Flowers in January

Thanks to Little Fox for hosting the 1st Annual Stuffy Film Festival. All of the entries were super cool! Here's mine... did anybody recognize the "Flight of the Bumblebee" as the first part of the soundtrack?

Bathroom Reno Update - Almost There!

Hullo bears and not-a-bears!! Thought I'd post an update on the bathroom renos. Part of the bathroom is looking pretty ship-shape. The frame went up around the mirror and everybody is quite pleased with the new look.

So, the cabinet and this side of the room look pretty good...

Well, actually, this photo looks even better!! Mostly because I am in it!

And then there is the tub... today the workmen came to rip out the old and put in the new...

They work super quick!!

Of course there was some mould in behind the drywall at various places. Ewww!!

And just like that... the old drywall and tiles are gone... the tub is gone and it's a blank canvas.

Well... that side of the room. This side is looking a bit scary!!

But I can see it now. The workmen said we were lucky there wasn't any rotten plywood underneath!

That's the new tub...

 And that's the new tub installed with drywall going up around it.

And then there are acrylic sheets to go up over the drywall...

It looks super cool!!! But not so great with the old floor. I will supervise our new floor install on the weekend and post the final updates then!

Bathroom Reno Update (Again)

Hullo again... another report on the bathroom updates! Well, after having waited for all the paint to dry - which is a beary boring process, let me say... Today we started to put things back together again... The plate covers went back on... This photo also gives a fairly good view of the Cloud of Volcanic Ash paint colour...

The knobs went on the cabinet doors - they turned out beary well I think!

And Mama broke out her brand new brad-nailer... It was super noisy while the compressor was fillin the air tank but...

It made putting up the window trim sooooo much easier!! Hmm... I think we need a flash for this photo!

There we go!!! I suggested that they go sort of a shaker-style window trim - saw some pics on the internet - and it turned out beary well.

The mirror is also going to get a frame around it...

And there you go... a new light fixture as well! We had it pointing down initially (cause it could go that way too), but decided to point it upwards - looks more elegant. What light was there before... let me see....

Something like this... except it had 6 bulbs. It was sooooooooooooooooo ugly!

Bathroom Reno Update

Hullo! Handy Sandy here!! (thanks for that nic-name Droopy!) I thought I'd give an update on the bathroom reno. It's been a bit slow going... It's not beary exciting watching paint dry! But here's where we're at...

So,,, here are our DIY shaker cabinet doors - they turned out pretty good!

And here we have the side of the white cabinet... It used to be the same oatmeal colour as the wall - This will be much better!

This bathroom reno all started because we wanted to change the shower/tub surround... and the tub was kind of beat-up...

The grout has cracks and there are some broken tiles... so we know there's water back there somewhere...

Back in the day, these tiles would have been pretty chic... and the tub probably had sliding glass doors as well... oh-la-la...

Maybe I could use the tiles to make photo frames?

Anyhow... Once we decided to do the tub surround... then we might as well pull the tub... and then the laminate floor should come up (laminate not good in bathrooms)... and we might as well paint... and put up new trim around the doors and windows and baseboards.

So there is a lot of painting going on...

But here is where we are at so far with the cabinet. The backs of the doors still need to be painted.

But now we can start to paint the walls... which means the toilet has to come out... This is a beary messy job... and stinky too... I recommend that all stuffies stand a good distance away.

First you turn off the water shut off, then you disconnect the hose thingie... and catch any water in a bucket... then you unbolt the toilet from the floor.

So far so good...

Then you man handle the toilet out of there... and shove a rag in the hole so you don't get overcome by sewer gases! You'll need a new wax ring for the toilet base too...

We put the toilet in the tub and tilted it back and forth to get most of the icky water out. Ick!!

And then there was some painting! The paint is called "Cloud of Volcani Ash... which is a light grey. We had to take the light fixture off the wall to paint around there (cause it's a smaller base than the brass one that was there before). If I turn on the flash, the walls just look blue... which is NOT the colour. So... that is where things are at!

Sandy's Bathroom Renovations

As a stuffy, one has an onerous job keeping up on events in a household. I was happily sitting at the computer editing my submission for Little Fox's 1st Annual Stuffy Film Festival when I heard some weird noses coming from the bathroom. At first I tried to ignore it... but it got a bit too noisy, so I had to go investigate...

Uh-oh... I see a few cans of paint and a new handheld shower head... Are we doing a reno??

Yes we are!! Oh my goodness...

The laminate floor has been ripped out, revealing vintage 70s vinyl flooring. What is that stuff???

The cabinet doors are gone...

Whew... at least the tub is still here. But apparently we are getting a new tub and surround in about a week...

Oh... and the cabinet doors, which were just plain Jane... are now getting a bit of 1/4" mdf trim to make them look kind of shaker style.

A few nail holes have to be filled... and there is still sanding, caulking and painting to do.

Honestly... why does no one consult me?? I am the supervisor of such projects! Ah-hem... am I the only one to notice that not all the laminate flooring has been ripped up? Ahhh... apparently we have to take out the toilet to get at that stuff and we are leaving that till the last minute... OK.

And then there is a lot of spackling to be done. We have the stuff that goes on pink and turns white when it is dry - cool!!! I had a look at the paint colour for the walls and approve. It is called "Cloud of Volcanic Ash"! Is that not a cool name? Grey Drizzle and Freezing Rain were two other options but I think Mama pushed the vote in a geological rather than a meteorological direction! I will post more as the project proceeds...

Sad News

A couple of years ago, Gramma moved into a senior's housing co-op, which was good. But they didn't allow pets, which was bad. So Rusty, Gramma's dog was adopted by some other folks. We got word that Rusty (who was 16 years old) had to be put down on December 23. She was the bestest little dog and a great stuffy pal.

Been Busy!

Can you believe it's been a week since I posted?? I can't. All I can say is... sekrebearies are super unreliable at this time of year! I did... however... get out for a walk, which was beary nice.

There was mist on the lake which made everything look eerie.

The sun even came out for a bit and I think that blue stuff up there is called "blue sky"... beary uncommon at this time of year.

The fog made it look like we were headed into nowhere.

I think we should go for more hikes like this!

I also got mail last week... from Buttons BeCause and his pal Scruffy!

Buttons and Scruffy are super talented and made their beary own Christmas card.

Which had stuff on the front cover, the inside....

And the back cover!!

AND!! There was another one of Button's patented felt Christmas decorations - so cute! I think Buttons and his Mom should open a little shop and sell these... Thanks Buttons!!

Last week, there was also some terrible events in Paris, France. I know that the pen is mightier than the sword... does that mean the paint brush is mightier than the gun?