The best kind of lighting is free...

I love love love looking at fantastic lighting.  I've written about it a few times on this blog.  A long time ago I wrote a little rant about the not so great lighting I inherited in my home.  I also celebrated when I found my ideal dining room light at a RH outlet.  

Now, I have two problems when it comes to sourcing attractive lighting in my current home.  The first issue is my budget-- obviously.  I tend to have an easy time finding gorgeous lighting that would be perfect in my home-- finding gorgeous lighting that fits into my budget?  Not so easy.  Secondly, there are only a few places in my home where I have room for low hanging pendants.  The ceilings in my house are standard height-- and I have a husband that is NOT a standard height (6'7"-- yup, he tends to hit his head on a lot of things).  So, the only lights that are work in my house are flush mounts or semi flush mounts.

Unfortunately most flush mount light fixtures in my price range tend to look like this...

home depot

And if you know me-- those lights are not allowed to be brought into this house.  I have two in the hall right now-- I'm just ITCHING to change them into something fantastic.

Obviously-- pot lights would work with the ceiling height restrictions in my home.  I like pot lights-- but they can be expensive and a lot of work to install-- and a house full of pot lights can be a little boring.  Really great lighting can totally finish a room and give it some personality.  I like personality.

Some of my favorite flush mounts (and semi-flush mounts) have a little vintage charm... I think we can all agree that these ones are pretty fantastic.

Love the stripes-- the brass finish would probably be my favorite...

Schoolhouse Electric

Maybe I'm going to have to make a little trip back to the RH outlet to look for these!!

Restoration Hardware

Restoration Hardware

Now these are my absolute favorites... but they are SIGNIFICANTLY outside of my lighting budget...

circa lighting

I think a pair of these would be so fantastic in my hallway...

circa lighting

Kind of like this hall way....  love it!

nest egg

So the hunt for affordable lighting continues... I have found a few along the way that could work.

I thought that two of these in the hallway would work-- and they could also be a good option for the kid's rooms.  At $50 each-- they are much more affordable.

home depot

This one is pretty charming... only a quick trip across the border...

lowe's

So there are a few attractive lights out there for reasonable prices.  But-- like the title of this post suggests-- the best kind of lighting is FREE.  So when my brother and sister in law were renovating a room in their home and were getting rid of a charming retro inspired brass light fixture-- I snapped it up!

I think Doug's family thought I was a little bit crazy when I said I wanted it... and truth be told... I wasn't so sure it would work.  Maybe I was crazy to want it.  But then I saw this bathroom makeover in June's issue of House and Home:

They used a vintage pendant light that is almost identical to the free one I scored.  Needless to say, I had Doug install it immediately in Caleb's room.  And.... I LOVE it!

(as you'll see in the picture-- some touch up painting of the ceiling still needs to happen)

And I had about 1.5 seconds to snap a picture before this happened...

Guess you could say that Caleb's pretty excited about his new light too.

I know that not everyone would want to bring a light fixture like this BACK into their home.  Style is subjective.  But, if you're a fan of charming, one of a kind, vintage inspired light fixtures-- you are in luck.  Thrift stores are full of them if you're willing to look around-- and who knows... you might score a free one like me :)

A Thrifty Find

There was this funny space at the end of Caleb's bed that needed something.  Just before Christmas I found this chair at a thrift store.  I love cool chairs.  Especially when they're only $3.  I decided to put my $0.50 thrift store chalkboard up in there too.

It's cute and comfortable.  Speaking of cute... check out my photography assistant.  I'm thinking about changing her middle name to TROUBLE after this morning... as I write this she is throwing every last crumb of food off her tray onto the floor.  I'm going to ignore that...

And something else that's cute.  This makes me smile.

 It's supposed to be a house and a tree-- in case you're wondering.  Oh, and after I hung the chalkboard up Caleb walked into his room, laughed, and said: "that's a great alien tree."  Then he walked out.

It's Rhino Time

When I spied this white Rhino in Home Sense this morning... I just couldn't resist.

I may be slightly obsessed with animal decor accessories.  But it really doesn't get much cuter than this in a four year old boy's room.  And the best thing is-- it's not glass or metal but is made of a hard plastic... this means that it doesn't have to live on the top shelf.

I'm pretty sure Caleb's going to ask if he can take it to bed with him during nap time... because he was just as excited as I was about the rhino when we found it in the store.

There were lots of other cool animals too-- elephants, deer, lions, and giraffes... go get em!

Now there's an idea

I've mentioned this before on the blog-- but one of my favorite ways to make Caleb's bed "cool" is by covering his box spring with a fitted sheet.  He doesn't have a bed frame to hid the unsightly box spring and bed skirts can be a little too girly.  Since I have many many fitted sheets for his bed (he's four-- what can I say-- many many fitted sheets are needed) I regularly change the look of his bed by changing the sheet covering the box spring.

A while back we had stripes.

The last few months have been dots.

And today we have yet another look.

Yesterday I found this fantastic idea on pinterest... UPHOLSTERING a box spring!!  How cool is that?  You can find the instructions here.

I don't think I'll upholster Caleb's box spring since I do like being able to change is up whenever I feel like it.  But, I am contemplating doing the box spring in our bedroom to match the headboard we upholstered a while back.  Hmmm... I'm liking this idea.

Well-- if anyone's looking for a project to do over the weekend-- here you go!

Educational Artwork

I've been looking for something to put up on the wall above Caleb's bed for a while now.  I wanted something unique and one of a kind.  At first I was going to do a gallery wall of his artwork-- but I soon decided that a wall full of metal frames with glass was an accident waiting to happen in this kid's room.  So I did a bit of searching around on Esty and found this.

It's a vintage map of Canada from 1936.

I thought that finding a really old really cool map was going to be difficult, but I found TONS of original old maps of all different varieties-- some over a hundred years old-- for pretty reasonable prices on Etsy.  There were street maps, nautical maps, maps of provinces, countries, territories-- everything.  Very cool stuff.  I knew I wanted to frame mine and I wanted it to be big-- so my choices were a bit limited since I wanted it to fit into the largest Ikea Ribba frame. After a bit of searching and emailing back and forth with a few Etsy sellers I purchased this old Canadian map for $8.00.  Not bad.

It almost fit into the frame perfectly-- it was slightly too big-- so we had to trim it a tiny bit so it would work.  I picked up two big sheets of white poster board and put them together to give the map a neutral backing.  The map isn't perfect-- there are a few tiny holes, rips, marks, creases, and the paper is yellowed-- but I love it.  It has  lots of character :)

I know you're all thinking-- how is this frame any different from a gallery wall of little frames with glass?  It sure looks like one great BIG sheet of glass.  But it's not.  The largest Ikea Ribba frames have clear plastic instead of glass.  It makes them lighter to hang and so much safer with young kids around.  But it totally looks like glass-- totally fooled me :)

And that is the educational artwork we put up in Caleb's room.  Now every time he goes to bed he wants us to tell him ALL about EVERY place in Canada.  Oh boy...

** I found many many more great vintage maps and charts-- if anyone is looking for a cool map-- email me and I'll send you the links to some other great finds **

Just a few things...

Doug "installed" Caleb's "moose" (that's what he thinks it is) last night.  We're loving it.

We've got the vintage modern vibe going on in here with a few "Canadian rustic" elements thrown in for fun.  It's exactly what Caleb wanted-- he told me so himself :)  As if.  He really could care less about what his room looks like.  One day when he wants to paint his room neon green and chooses his own posters for the wall I'll let him do it.  I think... :) 

And just one more thing.  Tuesday was a CRAZY day.  Three doctors appointments and poor Eme got her 12 month shots (a little late-- I know-- had to wait until I knew I could walk her into the clinic myself :)  I arrived home from the public health unit at 5:45 with cranky hungry kids-- trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  And it was raining.  I rush into the house to find that Doug had just gotten home from work and was making dinner.  I'm busy and distracted, the kids are going crazy, and 15 minutes later I look over at the table to discover these waiting for me...

And chocolate.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Love you babe :)

An Owl and a Deer

So as of the weekend I am officially crutch free!!  To celebrate my new found freedom last night I left the house on my own and went shopping.  I'm still moving pretty slowly and am not the most graceful walker out there-- but I can definitely do a lap or two around Home Sense :)

Last night I came home with two little things for the kids rooms.  I have wanted to find a cute white ceramic owl for Emerson's room but haven't been able to find a cheap one.  I really loved these owl bookends from Indigo...  but they were $29.99 plus shipping.  Way too much $.  And now they're sold out.

But last night I found this cute little owl for $4.99.  The color isn't exactly what I want-- kind of bronze-- but I might spray paint it white.  What do you think?

White would look good in her room... I think.

How can I resist throwing in a picture of Eme in her new jeans.  They've made me smile all day :)

And now for Caleb's room.  I've been wanting to get a cardboard deer trophy for his room for the longest time.  How fun would one of these be in his room?  I found a small one at Cardboard Safari for $12-- but after paying for shipping the total was almost $30!!  Way too much for a couple of pieces of cardboard.

But, I found this metal one at Home Sense for $14.  I was a little unsure of what Doug would think of this find-- but he actually liked it!  Caleb calls it his Moose.  Now I've just got to find a spot to hang it...

So that's what I bought on my first post surgery Home Sense shopping trip.  An owl and a deer.  Just call me crazy.

Feeling Thrifty

My sister and brother in law came out from the prairies for a visit!  Today my sister and I decided to do a bit of thrift store shopping.  We found some good deals!  Let me show you what I found for Caleb's room today...

First up, this old wooden racquet!  I saw it at Value Village for $6.00 and knew it would be a fun addition to Caleb's room.  He likes anything sporty (especially things that are used for swinging and hitting :) and the racquet fits with the cool Canadian hunting lodge feel inspired by the HBC lookalike blanket I found for him a while back.  It's got this awesome old school Canadian flag on it... I decided to hang it on the wall as a unique kind of artwork.  I'm also hoping to keep it out of reach-- until he pulls out the step-like shelving unit in his closet and pulls it off the wall :)

And the next deal of the day... this old school globe from MCC for $2.50.  It's definitely not geographically accurate anymore, but Caleb loves it!  I also think it looks pretty amazing... and for $2.50... it's a steal!

And last but not least... I found this light fixture at MCC for $2.50!  If you've read my post on light fixtures you would understand why I'd be excited about this one.  It's not big enough or bright enough for the dining room... but I think it could work in another room in the house.  Maybe I'll try to put it in Caleb's room... or maybe I'll use it to replace one of the many boob lights in my house-- I already showed you the ones in the hallway, but there are unfortunately more in the basement!

If anyone could use a few new things for their room... it's Caleb.  He's had a pretty rough day today.

Don't you just hate it when you scrape your face on the driveway?

Another Closet Conquered

Operation "No Closet Left Untouched" continues to sweep through this house.  Next up on my list... Caleb closet.  His closet "before" wasn't messy, disorganized, or cluttered... it was pretty much empty.  So this time around I didn't need to do any sorting, purging, and organizing.  Instead I needed to put stuff in it!   I wanted to make Caleb's closet into a space where he could store and organize his toys in a fun, creative, and inviting way.  As the little lady of the house starts to move around I wanted to have a safe zone for Caleb to keep his lego, puzzles, cars, and playmobil.  In the next months it's so important to keep all the little stuff out of Emerson's reach... but I also didn't want Caleb to feel like his toys were off limits.  With that in mind, I decided to turn his closet into toy central for Caleb!  The process started a few weeks ago when I purchased this toy storage unit off of craigslist for $20.  It desperately needed some paint and a little loving.  All it took was some primer and white paint I already had in the garage to turn it into a cute toy storage unit for Caleb's toys.

When we showed Caleb his new toy storage system he was SO excited!  He ran all around the house grabbing his favorite toys and began to fill the drawers.  I decided to display some of his artwork in the closet-- it makes it look more fun.  He has created so many crafts and pictures over the past months-- and I can't keep them all.  Every piece of art he creates is displayed on the fridge for an appropriate amount of time, some are then tossed *gasp*, but the cutest ones are kept for his room.

There is one unfortunate drawback to this particular toy storage unit.  Can you guess what it is?  Well... let's just say that I like to use the top shelf of Caleb's closet to store things that are best kept out of his reach (ex.  annoying toys such as whistles and recorders and super messy craft supplies).  But it didn't take Caleb long to realize that his new storage unit had a bonus feature-- a built in step system that allows him to reach the top shelf very effectively :)  Time to find a new hiding place!!

Caleb's Room

Caleb's room is the next stop on the tour.  What did I tell you-- selecting paint colors was not the previous owner's forte.  Maybe I'm just a little bit picky since I used to mix paint in a former job years ago-- or maybe color blindness was an issue.  Anyhow, here's what we had to work with for Caleb's room-- intense orange walls and stained worn out carpet (was it blue?  grey?  who knows! who cares!  It's gone...)

Here's what we did...

STEP 1: Time to repaint.  Out of all bedrooms upstairs, this room actually gets the most natural light (causing Caleb to wake up around 6 am each morning during the summer :)  but it still felt so dark.  After several coats of primer followed by new paint, things were starting to improve in this dark and depressing room.  

A before shot of Caleb's Room

STEP 2: Get rid of that nasty carpet.  We ripped it up only to discover that we had old lino that needed to be removed as well.  That definitely was a fun and joyful moment for Doug and I.

The moment we discovered old lino that needed to come out-- wish I had a picture of Doug's face...

STEP 3:  Lino's been removed, new flooring installed.  Now time to put in the baseboards and casings.  (As you can see-- this part of the process took place last fall-- Caleb sure looks little in this picture!!)

Flooring in... now the finishing begins

And now... a room for my little man.

Some of you may be wondering why we opted to put laminate in the bedrooms, not carpet.  The main reason was Caleb's asthma.  Health care professionals we have encountered all recommend that we keep his environment as dust-free as possible.  Carpet is a big no-no. I also prefer laminate and hardwood over carpet since I grew up in a house that did not have a stitch of carpet-- hardwood throughout.  It always feels so much cleaner to me.   Actually let me rephrase-- it IS cleaner.  If you could only see what my mop looks like after cleaning the floor you would understand why I prefer it over carpet.  And... it's also cheaper!  Purchasing decent carpet is usually more per square foot than laminate, and then you have to pay for installation.  We can install laminate ourselves.  So that's why we chose laminate-- it's healthier for our family, cleaner, cheaper, and I like it!

I do have a small woven cotton rug in his room, but it's super easy to keep clean and dust free.  I just throw it into the washing machine every few weeks and it comes out looking like new-- thank you Ikea!

One thing I love about this room is all of the storage space available for Caleb's toys, clothes, bedding, and anything else a 3 year old boy needs!  When I got rid of his change table and needed to buy him a dresser, instead of purchasing one large dresser, I decided to buy 2 identical Ikea dressers and put them side by side.  One day-- if needed-- they can be split up and used in two different rooms.  The shelves also provide additional storage-- out of the reach of small hands storage...

Wanna know what's stored in those baskets?

Caleb's best friends-- all are needed for nap time and bed time.  If one is missing... he knows.

One of my favorite things in Caleb's room is this Bus Roll Poster I bought for him off Etsy from a shop called MySweetPrints.  Check them out... they've got a really cute customized eye chart poster you can have made with your own message-- I've been "eyeing" that one too!  Maybe I'll order it for Child number 2...

A few other pictures of Caleb on Papa's farm-- driving the garden tractor and skid steer...

And his "big boy" bed-- Doug would love to make a bed frame for it eventually-- but that will have to wait until his back feels better :)  In the meantime, I tried to dress it up a bit by buying an extra fitted bed sheet to cover the ugly box spring instead of using a bedskirt (much to girly for a little boy's room)  Turned out great and it only cost me $9.99 from Superstore-- a great deal if you ask me!

And there's room number two!  Like the nursery, this room was done as cheap as possible.  My sources include Ikea, Craigslist, Superstore, Target, Etsy, MCC, Pier One, and the closets of my own home.  If anyone would like a more specific source guide, just let me know!  Hope you like it!

Oh, and one more thing... Week 38 officially arrived!!!