Energized with...

A live solo sax jam going on outside my work window.

A spinach and egg salad for lunch,

No utensils required.

 

Damp and overcast outside.

Cozy spring scarf around my neck.

New King size mattress laying on my platform bed, 

waiting at home for us.

Ready for us to snuggle up tonight,

all in the middle.

Re-purposed mirror frame

It used to be a mirror, bought at Home Depot sometime in 2006. The frame was nice. The colour - green and gold - not so me. The mirror fell out and I spray painted the frame shiny black.  I used it as a prop when I readied my house for sale. (Had a bidding war on house, I think it worked!)


The frame traveled with me to my apartment and then to my new house, where it was stored in the basement. I liked the frame but wasn't sure what to do with it. The black was chipping off and the frame was becoming more antique looking.









I then stumbled across this post on Annaleena's blog which reminded me of my old frame. Down to the basement I went.  Up came the frame. It moved around in my dining room for awhile. But started to cause some trouble when I had it leaning against the wall (re: mobile baby).

And ta da! A new and useful purpose:

Visit "Try this at home! by Annaleena." @ Emma's Blog for inspiration, beautiful pictures and neat ideas.

I feel ...

a little blah, like this old wagon wheel...

Maybe because I am in dire need for sun and blue skies...

... a little peace, rest and contemplation ...

Some muscle & energy...

and breakfast, el fresco.

Photos 1-4 by me; #5 by my son.

Purple Iris - color inspiration

I have been drawn towards purple, yellow, green and grey for awhile. Purple, for a long time. A deep rich purple. Grey and yellow more recently. 

I have a yellow sofa and a purple couch, in picture, in My Favourite Sofa posts.  I would love to re-upholster my faux suede sofa w/ thick purple velour fabric. I have a purple round rug that I purchased in the fall. A bright yellow basket on my fireplace mantel. A new yellow and greyish rug.  I just purchased 2 sets of grey and yellow sheets; 1 flowered, the other striped.  I have been wanting to paint a wall grey striped... 

I wanted to find something in nature to tie my colour preferences together. The Purple Iris is perfect.  In fact Iris was a top contender for my daughters name.  I noticed some flowers making their way up and out of the garden. Tulips and daffodils. Wishing for spring temperatures to go along with the tiny blooms.

In anticipation of my room makeover

Before shots.

Old & new: The standing mirror was recently purchased @ Marshalls, bargain price. LOVE it.  The small one on the table was bought 10 years ago in an home store in Halifax, N.S. The table is an antique desk from my mom's home. Green reading light from Target, kind of useless over there by the mirror. The clock was bought in San Francisco, hmmmm perhaps 20 years ago. I really want to get back there!

My bed was recently moved against the windows, which inspired me to get the new, bigger bed. This is the longest wall in the room and I was able to determine that the KING would fit perfectly (enough). The double will become the guest bed for the time being.  Yellow carpet (LOVE), a new purchase from Marshalls ("C" - Company rug).  I needed a burst of sunshine in here.  Pendant light, an Ikea purchase from long ago.  Pottery Barn rustic farm dresser. Roomy enough for all my clothes. TV was temporarily moved to my room as I keep falling asleep at 9! And I wanted to watch some T.V.

View from absent wall - old linen pottery barn curtains (from a few homes ago - I had started to sew the ties together, but tired of that), hung on a red bamboo rod (bamboo rods bought to hang a curtain on, to separate my room from Chazes room re: absent wall). Old blue square wool rug, bought in Ankara, Turkey, although it was made in India and is an Indian design. The hanging beaded lantern, an Anthropologie purchase 5+ yrs ago. Hung there because a hook existed in the ceiling. Not even plugged in. The shelves on the wall, blah. But they hold my photos for now. The wall opposite the bed is being considered for this gallery type photo wall. Small childrens' bench at end of bed should be replaced by a bigger storage bench. I had found the perfect one @ Marshalls, but didn't realize it was so perfect until it was gone.

The door in the middle of the wall, that opens to my "walk-in" closet... very narrow but long and well lit closet.

Challenge - no ceiling light. The light switch turns on the green readig light that is beside the mirror. And there are no outlets on the window wall, besides the "open" one hidden under the antique desk. Gotta get an electrician in here, as well as in my dining room and kitchen.

Challenge II - Excess of mirrors? Not true. The one on the door was meant to come down, but it is stuck very firmly on the door. If I pull hard enough the mirror will break and the bad luck will begin.

The city is giving me a tree!

The message was on my answering machine yesterday. Exactly one year and a half ago, minus a day. From the day that I closed on my house. The day I pushed the enter button to request the free tree from the city program. 

I had found the program before hand but thought it best to wait until I actually owned the house.  City will not only give you a free tree, they will research your soil and land, advise you on a few options AND plant  it for you.

I actually applied twice for the tree (read: a little excited/impatient/don't want to miss this great opportunity). Once in the fall and again in the spring. I received a call from a woman in the spring letting me know that there is a 2 year waiting period for the tree and that I could just go ahead and plant my own if I wanted.  I thought I was taken off the list.

I did go out a buy myself a Weeping Red Japanese Maple. I was limited to what size of tree I could get (trunk size).  I planted this guy in front of my house and it seemed to do ok. I was very happy with my choice and plant. I do have experience here, have planted 250,000 trees in my life time, although never this type or size. Later on I discovered that this kind of tree prefers limited sun. (Lots of experience planting, no experience researching what tree vs soil vs sun light ... read: impetuous)

The front of my house is fully exposed from 10am till the sun sets. I saw it slowly get unhealthy. I am waiting to see if it survived the winter. I do not want to write it off yet, but it is weeping.


The city program will plant a tree between the sidewalk and road. The front of my house is/was treeless. There is a small garden, overtaken by clover (I discovered last year). That is all dug out now. And my Weeping Red  Japanese Maple tree.  It seems I will get my SHADE tree after all. And this shade tree may be exactly what my W.R.J.M tree needs!

Since my lot is large enough and there are no telephone wires above, the city arborist was very excited to offer me a huge shade tree. My choices:

Hackberry

Katsura

Gingko Saratoga

Red Oak

Swamp Wide Oak

I am leaning towards Red Oak or Gingko ... I will let the size and growth speed determine which one I choose! I'M SO EXCITED!

An ode to my dog Luc

On the weekend I discovered Sears had a 50% plus more sale on mattresses.
Yesterday I ordered a Queen size frame, 2 sets of queen size sheets and a bedframe slipcover.
An hour ago, I called West Elm customer service to cancel my order and upgrade it to KING! And I feel 110% better about my decision.

I was encouraged by their sale, which was ending yesterday. I have spent a year and a half wondering if I should go for the QUEEN or KING ... I mean, not every living minute, I do have a few other things to do. But when I bought my home in 09/23/09 (closed on  my birthday), my extra treat to myself was to upgrade my 10+ year old full sized mattress to a KING. We spent a few weeks trying out mattresses throughout various locations in the city. And then returning to first store to re-try the mattresses on sale. A KING size all organic mattress does in fact feel MUCH better when it is on sale. Sleepful nights are sure to come. But I never bought a mattress.

I moved on to other things, such as a bathroom reno.

Occasionally I returned to the big dilemma, King or Queen. I wasn't sure what was causing the hesitation - I took measurements and  King would be tight in the room but could work. And I couldn't justify the upgrade and money spent for just an extra 6 inches that the would Queen offer. 

A few months ago I stumbled across a mattress survey on Apartment Therapy, I empathized with the couple.

The kitchen is gutted. The fridge and stove buying are being delayed, at the advise of the Sears Sales person. What else was I to do? I moved on to Mattresses again.

West Elm bedroom sale was ending yesterday and Sears was offering a HUGE savings on mattresses. I made a decision and made a purchase. I went with the practical Queen bed frame and linen and threw in a really nice bedframe slipcover to change the look once in a while. I gave myself a few more days to decide on a mattress. But when I woke up this morning I didn't feel happy about my Queen size purchase.  My kids sleep with me. Neither of us have much room on either side. And my lovable, loyal dog FINALLY figured out how to get on the bed the other night. I let him stay but quickly remembered the leg room issues this caused. He is little, but SOLID and hard to move.


Luc, the pug, had a seizure yesterday morning. My son and I watched as he convulsed across the floor. We were scared for his life. I was sure he was going to keel over after he stopped convulsing.  He didn't drop dead, but he sat still and paralyzed. He couldn't move his right back leg. My son was pleading that I take him to the hospital. I was still frozen in shock and waiting for him to die. He finally got up and headed downstairs, without even a limp. He used the basement floor to relieve himself and then asked to go outside. He almost seemed back to normal, so I packed up the kids and headed to school and then work. Sometime between arriving at work and phoning the vet, I made the West Elm Purchase. Live in the moment.

Luc guarding Lucy 7/10

Lucy and I left work, picked up Luc. (Phew he was still alive) and went to the vet. I almost canceled the appointment as he was a bundle of energy. Glad I went and discovered his heart beat is fine and that it was surely a seizure and not a stroke or heart attack. And that pugs are prone to seizures but rarely do dogs die while having one. The vet told me lots of information but I could only retain a bit as Lucy is quite efficient at crawling now and all over the floor discovering nooks and crannies. Luc, the pug, was alive and good.



Now, continue into the present but backwards with me.

Luc guarding Chaz 11/02

Funny thing how I ended up at the vet again this morning, for a scheduled cat appointment. Lucy in a stroller this time, falling a sleep.  And a cat instead of a dog. A schedule appointment instead of an emergency. And then back at home I started to question the Queen vs the King situation.  I got out my tape measure and started taking different measurements to see what I actually bought. 6 inches is very little; 3 on each side. What is the point.  Now lets talk 22 inches, 11 inches on each side. Now there is something worthwhile. Surely there would be some room to walk around in here. And with the new layout of my room, I could easily accept a King.  The only stipulation, it would only fit on one wall, the window wall. Unless / until I build the 4th absent wall. A window would make a nice "headboard" and even nicer once I replace them. I have until next fall/winter until the weather returns.



Back at work and no sooner did I open my work stuff, I was on the phone to West Elm (wonderful, wonderful customer service). I felt like a tool calling in the next day to cancel the order and upgrade to King.

The first woman I spoke was very helpful and friendly. I still wasn't convinced about changing my order and while she did some research on her end (sales prices had ended) and I quickly tried to upload a new shopping cart with king size bedframe, sheets et al, to see the price difference, but the site was not functioning properly. Things seemed to be working against me and other then learning that the slip-cover I ordered would not fit the frame I ordered, I decided to stick with my original purchase and switched the conversation to a sofa. And then we hung up.

And my gut gave me a huge kick in the throat.
No sooner was I back on the phone completely SURE of my decision. King was meant for us. Have a little fun.  I envisioned pillows in the air and sheets floating down and happy people frolicking on the sea of a bed. Enjoy the room while the babies are babies. Invite my aging dog back onto the bed for his last few years.   (He had been delegated to the floor when I was pregnant, back in the summer of '09, he was too solid to move and I was to pregnant to budge him). Even my aging sick cat was on the bed last night, and he has been out of the picture of many months.

Another wonderful customer service person. I felt mortified hassling them with my order change, but she assured me her goal was to make me happy. And although I couldn't get the sale prices (which were little on my mind, but they wanted to make sure I understood that they can only cancel the order, not change it), and the sheets were already on the truck for delivery she was able to cancel the bedframe order. Every step of the conversation felt right and made me happier with my new decision. I even gushed this to her several times, and that is way out of character for me.  In the end she took off 10% for not being able to completely help me out. 

Thanks to the order of events, we will soon be happy sleepers in a king size bed. That will fit all of us, three cats, a dog and three humans.

An ode to my dog Luc while listening to Neil Young - Old King

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIiAimqwCIE

Luc the watch dog. Nova Scotia 8/09

Better form Nova Scotia 8/09

Weekend projects

Days are longer, energy is bountiful.

Its time to unstick myself and complete some projects.

Transform side porch.
~Move toy bins to attic
~Vacuum, wash floor
~Move furniture around
~Move table to porch
Eventually move sofa to porch and move wicker furniture elsewhere. Get ticking fabric to cover sofa. Get muslim material to hang on three front windows.

Attic / Toys
~Downsize toys, combine into rubbermaid bins. Re-purpose baskets for other stuff.



Chaz Room
~Organize bookshelf

A few months ago we spray painted (GOLD of course), these two hooks. We even got them hung on the wall and one is working perfectly! The other fell off after an hour. Gotta get new and stronger double sided tape and get the 2nd one back up.

Hooks in boys room = easy hanging = less stuff on floor.










My room
~Move furniture around
~50% off mattresses at Sears until end of March. FINALLY purchase one.
~Make headboard - ref http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/07/how-to-upholster-a-headboard/
~WestElm bed frame, currently on sale.
p.s. -bought queen size west elm frame and two sets of sheets. YAY. A day later, like right now, I am about to call them and change the order to kingsize. EEKS 
p.s.s waiting for delivery!

Kitchen
~Get to Lowes, Sears and BestBuy to check out these 2 Refrigerators:
* LG 19 cubic feet currently on sale ... cheapest @ Sears.
* Samsung 19 cubic ft currently on sale ... Lowes
See who will offer best deal; throw in a stove and Im done with kitchen for a while!
p.s.- lovely and informative sales person at sears was very helpful and advised I dont buy anything now, at the stage I am at, due to possible damage to fridge. Love the LG. Will get that one, soon.

Dining room
Hang frames in dining room using paper layout technique.
p.s. -Paper layout makes life so much easier. reference  http://www.younghouselove.com/


Still to do
~call electrician, call west elm, hire babysitter, hang dining room light, refresh walls w/ white paint.

Complete
L-U-C-Y letters are complete; hang on her wall.

My daughter comes to work with me. She is 1 and can sit and amuse herself for an hour, then she moves on to the next curiosity. She has worked hard this morning, trying to plug the back-up drive usb plug into the port, dismantled and tasted my cd cases. And now she is working at her own work station, completely enthralled with the keyboard and clicking mouse. When she tires of this, we will go for a walk, she will fall a sleep and I will really work. Denial is good, she is with me; guilt is tougher so the search for a babysitter continues.

Bedroom inspiration

My bedroom is way down on the list of things to do, although occasionally I look at bed frames, bedding and other ideas. I am hardly moving forward as I cannot decide between a queen or king mattress. My practical side says Queen; it will fit in the bedroom much better. I will be able to move it up and down the stairs myself, it costs less including new sheets that will have to bought. My heart and fun side say KING with lots of pillows and duvets so we can all sleep in the middle together.

I had bought myself a huge wooden Pottery Barn dresser when I first moved in. I love it, three huge drawers, holds all my clothes and lovely wooden colour and hardware, very farmlike.  I know I need a storage bench at the end of the bed and had found the perfect one at Marshalls, caramel tufted leather.  These old houses lack storage and justified a storage bench being worthwhile purchase. Except, when I figured all this out and returned to store, the one I had decided on was gone and the others fail in comparison.

Besides the mattress dilemma and lack of storage, and flipflopping between cozy room versus a minimalist room, I have always liked West Elms Chunky low frame. But then I fell in love with West Elms Nailhead upholstered bed frame, in grey.  I was so inspired by the GREY nailhead low bed frame I quickly made a decision on the size of bed, some linen and clicked them all into the shopping cart. ALAS, there was no GREY nailhead bedframe left, in either Queen or King size. I even called them up to find out the chances of restocking this item. Nada.

And then I saw this room...

photo via www.setdecorators.org

So much colour, fabric and texture in this room.  The headboard is gorgeous and I know making a headboard as a DIY is all over the net**.  The side chairs are also beautiful! I even love the colour of the room. I'm very inspired by all this and maybe will move forward with ... at least painting!  This bedroom is a still shot from the movie, Adjustment Bureau ... the movie was just what I needed to see. A little action, A little romance and some good lines. The ending, well enough said, how else could they have ended it.

The room reminds me of another picture I saw in an Anthropologie flyer. I can't find the photo, it must have been on paper. It wasn't so much the the room itself, but the overall essence, colour, fabric, lived in yet clean ... maybe I cannot decided, but I know what my eyes and insides are saying.  Now I am determined to find that other picture and verify the similarities.

Here is one link of a bazzillion, on DIY headboards:
http://www.bejane.com/diy-projects/by-topic/carpentry/make-your-own-upholstered-headboard

My favourite sofa - 3/14/11

The Lorimer, by West Elm

Sleek, comfy, room for colourful throw pillows. I would get the cotton basketweave, Slate ('cause white is out of the question, with 4 furry friends)

Picture wall,

I really like Martha Stewart's All-in-a-Row picture wall. A new look (for me) for a gallery wall

I am very slowly working on this idea.  I managed to buy a couple cheap ($1.00) frames at Micheals art store. I still have to paint them black. I decided this is a good time to buy some chalk board paint so I can "dual project" - paint the frames and paint a chunk of a wall in chalk board paint.

A few months ago I was at Micheals picking up black frames for baby pictures ... I have had lots of good forture (left in my pocket), hitting Micheals during their frame sales.  I will also need to develop a few of my pictures.  And then get this wall working....once I determine which wall to hang the photos.

This seems like a good time to write a list of things to work on, things in progress, things completed, because now a days I am as good a chicken without her head. I feel like nothing is getting completed, I am running around trying to survive the basics and things are piling up. Between work, baby, boy, 2 feet of snow, car stuck in driveway because neighbour parked infront of the entrance of driveway so snowplow could not plow, shoveling, home stuff, and a bunch of pets under my feel...well my new mantra has been "at least my home is mouse free", thanks to the three cats that constantly jump on the counters or try to steal food from the fridge. My son has been tasked with training the cats from jumping on counters and tables. He happily took to this, using his water gun. But I mostly need to alert him to the cat on the counter and then he has to get his water gun, sometimes reload it ... but its working. The two little cats have learned to stay off the dining room table, and when they do forget, they quickly remember when they see that colourful water squirter and master with big grin coming their way. My daughter has been tasked with feeding the dog dinner. Well, she just does this, so I have turned it into her job. I no longer feed him dinner and he gets bits and pieces from her new interest in exploring the soup pot filled with dog food.  I have been tasked with teaching her "no" dog food vs human food.  This is working too, she looks at me, puts a piece of dog food in her mouth, I say no and she spits it out.

Focus, back to the list

Kitchen gutted -check
~WIP - researching stove, electrical work
~WIP - moving kitchen stuff back into kitchen onto temp shelving.
~Barnes and Nobles is going out of business in our local mall. Everything is for sale, including shelving, tables chairs. There is a little table that would work perfect in my kitchen. (Painted black of course), Problem is the undertaker has priced the furnishings very high - $125 for the table!!! - which is no bigger the 2'x3' with spindle legs. It is a beauty though. I have bought two other furnishings this way, a round table and a coffee table. I paid no more the 25 dollars for each. And by weight alone, all of these store furnishings are of the same quality. I may return to B&N this weekend and see if the prices have dropped.

Dining room
~Hanging Industrial light. My contract-her didn't do this for some reason. I have too many other things on the go to complete this. I suspect it will get done when I call in my electrical person for kitchen work.
~Continue to clear dining room of kitchen stuff - fairly good progress here.

Living room
~re-Paint all walls white; they are already white, but flat. They need brightening up.
~Still interested in grey and white striped wall
~Clear console of kitchen stuff.
~Sofa. Actually, I was just browsing this new book that was posted on another blog.  It is almost clear what style I like for a sofa. I have been drawn to this Uni-seat cushion, dual back cushion or several throw pillows, low back, sofa in may other photos and then in this book, there were three and what I need became very clear. I want a "sink-in-super-comfortable-lay-down-read-book-yet-streamlined" sofa. I wonder if I will have to buy this book, to absorb even more.

Crafty things
~WIP - painting L U C Y letters for Lucy's wall
~WIP - Picture wall - collecting frames, developing photos.

 Our mostly living has moved upstairs to my bedroom. I keep falling asleep at 9pm. Wake up at 5:30. Nothing wrong with these hours; I get some free time in the morning along with feeding the pets, laundry, clean the basement of any accidents, let the dog out, veg in front of computer for a bit (too long), before the kids get up and we get ready for school, work and the day. But I was missing some veg out time in the evening. So we moved the tv upstairs to my bedroom. WHICH I am mostly against, but when it was down stairs and when I had the energy to go down there, I often fell asleep on the couch. SO UP it went and now we all fall asleep in front of it , but we are all snuggley in my bed. I think its ok for the time being. I get a diversion. We all get to cuddle. We all fall asleep. Maybe in the spring time we will work out something else.

Well that's as long as my list here is going to get. Its much longer in real, but my head feels supported on neck for the time being, so back to work work I go.

postscript: I just zoomed into the picture wall photo gallery and realized all the frames are the same. I will have to rethink my plan. I believe I am attracted to this look because of the continuity AND the reflection like set up. This may make the idea come to life faster ...

Patterns

Elephants, spindles:

Cuteness:

Upwards splash:

Kitchen: GUTTED

We arrive home. I mentally prepare myself that it may not be completed. And much to my surprise, it was and I love it! Yep, my gutted kitchen is 110% more livable then the original kitchen. Bigger, brighter, and bountiful.  Camp kitchen cooking for the next 6 months while I figure out how I move around in the space, where I am inclined to want to put things, roll things and wash things.

I finally find a place for drying baggies and bibs!  The sink was moved to this wall, where plumbing was already in place for a washing machine.

 Corner cabinets and stove were removed.  Stove pushed against wall. Upper and lower cabinets removed from fridge area. Cutting board cabinet reused beside stove. I would like  a sitting area in place of the fridge, but not sure if I can forgo the wall and area for a table. hmmm



Wall cabinet / pantry / desk removed. Currently will host pet station and small cupboard.

We left the existing plumbing intact.Just have to step around this, better then the peninsula I was moving around. And the half bathroom.

Now I just need to move all the food and pots and pans and small appliances back into the kitchen so the other living areas return to their normal.

I originally thought I would replace the floor first. But electrical work and a new stove trump that. I have not been able to bake for a year. Everything burns. I need a new stove. And the ceiling light is faulty.

Go here and here for kitchen reno pictures and plan!