Glass panels

Our three glass panels were installed this week!

Now we can finally start using the shower in our master bathroom.

But first I had to seal the grout.

It turned out to be a very simple job with this little brush/bottle thingy I picked up at Rona.

Ready for use!

We had our glass guys install a towel rail right in the glass since I've been having a hard time finding a place for one anywhere else.  

The only other spot was that far wall in the shower.  Not exactly practical.

The other 2 glass panels were an idea I came up with for the entrance way.

This was my problem in the front hall.  

The stairs going to the side door and basement needed to be enclosed in some way-- either railings or walls.  But I wasn't sure which way to go.  I didn't love that anyone standing at the front door could see straight through to our main living space and backyard, but neither did I like the idea of closing it all off with walls.  

Railings seemed a bit too busy for this space anyway.

So I decided to get two frosted glass panels made.

They are simple and modern, let light shine through, and give us some privacy at the front door.

They also show the zig-zag of the stairs behind them which I really like.

 This is the view from the front door.

I really like how these turned out.

And now we have the perfect spot for that giant piece of driftwood that Paul hauled back from the cottage.

I think this rustic piece of nature looks just perfect next to the sleek, frosted panel of glass.

And we do actually use it as a coat rack!

Now we just need a slightly smaller bench to replace that big wicker one.

Renovation fatigue

We've been living in our house for a full month now!

I kind of hoped we would be a lot more organized than we are.  

But with Christmas, 

and the kids off school for 2 weeks, and going to the cottage for New Year's,

and a whole host of problems to fix, I haven't done as much unpacking as I wanted to. 

The truth is--- I'm just tired.

Now that we've got a working kitchen and a comfortable couch to sit in, I just don't feel like tackling the stack of boxes that still fill our guest room and basement.

I've got reno burnout.

So we're just going to slowly settle ourselves in and hold off on all the finishing touches for awhile-- like stair railings, the fireplace, door handles, basement drywalling, closet doors...

Not exactly little stuff, I know, but we can live without it.

I have put in a few shelves, and clothes rods (so we have a place to empty our boxes to).

Hooks, too, are a necessity!

We carted this big piece of driftwood home from the cottage last week for our front hall.  

Paul, (I can practically hear his family chuckling right now!) pulled it up from the beach and suggested we use it as a coat rack! 

Love it!

When we were in Scotland last summer, Paul's family friends the McKays of McKay Flooring gave us 3 whisky barrel staves from their line of Scottish whisky barrel flooring.  

The coolest flooring ever!

We packaged them well and carted them home with our luggage.

I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but had a couple of ideas for art projects.

In the end, we decided to just leave them and hang them up exactly as they were.

I think they look great!

They still even smell like whisky!  

So, hopefully soon, I'll be able to do a bit more posting. 

In the meantime, I'm back at the boxes-- keep, garbage, donate. 

:-)