My first Knock Off Wood project

This week I tried my hand at furniture making. This cute little step ladder style table was for my dear friend's birthday. It's a knock off of one sold at Pottery Barn Kids. It would make a great bathroom accessory, holding bathtub goodies, or a great back porch side table.

The plans for this table can be had for free at Ana's fabulous Knock Off Wood. Man that woman is a major player in DIY world!

She was nice enough to choose my little table to feature on her site. It's so fun to see what other people are making with her never ending supply of plans. You should check it out. It's one of my favourite places to keep up on.

Happy DIY'ing!!

finding luxurious supplies on the cheap

cell phone included in photo to show scale
I popped into Homesense the other morning looking for a particular picture frame size. It was to no avail, but like a good little hunter, I immediately headed over to the department which contained the things I currently lack: decorator pillows. I bypassed the regular price pillows mind you, because I couldn't justify the prices. I headed straight to the clearance aisle.


No, I'm not looking for finished pillows that will do the trick. I want to make my own pillows. You see, even an ugly pillow could be a gem undercover. It wasn't hard to find pillow after pillow which contained feathers for it's stuffing. This week's find were 2 tacky (at least in my books) little accent pillows. They were $10 each, which is a little pricey since you can find a large reduced feather pillow for the same price, but these were rare finds. I've noticed little pillows on Etsy.com lately that I'd love to use for inspiration for my own little wonders, and why shouldn't they be feather pillows like all the others.

If you're into sewing, or at least equipped to sew pillow covers, there's no reason why you have to resort to synthetic stuffing...unless of course you have allergies.

my retro front entry was featured on Apartment Therapy!

I'm a little excited, being that I'm a seriously random and inconsistent blogger, and yet found myself being asked permission to post my latest interior design endeavor (a.k.a. making my house look purdy!). Beth Zeigler, a contributing editor for Apartment Therapy Los Angeles e-mailed me the other day to do just that.

I know i love my new front entry, but it's nice to know that others appreciate it as well.

I was featured here: Using Fabric to Transform a Cabinet

Take a look at your own stuff and see if you've got something ready and waiting to be brought to new life with a little bit of designer fabric or paper!


Cabinet makeover originally blogged here:

My Tribute to Early 70's

chair makeover

My hubby's grandfather gave us this chair eons ago. I once found a slipcover at a thrift store that fit this thing like a glove. I loved it so, but it was well loved when I got it and eventually fell apart. I can't find it now and could slap myself at the thought that I may have thrown it out! I could have used it as a template for a new one. Perhaps it'll turn up some day.

This chair had been sitting unused in the basement, so it was time to give it a makeover.


My sister put me onto Tonic Living, a store in Toronto that sells fabric online. I ordered a sample of this "retro-geometric must have" and was very happy with it.


I'm not over-the-moon about the final look. To me it says "masculine", and is a little formal looking. Maybe me and black just don't get along. Still, I can't deny that the chair has improved 100% even if I'm not head over heals for it.

my tribute to the early 70's

This piece belonged to my husband's parents, and although I've always liked it, I wanted it to really make a statement in my front entry. It's a record album holder from (I assume) the 60's or early 70's. I wanted to do something fun and little daring, at least for me. I chose the paint colour first, and then got the notion to do something different for the sliding doors. Over at Tonic Living I poured over all of the fabrics and found a Sandi Henderson design that looked like it just might be the ticket. I ordered a sample and it matched perfectly! The paint colour by the way, is Behr's "Bronze Green 350D-6".






I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the doors. This way if I ever grow tired of it, I can peel it off. I put new stainless steel knobs ordered from Lee Valley. They also turned out to be perfect replacements for the hum drum ones it originally had.

that thing on the wall is the original door chime cover, but i like it!
The painting that hangs over it is by a Montreal artist, painted in 1970. My adorable owl was a find at Winners/Homesense.

Needless to say, this area in my house is a tribute to the 70's. :)

{before}

put on a happy face!

put on a happy face!, originally uploaded by hyggelig happy.

Is this not completely adorable??!!!!!

thermostat in middle of wall

I've been trying to figure out my gallery wall for behind my couch. A gallery wall is the perfect solution to my problem on this wall. Can you see what is right smack dab in the middle of that wall? It's a freaking thermostat! How incredibly dumb is that!!

In the first photo, I had a small white frame taped with painter's tape stuck on the wall. I realized that I would do better with using a bit of a larger frame. This de-emphasizes it, at least I hope it does. Using a larger frame enabled me to re-arrange frames around it, using less frames and eliminating all the small ones. I think the second arrangement is much nicer.

I'm going to do something with the thermostat itself though. My daughter guessed right when I asked her to guess what I would do. She said "pop art?". I think I might make that old thing look like a print itself. I see a robot face when I look at it, but we'll see. Whatever I do, the thing needs the air to circulate around it so it senses the temperature in the room. Some day we'll have the darn thing moved to the doorway!


before

after
Now to figure out what colours the frames will be. I think all black would be too harsh and formal for my taste, and all white would be too predictable. I'm going to mix it up.

All I need now is more art to put in the frames!

pillow envy

Pillow for....., originally uploaded by flossyblossy.

I have GOT to learn how to quilt!!!!!

pillows

WIP-washing line, originally uploaded by monaw2008.

First off, this isn't mine, but I'd love to make something like it (minus the buttons - i can't help but see buttons and think "country style"). It's a pillow cover. Recently I've felt driven towards dusting off my sewing machine to make decorative pillows for the inadequately adorned couches in my living room.

I've ordered some fabric off of etsy and have plans to make some pillows. Not applique mind you, but this certainly has piqued my interest!

Spring inspired shelfs

Spring inspired shelfs, originally uploaded by Craft & Creativity.

Well done don'tcha think?! I found this while surfing for shelf ideas at Flickr. Nice.

designer paper

I've been admiring some designer gift wrap paper over at Luxe Paperie. Wrapping presents is not what's on my mind, not after admiring it's use in furniture makeovers over at Design*Sponge. Think drawer fronts and small table surfaces.

Here are a few of my favourites. As soon as I'm willing to pay the $20 shipping fee for $3 paper, I'm good to go. Sheesh!

Tonic Living fabric samples on their way

Late last night I was determined to choose and order some fabric samples from Tonic Living. It's my interior designer sister over at Just Beachy that put me on to them. They offer "a fresh collection of retro inspired fabrics for the designers, diy-ers, craftsters and collectors".

This first sample is a possible candidate for embellishing a retro 1970's record album holder cabinet. Yes, I mean a piece of furniture and not the kind that is upholstered. I have a plan and who knows if it'll work. Should be interesting. It's a slight departure from what I would usually choose, but I'm trying to learn to expand my horizons and not default to what seems safe.


This next sample is even more of a deviation from my personal status quo. I'm thinking of introducing this pattern into the dining room by reupholstering the chair below. My inspiration comes from perusing photos of furniture makeovers over at Design*Sponge. Oh how I drool and swoon over the stuff over there.




A big thanks to my sister for letting me know about such a great and affordable online resource for diy'ers! Their prices are affordable and their shipping costs are just as impressive.

how utterly lovely!

Meg, over at her whatever blog, posted pics back on Sept. 5th, 2009 of her toy room slash guest room makeover. It's to die for!!! Seriously! Makes me think I need way more colour in my life.

a little vignette

I was going to paint this jelly cupboard* a new colour to spruce it up. It was looking kinda boring against my pale green wall. I spontaneously dug out my cherished antique tool chest** and placed all this stuff on top of it and now the jelly cupboard looks quite grand!

To me it kinda says "country", which isn't my goal, so I'll just consider it my little homage to beach cottage style.

* this was found in the basement of an old farmhouse we were renting while we had our previous house built. It was an aqua blue but not a nice aqua blue. It also stunk and had mouse poop in it. I had a vision for it though and we offered to buy it from the owner of the house. We paid a whopping $60 for it. I love the thing.

** this was on the covered porch of the formerly mentioned farm house, partially cover in snow!!! I asked to purchase it but they just gave it to us. Sweeeeeet!!!!

new white lamps!

Jon bought us some new lamps. Goodness knows we need more lighting around here. I espied these 2 lamps at Winners/HomeSense a couple weeks ago. We went there yesterday and lo and behold they were still there. Musta been waiting for us.

My hubby bought them as a thank you for my hard work in bring home extra bacon (figuratively speaking) from my new part time job. We've been able to use my paycheques to pay some bills. Yay!

The shades are a stark white, which would work great for some interiors, but my creamy coloured couches clash with said shades.


The bases on the other hand are dreamy. When I first saw them, I ran my hands all over their nubbly glass surface. Divine! They have what I assume is acrylic bases which add a touch of contemporary'ness.

My plan is to recover the shades in a neutral light brown tone. To that I will add some white or pale ecru embroidery of some sort. A pillow in this month's copy of Canada's Style at Home magazine provides the inspiration for that idea. I snagged some $5 per meter fabric in our local fabric store's big clearance section today which will be perfect.

Though the shade of brown in this pillow is much darker than the fabric I chose, and the embroidery isn't what I'd choose to mimic, it gives a general idea of what I'm thinking. Should be a fun project!

glimpses of dining room progress

As previously mentioned, I don't want to give away too much in the way of how my dining room makeover is going. I will instead provide proof that progress is being made, in spite of work and busyness getting in the way. Lately that progress seems to be collecting things and not my DIY recessed paneling, but progress is progress.

Here are some teasers:

100% cotton table cloth made in India (where else?!), cut in 2 to be used for drapes
single place mat purchased at icky Walmart for $1.00 on clearance. i may use it in the center of the table for candles or something
i now have a gallery wall of original art! this is a little watercolour i picked up in Old Quebec City's outdoor gallery that runs from Rue Ste-Anne to Rue Buade
a new piece of furniture that i painted, preserving it's original worn look.
bottles of wine in reserve for sharing with friends
What's interesting is that the room has taken on a colour scheme that I did not pre-plan, let alone strive for. More about that in a future post!

A few of my favourite things

I don't have a lot of decorative things. I do have some favourites though. Here's four of them.

aqua blue clock. it turned out to be painted metal and not plastic. nice. (HomeSense)
mr. owl. he's actually a tea light candle holder. he's a throw back to the 70's, no? (HomeSense)
i seriously adore this mirror. (Pier 1 Imports)
my favourite original painting. i love it!! doggy digging a hole. this is the artist's original watercolour. i think she still sells the prints. (Ebay)

couldn't find a place for it!

I bought the following cool retro nightstand off of kijiji. I got it for a song. The song went something like "oh lady, would you take $25 for this". I didn't pursue it right away since it came up before payday. Now it's mine and I was delighted to have it. The problem is that many retro pieces are short. I had visions of a 70's shade of green on it, and perhaps even a glass top added to top it off, but the reality is that it looks seriously dwarfed beside my big couches. Whaaaa!


It may end up as my daughter's night stand. Sniff sniff.

skinny wall shelves and decorating style identity crisis

Oh I'm a nasty poor excuse of a decorating blogger. Lately I post "other" people's photos. I've decided I'm going to keep my dining room makeover under wraps and unveil it's final state when she's all done.

In the meantime, I'll keep posting photos that inspire me or give me ideas for what the heck to do with my poor unadorned walls and spaces.

My latest pre-occupation is with skinny shelves, as in those with a shallow depth in regards to it's profile. Something to place various objects for display. The more eclectic the better. I get the feeling I'm a wannabe eclectic-retro-modern-design kinda girl, but one has to work with one's current possessions and work with what one has (or has access to and can afford).

I don't live in a big-city-converted-warehouse-loft and so I must work with my little bungalow rather than against it. It's funny, sometimes I wish I lived in an old adorable farmhouse, other times I wished I lived where you could fall asleep to the sound of passing traffic and people. Twelve foot high ceilings, conduit, and walls of high windows. And brick. A gallery wall on brick.

I blame it on the movies.