I honestly cannot believe I made it to the final week of the totally crazy, fun, inspiring and grueling One Room Challenge! Phew, it was quite a ride!

This was my first stab at the ORC and I have to say, it was A LOT harder to complete on time than I ever imagined. Between sourcing my most loved finishes and materials, and managing trades and product deliveries… it wasn’t easy and there were many bumps and fun surprises along the way!  Professionally, I’ve worked on plenty of much larger projects, often behind the scenes prepping for television and editorial shoots where we’re eternally on a massive time crunch…somehow I’ve always managed to pull it together. But working on my own house, in my own space, that I have to live in every single day – and be on a deadline…now that is a whole other animal.

I could seriously be diagnosed with clinical back flip syndrome – if it were a thing! I’m an absolute  f r e a k  when it comes to making decisions in my own personal life/home… as soon as I pick  a n y t h i n g; I immediately question and mull over whether it was the right move, and often change my mind! For some reason, it only happens when I’m working on my own personal projects though, when working with a client or helping a friend, I have pretty clear eyes and don’t hesitate to make decisions! So props to all of you who consult friends, designers, or your mom on your own projects at home – it takes a village! Changing your mind all the time is a problem when you’re on a tight deadline…especially when you’re notorious for picking styles and finishes that have the longest lead times – like moi.

I can say that I’ve definitely lost sleep over this project…doing late night research on taps, accents and lighting, WORRYING, cleaning, and even touching up paint at midnight last night! But after all the hard work, here she is! AND IT WAS ABSOLUTLY WORTH IT! I’m so so SO proud to reveal my new beautiful bathroom, which is 100% complete!

 

If you remember, when I started my design plan for my bathroom I was contemplating whether this black matte finish would work in my space.  I swapped out all the old fixtures and hardware in the room and I’m in awe of how it turned out!

My new Jason Wu faucet, shower and bathroom fixtures by Brizo are perfect! I love the contrast of the black fixtures against white tile! So happy I went with these babies!

I’m also pretty stoked on the tile I picked up from Creekside Tile in Toronto!  Since there isn’t any natural light in this room, I decided to use a white tile to brighten up the space.  My installer did an excellent job, don’t you think?! Notice he was able to match the herringbone pattern around each corner, nook and cranny…pretty incredible! If you’re ever considering this for your own house make sure your tiler has experience laying tile this way because if the seams don’t match up it will likely look pretty disjointed and messy! Also, it takes  f o r e v e r  to lay tile this way, plus there is more waste, so beware the cost is likely to be considerably higher than a traditional brick lay, for example.

I even managed to squeeze in a couple of impromptu DIY projects along the way!  It turned out the original shelves I wanted from CB2 were on backorder until late December…which wasn’t an option! So, I came up with the idea to simply have a couple of remnant pieces of Caesarstone cut to size and had the edges polished.  I picked up a few shelf brackets from IKEA and voila!  The best part?!  Both shelves only cost me $48 including all materials!

I also DIY’d the finish on my beautiful light fixture!  It was a huge challenge for me to find a fixture I liked in a matte black finish that wasn’t on special order.  With limited time, again it wasn’t an option to wait the typical 6-8 weeks for delivery. So, I picked up an inexpensive chrome finish fixture at home depot and spray painted it with flat black paint! I’m actually shocked at how well it turned out!

Although I will admit this process wasn’t easy, I’m so thrilled that I took on this task and completed my bathroom! Thank you to Linda at Calling it Home and the One Room Challenge for motivating and inspiring me to get’er done!  Also, I’m so grateful to all of you who have been so responsive and encouraging along the way!  Have you checked out some of the official ORC participant reveals? Wow, some amazing stuff has happened over the last 6 weeks! Check them all out here and the ORC guest participant reveals here!

xx

It’s week 3 of the One Room Challenge, which means I’m half way to meeting my new bathroom! I’m not complaining, but I seriously can’t wait for all the dust and noise to be done with!

I can’t say you’ll notice that a tonne of progress has been made over the last week. An unforeseen electrical issue forced us to remove yet another wall, definitely moving progress in the wrong direction! Things are moving back uphill at this point, but let me tell you, it feels like it’s been a pretty steep climb so far!

I’m most excited about my built in niche that was framed this week… small victory I know, but pretty exciting to visualize how it’s all going to come together!

Since I’ve decide I’m going to have a glass door/wall installed to enclose the shower, I have to choose a material for the sills and jams (frame), at this point in the game. It can take a bit of time to have these pieces fabricated, and since they must be installed before I can have my glass measured, I need to get these babies in asap. Tip: Its always a good idea to make a schedule at the beginning of any new renovation which includes all of all the trades and long lead items you have to consider that may affect the fluidity of your project. That way you can identify when you need each item/trade and hopefully avoid any undue delays or bottlenecks.

I went in to Latitude Countertops in Toronto this week and worked with their super helpful team to choose a material for my jams & sills that complements the colour scheme and design I set the mood for last week. If you’re just joining the blog for the first time, Welcome… you can get caught up on my progress with the ORC here.

My two fave’s at the moment are the Stone Grey Caesarstone or Calacatta marble…but that’s likely to change by tomorrow morning!  I always love working with Caesarstone in Kitchens and Bathrooms since it’s an incredibly resilient material. It’s a great product to consider especially where there is potential for water to puddle (i.e. on a shower ledge) since you don’t have to worry about staining or discolouration.

Since I have a lot of different materials happening in a small space, I definetly want to keep it simple on this one. I’m leaning towards Caesarstone… What do you think? Which is your favourite?

Fingers crossed for everyone participating in the ORC for the week ahead…it’s getting down to crunch time, with only 3 weeks left till the big reveal!  Have you been following the progress of the #oneroomchallenge official participants? Be sure to check out the progress of my fellow guest participants too…I’m so inspired by so many of these projects already!

VS

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I’m so excited to be writing my very first blog post! Welcome to Bedford & Bloom.  I’m truly humbled and honoured that you took the time to stop by! If you don’t already know me, I’m Vanessa. Check out the about link above to get my deets!

I’ve been brainstorming for a while now to develop some fresh ideas that are worthy of this whole blog thing and most importantly, your time! Bedford & Bloom was created with the hope that we’d squeeze our way somewhere in your day or week and be a source of inspiration to help you achieve your design goals. Whether it’s a DYI project you’re hoping to tackle, need some fresh tips on organizing a small and cluttered room or looking for guidance in choosing the right fabric for your space; my goal is that I’ll have the opportunity to give you some key tools to accomplish what you’ve set out for!

I’m thrilled to finally be introducing my page and blog to you! Especially, since I’ve decided to take part in the One Room Challenge as a guest participant. If you haven’t heard of this yet, get ready to be mind b l o w n. This is a 6-week challenge orchestrated by Linda at Calling It Home, where 20 design bloggers who have been invited to participate in the official challenge will transform a space of their choice from start to finish. Its so much fun to follow along, each Wednesday these pros share their progress with photos and more for all of us to see. On Thursdays, the guest participants (i.e. moi) will update everyone on our projects…get ready!

For the One Room Challenge I’ve decided to finish a project at my house that’s been sitting on the back burner for a while. I have a fairly small bathroom that was renovated a few years ago, however for whatever reason the shower wasn’t attached to the right room! Meaning…the shower space has been roughed in, but its in the laundry room, which is located in the room next to the bathroom. Crazy, right? Well, thanks to the challenge, this will finally be corrected… plus the whole room will get a bit of a facelift!

Have a look for yourself…here is the current bathroom:

       

Not bad, right? Though, we’ll definitely need to brainstorm some storage solutions!

Laundry Room (shower):

       

What a mess!

When I first approached the idea of doing this renovation a few years ago, I was surprised to learn how much work was actually involved in completing the room. We have a lot to get started on: demo, walls to move, tiles and paint to choose, fixture shopping… not to mention major storage obstacles to overcome!

Now, I’m warning you, when it comes to my own space, I can be a bit indecisive!   So, I’m counting on all of you to help me along the way in making some big decisions! And don’t feel the need to be polite, I can take a bit of tough love 😉

I can’t wait to get started and share the process with you all!  Any ideas yet??

Vanessa

xx