A Before and After of the World's Smallest Bathroom

I have one "Before" picture of my bathroom. You can see the Hollywood light fixture and the green walls.

The next pictures are the "After" pictures, and I guess my bathroom probably isn't the smallest one in the world, but it is certainly small. It is about 6 ft. by 4 1/2 feet. I painted it in the same color as the rest of my little cottage. I call it butter yellow because it is about the color of butter. It is actually a Behr color, not sure it's name. I tried to make it cottagey by making a shower curtain out of a queen sized sheet. It was $9.97 at Zeller's. It has tiny pink, green and blue poke-a-dots on it. I have had the Norman Rockwell picture for many years. I adore Norman Rockwell prints. The plates on the wall always make a room look cottagey. The rattan shelf was purchased at Home Sense for about $50.00. It is made out of solid wood and was already white. The little picture was a yard sale find, $1, I think.

We put the new light fixture in, I found the little apothecary jars at thrift stores around Winnipeg and I filled them with bath items soaps and salts.

I painted the waste can white and replaced the little upholstered piece with pink gingham and of course an "S". And oh yes, a lamp for when my grand children stay over, they need to see where they are going.

Well there you have it, my cottagey little bathroom! Hope you enjoyed the tiny tour. Only one person in the room at a time, please, there is hardly room to turn around and I don't want anyone to get stuck.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Cindy

A Visit to the ocean. In Manitoba?

When we left British Columbia, Canada, I knew I would desperately miss the ocean. We did not live near the open ocean, but with my oldest daughter living in Washington I was able to go to the coast quite often. I love the sound of the surf, the spray and rush of the water as it laps at the shore. On Saturday we decided to take a site seeing trip into the interior of Manitoba.
We went to Pine Falls and saw the beautiful Winnipeg River Harbour, it is on the edge of the Canadian shield and there are many large rocks and also a beautiful dam. The Winnipeg River actually has seven dams on it.
We love taking pictures of the American White Pelican. We probably have about a hundred of them! My husband and I always think that we have taken enough, only to take a few more. They are very picturesque birds, I think. Very shy of humans, though. There is something about dams that they love. Either the fish or the excitement of the water moving very rapidly, because that is where you will always find them.
We found the ocean! Oops, I mean Lake Winnipeg. When I saw it, I realized I would never be homesick for the ocean again!!! If I can make a few trips to Lake Winnipeg, I will have no reason to miss it. Truly, it is like standing on a beach at the Pacific Ocean. It has the most gorgeous soft grey sandy beaches in some areas and in other areas the sand is white! I did not get a picture of Grand Beach, an hour further North, because it was covered in beach towels and bodies. The sand is amazingly white and there are even sand dunes.
My pictures usually load properly, but these did not seem to. This is the Winnipeg River again.
Patricia Beach, there were hardly any people here.
I did appreciate the fact that there were no Sea Gulls flying overhead! We only saw loons and pelicans.
Here I am getting my feet wet. I am way out in the river on a rock outcropping. The weather was warm and very breezy, perfect!
This is me in my new glasses. Do you like them? If you don't, don't tell me, because I love them!! They are comfortable and light weight.

I hope you have enjoyed our trip to Lake Winnipeg and to the Winnipeg River. We live in a very beautiful province and I am just beginning to discover it. My husband's grandmother passed away last week so we are making a trip into Northern Saskatchewan today. So stay tuned for pictures of the great province of Saskatchewan. There are more than wheat fields there, trust me!

Be sure to stop over at asoutherndaydreamer, there are always beautiful places to see there.

Hope you have a great week.

Cindy

Things That Inspire

Remember this chair? I am still working on it and it's partner like it. The last coat of paint went on last week and now comes the making of a slip cover for it. I am going to make it out of a very old, very sturdy chenille bedspread. What do you think of that? I have one almost completed. It should be done before I go to bed tonight! I am so excited, I think they will be so pretty and so "ME".

I love white and off-white platters, dishes and etc. I picked this tray up last weekend and the candles yesterday. I need to go to the dollar store to pick up some votive holders today. Yesterday started out rainy and soooo depressing. I had plans for the day, but they did not work out and I was left feeling sorry for myself. So I decided to go to go for a drive and check out some little shops that I had seen but never had time to go in to. I found one little store that had some great "April Cornell" clothing. Then I found a shop called Among Other Things. I have been searching for a place like this ever since I came here. I will frequent that place, believe me. I found some little crystal knobs for a project that I will be showing you soon.

Upon entering our little bungalow, you see this. Not too inspiring, eh? (Minus the H of course.) I had seen somewhere the word "HOME" spelt out on a wall similar to this. So while I was in Bellingham in the wonderful USA, where they have everything, I went to Joann's Fabrics and picked up the letters. This is what you see from the living room side, going into the entry way. (I took down the jackets and bags that were hanging there. I'm afraid they were not too inspiring!) I think it looks really nice. What do you think?

We are so blessed to have the sweetest neighbors on the block. They put in this little garden that you can see at the edge of our property. They tend it and it is so pretty as you will see in further pictures here. It is their house that you see there on the right in the photos. Ours is to the left.

When we moved in they told us they had put it in, but it belonged to us and they were asking me what else they should put in. I told them to do whatever they wanted to do with it, I did not really have any preferences. It is at the edge of their patio and they see it more than we do and they enjoy it so much. What else could I say? The man told us that he had always trimmed our hedges for the people who lived here before us and that he would continue to do so if we didn't mind. Mind? Of course we didn't mind. Especially seeing as how we did not have a hedge trimmer to our name. LOL!! In return I bake cookies and bread for him. He and his sweet wife are such great neighbors. I can't forget to tell you that they have a fur baby named Baxter. He's a little white dog and I will try to get a picture of him some time soon.

I have linked this to The Inspired Room, and I hope you have enjoyed the things that have inspired me this week.

Hope you all have a sunny weekend,

Cindy

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom and Outdoor Wednesday

Albert Einstein said: "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."



There is an acrostic for JOY that I love and have taught on several occasions. J is for Jesus, O is for Others and Y is for You. That is where we will find joy and fulfillment, living first for Jesus, for others and then for yourself. I find people who live strictly for themselves are constantly frustrated and feel like they have not achieved anything of real significance. I try to be like David in the Bible who said to God, "Early will I seek thee." If I seek God first thing in the morning, and spend time with him in meditation and prayer, then I have something to give somebody else. At the end of the day, I feel fulfilled and I can enjoy a life filled with JOY!





Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday! You must check out A Southern Daydreamer and see all of the outdoor pictures. It always proves to be very interesting and again I want to thank Susan for hosting this fun day! My pictures today are from the trip we took out west a couple of weeks ago. This shows all of the boats at a marina in Bellingham, Washington. I loved the view showing the wild rose bushes, the craggy rocks, the water and the picturesque boats.

My youngest grand daughter and I.

My oldest daughter and I with her kids. Her poor hubby had to work the whole time we were there, so I don't have any pics of him at all. I love the water in the back ground here. We have enjoyed this walk along the shore many times and it was so good to revisit this lovely harbour.

I love the way we caught the reflection of the setting sun on the sailboat.

I hope you enjoyed my little visual trip to Bellingham Harbour, it is such a lovely place and Bellingham is going to great lengths to recover more and more of the harbour and make it visitor friendly.

Have a wonderful day! And may the sun shine on you wherever you may be!

Cindy

My Porch Table and Chairs on Met Monday!

It is Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch! I love before and afters, if you do too, go take a look at what is offered there.

I bought this table and two chairs for $20.00 at a garage sale. I re glued the spindles and painted it. I loved the lines and pretty legs, but it was hard to appreciate it in this old antiquing finish someone had applied to it. Now it is so pretty! I love it, I painted it with Behr Powdered Snow.

The morning sun enhances it so nicely!

It is now a pleasant place to have breakfast or even just my morning coffee.

The question now is, do I distress it or not? I did a tiny bit here, I'm not sure if you can see it or not here in the photo below.

Thank you, Susan, from Between Naps on the Porch.

Be sure to go over to Susan's and read her entry, she is giving some great tips on Decorating. Her family room is so beautiful, I would say that she definitely knows what she is talking about.

Hope your day is full of sun!!

Cindy

Changes and I am Hooked on Vintage Furniture

The Changes are the "new to me" dining room table and chairs. We do not have a dining room in our small bungalow, only this small eating area.
We bought it for a very good price in Dauphin, Manitoba, in a little place called "Hodge Podge". It's my new favorite place to shop and it is more than a three hour drive away!

As you can see the top is in bad need of a refinish, whether it be paint or a good sanding down and varnish. I'm not quite sure exactly, I will have to do some research on refinishing old wood.

It has lovely detailing on the legs of the table and chairs. I love the rounded look.

Our home is a 1927 Craftsman Bungalow and I love the cottage style of decorating. The Antique store dealer told us that it was from the 1920's. It doesn't really matter if it is or it isn't, I really like it and it is the right size for our little place, I think. Our eating area is very tiny and our other set was so large that it made the room feel very cramped when we had anyone over for a meal.

The set has four small side chairs and one captain's chair with arm rests and my husband seems very happy with it. I love the old style and feel of it. It gives the room a whole different feel.
I do have a question, though. Should I leave it dark or should I paint it white? I can also paint my china cabinet white if I should so desire. That was my plan, but now I am second guessing myself. I also want to warm the room up, but preferably not with a rug. The walls are a butter yellow, they are not showing well on my monitor. In fact all of the colors are very subdued, much more so than the colors are in real life.

Do any of you have any opinions on whether I sould paint it or leave it the wood color. Also all of the trim is the wood color in this room. This week I am really loving the vintage feel that my house is taking on. I am collecting more and more vintage pieces of furniture and it just feels so right!

I am joining in on the fun over at "Hooked on Houses" for the first time. This week I am hooked on Vintage Furniture!!

If you loved the Nancy Drew series when you were young, you will love Julia's blog entry today! I was a Nancy Drew fan, for sure!

Thanks, Julia for hosting this!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cindy

Words of Wisdom Wednesday & Outdoor Wednesday

Make us more aware, dear God,

of little daily graces

that come to us with sweet surprise

from never dreamed of places.

~ Helen Steiner RiceIn you I trust, O my God. Psalm 25:2 NIV

My husband and I took our two oldest grandkids on a mini "stay cation" on Monday. We headed North of Winnipeg toward Selkirk. We passed through Lockport, which still has a lock that they let boats through. We always see lots of storks, there. (Editing: Actually, they are not storks, they are American White Pelicans.) Click on the picture above so you can see the stork more clearly. I have a few further down that you will see also, as we passed through Lockport again heading home.

There is nothing more inspiring to me than to view God's wonderful creations. These storks came as a "sweet surprise", a simple reminder of the great creator, "a little daily grace." Graces are truly all around us if we will just look for them. My grandchildren are such a joy to me, they are lovely "daily graces." I am always careful to worship the Creator, and simply enjoy the creation. When we see the "sweet surprises" around us everyday, it gives us a picture of a very BIG and loving God, one in whom we can always trust.


The next stop in our trip was Lower Fort Garry. There we stepped back in time to the 19Th century fur trade at the oldest stone fur trading post still intact in North America. Costumed interpreters took us back to the mid-1800s as they re-enacted events of the early days of this Hudson's Bay Company post. Stone walls encircle the fort's enclosure, this is the largest group of original 19Th century fur trade buildings in Canada. Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site of Canada is also commemorated as the place where Treaty #1 was signed between the Ojibwa and Swampy Cree of Manitoba and the Crown. This was where the governor for Western Canada lived. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of that stone house. It was huge and so beautiful.

An example of the stone architecture used along the Red River in the 1800's. This building has a colorful history, it was used as a warehouse, then a prison, then an asylum.

We are looking out over the Red River in the picture below. I was pointing out something interesting, I am sure. :)Now here we are back at the Locks at Lockport. Click on this one, it is so cute!! I am going to make a print of this one. Four storks (Pelicans) fishing! They are in front of the gates there, I think that will make an amazing picture to frame. What do you think? This beauty is flying high. Storks (Pelicans)are huge, I had no idea until I saw them there.

Here I am standing in front of the entrance to the old St. Andrew's Church Cemetery. This church is the oldest stone church in Canada still being used as a place of worship. It was built between 1845 and 1849. I did not upload a picture of the church itself, but I will next Wednesday, hopefully.

And here is the cemetery, note the stone fence.

This one below is the old St. Andrew's Rectory, complete with garden. It is now a museum.

A closer view. The architecture is very fascinating, it's easy to see why it would still be such a stable structure 160 years later.

Well, that is my Outdoor Wednesday. Be sure to go over to A Southern Daydreamer and see what others have been up to. More "stay cations", perhaps. I know ours was sure a lot of fun! It helped that we had our 7 and 8 year old grand kids with us.

Hugs to all and be sure to be on the lookout for those "daily graces" and "sweet surprises" that God is sending your way today!

Cindy