Master Ensuite Bathroom Sneak Peak!

This has been a long time coming....and I mean LOOOOOOONG! We started this bathroom reno back in June, so we are THRILLED that its practically done!

All the bathroom needs now is the finishing touches....pictures, towels, some decor and its done!

Im going to wait until we get the finishes up to show you the full reveal, but for now here is a peak of what is to come:

let me remind you of the before shot:

I first have to say, that is not our decorating in the "before shot" (previous owners...just had to make that clear) :)

Both shots are taken from the same angle....so we definitely made huge changes to this bathroom.

I can't wait to show you the rest!

Oh, and the Main Bath is finished too! HORRAY!!! Pics of that to come shortly ;)

ALMOST THERE! :) :)

Canada's Best Antique Fair

Fall brings many things...back to school, craziness at work (for some...including me!), colder weather, leaving changing on the trees, and a very exciting event....The Christie Antique Show!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the fair, its held twice a year, and is one of the best Antique Fairs around. We planned to go to the spring fair (last May), but didn't get a chance to make it. I was PROMISED we could go check out the fair this fall, but unfortunately we aren't going to make it...again :( Next year, expect me there with bells on.

For those of you able to go, I would definitely check it out! Its held this weekend on September 10th, from 8:00am- 5:00pm rain or shine. Its known as Canada's best antique show, so be prepared for lots of people and tons of amazing finds! For directions to the show and information check out their website.

Here a glimpse of some treasures the fair has brought in the past:

all images courtesy of Apartment Therapy

A few things you'll want to remember before heading out to the fair:

- Go EARLY!  You'll want to be there early to scope out what you are looking for, and get the best picks.

- Have an idea of what you are looking for, so that you aren't overwhelmed by what is there and loose sight of your objectives for going

- Bring CASH and lots of it!

- Have a map of the fair and keep track of where you see things you might want to purchase

- Go to the back of the fair first and work your way forward- less crowds (something my parents taught me when we used to visit Disneyworld during March Break-lol!)

- Be prepared to negotiate, but you might get the best deals near the end of the fair, however....

- If you see something you love, buy it. You might miss out on a great piece!

Although Im not able to go, I'll be checking out some things closer to home this weekend, so I'll keep you posted next week on my findings! Please post if you go to the fair and find anything! I'd love to see what you are able to pick up at the fair :)

(Ugly Duckling) Chair Progress- Tutorial #1

Seeeee...I am working on it:

:)

I have to admit, this chair is the biggest pain in the you-know-what. Whoever made it must have thought that staples were the best thing ever invented...that, or they were testing out (and having a lot of fun with) their staple gun.

So Im at a few hundred staples and counting, but Im almost there. Yippee! Then comes the fun part of choosing a fabric to reupholster with.

Im going to give you a few separate tutorials on how to re-do a chair like this. I have to let you know that this is not an easy project- definitely the hardest one Ive done yet. It takes a lot of patience and time. There may have been a few times when I wanted to throw the chair out the window, but we wont talk about those ;)

So here's how to begin (and dont forget to take pictures of everything as you go, so you remember what the chair looked like to begin with!):

You'll need (for Tutorial Part 1):

- Camera

- Scissors

- Flat Head Screwdriver

- Plyers

- A LOT of patience

1. Take of the main cushions that are sitting on the chair and set aside (easy peasy).

2. Remove the screws underneath the seat to release the lower cushion.:

3. Slowly take apart the seat base.You want to save all of the fabric as you go, since it will become your template for the new fabric you choose for the chair:

4. The seat is now off the chair, but we need remove the fabric from the seat. Begin removing all of the staples from the seat. The staple removing will take you the longest and can be most time consuming part of the process. I used a flat head screwdriver to pull up the staples and then a pair of plyers to remove them completely.


5. Take your seat and turn it over. Use the screwdriver to pull up the old fabric and loosen some of the staples on the seat. Then use your plyers to pull the old staples out:
 

6. Once you have removed the staples from the seat, slowly pull off the fabric as you go, as you want to save this fabric for later, to use as a template.

7. After you have finished that, we will need to start working on taking the back cushion off the chair frame. Again, you want to save as much of this fabric as you can, so that you can use it for a template later on. Use the same process as before. Using your screwdriver to pull up the staples, and then using your plyers to pull them out completely:

8. Once you have your back cushion off the chair it may look simlar to this (upside down):

You will want to save this for later, if you plan on using the fabric covered buttons on the chair again, and if not, for a template.

Your chair will now look like this:

Main cushion off, main seat off and back cushion off. Now to remove the back padding of the chair (this part has taken me the longest so far).

9. Begin by loosening the staples again. Again, save as much fabric as you can without ripping it too much. Dont worry about saving the piping around the edges. You'll have to make new piping (which I will give you a tutorial on later) to match your new fabric choice.

10. Use your plyers to get under the staples and remove them. Try not to damage the wood too much, especially if you plan on staining the chair:

After this stage is complete, you are working with your empty frame, and can begin working on the frame itself.

I have decided on staining my chair, rather than painting it, and going with a light coloured fabric. 

In the next tutorial, I will show you my empty frame (Im almost there!) and the next step :)

Thanks for bearing with me on this one, its a tough (but hopefully rewarding) project!

Dresser Discovery

Recently I acquired this used dresser...

It has dovetailed joints, made out of solid wood and tons of character. Some of the drawers slide easily and others need a bit of work, but otherwise its a great piece.

The guy we bought it from (for less than $30) didn't seem to really know much about it, except that it had been in the family for many many years. He had painted it himself black a few years back, but the paint job isn't great.

After seeing these neat pieces, we might want to paint this piece a funky colour...

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But this one is still my fav (obviously for the colour):

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What colour would you pick?!

Lunch Break

In honour of the first day of school, I thought it might be suiting to post about a yummy lunch that Ian and I made the other week. (I also figured this mght keep you entertained until I finish writing about the progress of the ugly duckling chair!)

We watch a lot of cooking shows in our house (aside from the constant HGTV shows we are always watching), and although Im not a cook (I do like to bake), my wonderful husband loves to cook and sometimes I amuse him by helping...sometimes.

This day in particular, we decided to make a chicken sandwich...but it couldn't be just any chicken sandwich.

hungry yet?! I am...lol.

So here's how to make Melian's Chicken Sandwich Supreme with balsamic coleslaw. Fair warning, this sandwich is not exactly "butt and thigh friendly" lol.

Ingredients (for 1 sandwich):

1 Focaccia Bun

1 Grilled Chicken Breast

Lettuce

Tomato

3 strips of Maple Bacon

Granny Smith Apple (sliced)

(and the best part) 3 pieces of Fried Cheese.

The hardest parts of the sandwich to make are the fried cheese and the coleslaw, so here are my directions for both.

Fried Cheese:

Cut the cheese into 1 cm thick slices- I would recommend a hard cheese like cheddar. Place your cheese slices in the fridge until you need them.

Heat the frying pan to a medium heat.

While your fry pan is heating, take 1 egg and beat in a separate bowl.

Place 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs into a separate bowl, and 1 cup of flour into a separate bowl.

Dip the cheese slices into the flour, then the egg and then the panko.

Place directly into the flying pan, and only cook until the panko begins to brown. Your cheese will melt quickly, so remove the cheese as soon as you see the panko has browned/before the cheese starts to melt.

Note: The colder your cheese is, the less quickly it will melt in the pan, so keep it in the fridge until you need it.

Coleslaw:

For the salad:

2 cups cabbage, sliced (1 cup per person)

1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded apple

For the Dressing:
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Assemble the cabbage, shredded carrots and shredded apple in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients of the dressing. Slowly add the olive oil, while whisking vigorously to create an emulsion. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now for the sandwich....

Toast your sandwich buns first and lightly butter or margarine. Add all of the sandwich ingredients together- lettuce, chicken, bacon slices, tomato, apple slices and the cheese (the cheese should be the last topping on the sandwich so it doesn't get too soggy). Coleslaw can either be eaten on the side, or on the sandwich itself. 

Hope you enjoy!

Vanity Table?

Im not sure what to do with this table:

I bought it off Kijiji a while ago for $10.00 and planned on using it as a vanity/make-up table in my bedroom. It started out looking like this:

I sanded it, primed it and painted it:

I haven't put a gloss or any sort of finish on it yet, so I can change the colour or do whatever I want to it still. I dont know if I want to keep it white, change the colour, distress it....

Its been sitting in my bedroom collecting dust for the past few months...and I need some suggestions!

There are a few pieces of inspiration I have... love this piece (taken from the Nate Berkus show), but Im not sure if I want to do this to it:

Because if I could, I'd probably paint everything I own turquoise...

Plus, its going in our bedroom, and our bedroom walls are going to be a sea-foam green/turquoise colour so I dont want to have too much of that colour in the room.

But honestly, doesn't that colour just look amazing?!

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However, the white does look nice and clean...maybe it just needs some funky hardware.

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What would you do?

Leave it? Add funky hardware? Paint it a colour?!

Suggestions please! :)

DIY Artificial Flower Arrangements with Water

I have these flower arrangements in my home:

 

Bet you thought they were real didn't you?! :) Everyone who has come to my home and noticed them, has said to me, "gee the water is really low in your flower vase, you might want to add some."

So although they look real, they happen to be clever imposters posing as the real deal.

Although I would LOVE to have fresh flowers in my home all the time, we can't really afford to pay $20 every week and they'd probably die within a day...so I figured these were worth the investment.

However, Ive discovered a way to create these arrangements on your own for less than $10 :)

Its pretty simple to do and you only need a few things.

You'll need:

- a vase (I got mine at the dollar store)

- Craft flower water (clear resin) *you can get it at any craft store or Michaels

- fake flowers (again the dollar store, but I think Michaels has the most 'real looking' fake flowers Ive seen)

Thats it!

The supplies you'll need from home:

- Tongs

- Towel

- Cutting board

- Scissors

- Oven Mitts

- Pot

1. To start, clean your vases out so there is no dust or marks or anything on them.

2. Take your flowers and arrange them in the vase in a way you like. This is your only real chance to play around so get a good idea of what you want to do now, so you'll remember later.

3. Cut your flower stems to the lengths you need.

4.  Fill your pot with water at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the bottle of flower water (resin). Set the bottle into the pot and bring the water to a boil. Once the bottle has been in the boiling water for about 15 minutes, you'll start to see the resin become a liquid.

5. Put your oven mitts on and carefully take the bottle out of the pot and set it onto a cutting board (dry it off with the dish towel).

6. Take the pot of boiling water and dump the water down the drain. TURN THE BURNER OFF! Put the pot back on the burner and set your glass vase into the pot to warm it and then slowly pour the liquid resin into the glass vase. Leaving the vase in the warm pot while doing this will help to get rid of any bubbles in the resin. You'll want to leave your vase in the pot for about 10 minutes to get rid of any bubbles, but keep eye on it.

7. Remove the vase from the pot (with your oven mitts) and set it onto the cutting board.

8. You have approximately 15 minutes to arrange your flowers in the vase before it sets.

And your final product will look something similar to this: (I find its difficult to see the 'water' in this picture, but its there!)

A few tips for the road:

#1- Buy flowers that have thick large stems. The flowers I bought ended up with small stems based how how I had to cut their length. It made them very hard to work with and hard to get into the resin.

#2- Buy 2 vases (just to have a back-up!)

#3- Do NOT leave your vase in the pot with the burner on! Make sure the burner is OFF before you put the vase into the pot, on the burner.

Goodluck! Im happy with how the first one has turned out, but have enough resin to make a few more, and I think they'll turn out much better!

Total cost:

Vase- $2

Flowers $2

Resin $4.50- you'll only use 1/2 the bottle (Paid $9.00 reg. $16.99, but I used a 50% off coupon)

Total: $8.50 :)

Under $10.00 for the project!

Hope that inspires you to make some of your own arrangements :)