My journey on Etsy continues. 

Here are some of the watercolour prints I did this weekend. The narwhal's are my favourite!

The whale is my husband's favourite.

Jokes

Enjoy!

These are the vomitrocious before pictures from my bathroom. We only have one full bathroom in our house and it's TINY. The fact that it's ugly was not a selling feature but the size was the most annoying part. 

You ain't got no alibi... 

This is the floor plan, as you can see, not a lot of room to move around.

So first things first, we ripped out the vanity. By installing a thinner vanity we're going to gain 5 inches of space. 5 inches might not seem like a lot, but we'll take all of the space we can get. 

After much research we realized that our bathroom is a weird size and our options for a new vanity were pretty limited. We are going to replace it with Godmorgon. vanities from Ikea (they're 5 inches narrower as noted above.) We measured it out and it turns our that three of this babies side by side will fit our space perfectly! We'll just have to figure out the counter top/ sink situation.

We won't be able to use the Ikea sinks that come with the Godmorgon cabinets because we are using multiple units, but this is the style we're going for. What do you think?

Source

What's white and brown and fabulous all over? The new sideboard I made-over, that's what!
My neighbours (not the ones with the ugly kitchen) were throwing out this sideboard -  it's solid wood and has really good bones, I'm not sure why they tossed it (fingers crossed it's not laced with radiation) but I decided to save it. (And then sell on Kijij.ca - Craigslist for Canadians for $100 to help support my crack craft addiction.)

BEFORE:

With a little bit of elbow grease, white paint and stain - I ended up with this!

White paint and stain can do wonders!

Making pickles is one of my favourite things to do in the fall.  There is something gratifying about making your own food. I've also wormed my way into this super exclusive club for really cool people who trade their canned goods before wintertime. If you're jealous, you should be. If you want to join a super exclusive club such as mine, I can help you with that - instructions below:

What You Need 
2-3 pounds Kirby cucumbers*
7 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
4 teaspoons dill seed
4 teaspoon of mustard seed
4 teaspoon of cucumber seed
4 teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 large bunch of fresh dill
4 tablespoon of alum (you don't need this but apparently it keeps the pickles crispy)
4 cup of vinegar
4 cups of water
3/4 cup of white sugar1/2 cup of pickling salt (I get mine at Bulk Barn for super cheap.)
Jars and lids (you'll probably need about 7 - 1 quart jars)

*If you're not sure what Kirby cucumbers are, they look like this:

• Your first step is to cover the cucumbers in ice water and let them soak over night - but try not to let them sit longer than 8 hours. 
  
• The next day, take all of the jars and lids and put them in boiling water for about 5-10 minutes to sanitize them
• Once the jars are "sanitized" fill each jar with the SPICES (mustard, dill, cucumber, peppercorns, alum - about 1/4 of a teaspoon per jar, put a few sprigs of fresh dill and 1/2 - 1 whole clove of garlic per jar.)
• Add the cucumbers to the jars (I don't cut mine up, but if you want to fit more cucumber in the jar feel free to do so, I find they don't stay as crisp when cut up.)
• Set aside
• Put the water, vinegar and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil, let simmer for about 15 minutes. 
• Pour the vinegar/water/salt/sugar solution over the cucumbers in the jars and put the lids on. 
• Put the newly filled jars in a pot of hot water - not boiling (up to the "neck of the jar") and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the jars and let cool, as they cool the seals will pop.

When they've cooled to room temperature, you can add fancy labels like this: 

Wait at least one week before opening

**Please make sure to sterilize the jars and use fresh ingredients, I am not responsible for food poisoning :)

In May of 2013, my husband and I realized that we had WAY too much free time and decided to re-do our kitchen!

I think it turned out okay - you?

How We Did It:
We used Benjamin Moore Advance paint to paint the cabinets (as recommended by Sherry and John over at  YoungHouseLove.) I have to admit, we were skeptical and I may have cried on more than one occasion in terror at the thought that we had just ruined the entire kitchen. Although painting cabinets is extremely labour intensive, the paint is very durable and saved us a buttload boatload of cash. It has been over one year and the wear and tear is minimal.  - Win!

We added a new backsplash (so easy, more on that later), wood above the cupboards to make the room feel taller and changed the appliances. It's a pretty big difference for so few changes!

**** The before picture is actually of my neighbour's house- it's exactly the same as our previous kitchen, but our counter top was different (and we didn't change it.) Don't sue me! (Also, sorry neighbours.)