Weekend

2 wolves acting cute photo via tumblr

Bedtime

Look at this bed full of linens. Don't tell me you don't wanna roll around in it. 

canopy bed full of linens via sarahklassen

The cutest thing ever happened to fashion

And the cat also tweets. 

Karl Lagerfeld and Choupette image via instagram

New Alabax Lights

School House Electric just came up with new colors and new sizes for Alabax lights. It's like they know how much I love yellow and grey.

Bedtime

Loving this industrial vintage vibe of this bedroom. 

Doub Hanshaw and John Mahaffey loft bedroom via anthologymag

Finding a shower niche I can tolerate

When my architect suggested me an idea of putting a shower niche in my bathroom, to be honest, I was not convinced. Why?

1. Hard to clean. If that niche made out of tiles. Oh my god I hate it when the tiles are being cut unevenly in the corner of the shower. Plus I would spend all my time cleaning gunk from the grout lines. 
2. Doesn't feel vintage. I don't think I ever seen an old house with this. Did they even have such thing as shower niche back in 1920s? I'm just afraid this would look so dated one day.
3. Feel a bit like an after thought. Why don't they just design a shower with some sort of architectural detail that would function as a shelf. Like this photo below. Oh wait a minute I don't have a space in my shower. I can squeeze one tub in and nothing more.

A chair rail that also serves a purpose as a knickknack shelf. This would look great in a shower. 

Since I can't 'find a better solution for my shampoo bottles. I don't wanna have to put shampoo around the bathtub. I have to go with the niche idea anyway.  Under one circumstance though, no grout lines! In search of finding something decent that won't hurt my eyes...Here are what I'm thinking..

This is my first thought if we don't want any grout then maybe we use floor tiles inside the niche. But in this case we still see a lot of grout lines which I don't like. I also don't like that bull nose edge. I'm more like a sharp edge kinda gal. 

Good use of stone right here. This minimize the grout and it looks like a clean skinny shelf. 

We most likely are going to go with this one because we will have left over marble that can probably work in to something like this. The thing that bother me about this photo is that I just don't like seeing the tiles being cut in half on the bottom of the niche and that weird small piece in the right corner. Do you see it?

This is such a neat looking niche. I like that black skinny frame. I'm not sure what kind of material that is. The tiles are cut perfectly. There's no weird skinny piece anywhere. 

This is another idea. Just frame it make it look important. The moulding is so great because they look like window frame or something. The tiles that I use for my bathroom just doesn't have decorative option like this. 

A mix of stone and subway tile. Except dark grout on off white tiles and off white stone just makes this bathroom look dirty. 

Nice clean niche made with tiles only. All the tiles are being cut neatly. I doubt my niche will go perfectly right in the middle of the wall like that. 

What about you? Have you ever been bothered by the look of shower niche in your bathroom?

Reaction to last night's Game of Thrones, "Red Wedding"

I still have not recovered from last night's Game of Thrones yet. Please don't bother me until the end of this season. 

via huffingtonpost

Bedtime

Vaulted ceiling, wood panels, french doors and that grey chair!

photo from metropolitan home

Tempt Cider

Loving these beautiful packagings. 

photo via thedieline

Renovation week 24 | master bath

I just realized I have not talked about my master bath at all. The master bath is a part of room addition we made to my tiny bungalow. The bathroom started to take shape just recently. I thought this would be a good time to post some plan and progress. Here is the design the architect has drew up for us. There are huge medicine cabinets. Those are the biggest highlights for me. If you remember my old bathroom, I never had a counter space or a big medicine cabinet before. That's a big improvement. I'm excited.

I took inspiration from this photo when I was picking a look for this bathroom. I like the use of telephone style tub filler. It adds character to the space. Especially my bathroom being a new addition, I want it to reference some part of an old world.

 

In the process I took my own initiative to pick the fixtures my self. Here are my picks.

I decided to choose a tub filler first because that's going to be the biggest fixture of the room and it's right in the middle of the room. I go with cross handle because it feels vintage and classic. There are not that many brands that make vintage tub filler that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. The one above is from Elizabethan Classic. 

For the sink faucet I'm using wall mount faucet because I don't wanna clean the water stain in the back of the faucet all the time. The reason why I picked this one was because my original choice from Elizabethan classic isn't comply with California lead code. They won't even ship it to me. 

Above is a low lead compliant, Hansgrohe Axor Montreux Wall Mount Faucet.

The shower doesn't really matter much for me. I just picked anything plain with small tiny knob that won't over power the tub filler. This one is Hansgrohe C collection. 

The floor is marble hexagon mosaic I ordered from Home Depot. They are pretty good price. I used the same tiles for my guest bath to save the cost. I have just received them today. They are beautiful.

This is where I'm at with the bathroom. The marble slab we picked out from that stone yard in North Hollywood has been installed. There's still a lot to do. And a lot to be fixed. To be continue...

Monday

Aww it's monday again...

Wait a minute... it's still holiday!

Lunchtime!

Are we done yet? 

Bedtime

Always a great pleasure to lay down and relax after a long tiring weekend, the kind where you have to work constantly and wonder if you can find a time to slack off this coming week. 

Alpacas laying down getting ready for bed

photo via gsomething

Do alpacas smell?

I have always wondered if they stink? What do they smell like? According to somebody at alpacanation  "The animals themselves generally don't have an odor, but their poop does." Hmm what's an interesting insight. "I'd say yes, there is an odor, and I love it!...If you love your 'pacas, I'd compare the scent of an alpaca to the scent of a newborn baby!" whoa what a statement!

Brown Alpaca by josierox

Bedtime

I'm loving this vaulted wood ceiling. I'm a sucker for architectural symmetry like this. All those lines totally draw your eyes to the bed. 

Bedroom by Dillon Kyle Architecture

Friday!

Lets put a smiley face on. 

Thursday

Trying to push through Friday. 

photo via etsy

Jaded summer

Sometimes "like" is too strong.

Jaded summer by beesahu featuring witchery

H M print shirt
$12 - hm.com

Comme des Garçons elastic waist shorts
tessabit.com

Forever 21 lace espadrille
forever21.com

Pepe Jeans London cotton bag
$36 - dress-for-less.com

Olympia Le Tan olympia le tan
net-a-porter.com

Ring
modcloth.com

Lucca Couture woven bracelet
swell.com

Coach infinity scarve
coach.com

Joe Browns joe brown
$27 - debenhams.com

Dorothy Perkins hair clip accessory
dorothyperkins.com

Witchery
$69 - witchery.com.au

Renovation week 24 | house exterior

They started wrapping the new addition with fire proof material. That black thing there. According to the contractor it's called 60 minute sheet. It takes 60 mins to burn. Good to know I have sometimes to put makeup on before I run.

Since I been really particular about matching old craftsman siding on my house. The contractor finally find a place to land those old sidings on.