Friends, how's it going? What's happening? Good week? Happy Friday!

We have no big plans for this weekend. I imagine we'll be going on some family hikes and explorations, so fun.

Now that the family room scheme is all done (by the way, I loooove it), it's time to start sourcing some of the items.  While I'm doing that, I'm going to start plugging away at the living room & dining room design.

The photo above is one of the inspiration photos that I've pinned.  A touch of glam, a touch of fabulosity!  (those stools have GOT to happen).

We already have two chairs, an off white leather couch and that amazing gold mirror. Along with a few other pieces.  The colour scheme will be pulled from the carpet that was given to us by hubs parents (father in law bought while on a trip to Turkey).

I started to tackle the room yesterday and was able to get a bit done, but alas, I had to shut the computer and walk away.  It just wasn't coming together the way I had hoped.

One thing I'm hoping for is to call this Bernhardt table mine.  Please don't let it be ridiculously expensive.

With that, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Cheers,

It's Happening.

You guys, things are happening and I'm so excited.  Decisions have been made, direction has been found.  It's all good. I can't wait to share more with you in the coming weeks/months.

What I can share with you right now is my latest find.  Funk and Gruven has done it again!  Remember the cabinet that I mentioned here.  Well, I went to check it out and totally loved it.  It's nothing overly fancy, but the shape and size were perfect for what we plan on using it for (housing hubs stereo receiver).

It will most likely be placed beside the couch even though it's a few inches taller.  It works, so we're going with it.  It's currently tucked in a corner until we figure out the rest of the room (working on it, I promise).

Here's a peek of it in the room:

I originally thought of painting it off white/cream but I dunno, I'm digging the black.

There's still quite a lot to buy for this room.  Picture(s) to hang above the couch, artwork for other walls. Accessories and of course, drapery.  This room is taking precedence over the living room since it's the most used room in the house.  I just need to make some decisions and then everything will start coming together.

Cheers,

Pretty Friday.

There is just something so beautiful about floral arrangements and even more so when they are paired with a stunning chair! Yum.

I've done a lot of thinking this week in regards to this post and I think that maybe, just maybe, I have come up with a solution.  A way to make it work and to make it happen.  I will share more as soon as I can.  Still a lot of thinking needed and a game plan to be written out.  Pretty exciting though.

If you're following me on Pinterest then you've probably seen a few new boards pop up this week.  One of them being P & V's wedding.  Yup, there is going to be a wedding this summer and I'm totally excited.  One of hubs brother's got engaged on Christmas day, hooray!  I've been lucky enough to have been asked to be part of the wedding party (so excited) and we are allowed to pick out our own dresses.  The only requirement, that they are navy blue.  So I'm searching for a dress and so far JCrew is calling my name.  Have you ever purchased a bridesmaid dress from JCrew?  Thoughts? Did you love it? Did it fit well?  You can see all of the dresses I've pinned here.  I think this one is currently my favourite.

Have a lovely weekend, friends.

Cheers,

Happy Day!

Well, happy Valentine's day friends! Such a lovely day, isn't it? Will you be doing anything special to celebrate?

I plan to bake a heart shaped cake for the kiddos while the older two are at school.  Of course it will be adorned with cinnamon hearts, can't say no to them!

Yesterday's post is fresh in my mind.  I'm still trying to figure out just what it is that I need to do and what will work best for our lifestyle.

In the meantime, the family room and kitchen drapery situation is still unsolved.  I had thought that linen was out of the question and that twill was the way to go, until I received some gorgeous samples from Tonic Living.  I'm loving the combo below:

They both look superb with the paint and are the perfect tone for the rest of the room.  You can find them here and here.  Incase you missed it, this is what I'd like them to look like.  My only concern is that I will quickly tire of the plum.  I think it would be relatively easily to switch it out once/if ever want to, but do I really want to ever have to do that?
It looks a little beaten up, but I'm thinking with a touch of off white spray paint it will come right back to life. I wouldn't want to keep it dark because I desperately want to brighten this room up.  I'll have to go and see it in person to see what exactly I'd be working with.

I don't think that this picture does them justice.  Will have to see if I can ever get to the store to see them in person.  It's tough because we are working with dark brown leather. I want to brighten up the space but to have it cohesive without being overly feminine.  I wouldn't mind finding a floral fabric with the same colours above.

Once the drapery has been selected and pillows, then I can move on to everything else.

I'd like to stick with a drum shade because that's what we have in the kitchen and I think it will balance everything off.  Maybe a black shade instead of white or cream.  I'll have to test them out.  Not sure about the straight lines though, curves may be needed to soften up the room.  There are already a lot of straight lines.

Phew. That's that.  We are getting there.  I'll be extremely happy once the drapery situation is all sorted out (and I'm sure you will be too, enough already, right?!).  It's going to cost a pretty penny even with me making them myself, but it'll be SUCH a great investment.

If you're wondering about the living room, well, it's on standby for now.  I'm searching for a few pieces and so far, I haven't had any luck.  The above cabinet may actually work in the living room, I'll know once I see it in person.

Well, go on now and give your loved ones a hug.  Let them know how special they are!

Happy day loves!

Cheers, 

Snow Day!

Oh.my.word.

Folks, that was an insane amount of snow.  Nemo was no joke!  I can't for the life of me remember this much snow falling within 24hrs (I'm guessing that's because if it did happen when I was a kid that I saw it as being awesome because I didn't have to shovel any of it! ha).

So yes, lots of snow.  We went from being able to see our driveway and lawn to being literally knee deep in white stuff.  By mid day we realized that they weren't kidding. Nemo was ready to pack a punch and did just that.  I shovelled three times in one day (personal record there).  The kids and I headed over to our friends house to shovel her driveway because she's pregnant and her hubs was away.  It ended being so much fun, despite the crazy amount of snow that was falling on us.  I think a huge part was the it wasn't terribly cold, phew!

It was so nice to see those neighbours who own slow blowers out doing other neighbours driveways, without even being asked.  So awesome.

Anyhow here are a few pics from our weekend snow-a-thon!

 our deck about midway through the day. it was snow free the day before!

this made me smile.  a group of kids ventured out to play pond hockey during the thick of the storm and they were having an absolute blast! 

the morning after

enjoying some homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk after some fun in the snow on the newly recovered chairs!

Speaking of chairs, I felt like something was "off" with the new table set up.  So I placed my Better Homes and Gardens flowers (from Walmart) as a centerpiece and tada, love it!  I have to be honest.  I wasn't too sure about the chairs at first, but now I'm loving them.  I'll be heading the Fabricland today to buy some more fabric to cover the last two chairs.

a touch of pink and everything looks better!

Cheers,

Pretty Friday.

Hey, hey, hey!

If you live in Ontario (like us), chances are you are in the midst of a mega snowstorm.  I can't wait to shovel, yeah, not really.  Although truth be told, shovelling is a pretty darn good workout.  Perhaps that will burn away some of the calories I downed earlier in the week when I made the butter tarts that were featured in Style At Home's January issue.  I ate too many, way too may and am ashamed. Sigh.

In other news, yesterday I finally tackled the chairs that came with the vintage dining room set that we purchased in December.  We weren't too fond of how they looked with the table, so we decided to try them in the kitchen.  I wasn't overly in love with the brown leather parsons chairs that were in the kitchen, so it was worth a try.

Little J and I headed off to Fabricland and found a great outdoor fabric (perfect for those of you with little kids because 1- it's easy to clean and 2- it has a protectant to help prevent stains).  Another plus, it was on clearance, $8 from $24. Bam!

I bought a meter to test out and I managed to cover four chairs.  Now, this is the first time I've ever done this.  All of those who said it was super simple were super telling the truth.  It took no time and was painless.  If you're looking to recover your kitchen chairs, this is a great video on how to do it. I went the very simple route. Didn't take the old fabric off and didn't add any extra cushioning.

Here is a before and after shot:

And here is how they look with the kitchen table:

(four down, two to go)

I was a tad bit worried about how the black would look with the wood and I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone with this print, but I think it works.  If I get sick of it, it will be easy enough to change.  The kitchen feels airier now, something I wasn't expecting but that was a pleasant surprise.  The chairs will eventually need to be re-stained, so I'll do my best to match them to the table when the time comes.

Next up is making the drapes (going to be the same as those in the family room and will look similar to these). Then we'll need a carpet for under the table and the last thing on the kitchen to-do list is a backsplash, which will most likely be white subway tiles.  Can't wait!

With that, I hope you have one fantastic weekend!

Cheers,

To Be Continued.

It's funny.  I was trying to make a conscious effort to plan out my blog posts, but I am so a "whatever is happening at the moment" type of blogger. It's true.  I just can't help it.  So, as you can probably guess, this will be yet another post about the house.

You're gonna be so excited.  Totally excited, because I've finally picked out a fabric for the family room drapes.  Cymbal clap, bang!

I went to Fabricland and spotted this gorgeous drapery twill.  It has the perfect texture, just what I was looking for.  I had thought of twill, but the only ones I had seen up until now were matte and that wasn't what I wanted, this one has a nice sheen to it.  The other two options were faux silk and linen, both of which I love but neither of them felt right.  I personally see the faux silk to be a better match for our living room than family room and the linen was just not doing it for me.  So twill it is.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a lighter colour on top (middle fabric in pic below) and then a band of darker colour on the bottom.  As of now, I don't think I've found the right colour for the bottom, so the other option is to do the drapes all one colour (middle one) or to maybe add a trim.

Done.

Next up are a few little items on my to-do list.  Which feels never ending at the moment. You're probably asking yourself why am I so determined to finish this up.  The answer: being that we are military, there's a pretty good chance that we will be moving in a few years.  We've done a few moves now and have learned lessons along the way.  One of which is that we can't love our home if we have the mentality of "oh we're moving, so there's no point in making it our own".  Why we ever thought that way is beyond me, but lesson learned and we're changing it up this time.

Okay, just to share:

Our master bath.  I finally hung up our Jen Ramos "Love" print, which I love.  Now I want to add a white shelf to place some candles on.  I had thought of hanging some candle wall sconces on either side of the window, but I haven't had any luck finding what I like.  So this is the other option.  Then on the opposite wall of the print, I'd like to add a nice towel rack.  Possibly one that will hold folded towels vs hung.  The other towel rack (out of the picture) is just too far, good for when you're using the shower, but not good for the tub.  This is also the first room that we'll probably re-paint and re-model.  We totally got it wrong.  Lighter vanity (it's dark wood) and lighter paint colour.

Next up and on the "high priority" list is the main hallway, which is what you see when you first walk in the house.  The wall on the right, I had thought of hanging a large print, but I dunno, I think I'd prefer a gallery wall of some sort, or a row of frames, white maybe?  The light fixture, needs to go.  I have one in mind, just need to order it.

Then there is the large, empty wall between the living room and family room that is just screaming for a console or a large piece (have to accommodate the totally inconveniently placed vent).  I'm looking, I promise.  Since we have 9' ceilings, I'd love to bring in some tall twigs in a glass vase, like this.

There is so much to do, so it's a matter of prioritizing what we'd prefer to do now and what can wait.  Which can be easier said than done, but realistically, it can't all be done at once.

I'm really excited though because we are pretty close to being done the main floor.  Done to the point that it is comfortable and there aren't bare/empty spots (on walls, missing furniture, etc).

Now to find some prints to frame and hang in the hallway. On my way!

Cheers,

Doing It Your Way.

This past weekend as I was scouring the internet and magazines for inspiration & ideas for curtains in the family room, this overwhelming feeling of being completely bummed out came over me.  It wasn't fun.  So I closed the computer and put away the magazines and went to do something else.

Later in the day, it occurred to me that sometimes, I rely wayyyy too much on sites like pinterest and Houzz.  I will search sites until I find an example of what I'm thinking of doing or something close to what I have in mind.  You see the problem with that is, you can't always decorate the way that others are.  You can't only do something because someone else has done it.

You don't need permission to decorate your way.

Le duh.

I mean, your home is your place to decorate the way you see fit.  I'm not creating the space for anyone else, I'm decorate this space for us, so it should reflect our taste.

Why do I always forget this?!

I always fear I'm going to make a mistake (like the lamp that I bought for the family room & had to have and now I can't stand the thing and want to get rid of it asap) and something won't play out or look the way I envisioned it. But honestly, what's the problem with that?!  Nothing, just return the piece or cut your loss and move on, find something new.

I have to remember to use the internet for inspiration and not for a play by play on how to put the rooms together. I need to have confidence in my choices and decisions and I have to be okay with making mistakes.  That's the road to getting it right.  One step at a time.

Now, hopefully you don't think I'm too crazy after reading this, and perhaps it sounds like I'm talking to myself (which in a way, I kind of am).  I just want to get it out there, I want a reminder.

Okay, as you were.

Cheers,

Pretty Friday.

Well, friends.  Another weekend is ahead of us.  What do you have planned?  What will you do?  Will you be taking part or hosting a Superbowl party? I'm pretty excited to see Beyonce perform during halftime.

A few links for your viewing pleasure:

a little drapery secret that everyone should know about

like branches? then this may just tickle your fancy

I've got a thing for pastels, so needless to say, I love this outfit

a pouf!

and lastly, stay cool

Cheers,