather cleared up, but who knows when that will be), so they aren't the best. Remember when it used to look like this?

We still need to thin out some of the upper beds and finish mulching the new bed around the side of the house, but we're super excited about our progress so far. It actually looks like a flower bed!

It's official

I haven't posted in a week, but I've got a good excuse - Adam and I got hitched on Saturday! I'm working on a post with all the details (i.e. lots of photos), but for now I'll just say that it was, literally, the best day of my life (I've been watching a lot of Parks and Recreation lately).

(Photo by Chelle Wootten Photography)

Tweaking the living room + another gallery wall update

Decorating is an ever-evolving process. A few weeks ago, the gallery wall in our living room looked like this:

We planned to slowly keep adding frames over time, but I had officially checked it off the 'to do' list. Except, something wasn't quite right about it: the dark frames, next to the dark bookcase, weighed the room down and didn't fit with the light and airy feel we were going for. So I took all the frames down, spraypainted them white, and put them back up again.

(I also moved a few pictures around, so now we need a new piece of art to fill that big empty frame).

I'm much happier with the new look - the white frames make the art stand out and a few dark frames keep the wall from being too light and bright.

I also moved that large print on our mantle to the opposite wall. Another small change, but I feel like I've found the right 'home' for it. And since my hanging mirrors didn't work out, I still have to figure out what to put on the mantle...

Another new light

We've made a lot of progress in our dining room since we moved in...

Except for that crooked, sad little light fixture. I came across the perfect replacement on theFoundary.com: a woven wire pendant light - for just $34. Unfortunately there was no shipping to Canada, so I had it sent to my dad, who not only drove it from Wisconsin to Nova Scotia, but also installed it.

Love.

Installing a bathroom light fixture...finally!

My dad is in town for my upcoming wedding and while he was checking out our new place, he installed a new vanity light in our bathroom.

It works! I've been waiting months to have it installed (the placement of the junction box + my paranoia around all things electrical = too complicated for me). I love it, mostly because we now have a lighting option that doesn't involve a noisy overhead fan (which made quietly getting ready in the morning next to impossible).

Next steps: paint the ceiling gray and add crown moulding.