Looking for a little South Beach in my life

My friend Erin is heading to South Beach tomorrow, (jealous!!!!) and it has me pining for some hot weather and chilly pastel coloured drinks.

Instead, I found this bright planter at Moss on the Danforth, which has sort of a dip dyed look, and I filled it with a cheery miniature palm tree from Ikea. Ikea is my secret source for inexpensive house plants....$12.99 for the palm which I've seen for $19.99 elsewhere. DEAL! That's $7 saved for the trip fund!

The planter coordinates with the pillows I sewed last week, blogged about here.

A dinner table for toddlers

I have blogged previously about how practical I find it is to have a 'kids table' around the house....colouring, crafting, reading,.....our table gets used by my daughter and her friends all day.

Tonight it is going to be the dinner table for my daughter and her friend Penny. The key components I used to make it kid friendly are:
- One of my Grandma's old card table cloths...it fits perfectly on a table of this size,
- Appetizer forks/knives at each place setting,
- Plastic 'crystal' glasses, from Red Letter in Yorkville
- A few tulip blooms in a votive holder (the vessel is nice and small so it requires only a few blooms, and if it spills there is minimal water to clean up!)

bon appetit, kiddies!

Start the car!

I was perusing the "Finds" section of Sarah Richardson's website yesterday, and noticed her post about this graphic linen Kravet fabric, listed at $122.80 a yard. It reminded me that I had bought a remnant of this same fabric at Designer Fabrics on Queen West in Toronto for $5! START THE CAR!! (This is a quote from an Ikea commercial (view here) that my family frequently references when we get a killer deal....as in "I got this shirt for 60% off. Start the car!").

Anyways, I had totally forgotten about this fabric, as I bought it mere days before my now 7 month old was born while I was in the depths of crazed nesting...and then my baby was born and I forgot everything that had happened before that point in time.

Seeing the fabric again inspired me to make two cushions for our living room couch on Sunday night, piped and backed with a matching turquoise velvet. I rearanged the living room furniture this weekend and the new cushions finish off the new configuration and add a nice punch of colour!

Did you do anything fun around the house this weekend? Any START THE CAR moments?

An egg-stra special Easter craft

I recently signed up for Martha Stewart's 'craft of the day' email. So far, the ideas have been far more elaborate than I can manage with my 2 year old. But yesterday's idea (here's the link) was simple, fun, and festive. Just crack an egg near the top, rinse it out, and fill it with some water and your favourite spring blooms. If you're not into flowers, you could fill each egg with some jelly bean treats as a table favour for each of your Easter dinner guests.

I love this craft for a few reasons. First, it's perfect for toddlers (as long as you can get them to be gentle with the egg shells!). Second, it fits well with my table dressing approach. I love a series of small arrangements on my dinner party tables instead of one large one, as they don't obstuct anyone's view. I often do a flight of small flower arrangements in small cups scattered around the table, or down a line in the middle. It's also a great way to get a lot of milage out of a cheap groceria bouquet.

We decided to one-up Martha and dip our eggs in various bowls of water dyed with food colouring. This increases the mess factor, but my daugther loved watching the egg absorb the various colours, and it was a fun way to learn about how mixing different colours create new ones.

Would you believe that the glass egg cups belonged to my Great Grandmother Smith?

TTC love

I have always had a soft spot for the TTC, despite them trying to expropriate my house (unbelievable but true; see here). So when I saw this piece of art in Crema coffee shop on the Danforth today, I just swwwwwoooned. I want it for my living room. It is tough to tell from this photo, but the finish is super glossy. I believe that it is a list of the original street car lines.

I did some research and determined that the artist is Christine Flynn. Not only is she local, but she also has what looks like an amazing vintage shop on Queen East (just West of Danforth). A selection of her finds can be seen here; I am definitely going to have to check it out soon....maybe I'll take the Queen streetcar!

Bathroom reno

When we visited our home during the Open House, we were struck by the bathroom off the kitchen on the main floor. Although many similar homes lacked a mainfloor bathroom, ours was a bit strange in that it had a shower instead of a typical 2 piece powder room. In the end, this has turned out to be wildly convenient with young kids, since in the morning my husband and I can trade off showering and child watching responsibilities while the kids eat breakfast.

However, gI never liked the design of the bathroom. The walls were an unforgiving shiny bright crimsion red, while the floor was a shiny black marble that looked dirty even after being washed. The shower tiles were a livable white, but were poorly installed and were starting to feel 'soft'.

I will post some 'before' pictures later, but for the time being here are a few 'after' shots. My husband did the majority of the work himself, and I think he did a great job. It feels so fresh and clean!

Art and towel rack (I searched all over the city for towels and in the end found them at the Bay)

Shelf beside the sink (since we have a pedastal sink and don't have a counter for a soap dispenser)

"Feature wall' tiles up close..they are called "Ming Green"

Shower stall with glass door (the one element we hired professionals for).

This is the medicine cabinet ....it is clearly still in need of a re-do.

In praise of turquoise

Does your house have a colour theme?

Mine started years ago when I inherited a series of vintage turquoise canisters from my Grandma. Ever since then, I have been adding pieces of turquoise to my colleciton.

(I had been collecting vintage turquoise Pyrex for years and had it hidden away in my cupboards...unitl I saw Shanon's display on 8foot6 and I was inspired to show it off....love it!)

Living large in a small kitchen

Our house is one of those typical 3 story brick "bowling alleys"....it's deep and narrow, with the kitchen at the back of the house. We also have a bathroom at the back of the house as well as a door to our backyard, so our kitchen is small and busy. With limited cupboard space and lots of dishes and collectables, I really needed to make my space work efficiently.

Although they are not the prettiest, these Rubbermaid cupboard stackers are strong and efficient, essentially doubling your storage space. I was suprised at the price - they are about $8 each (I was hoping they would be cheaper). When we moved into our house, I shopped around from Home Hardware to Canadian Tire, WalMart, and some big box stores, and the price didn't fluctuate meaningfully, so buy them at the location that's most convenient for you!

What are your tricks for making your kitchen work?

Art for the bathroom

(Ignore my reflection in the centre of this photo)

We have recently redone our main floor bathroom (I will post on this in the future). I was in need of some art, but didn't have any cash to put towards it. So I made my own piece. I decided on a pattern of cicles to juxtapose the rectangular shape of the tiles. I think the reason it works so well in the space is because I used some of the extra wall paint (Benjamin Moore Grey Cashmere) as the base, and then just mixed it with some of my own acrylic paints for some contrast. The frame is from Ikea...I think the all in this cost less than $25! Start the car! Start the car!