Art Attack

Our new house has a window or a door on every single wall.  Along with awkward light switch placement.  Combine this with the completely different feel we are going for in this place compared to our last one and it all adds up to mean that almost none of the artwork we own already is going to work.  I'll still use most of it...just not in the main living areas.

The big gallery wall we had in our old house just isn't doable here...there are no large walls!  I still love the look and feel of gallery walls..we're just going to have to do it on a much smaller scale.

Original art just isn't in our budget...frankly I don't think I know many people whose budget it is in!  I'm a huge HomeSense fan but I really want more of a personal feel than what their pieces seem to have lately.  And we need a lot of new art...not just a piece or two.  Lots of new art would cost a fortune.  So...with all the pinning I've been doing lately...I figured I'd give making my own art a shot!  I am so not a crafty person...this is all very new to me.

Here are a few of the images that I've been loving.

Source: madebygirl.blogspot.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

This is gorgeous.  And seems relatively simple to make.  But large...way too large for our walls.

Source: sketch42blog.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

These are perfect!  I can just imagine a wall covered in a whole bunch.

Source: nicolecohenart.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

Love this.  I'm sure it's not nearly as easy to replicate as it looks...but sure would be fun to try.

Source: thebabyblackbird.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

Would be so fun to do this with Sage.  She's always begging to do crafty stuff with me.  She'd be in heaven.

Source: paint-me-a-picture.blogspot.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

This is probably beyond my barely-can-draw-stick-people abilities but I LOVE them.  I would buy one in a second if her shop were still open.

So just this morning I ordered myself a whole bunch of canvases and paints from De Serres.  Eek.  I was actually shocked at how great their prices are...for some reason I was expecting canvases to be really expensive.  I bought 18 mini canvases to attempt to make something like in picture #2.  I also got 5 larger canvases.  Have no idea what I'm going to make with them yet..probably something that Sage can help with too.  Let's hope it all turns out!

Piece by Piece

There is not one single room in our house that is anywhere close to being done but that is ok.  I've done a little bit of decorating here and there just to tide me over til we can get to the good stuff!

I have 2 typed pages of Short Term and Long Term To Do items...so the end is nowhere in sight!  There is painting, sanding, trim fixer-uppering to do in every room.  Along with all the other little quirks that need to be addressed.  Oh well...now that the garage is done we can focus our attention on the inside again!  Well the garage is almost done...still need to have someone come out to put up facia and eavestroughs.

Here are some of the rooms that I've been finding inspiring when it comes to doing our living room.  We've decided on white walls and trim for the majority of the main floor.  I love the bright yellow painted doors against the white in this first picture.

Source: colorfulhomes.tumblr.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

I love everything about this next image.  The turquoise chevron curtains.  The yellow flowered chair.  The Ikea Lack shelf (that is sadly no longer made).  All combined with vintage elements and natural wood tones.  Very much the kind of look I would like to have.

Source: e-tells-tales.blogspot.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

These next two are both Jonathan Adler designed rooms in one of Liz Lange's houses.  The turquoise with the black and white and yellow accents make me happy just looking at them!

Source: sugarlaws.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

Source: housebeautiful.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

This last room is a nursery but has all the crazy colour and layers of textures that I am LOVING right now.  Maybe it's because of all the stress we've dealt with this last year but both Geoff and I just want our house to be bright and colourful and fun!  Our last house had lots of neutrals and we have absolutely no desire to go that route again.

Source: ontobaby.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

So with all those gorgeous images in mind, don't judge this last one too harshly!  The walls only have primer on them so we still can't hang any artwork but I'm slowly getting the bones of the room together.

The couch won't stay white.  I have big plans to dye it grey.  Eek.  Hope it turns out.  I love the look of the white couch but I'm too scared to let my children anywhere near it!  And I have no desire to live that way so grey it will be.

We Have Progress!

We've had a very busy long weekend around here!  It feels like we've had so much going on lately that all the house projects have been put on the back burner.  Either Geoff has been working late or on weekends, or we've had company, or we've had to go away.  Not anymore!  Here's what we accomplished this weekend:

Carport when we moved in.

Newly enclosed garage on Sunday morning

Garage on Sunday afternoon.  I did the majority of priming myself!  And I'm married to a former painter...now that I think of it, I'm not actually sure what he was doing while I was priming.  Hmmm.

Garage on Monday night!  After 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Midnight Blue (BM1638) and 2 coats of Devoe Safety Yellow on the door.  The Midnight Blue is definitely a dark grey...does have blue-ish tones when it's in the shade.

Geoff thought adding Jasper's car to the picture would be appropriate staging.  I am LOVING the dark grey with white trim and the bright yellow door.  It feels so fresh!  Having the garage finally closed in makes such a huge difference in the feel of our backyard.  And it's so much nicer to look out the back windows and see a structure instead of right through to the alley!  Though I must say that the garage looks so nice now that our boring brown house is looking even duller.  We're thinking about painting the siding this year instead of next if our amazing weather holds out.

Can't wait til next spring when we can do some landscaping...as of now the plans are to bust up all that ugly concrete and do some nice tumbled cobblestone pavers...there needs to be a pop of colour on the left side...can't wait to visit some nurseries!

He's got Spark!

Me cleaning out the pantry.  Jasper too quiet.  This all adds up to the following:

A 2 year old boy with a 7 year old sister means that there are a few sparkles somewhere on his body at almost any given time.

When he sneaks into her room and dumps the sparkle containers out on the floor..well...then there are more than just a few.

This also gives a sneak peek at something we did to the second story of our home....white painted wood floors!  Surprisingly it took almost no convincing to win Geoff over to the bright side.