At Home

Piano Bench

2012-03-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I found an old piano bench on craigslist. I had plans for making it over, but it ended up sitting for quite some time before my husband sweetly offered to paint it for me (I was pregnant at the time and didn't want to be around all the fumes). While Patrick painted the bench, I re-upholstered the cushion using a burlap coffee bag. Here is the bench before:

And here it is after:

At the time, I had it in our living room. However, I have recently added a different piece of made-over furniture to that space, so the bench has been relocated to our entryway. Here is how it looked when it was in our living room:

I am quite happy with our little find and makeover!

On a different note, I am thinking of making some changes to this here blog. Since becoming a new mama, I just haven't had the same amount of time to devote to the little house projects I used to dabble in, so I am considering making my blog more general. I would love to include the other aspects of my life, so that it is not just about decorating, but anything new that is going on here in our home. I'm going to be brainstorming some ideas in the next little bit, but I'll let you know what will be going on!

Introducing...

2012-03-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Parker James MacGibbon!

Our sweet, baby boy was born on January 13th at 3:04 pm. He weighed 9lbs. 5oz. and was 52 cm long! We love him more than words can say!

Today he is 2 months old and weighs almost 14 pounds! I can't believe how fast the time has gone! The above pictures are from when he was about 2 weeks old. Below are some pics from his first few days:

And here are a few more recent pictures:

Every day he is becoming more interactive. It is so fun to watch him learn and grow! I couldn't be happier to be a Mother! And now, we get to wait for the arrival of Parker's cousin in June. We're getting very excited!

The Living Room

2011-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

Before I deck the living room out in our Christmas decorations (it has already somewhat begun), I thought I should give you a quick tour! When we moved in we really didn't do anything to the living room other than add our own furniture and art. I already liked the colour on the wall and we just left the curtains up that the owners left. Here is a picture of the space when we first moved in June...

And here is the room a few weeks ago at the beginning of November....

On the wall opposite these pictures we have a big shelf that used to be in our dining room at the cottage.

And that is our living room. I love the space! It is very cozy at night and there is a ton of natural light during the day. It is totally different than our living room at the cottage, but I'm very happy with it. Now, I can't wait to finish decorating the room for Christmas! I am so excited that tomorrow is December 1st! This is the last month with just Patrick and I. January is when we will meet our little babe (unless he or she decides to come early).

Have you got all your Christmas decorating done? Do you have a tree up yet? We are planning to cut ours down on the weekend!

The Kitchen

2011-11-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it has once again been far too long since I have posted on this ol' blog. I hope you have all been enjoying a cozy and crisp autumn. We totally have. Just the other night we started using our wood stove. This is the first time we have lived in a place with a wood stove and I am in love- it just makes me enjoy this time of year even more. We have been super lucky to have some beautiful weather this season. Normally, there is a lot more rain, but we have been blessed with some gorgeous, sunshine-y days!

On one of those sunny days, I took advantage of the light and I finally got around to taking some pictures of our new home, so I thought I would share them with you. Let's start with the kitchen. When we moved in, the kitchen was painted a dark purple. It suited the owner's tastes, but it didn't work with our style, so we painted. Here is a picture of the kitchen before (sorry for the poor quality, we were getting ready to start painting the room):

As you can see I had already been testing paint colours in the kitchen. We decided to go with a nice grey-blue colour that the owners had actually used on one wall in the master bedroom. It is a gorgeous colour and I find that it actually changes a lot depending on the light. At times, I find it to even have a bit of a green in it. I wavered a lot between what colour to paint in here. I wanted to try something other than blue, considering that our kitchen at the cottage was painted a blue, but I found that I liked blue tones best with the grey floors, counters/back splash and with the cabinets. If I owned this place, I would love to paint the cabinets white. However, seeing as how we are just renting, I found that the grey-blue we decided on complimented the room the best. Since, we moved when I was in my first trimester, I didn't have a lot of energy to work on the house, but luckily my parents came for a visit soon after we moved and they helped us get the painting done. Thanks Mom and Dad! Here is how the kitchen looks now...

I find those built in shelves with the huge drawers hard to work with decor-wise! They are so big that I never know what to put in them. Right now I've just got some various items and all my jars displayed. It kind of works.

On the other side of the room we have our little kitchen table and the french doors that lead out onto the deck.I don't have a before picture for this side, but it was the same purple.

The kitchen feels huge compared to our last one at the little cottage. I do miss the charm and character of our old place, but the space is also really nice (I am SO happy to have a full size fridge) and I think we have done a decent job of adding our touch to this place.

Next time I will show you our living room. Here is a little sneak peek...

The Last Day of Summer

2011-09-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the Autumnal Equinox and I am so happy that my favourite season is finally upon us. I found this quote yesterday and thought it was lovely,

"All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn,

Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd in nodding corn."

-Robert Burns, Brigs of Ayr

There is something about this time of year that makes me rather giddy- the golden tones, the crisp air. However, this year it is even more special as it means that we are closer to meeting our little one, due at the beginning of January! Anyway, I'm hoping to be back later today to show you a bit of our new home and some autumn inspiration, but for now I thought I'd show you a picture of my growing belly...

Baby Room Progress Part 2

2011-08-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had some time off and I felt as though I had an extra spurt of energy and productivity! So, taking full advantage of this, I did some work on the baby's room. I already wrote a post about some of the work we had done, like painting and putting some furniture in, but we've now also got some other details added to the room. We're operating on a very tight budget, so nearly everything we have added over the past few days have been things we already had. I just poked around in some of our storage, or in some other rooms for items that might work in the nursery.

Anyway, here is the nursery before again:

And here is the nursery (still in progress) as it looks today:

Here is a picture of the room where we last left off...

So you can see we have added a lot! The first thing we did after this point was put up the shelves above the dresser. We have had these shelves for several years now, they were purchased at Ikea for our first apartment and we had them above the couch in the little cottage.

Right now the shelves are displaying a little assortment of some baby things and art that we have collected, but it will probably still change a bit. I just love the little owl! My sister hand felted this little guy for me a while ago and I thought he would look perfectly at home in here.

The next detail we added was a cute little hook in the opposite corner of the room. This was something that we didn't already have, but we picked up at Ikea when we bought the dresser. It was just too cute and I thought it may come in handy for various purposes.

Another thing we put up was the little branch with birds hanging in the corner near the crib. I got this idea and free pattern from here. It was so easy to make and I absolutely love how it has turned out. I have seen some people add leaves, so I decided to sew and add some to mine as well.

To hang the branch, I simply put two little hooks in the ceiling and used some white thread to hang the branch from the hooks. I think this could be my favourite project in the room so far!

Next, we added a little art. One of the very first things we bought after we found out I was pregnant was an adorable set of alphabet cards. We were browsing through Chapters and I came across them and thought they were too cute to pass up. Originally, I had plans to hang all of them in rows from twine with some clothespins, but after trying that, I realized that it would take up too much room on the wall (each card is 8x10).We're still planning to hang up more, but for now, we decided to frame a couple. The frames I already had. I painted them blue a little while ago and I think the colour looks so cute next to the green walls. However, I didn't have any mattes for the frames, so I improvised and used some cute fabric scraps to go behind the cards.

I love how it turned out! The second frame is currently sitting on top of the dresser, but it won't stay there. I'm just not sure where I will hang it yet. Oh, and in case your wondering, the little pennant banner is one that I made a little while ago and thought it would look sweet in the room. At the other end of the nursery, I added some embroidery hoops with some cute fabrics, both of which I already had!

Finally, we added a rug to the room as a well as a little table lamp. Both of these items came from the computer/spare room in our house. I actually had a rug that I wasn't using that worked better for the spare room, so it worked out perfectly.

I am really happy with the look of the natural jute rug in the space and it feels like a good size! I think I might have a bit of fun with the lampshade, but I'm not sure what I'll do yet. Maybe add some cute trim?

Anyway, that pretty much covers everything that we have done so far in the room! I still need to hem the curtains (the heater is just below the window, so they will have to be above that) and I'm thinking about dressing them up a bit too, so they aren't plain white- still not sure about that though. The crib bedding is still to be made, but you can see bits and pieces of the fabric we will be using because I used some of the samples to sew a few of the birds on the branch. We will also be adding a chair to the room and I will be organizing the closet. I'm probably forgetting a few things, but that's what I can think of for now. Oh, and I definitely will still be adding some art and some other little details to the room. Before I go, here is one last look at the room...

I'm really enjoying putting all these things together and making the room ready for our little bean! Anyone have some good ideas for organization for the closet? I'm going to start some brainstorming soon....

Pants!

2011-08-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

I've been having the urge to sew lately, so when I stumbled across this free pattern for some baby pants, I knew I would have to give it a try! I made a quick trip to the fabric store, picked out some cute fabrics and set to work. The pants are super easy to sew and before long I had a couple of pairs of pants sewn for our little one.

The first pair I sewed are for 0-3 months, though I think I made the elastic a little tight, so I will have to adjust that. I just love the pea pod material and I had some leftover that I was able to use for a little project in the baby's room.

The second pair I made are for 6-12 months, but I can adjust the length by rolling down the little cuffs (the cuffs are rolled up in this picture). I also added a little pocket on the bum- so cute! Our little one should be able to wear these in the fall, so I used the fun autumn leaves pattern for this pair.

I think I'm going to have to make some more of these pants! I'm thinking I'll make some in a solid colour and maybe some corduroy for something a bit dressier.

Enjoy your weekend!

Baby Room Progress

2011-08-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that we are already halfway through August! I feel as though time has been flying by so fast lately. I am also just about halfway through my pregnancy. In less than a week I will be 20 weeks and that seems so crazy! We have started to work on the baby's room and I am excited to show you some of our progress! There is still work to do, but I'm glad we have made a decent start.

So, here is the room before...

We were totally blessed and given a crib and the curtains we already had, so we could check those off of our list right away. Our next step was to paint the room. Since we aren't finding out if we are having a boy or a girl we needed to choose a neutral colour and we decided on green. After comparing some paint swatches we picked out a yellow-green called 'Cabbage Patch' by CIL. However, we had it colour matched and mixed into the Behr paint and primer in one. Here is Patrick at work painting the room... (there was one dark chocolate brown wall, but since we used the paint and primer in one, it only took two coats to cover).

And here is the room after two coats of paint...

I am really happy with how the colour turned out. I feel like it isn't too bright, but it is still such a happy shade of green! The next thing we added to the room was a dresser/change table. My parents very kindly decided that they would like to buy us a change table. So, we started to do some research and after looking at several different change tables, we decided we would like to go with a dresser from Ikea. The one we picked is the 3-drawer Hemnes and it looks like this...

The dresser is big enough that it will fit a change pad mattress on top and we will also have a decent amount of storage in the drawers (there is also a large closet in the room). Plus, we can use the dresser as our child grows up. Another big plus of this dresser is that it was very reasonably priced at $169. A lot of the change tables we looked at were upwards of $250. Anyway, so we picked up the Hemnes on our way home from a visit to Kelowna a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture of Pat setting it up...

And here is the dresser all set up. You can also see that we changed the layout of the room. We liked the way this looked a bit better.

I think that is where I will leave things today! We have actually done some more work to the room, but this post would definitely be way too long if I included them all- I've had a productive last couple of days! Let's hope it keeps up!

I'm Still Alive!

2011-07-14T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! I am still here! I have been away from the ol' blog for much longer than I intended. Where to begin!? So much has happened since I last posted. I have two big announcements.

First of all, we have moved! We are no longer renting the cute, little cottage. It all came about when our landlords mentioned to us that they were going to look into selling the place. It wasn't final, but another opportunity came up for us and we decided to take it. As charming as the cottage was, we didn't want to be stuck without a good home in case it did sell. It was actually neat how our new home came up. A couple in our church were going to be moving away for about 3-5 years and wanted to rent out their place. However, they had a bad experience renting a home in the past, so they were hoping to rent to people they knew. Enter Patrick and I.

Compared to our tiny, 700 square foot (ish) cottage, this place is huge (though pretty much anything feels big compared to the cottage)! It doesn't have the same charm and character, but it is still a beautiful home with some great features and I LOVE having a full size kitchen, with a full size fridge and cupboard space! Siiigh! You may not know this, but at the cottage there was only a mini-fridge and there was hardly ANY space for food storage. I definitely don't miss the size of our last place, it was starting to get a bit crowded and I was a little tired of trying to shove and stack things in the closets. I look forward to showing it to you bit by bit in the next little while! Here's a little preview of the outside of the house when we first moved...

There is room for us to spare at our new home which is good because come January 2012, we will be welcoming a wee baby into our little family. That's right, the next big announcement is I'm pregnant! Patrick and I are very excited. I have just started my second trimester (I'm between 14 and 15 weeks) and there is a little baby bump starting to show- especially after I have eaten! It is still sometimes hard to believe! Here is the ultrasound image of our babe at 10 weeks...

I was pretty tired in the first trimester and I lacked a lot of motivation, but I'm starting to feel more energy, even though I still nap pretty much every day. I've started doing some creating again and I am hoping to get started on some projects for the baby's room. The time is actually going by faster than I imagined! I'm looking forward to blogging about the creation of the nursery.

Anyway, I hope you all have been well and enjoying your summer! I smell some breakfast cooking downstairs and that made me mighty hungry. Have a lovely Thursday!

Pinwheels

2011-05-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

The other day I came across a lovely little tutorial for making pinwheels on the blog Everyday Lovely. Upon seeing how adorable they looked, I decided to make some for myself! I found an old book and went to work. Here's how they turned out...

After making the banner, my pinwheel needs still hadn't been filled, so I made some art...

I used some scrap fabric for the background and then simply hot glued the pinwheel on! I love my new pinwheels! Make sure you stop by Everyday Lovely for a full tutorial!

Tonks the Cat

2011-05-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist taking these pictures of our cat, Tonks this morning. I usually wake up with her snuggled up beside me just like this...

Pretty cute.

P.S. Linked up to this party...

Our Anniversary

2011-04-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today I married my Love! I can't believe how much time has gone by and I'm so looking forward to the years to come. I hope you don't mind if I share some pictures from that day! We were married outside in a garden on a beautiful spring day.

Happy Anniversary, Patrick! I love you!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! I hope you all have been having a wonderful long weekend! Today we're going to our friends' place for brunch and I'm seriously looking forward to it. Have I ever told you how much I love big breakfasts? Well I really, really love them! Put this in front of me:

And this is my reaction:

This is my 'Home Alone' face that you may remember from this post.

Anyway, enough talk about food. I'm starting to drool. I actually started to write this post because I wanted to share with you a cute and quick recipe card holder (and we're back to the food). This actually goes back to when we were visiting family in Kelowna. My mom and I were looking through a cottage style magazine and we spotted a cute recipe card holder made from a fork. The next day I was telling my MIL about the idea and she started digging through some old things and pulled out my husband, Patrick's baby fork. It was the perfect size and to hold the fork she gave me a tiny little jar. They look so cute together.

All you need for this project is a fork, preferably an old silver fork, or something a little bit decorative and an old jar. I'm sure this has been done a lot and it isn't the first time you've seen this, but I really love how it looks and it is very useful! Plus, you could also use it to display pretty photos, like I'm doing in the picture above.

Anyway, time to get myself ready for that brunch. I don't want to be late! Happy Easter, everyone!

Chalkboard Calendar

2011-04-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

It's high time I got around to telling you about the chalkboard that you may have noticed in this post about a week ago.

It all started on our trip to Kelowna. One of my best friends sells Stampin' Up supplies and I was at one of her card making workshops. If you haven't heard of Stampin' Up before, you can visit the website here. After having a lovely time making some fantastic cards, I was looking through the catalog and I came across some chalk decals. I spotted a decal for a calendar that I thought would be particularly useful. We have been needing a calendar and this one would look so cute! Well, it just so happened that my friends mother-in-law had the calendar decal and wasn't using it so she gave it to me!

Now that I had the decal, I just needed a chalkboard. So happily, the next day I hit a few thrift shops with Dee (my mother-in-law) and found a frame that I could transform into a chalkboard. After I made my chalkboard, I applied the calendar decal and voila...

Here's the calendar in our cottage above the computer desk.

If you would like a calendar decal or any other Stampin' Up products you can order them through my friend Tamara's website. I've also got some little chalkboard jar labels on the way and I can't wait to get them!

I hope you've all had a fantastic weekend! We're finishing ours off with a campfire at the beach with some friends. I can't wait to have a roasted marshmallow! Mmmm!

Bread Bakin', Butter Makin'

2011-04-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bread bakin', butter makin' kind of day. And I loved it! It's been a while since I have baked bread, but I was inspired after reading the 'Small Measures' post over at Design Sponge. Ashley shared her recipe on how to make butter. I wanted to try it and what better way to try out your homemade butter than on fresh homemade bread! I used a Honey Whole Wheat recipe from my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook.

It was a delicious day!

Kelowna Finds Part II

2011-04-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

Good Morning, Lovelies! It is the prettiest morning here in Comox. I woke up to a delicate sliver of sunlight coming in through our bedroom window. It was so lovely and golden! There's sun! If I sound a little over-enthusiastic about the sun its because we are on the coast and the sun tends to be somewhat of a rarity at this time of year. Therefore, I am drinking in every minute of sunshiney goodness! It's delicious!

If you haven't been to visit my sister Kris' blog yet, do stop by! She and her husband just bought their first house up in northern British Columbia and they are already making some amazing improvements. They've just painted the living room a gorgeous blue-green colour and they've been putting up bead board wallpaper (like what I used here, on the back of my shelving). I wish I could be there to help and to see the transformation! It's so exciting!

Anywho, onto my Kelowna finds! This next item could be one of my favourite finds of the trip. After making stops at all our favourite thrift store haunts, Dee (my Mother in Law) and I made one last stop. I wasn't expecting to find much on this visit, though I was keeping my eye out for a nice frame I could makeover (more on that later). However, while we were browsing, my eye spied something wire-y, industrial and lovely. An old wire locker basket complete with a number! I snatched that thing up and would have hugged it if I wasn't concerned that it would cover me in cobwebs and snag my clothes! Not the most cuddly of items. I didn't even hesitate to take this one home. At $2 it was a steal, especially considering that these can be upwards of $40 if bought in an antique store. I was beyond excited!

I added a couple of cute tags to the basket just for fun!

The items in the wire basket were also brought back from Kelowna! I found a couple of terracotta pots and a lovely little honey jar that I have filled with some dried lavender for now. The ball of twine I got from my parents' garage- with their permission of course! :) Here's the honey jar...

Dee found this one for me. She knows my style! You can kind of see a bee hive and then below it says '1 Pound Pure Honey'.

In the first picture you can see a little, glass bell jar with a wooden stand next to the basket. I also found two of those at the Salvation Army. Right now, one is residing on my living room window sill with one of my terracotta pots. I am planning to start a couple of melon seeds in it.

You may have also seen a chalkboard in some of the first pictures, but I will talk about it in my next post!

By the way, thanks for the wire suggestions in the last post! Cords are so annoying, aren't they!?

Until next time,

Jaimie

Kelowna Finds Part I

2011-04-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to a lovely robin singing his heart out on our fence post. It was much nicer than the shrill alarm that went off seconds later! I wish birdsong could be my alarm every morning. How delightful that would be! Though, perhaps I would then begin to resent the birds for waking me. For now, I'll just be happy with the occasional wake-up call.

Today I thought I would show you one of the fantastic finds from our Kelowna trip. As I mentioned in the last post, I went thrift shopping with my Mother in law (it's sort of a tradition for us) and we were very successful! We found so many great things! On one trip to the Salvation Army we found an old carpenter's toolbox. It's a big wooden box, with chippy paint and old hardware. I knew I had to take it home. Actually, someone almost took it while it was waiting near the till for me. It was a close call! I wasn't sure where this ol' thing would go, but I knew that a piece like this would find a home in our cottage without much trouble!

Once I got the toolbox home, I found a spot for it at the end of our bed where it holds some pillows, or whatever else may land on it. I've been looking for a bench or trunk that would go here, but I like how this worked out. Oh, and here is the rest of our bedroom while we're at it. It's kind of a work in progress!

I'm thinking of painting some numbers on the front. Kind of like this... what do you think?

Our antique dresser is one of my favourite pieces of furniture! It was given to us by some family friends. So generous!

I've still got to do something about those wires. Any ideas?

Just for fun, I'll show you the before shot of our bedroom...

And after again, to leave you on a good note...

So that is part one of my Kelowna finds plus a mini tour of our bedroom. I'm excited to show you what else we found! Have a good Monday!

Blossoms

2011-03-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends! I am sorry I have been away so long! It was definitely a little longer than intended, but we did have a fantastic visit with our family and friends. I have a couple of close friends who are pregnant and I probably won't get to see them again before their sweet little babes are born, so I was very glad to have this opportunity to catch up! It was a low key visit and I was sure to get in a couple of solid naps! Oh, and I did some fantastic thrift shopping with my mother in law. I can't wait to show you my finds!

As much as being away is lovely, it is always so nice to be home. I was happy to be back in our little cottage and to get a some cuddles with our sneaky cat. I also had fun finding new homes for all of my thrift store finds. Anyway, it's been pretty rainy here, but the other day we had some beautiful sun and it made me so excited for spring. I went out in our yard and was exploring and thinking about gardening and I happened upon a pretty little pink, blooming bush. It was pretty scraggly, so I cut a couple of the branches and put them inside. I put some in our kitchen and some in our bedroom.

In this photo you can see one of my finds- a lovely little cotton apron that looks as though it has never been used. It has the prettiest lace details and pockets. I'm in love! (Oh, and don't mind the ugly hole in the wall :)

And here are the blossoms in the bedroom...

I don't think that I have ever shown you pictures of our bedroom, so I guess this is a little sneak peak. I actually found a few things for our room while we were away, so I'll give you a tour soon! I've never been totally happy with our room, but I'm starting to like it more.

Anywho, time for me to get ready for work! Have a fantastic Tuesday friends!

P.S. This post is linked up to Good Life Wednesdays over A Beach Cottage!

Blog Love!

2011-03-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm here! I'm here! And I am excited to tell you that the wonderful blog, Timber and Tin, has given my blog an award...

It's an award for up and coming lovely blogs and I'm so pleased! Thank you! And now, it is my turn to hand this award over to three other lovely blogs.

Honey Nutbrown's

Nestled

Frog Goes to Market

On a different note, I may be a little absent for the next few days because my husband and I are on holidays for a few days. We're visiting some family and friends in our hometown! Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days, though. Until then, enjoy your weekends!

Kitchen Shelves: Take 2

2011-03-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Hello Lovelies! I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I've been keeping busy and today I'm just enjoying some time at home with my husband. We just finished having a delicious brunch- banana pancakes, bacon and eggs and I think I may be nearly ready to take a nap. But before I settle in for a snooze, I thought I would show you a little project that I recently took on.

First, I'll give you a little background. About a year ago, I helped my parents decorate their guest room and one of the things we did was add beadboard wallpaper. Here's the room before and after (don't mind the lack of trim, my Dad added it after I left)...

Before

After

This was the first time I used beadboard wallpaper and I loved it. The results were fantastic! After completing this room, we had some leftover wallpaper and my parents let me take it with me. There wasn't a whole lot left, but ever since we moved in to our cottage last summer I have been looking for a way to use it. Just so you know, I am absolutely obsessed with beadboard!

This brings us to my latest project. As you've probably guessed, I found a way to use that leftover wallpaper! In our kitchen there is a big shelving unit that we use to store our dishes, cookbooks and jars of food. It's a simple white shelf and previously had no character. Actually, around the time I started this blog (this past fall) I attempted to add some charm to the shelf by painting the back blue. Here is a picture of the shelves when we first moved in and one of them painted blue...

The blue paint was makeover number one for these shelves and now it is on to makeover number two- adding beadboard wallpaper to the back! This was a very easy project and it didn't take long at all. I just measured the back of the shelves and cut my wallpaper and then put it up! It was so simple and I am in love with the results. Because our cottage has a fairly open plan (it's so small that it's hard not to see every room) it feels like it adds character to the whole space! So, without further ado, here are the shelves now...

And here's some more pictures just because I took a ton!

It's hard to see the beadboard in the last two pictures. Anyway, that's how I decided to use my leftover beadboard wallpaper. I'm so glad to finally have some beadboard in our home. I can't wait until we own a place and can use it more! And now, I'm off to either have a nap or read a book. Either way, it's going to be an activity that requires little energy! I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Sewing Adventures: Cushion Covers

2011-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Last week I showed you the lovely fabric I ordered off of Etsy and just the other day I told you that I received the package in the mail! I was so excited when I saw the little brown box just waiting for me to open it! Isn't mail simply delightful? I almost prefer to make my purchases online because I also get the anticipation of waiting for its arrival! Anyway, here's a reminder of the fabric that I purchased...

And here's the fabric all sewn up into a couple of cushions...

I was on a bit of a roll in the sewing department, so I made a couple more cushions using a piece of fabric I had draped over the back of my couch. You can see it here...

The fabric was actually a small tablecloth that I purchased from a home decor shop. I love its colour and texture. While I liked the look of having it on the back of the couch, it was very annoying because it always fell down and got all wrinkled. I've been meaning to sew it into a cushion cover for some time now. So, that's what I did.

I also sewed a smaller, lumbar cushion out of the fabric, but the only picture I have of that one is this...

You can see the smaller cushion in the corner! I'm very happy with how they all look together and to boot, I got four new cushions for very little money. Because I already had the inserts and the tablecloth, I only had to pay for the new fabric which cost me around $16 (including shipping). Not bad! Have you purchased anything from Etsy or another online shop lately? I hope you have just as much fun waiting for mail to arrive as I do!

P.S. I sewed the buttons on the baby sweater that I knitted. So, as promised, here are a couple of pictures...

P.P.S. This post has been linked up to Good Life Wednesdays over at A Beach Cottage.

The Window

2011-03-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm back! The past couple of days have been a little crazy here. We were supposed to be hit with a major windstorm, but it just sort of passed us! I have to admit, I'm always a little disappointed when big storms are predicted and then they end up being nothing. Well, the winds weren't nothing, they just weren't what they were supposed to be. It was a little anti-climatic. They even cancelled school yesterday and then it ended up being rather nice and the even sun made an appearance!

In the past couple of days I've also had some good opportunities to get some knitting done and I just finished a baby sweater for a friend. All I have to do now is add some little brown buttons! Once I've got those sewn on, I'll post a picture here for you to see!

So the other day when I went to the antique store and found my crate, I also found an old window. The owner gave it to me for three dollars! Along with vintage crates, I've also been keeping a lookout for an old window, so I was so happy when I found this one! And for three dollars!

When I bought it, it was actually painted a dark purple on one side and a bright yellow on the other. Not exactly the look I was going for. So, I got out my paint and mixed a few colours together until I achieved a light grey-blue! I painted one side this colour and the other I painted a green. The same green as my chalkboard, which is 'Saguero' by Martha Stewart. This way, if I feel like changing it up a bit, I can simply flip it around to show the green side! Once my window was all painted and I said goodbye the purple and yellow, I found a lovely spot for it above my couch.

I like having the wreath hanging from the window. Before it just sat on the shelf...

And now it hangs happily from my window!

In other news, I got my new fabric in the mail and I've already got to work sewing some new cushions! I just love it and I can't wait to show you!

I'm linking this up to Good Life Wednesdays at A Beach Cottage!

The Crate

2011-02-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I made a little trip to a couple of antique stores in town. I wasn't sure if I would get anything, but I did want to see if they had any old crates for sale. I've been keeping an eye out for old crates for some time now and I'm happy to say that I found one! It's an old evaporated milk crate with faded red and blue letters. There's even an image of a cow on the front. I love it!

Because the lettering on the front is upside down the owner gave it to me for cheaper, so I paid $15. I'm not sure if this is actually a decent price because I haven't been able to find many old crates here to compare prices with. However, this one is sturdy and I love the colours, so it is worth it to me.

Now it happily sits beside my couch to house some books and magazines! I'll probably move it around a lot and have some fun finding new ways to use the crate. Initially, I actually wanted to use the crate as a wall shelf. I've seen this done a few times and I think it looks so cool!

Image found here.

I'd still like to try this, but for now these images will go in my inspiration folder! On the same trip to the Antique store, I also found an old window, but I will blog about that later!

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

Cushions, Cushions, Cushions!

2011-02-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

I think I can safely say that throw cushions are my favourite accessory. If I see pretty fabric, my first thought is of what a lovely cushion it would make. If I have a little spending money and I'm in a home decor shop, my eyes immediately find the cushions. If I want to make some changes in a room, the first things I think of are... you guessed it, throw cushions. I don't exactly know why I love cushions so much, but I have a few ideas...

They can add a ton of texture and colour to a room.

They are an accessory that can make a big difference if you are looking to make some changes, but don't want to break the bank!

Lastly, they are easy to sew yourself and can be made from all sorts of different things. Like button-up shirts...

Country Living

Pretty cloth napkins...

And old sweaters...

Oh, and let's not forget that they are just simply comfy and cozy! How can I refuse such a multi-functional and delightful little object?

Anyway, I suppose you'll now have no trouble guessing what my plans are for a lovely piece of linen that I recently purchased from this Etsy shop...

Photos from Unique & Shiny

I ordered the blue floral and I can't wait to get it in the mail- not that I, in any way, need another throw cushion! :)

P.S. If you are looking for some more ideas for handmade pillows, check this out!

P.P.S. I'm linking this up to Good Life Wednesdays over at A Beach Cottage!

*All photos are from Martha Stewart unless otherwise stated.

Weekend Walks

2011-02-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well, the weekend is over and I'm back to work today. I had a lovely weekend though, and that always makes going to back to work a little easier. Yesterday, Patrick and I went to a park here called Seal Bay and took the trail down to the beach. It was so beautiful! We've only lived here for 6 months, so there are still many areas we haven't explored and this was our first time to Seal Bay. Sometimes, I'm totally blown away by how gorgeous it is here and as silly as it sounds, sometimes I forget that we're on an island and are surrounded by ocean!

You can see the Coast Mountains in the distance. On a clear day, they are stunning!

We enjoyed our little exploration together. At the end of last week I took some more pictures on one of our walks so I thought I'd share them. It was a clear morning and this is an area very near to our cottage.

The first signs of spring. Ironically, later this day we had a snowfall!

This is the Filberg Lodge- a heritage home in the park.

At the shore...

See what I mean? It really is beautiful here and I feel very lucky! Anyway, I have to go and get ready for work and I have to clean something out of my fridge because it is smelling rather stinky. I hope you had a wonderful weekend also! I'll be back a little later with some of my recent finds!