tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56591199938582616732024-02-19T00:02:30.863-05:00Serendipitous HomeA Journey of Health and HomeSerendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-42821094910340093582017-06-04T12:19:00.000-04:002017-06-04T14:56:34.971-04:00Shiplap Bedroom Wall and Upstairs Hallway Renovation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well it's been so long since I've posted and mostly it seems that the work day of constant barrage of emails, cell phone, retail customer demands along with a rise in food sensitivities has left me a little burnt out and I had no desire to turn on my computer when I get home but a week of staycation has given me the oomph to get back to focus and start blogging again about our home and the reno's.</div>
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I know it is an immediate world we live in where renovations happen overnight on tv shows or quick flip homes but not all will have quality of workmanship that you think they should and no matter what the project in our century home, top quality with historical sensitivity (not restoration) is our goal. That said, I will be the first to admit that I have dragged my heals on our bedroom renovation design choices (while my Hardrock has bugged and bugged me) but I am truly thrilled with what he has done with our space and our choices thus far!!!</div>
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The back wall was originally going to be wallpaper which I purchased quite inexpensively on sale but I just couldn't commit to a pattern and in the end went for the look I have always loved and had first chosen for this rooms design way before Chip and Joanna Gains caused it to be all the rage, a shiplap wall. </div>
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There is much work to be done in this room still before the final painting but we use this room while working on it and finding this super 8'x10' vintage looking grey and white carpet for $250.00 including taxes and shipping was such a steal that I couldn't help myself. It helps to soften the effect of the wood stained bed and creates a break visually between the golden oak floors and the darker bed.</div>
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Decisions to be made still are wall colour and tray ceiling colours, dresser colour and hardware choice.</div>
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Although we had two dressers that we use as night tables, they were not an exact match so I recently started my hunt for a second dresser and could not believe my luck. This gorgeous solid maple heavy dresser the exact same size as we needed was a steal at $80.00 and was nearby for us to pick up from a Kijiji seller. When we arrived he told us it came from his 90 year old grandmothers farm house and that she had recently passed away. I was sad sorry to hear of his loss and reassured him we are so appreciative of having such a beautiful piece of furniture in our home. I made sure he was ok with the idea that it would be painted too.</div>
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An 130 year old century home, does not have closets or has very small closets and so if you recall we removed a recessed linen cupboard in the hall just outside our bedroom to accommodate a 6' wide x 2' deep master bedroom closet (more to come on the inside of the closet design ). My honey then trimmed it the same as the door and window with the same gorgeous arts and crafts style trims as our lower level and hung budget friendly 4 panel shaker MDF doors. Once again, a wee bit of a challenge in that the original floors are not level but of course his new opening was plumb and level so making the doors look great once hung took some work but he nailed it! We have used solid wood for all the trims but choosing MDF for the doors was strictly a budget decision that we feel ok about since it is just closet doors standard size that someone else can replace with wood ones if they desire down the road but for us saved us enough money to do the ship lap wall.</div>
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Originally we were gong to do a sliding barn door but opted for a more classic instead of trendy look and I love these doors. They are also in keeping with the Arts and Crafts style of the home.</div>
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Painting and handles are still to be completed along with baseboards finished.</div>
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Soooooo, before our master bedroom is done, my Hardrock decided to tackle our main upstairs hall while it is not so hot yet . Sorry for such a terrible photo but here is the 2nd bedrooms wall opened up so that we could move the doorway down. The reason we chose to do that was so we could ensure there was good storage capacity in each room that we can which is good for resale value. Recently with home sales soaring, we saw a few homes listed in our immediate area for $1000,000 and they are not even Mcmansions! </div>
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Our hallway had the original old plaster that was quite terribly done in the 1920's renovation and although I love plaster, I could not even argue trying to save it. Trust me when I say that, as there have been many arguments about it where I tried to make a case how it is worth keeping (I have a real hard time removing anything original unless it is absolutely necessary but in the end, although historical, the workmanship was like a get in, get out flip show and would not have suited the workmanship of the rest of the house if we left it. If we lived in a farmhouse out in the country that we were not going to one day sell then I would still have left it.</div>
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As well, my Hardrock found that the joists in this wall didn't even touch the floor so of course he had to fix that.</div>
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So here is the doorway moved down just enough to allow our Ikea Pax wardrobes to now move into the corner and finally give us access to this bedroom's closet which we used to have the wardrobes sitting in front of during the master bedroom reno.</div>
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So now there is a fantastic amount of storage for a 12x12 bedroom. Either the closet can be outfitted with a computer and a TV or the wardrobe next to the closet removed from the room altogether and a computer desk/ TV in it's place. We will have to decide which is the best way to go so that the appropriate wiring can be added.</div>
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And if you really want to be impressed, my Hardrock not only removed the plaster walls that the bedrooms crown molding was on, he managed to keep it in place and even though the old wall waved in and out he managed to make the new studded wall work perfectly.</div>
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Bless him for having such patience!</div>
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The light switch will be moved down to the left , easy enough to cut a new opening in the drywall and patch the existing hole when we do that.</div>
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I love this recent new addition to the Ikea Hemnes collection and think it will be perfect on this wall with a gorgeous painting by my Mom. I love better quality pieces and Hemnes is mostly solid wood but the size of it with sliding glass doors and decent price point and will be perfect for my books and baskets and I love that it can be painted if I want to change the colour. It's 15" deep and since it's off the floor will be perfect sitting over and not on the floor grate. </div>
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This wall area will be a stunning focal point when you come up the stairs.</div>
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When a can of worms gets opened, be prepared! </div>
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Do you see the angled joist in this wall? Well that was the old 1878 roof line of our home when it was a 1 1/2 stories that was renovated in 1918 to a 2 1/2 storey home. The area where my Hardrock is standing is the 1918 addition on the back of the house and the old floor and the new floor were not level with one another as well there was a lot of bounce and squeaking which made my perfectionist husband crazy. I just kept saying, ah honey relax, that's what a century home is about! </div>
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About a year ago my honey opened up the floor at the end of the hall and reinforced it before adding new pine boards and that is how it stayed until now.</div>
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Much to my dismay the bulkhead you see at the end of the hall has to stay as it is the roof line of our upper back porch that you see the door to on the right side but we have plans to trim it out nicely so it is not such an eye sore. Our plans are to add shaker wainscotting and it's going to look amazing with the door trims all matching the lower level. He will carefully remove the original trims and store them so they remain for histories sake, with the house. I take all this very seriously and throwing them out is not an option. Even though our house is not a designated historical home, I cherish the hand created work of moldings that were made in a time that we cannot even fathom, no electricity or indoor plumbing. The door at the end of the hall is our main bathroom door.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10N2D20_3TI5jeLualZ8gnWMUfk14HoG__-1Iq8EcOAjXbJbYZGxBPzRL3q2h8lESAqkLWAJtk-ROM_5JQPGQF7GQv_jj4SomToIuU7X768Lu1RRxn8AHK9Oirpo10ZgDXE04VbRQg2Qy/s1600/Hallway+renovation+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10N2D20_3TI5jeLualZ8gnWMUfk14HoG__-1Iq8EcOAjXbJbYZGxBPzRL3q2h8lESAqkLWAJtk-ROM_5JQPGQF7GQv_jj4SomToIuU7X768Lu1RRxn8AHK9Oirpo10ZgDXE04VbRQg2Qy/s640/Hallway+renovation+001.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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When he opened the wall on the right he saw that the floor boards weren't supported in the area of the floor grate as well and so he had to repair that area as well with proper support in the floor. Taking up the oak strip piece by piece was not an easy task as it kept splitting and there was a lot of colourful language filling the air which was my que to leave him alone LOL! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXxolFf3KhZjjmVrsZOkHZiRfNOOc0d4YQNtAjPggzOqKLredpJDjWYe20M-8hDJfrNdD1-IXpJBhfAZXTVa8c847xhU7ilNKCt-H8ipiM0cAI-CMLWf6mQ-Bj0xrPp56aHPnE288BI-M/s1600/IMG_6561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXxolFf3KhZjjmVrsZOkHZiRfNOOc0d4YQNtAjPggzOqKLredpJDjWYe20M-8hDJfrNdD1-IXpJBhfAZXTVa8c847xhU7ilNKCt-H8ipiM0cAI-CMLWf6mQ-Bj0xrPp56aHPnE288BI-M/s320/IMG_6561.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And how the boards are not even level along with little support underneath.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSlSaA6GFeQUvzXDTImlbGc4PUW8LpJ_J_TYiu_jBYRJLxjVRXP8YOcsxizGZAseOHnQ1Fgzo81-qY1RqF2W3cKJgSCosedAyB2qgnl4tr0og1-BJtMhVAgbEqBlVSjqx7HhUMUSOVYo37/s1600/IMG_6556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSlSaA6GFeQUvzXDTImlbGc4PUW8LpJ_J_TYiu_jBYRJLxjVRXP8YOcsxizGZAseOHnQ1Fgzo81-qY1RqF2W3cKJgSCosedAyB2qgnl4tr0og1-BJtMhVAgbEqBlVSjqx7HhUMUSOVYo37/s320/IMG_6556.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Here is the dogs breakfast of what he was working with underneath a year ago. I would be so overwhelmed what to do but not him, he just gets at it.</div>
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And here it is almost finished! What a beautiful sight! He had to stop putting the oak down with only a few more strips to go on the right side as it started to rain and he had to run and put the tools away. He laid down salvaged oak strip that he previously removed from our living room and dining room since the boards removed from the hall were damaged to badly when he took them up in spite of him trying carefully. As you can see they are a natural oak and do not match the rest of the floor upstairs that is stained a golden oak. I will work some magic and stain them to match but overall I am thrilled he made this work out as replacing the oak everywhere would be ridiculous expense and far to much work that in my opinion is not necessary, especially in a time when people are opting for laminate without batting an eye!</div>
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Well I have only today and tomorrow left of my staycation but I hope that I can get a few more things done that was on my list before I do if the rain stops.</div>
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Coming up soon I can't wait to share with you soon, some of my Mom's paintings that she is now selling.</div>
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Hope you are having a fabulous weekend!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-36783778554389115582017-01-09T12:14:00.001-05:002017-01-09T12:14:36.743-05:00A Life Change Not New Years Resolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the holidays I watched an interesting documentary called Minimalism, "people dedicated to rejecting the ideal that things bring happiness". It's about two guys who are good friends who decided to leave their high profile jobs to simplify there lives doing with far less material things and then wrote a book and traveled to promote it. They talk about the mass consumerism that society falls trap to, to perhaps fill a void and the impact on our environment to produce and transport these items we buy. They showed what I feel are incredibly sad clips of people who were literally beating each other up over items at what was probably boxing day sales and new product opening sales. I for one have never rushed out for those sales but it made me think how I approached bringing new items into our home and the money I am spending. Their spaces and the homes of some of the other minimalists filmed were definitely not what I could live with myself , although somewhat functional, void of all personality and individualism but one has to think that with little else to consider when you arrive home and walk in the door, what window of energy would open itself up to other endeavours.</div>
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We by no means are finished our home top to bottom, the upstairs is a work in progress but we have what we need. Need being the operative word, need not want. If we were to take this approach, it would most certainly conflict with being in the renovation, design world. This is an even greater challenge as those around us might judge our ability if our home was a minimalists home and not "designed"but just because the shoe maker may walk around in basic shoes, that does not mean that he cannot make outstanding shoes for others. I love our 138 year old home and love that it has beauty and personality in both architecture and the pieces of furniture that inhabit it. Lots of people say that our home is an "uncluttered home" when they see it for the first time and that is most definitely what I need in order to feel at peace when I walk in the door (clutter does not bother my honey in the least and so the constant badgering to pick up his "stuff" goes on!).</div>
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Everyone has a different threshold of amount of "stuff" that is acceptable and no stuff would not be an option for me but I do agree that I fall prey to consumerism, not for clothing, or shoes, or jewellery, or makeup but for our home, I did in the past love to go out on my days off and see what the latest and greatest is at the ever changing supply of stuff at the local Home Sense and would actually get a bit of an adrenaline rush at the possibility of what might be there that week but this documentary made me check myself and ask, why? Why do I need to go there every week when I could doing something more important and then what would that be?</div>
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So I have made myself a resolution, a life change that I am very excited about. I have announced to family and friends (so they can keep me on track if I falter along the way) that if there is something I would like to bring into our home then I must sell something we already have in our home to do that and there are quite a few things that can easily be sold and not missed at all. This means that I will be able to continue to create the spaces that we want in our home but not spend unnecessary money to do it and it also means that I must think very hard if I want that item as I will have to make my money go very far. I will also do everything I can to find the item second hand as opposed to brand new first so as to not contribute to the negative environmental impact of manufactured goods.</div>
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So first up, a while back I had made over this gorgeous french provincial cabinet breathing new life into it with a coat of Annie Sloan Pure White chalk paint and a robins egg blue interior. It has been in our master bedroom as a TV stand and so just before Christmas I decided to finally part with it selling it to a friend who's home decor it fit's perfectly with.</div>
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Last year we removed our kitchen table and I designed and then my honey built us a custom island which I absolutely am in love with and yes this material thing makes me very very happy!</div>
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After deciding that we needed the storage that the previous </div>
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(yes, we had an island before and we sold it, against my honey's choice and put in a 6' table )</div>
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island had but after living with the table and hardly ever using it, needed to find a compromise that would make us both happy, an island to sit at that my honey likes the height better than a table, storage that I need for pots and pans and an additional work counter. We had these two beautiful stools from the older island and never got rid of them so out they came from storage once the island was built but the problem was that I designed the new island to seat four where the old island only sat two. After searching everywhere for two more of the same stools and coming up short, I started a search for 4 matching stools in the range I could afford with the money I earned from the sale of the hutch.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsGxoCIYGHC3v8CeGF35gsPpabRy-nrW_v9vup1jYCHMIsGkew2-a28x9Tdh0-w13HID6ERBDeU3MX4hjPYHzLdmFlunHsTKVTxiGZmGyp1zylm1J0BR762VWI7Idby3qpPWHEPNa7LmY/s1600/016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwsGxoCIYGHC3v8CeGF35gsPpabRy-nrW_v9vup1jYCHMIsGkew2-a28x9Tdh0-w13HID6ERBDeU3MX4hjPYHzLdmFlunHsTKVTxiGZmGyp1zylm1J0BR762VWI7Idby3qpPWHEPNa7LmY/s320/016.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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And so yesterday I was thrilled to find and pick up 4 of these gorgeous X back solid wood heavy stools for a fantastic deal. Of course as you might know, the X in design is a favourite of mine. I like to use it somewhere in each room on our main floor. I even have money left over for some new cushions! They are scratched here and there and need a makeover along with a bit of a repair on one but nothing that won't be difficult at all to fix. My honey likes the black finish but I picture them white too so we will have to see. Nice thing about paint is you can always paint again! </div>
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So this is the challenge I set for myself, to finish up our home and not spend any more money except on renovations that are necessary for improving our home's value that will stay with the house such as roof etc but still make it look and live beautifully.</div>
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So do you fall trap to the interior design shopping addiction I once did?</div>
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Could you live with the very bare necessities in your home, a table, a chair, a bed, and be happy? </div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-9413252517938106042017-01-02T15:07:00.000-05:002017-01-02T15:07:55.182-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy New Year!</div>
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Hello Again!!!</div>
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I am so happy to be back blogging after a very long time off (wow I can't believe it has been so long) and look forward to continuing on a regular basis. Along with a few health challenges that kept me tapped out for my energy outside of work, walking the dog, and cooking and prepping our food for our almost Paleo clean eating, I found out that I am deeply affected by wifi technology and having only a laptop previously, could not use it without exhausting consequences. It took sometime but we managed to remove our wireless technology from the house and now I use a hardwired PC instead and I am so thrilled to be able to be back blogging with you all again and to be able to read what you have been up to as well! I also got a great new cell phone (which I don't talk on regularly) and for the purpose of this blog find it so much more convenient than taking a bulky camera with me for taking photos.</div>
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It has been a really nice Christmas holiday season of which we hosted a truly wonderful first Christmas family dinner at our home. Mom and Dad have always graciously hosted it every year and it's about time we gave them a rest. </div>
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Thank you Mom and Dad for all the fantastic Christmas's you have given us and we look forward to returning the favour for many years to come!</div>
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We actually opened our pretty antique empire pedestal round table up to it's full length of 72" for the first time using the 3 leafs that came with it and managed to seat 8 around it with our very comfy Ikea Henriksdal and Nils dining room chairs. We purchased the Henriksdal chairs many years ago new from Ikea and then the Nil's shorter chairs from Kijiji a couple of years ago and they worked perfectly.</div>
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Dad (Santa hat), Mom, my nephew Rob and his fiance Laura, my honey (Santa hat), Todd's brother Mark and my big sis, Karen</div>
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Wishing you and your family what is the very most important thing, Health and Happiness for 2017!</div>
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Cheers!!!</div>
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<br />Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-66399543484586556002015-04-03T12:35:00.003-04:002015-04-03T22:14:03.679-04:00Tray Ceiling Transformation (in progress)<div style="text-align: center;">
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Happy Easter everyone!</div>
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It is so nice to actually be off today and even though I work tomorrow I feel like today is such a treat to have all to myself to do whatever I like, when I like!</div>
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After many discussions back and forth about our master bedroom ceiling we decided on a tray ceiling.</div>
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At first I wanted to do another coffered ceiling the same as our living room and although I know it would look stunning, I felt it would be a little over the top combined with the sliding barn door for the closet and the 3/4 wainscotting we would do in the hallway. Our home is a simpler arts and crafts victorian and doing just for the sake of "doing" would not be the answer and I didn't want to overwhelm this not so large room with the heaviness of a coffer.</div>
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I love the angle of our doorway, it is so much more interesting than just a square room.</div>
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I am on the lookout for an antique dresser for this wall that we can use for extra clothes storage that will go on this wall opposite the bed. We are undecided about adding a TV above it as I fear that I will end up staying up later than I should watching it before bed but we only have one TV right now and a second one would be a nice for those nights when I want to watch something different than Todd does,</div>
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which is most nights!</div>
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My honey was happy when I finally made this decision to go with a tray ceiling as it was his original suggestion that I kyboshed and then came back to!</div>
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I finally managed to convince him to shave that fur off his face today, he is far too handsome to cover it up under so much facial hair. </div>
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YAY!!!!!</div>
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A ceiling fan will be in the middle of the room to keep us comfortable on hot summer nights and we decided we will add recessed lighting in the tray that will be on a dimmer for added ambience. </div>
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It must be work stress or something must be wrong with my brain but in spite of its largeness, this bed is growing on me.</div>
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What the heck is up with that?!!!!</div>
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I am having thoughts of adding MDF flat stock in the inside of the tray to make it look like a boarded ceiling but am not 100% sure. We are going to add crown at the ceiling and perhaps below the tray as well but will take it one step at a time.</div>
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The other thing to consider is that our barn door we will make for the closet at 48"wide does not fit typical barn door hardware sets you can buy as a kit as they will only allow up to a 36" door, so we will either consider a slider that is used for real horse stable doors that are far less money or consider forgoing them altogether and putting double doors on instead.</div>
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Of course I don't want to give up on the barn door as I know it will be such a nice feature in the room.</div>
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Our electrician is coming Tuesday to do the final hookup and inspection for the lighting that Todd is running all the wiring for, so hopefully we can move this project along a bit faster than we have been after that. I am getting excited about the prospect of having a restful and beautiful master bedroom and with fingers crossed before the summer is here and all the outdoor work that needs to be done.</div>
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Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter weekend!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-19464003949345919992015-02-08T13:16:00.003-05:002015-02-08T18:29:32.572-05:00Randy and Brenda's Farmhouse Kitchen<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy Weekend everyone!</div>
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It's a very snowy past couple of days here in the GTA and it definitely feels like winter. The roads are greasy, slick with mixed snow and freezing drizzle today and I am anxiously awaiting the return of my honey who drove north to Owen Sound yesterday to visit his dad.</div>
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I have never ever posted about any of my customer's kitchens I've designed but will do more of that from now on as I plan to make a point of going out and getting pictures once their renovation is complete. </div>
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Randy and Brenda are wonderful people who have been putting their heart and soul into renovating their gorgeous farmhouse in the country that was built in the late 1800's. </div>
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As you know, century homes are nearest and dearest to my heart and I wanted to make sure their kitchen was perfectly designed for their home.</div>
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Randy runs his own renovation company and is also a creative genius with welding and if that isn't enough, an auto body mechanic. Brenda is a warm and extremely funny lady who works for the Board of Education.</div>
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Brenda and Randy wanted the kitchen to feel inviting and cozy for their family and for entertaining but also wanted to make sure it was in keeping with the style of their home.</div>
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They chose painted warm cream cabinetry with a raised bead panel detail on the door and drawers to keep it feeling light and airy but also have character as well.</div>
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Their entire kitchen was taken back to the studs, all the historical trims removed and painstakingly stripped and restained. All new insulation and drywall was installed as well as new hand scraped floors laid. Randy also added this gorgeous beam he stained to play off the stained trims in the rest of the room.</div>
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Randy is going to build Brenda her dream harvest table and then she will get a new set of chairs for it that will finish off the space to completion.. </div>
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After much searching online without any luck for lights for the space, I found these gorgeous historical reproduction fixtures on Restoration Hardware's site that were on sale and when I showed them to Brenda she ordered them up right away.</div>
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These beautiful chairs are so comfortable and Brenda told me that she loves to sit here with her tea and laptop on weekends and that the counter space is incredible for cooking up a storm. Randy incorporated lighting in all the glass cabinets and when they have company over at night, they turn just those lights on and the room glows.</div>
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Since the room is quite large, I created many layouts but this one made the most sense for a reasonable work triangle and gave the most working counter space where it is needed most, near the sink.</div>
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Brenda loves her white cast iron drop in sink, another choice that is befitting of an old farmhouse and is extremely durable as well. She chose the Victorian faucet from Delta in brushed nickel. I love a mix of metals and this one works beautifully.</div>
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Like most projects, some of the final details just take time to get right and Brenda is still on the hunt for another light for the sink area. The stove is tucked into it's own little niche and we decided to keep it free of cabinetry since there is plenty of storage in the rest of the room.<br />
Gorgeous new stainless steel appliances bring the kitchen into this century.</div>
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Our granite company arrived at 4pm and worked well into the night to install the granite in the kitchen with it's challenging wrap around design and slide-in stove at one end. They did a fantastic job!</div>
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Randy chose to install wood stained baseboard behind what he calls the"yickety yacks" (arched valance kicks) so that their profile stood out and I thought that was a super idea. I didn't get a good shot of the door to the right side but I'd suggested they paint the door a nice pop of a muted colour like a blue grey and Brenda plans to paint the glass with blackboard paint. I think it will add a fun and charming detail to their large kitchen. </div>
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I asked them why the handles and knobs were positioned differently on the upper pantry doors on either side of the fridge than what you would normally do and Randy told me that because the knobs are a larger size, when they opened the fridge door all the way, it would hit the knob and cause a dent in the door. Fortunately they had to get the fridge replaced under warranty due to issues and immediately remedied the situation with the new one by changing the doors on either side so that wouldn't happen again. </div>
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This symmetrical design of custom looking cabinetry on either side of the door to the living room creates visual harmony in the room and oodles of storage.</div>
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Rich brown granite counters add warmth but also contrast nicely with the cooler carrera marble subway tile backsplash. Brenda found stunning glass knobs at Anthropologie for the upper cabinets and oil rubbed bronze pulls the lower cabinets and work beautifully together.</div>
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The lights move up and down on their pulley system, beauty and function, how could you ask for more!</div>
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Where most folks would just rip out old wood that needed some work and toss it in the garbage, they removed, stripped, repainted and reinstalled the tongue and groove wainscotting. </div>
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Ah, people after my own heart.</div>
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Just off the kitchen through the door you see to the left of the penninsula is an enclosed sunroom porch that runs the entire length of the front of the house. Talk about lucky! Brenda says they live in that porch when except in winter as it is not heated. They replaced the solid door with a glass one to allow all the light to pour in and connect the spaces in the winter when the door has to be shut.</div>
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I love her large wall clock!</div>
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Here is the man who did an incredible job with the help of his lovely wife!</div>
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They even created an open transom above this doorway that leads to the main entrance mudroom to let some more light into the kitchen and they might add a stained glass window to it. For now it is a great place for some charming chickens to roost.</div>
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With my visit fast approaching, Brenda lit a fire under Randy's butt to get this gorgeous hard to find (we sell it at my store as a special order) real travertine silver stone tile I helped them choose for the mudroom and he rose to the task and finished it the day before I arrived.</div>
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Way to go Randy it looks incredible!</div>
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I love how the silver travertine floor plays off the backsplash as well tying the two spaces together.</div>
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Randy also made the floating shelves and below them created a holder for his antique drill bit collection. Another creative idea, the electrical panel is behind this bumped out area to the left of the stove and he showed me how he opens the door by removing one of the slats first which allowed him to put his hand in the opening to open a hinged door that opens just above the counter. If you look closely you can see the seam where the door is. </div>
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Amazing!</div>
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Randy and Brenda told me that they had realized their new kitchen has fulfilled their wishes completely, when their kids, for the first time in years chose to stay home on New Years Eve and celebrate in their new kitchen!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-48703716880520866822015-01-31T23:06:00.001-05:002015-02-03T20:39:13.933-05:00Master Bedroom Daydreaming and a little more update!<div style="text-align: center;">
Well February is here tomorrow and I cannot believe how the first month of 2015 has gone by in a blink of an eye for me. I am feeling so much better, have been walking for 50 minutes almost every night and not feeling fatigued after and it is such a huge relief to finally feel quite normal, to start doing things again.</div>
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Yay! Yay! Yay! I am literally doing a big fat happy dance!</div>
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Our master bedroom reno had come to a halt as I basically put off making any decisions last year and so Todd started to tackle the hallway to get that properly insulated now that the winter is here.</div>
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On one particularly low day for me, my honey surprised me with this stunning, ethereal photo of a horse that is the likeness of my gorgeous Jube I owned as a teenager. It took my breath away when I saw it, has stolen my heart and is the inspiration for this room. </div>
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This burnt orange beauty was another Value Village find for $40.00. A solid and heavy, classic lined piece that will never go out of style and very deserving of a makeover with either a slipcover or if possible reupholstery. In spite of it's worn covering I love how it pops against the chalky white primed walls.<br />
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Although my chair is original, it is just like this custom designed Sarah Richardson's Elsie chair.<br />
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The honey oak narrow strip floors in the entire upstairs are in good shape mostly but a few areas do need repair so we are undecided if we should sand it down and stain it</div>
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or take a chance and rip up the 3/8's thick oak to reveal the over 100 year old gorgeous wide 1 1/2" thick wide plank old pine floors?</div>
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It would be so much easier to just sand the oak floors which are a cleaner look and the pine boards will no doubt have gaps here and there which is a more casual look but the patina and warmth and character from a wide plank floor cannot be compared. </div>
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The other side of this argument is that oak is much harder where the pine will show dents and marks and of course dog nail scratches as well.</div>
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It would be interesting to hear from a real estate agent what is the more popular option for resale?</div>
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I am trying to be very patient with our delay in this project but it is so very hard when the quality of the light in here lifts me up so much and it just feels so good even as a raw and unfinished room that I can only imagine how much better it will be when it is done.</div>
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The monster of a bed although charming will not be staying as much as my honey likes it. He digs anything large and over sized and resembling elizabethan times, you know knights of the round table kind of stuff.<br />
The back wall will either be a horizontal slat board design or perhaps a gorgeous wallpaper that we both like with a lower half wall wainscotting but I am having a hard time deciding which I prefer. I really wanted to hang pendant lights over the nightstands instead of having table lamps but was vetoed on that idea. I did find a great swing arm plug in wall sconce that may be an option instead of lamps as I do like to read in bed at night and they would serve as perfect task lighting.<br />
Either way I know it is going to be just dreamy!<br />
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So tell me, have any of you recovered old pine floors and are you happy you did?<br />
I would love to hear of your experience with them.<br />
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Update! I found my camera that was recently misplaced and what a relief. I took a few snaps of the wallpaper I finally decided on for the back wall behind the bed and bought it yesterday at Lowes with a 15% off special they were having when you spend $300.00 or more. Todd needed a new compressor for work so it worked out great to make this decision and save money too. I'm hoping that the two rolls which was all they had in stock is all I need as I have no experience with wallpaper and am not 100% sure. I know it all depends on the pattern etc and I have more square footage than I need so will have to see.<br />
Isn't it gorgeous?!<br />
I wanted something soft and airy but contemporary and this fits the bill and the budget too at $39.99 - 15%.<br />
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Here is a possible choice of greys that could be used for the other walls. It's a south facing room so all of these could work it just depends on how I want it to feel. Cool and airy or a little warmer like the one on the far left.<br />
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Here it is with the lovely horse picture and a throw I found that has all the greys in both the picture and the wallpaper.<br />
Perhaps a pop of colour like this gorgeous teal pillow will find it's way into the room but I'm not going to decide on that immediately.<br />
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I am loving this swing arm wall sconce in satin nickel from Lowes for a great price and think it would look amazing against the wallpaper but I have a lamp fetish as well so will have to see, that can be decided at the very end once everything else is in place.<br />
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We got a nice dump of snow today, alas, our winter has arrived!<br />
Enjoy!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-84168307327762597252015-01-26T13:47:00.003-05:002015-01-26T15:49:07.106-05:00Carpet Find!<br />
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Happy Monday!</div>
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While some folks are getting snow near by or other poor souls on the eastern states are bracing for a wicked snowstorm, we have had nothing but clear sunny skies with - 13 degrees temperatures. When the sun pours into our living room from our very large and very old two over two double hung windows I love to snap photos and I am especially excited because I recently found and added a number of new things to our living room to bring it towards it's full potential.</div>
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Yesterday was supposed to be a trip to the IDS show in Toronto which is always amazing but I woke up with a sore throat and decided to pass. Still feeling the need to get out of the house, we took a drive in the beautiful sunshine to Lowes in Whitby and Oshawa to check out some wallpaper I was considering for our master bedroom that was in stock at those locations. </div>
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I started my day with a dose of extra goodness to chase this cold away and juiced up for us some kale, carrots, apple, parsley, cilantro, ginger and garlic. YUM!</div>
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We had recently watched Fat Sick and Nearly Dead which has inspired us to once again drink a green juice at least a couple of times a week. </div>
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After changing her food yet again and giving her some melatonin at night we have finally seen an end to the ridiculous amount of shedding from our little Emmie and now instead of hair everywhere in spite of daily vacuuming, I only need to vacuum once a week which started me dreaming of a new carpet for our living room. Her coat is now so soft and shiny and she no longer bites her legs too which is the most important thing.</div>
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I absolutely love seagrass carpets and would have them everywhere if I could but it is just so much easier to vacuum hardwood when you have a dog. That said I have always wanted a carpet in our 12x13' living room to ground the space and give it another layer of texture and colour and over Christmas I so badly wanted to order an 8'x10' seagrass well reviewed carpet from Wayfair that was on sale for $380.00 but just couldn't due to the high price tag. </div>
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And so when we were at Lowes I came across a bin of rolled up carpets with two different price tags. Those carpets are always the off gassing plastic type which I will avoid at all costs if I can for health reasons and then my eyes happened upon a tan and cream carpet in a herringbone pattern that I had to peak at anyway. I pulled it out of the bin and fell for the colour and the pattern, again disappointed that it was synthetic and decided to take a closer look. I thought wow, it sure had an amazing likeness to seagrass or something like that and upon further inspection found out it was jute and cotton!!!!</div>
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But oh no, it is only 5x7 rug and I needed a bigger one but low and behold, there were two of them. Could I possibly put them together and make it work pattern wise? I certainly was going to see if I could.</div>
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The price on the bin said $100.00 for 6x9 and another sign that said 10 carpets $49.99.</div>
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What?!!!</div>
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I wondered, how much are these gorgeous ones that I am now watching over like a hawk while I wait for my honey to return with the cart?</div>
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We got to the cash and I crossed my fingers and felt like a such a winner after feeling sad about missing the IDS show when she rang them in at $49.99 each.<br />
We got them home and I was still unsure about if they would feel like a quality rug in our space but we rolled them out end to end which turned out perfect with the band of beige lining up in the direction I preferred and ended up with a 7x10 carpet for $100.00 before taxes!!!<br />
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I will now have to figure out how to bring these two together. I'm sure it can't be too hard to stitch them together or perhaps carpet tape will do the trick and we will add a carpet pad underneath for more cushioning. </div>
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After recently hearing about how plants can up your productivity and improve your quality of life (which I already knew) I decided to add a little plant to our space to bring real life into it and picked up this leafy little guy called a Homalomena plan on sale at Lowes. I put it in this tin bucket for now but will keep my eye open for the right container with a watering tray attached. I also need to find out if it is a dog toxic plant as my little Emma loves anything green and could possibly eat it when we are out of the house which is also the reason I have not bought more plants.</div>
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You can see the granite counters in the kitchen and how the carpet ties the living room visually to the kitchen now.</div>
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I have purchased and returned so many different pillows, trying to get the right ones to work with our airy blue walls without spending a fortune or having to make them myself but some were too green blue, others too grey blue or there were not enough of the ones I did like but then on a trip to the Home Sense in Leaside I found 4 of these large real linen pillows and two of these grey pillows with just a touch of chevron and mustard yellow in them. The yellow was the little something I needed in the room to balance all the blue and ties in to the warm wood tones and it surprised me how much I love it. I still love my off white slipcovers which only require a wash about twice a year. They were the best money ever spent.</div>
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The decor gods also must have been looking upon me that day because I also found this gorgeous blue fishing float in just the right shade of turquoise wrapped in the perfect shade of twine.</div>
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You should have seen my face that day as I pushed my cart around stacked high with my perfect pillows and fishing float.</div>
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It made me so happy that I said to my honey, hey, let's have a contest and see who can get the most people to smile back at you by smiling at them. At first he said no way but that didn't stop me. I was happier than a pig in poop with my finds and one woman smiled at me and says "are you having fun today?" to which I replied, absolutely!</div>
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After that, he joined in and we each counted 8 people by the time we were done and ready to leave 10 minutes later and I'm sure some folks just thought we were nuts but I didn't care, it just felt good.</div>
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A woven garden stool was also on my wish list but they were always too much money but I found this one a while back at Target on sale for 30% off and snapped it up knowing that even though the colour is too light I can transform it's raw texture with some stain. I am probably going to darken it to a medium stain and then give it a wash of white paint over that to soften it.</div>
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I found this heavy quality comfy vintage chair over 10 years ago at Value Village for some ridiculous price like $40.00 or maybe even less. I brought it down from our upstairs at Christmas time for extra seating and aside from the pattern, it is the perfect addition and has the right scale for our room. It will eventually get a slipcover for chair perfection and I don't even have to do a thing to the legs with their nice walnut stain.</div>
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I also recently found this lovely piece of pottery in the antique barn east of my work and could not pass up on it. It is a lovely shade of turquoise that is actually not as green as it looks in the photo.</div>
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I love that it is a Canadian made piece, although not an expensive collectors piece it just spoke to me with it's organic shape and it now has a place on my side table to the left side of the sofa.</div>
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And so the TO DO LIST happily continues....</div>
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1. Properly add feet to the bottom of the coffee table, its temporarily propped up on 1" blocks for now.</div>
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(I didn't like it flat on the floor and wish we had made it that way from the start). </div>
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2. Sanding and staining parts of it darker and painting the legs and skirt white. </div>
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3. Stain to and white wash the garden stool. </div>
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4. Either spray the metal of our glass lamps oil rubbed bronze or darken the shades. </div>
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5. Find two different grey/mustard pillows for the love seat, the old striped ones don't work now.</div>
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6. Make the turquoise pillows on the love seat a little smaller so they suit the scale of it. </div>
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7. Add antique brass cabinet knobs to the built-in doors, I am so loving that finish these days. </div>
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8. Add bead board or perhaps grasscloth wallpaper to the backs of the built-ins or if we do bead board on the built-ins then I may add grasscloth under glass to the inside of the tray side tables. </div>
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9. Paint the little pedestal table to the right of the love seat. </div>
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10. Accessorize the open shelves better. </div>
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11. Stain the love seat legs to match the sofa. </div>
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12. Find fabric and have slipcover made for little chair.</div>
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13. Find shades for the sconces. </div>
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14. Have mom paint a smaller scale painting for under the wall sconces near the love seat.</div>
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15. Buy another set of white curtains for more fullness and hang on rings instead of the pocket tab back for a more tailored look.<br />
16. Buy carpet pad and stitch or tape carpets together.<br />
17. Buy a plant pot for plant.</div>
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18. Last but not least have Todd build built-ins for the TV wall that I have designed.</div>
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Oh yeah and have a party to celebrate the finale!</div>
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Have a great week!</div>
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<br />Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-14373089093217987402014-12-31T19:04:00.000-05:002015-01-03T22:29:17.850-05:00Lightening Up and My Greatest Inspiration<div style="text-align: center;">
Hi All!</div>
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I hope that everyone has had a healthy and happy Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful New Year. </div>
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I for one am and have had an epiphany of sorts. </div>
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You see it has been a heck of a year with my health again and am still trying to figure things out why I don't feel good just about every other day but while I've been off for Christmas vacation this week, I came to the astounding realization that if I wait to feel like I think I should, I could be waiting a very long time and life is not going to wait for me. </div>
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I have also been my own worst critic and while in my low energy state, I have allowed myself to be a negative perfectionist but alas<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763;"> I AM HAPPILY GIVING THAT TYPE OF THINKING THE BOOT </span><br />
once and for all! </div>
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I had previously started this blog with such joy but slowly as time passed, compared myself and allowed myself to become intimidated by those who were creating, renovating, designing, building, photographing with such great energy and completion that I allowed it to make me feel bad when I was not getting anything big done in my own life.</div>
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But, the thing is, this is MY life, my own unique life with accomplishments big or small that no matter what they are, instead of critiquing them, I choose to celebrate them and share them here once again as well as take joy in the energy and amazing creativity of all you wonderful bloggers. </div>
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I also have been so very inspired by my big brother Ken who has suffered greatly a terrible tragedy this past entire year and still is after a spiral fracture to his tibia from playing hockey which required repeated surgeries and has and still does cause him such terrible pain. He has come close to loosing his leg and may not regain full use of his foot.</div>
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You see my big brother, unbeknown to him, is my hero. He is an amazing one man show along with his incredible wife Barb, just the two of them running their Island View Marina in Bailieboro together and as well he is a boat and auto mechanic and a dedicated volunteer Fire Captain who also maintains multiple snowplow contracts for the winter season. He NEVER EVER asks for help even when he was laid up in the hospital while the snow kept coming last winter worrying about who was going to take care of the snow removal but he is the very first person to help others. He is an amazingly devoted father and cares about his kids and grand kids with such kind and gentle love. He has had to learn to sit for months at a time to let his leg heal which literally killed him to do as he you could never get him to sit still ever and against his doctors orders would get into his truck and literally drive with the other leg which no doubt caused him great discomfort so that he could be sure and get his snow plowing done. </div>
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Seeing him at Christmas made me realize that although my own issues are very real and at times feel insurmountable and never ending, they are absolutely not even a drop of what he has had to endure. He is the most amazing person I know and I am so very proud to say he is </div>
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MY BROTHER.</div>
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Thank you Ken, my dear sweet brother for showing me what it is to be strong. If I can have just half of the strength that you do, I will be happy.<br />
and so<br />
without further a-due here is my perfect imperfect Christmas!</div>
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I am so very very blessed.</div>
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Happy 2015!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-58112914771164969672014-09-10T22:15:00.003-04:002014-09-18T21:24:12.143-04:00Erfa's "Thyroid" Disaster, Paleo Diet and a White Fence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello! </div>
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Once again I'm a deliquent blogger and I truly apologize for that. I have been dealing with thyroid issues caused by unknown changes to my dessicated thyroid medication called<br />
"Thyroid" manufactured by the Canadian company Erfa and I am not the only one. There is a blog post by Janie Bowthorp on her website's blog<br />
<a href="http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/">Stop The Thyroid Madness </a><br />
about it from June and I am so thankful for her being our voice in this serious matter that has put those of us affected through the wringer. Once again, I have been doing the bare minimum in my life as a result and it is so very frustrating. Couple that with an extremely tight budget as we get caught up from Todd being off for two months with sciatica means we have not done anything too exciting this summer. As well sitting on the wifi connection while on the computer still leaves me very drained physically so I have been avoiding it when I can.<br />
Since this is the only dessicated thyroid available to us in Canada (they have about 3 other options in the US) it is nothing short of a disaster to my well being. Even though Erfa has admitted to moving their manufacturing facility to a different company and using a new machine to compress the tablets, they stand by the fact that they have not changed anything at all with their product. Back in 2009 Armour, another dessicated thyroid product was changed unknowingly to patients and people also saw a return of their hypothyroid symptoms. It is a crime that this can happen. It is wreaking havoc on my life and I pray for some sort of a miracle that they go back to whatever they were doing correct.<br />
If you know of anyone who is taking Efa's "Thyroid" and has not being doing well since the start of this year then please direct them to Janie's blog so they can see what others have been experiencing.<br />
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And about a month ago we embarked on a new diet direction, the Paleo diet to see if it helped me feel better. It has been wonderful and there are so many health benefits to it that I feel are helping us both and even my mom has given it a try. This diet takes more time and effort but is well worth it when your day is not plagued with the side effects of eating grains, even gluten free grains.<br />
Today I whipped up some Paleo approved zuchinni pancakes from the "Nourishing Meals" cookbook for breakfast which are easy and delicious.<br />
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A couple of weekends ago, my honey started staining the fence and gate on the east side of the house white. </div>
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He left the small recessed areas of the lattice for me to do.</div>
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And I managed to get them done on the inside of the gate first, which of course was dumb now that I think about it since no one sees this side very much.</div>
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And then this past weekend the weather was fence staining perfection with little humidity and clear blue skies. Because the fence is a couple of years old, a week ago Todd powerwashed and then sanded the entire fence and the we both spent two full days staining it a nice pure white on the outside.<br />
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Every one of our neighbours think it looks nice but one guy we have never seen before wanted to know why we were painting it white and said it looked just fine as a wood fence. I wanted to throw my stain roller at him as he walked away and my honey wanted to ask him why his shirt was so ugly but we just smiled and replied, ah well this is much cleaner looking.<br />
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My limelight hydrangeas have monstrous size blooms this year and I'm not sure what I did to deserve them but they are gorgeous!<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">We just love how pretty and fresh it looks. Earlier in the summer Todd had to remove a large juniper and a sand cherry </span>on this side of the house that<span class="Apple-style-span"> had died and we hope to level out the yard and and add fresh sod before the snow flies and perhaps transplant some plants from the back garden. </span><br />
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But now the Benjamin Moore Weston flax house colour looks so faded and dingy so hopefully we can rectify that next year and paint it a nice warm grey along with repainting most of the windows that need it as well.<br />
This side has nonworking gates that in the event that we need access to the yard with any equipment etc. then all we have to do is unscrew them to open them up.<br />
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This is the back of the yard at our neighbours driveway and we still need to get a second coat on it.<br />
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I picture some nice easy to maintain shrubs along this street side but that too will have to wait until next year but for now I am so pleased with our fence. Now if I could just convince him to one day install a cute shorter picket fence for the rest of the yard which I think will be absolutely perfect for our charming home.<br />
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-32882762147383749572014-06-09T16:44:00.000-04:002014-06-10T20:48:46.619-04:00Nantucket Chic Zoey Cabinet<div style="text-align: center;">
Time has flown by in a wink since I last posted. Both my honey and I have had our share of challenges with our health these past months, and it has meant that home renovations and projects of any sort have not happened. Things are finally returning to normal and this weekend I was quite excited to take this absolutely adorable cabinet I've had for some time from seriously shabby to fresh and lovely.</div>
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Here she is with one coat on the inside of the dreamiest ocean blue that I custom mixed (seems to be the way with me) from a number of different blues I had on hand and on the outside with a soft white that is just natural white base.</div>
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It is solid wood and I love the carving detail.</div>
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She really is a perfect slim size for a front entry or a little princess's bedroom or even a flat screen tv console. </div>
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and after two coats of paint.</div>
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Please ignore the big black inversion monstrosity that is taking up space in our dining room. My sister graciously loaned it to us to help with my honey's sciatica and it is helping along with regular chiropractor appointments. I am just so thankful that he is getting better.</div>
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I've chosen this gorgeous shade of a tropical ocean so that it would make a statement if it is being used as an open shelf cabinet or with the doors on for some closed storage.</div>
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It's always good to have choices!</div>
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The detail on the end is lovely too.</div>
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I have to give it a third coat of paint and a matte poly and finish the doors that have been modified a little. </div>
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I will share more soon.</div>
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I promise.</div>
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I hope you are having a fantastic summer so far!</div>
Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-53532385948248620052014-03-16T17:47:00.001-04:002014-03-16T19:19:43.162-04:00Value at the Village, Sarah and Tommy, Mom's Art<div style="text-align: center;">
I realize it has been quite some time since I posted and that is mostly since I have spent more time focusing on the every day tasks of life, eating (well), sleeping, walking, relaxing and doing more of all of that (except eating). Projects in the house are still there waiting on our attention but I am no longer in a rush, doing what I can when I can and trying to create other moments in life.</div>
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So Mom and I recently enjoyed a day out together and one of our stops was to Value Village. Mom who is a crazy book lover (must be the librarian in her) spotted this large coffee table book by the infamous sea explorer, Jaques Cousteau and graciously let me have it to buy. We all grew up watching Jaques Cousteau and loved all he brought to us through his research and adventures with the undersea world. </div>
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It was a mere $5.00, truly an unbelievable deal.</div>
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I removed the glossy coloured jacket to reveal this stunning white and grey scheme with a simple beautiful font and I knew it would be a perfect addition to our living room.</div>
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I have yet to read this incredible book that is full of such amazing information that Jacques dedicated his entire life to but the pictures alone are stunning.</div>
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And as we were waiting in line at the cash I spotted a back wall of frames and pictures that we hadn't seen and decided to check them out while mom saved my spot in line. I spotted this heavy beautiful banana weave laundry basket with a hinged lid sitting right beside the frames and when I saw the price tag ($7.99) I wanted to yell </div>
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"START THE CAR, START THE CAR"!!!, </div>
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so I quickly picked it up and headed for the cash. </div>
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We walked out and I couldn't believe that I just spent a measly $13.00 on a stunning book and a basket that would normally cost $80.00.</div>
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So I get home and after showing Todd (so he'd believe I only spent that much) I cut the tag off and it was then that I noticed a piece of paper stapled to the price tag and when I turned it over it had that days date written on it with someone's name and "not paid for ". </div>
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Neither I nor the cashier saw it because the writing was facing the wrong way and it was then that my heart sank.</div>
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Someone had found it before me and asked a staff person to set it there and hold it for them perhaps while they shopped. It was late and the store we went to was a 45 minute drive away so there was no way I was taking it back. I still feel guilty when I toss my laundry into it.</div>
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This actually happened to me once before and also to my friend so if you ever find a good deal or something one of a kind and put it on hold at the front of the store, don't trust that it is safe if it's sitting somewhere that someone else can come by and pick it up either on purpose or by accident. Better yet, pay for it and put it in your vehicle and then go back in for the rest of your shopping.</div>
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I thought I would share another wonderful eye candy book that was a delightful Christmas gift from my nephew Rob and his sweet girlfriend Laura. It is written by the founders of the Brighton England store, i gigi, Zoe Ellison and Alex Legendre.</div>
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They have mastered the art of taking antique and found objects and incorporate them into design in a visual blend of texture and tone in it's simplest perfection.</div>
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This last picture of Alex's home is my favourite. I love the rawness of the table and chairs contrasted with that incredible drippy chandelier above.</div>
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Joanne and I went to this years IDS show in Toronto and had a great time and a photo op with my favourite designer Sarah Richardson. Not sure why she had to scrunch down though! I was a little nervous and when she scrunched down, silly me, looks like I did a little too. Dang, wish I'd worn my high heels. Ha!</div>
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We also listened to Sarah talk at the main stage and she is on fire, the lady has so much charisma and energy and such a passion for design, she is truly a superstar. </div>
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and we also had a pic with her design partner the funny and oh so incredibly talented Tommy who was wonderful manning the booth all weekend that displayed Sarah's new fabric line which is available through her website. I have to say that Tommy is the real deal, so friendly and funny.You have to check out Sarah's fabrics, they are all gorgeous and so true to her style.</div>
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<a href="http://shop.sarahrichardsondesign.com/">Sarah Richardson Design</a><br />
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We also listened to Suzanne Dimma, editor of the wonderful Canadian House and Home magazine speak with Mark Challen on the main stage and after Suzanne was gracious enough to speak with a couple of us who had questions. I told her I was stumped about our coffee table, whether to paint it or stain it and she said paint it which I wasn't expecting to hear. She was so nice and easy to speak with and it was great to hear her advice yet I'm still unsure what I will do. </div>
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And so the living room is still a work in progress and the latest addition is a stunning beach scene my very own Mom painted.</div>
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I am tickled pink about it and just LOVE it!</div>
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She is so so talented.</div>
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And to pick up the intense colour of the painting I added a few globes as well as a gorgeous cotton knit throw that was a lovely gift from a sweet customer. </div>
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I painted the coffee tables white as well and wish I'd done it ages ago as it truly evokes the beach house aesthetic I love.</div>
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Here is another amazing little water colour that mom did.</div>
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I think I recall her saying, oh, I was just messing around that day.</div>
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What?!!! Pleeeeeease! </div>
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She never thought it would get framed and is an odd size so I took it to staples to see if it would copy onto a size for a frame I already had. It isn't the ultimate thing to do as I want her original art framed but is such an inexpensive option. I realize as well that the white frame doesn't do it justice as well.</div>
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It worked but it did not copy the colour perfectly so I am going to find a darker frame and then a get a custom matte for it afterall.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">House of Turquoise </td></tr>
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I have always, always coveted a large wall clock which usually cost hundreds of dollars but when I saw this one on Erin's House of Turquoise website, I'd new I'd found my answer. It will be so easy to make and in it's perfection, reads "Island time" with no working clock arms, means, when life is as care free as that, who cares what time it is.</div>
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So fun! </div>
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The sun shone today with a chilly - 9 degree high going to - 19 tonight and even thought winter has dragged on I have enjoyed the fact that we have had our share of unusually sunny days, which makes me happy. Hope you are having a great weekend.</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-4488211020026328442013-12-29T12:17:00.000-05:002013-12-29T12:17:57.515-05:00<br />
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Hello! I hope everyone is doing well and has enjoyed a healthy and happy Christmas season.</div>
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I know it has been quite some time as I have taken quite a break to recharge, dental issues were so great this year and took a lot out of me. As well I suspect that I am very sensitive to WIFI connection, makes me feel very sick afterwards and since we do not currently have a hardwired connection for our internet I have been staying off the computer unless absolutely necessary. I am going to order a special energy pendant that apparently protects you from EMF's and helps with energy levels as well and am hoping it works so I can keep posting!</div>
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I will let you know if it does.</div>
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We have survived the ice storm that caused widespread hydro failure in and around the GTA. </div>
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Today is already a mild 2 degrees and is such a relief for so many. We managed to keep our power the entire time and my heart went out to those who were without it for so long and over the holidays. </div>
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Our poor trees toppled over and sadly many were completely lost under the strain of the thick ice.</div>
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I was up early Christmas morning and the sunrise although eery was quite beautiful, casting a warm glow over the frozen branches. </div>
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Mom and Dad once again hosted Christmas dinner and Mom's decorating of the dining room in reds and green was gorgeous! I made and brought with us pecan roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potato custard (that tastes just like pumpkin pie) and gluten, grain, dairy free chocolate chip cookies that everyone tried and loved!</div>
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I remember this lovely little nativity scene since I was just a little girl and was so happy to see it displayed once again.</div>
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She even decorated the kitchen window with her collection of homes all nestled in a layer of snow and lights. </div>
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I kept things on the simple side for our home in shades of white, blues and red. </div>
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I found this heavy little pine cone wreath at Goodwill for $4.99 and I removed the garish gold bow and the plastic snowflake garland that was wrapped around it but kept the pretty pale blue ribbon and I painted a free cabinet door with chalkboard paint and gave it a Merry little message.</div>
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On the same day I also found this little red spray berries wreath also at Good Will and it was just $3.99. </div>
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And just before the holidays in bad timing we experimented with a new hall colour, one on the upper level called Divine White by Sherwin Williams and one on the lower level called Pewter Revere by Benjamin Moore as well as started priming the stairs back to white from a teal blue. I really grew tired of it and the white is just so beachy and easy on the eyes. Divine White is the winner and I can't wait to add it to the lower level. </div>
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I sold my chalkboard that was previously hung here in our stairwell off the kitchen and so I had to come up with something else for the holidays. I used a lovely antique frame, wreath, hurricanes and a pot of fauxliage I already had for a simple and festive little vignette.</div>
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I look forward to a New Year full of new possibilities and answers as I plan to find a new doctor to help me get to the next level of health, so I can feel better all the time and finally realize my goals and dreams.</div>
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I wish you and yours a Happy New Year and best wishes for the coming year!</div>
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<br />Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-81895978373282732872013-09-30T22:04:00.002-04:002013-10-02T21:32:32.067-04:00Master Bedroom Renovation, Free Hall Tile, Dining Room Details, New Coffee Table Legs<div style="text-align: center;">
I have to apologize as this is a longer than normal post for me and I hope I don't bore you too much with construction pictures but I couldn't help but share what is an exciting renovation for us and since I got a few other things done, wanted to share them as well.<br />
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There has been much completed already in our master bedroom that needed to have a full gut of the entire room with the exception of the floor.</div>
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My honey removed the window and found the framing was rotted so he reframed it properly with new wood.</div>
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This room has sat unused for most of the time we've lived here as it was not a nice room to be in with it's 1940's stained and peeling wallpaper and leaky walls. It did house our Ikea clothing wardrobes along with this beast which remained in the room while he worked around it which was a serious pain in the you know what for him.</div>
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This wall was very poorly built and you can see the old closet door. We are fortunate to have a closet in two of the three bedrooms which can be rare for a century home.<br />
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And to the left of the closet door there is the old stair case and the built-in hall closet, pretty rough stuff eh? So our home was built in 1878 and then renovated in 1915 and they blocked in the old stair case with a cupboard and made a new larger stair case on the opposite side of the house. </div>
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You can see the old stair tread and riser here along with some of the old wallpaper. I have some of this paper already saved for our home's history records.</div>
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The closet is a decent size but nothing compared to todays standards and has an awkward slop to it because of the old staircase. </div>
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So with it's slanted side wall and hard to access space we decided to make changes.</div>
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At first we were going to put our Ikea Pax wardrobes on the wall opposite the bed and build them in to look custom and keep the hallway built-ins along with this cupboard but felt that at 2' x just over 6' the wardrobes would take up to much space and it would be much nicer to have a large dresser and a TV instead.</div>
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So my honey came up with the idea that we remove the hall closet built-ins and use that space for the master closet. It bothered me to give up what is our main linen cupboard so I designed a plan that would incorporate storage in what will be our office niche instead so it will not be lost necessary storage afterall. </div>
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He then gutted the space and due to the poor construction of it removed the entire wall with the closet door as well and rebuilt it properly. </div>
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Isn't that a thing of beauty?! Well it is to me. I am always amazed at how he does such great framing work. And not only does he make it look good, everything is plumb and true. When you embark on a project like this, you never know what you will get and even though it is a great expense to do it properly we would not have it any other way. It may mean that there is not much at all for decoration when we are done but it is important to get the bones of a home right, especially when it comes to structure.<br />
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On the left is the new master bedroom closet space and on the right, the area that you see insulation stacked on the floor is the cupboard for the adjacent bedroom that is on the other side of this wall. Since we had access to do it, it was a good time to gut that closet as well and properly insulate it.</div>
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And the exciting part of this renovation and what will be the showpiece is the sliding barn door that he is going to make for this closet. We have yet to decide on the style but I just know it is going to be incredible!</div>
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The ceiling was a nightmare structurally to say the least but it was not a surprise to us as it is par for the course of what we have found in our home as we go along. Sure is funny to think that the owner who did the work was a carpenter. </div>
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Ok, so look at this, two pieces of wood joined how? in the middle, doing what exactly? The new wood you see is ours of course but seriously?! What were these guys thinking back then?</div>
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Rebuilding a ceiling is scarey stuff not for the average DIY'er.</div>
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He added new ceiling joists and then cut out all the old joists, basically rebuilding the entire room, walls, and ceiling. We entertained a cathedral ceiling but in the end it would be just too much work and more money so he has chosen another coffered ceiling like our living room. It's going to be<br />
SWWWWEEEET!!</div>
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The neat thing about this room is the doorway is on an angle and the old plaster was formed a certain way that drywall could not, so he had to rebuild the doorway as well so it will work for it.</div>
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Finally after so much headache working around it and after removing the door and opening up the doorway, my honey attempted to move the exercise beast into the hall and miraculously it came through and fit into our future office niche. I know he wishes he did it sooner that's for sure.</div>
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The walls are all framed up and insulated and now he is working on getting the ceiling sealed up before it gets too cold. <br />
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So even though it is not pretty stuff and it will take a while for this project to be finished, I am thrilled that it is happening. </div>
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Todd and his tile guy just finished a tile job where the previous contractor did a poor job and was fired and the customer asked Todd to come in and remove all the old tile and retile with new tile, properly. The customer didn't want any of the old tile and generously offered it to Todd so he brought it all home. It is a good quality porcelain 12x12 tile and a matching subway tile and all it needs is a quick scrape of the small amounts of mortar that was on the backs. We dry laid this pattern on the floor and it seemed ok but lacked pizzaz for me.<br />
You see I had my heart set on something else, something unique, something that was pretty yet low maintenance and well priced. Previously we had found an amazing cream, grey and tan marble in a stunning finish unlike anything I've seen before called river washed and chiselled on sale for $3.00 a square foot that I drooled over for days but Todd thought it was too light. Also I had vowed to pick something more practical for our main entrance than a stone that would require regular sealing and could possibly get scratched by Emma's nails. If I could just make this FREE porcelain tile work then we could possibly have radiant heat which would be perfect for keeping boots warm and dry in the winter time with no worries of them wrecking it.</div>
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Then I remembered that we had a couple of 12x12 crema marfil marble tiles downstairs leftover from our kitchen backsplash!</div>
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I cut them into smaller strips and laid them down to create a pattern like a carpet and whala!</div>
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The polished stone sparkles and creates the pretty factor I was looking for against the more subdued porcelain tiles but will not be so much that it will be a chore to maintain. </div>
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Decision made. A light epoxy grout will add the freshness I want and we will only need about 5 more tiles of the crema marfil marble which I can get it for a great price through my work.</div>
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It sure is nice to have that decision made.</div>
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With a little help from my honey this weekend, we put the hardware on the dining room sideboard that I recently made over.</div>
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The handles are antique brass, three we already had from I don't remember where and three came off the built-ins we removed from the hallway upstairs. The knobs which are new, are a close match in finish to the handles and were just $2.00 each from work. The only imperfect thing is the handle on the last drawer is perfectly polished brass so I will have to figure out how to give it a patina treatment.<br />
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I finally hung the new beach print as well and added a piece of driftwood that Todd and I found on the beach in Beaverton this summer along with a pair of bleached boxes from Home Sense.<br />
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The last thing I want to do is darken the base of the lamps so that they look more like wood. I have to say that this is probably my favourite piece in the house now next to our empire antique dining room table and I love how each one shines on it's own. Oh, yes, that thing in the far corner is a junior paddle that I acquired from my neighbour when I had our garage sale. I traded him an antique salt box (which I later realized duh, he got the better of the deal) and I have yet to find the perfect spot for it so for now it sits there.</div>
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On the other side of the room things are slowly, I means slllooooowly shaping up. You see, the weekend that I painted the doors for the built-ins, well, I ended up painting all the trim and woodwork all over. I got it all done except for the window above the fireplace and you can see how the new white is much crisper and fresher than the old white that was in there before so I think that was a good change and I like it much better.</div>
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New, old (misplaced and couldn't find for forever until recently) chandelier shades were added to the chandelier makes for a cozier light. New push button dimmer for it coming soon!</div>
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The newly painted built-ins have turned out perfect, Todd has done a fabulous job. I just haven't decided on the finish for the knobs for the doors.</div>
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Last but not least, a while back, Todd gave the coffee table beefier legs and we both like it better and no more wobbles! He still has to add dowels to the openings where the screws go and then I will give it it's final finish but in light of all he is currently doing I don't think I should expect it to be any time soon. Hey, no problemo! I can wait. </div>
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Isn't it funny how that little Emma always gets in the shot?!</div>
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On the health side, things seem to have slowly declined for me, a root canal is finally finished that started last march and that is an eye opener that my immune system is not doing so great. I also am realizing that my hormones are in dire straights and so I am taking the time to educate myself further, to find my own answers and seek out professionals who will work with me to get things in order. It also means that I need to take time to recharge, exercise, and most important of all be in bed and asleep by 10.<br />
So that said I bid you a good night!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-32418833589337825512013-09-02T10:37:00.000-04:002013-09-30T20:02:43.928-04:00Ikea Hutch Makeover and Built-in's Finishing Touches<br />
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It's been a wonderful week off from work that I decided to take last minute since Todd's next job has been delayed which means we could spend the week together with no real plans at all, just hanging out doing whatever we please. </div>
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It was also nice to be home with our girl as we recently had our Emma spayed and in spite of her age she has recovered nicely. It was a tough decision to make but I now feel it is the best thing for her in spite of her age. I was torn because I was given different opinions about what is best for your dog but after hearing from a vet tech about the many unspayed dogs who got mammary cancer and the risk of pyometra we decided that this is the very best thing for her health. Also she was going into heat way too often which kept her confined to the house and yard for a month at a time and along with the stress of worrying about her gettting pregnant should she get out or a dog get in, made the decision all the more easy to make.</div>
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So with my time to do whatever my hearts desire I decided to tackle this not so pretty piece.<br />
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We purchased this Ikea pine sideboard from the scratch and dent section for $275.00 many years ago and I have lived (for the life of me I don't know why) with it in this dark stain all this time. </div>
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So we got her outside for her makeover and I patched the hardware holes and sanded all the edges back to the bare wood with the palm sander.<br />
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and gave the top a good sanding as well in case I wanted a very distressed look<br />
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Then we brought her inside for the painting since they were calling for rain here and there. I know many people don't paint the inside of cabinets but I wanted her to be fresh inside and out. Two coats of STIX primer by Dulux (this stuff is amazing and sticks to any surface without sanding) and then I used up a wee little sample pot of my first Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Cream which I bought from Simply Cottage in Bracebridge for $15.00. I've have always wanted to try Chalk paint but I didn't want to spend the money on a full quart in case I didn't like it. As you can see it is more like a yellow than a cream. I used a brush and applied it sparingly mostly to ensure I'd have enough to paint the entire outside and not run out. Thankfully I did and I loved the coverage as well as the finish but that was not the final coat.<br />
I wanted to have the warmth of the cream/yellow come through along with the wood when I sanded it back.<br />
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Then I brushed on a coat of white paint that I had kicking around in natural base.<br />
Nothing fancy here and and definitely a money saving option. I pondered over a second coat but actually liked seeing the texture of the brush marks and a tiny bit of the yellow showing through when you look close.<br />
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The next step, I used my palm sander again to sand all the edges so that the warmth of the raw wood and a touch of the dark stain showed through.<br />
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I couldn't believe how easy the entire project was.<br />
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In just a few places I lightly sanded to let a bit of the Annie Sloan Cream chalk paint show through.<br />
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I even distressed the shelf so the inside is as pretty as the outside.<br />
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I decided to let the top stay mostly white with the edges sanded back all around so a little of the cream showed through as well.<br />
The last step is to give it a coat of finishing wax to protect it. I previously purchased a tin of Minwax finishing wax a while ago only to read some reviews that it darkens a piece. Since I love it just the way it is I am going to get some clear beeswax to finish it instead.<br />
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Now I had to come up with some inexpensive but wonderful new hardware for it to really shine. I pondered simple inexpensive knobs but remembered we have a drawer of leftover knobs in the basement and look what I found! Three antique solid brass suitcase pulls that I think will look incredible. Two have the original patina which is spot on for this piece and I guess I had cleaned up the other one way back so I will have to see how I can give it a faux aged treatment. I need 11 pieces total so then I remembered that we will have three more leftover from the master bedroom renovation. That means all I would have to do is find 5 knobs for doors and the smaller drawers in a similar finish or perhaps a little contrasting for more interest. Reuse, recyle.<br />
Perfect!<br />
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And here she is styled with a new wonderful beach print that we both fell in love with at HomeSense!<br />
The handles will be a nice punctuation detail on the soft white and I am over the moon with how well this has turned out so far and I got the two thumbs up from my honey as well so that makes my day.<br />
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Ok, I have to add this in now, I'm feeling a little smug. I was flipping through the June House and Home magazine after I created this post and came to this page and remembered how I loved this piece but forgot about it, (or subconsciously I didn't) and think ours is a pretty close version for ooh about<br />
$7300.00 less. Not bad eh?<br />
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And now I have to show you what I am even more excited about. I am really doing a happy dance, seriously. We are finally putting the new doors on our built-ins in the living and dining room!<br />
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I have been patiently waiting for this day for so long and it is finally coming together but the only thing is I have created more work for my honey as I changed my mind on the design in the dining room after they were finished but thankfully before we got the doors.<br />
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As you can see here the doors would have been lower than the top left open shelf and after it was done I thought it would look funny afterall. Soooooo....<br />
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I asked him to make a second shelf above so it lines up with the left side and add a 1 1/2" face frame so they are the same as the living room built-ins. I also asked him to add the 1 1/2" face frame to the fronts of the open shelves as well which he is working on right now as I type.<br />
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I am so glad I changed it and am so thrilled with the result.<br />
Thank you honey!<br />
Oh yeah. I forgot, we recently picked up these four mint condition chairs from Kijiji and am trying them out here as we moved our other ones to the kitchen. I like each room to have a more contemporary touch and these chairs might do it. I'm still pondering.<br />
I know they say that dining rooms are becoming obsolete but I love having one as it is a room that is mostly about beauty, a room you can just sit and enjoy a cup of tea without too much else going on in it which to me is so very relaxing.<br />
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Summer is coming to a close and I hope you have enjoyed yours to the fullest.<br />
It's supposed to be a nice fall so let's hope it's not over afterall!<br />
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-76228817182277865282013-08-18T13:33:00.001-04:002013-08-18T13:33:48.738-04:00Muskoka Living<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="goog_740711661"></span><span id="goog_740711662"></span>Hello!</div>
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A couple of weekends ago we took a drive for a day trip to visit Muskoka Living located in the gorgeous little cottage town of Port Carling.</div>
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When we pulled into the parking lot I couldn't wait to go see what was inside after seeing the gorgeous baskets and striped accessories outside.</div>
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And it did not disappoint!<br />
The most amazing and unique pendant lanterns take your breath away and are scattered throughout the store. </div>
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The overall colour scheme was shades of greys and creams in the main area with touches of amber toned woods which was so soothing and restful in spite of there being a lot of items displayed.</div>
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Another area was accented with shades of blue.</div>
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So many gorgeous pillows cleverly displayed. I would have easily snapped them up had they not been $169.00 and up.</div>
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and of course my absolute favourite that I covet, Dash and Albert rugs mixed in with natural woven rugs. </div>
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Can you believe this coffee table is $2000.00! </div>
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It certainly is a stunner though.</div>
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More beautiful pendants and custom furniture pieces in washed grey tones.</div>
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Greyed wicker and weathered wood lanterns were scattered throughout the elegant store creating the feeling of casual kick back cottage living.</div>
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I always shy away from black accents but this area really catches my eye and I adore that chandelier!</div>
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Most of the lamps were shades of white bases or blue or wood bases with white shades.</div>
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Faded florals juxtaposed against driftwood and sparkle, perfection!</div>
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I have never ever walked into a store that was the epitome of all I love down to every last detail. </div>
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It truly is the Elte of cottage country which means that I will just have to find the way to get the look for less. </div>
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I hope you are enjoying your summer that seems to have whizzed by and if you are ever get a chance you simply must check out Muskoka Living in beautiful Port Carling.</div>
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<a href="http://muskokalivinginteriors.com/HOME/1/">Muskoka Living</a></div>
Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-15094289075571853202013-07-02T13:49:00.000-04:002013-07-02T13:49:09.224-04:00Catching Up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I really cannot believe just how long it has been since I've posted and am hoping that I can get some sort of normality back. You see, my root canal situation has dragged on with swelling in my lymph glands and face remaining even after the root canal is finished and as a result have been to even more appointments on my days off trying to find out why it is like that.</div>
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In between all that we have celebrated Mother's day, Father's day, Todd's 50th birthday and my sisters Karen's birthday and we also managed to participate in our town's community garage sale a couple of weekends ago and the day was nothing but spectacular and a success. Here is the front porch loaded with our wares the day before. Many people commented on how nice our items were and I got a chuckle when one lady even said, you could have your own store! </div>
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I had a blast with my mom who came up for the day and brought some of her paintings and even sold two which was the first for her and has now inspired her to think about selling them on a regular basis.</div>
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Way to go Mom!</div>
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We didn't sell these quality set of chairs but that is ok as we have plans to transform them into something even better and then sell them.</div>
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antique table </div>
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vintage iron stool</div>
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new mirror</div>
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I still have the above items for sale and have posted them on kijiji.</div>
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Another weekend we spent giving my Dad's bedroom a makeover for Father's day. My Mom, my sister Karen, my nephews girlfriend Laura and I had a blast and worked so fast and efficiently to get this done in one day. Dad is a typical guy who didn't think that the state of his bedroom had an effect on him but boy was he wrong. He had boxes and many unused items and laundry piled up all on the far side of the room. We had to do this on a tight budget and since he has bad allergies we focused our money on the important things, new pillows, pillow protectors, mattress protector, linens and a light duvet. As well he had just one small and not very appealing lamp on his night stand and so we bought these nice brushed nickel lamps and I added lamp shades that I didn't end up selling in the garage sale along with a few black framed pictures. Yes, I'm aware that the middle picture is up too high, my sister was directing me and I shouldn't have listened to her!<br />
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I'm not too worried about it though because Mom is going to paint this stunning picture that we spotted when we were out shopping for the bedding and will hang over the bed in place of them. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">The far side of the room before we started was a jumble of boxes and a large trunk in front of the love seat and you couldn't even get to the windows to open them. We moved the trunk to the opposite side of the room, moved the love seat under the window and the dresser to the corner and added a faux tree from the guest room as well as a little coffee table. Mom brought in a new "old" radio that sounds great and placed it in the opposite corner on a filing cabinet she covered with a table cloth. We polished the windows sparkling clean and opened them up so the breeze blew in, turned up the tunes and thought, wow, what a difference. </span>I also sprayed a $15.00 Goodwill lantern brushed nickel and Todd hung it yesterday. Once mom gets the painting done I will show you the room again.<span class="Apple-style-span">The best was when my dad came in and we saw his face light up.</span><br />
He never asks for anything ever and so it made us all feel so good to give him a nice space for himself that is also a healthy space that will no doubt help him breathe and sleep easier. </div>
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I just love a large old world clock like this one and have been keeping my eyes open for one every time I go to Home Sense.</div>
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and brought this one home which really is a stunner but thought it might be too heavy and dark since it would be sitting beside our large dark TV. Now if the TV could only be white! </div>
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Why the heck are they black anyway? Can someone tell me that?</div>
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I told Todd I was going to spray paint it white LOL!</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span">I try to not beat myself up over what does not get done but am not successful sometimes. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">One of those things is our coffee table. I designed the legs too small and as a result the table wobbles a bit and so we have deliberated over how to change it. Then I spotted an incredible coffee table in a recent issue of </span>Canadian House and Home magazine in the gorgeous living room of one of the owner's of the upscale Muskoka Living store in Muskoka. We may do larger square legs or may go with nice chunky turned legs like their coffee table.<br />
Their living room had an uncanny likeness to ours, it had the same coffered and beadboard ceiling with a white ceiling fan, symmetrical built-ins, white slipcovered furniture and a soft pallette of colours.<br />
Unfortunately I left my magazine at my Mom and Dad's yesterday so I can't show you but you can check out the room here as well as the rest of the house and other gorgeous homes they have designed for clients.<br />
It really is the epitome of great cottage living.<br />
<a href="http://muskokalivinginteriors.com/HOME/5/">Muskoka Living</a><br />
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and it may stay like this for a while because.....</div>
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Todd got to work on the last room in our house that needs a renovation. He has gutted the room to the studs and wants to take down the plaster ceiling which I think is unnecessary as it is in good shape and of very strong plaster and would only need a light skim coat to even out the texture. I love old plaster and if I could would have it over drywall any day but insulating our home is a priority.</div>
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It may take a while as he is so busy with his own business but that is ok. Summer is here and life is too short to not try and enjoy it. </div>
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I have yet to take some vacation time this year with all our kitchen promotions we have been running. It has been so busy and great at work but I am looking forward to a rest soon and am anxious to finish up some little projects around the house.</div>
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I hope you are enjoying a truly wonderful summer so far!</div>
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<br />Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-81752183020613408672013-04-21T20:30:00.001-04:002013-04-21T20:30:54.838-04:00Sunny Day <div style="text-align: center;">
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I started off with a short laundry list of things to do, paint the bottom walls of the powder room white, finish the coffee table, laundry, vacuum, wash floors, clean bathrooms, mmm, just a few things but the sun shone brightly and -6 degrees overnight warmed up to a gorgeous plus 6 degrees. I became so much more happy and relaxed once I realized that it was going to shine all day long and and I thought it's too nice a day to be so busy and so I called my mom and invited Mom her up for a visit. </div>
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While I cleaned up the kitchen I once again wiped up the salt and pepper off the counter from under my grinders. I had been looking for the right tray or dish to put them in to contain the mess and then I realized that I could use this antique carpenters box that I have had for many years now. It does the job perfectly as well as having extra room for some organic garlic and my jars of dehydrated mixed nuts as well as my knife block.</div>
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It is the perfect size tucked in between the stove and the coffee maker.<br />
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The very first sweet smelling air dried and sun kissed load of laundry of the season including our sheets which were a delight to make the bed with.</div>
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And yesterday I stopped on my way home from work for some groceries and couldn't resist some herbs that were on sale and put them in this metal box I also had kicking around. I bought two each of cilantro, parsley, chives, greek oregano, thyme, rosemary along with beefstake tomatoes to grow outside in the summer. This is a sunny west facing window and the sill is extra deep so it is the perfect spot to for them. </div>
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I realize that the one box is too small visually for this space and it will do for now but two boxes will give them room to grow bigger once planted in pots.</div>
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And I just had to show you another one of my Mom's paintings that she has loaned to me to see if I can find a spot for it somewhere in our home. Isn't she amazing!!! I wish I had her talent. Someone wanted to buy it from her but he wouldn't buy it unless she painted a fish jumping out of the water which didn't impress her so his loss is my gain!<br />
Isn't she amazing, I couldn't be more proud.<br />
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Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day and just maybe I will tackle some of that list.<br />
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<br />Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-11492454889242539362013-04-17T10:47:00.002-04:002013-04-17T11:38:27.288-04:00Thanks Target!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had the blessing of a short day yesterday and we headed to Aurora to run errands and some grocery shopping and go to Target and pick up 8 of these gorgeous wood frames for the living room. They are the perfect medium wood tone which is so hard to find anywhere and I love that they work with the blinds and also have some nice character in the wood grain as well. I wanted to see how they look before deciding on the coffee table and end table colours. <br />
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I love how they look and ended up piling on all my cushions I have on the sofa and realized that we need that many on there to look balanced with the frames above. Of course I am still going to check out new fabrics and then have to get more cushions for the loveseat.<br />
Now that I see how they add a nice detail to the room, I am leaning towards painting the side tables still and keeping the base and the top of the table in a wood tone.<br />
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-85712370074566025592013-04-15T10:11:00.001-04:002013-04-15T21:55:05.595-04:00You Complete Me $50.00 Coffee Table<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was so much fun helping my honey make our coffee table yesterday in our friends shop. I had to bundle up though as it was colder in the barn than outside. Since the door had a larger panel on one side than the other and had places notched where the hinges originally went we had to take rip off some of the width and the length to make it a perfect 44" x 32" size.<br />
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I want to tell you a little something in case it might help someone else. You see, every time my honey and I would embark on a project in the past we would get through it but would end up arguing a lot.<br />
I had always been gluten free, dairy and processed sugar free but then Todd went gluten free and has been trying to go dairy free and what a difference. We didn't argue once yesterday and it was so nice to work together.<br />
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Here is my design we worked from.</div>
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Todd cut all the pieces of wood needed for the base from wood we already had and I did all the sanding of them and the door.</div>
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I am leaving the old holes from the hinge screws and love the dovetail joints on the ends of the door. </div>
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We then added a floor with leftover boards from when we had replace our rotted front porch floor. </div>
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No that is not a cup holder! Todd will cut a piece from the leftover piece we cut off the side to fill the hole where the door handle once was and will finish off securing the floor boards to properly support the bottom. </div>
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I will keep the recessed triangle areas white but the rest of the top will stay wood and I am undecided if the bottom will be all white or to do just the frame pieces white and keep the floor boards wood like the top. </div>
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I can't even tell you how absolutely thrilled I am with how it has turned out and my honey loves it too.</div>
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The scale is so perfect for the room and I like how the clean lines contrast to the more traditional style of our William Birch sofa and love seat.</div>
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The sun is shining and it is supposed to be 16 degrees today so I think I will take advantage and get those side table painted out so I can make a better decision on the coffee table colour.</div>
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Then all is needed is some new picture frames, new pillows, maybe paint the lamp bases, finish up the curtains for rings and hemmed properly, paint the pedestal table......</div>
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but for now,</div>
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I am feeling complete.</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-56274104291418443402013-04-14T10:51:00.000-04:002013-04-14T11:40:44.461-04:00The right spot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello!</div>
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I am feeling almost reborn today since I am finally ahead of but not quite out of the woods with this root canal infection situation and I can't tell you how crummy it has made me feel. 6 appointments later with a few more to go and I am at least able to think of doing some extra things now that the weekend is here.</div>
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Last week I moved Mom's little red house painting to this spot in our mudroom.</div>
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I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.</div>
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It has all the colours of our quartzite stone floor in it.</div>
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The picture above it is of our first girl Kayla who loved to play with tires!</div>
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I like the wood tones of this frame I spotted at the brand new Target store last weekend and think</div>
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it may look better than the dark one it's in now</div>
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and think it will tie in nicely with the wood blinds and floor in the kitchen</div>
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I also moved my "little sailboat original painting" to the kitchen counter and </div>
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love it as it gives just a touch of beach house vibe and looks great with the jewel turquoise bottles in the cupboard above and runner below.</div>
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Well I better scoot, I am so excited as Todd's getting me to help him make our new coffee table out of the old door we found and if he catches me blogging is going to have a fit!</div>
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I'll share more with you later.</div>
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Have a great weekend.</div>
Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-90755487820114231702013-03-19T16:36:00.000-04:002013-03-19T18:13:46.020-04:00Peony Paintings<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjLiVtbVDph0dr4Aq-X8xqEPz4ojrE6Zkfr-TttlxVb3bPBZ23kt1UPYKMPHoormrQNQkcG-E655AbKiNH8us8sYf69OhVo7TnZEZVzRexmZfyBbY44PUcoMsg5e80OtnyNOSdL1qHfPZ/s1600/IMG_6365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtjLiVtbVDph0dr4Aq-X8xqEPz4ojrE6Zkfr-TttlxVb3bPBZ23kt1UPYKMPHoormrQNQkcG-E655AbKiNH8us8sYf69OhVo7TnZEZVzRexmZfyBbY44PUcoMsg5e80OtnyNOSdL1qHfPZ/s400/IMG_6365.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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During the past month my dental dilemma continues (we're talking a file broken in the canal during a root canal!!!) and has been wreaking havoc on me which means I've not been able to do anything outside of work so what does one do when one can't do, one shops!</div>
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I admit, I'm a Homesense Junky. </div>
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I get a lift just walking through the store every weekend I can on our grocery shopping days and last weekend I fell in love with this colourful peony print on canvas. Maybe it is the relentlessly grey days that are making me crave some colour as well as something to lift my spirits.</div>
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Todd isn't a fan of flowers but when I asked him if he liked it he said the magic words that I rarely hear,</div>
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"whatever you like honey".</div>
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Boringly we are on hold down with bringing anything new into the house but it is fun to take items home to see how they look.</div>
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Although I love it, it was just too vibrant for our dining/living room scheme but I just had to give it a try and with a new 30 day return policy it's no issue getting it back to the store on time.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">I can't stand the espresso stain on our sideboard</span> that we found many years back at Ikea in the scratch and dent section for $225.00 and have been trying to decide what colour to paint it</div>
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The lamps WERE in the kitchen but one day someone cleaned the house for me and they somehow ended up back in the dining room!</div>
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I then remembered that I had this beautiful still life signed print by an accomplished artist,<br />
Mae Bennett Brown that I found at Value Village about 10 years ago and have always loved the sepia tones mixed with reds, creams and blue grey. I've moved it around from room to room over the years and even considered selling it on more than one occasion but just couldn't bring myself to part with it.<br />
I do like how it looks over a medium wood toned base and think that stripping the sideboard and although restaining it is an ambitious task I think it will look amazing and will be well worth it.<br />
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When I googled her name I found auction houses that have sold her original works for as much as $900.00. Mae Bennett Brown was born in 1887 and passed away in 1973.</div>
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I found the following interesting info from the communication boards on ancestry.com from someone who knew Mae.</div>
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Mae was an artist who was born in Nottingham in 1887. Her parents were theatrical folk who traveled around. At some time, Mae came to the states and settled in Rockport, MA. I know she was there at least in the 1930's as my family had several of her pastel paintings. Dear Mae died in 1973. I would dearly like to know more about her. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. thank you Mardell</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 22px;">I think Mae and her family were hiding behind the door when the enumerator came by. Thank you for the 1911 information. I know Mae had wealthy friends in my hometown and they must have helped her out. She went back to England in 1939 and went to France in 1958. Selling her floral pastels and pet portraits on commision (I have one) and teaching art classes (I used to pose for the Saturday class)did not bring in enough lolly to travel. She was an "artistic" lady.</span><br />
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I have also stripped the dining room of the excess items that were in there for just the sake of being there, all the wrong things and I feel so much better. I can't live with clutter, it just makes me crazy.</div>
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I'll never forget what Rachel Ashwell once said, that she would rather live with an empty room for as long as it takes then to live in a room with the wrong things in it. Many years ago when we first bought our home, I fell in love with Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic aesthetic and think this painting has given me a little touch of that and lends itself well to my very own "Nantucket Chic" style, a blend of Beach House and Shabby Chic inspiration along with a few contemporary touches. </div>
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And since I can't remove the sideboard as Rachel would have it, I will have to live with it like this a while longer, at least until the weather is better and I can get it outside to strip it.<br />
I think Mae's print has found it's place.</div>
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I also found many moons ago, this incredibly heavy carved wood antique mirror at a garage sale for a whopping $20.00 and like my peony print have been trying to find a home for it which I think I have found. It will look much better sitting here once I paint the table out in a soft grey.</div>
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It's gold tones are the same as the chandelier and the mirror glass has a beautiful mottled patina that can't be duplicated.</div>
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As much as I love Homesense, my heart sings when I own beautiful pieces with a past.</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-23502290807989571812013-02-16T22:33:00.001-05:002013-02-16T22:33:27.894-05:00One of a Kind Coffee Table <div style="text-align: center;">
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I have suffered an advanced stage tooth abscess last weekend and let me tell you in case you didn't know, it can be a potentially serious threat to your health if not treated. I toughed out the pain since the dentist was closed until they opened Monday but should have gone to the emergency clinic as soon as my face started to swell. I just didn't realize that the infection could do things like cut off your breathing when you slept or even worse cause heart problems if the bacteria went that way. </div>
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After getting some antibiotics and taking a day off work to rest I'm at least out pain and able to chew again. I am scheduled for a root canal next week but am happy to be feeling better than I have in a couple of weeks.</div>
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Sooo let the long weekend begin!</div>
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I spotted this gorgeous coffee table at Restoration Hardware last weekend and it made me think of the stunning old door stored in our basement that we scored for $50.00 many moons ago. I believe I posted about it once before but sadly I recently lost the file of all my pictures I've ever posted on my blog and can't retrieve them so I can't be sure. </div>
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If anyone knows how, please let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.</div>
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I have always loved the look of a larger coffee table with a rustic feel to it that says, come sit down, put your feet up, one that also has a place to spread out whatever you want on it to make your living room a multifunctional space. </div>
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And here it is in all it's unique and stunning glory! It is half of a dutch door and what an amazing door it must have been in it's past life. I picture it coming from a luxurious horse stable.<br />
I literally swoon when I look at this door with it's incredible cross design which nicely echoes the cross design on our side tables without them being a perfect match. Todd had previously started stripping it and never finished but I like it just as it is with the triangular recesses left with their old crackly paint.<br />
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I've got to figure out if there is a way to protect the wood without deepening the colour as </div>
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I LOVE the colour of the natural wood.</div>
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and the reason why we didn't originally use this as a coffee table before is because I wanted my honey to have a nice cozy ottoman to put his feet on when he sits on the love seat to watch TV which meant there was only room for the smaller coffee table that is under the door. Once it sat in place though, Todd said he was ok moving the ottoman to the other side of the room by the TV and it all looks and feels perfect to me. </div>
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and we have these 8 amazing table legs kicking around that were given to Todd that we plan to use 4 of to replace the square legs of our kitchen table and I wondered if it was worth chopping them considerably for the legs of the coffee table.</div>
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We would have to cut off the bottom square part and then most of the top square part and I'm not sure I have the heart to do that when they are such amazing taller legs that would cost quite a bit to replace.</div>
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Maybe I can find shorter fatter legs that wouldn't be too expensive but if not we will have to improvise.</div>
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I also grabbed this Ralph Lauren coral pillow on a brief stop in Home Sense last weekend to see how a bit of colour feels in the space. Hopefully this weekend I can finally get to Designer Fabrics to get some pillow fabric samples and am still torn what direction to go but feel that I will find just what I'm looking for when I get there.</div>
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I hope you all have a great Family Day weekend!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-77990237557759761242013-02-08T10:19:00.001-05:002013-02-08T11:07:02.256-05:00SUPER Stock and Snow Day<div style="text-align: center;">
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It's supposed to snow all day, my honey has headed to work on his final day on another bathroom renovation in Bradford and I called in to work earlier to tell them I will head in once the roads are plowed. If I was ever in an accident and unconscious and didn't have immediate medical attention I could die without any additional hydrocortisone in my system so I don't like to take any chances. Growing up in the country did me the favour of learning how to drive on unplowed roads and as a result I am an excellent driver and but it's the other guys I'm worried about. Then when I called back again to tell Tracey my coworker something I forgot to tell her earlier, she told me that my boss said "stay home"! </div>
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Yes!!! </div>
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Todd had cleared the snow off my car just one hour earlier as he thought I was going to work and here it is covered again.</div>
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So on this snowy Canadian winter day I thought I would make an amazingly healthy chicken stock. We had a roasted chicken for dinner last night and I actually had all the important ingredients on hand as well. As you know I'm loving my new cookbook that is gluten, dairy and soy free called "Nourishing Meals" by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre. In the past I have made my own chicken stock with some onions, carrots, celery added to a roasted chicken carcass and water but I don't think it was anything near what this stock will be as I was missing the key ingredient, apple cider vinegar that does the job of extracting all the goodness from the bones. </div>
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Further ingredients that I never added before that are immune boosting are parsley and garlic.<br />
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With literally no where to go today this is the perfect day to make this stock. </div>
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1 chicken carcass (from a 3-4 lb chicken)<br />
4 chicken wings (optional)<br />
1 large onion, chopped<br />
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise<br />
1-2 leeks rinsed well and chopped<br />
4 stalks celery, chopped<br />
2 carrots, chopped<br />
1/2 bunch parsley<br />
few sprigs fresh rosemary and thyme<br />
1 strip kombu or wakame<br />
1 tsp black peppercorns<br />
2-3 teaspoons Herbamare or sea salt (optional)<br />
1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar<br />
12 - 14 cups water<br />
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Add all ingredients to an 8 quart stockpot and gently bring to a simmer. Make sure it is a gentle simmer on low or medium heat. Cook, covered, 3 - 6 hours. The longer cooking times will extract more nutrients and produce a richer flavored stock.<br />
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Strain the stock and pour into glass jars. Once the jars are filled let them cool for 30 minutes, then freeze them uncovered. Once frozen you can screw the lid on. Doing this prevents the jars from cracking. If you plan on using the stock within a few days then refrigerate until ready to use.<br />
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Alissa writes, You can use the stock to make grains, soups, stews, mashed potatoes, sauces or basically anywhere a liquid is needed for a savory dish. To thaw quickly take a jar out of the freezer and put it in a pot of hot water.<br />
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A quote that Alissa and Tom included in their first cookbook which I recently acquired called "The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook" is absolutely so true and a reminder to us why we should look after the health of ourselves and our children to the best of our ability.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #45818e;">"When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #45818e;">art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #45818e;">wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #45818e;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #45818e;"> ~ Herophilus 300 BC</span></span><br />
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-52279995661423271732013-02-06T21:42:00.000-05:002013-02-07T18:45:56.514-05:00Cozying up the Kitchen and Solving the Microwave Dilemma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
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Not doing any major renovations leaves time to ponder the smaller things. As you may know we previously removed our 3'x5' kitchen island which seated 2-3 in favour of our table to seat four to six. Although my honey preferred the island, with much prodding he gave in to me and I absolutely love it. Half my night is spent in the kitchen cooking or doing the dishes during the winter and so I wanted to make it feel even cozier. </div>
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Many people who have kitchens that they desperately want to renovate, endure poor lighting just as we had in our old kitchen you see here and it is not necessary. You can add under cabinet lighting that you can buy off the shelf of your local renovation store that plugs in to the nearest outlet for the most inexpensive solution and then you can do what I did and add lamps to any unused surface you can find. Although we have both task and ambient light in the kitchen all on dimmers, I wanted more lighting and ended up moving the living room lamps to our large deep window ledge and what a difference with how cozy they make the kitchen feel. When they are turned on they actually provide some more privacy as well as the light blocks the view to the inside that the bamboo blinds don't.</div>
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The island housed the microwave and so when we removed the island (which we sold for a great price on kijiji), the microwave ended up on this counter which you see from the front door which looked terrible. Although convenient, I truly hated looking at it each and every day.</div>
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Now we have our counter space back that we land our keys and cell phones on at the end of the day and also a place for something pretty to look at like one of my Mom's paintings.</div>
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I know it's a little large for the space and it will eventually get moved to a more appropriate area but for now I love seeing it every day. </div>
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My honey came up with the superb idea to move the microwave to the basement stair landing built-ins in the opening that was originally designated for our bright blue ugly recycle bin. You may know this but microwaving food destroys it's nutrients so we don't use it for any of our main cooking, just for the very occasional light reheating and my favourite, warming the plates. </div>
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He added a shelf above and there ended up being just enough room for our convection toaster oven that was previously relegated to the basement since there was no where to put it in the kitchen. I don't mind taking one more step down now to reach the recycle bin that is now on the floor just to the left of the microwave and like not having to see the ugly blue bin.</div>
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All we need to now is install a new plug in the right place and add a sheet of aluminum to the roof above the convection oven and the back wall behind it for protection from the heat and we will have a secondary cooking center just off the kitchen.</div>
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Oh and the large doors on either side are getting replaced under warranty as they seemed to have warped and look terrible.</div>
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Isn't it amazing how little things can make you happy!</div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5659119993858261673.post-62698352844208406832013-02-04T21:15:00.001-05:002013-02-06T12:08:36.470-05:00Little table and Framing the Past<div style="text-align: center;">
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We headed out today to Ikea this morning and then had plans to go downtown to Designer Fabrics but I was having one of my off days so we didn't get there after all which I'm disappointed about as I was really looking forward to it. We did take a quick trip over to Bayview Village mall after Ikea though to check out Restoration Hardware. I haven't been there in a long time but love there designs. It has changed quite a bit to a very monochromatic scheme of all natural textures and tones which is very very easy to live with.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozkMvwh_8yh466y_25qXhVj56Unkk8q-e-T_KN3jOBLE4vzkf8ND5Nlds-nKEQqWhdtSWVFyN61JtPtpLkyoYOrBTnxggcCuZliCkXJWSxQKUwY-g-RhXA46o-WEjndpOnSVimRwJWLTS/s1600/IMG_6229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjozkMvwh_8yh466y_25qXhVj56Unkk8q-e-T_KN3jOBLE4vzkf8ND5Nlds-nKEQqWhdtSWVFyN61JtPtpLkyoYOrBTnxggcCuZliCkXJWSxQKUwY-g-RhXA46o-WEjndpOnSVimRwJWLTS/s400/IMG_6229.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Before I left the sun was shining and filling the dining room with gorgeous sunlight and so I snapped a photo of this cute little table I found on Kijiji and picked up yesterday. It is the perfect size for this spot in the dining room. It's a darker stain than the dining room table so I will either have to strip it and stain it light or paint it and it will get some new knobs. Here it is with a special something sitting on top that I will tell you about later.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yDx5X34byiPr5MYWv1_0orLhK7amMAUic8f-5DToEfH-bUhxqq45f3f8YaDxHFsiH5az5JNy8CDZx7yksHKZ1jGBiyu_vmcJPY3OAndPl5EvGN3o1gCAaY2mEgcQ86BFP3XSVX_5fQ2C/s1600/IMG_6256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3yDx5X34byiPr5MYWv1_0orLhK7amMAUic8f-5DToEfH-bUhxqq45f3f8YaDxHFsiH5az5JNy8CDZx7yksHKZ1jGBiyu_vmcJPY3OAndPl5EvGN3o1gCAaY2mEgcQ86BFP3XSVX_5fQ2C/s400/IMG_6256.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I did pick up a couple of baskets for the living room while we were at Ikea and when I got home I again cleared everything out that offended my eye and added a few more decorative items from my bathroom along with the baskets to the built-ins out. I also removed all the various sized pictures and added these shell prints that were also from the bathroom and think it feels so much better to have the same size frames here. It's too bad I don't have four more of these but the frame sizes are perfect so I know I will find something else.</div>
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I will have to keep my eyes open for some more affordable items for the shelves as well.</div>
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So we have this great old built-in cupboard in our upstairs hallway that have 3 big solid wood drawers on the bottom. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAt7cJhxxvHR8sA0TsREtQuhTskSeelj0EbOnvxrLkmoHTgASESlXPcflbbZDyWoNj66IW1ZfXMM5qq0J3QcNp7jo9mTfFDmT4Reu6LIjdZBS02tTumT9wBecJuhGtTWgiEpzlMuI7fr11/s1600/IMG_6175_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAt7cJhxxvHR8sA0TsREtQuhTskSeelj0EbOnvxrLkmoHTgASESlXPcflbbZDyWoNj66IW1ZfXMM5qq0J3QcNp7jo9mTfFDmT4Reu6LIjdZBS02tTumT9wBecJuhGtTWgiEpzlMuI7fr11/s400/IMG_6175_2.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="300" /></a></div>
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And when we first moved in I pulled out the bottom drawer to find this pretty pale green old wallpaper on the inside of it. So I sprayed the paper with water and carefully removed it to save for our records</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiisOSmgd9Lq1NHIcaEzNQCxQ-MQK-RDYl0ovmj9IysIJ5BcaOjVyFHz-KyoPssFKwDqGqIzSNEwnp_N616H7SBbqAeeC1gW92TgenCFtNyJGREIBYV3vS4let_zyBkJ29TNZTeuZVi4yk/s1600/IMG_6019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiisOSmgd9Lq1NHIcaEzNQCxQ-MQK-RDYl0ovmj9IysIJ5BcaOjVyFHz-KyoPssFKwDqGqIzSNEwnp_N616H7SBbqAeeC1gW92TgenCFtNyJGREIBYV3vS4let_zyBkJ29TNZTeuZVi4yk/s640/IMG_6019.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="481" /></a></div>
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and would you look what I found beneath it, another layer of even older hand blocked wallpaper! Hand blocked means they would roll the ink onto the paper just the way you would stencil instead of it being manufactured by machines. What you are looking at above is actually what is left on the wall when I carefully removed this paper which ended up coming off in pieces. It is extremely old and because it was so vibrant the ink transferred and stayed on the back wall as well. It has beautiful jewel tones of the most intense gorgeous red, and pretty greens and blues. I have kept the pieces I removed from the wall carefully wrapped in wax paper and between two pieces of glass stored away for probably 10 or more years now.</div>
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The reason the paper is inside the built-ins in the first place is because our house was renovated in 1915 and the built-ins were added then. This incredibly colourful paper would have been what the old hallway was decorated with. I can't even imagine how it looked but oh what a statement it must have made. Our entire home, walls and ceilings were wallpapered and the smooth horsehair plaster beneath the layers never ever saw a coat of paint. Back when I first found this wallpaper it I took it to the Markham museum and they told me it looked like it was a french paper. I still hope to find out exactly where it is from someday as I find it fascinating.</div>
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I tried to put the pieces back together of the original paper to make it look like the pattern left on the wall but they just didn't go back together in any order that looked good with many gaps between them and so instead I cropped the picture of the pattern that was left on the wall and had it printed at Staples for just $3.00 and put it in this frame I already had from Home Sense. </div>
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I think it is very special and a unique paper that says our homes first home owners Janet Wilson Forrest was just as prideful of her home then as we are of it today. </div>
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Serendipitous Homehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14901783747406407395noreply@blogger.com2