Saturday, March 26, 2011

Sweet Solo Shopping Time

Hey all, just thought I'd squeeze in what I did while solo this weekend
 before I show you some fun shopping pics.
I stayed up late the night before last to get a coat of primer on the wood work. I love the
old doors in this house. They are solid and heavy and made by hand 130 years ago. 
Todd had previously stripped it of it's lead paint outside one summer and now it has one coat of 
Binn primer.


Now this one is another story. The hall side was shellac finish just like the
one behind it in the hall and the bedroom side
still has a scary easily chipped off layer of high gloss lead paint.
For now I'm going to prime and paint 
the hall side and leave the other side until the weather is better
 for a proper and safe paint removal.


All our doors have rim locks and strangely one day this
one decided to lock on it's own and we thought we were never going
to get it open. Todd had to take a crow bar to it.  There was
some door damage and we sourced out a new, old rim lock for it
without a privacy catch so that won't happen again (at least on this door).



It is so flakey because lead paint over old milk paint is like oil paint
over water based paint. It won't stick. So scary if you have kids or pets. 






Now I know some of you hit the stores on a regular basis 
scoring all kinds of awesome finds and deals and you really have to go often to get them.
 I live in one small town and drive east  to go to work in another  small town 
and on Mondays we drive 20 minutes west
for groceries and if there is time or if nothing frozen will melt we
quickly pop into Home Sense.  

Hubs is so sweet to entertain my need
to just look, mostly never buy anything but to just still look but I never really
take my time but today was a different story and boy did I have a good time
all by my self.

If I could I would snafu this baby for our bedroom, I just love it to bits.
I would probably lighten it up a bit with a grey wash.
$100.00




M favourite carpet, sisal with Todd's favourite, animal print border





Another great mirror
$25.00







They are too big for our home
but these Ralph Lauren lamps with their
turquoise crackle glaze caught my eye





A great set of chairs that would look 
awesome around anyone's table


I have plans to change our hallway colour
and can imagine a hit of turquoise in a little
lamp like this one on the desk. Not keen 
on the shade though, feels a little
grammaish to me.


I was ultimately searching for our bedroom lamps and wondered
if these would be a nice contemporary contrast to our curvy 
headboard, alas, they are to modern and too short and 
no tri light which is nice in a bedroom. 





These were a set for $30.00 which I thought was pretty good.


This larger one is a nice statement piece if you like to inject some 
frenchy shabby character for 
sure. 


Now I think these and the wood mirror
are my hands down favourites. They are
Ralph Lauren down filled with button 
closures, gorgeous quality and just $24.99 each.
and to boot there were four of them, so rare.





Now as you may know Mom paints and I would love for 
her to paint some watery beach inspired art for us
and this one definitely caught my eye.
Mom? 


Ok I almost snapped this one up for sure. I imagine it on 
the wall opposite our bed. I just drool over the colours 
and it's composition. 
Mom? 


I'm not a plant girl, kill them with love if you know what I mean but 
if I could find a spot in our bedroom for one I would
pic one of these babies for it. Love the texture.

    
Or maybe this one in a smaller version.
I'm gaga for the x design. 



But here is the most exciting part of my day. 
Before Home Sense I popped in to our Real Canadian Superstore 
to pick up a few groceries and wondered if they had shadow boxes, they' didn't, 
but I did find these great real wood frames and matts, 4 left on sale for  just 
$9.99. I was not sure about spending $40.00 but just the night before 
while leafing through my magazines in bed realized I needed a hit of dark 
in the room and the shell prints were  perhaps too white after all.





So I hauled them to the cash and asked if I could return them if I change my mind. 
NOPE final sale. 
Darn it, I love to change my mind,
 so I said ok as I have seen plastic ones for that price.
 She scanned one and asks me, does $3.94 sound correct.  
Oh duh, yes of course it does!
They were originally $12.99 so I got 4 for the price of one!
Did I feel smug and can't wait to show my honey as he loves black.

A nice detail is the amber wood showing underneath the black.



So I didn't find our bedroom lamps
 (I really want the clear glass ones at Crate and Barrell 
that look like this  but 
 can't afford them)



 but I did find a nice birthday gift at for 
our little Carrera so it was not a bust for sure.
I also learned that Mondays are NOT the day to go to Home Sense.
I always thought that store was terrible for selection, but I had a nice conversation with a young store clerk and the truth is they get trucks all week long starting late Monday which is not
unpacked until Tuesday and by the time I get there Monday afternoon  
 all the good stuff is gone. YIPPPEEEE now I know the little secret
and can join the "Elite Deal Shoppers Club"!









Friday, March 25, 2011

Paint the Wood!


Hello, I'm having a couple of much needed recuperative last minute vacation 
days off from work. I chipped away at
some bedroom painting yesterday which was a beautiful and sunny but 
cold day. I can take the cold as long as I have some sunshine to pour in
through our windows.  As I said our in my last post our hallway needs 
a ton of work upstairs. This is what the downstairs looked
like when we moved in. A dust holding dirty grasscloth like wallpaper
covered the unpainted and very rough plaster walls and the faux
grained shellacked wood was in very bad shape. 




I was over the moon about all our original mouldings and drooled
over pictures of in my favourite shelter magazines of arts and crafts
trim painted white.



Except for the kitchen, carpet covered the stairs and the main floor of our home
including the front hall and we immediately ripped it up 
to reveal wood below, most of it in bad shape.



I apologize to those who are restorationists, I don't believe in ripping out 
old original architectural features such as trim and windows but I do believe
that we don't have to live in the 18th century either if it is not our cup of tea.




Interestingly enough, our home was originally built in 1878 and 
all the trim was painted with milk based paints, then in 1915 it was renovated and some of that
trim was painted over and some was faux grained to look like wood over the paint (as in our upstairs).

This was move in day 10 years ago and you can see the icky carpet
on the floor. 





Don't miss that wallpaper one bit! 
Check out the pattern, it's actually back in style now
in more contemporary colours.


Even though I loved looking at painted wood trim in the magazines
I was so afraid that I would regret it if we did it. 


But after it was done I never doubted our decision. 
Funny thing is that Todd was always for painting it without hesitation,
most men are not.



The next couple of shots are from years ago
after we stripped all the wallpaper
and painted the trim.


The floors still have work
needed, previously patched in pieces. I would
like to keep it and fix it as I love the amber tones
and patina in the oak, Todd wants to
rip it out and lay tile. Heck I can't even get
him to do a temporary refresh just to 
make it look nice until we 
decide what we are doing.


He made the doggy gate as our rottie girl at the time
 had leg surgery and was determined
to push over any temporary gates we used.
It is such a clever and simple idea  if you want to 
keep your pooches out of the upstairs.


My favourite thing was how the mirano glass windows 
pop surrounded with white.



This weekend we are going to see our cutie grandprecious Carrera who is
one year old! I can't believe it has been a year already and we are so looking forward to seeing them.


Grampa Todd and Carrera 


Have a wonderful weekend!

hugs
Sandra

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Bedroom update and a really sweet deal

We are no longer sleeping on the mattress on the floor and have moved 
the newly painted furniture back in. 
Don't you just love the power of paint and how it transforms
a space so easily! That is all we have spent money
on so far which makes me VERY VERY HAPPY.




I think the $20.00 dresser turned out nicely and 
Todd did a good job on the bottom to make
it look similar to the other dresser. 
I still have to choose some new knobs and I think a darker 
metal will add a little punch in here.
We hung the drapes temporarily but I took them down
to let enough light in for the picture.
I had purchased a new bamboo blind that you can
get a blackout liner for but I  returned it after I 
figured out it would be much cheaper
to  keep our existing bamboo blind and
line my curtains myself or make my own 
blackout liner for our existing blind.



Tomorrow after grocery shopping,
 I am aiming to finish painting the remaining three walls 
and hopefully the trim (I will have to pace myself as last weekend 
I ended up running myself down prepping everything). 
I also need to finalize the blue bed wall  as I left it until
the furniture was in to see how it looked and now
when I walk into the bedroom I think it's
starting to feel like a seaside resort.

Have you ever colour blocked one wall in a room? Were you happy with it
or did you find it too jarring and needed all the walls to be the same colour?





I'm not a fan of the usual track lighting but a while
back I fell in love with these and had them installed in 
my kitchen display area at work as it desperately needed extra lighting.
 I knew they would
be perfect in our hallway upstairs
 (which has been without any lights to speak of for years now) 
but at $75.00 a pop could not afford them.  
So with me being both stubborn and cheap
I have been allowing us to fumble around in a semi dark hall
lit by a single lamp plugged into one of the
bedrooms, 


that is until today! When I found out these brushed nickel 
traditional looking beauties
were being discontinued and on sale for a mere $19.00 
it was well worth the 2 1/2 hour drive east to another store 
to pick 3 of them up. One was the display
and so I don't even have to buy bulbs for it.
SWEET!


Our upstairs hall needs a ton of work and we can't 
agree on what to do but at least we can finally have 
some pretty lights to look at.




Have a super duper weekend!

hugs
Sandra

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Master Bedroom Sneak Peak and My Style Revealed!

 Saturdays are  the end of my work week and then my weekend starts. My mind is
always going on the 40 minute drive home about what I want to accomplish and 
this weekend one of them is tackling some more master bedroom painting.  




I asked Todd to haul upstairs 
one of the my revamped dressers that has just one coat of Designer Grey 
paint on it so I could see if it was the right choice. I have yet
to determine how dark to go with the 
blue on the walls and this weekend I will decide and hopefully
get it painted.  I also got to see how
the Ikea curtains will look and am very happy with them.



I added a little too large
 drum shade that I had  to one of our old lamps
and brought the antique iron chandelier in 
to see how it will all come together.



One day this room is to be the office or guest bedroom but I am so glad we did 
not leave it like it was until then. 




I cannot tell you what a thrill it is to finally feel well
enough to see the proverbial trees for the forest. Clarity has been my
blessing in pockets and has allowed me to focus on what I love.
Although we live about 20 minutes to the closest body of water, I wanted our
home to feel as simple, light and airy with colours of sand and sea
 as if the beach
 was right outside our door

and 

I have always, always been drawn to the 
second hand shabby chic painted furniture,
pretty chandeliers
and  white slipcovered furniture.....


So without further delay I announce that

I have discovered that I can have both and 

HAVE CREATED  
MY NEW STYLE
WHAT I CALL

"NANTUCKET CHIC STYLE"


A BLEND OF 
COASTAL STYLE AND COLOURS
WITH TOUCHES OF 
SHABBY CHIC STYLE


I can't wait for this room to be finished  in my new 


NANTUCKET CHIC STYLE

and to show you what it is.

 I had thought of this name  quite a while
ago and   googled it
to see that  only two other people had used the name
 Nantucket Chic to describe a room
 but they were not a blend of the two interior design styles that 
I love
 to create my 


NANTUCKET CHIC STYLE

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far and I would love
to hear what you think!

hugs 
Sandra

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Barn Lights


Today I came home and found this nice little surprise,
Todd had painted the walls and the trim aaaaaannnnnnnd....



YES! he hung my absolutely favourite barn light sconces.
 I love them so much! 
As you may have gathered I am
a light junky. If my lighting isn't right then I'm so
 not ok. What I hate is that many times it's hard to 
 find what I love a in our bare bones budget but 
not these beauties, under $30.00 each.

 Don't you just love spaces that the lighting
takes and sets the stage for the room.
These have such a relaxed style and yet 
the brushed nickel finish is an updated necessity 
in our old house. I believe
when you have an old house you should give it new lighting
and when you have a new house, give it
old lighting.

The cabinets are painted with two coats of  
 semi-gloss latex enamel in Benjamin Moore's 
Oxford White and the walls are a custom 
colour of a light cream the same as the kitchen.




I don't have a before picture but I wish  you
could have seen this area before with it's crumbling 
 ivy wallpapered plaster walls  and tons of cold air 
coming in from the wall behind the built-ins. 


I am going to have to put my lamps for 
the bedroom on hold so that I can order the doors
for the built-ins instead and that is ok (it's not like we don't
already have some)
 because
Todd has worked hard on this and I can't
wait to see it all finished. 
Well no one ever accused us of 
sticking to just one project until it's finished! Ha Ha!
Hopefully we can get the bedroom finished soon too.



Here is my really really REALLY rough sketch
of the design so you can see where the
doors will go and the beadboard which is not
too clear in the pictures. I need to find the perfect
brackets for under the middle cabinet,
 some nice baskets
for the open shelves 
and some artwork or 
pictures.





We are tossing up between staining the floor and stairs the same as the 
bench top or paint in an extremely durable porch floor oil paint in


 Benjamin Moore's Manchester Tan that we
painted our front porch floor with. I think the porch paint
would be more durable and keep things light and airy as 
I tend to like but the dark wood would look nice too, 
what do you think? If we go for the paint then it 
will definitely not be done until the better weather to get
some ventilation. Oil paint fumes are very bad for your health.


This side has removable shelves so 
I can put a big bin of our one day pooches food
and yes it will probably be a big bin for he or she, 
as we have always loved big dogs.


Todd now thinks that it looks too good for an
ugly blue recycle bin and I sure do agree so if he's 
hip to transferring the recycles from a nicer bin
to the curb side bin every single week then 
power to him. We'll have to see how long that will 
last.


This is going to be such a great overflow area for storage from the 
kitchen for bulk foods, infrequently used appliances etc and will be 
a great selling feature if we ever have to sell. After all  isn't it all about storage
these days!!