Prepping for the holidays

Today, we hung our very first strand of Christmas lights! We didn't do them last year, as we were still recovering from house reno shock, but this year we promised ourselves we would do it. We went for the clean simple lights....Here is a shot from this evening.





and....we picked up our Tree from the Loblaws tree lot! Ummm, it was so big that I was had to walk home as it took up my seat, was out the passenger side window. (We drive a Mini Cooper) There were a lot of laughs as Aubrey drove away with our new tree! We had a feeling it would be on the larger side...



I walked home, and I almost got a shot of this monster hanging out in the car, but the camera battery died, and so my storytelling will have to suffice.

We did some other projects, but I'm going to wait to reveal them. :)

The back door, opposite side of the picture

Aluminum Siding. Whooo-hoo. So I know this isn't really exciting in the world of decorating, but since I've shown you the new back door from the inside perspective ...the outside needed a little addressing too.

When we tore out the back door we had to enlarge the opening for the new door. And the aluminum siding, as much as I would have loved to tear it all down and replace it with something different, had to be repaired. We couldn't do the outside ourselves, you need aluminum benders and special tools for this type of work. So we hired out.

I couldn't find the best before picture of the backdoor from the outside view. (Because it was so ugly, I never wanted to document it). But here is a picture from A LONG time ago where my kooky brother and Aubrey were hamming it up for the camera.


(Peter and Aubrey on the old deck, before we had a couch and privacy screen up)

Next came the demo...

(The "during" phase, where Aubrey is tearing apart the back. )

And now...

Done!

We took off the flood light that was above the door, and we've purchased a nice new deck light that we will install this week. We also did some wiring so the rest of the deck will have some lighting for next summer.

(To see more garden pictures/projects click here)

Who did the nice work? We hired Beach Aluminum & Fabricating Co. for the project (416-698-6743). Courtney, the man behind the business, is really quite nice and was honest about the scope of the project. Since it was a relatively "small" project for them, he told us he'd fit us in when he could, and true to his word, he showed up one day with his team. He called a few times to let us know he hadn't forgotten about us, so we knew the job would get done.

New backdoor trim

Aubrey finished the trim around the new backdoor!


(Before, and After)

The trim replicates the trim throughout the rest of the house, which is original to the house. The header above the door is replicated by combining different pieces of moulding to recreate the look.



Ta-da! And it's done before the first snowfall of the season. :)

We hired an aluminum company to come in and fit the trim around the outside of the door, which I'll post a picture of shortly.

Preview of Fabric for the bench

Mom and I went to Designer Fabrics last week in search of fabric for the bench in our kitchen. Within 5 minutes (an unbeleivable record in my books) we found this fabric...



If you had asked me a year ago, or maybe even 6 months ago what kind of fabric I would choose, it likely would have been something very modern. But I've lately just been craving traditional elements - and I think that this fabric, although preppy and fun, will last a very long time as it has roots in a traditional design.

We needed colour in the room, and since the room gets a feeling of cold in the winter months (big window, seeing nothing but white snow) I knew we needed to add fabric that had warm tones. If I had added blues and greens, I think it would have been a mistake. Nice in the summer, sad in the winter. I think that pinks + greens will be lovely each season, so I'm really excited.

It's a double width fabric which helped keep the cost down. (I'll outline all of the costs of the bench when I do my final reveal). To help us keep our costs down my Mom has offered to sew the bench seat for me. (I REALLY should learn how to sew!)

And I thought it was just my Mom reading this

When we started our blog it was really to document our nerdyness (and still is) for our family. As I've mentioned before, it was with great delight when Google Analytics showed me that we actually infact had more than just my Mom and Dad and siblings reading the blog, and shortly thereafter, I started seeing some awesome people comment on our projects.

This blog is a really nice hobby for me. You see, my previous hobby - art - became my career path, and a girl sometimes just needs an outlet for other creativity - which is our house, photography, and our blog, and having a creative writting outlet.

So it is absolutley flattering that our documenting of our nerdyness got us a mention along in House and Homes "Design Sites We Like" under Canadian Blogs.


(Image from HouseandHome.com)

The heading calls the list...."The ultimate list of online decorating destinations, sites and blogs — in alphabetical order — as chosen by House & Home editors." I was absolutely honored to have our trials and tribulations in decorating + renovations listed as a Top Blog.

Some of the other Canadian blogs that are mentioned are on my blog roll (to the right) and it was an absolute honour to be mentioned along with them.

I sometimes just think that it's me writting, reading, and showing my parents the blog, so it's with great delight when I see commenters on our blog, and with great surprise when we get mentioned like this by a world renowned, and much adored magazine.

Thank you! - Lindsay (And Aubrey, in the background)

Making a seating bench in the kitchen

We took the plunge! :) We started to make the seating bench in the kitchen, and are 90% done. The next step is making a nice cushion for the top.

I showed some inspirational pictures in my previous post, but it was Samatha Pynns latest transformation on her show "Pure Design" for Beth & Jack's Kitchen that I turned to for the end "how-to". The fact that the cabinets were Ikea, made it a no-fuss option for us.


(Inspirational picture, Samantha Pynn, Pure Design)

So, we decided to go with the Ikea route for the base cabinets for the following reasons. First - the simplicity of knowing how to make them (no carprenty skills required) Secondly, having the comfort in having seen this project done by Samantha on her show and lastly, the storage/cabinets are a great added bonus feature for our small house.

Aubrey built 3 Ikea Wall Mount Kitchen Cabinets to fit into our 96" space under the window.
The cabinets are deep (24"). The depth was slightly concerning, I will admit. I wondered if when I sat on it, it would be like Alice in Wonderland'ish (feet dangling from above, as you're sitting so far back) But I can assure you, the depth is perfect.



It still needs a cushion, it's not all that comfy right now, but I've already slid into it pretending that I'm eating dinner, and it's fabulous.

Best part about this style of seating bench?



More storage!!

Here is our step by step guide on how we did it. ;)

(Step 1) We went to Ikea early to get their awesome $1 breakfast. :)
(Step 2) Went to the Kitchen department and ordered 3 wall mount cabinets - 15" high (not the taller version, which I think is around 24" tall) A seat should usually be 18" - 18.5" tall, so we're building up the 15" cabinet by adding wood beneath, and the foam on top will add the extra needed height.

(Step 3) We opted not to get the hardware, as the storage inside is for occasional items that are to be used on spacial occasions, and I didn't want hardware bumping our legs

(Step 4) We got them home, and Aubrey built them. :)

(Step 5) We mounted the cabinets on 1" boards (you can see them beneath the cabinets) so that the doors would open. Without the boards, the doors are right up against the floor...thus scratching the floor, and not making it easy to open. We got the boards cut to the right lengh at Home Depot. Pre-primed, and we don't even think we're going to paint them, as they match perfectlt simply primed.

Ta-da! I'm going to call my seamstress to see about making the cushion next. :)

Kitchen Bench Idea

Normally I like to post "progress" pictures on our house, but sadly, it hasn't been that exciting in home reno land. So instead, I thought I would post insight into projects that may come to be, and my thought process. So, we're revisiting the eat in kitchen. :)

The eat in kitchen has been bothering me for some time. I thought when I added these chairs, I would be loving it, but it immediately became evident that I needed colour in the room. So I thought about drapes.


(Reminder of what our eat in kitchen looks like right now)

But what I've been struggling with is that I would really, truly love, a bench. There is something comfy about sitting on one. I just adore them.

Last night I was telling my friend Erin (who lives across the street and has her own blog) about it, and this morning I woke up to find an e-mail with this inspirational picture from her.



She was right - it's a perfect inspirational picture as it's very much like our kitchen. (We have that big window, we have the round table).

So I was thinking, perhaps we'll do it the easy route (to give Aubrey a break) and make a seating bench out of Ikea cabinets like this fabulous person did below.

(Image, Apartment Therapy)
I would likely modify it a bit such as add legs and then add a toe kick to make it look somewhat built in. And I would either go with white cabinets (like the inspirational picture, or dark wood to match our floors.

So, this is the latest inspiration over here, and I'm hoping it's something we tackle. :-)

(By the way, Erins laundry room was recently featured on Design Sponge ...you should take a peek!)

Holiday Traditions

We've been lacking in house projects around here because already seasonal traditions have started to occupy our time (with pleasure!) I thought I would document the first tradition of the season....baking.

This past weekend we went to John Vince foods here in Toronto to get the ingredients for Dundee Cake, a holiday tradition that began within the last 5 years. Dad goes to get the ingredients and we try to all get together to make the cake, that we devour during the Holiday Season. (We make multiple cakes) A little bit of history for you - Dundee Cake was a favourite of Sir Winston Churchill, and you can find numerous refrences out there to his love of this cake. ;)


Yum!

We'll soon get back into the game of home stuff, but it's nice to put the paint brushes down and enjoy some time with family right now. :)

Plain in store, Perfect in House

We've been without side lamps in our living room for some time. Well, we've actually never had any. And the lack of lamps wasn't because of lack of funds, but instead, because of pure indecisiveness on my part for what I wanted them to be like. I debated pottery lamps, mid century modern lamps, bold, colourful lamps, and nothing was doing it for me. Then, I realized...maybe my lamps weren't where I should be trying to make a statement....afterall, they are an investment, and I'd hate to dislike them, or for them to be out of fashion in a year. Inspired by a lamp in my Dad's library, I decided on a classic, clean look.

After doing online research , we popped over to Yorkdale and went to Pottery Barn, and found these. I will admit, I wasn't jumping for joy when I saw them. They aren't dramatic, nor show stoppers in the store. However, I had a feeling that they would just really work in the room.



Because there is always the possibility that they wouldn't have worked, I made sure that we could return them. But they aren't leaving our living room..I adore them! :)

What did I learn from this? That sometimes pieces won't scream at you in a store. But if you have an overall design scheme, they may be the perfect subtle piece to bring a room together. These lamps wont ever go out of style, which is why I didn't have an issue spending a chunk of $ on them. We still have to find a carpet for the room, and we're working on finding bookcases, so the room is slowly, but surely coming together.

Thank you!

I'm having a dumb day over here. Because of my lack of coffee intake, I couldn't figure out how to register on the House&Home website to say thank you (need-coffee-to-function), so I wanted to say thank you to Trish Snyder over at House & Home for mentioning our little blog in her "Great Canadian Blogs Volume 2" post. Obviously, it's pretty fun to know people like our blog, we're having a great time over here, and it's nice to know we have some regular visitors. But we're truly honoured to be mentioned along some amazing blogs that I truly admire, so to be noted in a post with them, was what delighted me. If you're new to reading our blog, welcome! And you can read more about us here. And thank you again to Trish, as it was such a nice surprise to see our blog mentioned!

Wood Floors, how they came to be

One of the first thing people say when they walk into our house, other than hello, is they look down and go..."Nice floors". We were initially baffled by it a little, that the floors make such a statement, but it's a nice reassurance that we did what was right for our home. Our goal was to maintain the integrity of the house. I realized I hadn't shown the "process" of our floors, and seeing as they cost us a good % of our funds in that month of renovating, they probably deserve a little post.

First, we chose the thinnest planks available to us, I think it's 2", vs' the more modern look of 4". We used Durasel Antique Brown to stain.



We did the hard stuff, to save ourselves as much money as possible. We tore up the old wood floors, that were neglected. We considered the option of resanding + staining, but the floors were on their last life, and wouldn't take a good sanding. If you've ever torn up a wood floor, you'll know that awful sound of nails coming out of wood. *shudder* It's like nails on a chalkboard. We had to manually take out every single nail with the back of the hammer. I threw my back out after that incident. It still saved us TONS of money to do it ourselves, but it was back breaking.


We hired a flooring guy (whom we adore) and he installed new hardwood throughout the first floor of the house. After installing, they poured stain on the floor (I nearly had a heart attack when they did this) We took a day to pick the colour, bringing home samples to our parents, mulling it over. We picked "Antique brown" as it had little red undertones to it. (Not a big fan of reddy woods). T



There you have it! :-) Our floor story. ;)
----------------------------
Floor - Unfinished wood, installed, sanded, and then stained on site
Stain - Antique brown by Durasel

Reveal of the whole TV Room

Now that the new back door is in, I can give you a reveal of the back TV Room. At the back of our house, there is a sunroom. We called it the school bus room because of the colour, and the gulletine windows. :)


Before - The room was being used as a store room for outdoor toys and a computer when we bought.

After. (well, we have to finish the trim around the new door)

It all really was simple fixes for this room (except the door). I painted the room Cloud White by Benjamin Moore (although I debate painting it periwinkle every other day). We added Levlor Blinds for the purpose of (a) hiding the ugly windows and (b) Getting privacy from our neighbours. In between each pannel we added IKEA white drapery between each window to soften it up a bit. We removed a fan vent that was above the door. I still want to add in a zebra rug (a little obsessed over here) but in the summer, this room gets foot traffic when I go in and out of the garden, so I'm a little afraid of it getting ruined.


The TV unit is actually a coffee table. We couldn't find something the right size for this space for the longest time, but stumbled upon this coffee table over at one of my favourite stores, Manor. It was pretty expensive, but it was perfect. Sometimes it is a good idea to think outside the box...but you don't know it, until you see it. ;) It houses Aubreys Playstation 3 perfectly, and my old-school Nintendo system. I do love my Mario Bros 3. I'm not a fan of the fancy real version games. I would have an atari if I could find one!

Installing a new door

The subject of this post should really be "Installing a new door in an old house, with uneven walls, and doorframes that are not square". That, would be the appropriate title of this post. For this project Aubrey started at 3pm, and by 11pm (non-stop) he got it in. There was the removal of the old door, making the door opening larger, and then dealing with leveling the door. We had lined someone up to help us....but they never showed up. I had a feeling they wouldn't, so we started without them, and finished. I'm pretty proud of Aubrey for doing it. After a few blood drops, and a few curse words later, the transformation was fannnntastic,


Above, Door/Room when we bought the house. This door was an "interior" door. Not meant to keep cold outside, and warmth in. I don't want to think about how much heat was lost by the previous owners. We had put plastic wrap and piled pillows in our first winter to make sure that cold air didn't come in.


Above, The new door! I LOVE IT! It finally makes the room feel like ours, and less like the previous owners.

What we have left:

Me: I'm going to have romans made so we can have privacy, and sheild the light for when a little bit of afternoon Young & The Restless watching is needed. (The room is now VERY sunny). I'm trying to come up with a fabric that I like, but it may be white, with a grosgrain ribbon detailing.

Aubrey: Adding trim.

Ta-da!

What was that fabric?

I've gotten a number of e-mails asking about the fabric that was seen in this picture.



Good eyes. ;) It indeed is the exact same fabric that Sarah Richardson used in her 1st Nursery, in Design Inc. I loved the fabric, and it was out of stock for the longest time at Designer Fabrics, as I'm assuming, others, like me, loved it. I picked up some samples the last time I was down, just curious to see how it would look in the room.



I thought that I'd make my curtains out of it, but like the Imperial Trellis, I'm not feeling it. I may do it for pillows for the bed, but my original intent, for curtains, isn't going to happen.

But, for those of you who wanted to know more (Design Inc's website doesn't give specific info on the fabric) Here is the specifics about the fabrics.

Flower/Bird Fabric
Style Name: Pananma Bari Sinatra
Price: $27.99/YD
Available here

Starburst Fabric
Style Name: Panama Bari San Remo Flor
Price: 27.99
Available here

There you go! I hope this helps, and if you put it in your room I'd LOVE to see!

Spare Bedroom Inspiration

I think some people may think I'm nuts when I paint a room as white as I did like the spare bedroom. (Umm...did you see the hilarious refrences that Dad + Aubrey refered to the room as in this post?) I'm still giggling at the refrences.

I realize that my inner monologue/design plan, no matter how I articulate it, is never as good as seeing a visualization.

My overall plan is to really add pops of colour in this room with fabric. It's a spare room, so I feel like I have some freedom with going a fun with colours. The other thing I need to address is the elephant in the room, that comes out of the closet when we show people our 2nd bedroom. Yes. This will "one day" be a baby room. There is no baby in the immediate future, but I'm trying to consider design around this. I'm not a ducks + lambs kind of person, so this room will be the same with, or without a baby.



I was going through my design files and the images from Black & Spiro, and AMAZING website, sparked my imagination, and are pretty great examples when I say "pops of colour". You can see that the white walls allow for the fabrics to all play together. Will these be the fabrics. Probably not. But is this a good example of what I'm hoping to go for? Yes. :)

Fabric Samples - Tonic Living

A helpful blog commenter told me about Tonic Living, a Toronto based online Fabric store that is selling an Imperial Trellis Fabric. At under $10 a yard, it is a far cry from $120+ a yard for the real thing. Fabric is much different in person, than it appears online, and once placed in a room setting, so making big purchases, I feel, should warrant the cost of sample pieces. I was delighted to see that Tonic Living had an option for buying a sample for $1.00. Whooo-hoo! I just started clicking away. And, little than 2 days later, my samples arrived. They were SUPER quick at sending the samples, and it was a small price (literally) to pay for the comfort of knowing you're getting the right fabric.



These are a few of them. The others (not shown) I saw when I opened the parcel and said to myself..."WHAT was I thinking". I must have been lacking in coffee intake that day. They will go in a bin for craft projects. The Imperial trellis is a very light fabric, which they did note on the website (not suitable for upholstery) but with lining it may be fine for curtains for the Spare Bedroom.



I don't know. I'm not totally loving it, but then again, I don't really have an overall scheme in mind, so it's still up in the air. It may be too busy? It's hard to tell when it's a swatch...even though the swatches from the company are a really generous size.

On another note, Aubrey built me the top shelf for the closet!


I need to paint it, but I immediately put up the baskets to see how it looked. :)

Finishing the fence

We're finishing the fence. We wanted this checked off our list, but it's been too rainy to get out there and do any work. The sun was shining (sort of) today, so today Aubrey finished the post caps.


(Before, posts were too tall)


Aubrey chopped off the posts, and finished the posts off with caps. I should probably put the camera down and hold that ladder.


The colours in the garden are definitely telling me Fall is here.

Finding creative spots for storage

Remember we had the issue on how to hide the electrical panel? The cabinet works perfectly in the space, and I don't even notice it. The fact that it's white, makes it blend in with the white walls. But not only does the cabinet hide the electrical pannel....it's providing AMAZING useful storage space for all my vases + decorative items.



We didn't put the back on the cabinet because it was going up against the pannel, but we did install some of the shelving that it came with.



Aubrey even did the baseboards around the cabinet (that is also screwed into the walls, so that the weight of the doors don't make it topple over)

Office is slowly getting colour

The office is slowly coming together, with the hits of colour being added with the inspirational boards, and with work just piling up in general! It's getting busy work-wise, which is perfect timing. We had always planned on me being down here for Fall 2009, but I'm glad the move was awhile ago, because moving all the stuff + building the desk, took a lot more time than I thought.


Clockwise from top left: (1) Work desk + large posters getting ready to be mailed (2) Art prints getting ready for a photoshoot (3) Moishe reminds me to keep it youthful. ;)

I can't tell you how amazing it is having this whole area to work. We're trying to find a couch for down here so when I have corporate clients over, we can sit with a coffee in a seating area, instead of sitting on work chairs. I have yet to find one, but the hunt continues.

As the office gets filled, I will take some actual "nice" photos, but for now, here is a pop of colour, as I feel as though I scared my family with that "all white room" (2nd bedroom). My Father said.."It feels like I'm in that final sequence in 2001 space odyssey." (An all white room scene) And Aubrey calls the room the "heavenly room" as it reminds him of in movies when it's a "heaven" scene and it all goes white. The funny thing is - I agree with them both. ;) But when colour IS added, it will TRULY heavenly, and perhaps also, out of a movie. ;-)

Mock up of bookcase in spare room

So here is the plan for that bookshelf that you see in the Spare Bedroom.

The issue with the shelving is that it is built over a box. The "box" is above our staircase. So the base had to stay. We debated tearing the shelving down and making it a seating bench. But that would mean that we were going to get into major re-constructive surgery on this room. Secondly - the unit, actually with some TLC could provide some useful storage for the room. With a new coat of paint, it's looking a lot better already.



The concept is
(1) Add an additional top shelf on the left for baskets/storage. You can't reach up there easily, so it's best to use it for maybe winter clothing storage, or when we have kids one day, storing random stuff.
(2) Beneath that, we will build 2 doors, that open to reveal "hanging" storage.

Although we have a closet in the bedroom, it's small. So we're going to utilize the space for more hanging space for clothes for guests etc.

It will really be a super easy project (What am I saying - Aubrey is the one that always has to do the measurements). But I think it will be much easier than the bookcase project I initially thought he could do. (We're not going to have him do those...)



Like my little mock up? I even added some nice reading material for our overnight guests. :)

2nd Bedroom Makeover Progress

And here is the 2nd Bedroom Makeover story, to bring us up to date. :) I'm not going to lie, I absolutely hated this room. I think I hated it because I was stuck in it for 1.5 years running my business, and it was super cramped. (I knew what I was getting into, I'm not complaining, but I didn't factor in that I would really miss being "organized")

I really disliked the room. That is up until now. Here is the "story line" of the 2nd bedroom. Although it's far from finished, I'm no longer embarassed to show photos.



When we bought the house. BLEH.


A second shot of when we bought the house, looking in the other direction vs. above. Double BLEH. Seriously, I wonder what we were thinking sometimes, but I guess it was a vision. :)

{Here, we have a "pause" in the photos}
Between the picture above, and the picture below, I lived in the room running my business. The grand plan was to reno the basement to be my studio. (Which has happened) It was a temporary insanity, for the greater good of the whole scheme of things. The office was a mess. And I'm going to refrain from posting the embarassing pictures. :) So let us skip ahead to the "present" day scenes.


Priming the floor.


Another shot after priming. The walls needed some touch ups, and painting is next.


I started painting the room on Sunday, and took a break for dinner with my parents (Sunday ritual) and then came back and went strong until 1:30am.


The floors got painted white, and it's beautiful. The room feels bigger, airy, and perfect. The only issue - when you take a picture, everything blends into one another. (HA) so some "accessories" are definitely needed to pump up this room.



There you have it! The up to date post on the spare bedroom. Ikea baskets fit PERFECTLY on the shelves! And we're going to build doors on the left hand side so it's a usable closet. ;)

Pumpkin Inspiration

(Above Image, Marth Stewart Magazine)

We we lived in our apartment, we never got any little ghosts and goblins coming by our door, as our entrance to our apartment was at the side of a house. We experienced our very first Halloween last year in our house, and it was SOOO cute. Our neighbourhood has tons of kids (we live 1/2 a block from a Junior School). We ended up just hanging out on our front porch the whole night, as there was no point going indoors. I had meant to do this project last year, but timing got in the way.

A LONG time ago I saved this picture from Martha Stewat Magazine, and I scanned it in last year. Umm...how cute! I think we'll try to it, but even if not, I thought this may inspire others as I've seen some really fun posts on some of my favourite blogs about getting ready for Halloween. :)

Caned Bed Makeover

Awhile ago I was perusing my local used furniture shop, Frontier Sales on the Danforth, I spotted this headboard in the corner. $125.00.



Umm, pretty similar to this one that is $2,200.00. (Bed no longer available, but I'm pretty sure it was a Rachel Ashwell Bed when I originally sourced the price comparison)



I contemplated where I could put this headboard, but it broke my heart to know that I had no where to put it. At $125 I knew it was a steal. Then....I recalled that my Mom was redoing one of her rooms, and we had just had a conversation regarding what she would have as a guest bed. I pulled out my phone, and dialed Mom, told her about it, and the next day - the headboard was being loaded into the car, and on its way to her house.

The issue - the headboard was just that. Only a headboard. The bed was brought over to Sharon O'Dowd Antiques, and they antiqued the headboard, and created a frame, and low profile footboard.



And here she is, all complete. :) I simply adore how the headboard was restored to be a full bed. I have had a few VERY comfy snoozes in this bed.

Adding Bookcases to the Living Room

We're tackling (mentally) a bookcase project. Whether we buy, or build, is the question. Aubrey has a lot of amazing books and it's time that they found a permanent home. We've decided that we're adding bookcases into our living room, framing the entrance to the dining room.

Here is a picture of the living room in progress.



The first thought was obviously IKEA. Inexpensive, and an immediate fix. We would put up shelves and then add moulding around it to make it appear "un-Ikea-ish". I've seen it done, and it can look quite nice. However, the issue with our room is that the left side of the doorway is narrower than the right side. 1 Ikea bookshelves could potentiall work on the left side, but we'd have to do 2 bookcases on the right hand side. My stumbling block? I'd really love to make it so that the right side was all 1 shelf, not 2 put together. I think we ruled out Ikea.



Confused? I don't blame you. I even did a diagram to help me keep my thoughts (and measurements) together. There is a reason why this bookshelf hasn't happened sooner (apart from the basement being the #1 priority) but we haven't been able to figure out what to do.



We went to Naked Furniture here in Toronto and I think we'd have the most luck in terms of style, and being able to specify the right dimensions (they will custom make the shelves) but the price was more than we had originally anticipated, but it's not ruled out.

Some friends were over yesterday and I was remarking about our dilema and one friend said something about Amish Furniture. I made a mental note, and did a google today and found this site.



Their website states " Our Amish builders create custom wood furniture made just for you. That’s affordable choice." Hmmmm. I wonder what they consider "affordable"...as my "affordable" is likely a LOT less than someone elses.

I told Aubrey today ... "Hey, you could probably just MAKE some, it wouldn't be that hard." Surprisingly he didn't storm off at the idea of me putting another project on his plate, but he did say that if he did make them, it would have to wait a little bit as we have other projects on the go (Back Door, Basement Bathroom). I feel slightly guilty for throwing a project at him, but I'd help, and it would probably save us some funds that need to go to other areas of the house.

We haven't decided what route to go yet - either buying or making them ourselves. Suggestions welcomed. :)

Eye Candy - Home Tour

I came across a home tour via a blog I have added to my roll of favourite blogs {freckles chic}. I clicked the link on her blog that led me to the home tour and I've spent the last hour drooling over every single photo. One word. Spectacular. Every element of this home was perfectly executed, and definitely my dream home.

The home is clean, yet not sterile, and the perfect amount of accessories in the living rooms etc.



Look at the living room. I am SO getting zebra ottomans. They have been on my wish list forever, and seeing this photo just confirms it.




I've been trying to figure out what to do with our dining room, and I'm inspired by this look.

Ohh, they have another living room!

So, go check it out. It's fun to find pictures like this where every single element is inspiring. So I thought I would post it for others to enjoy.

All photos are from http://219northcliffwood.com/

Update: Turns out the house was designed by Brooke Gianetti and her husband Steve and that she chronicles the build and design of it on her blog, Velvet and Linen. Here is a link directly to a post re: the home design. Thanks to RamblingRenovator for siting the source!

Chalkboard Project

Here is a chalkboard project that is pretty easy to do. Like REALLY easy. I was reminded of my project when I was reading over at {freckles chic} when I saw this post of hers. The chalkboard has now found a new home in my studio, but for awhile it worked well in our kitchen.

Total Cost - Under $40

Step 1: I went to my local framer who made random frames out of renmants - left over frame from other jobs. I'm pretty sure that I've seen this done in TONS of other frame shops, so just pop into one and see what they have. I bought the frame for $30.

Step 2: I measured the size of the opening from the reverse. The frame is designed to allow for glass to be put in (so there is a ledge). Instead of glass, I got a piece of plywood cut at my local Home Depot to the size of the opening.

Step 3: Paint the piece of plywood with chalkboard paint. When it's wet, the paint looks blue. I freaked out a bit. But it dries black. Trust me. I did 2 coats.

Step 4: I took carpenters glue and put it along the ledge on the reverse of the frame, and then put the plywood in. I weighed the plywood down with some books to make sure that it took, but the weight of the wood does the trick.

Voila!

Trip to Ottawa

Aubrey and I snuck off to Ottawa to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Here is a little collection of photographs! :)


We stayed at the Chateau Laurier. Ohhh, it was so beautiful.


When we got to our room, we found this nice treat!


We went to the Museum of Civilization, one of my favourite museums. Aubrey and I visited the museum together as teenagers when we took a road trip with our friend Ben so it seemed fitting to revisit it!


I hadnt been back to the Museum for awhile, and the Totem Poles and Art by the Haida were especially interesting to me this time around, as I studied Haida literature with an amazing professor, Professor Sean Kane when I was at Trent University.



There was a part of the museum that showed wood crafting and how they stored wood. We joked that this was the original Home Depot. (And of course, I took tons of pictures as we giggled at our association to the home renos going on)




We visited the William Lyon Mackenzie King Estate that is in the Gateneau Hills in Quebec. It was rainy, and muggy, but the gardens were inspirational. We learnt a little about him, on top of what we already knew (10th Prime Minister of Canada) and googled more on him on the drive back to the hotel.




The drive home was spectacular. The colours on the trees were stunning, and reminded me of why I love our country so much.

And there you have it! We are back, and fully energized for the next round of projects! :)

Side Table Project

Again, for the family + friends that know about this story, ignore this post. :) This is for readers who may not have seen the makeover when I showcased it last year over on my business blog. But since the side tables are getting some mentions, I thought I would post it properly on this blog. :)

I can't take credit for the idea, this project was were inspired by Style at Home Magazine in September 2008 when they showed the Rast tables re-done in a room mock-up. There weren't instructions on how to do the project, but it was easy to be inspired. So, here are my instructions. Thanks again to Style at Home Magazine for the idea!



Original post from September 6th, 2008 went like this...

Here is what we did to make them look "un" Ikea.

1.) First you need to pick up a RAST table. We bought 2, one for each side of the bed.
2.) We assembled the tables, except for the drawers
3.) I primed the fronts of the doors in oil primer, and then painted the fronts in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore.
4.) I found it easier to stain the piece fully built, so I stained the "body" of the table in Antique Brown by Duraseal (this was the floor colour, left over from when we installed new floors.) I did 1 coat, as I didn't want the side tables to look too dark. I think the lighter the tone, the more modern it looks.
5.) I then did 2 coats of varnish after the stain had dried.
6.) I then put the drawers together on the built shelf, and threw out those ugly Ikea knobs, and put in the beautiful bronze knobs from Lee Valley Tools here in Toronto. They have an online shop, so you can easily pick up your own too. :)

Shopping References: Style at Home Magazine, Lee Valley Knobs, Ikea Rast Table, Colette Bed (shown in picture), Room Colour - Classic Gray (oc-23) by Benjamin Moore

Vanity Makeover Project

When we were living in our apartment, funds were scarce. We saved, and saved for our house and we did little splurging on non-necessity items. But there was one purchase that I did Aubrey said we could splurge on, and it was such a treat to have. It was my little vanity that I found at "Of Things Past" here in Toronto.



When we moved into the house, the vanity immediately got a place in our bedroom. However, the dark wood was making it a blemish in a room that was filled with pale and soothing colours. I wasn't enjoying the vanity. I kept staring at it thinking that I hated it.

I think I grumbled one too many times and Aubrey finally said to me..."Paint it white". And so, with great anxiety, I took the plunge. Now, it wasn't an easy decision to paint it white like some painting projects that I've done, as the vanity was a sentimental piece as Aubrey had bought it for me. But I was reassured that if it was awful, we could have it stripped, and it would be back to the original wood.



I am SO glad that we did it!



The Vanity is painted in Chantilly Lace by Benjamin Moore, and the new knobs were purchased at Lee Valley. They are the same knobs as my second project for the bedroom which followed later, which was my side table project for beside our bed. (I posted about the side table project over on my work blog here)

You may notice that I decided not to put the mirror up. It just wasn't doing it for me. But I've saved the mirror in case I decided I "re" love it at a later date. :)

Eat in Kitchen Progress

We finally got some chairs for our eat-in kitchen! Design wise, this eat in area was important for me to address as when you walk into our house you see this area at the back of the house right away (via our galley kitchen). It was never 100% right, and the original chairs that came with the antique wood table we're too traditional for me. (See picture here) They were wood, and there was too many different woods in the room. I needed to break it up a bit.



We bought 4 White Eiffel Chairs for around our teak table. I simply adore them. They add a really fun playful, and modern look to the kitchen. Even better (and importantly) they are comfy.

The room is far from done. I need to now add colour. If that Orchid doesn't survive, we're at a high level of alert of requiring a colour pop. I'm now at the stage where I'm thinking we need to add drapery on either side of the window.



I'm open to suggestions on the fabric, I'm thinking of the popular Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis Fabric. (So I'm not the first one to love that fabric, but it's just one of my favourites) and I think it would be stunning in yellow. Which surprise me. When we moved in, I swore off any shade of the sun. The house, when we bought, was school bus yellow. BLEH. Now, however, I'm craving hits of it, just like I was craving lilac for the bedroom.

The fabric may proove to be too expensive for such an expansive window, so I'm considering alternatives, or making the curtains "decorative" (So they don't close ALL the way) We would likely never close them, as we have the privacy when we want with the venetian blinds.

Again, this post is far from a before and after, but the new chairs warranted a post. :)

Finally, some chairs!

We finally found some occasional chairs for the living room!

The background on this style of chair is that my parents have 2 Caned Tub Chairs that I loved and I tried to steal them when we bought the house. My Mom decided that in her re-decorating of their house that hers were going to get reupholstered and what-do-you know, they looked spectacular so they stayed. Boooo. No luck for me on stealing those.

Although I loved the style of my caned tub chairs I was also loving Bergere Chairs like these frames, which my Parents also had. I had even stollen one of their chairs to bring into our house to see if I liked the look (and I did) but I was having a really hard time deciding on a fabric, since Bergere chairs have a lot of upholstery to them. Buying custom is always a bit hard, as I'm someone that likes to put something in a room to see if it works. Custom is...final sale. Something that I find extremely stressful.



Then one evening I was browsing one of my favourite used furniture shops websites and they had just posted a set of chairs that matched my parents caned tub chairs. Like really, really matched. And they were WELL under the budget that I had allocated for the 2 x chair purchase.

I ran down to the store (ok, drove) for when they opened and was keeping my fingers crossed that they were still there. And they were! Even better - Aubrey loved them. :)

So what's the plan for them? I'm leaving the wood as is. I like the dark wood on these. The seats will get reupolstered in some light fabric, as the blue just isn't cutting it for me. I'm on the hunt for a perfect fabric, I think I'll know it when I see it.

If you have a reupolsterer in the Toronto area that you like, can you let me know? I have a seamstress, but she's expressed very clearly that she's not a "reupolsterer" so I'm on the hunt. :)

5 years ago today...

5 years ago today we got married! But it just hasn't been 5 years for us. It's really been almost been 13 years since we met.


(Us in High School, in 1996-1997...we look so young!)
We met, became instant best friends, dated here and there. We were young, but it became obvious that life wasnt the same without Aubrey as part of the equasion.


In our University days, we'd reconnect in summers, and were inseperatable.


On September 18, 2004 in a wonderful candlelight ceremony at the Albany Club in Toronto I married my best friend.


In that 5 years we've changed. Aubrey has changed in how he looks (can you see a difference? He had jaw surgery in 2007. ) And we've changed as people. We're stronger together, especially after the home renovations. I know this isn't really a home reno post, but it's been a long journey to get us to the house - saving, career changes, and ups and downs, that it is all part of our package. We'll be celebrating with family tonight, as we do every year - as really it's not just about the two of us, but about our amazing families too.

Bathroom Tile Shopping....

Well, so much for taking a break from projects. I really thought that Aubrey would be done with doing things around the house after the fence, but today he said that it was time. It was time to buy our tile. Let it be known, that I told him it didn't need to be done right away, but maybe it's because we're on a roll that he feels up for the task.

We went to the best Tile Store, that is named..."The Tile Store". We drive by it ALL the time, and a few months ago we popped in to see what they had, and it was love at first sight. The tile is now sitting in the store room.



The fact that the shower/bathroom is on the small side, we felt that we were able to do some really nice tile. It will make the new bathroom a little gem. The subway tiles were the least expensive at the Tile Store, I compared the cost to Lowes, and to Home Depot. The cost was about 1/2 the cost of the two big box stores. So the main area of the shower, that accounts for 90% of the bathroom we're tiling is being done in inexpensive tile, allowing us the little luxury of marble elsewhere.

The Marble hexagon tiles are for the shower floor. The white subway tiles are for the shower itself, and will have an accent of that glass + marble tile that you see. What isn't shown is the bathroom floor tile (I couldn't find it in the pile). It's 12x12 Marble pieces, that I simply adore.

The bathroom, if you recall, is in my studio, so it will be a nice treat to have it so close. :)

-----
The Tile Store is located at 20 Bermondsey Rd, Toronto (No website found when I googled it)

EDIT - As some people e-mailed to ask, the pricing advertised in the store is approximately as follows (priced per sq feet) Octagon Tile - $13.00, Marble 12x12 Squares (not shown) - $9.00, Glass + Marble accent pieces $13.00 and Subway Tiles - $2.10. Please keep in mind that pricing @ the store may change, but this is what my notes say from our visit. :)

Adios Schoolyard Fence

The chain link fence on one side of our property got the heave-ho last week.



It was time for a fence.



Here is a view from the kitchen window.



And here it is from the base of our stairs off the porch.


(And this was it before)

We had a guy come in to install the posts, and we took it from there. Right now we call it the "Great Wall" but with some planting next season, we're confident that it will soften up. We still have to chop off the tops of the posts, and we'll be installing post caps.

The beauty of the fence is that now we can be out in our garden in full on privacy. We're not recluses or anything, but it was hard to enjoy the garden when you feel like you should make conversation with the other side. Sometimes you really just want to go out and enjoy your property, without feeling as though you should look decent. Now we have zen moments when we are weeding.

Next year we're going to plant some cedars on the other side, to hide that chain link fence. We're going to head back to Loblaws where they are $19.97 each...but they come in for a short amount of time, and we'll be snatching a whole lot up. We bought them this season to hide our shed (that I posted about here) and they have lasted well, and add nice formality to the garden. I think they come in around Easter, so I'll be waiting with my rented Home depot van to grab a whole bunch of them before they dissapear.

And there you have it. The great fence build of 2009. :)

Let us introduce ourselves properly...

When we first started our blog, it was really for our family to see what we had gotten ourselves into. We started to see a trickle of new faces + names in replies, and when we looked at Google analytics, we were really surprised at how many vistors we got on a daily basis. (Hello!) So this post can be ignored by Mom + Dad, and is for those that are just getting to know us.



So here is our story in brief...

The two of us met in High School and became best friends. Dating followed that, as well as countless breakups (um, hello - we were teenagers!). It was when we had both finished university that we reconnected seriously, and engagement and marriage followed shortly thereafter. We got married in 2004, and bought our first house in January of 2008.


(Above, our hilarious wedding mishaps were written about in the North Toronto Post)

So, a little more about us as people. :)

Aubrey is a Journalist who produces news for CBC. At home he's the master of organization, budgets, and getting things done. He has an insane ability to just figure things out. 90% of the projects on our blog wouldn't happen without Aubrey. (The painting projects, are ALL mine) :)

I run my own Design & Stationery studio and I'm pretty much the one behind the decorating, designs, and blowing the budget that Aubrey sets out. As well as running the stationery studio, I do creative work for select corporate clients on the side, dabble in interior decorating and I also run our blog, which is a nice little hobby on the side.

The cat that you see is MakMak - (or Makita) she is named after the line of power tools. She was found on a Habitat for Humanity Build that Aubrey was volounteering at 5 years ago and he adopted her for me, so I had a little friend when I worked.

Although we both grew up in Lawrence Park area of Toronto, we bought our first house is in the Upper Beach area as we fell in love with the street, how close we were to a Starbucks (for Lindsay) and accessibility to downtown for Aubrey.


(A photo I took on one of our little walks to the boardwalk)

We're walking distance to the boardwalk and beautiful beach area. It's still a hike to get back up (all uphill!) It's nice to think that we can walk down. The walk is beautiful, the architecture in the area is sometimes breathtaking.

Although we found a few houses in our old neighbourhood that we loved, it was beginning to get out of our price range, knowing that we needed more space for a studio space for me. I was on the verge of needing help in the business, and we needed a space that would accomadate a team member joining my company. Moving East proved to still allow us city living, but with more property.

We still sometimes miss the familiarity of our old neighbourhood, but have met some amazing new neighbours that have welcomed us. Our house is a classic Semi-Detached, and this is our blog, about our home renos. :)

We hope you enjoy!

Renovations wear you out....

This is what we felt like doing after today....

We've been working on a backyard project that we will reveal soon. :) To be a cat, that would be the life.

Basement

It is still a work in progress, but its clean enough for a partial reveal. :)


When we bought


Now, my studio. The pillar in the forefront of the top picture is the same pillar in the forefront above. The 2nd pillar that was in the background was left - but it is hiding in the furnace room now. :)


Remember, at one point it looked like this.

The project took us a little under 6 months, with Aubrey doing it on his days off, and getting trades in. We had to replace the drains as tree roots had gotten in from a neighbouring tree, and since the floor was going to be torn up, we moved the drains around for a new bathroom, and a new location for our washer and dryer.

The bathroom still needs completing, we're awaiting our pocket door still for that room, and we may start tiling sooner vs. later.

Reading Railroad + Boardwalk

Here is a sneak peek at our TV Room that is awaiting the final reveal because we still have to install the new door.



We live in the Beach area in Toronto, North of us is the Railroad, and South of us is the Boardwalk. Because of my love of Monopoly as it is the classic cottage game at our cottage, I decided to recreate the classic cards for art in our home.



I appreciate that doing what I did may not be a DIY project of your own, if you dont have access to fonts, and some graphic knowledge but I thought that it would inspire you to think outside of the box for artwork. I would have framed original cards, but then that would mean that the cards would be missing from the cottage. :) (But if you can find a game at a garage sale, how cute would that be to grab some cards and frame them!)

Cabinet Makeover

Since I'm too tiered to do work around the house, as office life has taken over, I thought I would post some fun projects that I have completed, vs. the room makeovers that I'm taking a break from.

Here is a dresser that my Dad let me have (ok, maybe I stole it from their house) when I moved in with Aubrey 5 years ago. I had painted it black, but it REALLY didn't suit our house now.

When the basement was getting painted a few months ago, I decided to do a repainting project. (Since the floors weren't yet installed, it didn't matter if I got paint on the concrete floor)



Unfortunately I don't have a very good before picture, but you can see that the knobs have been changed out and it is, obviously, my new fav colour. :) I'm in love, love with brass knobs, but these blue knobs have caught my eye also. (They are in the top picture) The dresser is in what will be the second bedroom. You can see that the floors have been primed, and I'm going to be painting the walls soon. Right now, I'm avoiding the painting project of that room. No - energy-left.

Working away...

Here is a view from where I sit, looking at the entrance to the office. The room in the back of picture #1 is the bathroom that still needs completing. We thought we'd get to it in the next few weeks, but I'm thinking we may "expire" after this week and not take on any more major projects for awhile.

I'm slowly adding stuff in, but right now work/getting orders done is taking priorty of decorating, which is why I haven't done a real "after shot". And there is Mak the Cat, who hangs out with me while I respond to e-mails and do paperwork in the office. She looks cranky. There is a reason.



I locked her in my stock room for a few hours. :( Ooops!

Painting things white...surprised?

I bought these folding chairs by my cottage for $15.00. They fold up, and have an upholstered seat (not shown). They are super cute, but they were painted black from my "black paint" phase 5 years ago. They are getting a new spray of white. I got bored 1/2 way through, ran out of paint, it was just one of those days where I probably shouldn't have started a project. Oh well, I finish them later. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for some fun fabric. Although we don't have kids - how cute would these be hanging on a wall in a childs room? Too fun!

Reno people, this one is for you....

I saw this poster awhile back on 20x200, a neat art website that sells up and coming (and established) artists prints starting at $20.00.

For those of you like us dealing with renos, hold backs, crusty people, then this poster is for you. The dying part makes it a bit ackward, and thus, not something I would hang in my home, but to post it on the blog...that is a different story. :)

There is a chocolate commercial out there right now and the tag line is...."It's like you've died and gone to heaven". A few seconds later, on the screen it finished off that thought with..."Without the ackward dying part."

DIY Headboard

Contrary to the subject post, I did not do a DIY Headboard. However, we'll get to that point in a moment.

As you know, I adore, and LOVE my Colette bed from Crate and Barrel.



I spotted her 4 years ago on Crate and Barrel's website, and she has made apperances in a number of movies like You, Me, and Dupree, and Superbad. I always squealed with delight whenever I used to see her on the screen.


(Colette Bed from Crate and Barrel in the movie You, Me, And Dupree)

I was able to hold off on buying her for 4 years because we were saving for a house and, Crate and Barrel wasn't yet in Canada. Patience paid off, and C&B came to Toronto last year. :)

If I had seen her today I don't know if I would have had the patience to wait that long to buy her and I don't know if I would have had the stomach to shell out the funds. It helped that we bought her with a lot of aeroplan (airmiles) points that we had saved up over 4 years, that we turned into gift certificates for the Mall, where Crate and Barrel was at. Best-purchase-ever. I know this because I never once saw another bed, in the 4 years that I liked more than her, and I have yet to see another.

However, I appreciate that doing such a purchase as I did, isn't in the cards for everyone, and also, that some people are up for making their own DIY Headboards. I debated making my own headboard, but I had never seen a project online that sparked imagination, until I stumbled upon this post from Sytle Nest awhile back.

She remade the Colette headboard!!



I remembered this post from StyleNest last week when a friend said that her Mom was going to make a headboard and liked ours. I remembered this blog post, and thought I would post it for others as well. Do pop on over, she's a fellow Torontonian too. :)

Lindsay

A little vignette from the basement

The office is coming together, but for now, this is my favourite little area at the bottom of the stairs.



I just love this desk. It's one that I got for $35 down the street and of course...painted it white. But this is a perfect example of why I love major pieces white, it allows for colours on the important things to pop. :)



The desk has become the little catch all for decorating ideas. It's seperate from the main work office, and it makes me smile when I walk by it.

Nothing a little spray wont fix

After posting pictures for this post, (see picture to left) I noticed that our front porch pots we're looking a bit rough around the edges. Sometimes, when outdoor planters age, they get a beautiful patina, which I ADORE. This wasn't really looking like patina to me though.

Slightly embarassed by the appearance of them, and what our neighbour (Hi Erin!) has been looking at for awhile now, I decided to do a quick fix.

Last night at Lowes I ran into the paint aisle and found this brand of spray paint and this morning I sprayed them. :)



I had used the spray paint brand from HomeDepot (the brand escapes me) and LOVED it. The Lowes brand was less than overwhelming. I'm not sure I would buy it again, but it did the trick. I used 1 full can on the 2 pots, and I also sprayed a fresh coat of black paint on our mailbox, as it too was looking a bit worn.




It likely wont last forever, but for $5.00 for a can, it's something I have no trouble doing each season. :)

Lamp Makeover

Hey family - remember that lamp base I've been lugging around in the car for the past year? It finally got a shade! :) Here is the before, and after...



The background is that the lamp base I found at a thrift shop down the street (do check out the link, as it's a wonderful store with a cause) and I knew right away that I was going to paint it white. I painted it white within a day, but it's taken me 1 year to find a shade.

The size of the base of the lamp caused a lot of issues, as not many companies make pre-fab shades of this size. To cut a long story short, I found a custom lamp shade company - I brought in the lamp base, we tried on different sizes, and I picked my fabric. And I adore the lamp!! It will be going in the spare room, but she made her way down to the studio.

I love what white paint can do. :)

Making a new desk

As I explained in my previous post, I wanted a bigger desk for the new studio, but wasn't comfortable with the price tags. We have other things we need to still buy for the house, so I didn't want to break the bank for the desk - however I also didn't want to sacrifice style, or function. I did a lot of research, and was prepared to spend on the desk if I needed to, but Aubrey and I worked together on this concept, and instead of multiple digits for this size of a desk, it worked out to be $300.00. :)



We bought three planks of pine from Home Depot, got them cut to be 129" in lengh and rented a Home Depot Van to get them home. We calculated that the three of them together, placed side by side, would create the best depth for the desk.

When we got them home, I sanded down three planks and decided which plank would be at the front of the desk, so I could pay extra attention to the edge that I would be sitting against.

The sanding not only smoothed it down (the edges in particular) but the process helped removed markings that were there like a "Made in Canada" ink stamp and some other were just ink marks.



I bought Walnut Stain, water based, from Home Depot. To apply, I used a foam brush, although any brush would do. I combined the staining with a rag. The nice thing is, since it's waterbased you can get really into it with bare hands, and your hands aren't going to be stained forever. For my side table project I used the non-water based stain, which was stinkier and hard to clean up (I think I threw out the brushes) and I was a lot happier this time around using Varathanes waterbased stain.



I did 2-3 coats of the stain. The thing to remember is when it's dried, it looks a bit "bleh", but when I applied the Semi-gloss varathane on after, it makes it REALLY pop. I wish I had sanded again as since being installed in the studio, there are some rough patches.

We purchased three Ikea Besta Cabinets ($65 each). We initially bought the silver legs to go with them, but after adding the top on to the bases, the desk heigh was WAY too high so the legs came off.





We had to raise the Besta units by placing wood underneath until it got to the desired height - you can see it right now in the picture above, but we'll be adding trim so it will be hidden.

Also, you will see that the depth of the desk top, is deeper than the depth of the Ikea Base cabinets. What we did was create hidden legs behid the Ikea cabinets by getting 4x4 posts, cut to the right size @ Home Depot. We secured the legs to the desk top. You can't see them, but they are VERY necessary in order to keep the desk secure. Since it's such a long desk, we did a lot of "procautions"

We also, for the safety of working at the desk, to keep all three planks together, was to get rectangular brackets, to hold each plank to one another. (Here is a picture of the kind of brackets, that I found online)

You're seeing a snippit of the new office, but it's still a mess, and still much a work in progress, but at least this awesome desk is now complete!

Front Door, Changing of the Seasons

The day that we took possesion of our house was a cold January day, and it was around 5pm at night. After getting the keys, I insisted to Aubrey that we stop by the flower market by our apartment and pick up a Holiday wreath. It was the first thing we bought, and it was I guess in retrospect, my little way of making the house ours. It was the first touch that we added. And that little wreath stayed up until the Spring.


(February 2008, Our old door, and first wreath)

The front pots/wreaths for the front of our house is something I always looked forward to when we were planning for a house. That's what homeowners got to do - they got to do those awesome front planters. ;)

With the chillyness in the air I decided to remove the ferns that have been there all summer (which I forgot to water unfortunately, which is why they look so sad) and replace them with these fushia mums. The changing of the front porch decoration is something I always look forward to.

Although they aren't as fancy as the professionally done ones that I see (and love), it's a simple little change that I adore at the start of the season. '

Desk project, Step #1

I know my family probably has been wondering where I've been. (Hello family!) I'm normally on MSN messenger all day (because I'm normally in my office ALL day) But for the past week I've been trying to get the new office set up, so Messenger has been off. :( I'm feeling a bit disconnected & look forward to the time when there are no more boxes to move & no more wires to find under desks.

The main projects keeping me away from the computer is the project of making a custom desk for my new office. Why do I need a bigger desk? This was my desk .... (in my old office, also known as the spare bedroom)



I've had it since 1997. I brought it with me to University in 1998, and every summer it made its trek back to Toronto. And then come September the desk would travel back with me. I have used this desk well, and part of me is a little sentimental about outgrowing it, but it's time.

I may have someone helping me with my business come September, so the need for a larger work station was a high priority, which was the push behind this project.

Aubrey and I did a custom desk project, which I am going to resist posting pictures of JUST yet as I would like to show the "TA-DA!" picture - you know the one that is the "After" in a Before & After series.

Here is a little preview of what I used for the project....



In the next few days I'll have a post about the final desk. :)

White Oil Paint Yellows.

For my family members that have heard me griping about this for the past few months, here is a picture to prove that I'm not going nuts.



You know what they don't tell you when you buy white oil paint? White Oil paint yellows. REALLY. Look at this picture above. The white in the forefront is a new coat of primer on the trim. In the background you will see that the trim is yellow. That, my dear readers, USED to be a high gloss beautiful white. And now, it is that wonderfully weird shade of yellow.

Ughhh. I'm avoiding white oil paint for the rest of my life. I was so irritated when I started noticing that our beautiful trim yellowed slightly. So sad!

Apparently oil paint (white) starts to yellow after about a year. And I think I've noticed it in my house because my walls are also white - so the difference between the two shades is sad. :( I'm now boycotting white oil paint. Why spend the time doing a great job on trim to only have it turn yucky. I'm just sayin'...They should probably tell you this when you're buying lots + lots of super white oil paint.

Lilac pillows

Aubrey + I took a break from renovation to-do's last night. We dropped off some donations to Value Village& then got us Starbucks and popped over to HomeSense to see what was new. I found these lilac pillows that I fell in LOVE with. They are knit and the palest purple. The knit cover goes perfectly with the linen on the headboard. Ahhh. It's perfect.



For the past 6 months we haven't really been in the "decorating" kind of mood - everything in the house was always getting dirty, renovations were taking over - but now that I'm 90% moved into the basement, our house is slowly becoming a house again and it is the NICEST feeling.

Creating storage

Now that the basement is no longer the dungeon, we have less space for our storage. (We do have a furnace room + storage room but every space counts). We created this little nook under the stairs that is housing all of Aubrey's books that are stored in clear boxes. The other 1/2 of the books are upstairs waiting for a bookshelf(s) in the living room. Tip - when planning a space, utilize every space that you can...this little area is an amazing space for us to tuck away boxes & I'm so glad we took the time to create a little door. :)

Painting floors white, some resources...

My awesome neighbour Erin sent me a link to Door Sixteens post on painting floors, and one of the commenters of the blog gave a link to her Flickr collection of painted wood floors. Eye Candy!
See HomeBugs collection of white floors here. Found from reading the posts from Door Sixteen's blog here.

Spare Bedroom, Painting the floor White

We're still moving me down into the office. Pictures will be posted soon. We're right now doing a custom desk project that I'm super excited about.

In the meantime, here is the other project we're working on...

Our Spare Bedroom. As visitors to our house will know, this room was the office since February 2008 - the goal ultimately (and was achieved) was to reno the basement to be a full studio for me (Lindsay) and we'd turn this room back into a sleeping quarters. There are a few unanswered design problems that we have with this room. One of those being the floor. (And yes, that ugly light fixture which we haven't taken down)




This is a picture from last year, when we moved in and we did a simple paint job. Nothing was touched, it was a quick pick-me-up for the room. The floors are untouched, the original wood floors from the house, and they are sad. :(


Issues # 1 is the floor. We could carpet the floor or the other option is to paint the floor. I've seen some gorgeous pictures of painted wood floors and I'm thinking I may be adventourous enough for this room. Here are some inspirational pictures...



I'm thinking of a white floor, with light gray stripes.

My thought process is this - we're never going to "refinish/stain" these floors, as they are on their last legs for sanding. So if I paint the floors, I'm not eliminating an option. The carpeting STILL can be done if I end up hating the painted floor look...or as I've said...when we want to invest that $ into a carpet, we can do that down the road.



Fingers crossed it works.

Moving the office

I updated the blog header. I got tiered of the black banner that was up there before. I must note, for the record, that Aubrey thinks the new header is too girly. I don't disagree, but I need a little bit of pretty up there for awhile. I'll change it to something manly next month.

There won't be any updates for a few days because (a) my camera battery died and I packed up that charger somewhere...and (b) I'm disconnecting the computer to move it into the new office! :)

Hello to all of my family at the cottage who have been reading the updates from us in the city. :) We miss it up there. :( I'll sign off with a picture I took from us stargazing at the cottage. It's a long exposure, so those are indeed stars in the sky. Ahhh. Bliss.



xo - Lindsay

New backdoor has arrived!

After renting the Lowes van last night we got the new back door into the house. When we install it, is debatable. :) For now, it sits with us in the kitchen.



Our existing back door is awful. I'm resisting posting a picture until we have a before and after. But for those who have been over, know how much we hate it.

The background on the back door is that it's actually an interior door that the previous owners had installed. It was hollow. And that meant - it was COLD in the winter.

After last winter, Aubrey said that he was not going to go through another winter with the existing backdoor, and so this summer, we decided to just order it. We (finally) got it home and now it sits awaiting us to (a) find hardware for the handle and (b) the energy to gear up to tackle installing it.

Hiding an Electrical Panel

On the heels of our previous post about how to hide a gas meter, here's our project of how we're hiding our electrical panel.



As much as I'd like to say that Aubrey and I came up with this genious plan, we spent a good 4+ months staring at the electrical panel wondering HOW we were going to deal with it. We knew it was going to involve building something infront of it - a closet, or maybe a bookshelf that swung out - but as my Mom pointed out, if you are trying to access the panel, it generally is in an emergency situation, so you want to access it quickly.

Initially, when Aubrey asked how we would tackle hiding the panel, I refrenced a tip from Sarah Richardson. I had seen on a past episode of one of Sarah House where she encountered the same problem - how to hide an electrical panel. To hide the panel, she did a picture with hinges on the side, so that you could access the electrical panel by swinging the picture out. I remember tucking that piece of information away for a rainy day, and with our basement, the rainy day had arrived, and I was excited to use the same trick she had used.

I learnt, however, that her solution wasnt going to be ours. Our problem was that our electrical panel was too close to the new wall of the bathroom so a picture would look out of place hanging so close to a wall. It would be Obvious (with a capital "O") that we were hiding something.

The solution came from my Mom who suggested that we find a bookshelf where the top was doors, and the bottom was usable storage. It wouldnt look out of place, and also serve a purpose.

It was easier to address the solution once the walls were up and the floor was selected, as prior to that, we didnt really know how much room we would have. We settled on an IKEA cabinet, with the high gloss doors, to carry through the clean look of the new basement.

This is a new cabinet line at Ikea called Besta. I think that they come in the same widths as the Billy Bookcase system but they are about only 20cm in depth, vs. 28cm of the Billy system . We didnt want a very deep case, as it would start encrouching upon the pocket door for the bathroom. The Besta comes in a variety of finishes, we went with white, to blend in with the white walls.



Obviously, Mak the Cat was interested....








Although the width was perfect to hide the panel, and the depth was perfect so it didnt take up valuable floor space, the height needed some tweaking. To raise it off the ground we added in some blocks and we screwed the cabinet into the wall so that the weight of the doors wouldnt pull the cabinet down. As you can see, by opening the top door you can access the electrical panel. The lower door will hide some shelves which may house things like office stock, or toilet paper for the neighbouring washroom. :)

Aubrey is currently adding in trim around the base, so that the cabinet looks built in.

And that is our electrical panel project!

(Picture of Sarah Richardsons Laundry Room Design from HGTV.ca)

Meet our Foreman/woman

We're still working away on the basement. We have a foreman on the site who is watching every move...

Brick cleaning

I looked out my window this morning to see this van parked outside the house...



Across the street, our new neighbour, who is doing a huge reno, was having is house cleaned. I popped over and was amazed at what I was looking at - 1/2 of the house was cleaned, and the other half was untouched, and the difference was unbeleivable.

So back to MY house...
One thing that drove me nuts about the front of our house was that there are remnants of an enclosed porch - old glue + cocking left over. I never knew how to get it off. I tried a power washer - didn't work. So I asked the Father + Son team how much to do JUST the front of our house. Needless to say, he got the job and 1 hour later he popped over and cleaned the front of our house.

Here is a before + After. The before is when we bought the house, we have since added the new front door. :)

Laminate Done!

It took a bit longer than Aubrey thought, but once he got the hang of it, he was Mr. Speedy. The instructions for the floor tell you to build the lengh of the floor all and one piece and then click it into place. This was causing MAJOR frustration, as you click the end in, and the other side would come apart. Aubrey started then just doing piece by piece, clicking them in, and it worked MUCH better.



For the first time since we moved in, I actually walked around in the basement without SHOES! It was glorious. :)

Here is a before + after of one shot of the basement for you to remeber what it looked like before we broke ground on March 3rd.



The pocket door to the bathroom still has to be installed, and the bathroom will eventually convert from a storage room (as you can see above in the picture) to a beautiful bathroom. (See post below for tiles we picked)

Our goal was 6 months, and it's exciting that we're actuall ahead of schedule. :)