Green

I am slowing adding hits of intensely saturated apple green to our bedroom. It is a colour that makes me happy, and it also happens to be the 'theme' colour from our wedding, now 5 years ago.

Last night I scooped up the green urn for $7.07 at my local Goodwill. It has a beautiful 'crackled' surface up close, and I love the way it brings out the green in the painting. .....which was another good deal!!! I gave it to my husband last year (our 4th anniversary), with the trees in the painting referencing the trees in Khalil Gibran's poem 'The Prophet', which was read at our wedding (a stretch, maybe, but I really liked the painting!).

I picked up the painting for a song at my local framing store. Someone had dropped it off for framing 7 years earlier and never picked it up!

Kid's art display

I have long been trying to figure out a fun way to display some of my daugher's art.

Today we took two cool knobs that I bought at a Zara Home store (in Barcelona - it was amazzzzzzing), afixed them to the wall (with special plugs for screws) with a satin ribbon in between, and hung some art using colourful clothes pins from Dollarama.

Colourful, cheap, personal, and easy. I love it!!

I'm in like, not love, with my new headboard.

For a long time I have lusted ove the Crate and Barrel Collette  headboard....but it is way (and I mean wayyyyyy) out of the budget. I inquired about having one made by my go-to upolsterer, which was going to cost about $800 if I wanted the nailhead detail (which I did)...this seemed more reasonable, but still expensive for a room we don't spend much waking time in.

So I opted for one off Craigslist that I like but don't looooove.....and I'm totally comfortable with the compromise. It was only $50 (start the car!) and is a beautifully stained dark hardwood with a vintage circular design.

If I ever win the lottery I will go get that Collette headboard and not look back...after all, I am sure I can sell this baby for at least $75 on Craigslist next time around!

What do you think? Does this work well enough?

(and yes, that is 50 Shades of Grey on my bedside table....so far (up to pg 73) I'm pretty underwhelmed).

Friday find

Every Friday everything is 50% off at my local Goodwill.

Last week I found this sunny little marbled plastic table for $7.07....minus 50%! Start the car!

Now I just need to find time to use this cosy little reading nook in our bedroom!

Gallery wall update

I posted a few weeks ago (here) about a vision I had for a gallery wall in the back corner of our bedroom.

Well this weekend we finally got the first set of pictures/art up on the wall, and I am pleased by the way it turned out! All of the credit goes to my husband who is a master at hanging pictures. ...such an asset to have around the house!

To play it safe, I used all of the same type of frames (Ikea Ribba) and kept the distance between each frame at 1.5 inches.

Gallery wall

My vision for the art work that I gave my husband for Valentine's Day (blogged about here) was that it would be one of the central pieces of a gallery wall in our bedroom. I have long admired gallery walls with a mish mash of art and photos that all somehow work together, but I've always been too timid to try.

Instead I have typically gone for simple and balanced repititon, as in these photos:

In the nursery



In the living room



In the nursery



In the office


But I figured that the wall along this cosy reading nook at the back end of our bedroom would be the perfect place to take the plunge with a gallery wall of family photos.

I have my first pieces all ready to hang....I think we're going to do it on Monday...Family day! I'll let you know how it goes...in the meantime let me know if you think my plan has any fatal flaws!

Folding a fitted sheet...a little known marriage destroyer

I love my husband, but our housekeeping styles are not exactly in sync. This afternoon I brought up some laundry and together we started folding the sheets, which quickly disolved into a battle royale. I was accused of being too controlling for insisting that all the seams must be sitting flat. In my defense, our extra sheets and towels are all stored in an old cedar chest and space is at a premium. Everything needs to be folded perfectly if it is to fit.

The picture above is my husband's protest of my strict approach to folding a fitted sheet, which is detailed at Martha Stewart's link here.

PS: My husband just read this and says I sound neurotic.

The sun beams while the moon shines

Tonight we hung the sunburst mirror that I mentioned here.

It is over our bed and I love it....though isn't that slanted roof annoying? Our bedroom is on the 3rd floor. I sleep on the left side of the bed and hit my head often getting up in the middle of the night to feed the baby. I also know that my lamps should be larger, but these will stay for now as they have sentimental value (they came from my Great Aunt and Uncle's house).

Sunny days

This weekend I got a few hours to myself with the car. It was heaven. After ticking off a few items on my to-do list, (groceries, donation drop offs at Nellie's and Goodwill*) I headed to my local Homesense (Brentcliffe and Eglinton) for some 'me' time.

For years I have lusted over sunburst mirrors. I like that they sparkle, but aren't too precious and have a vintage vibe to them. But most of the ones I've liked have been hundreds of dollars, and the ones that are affordable look a bit cheapo. So wasn't I pleasantly suprised to find one that I loved at HomeSense for $39!

I think I will hang it above our bed until I am able to afford the upolstered headboard** I have been dreaming about. I will post some pictures once it's hung up, hopefully later tonight!

* My trip to Goodwill was not without a purchase. I bought my daughter an aluminum Diego lunch box for $1.10. These days she is really into carrying things in boxes. She packed it with Kuiji juice boxes. I was disappointed to see that the collector crowd was still their lurking around the Goodwill, waiting to pounce on the next dolley of goods. I gave them the dirtiest looks that I could muster...and then elbowed my way in when the next dolley came out.

** I have been dreaming about this for a long time. I have purchased the fabric (chocolate brown linen from Fabricand at 50% off! DWAI!*** and received a quote from the upolsterer, but it's just not in the budget while I'm on mat leave according to the engineer. ...really I think he just isn't as excited about the idea as I am! He loves to read in bed, so I need to convince him that it will up the comfort level of his reading marathons dramatically. Hard sell! Hard sell!

*** Don't worry about it.


UPDATE: I was jogging down Yonge Street today on my way home from a playdate, admiring all the beautiful decor stores....I was pleasantly suprised to see a GORGEOUS sunburst mirror in the window of 12/12...and I am guessing it had a few more zeros on the price tag than mine did! Sweet, sweet, post-purchase satisfaction

In praise of pillows

I have always lusted over the exquisite pillows that Sarah Richardson uses in her designs. So when we built a window bench in my daughter's 'big girl' room, I decided to make some of my own. I am not an expert sewer by any means, but I do have a sewing machine (a very inexpensive Shark brand machine that my Mom bought be at Canadian Tire) and once and a while the spirit moves me to make stuff.

I headed to Designer Fabrics on Queen West to purchase some fabric, pom pom trim, piping, and ribbon. The extra sentimental part of these pillows is the vintage buttons that came from my Grandmother's sewing kit, as my daughter has Grandma's middle name as her first name.