Day Two

I swear I will start doing something productive tomorrow!

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Day 1

A trip to the market for some local veggies and now this. Pretty good start!
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Garage Update and (another) Craigslist Purchase

More siding progress!!

And some work on the inside too!

Hubs and I took a drive across the city tonight to pick up these:

Sure, they seemed kind of ugly, and the shades are gross, but for $15 a piece, I thought that they'd work!

                                

                                

They have some random flowers on them (not visible on the CL posting) but I think with a bit of work, they will be great!! Planning on getting new shades, lowering them by getting new (and smaller) harps and changing the colour :-) Can't wait!

I Know, and I'm Sorry

It feels like it has been eons since my last post!! That is probably because it has been!

I have a million excuses, the least of which is that I am going through a slight job change at work (an exciting one!) so I've been doing a lot of clean up, unloading of files etc so I've been a bit preoccupied.
I also went away last weekend and did a wee bit of shopping. By wee, I mean a lot. And by shopping, I mean attacking clothing stores like it was my job.

My sister and I crossed the border (on an expired passport, no less!) for 2 days and 1 night of shopping fun and shenanigans!

We hit up the Fashion Outlets and the Walden Galleria and for the first time in ages, I shopped for me and not the house!!

We came home with some amazing deals and lots of fall-ready outfits for work. Since I'm going through this change at work, it feels like I am going back to school so of COURSE I needed new clothes! :-)

We have made some online purchases recently though!

One - the Toronto poster from http://www.orkposters.com/:

Two - "Jacks" by Katie Baum (ordered through http://www.20x200.com/):

A friend got me a gift certificate for my birthday almost a year ago and I have been holding out for the right print and when this one popped up in my inbox, I was sold!

And three - this one isn't really a purchase, but I was lucky enough to WIN this gorgeous print from Brittany at Pink Peacock Paperie via the ever amazing Kerry at First Time Fancy :

I can't wait to print it off and frame this gorgeous print! Thanks to Brittany and Kerry for that one! Woot!

Anyways - like I said, I'm sorry I've been slacking in the house department. I will have some new posts ready to go shortly, since I start my HOLIDAY next week! Painting, sanding, cottaging. Life will be good!

Cool Things Other Bloggers Do...

Just in case any of you don't follow Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff - you SHOULD!

Over the past few weeks she has been teaching people in the blogosphere how to raise a monarch butterfly.

For real.

Check this post out - it is the final release video but links to her earlier steps. Start at 1 and go through them each - miraculous!

Picking Paint Colours - Not.So.Easy.

As I've mentioned before, I would like to paint our family room. It is currently a sage-y green that honestly isn't so bad, but could use some freshening up. However, there are a few problems with this room.

1. It is a family room/kitchen combo. This is tricky. Especially since the cabinets are cream. Ugh.  I like the kitchen, don't get me wrong, but I don't know how to work with the colours. The backsplash has some cream, browns and greys.  Counters are brown if I'm honest with myself.

2. The room is DARK. No seriously. The day we bought the house it must have been some kind of manufactured light in the room because it looked like the photo posted above. Bright, lovely. I have yet to see the house in this light.

Because it is a long rowhouse, it make sense that it is dark. I get it. But seriously, it makes picking a wall colour tricky!!

This weekend I put up three options on the walls. Edgecomb Grey, Wickham Grey and Iced Cube Silver. I figured we should keep it light to counter the darkness of the day to day.

L-R: Edgecomb, Wickham, Iced Cube Silver

Meh, right? Is it just me? Edgecomb is a classically loved colour, and IMO it looks too much like the cabinets and the couch. Meh.

Wickham and Iced Cube Silver seem to only pull baby blue. I've seen them in other photos and they look fab (and grey!) but in here, baby blue.

I came across this great post on Colour Me Happy about choosing a colour for a dark room, and it seems to suggest that the darker the room, the darker/deeper the colour should be.

http://colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/light-colour-will-never-come-to-life-in.html

What do you guys think of that? Any experience with dark rooms? If I had a powder room maybe I'd know :-)  Otherwise, maybe all we need is a light fixture upgrade that gives us more light? We need a new one anyways....

As a comparison I might put up some of my leftover Silver Fox from the dining room and see how it looks.

Open for suggestions! Even you, spammers. :-)

ETA: put up some samples of paint I had in the house - bottom row L-R: BM Asphalt, Silver Fox and a colour match to Farrow and Ball's Charleston Grey:

And here is an inspiration picture that I quite like...

Photo credit: Peter Wilds, Style at Home 2010

Painting Suggestion - Sprayer?

I am 2 weeks away from a 2 week holiday! Woot!  I haven't taken two weeks at a time since my honeymoon in 2008! I'm pretty excited!

Unfortunately, hubs doesn't have enough holiday days to take it with me (poor guy used his holiday for the garage project!) so I am going to be having a semi-staycation solo!

Week one will find me enjoying the peace and quiet up at my cottage. Alone. I can't wait! Reading, relaxing, napping. Sounds pretty sweet, eh?

Week two is going to be at home doing projects! There are two main projects on my list, however one might be over my head.

1. I would love to be able to paint the family room.  While I think I could go it alone, there is some patching on the ceiling that needs doing and I'm not quite capable of that yet.  I was actually thinking of hiring someone to do it. Anyone in Toronto have any suggestions for a painter/handyman?

2. I'm finally going to paint the desk/vanity in my dressing room!!  I've held off this long but now it is time!!

I am prepped with most equipment to do it, however I was thinking about the method of painting. Should I use a brush/paint? Spray paint? What about a paint sprayer? I've always wanted to use one but am not sure how good they are or difficult to use.

Any bloggers out there have any suggestions? Since it is such a big decision to paint an heirloom piece, I want to make sure I do it right. This isn't a good $5 Craigslist find - it was my grandmothers and I *really* don't want to screw it up!

An Inspired Makeover

So after seeing my makeover, my sister decided it was time to do a little sprucing up of her own doorway!

Here is a sort-of before pic with my super cute nieces!!

2 coats of "Hale Navy" by BM later:

And as a finishing touch, they painted the trim (too much contrast) and put on the kickplate (that was pretty beat up and finished with a coat of spray paint!):

Looks like brand new doors, eh? I love inexpensive transformations like this one! Isn't the colour great - in the sun it is blue blue, and in the shade it is almost black! Love it!

While I Was Away...

My husband got to work!!

I went away to the cottage this weekend with my girlfriends from law school and while I was relaxing, reading, talking and laughing, he was busy working on the garage.

I'm not sure what went into this, but this weekend brought the installation of the fascia, soffits, and the "J Channel" for the siding.  I gather it is difficult work if you've never done it before.

Anyways, we are now at the point where the siding can be measured and popped into the channels and finished with a few nails.

Here's a teaser of the siding - I love the colour!!

It is vertical "board and batten" vinyl siding by Gentek and I love it! It has the look I wanted but without the long term mainteance of proper wood board and batten siding.

Here's a photo of the hardworking installer :-)

I'm so impressed - after all the hard work in the backyard two weeks ago, J looked at the siding and thought "maybe I can find someone to install this stuff". Neither of us had installed it before and it seemed like a daunting task.

Two $3,000 quotes later, J decided to do it himself, and look at how great it is!!

(Don't) Go Chasing Waterfalls...

After posting about my new rug in the family room, the recommendation was made by Ms. Awesome Ideas  to look for a waterfall table and to reorganize the layout.

A water what?

While I love working on our house, I'm not down with the lingo (clearly). I had to google what a waterfall table was.

I know it is modern, but I was pretty excited when I saw this picture. We had always just accepted the fact that the room was too small for a coffee table, but this might work! Clear, unobtrusive - it was a winner!

Of course, they can be pretty expensive.  CB2 has a pretty great option:

And at $249 it wasn't so bad - however I'd have to wait until it opened in Toronto in 2011.  Boo.

Another local option is at Structube. They actually have the coffee table in glass at 399 or the small sidetable (also in glass) for 299. While the glass option intrigued us (isn't acrylic prone to scratching?), it was the small side table option that made the most sense. We could get two and put them together in the coffee table formation, or we could split them up as sidetables if we had a party or something.

But 600 for a coffee table is STEEP my friends.

Enter my friend Craigslist. A week ago someone posted about 2 sidetables in glass, for $175 for the pair.  I emailed. I waited. I got anxious. I had a friend email too. Yesterday contact was made, and today, the tables are MINE.

Aren't they awesome!!!  I'm so excited about them! We were concerned they'd be too low, but they are perfect.

Once we re-vamp the chairs...

Like this this maybe?

Or maybe like this:

It's coming together!

ETA: As per Shannon's request, here is a pic with the tables going the other way:

Preferences?

The Eagle(s) have Landed!

My parents have a place in Arizona and when they were visiting a few weeks ago, my mom called and asked the most amazing question.

"Is there anything I can pick up for you while I'm here?"

Umm...YES!  Honestly, they went last minute so if I'd known I would have ordered a bunch of stuff and had it shipped to their house.  Given the timing (they were only going to be there for 4 more days), I had to improvise.

I asked her to stop by Target and pick up two of these:

It is the Dwell for Target Privet Pillow  and I LOVE it!!

Best part?

They are reversible!!!  The big turquoise flower is actually 3-D and it is surprisingly soft!

Also, this weekend during one of our many trips to Home Depot, we picked up a new light for the vestibule. I know it is a knock off, but I love it!

We had it set up so that it would be centred with the house number in the stained glass, only to find out that it doesn't show through it! So we might lower it a bit next weekend. Until then, I just enjoy it as is!

Dressing Room Lamp Re-Vamp

So I literally have spent hours deciding what light to put in my dressing room. Not only was I indecisive, but I had run out of money and so I couldn't spend much on it.

In comes Shannon, from 8 Foot 6 who eons ago suggested I do this makeover, but I resisted.  She suggested I take an old chandelier and paint it for the dressing room.

In comes the old chandelier that used to be over the dining room table when we bought the house:

Can you see it? It looks like an 80's style suburban house stock fixture, but I think you can still buy it at Home Depot (according to some of the people selling it on Craigslist).  I thought it would be too big for the room, but decided to give it a go!

Step 1: Wait till your husband isn't home and decide that spray painting the fixture is a great idea. Go to the local Home Hardware and pick up some glossy white spray paint.

Step 2: Clean the dusty disgusting light fixture and tape off the openings where you screw in the lightbulbs.

Step 3: Decide that hanging it in the basement to spray it is a better idea than doing it in the brand new garage.

Step 4: Hang the light and start spraying like mad!!

Step 5: Have your husband come home and wonder what would make his wife think it was a good idea to spray paint in the basement - between the fine mist of paint that has floated around and the lack of ventilation, he thinks this wasn't such a great idea.  Oops :-)

Step 6: Go to Lowes and pick up bulbs. Thanks to her friend Shannon, consider a non-traditional chandelier bulb.

Steps 7-10: Try not to go INSANE trying to install this light in an old house with very non-traditional installation methods. To be honest, it still isn't in totally right, but hubs and I needed a break from the frustration.

Step 11: Take a picture for your blog!

So the chain is still a bit long so we'll have to fix that, but I'm going to wait until we have it in us to re-install it.  So maybe my tall dad couldn't walk under it, but it works for me!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!!