Pinterest!

Thanks to a friends help, Ive finally figured out how to use Pinterest! I LOVE IT!!

You can follow my pins from the link on the sidebar :)

Or click here.

So fun!

Factory Cart

As you know, we are in the midst of decorating a few different rooms in our home, I have different ideas for each one and sometime find it hard to decide between decor choices.

Our living room is one of those rooms that we haven't focused on much, since we aren't sure how much we will use it. We have ideas for what we want to do in there, but obviously money is a factor and we can't do everything at once.

About a while back, a friend told me about a community garage sale in a local small town, where they were selling antique items, including factory carts.

One of the sellers had some of his items posted on Kijiji, which included a picture of a factory cart. When I showed the picture to Ian he LOVED it. "We have to get one of those carts", he insisted, but we had no idea where to put it. So we left it.

Fast forward a few months and I see this picture in a Style at Home magazine:

I knew exactly what to do with a cart...the Living Room! (plus I LOVED this room and figured it was close to the look we were going for). We figured it would be a great place to put the cart, since kids wont be there (or the dog) and it adds some character to the room.

So we went back on the hunt for a cart. I'd seen them on decorating shows on tv, but knew that they were pretty expensive (especially if you want an authentic one). I thought about making one....but figured it might look more like a random pile of wood....

So I looked on Kijiji and there it was. Our perfect factory cart.

The best thing about it, is that it has the original "Hudson's Bay Company" logo stamp on the side, and everything about it is original (but still in amazing condition).

Immediately, I emailed the link to Ian and his response was "have you contacted them yet? we HAVE to get this."

I have to tell you, we fought for this cart.

He wasn't asking much for it at all (a few hundred dollars)...actually a lot less than it's worth I believe and we contacted the seller right away. Unfortunately, there was someone else already coming for it. We offered full price, thinking that might persuade him, but he was an honest guy, and said he wanted be fair, and see if the first person would come for it. He told us he would let us know by the end of the weekend if it sold or not.

So we waited patiently and finally heard from the seller- the other buyer hadn't come and it was ours. YES!!!! And, it's much more beautiful in person than in the pictures. We now have a beautiful piece of Canadian history in our living room :) The room isn't finished yet, but I am so excited to put everything together eventually and have this gorgeous piece as our coffee table in there.

Here is our beautiful cart (these are the sellers Kijiji pictures, but I will add our own pics when the room is finished):

I looked around to find some comparables, and found this one at Restoration Hardware...for $1100.00:

I think we did ok on this one ;)

What have you done or would you do with a factory cart?!



Guest Post!

Hey Everyone!

Im guest blogging today, over at Shannon's awesome blog "Burlap and Lace" so head on over and check it out!

Bathroom Sneak Peak!

Our master ensuite bath is coming along....verrrryyyy slowly, but its getting there!
I wanted to give you all a sneak peak as to what we've been up to:

I dont want to reveal the progress until its ready for its reveal, but since these bathrooms (yes I said THESE- we are in the midst of doing 2 bathrooms at the same time, and yes we are crazy) are taking forever, here's a sneak peak on what is to come for the master bath (main bath reveal soooooon!)

Some of our inspiration:

 

 

 

Fingers crossed this one is finished soon- we can't wait!

 

Ugly Duckling to a Swan

So a while back I found this chair:

I was going through my favorite thrift shop and saw it sitting there. I had a buy it. I saw the potential immediately. The wood was in perfect condition, the caning on the sides was in great condition (no breaks or rips), and the shape of the chair was beautiful.

To be honest, I didn't even hate the green. I figured it was kind of vintage looking and could somehow be incorporated into a room, if I cleaned it up a bit.

I was toying with the idea of restaining it, and MAYBE keeping the green and so I sent Ian a picture at work. I was so excited.

He hated it.

He's usually pretty open, letting me be creative and run with ideas, but this one wasn't working for him.

He said it was the ugliest chair he had even seen. Poor chair.

So at that point I knew that in order to keep the chair, I needed to completely re-do it. That meant either painting or restaining the wood, and completely recovering it.

Its a challenge, but Im up for it!

So it has begun, and Im going to take you through, step by step, how to completely recover a chair and make it beautiful :)

Im determined to make this chair pretty...Ive already told Ian its going to become the swan (from the ugly ducking) and hes going to be sorry he ever doubted the chair (lets hope Im right on this one!).

So stay tuned for the chair progress (im currently in the wonderful world of "staple removing"....literally this chair must have over 200 staples in it...not fun).

Turquoise Love :)

My blog sprung for a make-over.

Im not exactly that "tech savy" so I dont really have much to play around with on my blog, other than what blogger suggests to me....playing with HTML code is not exactly in my area of expertise.
I was looking at my blog the other day, thinking the colours looked sad. Its summer, and it needed a bright fresh look. Plus I love turquoise.
Its my favorite colour and its become the inspiration for some of the rooms in our house right now.

So some pictures may be popping up lately with a LOT of turquoise....its been a bit of inspiration for me, and a colour that makes me think of things I love: beach, cottages, calming, soothing, spa, water....its a perfect colour for a home.

Ive begun to discover that through my design efforts with our home, there are some distinct styles that I love. One of my favorites is that "cottage/vintage" look. Its probably because its poping up everywhere right now, but I just dont think I would ever get tired of it. As well, that "cottage/vintage" look tends to incorporate a lot of turquoise colours in its design. This style really makes a house feel like a home.
I have such fond memories of going to cottages as a kid and doing "cottage things", and its something I can't wait to do with my own kids one day :)

In looking for more design inspiration that combines my love for turquoise, vintage and that cottagey feel, I discoverd the jackpot.

One of my favorite blogs "House of Turquoise" has recently been posting my future home. Its a perfect combination of vintage, cottage, turquoise, classic and homey. Seriously, when I win the lottery this will be my next home. It is absolutely perfect. There isn't one thing I dont like about it. I saw the photos and thought, "that is what heaven must look like". If I could design a home this would be exactly it. Perfection.

Here's a peak:

I KNOW. Perfect.

Check out the rest of the home here:

I just want to thank Crisit and Jeff (homeowners) for sharing this with the world. Your home truly is my ultimate inspiration! THANK YOU!!

Thank you and Reclaimed Fence Wood

Happy Monday everyone, and a Happy 4th of July to all of my readers in the US!

I hope everyone is having (or had) a great long weekend and got a chance to relax and enjoy the amazing weather we had here!

We got up to a few projects this weekend, but before I blog about that, I just wanted to send TWO huge Thank You, to some of my fellow bloggers!

The first is pretty much a mentor/inspiration of mine that recently mentioned me on her blog.

Jennifer, from Rambling Renovators:

was the FIRST Canadian blogger that I started following, and was a true inspiration to me in getting my blog up and running. She is incredibly creative and somehow manages to do it all, even with an adorable little one running around! Thanks for keeping me on your radar Jennifer and you will always be an inspiration to me!

Make sure to check out Jennifer's blog and see some of the amazing projects (including the Panelled Wall, I absolutely LOVE!) she's done!

As well, a huge THANK YOU to Chris over at "Just a Girl".

Love her blog!! She features so many awesome projects and ideas and shes definitely on my blog roll daily views! Thanks so much for featuring me Chris!! :)

~~~~~~~~~
So last weekend, we were in the midst of dealing with a few issues with the bathroom reno's while still trying to relax and work on other things around the house, all while entertaining for friends and family. To say the least, Im exhausted!

Yesterday, Ian decided to start fixing the fence door that desperately need to be re-done. The previously owners had created a huge fence door- around 70 inches wide (HUGE) that was hanging by 2 brackets on 1 small piece of wood. Literally, the first time we opened it, it broke right off the wood.

So Ian went straight to work, taking off the old door and building 2 new doors to replace it. That will help to balance the weight properly, but give us the same large opening into the backyard.

So far, the first door has been hung and completed and he is just about to finish the 2nd door (post about this to come soon!)
However, as the original door was being taken down, I asked what the plan was for that door. I got a response with the words, "garbage, who cares, dont need it" somewhere in there.
AHHHHH!! No! I want that wood, I insisted. The wood from the old fence door, has a great worn look to it. I neeeeed to do something creative with it.

So, Im open to suggestions, but here are a few ideas of what I might do with that wood:

DIY Factory Cart, from "Addicted to Decorating":

a neat storage idea from Kate at "Centsational Girl":

or try something a little more gutsy (although I would need a lot more than some fence boards for this!):

We'll see...maybe after I look at the wood more closely a decision will be made for me :)

Happy Monday Everyone!

Thanks again for the Feature :)

Big THANK YOU to Scissors and Spatulas for discovering my blog and choosing to feature my "destroyed to devine desk" project!

 

I really appreciate all the support and am so glad that so many of you are loving the desk transformation!

Thank you again, and hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Canada Day and another Feature!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers out there!

Im sure we are all looking forward to an extra long weekend to enjoy the sun and relax.
As for me, I'll be working on our never-ending bathroom renovations :S

However, I am happy to report that the first bathroom we started (almost 3 months ago...sigh!) is nearing completion and Im so excited to blog about it soon!

As for now, I wanted to share another fellow bloggers amazing blog and send her a HUGE THANK YOU for featuring me!

Shannon over at Burlap and Lace was destined to be one of my first friends in the blogging world-lol! We have a lot of similarities and I LOVE her style! Even the design of our blogs is similar :)
I will actually be "guest blogger" over at her blog soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Shes done some incredible projects and even sells some of her amazing work on Etsy- you can check out her shop here.

I love these pedestal bowls she sells:

so cute and vintage!

So hop on over to check out her blog and thank you again Shannon for featuring me!

Happy long weekend everyone! :)

HomeTalk

This is the best thing ever.

Thank you to Lindsey over at Better After for posting about this incredible website!

So for anyone who owns a home, you know there are a million things that come up on a daily basis that you might not always have the answers too.

Right now we are in the process of working on our backyard and we just removed this cute shed:

I know, why would we remove it?! Well from what you can't see, there is actually a pool to the left of the shed and a pool shed behind that. We dont really need 2 sheds, and to be honest, we wanted the grass space (more area for our dog to run, kids to play, etc).

So...after removing the shed we are left with a gigantic space that we need to fill with grass, a garden and a most importantly, a tree to block the neighbours view of our backyard.

Yes, I could plant a maple. Everyone tells us to plant a maple. BUT before we make a decision on that, I wanted to see what else was out there, that we could plant. I wanted more suggestions.

Here is the answer to my dillema: Hometalk. Its a great site that allows you to post questions about home improvement and get answers from professionals!

Straight from their site, "Hometalk is a community of regular folks and home improvement pros who love to talk  about home improvement. The site exists for one simple reason: to make home improvement easier and better for you.  Whether you are a homeowner, a renter or a contractor, you need a place to talk about  your home improvement projects. We’ve created a network where you can get all the information you need to do a home project right, down to the nitty gritties."

• Get (almost) instant answers to questions about your home & garden.
• Search photos and tips for inspiration and information.
• Post photos and grow a fan base for your very own house.
• Once and for all, get real & reliable reviews of local contractors.
• See tips from local businesses.

So go and check them out! Im anxiously awaiting an answer to my tree question-lol!

Blue Mason Jars- DIY!

I did it! I dyed them blue! Im so happy with how they turned out.

The only thing, is that I was so excited about them that I gave them away with flowers as a gift to a good friend yesterday before even taking any pictures of them! oops!

I'll be dying more of them (I only did 2, to start), so I'll be sure to take pics of those and post them.

So here is how I did it (thanks to Lauren at Our Hiding Place for some guidance with this!)

Here is what you need to start:

Vitrea 160 in Turquoise
Vitrea 160 Paint Thinner
(purchased both of them at Michaels)
Brush or Rag
Container or bowl to mix solution
Measuring spoon
Paper plates to put jars on to rest

Step 1: Mix the paint and thinner. It should be a ratio of about 25/75 (25% paint, 75% thinner). You can do this with a spoon (1 spoonful of paint, 2 of thinner, but I just guessed and dropped some of each in the container. The purpose for the thinner is so that the paint colour isn't as dark, so the less thinner you put in, the darker your jars will look.

Step 2: Set up your jars on the paper plates and begin the paint. You can dip your rag into the paint and start wiping the outside of the jars (dont worry about the insides). The first jar I did, I used a foam paint brush and ended up getting lots of bubbles on the jars, so I would recommend using a rag. If you have a few steaks of paint, dont worry too much, since they will disappear later.

Step 3: Leave them to dry for 24 hours, upside down.

Step 4: After 24 hours has passed, bake your jars for 30-40 minutes in an oven set to 325-350 degrees fahrenheit. The purpose for this, is that you can now put your jars in the dishwasher if you ever need to, and the paint will stay on. I was honestly a little worried about this step. I had visions of my jars exploding in the oven, but they were totally fine!

Step 5: Let your jars cool, and use them for whatever you want!

I'll post pics of the process later today, and work on doing up some more jars so you can see how they actually turn out!

Hope that helps a bit, but I definitely loved how they look and this is a super easy and simple project to do!

Total cost: $7.50 (for approx 15-20 jars)

Jars- $1.50 for 8 jars
Paint- $6.00 for both bottles at Michaels (use a 40% off coupon from flyerland.ca)

Thats it! I could probably dye about 15-20 jars with the amount of paint in the bottles, so it will last you a while!

Goodluck with your jars!

Source: image via Google Images

New Fan Page

Hello my lovely readers!
I hope you all had wonderful weekends!

Im starting off the week, with a new addition to the blog...my Facebook Fan Page! You can check the page out here, or on the right hand side of the menu on the main page.

Ive been working on getting it up and running for a while now and its finally ready for you all to see!

Please head over to it, if you get a chance and become a fan.

I will be updating the Facebook page with all of my blog posts, questions, photos, comments, etc, and there will be many opportunities for readers to share photos of their designs as well :)

Hope you enjoy the page and if you have any questions or comments, Id love to hear them!

Thanks again for all your support! :)

Featured and Thank You ;)

This is a VERY exciting day :)

Some of my transformation have been featured on one of my favorite blogs "Better After". This is my first feature and I couldn't be more thrilled and thankful!

Reading others comments and seeing that people actually like what we have been working on/pouring our hearts into for the past few months, means so much. When I first started this blog, it was just intended to document our home reno's and changes. I never thought people would actually be interested in what we were doing.

To those of you who have been following the blog, commenting or even just viewing the blog, THANK YOU. Thank you so much, all the support has been incredible and its amazing to be able to do something you love, and have others enjoy it too!

Lindsey blogs about all of the awesome transformation that millions of bloggers post about, and showcases them on her site.

I love looking at her site and seeing what other people have created and upcycled! Its truly an amazing inspiration source.

If you haven't seen her blog yet, go check it out here, and take a look at my little feature (soooo exciting!!!)

Thanks so much Lindsey and to all of YOU (my readers)! :) :) :)