Wednesday, February 26, 2014

My Love of Food. In Print.

 

I grew tired of the print that was hanging in the kitchen for the last few years. When I bought the Keep Calm Carry On print it was somewhat unique. Then for the last couple of years it started popping up everywhere. Prints, mugs, t-shirts, the whole works. The time had come to ditch it and try something new.

Old photo from the kitchen, circa 2010.

I called upon my friend Kim of Kim Roach Design for help. I had seen a print she had made for her holiday party and thought it would be a perfect replacement. She was able to have it printed to fit perfectly into my Ikea Ribba frame. 


I flipped around the matte in the Ribba frame so that it would be crisp white instead of the creamy white that they usually feature. I love the bold black print, it really adds a fresh, modern touch to the kitchen.


Be sure to check out Kim's Etsy shop, Little Lovely Details, to pick a print of your own. She has some amazing stuff!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

What Love Looks Like.













 Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

Bedroom Plans.

There is a room in my home that you've never seen before. I've shared my master bedroom, second bedroom and the den but there is actually a fourth bedroom upstairs in our house as well. Surprise! Now that the bathroom has been renovated, this room takes the title as the only room in the house that has not been touched since the day I moved in.

I'll take some proper before photos but just so you have an idea, it's a small-ish room and still has some dated yellow floral wall paper and a decent sized closet. I did have the floors refinished when I moved in but have otherwise ignored the space. We currently have bunk beds in there for when the kidlets come on the weekend but it's really quite sad looking. They don't seem to care but we said we promised we would spruce it up this spring.

Steph's plan is to build some "floating" bunk beds. He has a plan mapped out in his mind. Which simply means that I am not totally sure what the plan is but I'm thinking something along the lines of these.





Once he completes that project, it will be my turn to decorate it all. I'm thinking modern and minimalist in grey and white. We could have the option of adding more color with pillows and artwork but for now, I love the black, grey and white.

Here is my inspiration board for the space.


Sources: 

I'll paint the walls my favorite white (BM Chantilly Lace), once we've dealt with the wallpaper. Unfortunately, the wallpaper was applied over bare plaster, many years ago, and will be an absolute pain to take down. This is the sole reason for why the updating of this room has taken so long. We had the same problem in the master and it was an awful experience so I've been putting it off.

It likely won't be till spring, as Steph is travelling some for work in the next month or so and it may be too soon after the bathroom renovation for me to nag:) It's still fun to plan!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Mojos and Mantels.

Hi Friends! I lost my blogging mojo there for a while. Yes, work and life in general is busy but mostly I became consumed by our extremely slow paced bathroom renovation and temporarily lost interest in the rest of my home. Instead of dreaming up new home projects, I was thinking deadlines, calling tradespeople and imagining the day when I could once again take a shower in my own home.

The good news is, that as of last night, that day has arrived. Our tiler finished up over the weekend and grouted on Sunday. The plumber came back yesterday to swap the temporary pipes for our permanent fixtures in the shower. And I got to have a shower in my house. For the first time since November! I don't think I'll be having any baths for a long long while. It just doesn't feel like a luxury anymore. I'm definitely a shower girl.

If you follow me on Instagram, you got the sneak peeks as things progressed in the bathroom. It will be a little while before I get a reveal up on the blog as we still have a little list of to-dos.
  • custom shower curtain
  • custom cut mirror
  • moldings
  • overhead lighting
  • art, accessories
I will post little updates along the way. I'm sure I won't be able to resist!

In other news, not much has changed around the rest of the house. I had a naked mantel since Christmas and got the notion to style it up over the weekend. Cabin fever!


Yes, that's a glass of wine on the end of the mantel :)


I shopped around the house for things that could work to create from fresh vignettes and bring a little color for the living room. I really liked how it turned out.. for about ten minutes. Then, I decided it was too much, too busy. I'll leave it a few days but will be taking it all down shortly.

Am I the only one who does that? I wish I had a really large piece of beautiful art to hang there. It's a huge mantel and I struggle with it.

I hope that I can get my mojo back and get into a more frequent blogging schedule. I know I'm not alone when I say that blogging has changed for me. Not only am I not writing and sharing like I once was, I'm also not reading and connecting with other bloggers in the same way as before. (I've come to adore Instagram!)

In a way it makes me sad because I love the community of bloggers so much, but another part of me accepts its inevitable evolution. I'm going to keep trucking along with my blog though and I hope you'll stick around too!