Winter-time restlessness

Is it just me or does the winter bring out the creativity in you too? 

As busy as we are I am still alsways feeling the itch of new ideas on how our little homestead could be improved.

I am planning a huge renovation at our place (spanning from the only bathroom we have; through the kitchen/dining/livingroom and screened-porch!) and being in the "reclaimed wood buainess" you'd better believe I have aspirations of reclaimed grandeur!

Now, we have "needs" and "wants" around here; having a farm means lots of surprise projects are always coming up but despite that Hubby and I do make a great team and spend most of our free time DIYing around the farm. So this plan WILL happen but realistically it is probabaly A YEAR or more worth of weekends and energetic spirts of activity (and $) which will make this a reality.

All great projects must start somewhere - so this post is an example of how I like to idea-board my projects which is a great way to organize your thoughts and ideas and help you create a visualization of what your project will look like.

This is a SUPER tool for making communication with your partner and/or contractors much easier. Often what I describe and what my Hubby hears are two different things - with an idea-board you can isolate particular elements from an image which you would like to incorporate into your own projects!

So here is what I'm thinking....starting in the bathroom!

We have some spectacular sleeper-beams with live edge which we have done a couple of bathroom vanities for customers with (check out our "Custom Projects" page to see the projects we did for other peoples awesome bathroom renos). 

This is the look I'm LOVING for a chunky slab vanity - also love the chains and faucet! Not crazy about the mirror or lights though - I have a beautiful thickly framed (in some awesome rustic granary planks) mirror that will definitely be a beautiful match to this slab.

My mirror looks more like this; it will hang horizontally between the black heavy chains anchoring the vanity to the wall.

So I know this isn't a bathroom but this.....Oh I love this look (this will ALSO by the style of the kitchen ceiling....TBD). I would like to frame the bathroom in a smaller 4x4 or 4x6 beams and create brightness with white walls and tiles.

THESE shelves!!! Omgoodness - on either side of the mirror or even in a single colume between the bathtub and shower? LOVE open shleves of thick reclaimed planking with while towels.....ahhhhhhh

Speaking of tubs and showers; obviously in a bathroom like this we are going to need a fabulous tub! I am a BATH LOVER and so is hubby so we are struggling to decide on which tub we want?? the Claw foot would keep in line with the vintage theme but a giant corner jacuzzi tub has me drooling after living with such a crappy little tub for so many years! Still TBD.....I do like the look of these tubs and also the neat idea of using tin....I though I'd like a more rustic looking material however and I hate these shower curtain thingys that people have with these tubs....n ote to self no curtains!

Hubby built this for us in our mud-room - the space always felt crowded with a chair - this built in bench is angled wider in the corners and perfectly framed with this barn styling of crossers (wind braces); ever since he built this i have always thought this is exactly how I want to frame in our new bathrooms bathtub!! Again not 100% which tub style we will go with yet but any of them would look amazing framed in like this!

We may need some more cupboard space so if we do decide to mount our slab on a vanity base rather than floating I like these desing of this vanity - however not their choice in wood....the red tones aren't my fav; i would go for something in the same color family as the slab/shelves.

And I love these vintage ring pulls! 

Like these lights....lights are hard for me - like shoe shopping....I just never see anything that wows me an makes me fall in love.....so this is probebly a moving target....but these are cool and a good place to start anyways - ALSO totally a DIY project do-able!

THIS IS THE TUB I WANT.....now where to find that $-tree!?

And the shower will need to be separate in this new bathroom...

I have a pretty specific image in my mind for the shower - I want thick beams framing the stall and no door or curtain - I like the walk in style and will tile the shower floor to ceiling. I will use the same tile on the floor only ourside of the shower. Here is what I mean:

And another example - I don't have this much space - our shower will be 5ft by 4ft in size but this gives you an idea of the style:

Now picture all this beautiful wood and features with all WHITE walls, WHITE TOWELS and WHITE BATH MAT. 

These are the tile I would like on the floor and inside the shower:

I think all of this white will set off and highlight the beautiy of all of the wood, balancing the impression and also creating a consistent feel with the styling and theme within the rest of the house.

We are starting this part (the bathroom) of the SUPER RENO very soon! Cannot wait to see how this all comes together.

I hope you found this bathroom idea-board interesting and maybe it has given you a few ideas of your own?

More updates from our projects to come.

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smithias