Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale!

35% off at www.glowbaby.ca with code CYBER 35!  Deal ends at midnight on November 26th.



Disney on Ice Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to....

Patti Mitchell!!!  You are our winner.   Please email us at info@glowbaby.ca and we can arrange your tickets.

Thank you to all who participated.  Please remember that if you want to purchase tickets click here.

Mom Blogger Program Discount - 4 tickets for $44 on Weekdays and $4 off per ticket on Weekends with code MUM444. *

*Excludes Front Row, Rinkside, and VIP tickets. No double discounts. Additional Fees May Apply. Weekday is defined as Monday thru Thursday and Friday Matinee. Weekend is defined as Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday

Free Printable Letters

We just had our meeting with J's kindergarten teacher and we need to get working on her reading.  The academic expectations are really high this year compared to last year when Ainsley was in Jk.  We did not get homework last year and the focus was definitely more on making school fun (aka play).  While I have been working with J on her letters, it seems that she still does not know all the letters should at this point in the school year.

I have been searching the web for printable letters to paste on flash cards so we can start making small words.  I found this great site with beautifully coloured letters which I know J will like.  They can be printed at Mrprintables.com.




Mrprintables.com - Printable Letters

New Office Reveal!

It's finally finished!  My new office is FINALLY done.  I am thrilled to have a lovely space that is all my own. 

New Glow Baby Office Design



I had a vision of what I wanted my office to be.  I wanted something functional so I could stay organized and have a space both for paperwork and for packaging orders.  The picture above is the paperwork area.  There is lots of storage for files (in the BESTA cabinets from Ikea under the desk).  I added my own knobs from Home Depot to the cabinets to give them a more feminine look.  The cabinet above the desk is EXPEDIT from Ikea and I have also added the glass knobs to this unit as well.  The Desktop is also from Ikea and is VIKA.  The chair is an Ikea NILS chair. 

The curtains and from fabric.com by P Kaufman in Lila Raspberry.  The Cork Board is from Ikea, but I painted it with Benjamin Moore Cloud White and then stencilled it with the Small Moorish Trellis stencil from Royal Design Studio.  I used the same colour on the cork board (Benjamin Moore Ocean Air) as I used on the walls.  The cork board is the perfect size to hold my Organized Family Calendar and a few other pertinent items.

One of my favourite pieces in this room is the art that I found courtesy of Sarah Lawrence Gunn who found this print on etsy.  It works perfectly with the colours in the room and I love it!!  It is by a Markham artist and can be found here.

 I also love the light I found at Union Lighting.

Now for my packaging table. 

 Here I have used a VARDE kitchen counter from Ikea.  It is the perfect height to stand and package and there is lots of space on the shelvs to store our boxes.  The only thing left to do is add the knobs.

I am very happy with the results of this space.  I cannot tell you how much nicer it is than my old office in the basement!

I would love to hear what your favourite part is.

This week's Menu Plann - Including My Tips For Successful School Lunches

Here is the menu plan for this week.  I am starting to get great feedback from the girls as to what they like fvor lunch and what they don't like. It takes some of the guesswork out of the plan as I always make sure I include their top three favourite lunches each week:

1.  Grilled Cheese Sandwich -  TIP*** I make this the night before but then I re-heat it in the microwave in the morning and put in their thermos so it stays warm.  It make a huge difference doing it this way.  Brett took the girls to school last week and didn't heat it up and I definitely heard about it after school.

2. Tuna Sandwiches - Yep, my girls love them.  They always eat the whole sandwich.  Every single week.   TIP *** I toast the whole wheat  bread before adding the tuna.  I find the bread holds up much better when it is toasted.  No one likes a soggy tuna sandwich.

3.  Hot Pasta - This is definitely a favourite.  It goes in their thermos in the morning and stays warm until lunch.

I always try to throw at least one new idea in for their lunches.  This week I am trying Cinnamon Pancakes.  Who doesn't like breakfast for lunch!  Or dinner for that matter....




October 22-24 Menu Plan

Disney On Ice: Worlds of Fantasy - Giveaway!!!

It's that time of year again!  Disney on Ice is coming to town and this year's show is Worlds of Fantasy!  We are giving away 4 tickets to this show so keep reading for instructions on how to enter.

Come experience a magical Disney fantasy on ice!
Rev up for non-stop fun with four of your favorite Disney stories at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. Thrill to high-speed stunts as Lightning McQueen, Mater and the crew of Disney/Pixar's Cars race across the ice. Dive into The Little Mermaid's enchanting undersea kingdom and enter the mystical world of Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell and the Disney Fairies as they reveal the magic that lies within! The toys are back in town with heroic action when Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie, and the Toy Story gang escape from the rambunctious tots of Sunnyside Daycare and race for home, in their most daring adventure ever! From wheels to waves, playtime to pixie dust, your family's favorite Disney moments come to life at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy with dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories.

If you want to purchase tickets click here.

Mom Blogger Program Discount - 4 tickets for $44 on Weekdays and $4 off per ticket on Weekends with code MUM444. *

*Excludes Front Row, Rinkside, and VIP tickets. No double discounts. Additional Fees May Apply. Weekday is defined as Monday thru Thursday and Friday Matinee. Weekend is defined as Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday

 

***GIVEAWAY***

We are giving away 4 tickets to the Toronto show.  To enter you must follow this blog. Each task will gain one entry to the giveaway.

1.  Follow our blog and post in comment section that you have done so or are already subscribed.
2.  Let us know which characters your child/children would be most excited to see.
3.  Tweet about the giveaway (this can be done every day and will earn 1 entry each day) - Tweet "Enter to win 4 tickets Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy http://ow.ly/eBFk9   Giveaway by @lindsayGlowbaby @disney_on_ice"
4. Like Glow Baby on Facebook and comment here that you have done so
5. Like Disney on Ice on Facebook and comment here that you have done so
6. Share Giveaway on Facebook (be sure to share off our Glow Baby's facebook page so we can track your share

This giveaway will run until 8pm November 2nd.  The winner will be announced on our blog on November 3rd.

Good luck!

Lindsay

Menu Plan - October 15 to October 21

Sorry for the delay in posting this week's menu plan.  It's been busy over here finally unpacking most of our stuff.  More on that in a new post later this week.



Menu Plan - October 15 to 17



 



Menu Plan October 18 to 21

Gotta Love IKEA - Toy Storage

I think that Ikea has the best storage options out there.  I love the many different options they offer and you can be so creative and make your combination work for you.  It was an obvious choice to head to Ikea  when it was time for storage solutions for the girls toys.  There is nothing I hate more than having toys all over the place!  I find that if the toys have a "home" then they are more likely to end up there at the end of the day (with coaxing and reminding of course).

We ended up getting a PAX unit for our playroom storage.  We got it when they were having a 10% back promotion (score) which helped in persuading us to go this route.  I was happy to see that Ikea has ventured in to new colour options for doors as well.  So after much playing around with Ikea's online PAX planning program this is what we came up with:



Ikea Pax Wardrobe
 



Inside PAX Wardrobe



I love the Turquoise colour on the doors.  It adds a nice pop of colour to the room.  My favourite part of the wardrobe is the clothes rod for the girls dress up.  It's nice to finally have space for everything! 

Dress Up Storage

Glow Baby Included in Parentables Calendar Feature

I am excited to announce that our Organized Family Calendar was included in Parentables' article on 5 Efficient and Useful Calendars.  Of course our calendar was the prettiest :) 



The Organized Family Calendar

You can read the whole story here.

HomeSense Score! Front Hall Rug

I love HomeSense.  You never know what you are going to find.  Today I scored a perfect rug for our front hall for $29.99!!  It's from the Colin and Justin line and I LOVE it.  It fits perfectly and the colour is just right. Woo Hoo! 

Colin and Justin Rug from HomeSense

Do you like?

Best,

Lindsay

Pumpkin Bread - Allrecipes.com

After my success with the zucchini bread (the girls call it bikini bread and ask for it daily), I thought we'd expand our horizons and try out Pumpkin Bread and see if it was equally delicious.  It was!  The girls call it pumpkin pie and it is their new favourite!



Pumpkin Bread - Allrecipes.com

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.  The link to the recipe is here.

It was even easier to make than the zucchini bread and just as delicious.  It's also a great recipe to have the kids help with as it is so straightforward.  Let me know if you try it and like it too:)

Best,

Lindsay

Menu Plan - October 1 to October 7

This past week I have been under-the-weather.  So, I have not been cooking that much.  I have made the easy meals that were on last week's plan and we ordered in Chinese which lasted two nights.  So, the good news is that I have three recipes for dinners that I can put on this week's plan and don't have to shop for.  Also, Thanksgiving is next weekend in Canada so we have a meal out and I'm cooking a big meal for Saturday night.  I have made use of the Special Occasions section of the menu planner to help plan the details.



Menu Plan Oct 4-7

Menu Plan October 1-3


 

Glow Baby on Babycentre.com

Our Menu Planner has made an appearance on Babycentre.com!

To read the full article click here.



Organized Family Menu Planner on Babycentre.com

Menu Planner Review: Herebewillers.com

Check out what Emma Willer of www.herebewillers.com says about our menu planner.

http://herebewillers.com/2012/09/review-meal-planning-with-glow-baby/

Another great review for one of my favourite products!

Best,

Lindsay

Fab Recipe: Zucchini Bread from Better Homes and Gardens

In an effort to get my girls to eat more vegetables I am trying different recipes that hide the healthy parts under yummy goodness.  Last week I made Zucchini Bread from a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.  It was delicious!  The girls could not get enough of it so I will be making it again this week (see menu plan here).

The recipe can be found online here:  http://www.bhg.com/recipe/quickbreads/zucchini-bread/

I think that I may even increase the amount of zucchini when I make it next week and see what happens :).

Enjoy!

Lindsay

Menu Plan - September 24 to September 30

This week's menu plan is done.  I'm finding the planning goes much quicker now that we have been back to school for a few weeks.  I have a better idea of what items the girls like best for lunch and while I still add new recipes and foods into the mix, I can now go back to the previous weeks plans and pick from them as well.



Menu Plan - September 24 to 26



Menu Plan - September 27 to 30

Maple Leaf Monster Jam - Food Drive

 

 

THIS THANKSGIVING, THE MAPLE LEAF MONSTER JAM TOUR HOSTS LARGEST MONSTER JAM FOOD DRIVE TO CRUSH HUNGER

Northern Nightmare Driver Cam McQueen Fuels the Drive, Greets Fans in Toronto & Hamilton

TORONTO, ON – September 20/12 – Canadians are invited to crush hunger! This October, to help kick off the Maple Leaf Monster Jam^® 2013 Tour, Canada will host the largest food drive in Monster Jam history! As a part of its continued commitment to Monster Jam fans, starting Wednesday, October 3, 2012, The Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour presents CRUSH HUNGER – A MONSTER JAM CANADA FOOD DRIVE running in four Canadian cities:

October 3 – Hamilton, London & Winnipeg

October 5 –Toronto

Monster Jam’s goal is to help crush hunger and donate hundreds of pounds of food to those in need this Thanksgiving. Fans are invited to donate five non-perishable food items including: canned fish or poultry; canned soup, fruit, stew, chili or beans; peanut butter; pasta; canned pasta sauce; 100% fruit juices; high fiber and non-sugar coated cereals. All food collected will be donated to local food banks/nutrition programs in each city.

A select number of fans who donate five food items will receive one free voucher to a local 2013 Maple Leaf Monster Jam show. Vouchers are subject to availability* and discount coupons will be available on-site for all who attend and do not receive a free ticket voucher.

In each participating city, Monster Jam drivers will greet fans, sign autographs and collect food donations, plus there will be entertainment for the whole family including tattoo stations and crush-car decorating.

In Toronto and Hamilton, fans will have an opportunity to meet Meet Monster Jam star Cam McQueen and snap a photo with Canada's new world champion truck Northern Nightmare.

“The Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour is thrilled to be back in Canada for another roaring season," said Amy Dubinsky, Feld Motor Sports Regional VP of Event Marketing and Sales. “But hunger is a problem we can’t ignore, and through our food drive efforts we hope to raise awareness about the issue while helping those who are less fortunate this Thanksgiving.”

MONSTER JAM CANADA FOOD DRIVE SCHEDULE

CITY	DATE	TIME	LOCATION	DRIVER	FOOD BANK
Hamilton	October 3/12	8:00AM - 7:00PM	Lime Ridge Mall	Cam McQueen	Hamilton Partners in Nutrition
London	October 3/12	10:00AM - 7:00PM	White Oaks Mall	Jim Koehler	London Food Bank
Winnipeg	October 3/12	10:00AM - 7:00PM	Polo Park Mall	Kreg Christensen	Winnipeg Harvest
Toronto	October 5/12	8:00AM - 4:00PM	Rogers Centre Bus Parking Lot	Cam McQueen	Fort York Food Bank

Tickets go on sale for the Maple Leaf Monster Jam 2013 Tour on October 1/12. For further details and to purchase tickets, visit www.monsterjamcanada.ca for details.

The 2013 Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour will stop in the following cities:

Toronto, ON: January 19-20/13, Rogers Centre

Vancouver, BC: January 26/13, BC Place

Edmonton, AB: February 9-10/13, Rexall Place

London, ON: February 16-17/13, Budweiser Gardens

Winnipeg, MB: February 23-24/13, MTS Centre

Hamilton, ON: April 6-7/13, Copps Coliseum
Halifax, NS: June 1-2/13, Scotia Speedworld

This Fall also marks the arrival of the officially licensed, 1^st Edition Hot Wheels^® Monster Jam^® Northern Nightmare™ 1:64 die-cast vehicle, which is available now at Canadian toy retailers. This long-awaited addition to the Hot Wheels Monster Jam 1:64 scale line is authentic and features a die-cast body, replica graphics and oversized tires.

Attracting more than 4 million fans annually at the most prestigious arenas and stadiums throughout the world, Monster Jam^® events showcase jaw-dropping freestyle and racing competition featuring the largest and most advanced automotive machines in the world. These custom-designed monster trucks average 12 feet tall by 12 feet wide, sit atop 66-inch-tall tires and weigh a minimum of 10,000 pounds. There’s a reason they are called “Monster.” Built for short, high-powered bursts of speed, Monster Jam monster trucks generate 1,500 to 2,000 horsepower and are capable of speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. Monster trucks can fly up to 125 to 130 feet (a distance greater than 14 cars side by side) and up to 35 feet in the air.

 

#MonsterJamCrushHunger

 

About Feld Motor Sports^®, Inc.

Feld Motor Sports, Inc. is the world leader in specialized arena and stadium-based motor sports entertainment. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. productions include Monster Jam^®, Monster Energy Supercross, AMA Arenacross Series, Nuclear Cowboyz®, and IHRA^® Nitro Jam^®. Feld Motor Sports, Inc. is a division of Feld Entertainment, the world’s largest producer of live family entertainment. For more information on Feld Entertainment, visit www.feldentertainment.com.

*There is a limited supply of free Monster Jam vouchers available on a first come, first serve basis (Toronto: 500, Hamilton: 400, London: 200, Winnipeg: 200). Maximum of one voucher per person. Once the limited offer is complete, donors will receive a $5 discount coupon for a Monster Jam 2013 show. Additional fees may apply.

Glow Baby Featured by The Giggle Guide

I was pretty excited to find out that Glow Baby was recently featured by The Giggle Guide! 

The Giggle Guide™ is the ultimate online destination for information related to today’s children’s marketplace.  The Giggle Guide makes it easy for retailers, buyers and consumers to find information on the latest children’s products and services.  So I was super thrilled that they noticed me!



The Giggle Guide

The feature can be viewed here:  http://thegiggleguide.com/grapevine/2012-08/glow-baby-helps-families-stay-track

Menu Plan - September 17 to September 23

This week's menu plan was easier than usual as we had way more leftovers than anticipated from the meals I made this week.  So, three of the recipes I had shopped for have been added to next week's menu plan.  What's great about this is that I have already shopped for these recipes so I won't be wasting the ingredients and I will save money as I have three less recipes to shop for.  Yay!



Menu Plan Sept 17 - 19

Menu Plan Sept 20-23

I'm a Mom on the Street - The Family Groove

I was pretty excited to be able to share my Fall plans for Glow Baby with The Family Groove.

Check out my plans here:

http://www.thefamilygroove.com/sep12_MomStreet.htm


Excited to share our next steps.

Best,

Lindsay

Great School Lunch Idea: Turkey Wrap with Cucumber Cream Cheese

I found this super easy recipe on Pinterest.  It's from Rachael Ray's website.  It's a great way of getting some veggies into sandwiches without being obvious. 

Turkey Wrap with Cucumber Cream Cheese - Rachael Ray

Here's the link to the recipe:  http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/fast-recipes/turkey-wrap-with-cucumber-cream-cheese
Enjoy!

Lindsay :)

Menu Plan - September 10 - 16

Here is my menu plan for next week.  I have found making school lunches and snacks SO much easier with the menu plan done.  Taking the time once a week to plan out the menu and search for different and yummy lunch ideas is so worth it.  There have been no complaints so far from the girls about what I have been packing.  It has only been one week though...



Menu Plan - Sept 10 - 12
 

Menu Plan - Sept 13-16

Time to Bust out the Crock Pot

We never really had room for a crock pot in our last house.  I have always wanted to get into crock pot cooking and when we bought our new house (which has lots more storage) one of the first things I went out and bought was a crock pot.  Now that we are moved in and relatively settled, I decided to add a crock pot recipe to the menu plan this week.

I chose a Pork Roast which was pretty straight forward and easy.  I didn't want to get too fancy on my first try.



Slow Cooker Pork Roast

It was super easy to prepare.  I had to marinate the roast over night but then I just threw it in the crock pot along with a bunch of vegetables and it was cooking.

It was nice not having to worry about cooking dinner later in the day when the girls were home from school.  The best part is that the recipe made so much that I was able to make them pork sandwiches for lunch today. 

Prepping Ahead for School lunch - Menu Planning

Now that I have a bigger freezer (YAY!)  I can start planning ahead for school lunches.  I've never been one to make multiple batches of anything because I never had the room to store it.  Not anymore! 

I was looking through Today's Parent special flyer for Picky Eaters with lots of great recipes and came across this recipe for Bake-Ahead mini-pizzas.  My girls love pizza and these don't need to be warm (no microwave at school).  The best thing about this recipe is that it makes 20 individual mini-pizzas and they can be frozen for up to 1 month.

The recipe can be found here.

I've put four of the mini-pizza in the fridge for Tuesday's lunch.  Yum!  I altered the recipe slightly to make the pizza with mushrooms and pepperoni (the girls' favourite toppings).

Mini-Pizza

The other 16 mini-pizzas were divided into four bags with the expiration date written on them.  This way, I can defrost one bag each week until they are gone.  That means that I have at least 1 lunch each week for the next 4 weeks covered.  Awesome!

Frozen Mini-Pizzas

The First Week of School - Menu Planning

I cannot believe that the first week of school is next week!  Where did the summer go! 

This year we have a lot of firsts happening.  It will be Juliet's first year of school and both Ainsley and Juliet's first year of full-day school.  This means, that I have to put together snacks and lunch for the girls everyday. 

I don't know about you, but I remember hating lunches at school.  They were always so boring.  There are only so many times that you can eat a sandwich before you never want to eat one again.  Also, here in Toronto, all our schools are peanut free so there goes the staple of peanut butter to mix things up.  I am determined to provide a variety of yummy and not monotonous lunches for the girls this year.  The first step: Menu Planning.

I have always been a menu planner.  Last year during the school year, I would plan loosely for breakfast and lunch and then I would always make a clear plan for dinner.  When I mean loosely, I would jot down lunches where we were going out and then make sure I had staples on hand such as mini pizzas, Kraft dinner, hot dogs and sandwich ingredients.  This year I am taking it to a new level.  I want to make sure that I am packing healthy and delicious lunches and snacks. 

I sat down on Thursday and created next week's plan.  I did all my shopping on Friday  so I was ready to go for this week.  I find that planning ahead makes things so much easier.  I have on hand all the healthy food I need and I don't have to think about what's for lunch this week (or dinner or snacks).

Here is the plan:






Glow Baby Organized Family Menu Planner

Glow Baby Organized Family Menu Planner

 

As you can see, all meals are planned and to the right is my shopping list.  This way I can make sure that I am mixing things up regularly and if I'm really stuck one week, I can go back to a previous week and pull from them. 

 

I hope everyone has a great first day of school.  At least I know my girls will like their lunches :).

 

 



 



Office Paint Colour

I have a vision for my office.  My inspiration is from houzz.  I LOVE the feel in this room.  It's serene and sparkly and would definitley help me stay creative.  The colour used on the walls is Zen by Behr which is no longer on their website or in their displays.  Just my luck!

Traditional Home Office design by Dallas Interior Designer JDS DESIGNS

So off I went again to Benjamin Moore and found four possible paint colours.  I couldn't decided if I wanted a darker or lighter colour or one that was more blue or green.

Here are the four I chose to sample:

Again, the lighting is not ideal but the options are:

2035 - Italien Ice Green

HC147 - Woodlawn Blue

HC144-Wythe Blue

2123- Ocean Air

The two Blues were too dark and the Italian ice green too minty.  I feel in love with Ocean Air.  It's a blue/green/grey that remind me of water.  It makes me feel calm, which is important in my office.

The sample below does not do it justice.

Master Bedroom Paint Colours

Today I went to our local Benjamin Moore store.  I love colour but it can be hard to find the perfect colour.  Especially if you have something in mind.  I am really into Grey right now.  There are so many options out there and I want to make sure I pick the right colour or else it will haunt me!

Today I chose three different greys to try out. 

2131 - Silver Gray
2126 - Gray Timber Wolf
2122 - Smoke

It's hard to tell as we still do not have lighting in the room but I am leaning towards 2131.  The Gray Timber Wolf is very grey and dark and the Smoke is a bit muddy. 

The swatch below is of Silver Gray. 

What are some of your favourite gray colours that I should check out?

Choosing Paint

There's a lot of activity going on in the new house.  Not a lot which is picture worthy at this point though.  The electrician is finishing his work including 60 potlights!  Exhale.  It's a lot of potlights.  We even scaled back.  Our plumber is finishing up his work on our new master ensuite.  So while the not-so-glamorous part of home renovation goes on, I am busy working on the visuals.

Right now I am trying to pick paint colours.  This is a big task especially when you are painting the whole house!  The girls room was easy.  We chose Behr- Frosted Lemon.  It's hard to see the brightness of this colour as we don't have power in most of our rooms let alone lights!  I will definitely post well-lighted pictures once we have light again.  Trust me though when I say that it is a nice fresh yellow.  I will also be free-handing butterflies on the walls above their beds.  Purple and Pink for Ainsley and Blue and Pink for Juliet.

For our guest room I went with a light blue/grey colour.  It is Behr - Cumberland Fog. 

It's a bit more blue than I had originally wanted.  However, as we do not know whether sharing a room will be a success with the girls, we will keep this colour for now.  Juliet's favourite colour is blue so if we have to move her in their, the colour is perfect!

That's what we've picked so far.  Off to start working on the Master Bedroom and Office paint choices.  Will post these soon,

Steel Vs. Fibreglass: The Great Door Debate

For our new home we need to replace most of our doors both inside and outside.  We've met with a number of different companies to look at the options available to us for our front door.  We decided right off the bat that wood was not going to happen.  Not only is is extremely expensive, but wood shrinks and swells according to the weather and we really wanted something that we didn't have to worry about.

The two options for us to choose between were steel and fibreglass.  I LOVE the look of fibreglass.

 You can get a number of wood grain finishes and stain it in a range of different colours.  These doors tend to be between $1000 to $2000 more in price than steel.  There are a lot of considerations when you are looking at fibreglass apart from the cost.  If you have a standard size door frame, this is a great option.  You also need to find out if the door company you are working with will stain this for you or if you or your contractor have to do this.

We have a unique opening for our front door.  It is oversize both in height and width.  The best solution for this space is to do a double door with two side lights (two windows, one on each side of the doors). If we were to go with fibreglass, we would loose some of the height we currently have as the door company would need to fill in to fit a standard size door.

We have been going back and forth over this for four weeks now and have finally decided to go with a double steel door for a number of reasons.

1.  Cost - because we are doing a double door, going with fibreglass would have added between $2000-$3000 more to our cost
2. Space - We really wanted to keep the height that a steel door would allow us to have.  The more light that comes in the better I always say.
3. Because we are going with a 3/4 panel glass door (see above) there would really not have much of the wood grain showing which really did not justify the huge increase in our costs
4.  The door cannot be seen clearly from the street due to a large tree in our front yard

So, after much debate we have decided to go with steel.  Our doors would have the executive panel as seen below but instead of the panel on the upper half, this would be clear glass.

Now we just have to figure out what colour to go with.

Master Bathroom - Vision

Brett and I have spent a lot of time thinking about the layout of our bathroom.  Now that we are in gut phase we have been able to plan out the space and we are pretty sure we have come up with a good layout.  We will have a 9X12 room and in it will be a stand alone shower, free standing bathtub vanity and toilet.  Since we now have the plan, it was time for me to go shopping!

I have been coveting this gorgeous vanity from Restoration Hardware in charcoal.  LOVE!!  I went and ordered it yesterday.  I ordered it without the marble top as the top they have is more grey than I want.  I think we will probably go quartz with a little bit of grey in it but I want a more crisp look.

I opted to go for the matching mirrors as well.

The tub we picked is free standing and curvy.  It's nice and big and I cannot wait to have a bath in it.  This tub is from www.tubs.com

We ended up choosing a stand alone faucet for the tub as well.  We debated getting a wall fixture but I loved the look of the stand alone next to the tubs.  The Faucet is also from www.tubs.com

We got our shower fixture from www.romanbathcentre.com.  I love the rectangular shower head.  And it's shiny.  I like shiny :)

For accessories, I bought a caddy and stool for our dressing room from www.restorationhardware.com.  Both are from the Newbury line.

And last but not least, I choose two sconces from www.restorationhardware.com.  I chose something a bit more modern as our shower fixtures and bath faucet are on the modern side.  We will be mounting them facing up, not down as in the picture.

Now we just need to pick sink faucets and tiles.  I have so many tiles that I love, this will be the challenging part.