changing things up

The other day I got the urge to re-arrange my bookcases in the living room.

Suddenly everything was down off the shelves and scattered all over the floor-- and the kids are running around creating a major mess.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds themselves in this situation on a regular basis.

Thank goodness my sister was around... she organized my books by color and size and then helped me put it all back together.  I was loving the way it looked in the morning light today so I whipped out my camera and snapped a few...

Don't let these perfect pictures fool you... behind the scenes there was a whole lot of horsing around going on...

That little white elephant I scooped up at a thrift store a few months ago finally found it's perfect home. Makes me smile.

I got the urge to have a little fun in the entryway.  A couple weeks ago I found a whole stack of vintage-y landscape paintings and pictures at a thrift store-- $20 later the entryway feels a lot more fun and summer-like.

The lifejackets have really been hanging there all summer-- not staged.  I promise.

Anyhow-- I've been loving how "summer-y" the house has been feeling lately.  Hard to believe that fall is fast approaching!!

Sunny Mondays are the Best

Sunshine, warm weather, kids napping, fresh slipcovers on the couches, and suddenly I'm turning on the Zolas and pounding a few new holes into the wall in the living room.  (didn't have a hammer, but it turns out that if you whack a nail hard enough with a tape measure it will lodge itself into the wall).

Nothing like a little sunshine to get me motivated to rearrange a few things around here...

This living room has been an ongoing work in progress over the past four years... and I like the way it's looking these days!  It really feels "me" in there...

Hope you all had a good Monday too!!

Switch Up

Over the past few weeks (or make that months) we've been working on adding some much needed storage to our living room.  This weekend we pushed to finish.  Here's a peek at what we've been up to.

Custom cabinetry-- finished the kitchen.  Moved on to the next room...

Took down the mirror and framed one of my pictures from our Italy trip! 

Don't you love those azaleas from my front garden?  I snipped those branches 5 days ago and they still look amazing!

I'd post more details, but let's be honest.  After a weekend of work I'm exhausted :)

Lamp Twins

So I was on pinterest the other day (of course I was!) and I kept seeing pictures of this gorgeous stylish home-- and suddenly I saw a lamp that looked very similar to one of mine.

Monika Hibb's writes the blog The Doctor's Closet-- and she has quite the stylish bedroom...

Monika Hibb's home featured on the Glitter Guide

And now a picture of my living room (picture from another day-- it most definitely DOES NOT look like this right now...)  Do you see it?

I was intrigued-- of course.  So I did a bit of reading and found that we are indeed lamp twins.  I've always loved my living room lamp-- but somehow seeing it in a super stylish home that's featured on a super stylish blog makes me love it a tiny bit more.  Gotta love a good Home Sense find!  

Oh, and I was inspired by one more thing...

That outfit-- in Italy-- in 2 weeks.  I think yes :)

Not Exactly Picture Perfect

For the last week my living room has not looked like this.

Instead it's looked a lot more like this...

On Saturday I built Caleb the best fort ever-- complete with a tunnel that made its way around the entire room.  Needless to say-- he thought it was pretty fantastic.  Now every day is fort/tunnel building day.

And I try my best to look the other way when the cushions of my white slipcovered couches are dragged all over the house and somehow end up on my dirty kitchen floor.

And every evening-- instead of crashing onto the couch to watch some TV-- I begin my evening by reassembling my couches.  The cushions are usually stacked up like a tower on the floor somewhere.

Love it.

What I got for Christmas

If you guessed coffee table-- you guessed right!
And I love it.  LOVE it.

I originally saw this coffee table from Urban Barn and liked it.  But, as I was shopping at Hudson Madison here in town I found this beauty.  I liked the style a lot better... and it was significantly cheaper.  I snapped a picture and ever so discreetly sent Doug the picture-- and he did good :)

The kids can't really do much to dent and scratch the top of this table-- it's already rustic and beautiful.

Oh, and you may have noticed my new pillows.  I ordered the ikat fabric from Buy Fabrics a LONG time ago and waited weeks for its arrival.  Finally I got the parcel slip in the mail.  After THREE trips to the local Canada post office they finally informed me that my package was missing.  They had no idea where it was.  Great.  So I called Canada Post directly and after a half hour the very nice lady on the phone was able to find it for me.... all the way across town at a different post office location.  So I quickly got in my car and drove down there as fast as I could before it disappeared again.

I only ordered one yard of the material-- it was a little bit more expensive than the fabric I usually order (a whole $22.95 a yard!!) so I found a cheap cotton twill at Fabricland in a coordinating color and used it on the back.  So, I got three pillows out of that one yard-- not bad.

(sidenote-- I actually was happy with Buy Fabrics-- I'm blaming the long wait time on Canada post.  It was easy to order and their international shipping rates were considerably cheaper than some of the other sites that sold this particular fabric)

And one more new living room addition.  After having an exercise bike on display for several months I finally sent it back to the rental store. (yippee!!)  The space behind the couch was feeling so empty-- it really needed something.  So I picked up this white console table from Ikea and added a mirror we already had in the basement.  I found the big basket at Home Sense in the clearance section and the lamp and other pretty things I already had.  Looks so much better!  And it's functional-- I now have yet another place to lose store my keys and stash all the kids coats and winter gear.

And that is the current state of my living room.  I'm loving it.  It's bright and white but not too girly when it's mixed with some of the more rustic elements.  Hope you like it!

Today

Today is just one of those days.  We're stuck at home.  And the kids have been extra mischievous.  I mean look at this face.  Trouble.

And this little lady may look innocent-- but she's been taking after her brother this morning.  Trouble.

Here I caught her dismantling all the piles of clean folded laundry in her room.  G-u-i-l-t-y.

Anyhow-- that's what's new in our house today.  That and some new throw pillows I made for the living room.  I mentioned a while back that I was tired of the temporary ones I had-- so I made these new (also temporary) covers until I can figure out what I really want.  I used last year's christmas tree skirt fabric to make two covers.  They feel kind of fall-ish.

And they work with my chair in the corner.

And I guess there's one more new thing.  I added another new piece to Eme's art wall in her room.  Caleb painted this hot little pink number the other day during our painting marathon.  I was pretty shocked at how great it turned out.  (FYI-- I picked up a bunch of these super cheap canvases at the dollar store in several different sizes-- they were really fun for him to paint on) 

I don't think Eme's noticed.  I don't think she really cares.  But I like it.  Great job Caleb!

And now they are finally napping.  All is quiet... hopefully for another hour or two.  A few moments of peace and quiet is all I need-- then I'll be ready for those super fun post-nap pre-dinner hours :)

So now I'm going to do something wild and crazy and eat a bowl of granola or something else that's equally interesting.  And then I get to end the day with an evening out-- at my physiotherapist's office :)

New to the Living Room

There have been a few new additions to the living room.  The first addition is still in progress.  After sitting in this room for the past few weeks I've decided that its time to do something about the throw pillow situation.  I've had "temporary" pillows in here for the past few months after my old ones were ruined by the four year old of the house.  The temps are officially driving me crazy.  So I've had swatches out for the past few days-- since fall is upon us I'm thinking I might make some velvet pillows-- how's that for cozy?  Just gotta pick the right color.  I'm on it-- I have a lot of free time in the day to stare at the samples from across the room.

And here's the other more unfortunate addition to the living room-- a stationary exercise bike.  Not only is it unattractive-- it is also pain inflicting.  My physiotherapist assures me that I will be able to do a full revolution on the bike in no time.  I don't believe her.  Today I am quite certain that my knee will never bend like that again.

But past experience tells me that she's probably right.  I may just be eating my words in a few days.  Until then, I'll be here on the bike-- or on the couch :)

My Living Room in Progress...

My living room-- the most used room of the house.  It's where we watch TV, relax, entertain, it's where Caleb spends most of his time playing... a lot goes on in here.

And this is what I had to work with.  

I like yellow, but this was a bit too much for me.

(look at how cute and little Caleb was back then :)

I definitely don't like yellow when it is paired with green as seen in the picture below (and maybe I should mention that the next room was orange).  Anyhow, it needed a change!

These pictures were taken the day we moved in.  Notice all those paint cans?  After an entire week of painting, we were able to successfully cover these crazy walls!

In case you're wondering, we used Dulux Lifemaster paint in this house.  I LOVE it.  Easy to apply, great coverage, no funky odors, and really durable/washable.  I love Benjamin Moore colors, but not the price.  Our local ICI paint store gave me a smoking deal (just over $30 a gallon) and they did a great job color matching all of the Benjamin Moore colors I brought to them.

As you may have noticed in the previous photos, we left the existing carpet when we first moved in (hence the sheets taped to the floors).  They were in terrible condition, but after all that painting we needed a few months off-- so we pulled out the steam cleaner and left them as is for a few months.  Thank goodness it was summer-- we didn't spend a whole lot of time indoors.

Then we ripped them out!  And slowly put the house back together.  Emphasis on SLOWLY.  Doug and I did a lot of the work ourselves during evenings and weekends as we both had busy day jobs :)  We were a good team-- he did the work in the top half of the room (easy to reach) and I focus on the bottom half-- about all my shoulder can manage these days :)

So we lived in this crazy mess for about two and a half months.

Finally the floors were in.   What a difference it made!  Crown and baseboards were next.

And finally the room was liveable again.

I haven't done too much "decorating" in this room yet so I'm going to say that it's still a room in progress.  It still feels a bit too empty for me.  We used to have a coffee table up here, but left it downstairs for the time being so that Caleb could have room to play.  Eventually, when we get around to it, Doug and I would like to put some built in cabinets along the main wall.  There isn't a fire place or any other major focal point in the room, so we'd like to add something a little more interesting.  Built in's would also add a lot of much needed toy storage.  But here's what the room looks like now...

This room holds two of my all time favorite finds-- let me rephrase-- two of my CHEAPEST finds.
Can you guess which ones they are?

Number 1...

This cabinet was found at MCC for 15 bucks.  I can still remember the day I discovered it-- I called Doug and had him rush over to the store to pick it up.  We were still living in our condo at the time so we had to paint and fix it up on our deck!  After a coat of primer and some white oil paint it looks awesome.  Whenever I paint furniture I usually use Kilz primer first (it's the best out there) and an oil based paint-- I'm kind of old school with this one.  Some people think there are latex paints out there that are durable enough for furniture, but I'm still a fan of using an oil based paint since I know from experience that the finish will last.  I've had this cabinet for several years now and it's withstood much abuse in our household.

 

It not only looks pretty, it's also practical!  I use it to hold our upstairs toys.  The big annoying ones have to stay in the basement.  That's my rule.  Just say no to annoying toys!

The cabinet also holds a little inspiration for moi...

Number 2 favorite/cheap find...
This awesome chair.
Also an MCC find... for 15 bucks.  What is it with the 15 dollar price tag?

I like the way it looks as is, so I haven't felt the need to recover it.
We gave it a good steam cleaning when we brought it home and it was ready for action.

The baseboards, crown, and flooring match the other rooms in the house.

Now I know you're all thinking... she has two young kids and light colored couches/area rug.  I'm not going to lie to you-- keeping them clean takes work!  But I like the way light furniture looks and really, I'd rather know when my furniture is dirty so that I can clean it!  I've never had a stain that I couldn't remove.  Doug and I bought these couches 5 years ago and they have withstood a TON of abuse-- full cups of coffee spilled, food spills, Caleb "accidents"... and the worst one of all-- blue pen-- not just a little pen... A LOT of blue pen scribbles.

The area rug also has encountered much abuse-- mainly from Caleb and all the three-year old spills/accidents you can imagine.  But more recently, an entire glass of orange pop hit the floor-- not Caleb, not me... someone else in this house :)  Definitely the most persistent stain I've ever encountered-- but still conquered! 

This area rug is one of my favorites-- it's a good living room size (8x10), it's a great neutral color, I can't complain about the quality since it's held up well-- and it's cheap-- $149 at Home Depot!

Well... there's another room in my house-- still in progress, but it works!
Now, time to bring out those Christmas decorations :)