finally picked some paint colours

I've finally found my living room colour. I was going to go for a grey-blue but I think it would have fenced me in decoratively speaking. I was flipping through my vast collection of paint chips and found a Glidden paint colour called "Ionic Green". Turns out it's a colour on Sarah Richardson's list of all-time favourites, her signature pallette as she calls it. I guess I have great taste, LOL!

Here's where she used it in a kitchen, though all you can really see here is the wall over the window. It's a very neutral colour:


I went around with the paint chip and no matter what piece of painted furniture I held it up against, it didn't clash. I found the opposite problem with any blue paint chip. Everything seemed to clash! See the grey/green piece below? It so goes with the Ionic Green.


I've also chosen the colour for the dining room called "Chelsea Fog". Strange thing is it's another colour that Sarah Richardson uses. Damn I'm good. :oP

Here it is being used on the cabinets. Yes, it's a very pale blue but happens to compliment my grey/green dresser in that room.

let's get this show on the road

This is for you Chris! Last night I started to work on transforming our front sitting room with a lovely shade of green paint. It's Debbie Travis's "Delicate Moss", but I got Glidden to tint their paint for me.

Usually I obsess over choosing colours of paint (who me???), but this time I chose quickly saying "this will do". I LOVE it! The biggest problem with the room before was that it was a sea of beige. Beige walls, beige carpet, beige couch (which I adore by the way!!!!).

The coffee table is something I salvaged from our collection of useless items stored in the basement. It used to hold wood for our woodstove. I'm going to paint it a gray green.

Here are some before shots of the room, plus a video, plus some progress pics from last night:








(edited to add that I really dislike those lamps, so I'm going to paint the bases black, and replace the shades. a witty friend of ours dubbed them 'the laura ashley look', and that is NOT what I'm going for)

sears lighting, and killing time

It's Wednesday evening, and it's 2 more sleeps until we move. So of course the time is crawling by, and it's driving me batty.

I'm at the Sears website checking out lighting fixtures. The house we're buying needs some lights updated. So I thought I'd have some fun posting pics of the ones I'm admiring.

This one has seagrass shades, which I love. I love it because it's a natural organic element. This one is $129.99tx. I'm thinking for our dining room. It may be too big though, our dining room is only 10 x 10.


This one may be installed at 9, 21, 33 or 45" heights. I'm thinking for the kitchen, mounted at the shortest height. I'm hoping the 9" includes the light itself. A great price at $54.99tx.


Whoops, I guess that's it for chandelier types. Oh well, that killed about 7 minutes. ;o)

if i could start ALL over again....

My lovely friend Alli put me onto the urban outfitters site (sorry no html until I get back onto the pc where all my html codes are conveniently recorded). Anyways, I thought I'd have fun and post some pics of all the things that made me go "Oooooo". Yes they are quirky and eclectic, and they'd be perfect for my fantasy loft apartment in a cool big city.

coffee table before and after?

When you are house sitting, you have a lot of time on your hands. So you end up sitting at the computer a lot...at least if you are anything like me. This is my big accomplishment this evening, and that is seeing if our new coffee table could be de-contemporaryized through painting. The colours aren't quite right, I'd use a more gray green. All the same, it helps to see the potential. What do you think??

more pictures that inspire

I'm still on the hunt for pictures that inspire me. I realized last night that I'm a little obsessed at the moment, with this decorating thing. It stands to reason though. We're not in the house yet, we're house sitting, so I really have nothing else to occupy my mind. I'm restless. I want to get in there and start making it a home!!! Only 5 more days until we get in, but it's these last days that are going by the slowest!





Here's our new coffee table. It's birch with a dark stain. I found this picture online. We got it for a really good deal, it was marked down for clearance. It was my hubby that really wanted it, and it grew on me quickly. I usually don't like furniture with glass in it, but I love all the levels for displaying some things. I'm not sure if I'll leave it with the dark stain, I might end up painting it, but maybe not. I do want to add some fine lined dark accents to our decor (now there's a word you won't hear me say often!).

our latest aquisitions

Yesterday we picked up these used pieces of furniture for a pretty good deal. The table and chair set was $200 (Canadian), and the dresser was $80. Both pieces will be painted.

I'm not sure if i'll use the table in the kitchen or not, it's pretty sturdy and it's small size is perfect for the small eating area. It's way too small for the dining room, only because it wouldn't fit all our lovely friends!!

As for the dresser, I'm hoping it will fit in the dining room...it would look so purdy!!!