Would you believe that I hadn't stepped into a Homesense store for over a month until last week?! I know!

Well, my visit (with gift card in hand....my friends know me well!) didn't disappoint.  It was great to get caught up and to see what's new.  Of course, I have to share a few items with you all here.

The first item I spotted was immediately after I walked in the store.  Beauty in an ottoman:

If only I had someplace to put it. Really gorgeous.

Then there was this lovely that I would have no problem using at my kitchen or dining room table:

This spring, Ralph Lauren ginger jar motif lamps hit the shelves.  They've been followed by these white porcelain beauties:

If you're in the market for a rug be sure to stop by Homesense, they usually have an amazing selection in varying sizes.  This wool & cotton 5x8 caught my eye:

I've been looking for a mirror to hang in the hallway to the laundry room for a while now.  Though I didn't find anything on this trip,  there was still an impressive array of choices available:

I may not have found a mirror or rug, but what I did find (finally) was a round woven basket.  You guys, I've been looking for the perfect one for months now.  Seriously.....months.  The wait was finally over and I'm one happy camper.  My plan is to use it in the living room as a planter for either a banana leaf plant or perhaps a hibiscus.  I'm all for a fig leaf but I haven't had any luck finding one around here and to be honest, I absolutely love hibiscuses (say that five times fast! ha!).

Also, I wanted to give a big thank you (and high five) to Style At Home for featuring one of my instagram pics of our living room on their blog!  You can see it here.  So awesome! Thanks so much, Style At Home!

Cheers,
  

Summer Vacation Recap!

Hey,  hey, hey!  We are back from our summer vacation.....you guys, it was awesome!

We spent 13 days on the road and in hotel rooms, but we really and truly had so much fun.  The trip started off with a three day trek through southern Ontario then we crossed the border and drove through Michigan, Illlinois and Minnesota.  We added North Dakota to that list on the way back.  They were long days, but the kids did well and I didn't have to drive, ha!

First was the wedding. Oh.my.goodness.  The wedding.  It was amazing, just amazing.  Honestly one of, if not, the best wedding I've ever been to.  My brother in law and now sister in law planned a phenomenal event.  Everyone had so much fun and was simply in awe.  I just wish I had taken more photos.

The location was just gorgeous.  Outside, surrounded by trees, gardens and lovely water features.  The bride was stunning and the groom as handsome as can be!  I'm so happy for them.

Her dress was made of beautiful lace and had an open back.  It fit her so perfectly...she looked so gorgeous:

After the ceremony we enjoyed the most delicious dinner in a perfectly decorated white tent:

All of my boys looked so handsome:

photo courtesy of Don Weixl (aka hubs awesome uncle! be sure to check out his site and to book him if you're in the Vernon/Okanagan, BC area)

Our kids were asked if they could make a ring box out of lego.  They thought a plane made out of lego would be more fitting...it was perfect!  (Mad is holding it in his hand in this photo).

After the wedding festivities were over, we played tourist in the city we used to call home, Winnipeg.  How funny is it that we visited places and ate dinner at local restaurants that we never went to in the five years that we lived there?!

We tested out Unburger, which turned out to be absolutely fantastic!  I highly recommend it if you are ever in Winnipeg.

I of course rocked my Hudson's Bay Company jean jacket to dinner...it was the right thing to do, ha!:

We not only played tourist, but we also took advantage of living a hotel life.  Which meant hitting the pool as often as possible:

 After Winnipeg, we headed off to Moose Jaw, SK...another city that we once called home, to watch my brother in law (the same who was married the weekend before!) receive his Air Force Wings.

en route to Moose Jaw, somewhere in SK 

If you've ever lived in Saskatchewan then you'll know that the winds can be constant and strong....my hair stayed pretty much just like this the entire time we were there! ha!

That night we had an awesome time celebrating his achievement at the mess.  Goodness, they had fun! Again, I wish I had pictures of everyone dressed to the nine's that night, but alas, I've got nothing.

The drive home was long, so long....we just couldn't wait to get home....

It was such an awesome trip.  I haven't laughed as hard as I did the past week in a long time. So good for the soul.

Now our focus turns to enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer vacation and prepping for the upcoming school year.  I also have Blogpodium coming up (which I'm super excited for).

Time to get serious! ;)

Cheers,

 

BlogPodium, Here I Come!

Oh.
Yes.
I.
Am.

I'm so excited about this.  Things are moving along nicely over here and it's time for me to take a leap of faith and pursue blogging, it's what works best with our totally unpredictable military life.  Little J will be going to school in the fall, which means that I will have time I need to make things happen.

I am in the midst of trying to figure out a game plan, but you can probably guess that the posts will have something to do with decorating & styling interiors along with inspirational spaces.  I also have to talk about fashion and beauty here and there....who doesn't love fashion inspiration.  September will be the start of something new over here at elliven.

So here goes nothing.  I'm excited to meet everyone and looking forward to a day full of inspiration!

Cheers,

A Place To Sit.

We spent part of the day at the Airplane Museum yesterday for kiddo 3's birthday.  I couldn't help but take a picture of this little sitting area outside.  I'm not quite sure what it is about iron patio sets but I love them!  Probably not the best choice for comfort (no one loves the pattern of the seat to be imprinted all over their bottom if you know what I mean) but they sure do look mighty fine!

Cheers,

Around Here. Instagram Update

Summertime is proving to be a difficult time to write blog posts!  So it's an instagram update for today!

I ventured out on my first run after months off. 5km kicked my butt, I could hardly walk the next day! But it still felt great to get going again. This lovely bridge is part of my route.

the older two kiddos played in a three game tournament this past weekend, marking the end of their season. shiny medals and huge freezies for everyone!

 an extremely weathered place to sit in the backyard

so this is about to happen. the gold mirror is finally going up along with the two square frames that I bought for the family room which didn't go so well. (more on that below)

those vintage chairs. I love them so

the upstairs hallway & nook are sooooo close to being done!

a touch of pink. I can't ever resist.

So the family room frames. I'm having SUCH a hard time deciding what to hang above the couch.  The couch is about 73" (I think, around there at least) and we have 9' ceilings. I really don't want to hang a mirror or a large print but maybe that's the best way to go?  I've had two failed attempts trying four square frames (two rows of two) but those didn't feel right, and then I tried four rectangular frames (again, two rows of two) but those didn't feel right either.  I'm not sure if it was because the frames were dark brown and they would look better white or if it was something else.  Maybe two large square frames would be the best?  I'm plugging away trying to find the perfect solution, but until then, the family room is kinda at a stand still, which is a bummer.  I don't want to do anything else to the room until I figure out what's going to go above the couch.

Cheers,
 

Family Room Drapery - Pinch Pleats!

As I mentioned here, I have a few projects that I recently finished and haven't shared here on the blog.  I've also realized that I need to take much better photos (you'll see what I mean below), I love to share peeks of what I've been up to on instagram and those photos are fabulous to use on the blog as well, but I need to make sure I take some quality photos too.  Note to self.

Anyhow, so the drapes.  I originally planned on making them on my own.  I have come to realize that I'm a sucker for plain drapery.  I adore and love patterned panels, but for our home I always end up going with a solid fabric.  We have 9' ceilings on the main floor, so it was tricky trying to find panels that were the right length, which is why I decided to just make them on my own.  I headed over to fabricland to purchase some lovely twill that I had spotted earlier only to find that it was no longer there.  Bummer.  So as I headed towards the exit, I spotted some pre-made rod pocket white panels with a gorgeous herrigbone weave.  Get out!  And you know what, they were 108" AND 40% off!  Ummm, made for me, I think so.

Needless to say, I picked up four panels along with some pinch pleat tape (same one I used in this post) and headed home.

The panels were just over 50" each, so I to sew two together for one panel because you lose so much width with the pinch pleats. Simply take out the side seams and then I used a french seam when sewing the two panels together for a nice finished look.

Then you sew the tape on to the top, right onto the rod pocket portion (nearly the same width as the pinch pleat tape) and buy your hooks (there are all sorts...simply depends on what type of pleats you want and where you want your drapery to hang in relation to the rings, covering them or right below).

The result, some lovely pinch pleated drapery:

I'm so so so happy with them and will be making more for the kitchen window (patio door, next to the white table in the photo above) next.

Cheers,

Guest Post over at The Pink Zipper!

via

Today you can find me over at Hollie's uber fab blog The Pink Zipper, sharing 25 things you don't know about me!

I know you're totally curious about which movie inspired me to have a long veil on our wedding day!  Head on over to Hollie's blog to find out that answer to that question and 24 more!

Cheers,

DIY Double Gourd Lamp Transformation

Sometimes I go ahead and finish a project and then just forget to blog about it.  Well, it happens a lot actually!  I'm going to do my best to share my latest DIY's here on the blog in the coming weeks.

First up is a lamp that I found at Homesense in the clearance section.  I had been looking for a lamp to place on top of the black cabinet in the family room.  Originally I had my eyes set on a $150 white marble base lamp, also from Homesense, but then when I spotted this one in the clearance section with a $27 price tag I couldn't pass it up.

I have been loving the look of white lacquered or glass double gourd lamps with a gold base forever but hadn't had any luck finding any.  This was the next best thing!

So here it is before:

A side by side of the before and after:

And the lovely newly refinished lamp sitting in it's new home:

I used a white satin spray paint by Valspar and then Rustoleum's gold metallic spray paint for the base.  It had a clear base which I later discovered I could remove to spray gold, which was made things much easier.  

Any hiccups? Of course.  Being overly impatient to attempt this transformation, I sprayed it on a very humid day.  Such a big mistake, which I knew, but I ignored.  So next time I spray anything, I will be sure to take a patience pill and wait until the temps are right.

Cheers,

Star Wars, Drapes, Propellors and Peonies! A Photo Recap!

Whoaaaaaa, Nelly!  Here.I.Am!

Okay, I'm sorry, that was uncalled for.  Being gone for over a week.  You see, typically when hubs returns home after being gone for a long period of time, the first few weeks he's back are jam packed. Everyone is basically playing catch up, getting things that have been waiting for weeks to get done, done.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks!

I thought I'd start back with a little photo recap!

we've spent a few days now at our favourite spot. da beach! 

we road tripped to Ottawa for kiddo 2s bday to see the Star Wars Identities Exhibit....

Where we stood with the Dark Side....

and met with some old Trooper friends.

then we hopped on over to the airplane museum, the kids favourite spot (I love these vintage propellors).... 

Chris Hadfield's got nothing on us! 

Of course, we got some work done around the house....

the family room drapes are up and I'm one happy camper! Love, love, love them! 

Ikea solved my pillow dilemma in the living room....

my gorgeous Cozamia print is no longer leaning, it's finally up and I'm in love! 

And now, we are following the dogs lead and putting our feet up for a few days.  It's been a blast and we've gotten a lot accomplished but we are beat!

one of his favourite spots to rest!

So, what have you been up to?  How's summer treating you so far?

Cheers,

Pretty Friday - Shine On

my own photo - I fell in love with the chandelier at first sight!

Oh boy, I apologize for the radio silence.  I honestly didn't mean to be gone for an entire week.  Life is super crazy busy after my husband returns from a long trip (6 weeks to be exact).  Everyone is trying to catch up, everyone wants to hang out and there is a long to do list of things to get done.  The first week back is usually pretty exhausting, just go go go.

We have started our gardens in the backyard, which I'm so excited about, but gosh it sure it a lot of work.  The weather has been absolutely spectacular which kinda makes us wish we were at the beach vs in our backyard with spades and shovels, but it will be time well spent once all is said and done.

So you can pretty much guess what we will be up to this weekend!  Gardening plus hanging some curtains (yay, finally) and then perhaps we will reward ourselves for a job well done with an afternoon oh, heck, a day at the beach!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!!

Cheers,