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.

Pinterest is Like Crack for Moms

My husband no longer makes fun of my obsession with Pinterest.  Why?  Because it has saved him hundreds of dollars in just the last few weeks.

We have an entire new (to us) house to decorate.  And the majority of furniture we have left from our old place just doesn't work in this one.  Oh darn.  But frankly, I'm not even concerned about furniture yet.  I'm more worried about the fact that we now live in the middle of the city with neighbours that can see directly in our windows.  So curtains were a necessity..and fast!

I made the decision early on in this process that I'm not settling for what's on sale, or what is a great deal unless I absolutely love it.  I will happily live with nothing until we can find items in our budget that we both love.  Geoff is still not so sure about this concept but I'm winning him over.

Source: google.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

This picture above is the look I'm going for in our living room and dining rooms.  Similar colours and patterns but mixed up a bit between rooms.

Source: zgallerie.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

Love the colour of these curtains from Z Gallerie.  I wasn't entirely sure about the pattern but at $60 a panel they were a great price.

Source: crateandbarrel.com via Sabrina on Pinterest

This one made my heart skip a beat.  I needed them.  I almost bought them.  But they were $140 a panel.  That's $280 in curtains just for one room.  I realize that in the world of curtains this is really not a bad price.  But I knew I could do better than that.

So I made my first ever purchase on Fabric.com and for the grand total of $108 I got 19 yards of fabric.  That's enough to do curtains for both the living and dining rooms and 5 other yards for other craft projects!

Only thing standing in my way is the fact that I haven't used a sewing machine since 8th grade.  Eek.

CB2 I Love You

Finally!  CB2 now ships to Canada.  My wishlist for this place is huge.  I love that the pieces they make are modern and funky without a price tag that would make Geoff wish he was single again.
I’ve loved this Hopscotch Rug for ages.  Think it would be perfect for our mudroom entrance or in a playroom.

These Matryoshka dolls make my heart skip a beat.  I had a set when I was a kid and would love to have these super stylish ones now.

This acrylic tripod easel is so cool.  I’ve been on a bit of an acrylic kick lately…found a side table for our new living room that I’ll share later.

This abacus.  I just said to Geoff a few days ago that I had one when I was a kid and would love to find one again.  But come on…$169?  I could make it for $10!!

What can I say?  It’s acrylic.  It needs to come live with me.

Everything Is Gonna Be All White

Another room I am really excited about decorating is our new living room.  We’ve known for a long time now that we wanted a change from the style we had before.
This was our old living room area…missing two of the chairs and the ottoman so that we could make room for the insane amount of giant plastic baby toys.  While I still do like it, it just wasn’t US.


I still love the old Danish teak style hutch we inherited from Geoff’s grandmother and our imitation Barcelona chairs.  But the wall colour has got to go!  This is actually something we were planning on doing before the house fell but never had the time.  Sure glad we didn’t now!
And these are the rooms that are inspiring me now.


Love the vaulted ceilings and the rafters.  Might possibly be doing this in the new place.  I just noticed that both these rooms have hanging chairs in them too.  We actually already own the chair from the bottom picture….bought it years ago when it was on clearance and never got around to finding a spot for it outside.  It’s this one from Ikea.

Love, love, love the white Eames Lounger.  Hoping to find a knockoff somewhere at a price that isn’t equivalent to a small car.

I’ve always loved this yellow sideboard from Ikea too.
I’m picturing a big white room with grey and yellow accents.  Light flooring…painted wood perhaps?  Can’t wait to start shopping!

DIY Day

I came across this light fixture a few days ago and I knew instantly that I had to have it too.

I’m pretty sure she got her inspiration from a light that I just saw on an episode of 9 by Design. 
The DIY version couldn’t be simpler to make (though incredibly time consuming).  It’s made up of a round paper lantern like the ones Ikea sells by the thousands and then paper coffee filters are hot glued onto it.
Can’t wait for our next trip to Ikea so that I can pick up one of these for myself and get started!

Decorating Dreams

If our insurance company ever gets their butts in gear we will one day very soon have a new house to decorate.  The spaces I am most excited about being able to start from scratch are the kid spaces…I can indulge my love of colour and quirky to my heart’s content!
I’m going to have a 6 year old girl’s room to do…she has already informed me that she wants a Paris Princess room.  Oy.  A 1 year old boy’s room and possibly a shared scrapbooking room / playroom.

I love everything about this room.  We had a wall in our old house that we covered in maps just like this one.  And I have recently developed an obsession with collecting globes.  What a great way to display them!  I could so picture this setup on one side of the room with my scrapbooking area on the other.

There is no way we could ever make this happen but I can dream.  How cool would it be to say your house had a fireman’s pole from one floor to another?

Same goes for this pic.  Our rooms aren’t going to have the height to make this happen but I just love it.  What an amazing play space this would be.

I am absolutely going to incorporate this into Sage’s room.  A simple nightstand wearing a tutu!  Super easy project to do.

This is probably more along the lines of what Sage actually wants me to do.  Lots of pink and sparkle!  I am loving the dressmaker’s form with the nightgown on it.  I picked one of these up at a flea market just a few weeks ago.  And the Jackson Pollock style art behind the bed.  Love that.

I also have a current obsession with pom poms.  Along with everyone else in blog land!  I’m thinking that these will be incorporated into my scrapbook room decor though.
Not really any boy themed rooms were there?  I’m having a horrible time finding rooms that I love that aren’t too themey.  I’ve loved these decals for a couple years now though…would love them in Jasper’s room.

Now I would just love to get started on all these projects already!

Dreaming

Since there has been no progress on getting our house torn down or getting our remaining contents assessed, Geoff and I have been spending our free time dreaming of the kind of home we would like to build.  We live in a neighbourhood a few streets up from the water full of 100+ year old cottages.  Our neighbourhood seems to be split 50/50 with people who take excellent care of their homes and ones that do nothing at all.

We dream of starkly modern homes, flat roofs, floor to ceiling windows, single pitch roofs, stone and stucco exteriors.  Do we know that these designs will stick out in our area?  Yes.  Do we care?  Not really.  We have no plans to move.  This will be the home we are in for the long haul.  Plus, there is a certain amount of creative freedom we feel able to take seeing as how this is not our hard earned money that will be put into the house.  We’re not going to be stuck with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for a home that may not sell.  Our current mortgage will not change at all and we’re going to end up with a bigger house out of the deal.  Even if our circumstances change and we end up having to move, the new home will most definitely sell for more than our previous one so we can’t lose!  Or so we hope.

So…here’s the plan we’re 90% decided on.  There are a few changes to be made…the upstairs will have a large portion of the deck turned into a 3rd bedroom leaving the downstairs bedroom to be turned into an office.  A basement will be added, more built-in closets and moving some bathrooms around.  Also adding more of a proper interior entrance way.  But we love it.  It’s modern but can be warmed up.  The exterior will be left very similar to the picture.  Grey stucco or stone panels (handy having a husband that works with stone!), the red will be a warm barn red out of board and batten.  Tall grasses planted in the front planter for privacy.  We are so excited.

Umbra Factory Warehouse Sale

Just some of the beautiful things that I am hoping to find..yes I am well aware that I'm living in dreamland. My husband and I first happened upon the Umbra sale purely by accident just after we were married 6 years ago...we've tried to make it to every sale since!