Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Scarf tips


Here is a bit of winter cuteness for you friends...
A little scarf tying tutorial that reminds me of chatting with my best friend. Not just Bethany's sweetness but also because of the constant interruption of little people. It's pretty cute on the video.

In my house while I'm on the phone... not so much.

So check out this post on do.think.wear.see.love.dream. I love the whole photo collage of scarf outfits.

PS- This girl is the reason I bought my skinny cargos. I am such a copy cat.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

When all else fails... go shopping

Not many posts lately, huh? Yep, my creative energy has been zapped due to a string of different events and circumstances. I do feel as if I am getting on top of things and trying to move forward but the creative energy has not yet returned.

My Christmas decorations are away, my house is clean (finally). But I haven't redone the mantel since Christmas. With the amount of mantel decorating posts in the history here, well, you know that is out of the ordinary.

The easy place for the creative side of my brain to wander these days is fashion blogs. So I have been reading:

and what I wore wednesday at The Pleated Poppy

And etsy sites:

And I have been watching what they wear and planning what to spend my Christmas money. Check out these cute boots on Tania from What Would A Nerd Wear. Ok, I bought grey skinny cords because of her too.

And then check out my newest purchase from oldnavy.ca. I initially thought they were too orange, but my mom ok'd them via an email pic so I have since worn them out and about. They were a Boxing Day special but are now $5 cheaper than when I bought them. Snakes! Oh well, still a good deal and pretty fun to wear.
As a result of all these blogs I am developing quite the addiction to online shopping. Pretty easy and I haven't had to return one thing yet!

Friday, December 31, 2010

Tis the Season

I have been very low on creative energy for a while now due to various factors. Nevertheless here are some close ups of our festive decor from December. I couldn't find the energy to style the whole room so all you are getting is close ups. I was the only person in my family who noticed it wasn't "done" so I think it's OK.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Reno news - the paneling

I have seen the board and batten style wall paneling oh, um, let's just say on every design blog I read. Ya, that would cover it. So I have been dreaming of it for quite some time. Yes, I doodle pictures of wall paneling on the note pad by the phone. A lot.

So to say I am pleased with how this turned out is a bit of an understatement. The hubby wasn't exactly sure what I wanted or why you would want to go to all this trouble for rectangles on the wall. But bless his heart he agreed to it anyway and I think it makes the room. Don't worry, because I know you were, there will be many more paneling pictures to come!

The Walls...
BEFORE
ok you can kinda see how plaid the wall was on the left of this pic

DURING
AFTER
Now some pictures on that wall and all will be right with the world.
;^)

Friday, November 19, 2010

Reno news - part two

And more of the same. Here is the ongoing progress in the new family room. It is far from done, the trim and tiles around the fireplace are still on the list. Also the cover for that electrical panel and another one for the crawl space on the opposite wall. A window sill, curtains, and much decorating is still to do. Please note the (very ugly) surround sound system for the (very large) TV is all set up. Ahem, priorities. But anyway, here is the progress.

Family Room Fireplace...
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
I think the IKEA hacked built-ins turned out ok. And the mantel my smart hubby made all from one flat sheet of MDF. Can't wait to decorate all that mantel for Christmas! What do ya think? And I do hope it's obvious that the before pic is BEFORE we bought the house. Please tell me you knew that!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Reno news- it gets worse before it gets better

I am doing a few little update posts about the basement as it is coming along v e r y s l o w l y.

And as much as I love before and after pictures it will be a while 'til it's done and we get some pretty pictures. I have decided to show it just as it is now. So here is the progress so far.

Downstairs landing....

BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
The doors to the rooms are paneled but the closet doors are flat. Although this is a room in the first picture now it is a closet for A's tools. I need something cute for that wall...
And sadly, despite my lovely mudroom, I need more space for shoes and coats downstairs so I might hang another peg rack on the right on the wall you can't see in this picture.

Friday, November 12, 2010

The boys room and a LEGO solution

I have shown many pictures of my little girl's room and only a few of the boys' room. It is true that her room is cuter and she is young enough that I can pretty much do what ever I want in there.

But there is another reason the boys room is photographed less. In a word: LEGO. All of it lives in there room because they started acquiring LEGO while Laine was a baby. To prevent any unfortunate choking incidents we limited LEGO to their room and when they played with it we simply shut their door. Worked great, as evidenced by the fact that Laine is breathing even to this day.


But as the LEGO piled up we needed an organization system. We sorted all the pieces by colour which is great! But the bucket of guys, ahem, I mean minifigs was constantly getting dumped on the floor. Some creative minds like to build different guys every day apparently. So here is what I came up with...

It was a mini loaf pan initially but was rusting as the coating peeled. I decided it wasn't fit for the kitchen any more but wow it's great for minifigures! Heads, bodies, legs, hats, accessories, weapons and full guys each have their own spot. It makes for much less dumping all over the floor.

And lastly here are some pictures of their room on a rare day when it was clean...


There is just something about twin beds. Ahh.