the little things

home tour: the pantry

I know what you are thinking.. a tour of the pantry?  Seriously?  I know that seems a very silly thing to include in my little 'home tours' ..but it is pretty huge to me!  This was the longest little project to date.  It took me fooooorever to get over my procrastination and just go in and get it done.  

Remember this original post.. dated June 28th!  It took me exactly one month to finish this up.. even though things were looking up when I posted progress here... um yeah, didn't happen.. silly right?  It is just a pantry after all.

If you want to see some before shots.. click on over to this post: procrastination over (ha ha ha.. I jinxed myself right there with that title!) ha.  

Here are some after shots..

A little humor.. I hung the 'enjoy' up above the shelves.. enjoy the food? ..or maybe the booze along the top? ha ha  I find it funny anyway. ;P

Even funnier.. I went to my stash of things I had hung up in our last house to find something little to put on that little end wall.  I found this 'you make the grey skies okay' word art and without thinking, hung it up.  

James came home after work and was like "between the enjoy and the you make the grey skies okay picture.. people are going to think we have a drinking problem!" ..ha ha ha!  Um yeah, I realize that this looks bad. Seriously hadn't put the two together (and combined with the full shelf of liquor.. geesh!).. I was being a bit cheeky with the 'enjoy' ..but seriously, the frame.. didn't even think about it!

The clip on the left is take out menus (for when I walk in the pantry and feel completely uninspired lol), the middle is Harley's newsletters and stuff.. and the one on the right is Laine's.

I fixed up the overstuffed basket by completely emptying it.  No more limbo land of unorganized mess.  I do expect this basket to get filled up, but at least I won't be putting things back in there to get mixed up with the new.. before it was sort of a 'semi permanent' file spot.. now it is just the new un dealt with stuff... then things will be permanently filed elsewhere.

It was hard to take pictures in such a small space.. my lens isn't wide enough to get it all at once.. and I tried my best to shoot these with natural light, so they are a bit dark.

The baskets along the bottom are working wonderfully for the kids art stuff.  I also kept their play food and kid sized play pots and pans in one of them.. just makes sense to keep that near the kitchen right? lol  Oh.. and one basket holds all of our lunch kits/bags as well.

The bucket on the floor is for potatoes.. and the yellow garbage can holds the dog food.. and the stool, well.. that is because I am short. ;P

I thought the clock was a good idea, because I am constantly checking the time when I am getting breakfast and lunches ready in the morning.. and we already had it anyway, so I thought why not right!?  Well.. it fell down and broke about an hour after I hung it.  Good thing it was cheap.. and I just may have a second one kicking around here somewhere.. it is the somewhere that is the issue right now though. lol  

There you have it.. I won't put you through having to look at more pantry pictures, and if you made it this far.. WOW!  It isn't perfect.. and likely (as in definitely) won't stay this clean.. but it is definitely a lot more functional!  Which is a good good thing!

..and it is finally finished, which is the best part! xo

inspired..

Some things that are making me go hmmmmm lately.. or maybe mmmmmm mmmmmmm!  Each one of these has me inspired to create and make pretty things.

This first one has me crazy inspired to make a rustic dreamcatcher.. like NOW.. or yesterday even if I had the supplies... I think this would be a fun summer craft!  I wish I could make a party out of it like they did.. anyone wanna come over and make dreamcatchers with me? hee!

pinterest via odette new york

This makes me want to go buy some brushes (since mine have all gone into the land of no return.. that would be 'kid' land if you are wondering).. and paint a giant sized tree on a wall.  We have a wall that spans two floors, and is open to both.. the staircase runs up it.  A giant tree would be amazing, don't you agree?

I think I actually gasped outloud when I saw this next image.  Stunning.. so simple, and beautiful.. the texture, mmmmmmmm!  This will happen somewhere in the house, I just need to find the right spot!

pinterest via jenn ski via curbly

OK, this next one might have me more inspired to track down some of this artist's work to purchase.. since I can't really draw.  BUT, if I could.. I would love to be sitting on my porch with a cup of coffee, drawing sweet little woodland creatures to hang up all over the house.

pinterest via decor8 via rosemary milner

Oh paper how I love thee.. and ohhhhhh how this picture makes me want to cut and paste.. just cut and paste... anything I can get my hands on.  Oh yes, this image might be the most inspiring one of all, so gorgeous!

pinterest via xenia via electric raspberry

All of these are so beautiful.. in an understated sort of way, a bit rough around the edges, natural.. wonderful.  Carefree.  

So, how does one attempt to paint a giant tree on a 2 story wall.. freehand with pencil? ..a projector? ..hire it out (ha ha)?  ..seriously, feeling the need to do this, but not sure how to approach it!  Lovely nonetheless, will file it away and save it for the perfect moment.. cause I am sure it is bound to come along sooner or later. ;)

xo 

is it bad..

That I would consider a 4 hour road trip.. with the sole purpose being to snag myself a copy of the new 2012 IKEA catalogue?  

Yes, ridiculous right?  Or that this cover (which I would say is the best IKEA cover ever).. has me itchin' to paint something that lovely shade of aqua again?  Kind of like our last kitchen.. didn't realize how much I miss it until now. 

Hmmm.. drive to Edmonton, and grab some paint on the way home!?  Not likely going to happen.. but it sure would be super fun!

Since this is totally hypothetical.. road trip anyone? hee heee! ;)

around the house..

Last night as the sun was setting, I was walking into the living room from the kitchen.. and I caught a glimpse of one of my most favourite things in the whole entire house.  I knew I had to take a picture.. because it really is most stunning when the sun is setting and hitting it just right..

When we moved into this house.. this was my little splurge, the little thing that I knew we didn't really 'need' ..but definitely something special to mark a new stage of our lives..

I had come across 'the wild unknown' for the first time via Apartment Therapy.. when they showcased this fabulous print (which I also ended up ordering, along with this one too hee!).. that was all I was going to order too, until I saw this gorgeous prism.  I needed it.  There is no other way to put it.

We ended up putting a longer chain on it, so it would hang in the window at eye level.. 

We love it.  Funny thing is.. I always figured we would hang it in this window.. but when I ordered it, I wasn't even thinking about how the sun would hit it, I just knew I loved it.. sunset or no sunset.  Then the first night it was up, we were all kind of in awe.. it is gorgeous.  The kids love that it makes wonderful little rainbows all over the place.. they will be on their leg while we are eating dinner.. and shrieks and laughter will fill the house, "loooooook mom raaaaaaaainbow!"

And don't even get me started on the love I have for the little feather that lives inside... perfection.  

Sigh.

boy oh boy..

Well, at least we know which room is the boy's room around here, you know.. since it is clearly labeled and all (ha ha?)..

A quick tutorial that was up on the Hambly blog a while ago.  So very simple.. but a fun little way to personalize a child's bedroom door.. he has since taken them down and put them back up to his liking, I guess the straight letters just didn't cut it. ;)

Speaking of the 'boy' room.. I still have to take some pictures and share don't I?  Almost ready.. I think. hee heee!

Follow this link if you want to see the full tutorial! :)

a little closet makeover.. curtains for a door

The master bedroom closet is set up a bit differently than we were used to in this house. Our last house had a walk in closet, that had a regular bi-fold closet door off of the bedroom. This house has a smaller 'walk in' off of the en suite bathroom.  With no door.

Which is fine, if your closet is gorgeous, and all the clothes hang just perfectly.. you know, all matchy matchy with the decor (rolling eyes).. soooo not the case for us. 

Here is a before..

Can you say clutter? lol  It stressed me out daily.  Didn't bother James one bit.  I envy him sometimes. ha ha!  I tried to leave it as is.. I really did, but the vision of a nice soothing bubble bath looking out at the closet.. was enough to drive this basket case a little crazy! ha ;)

Since the closet has a pretty arch way entrance.. a regular door was out of the question.. didn't seem right for this space anyway.

So we hung some curtains! 

Better, yes?

When we planned this out, we thought that having to pull aside curtains (they split in the middle) to get in and out sometimes might be a pain.. especially when we are in the 'try a million things on' mode.. me, not James (ha ha)... so we added some curtain tie back hook thingies (what are they called!?) on the inside.. to hook them out of the way.

They do the trick wonderfully..

I still have dreams for this closet.  It might include fun wallpaper, or wall colour.. a chandelier (surprise?) ..and of course built ins ..oh, and wooden hangers ....oh oh oh, and dream wardrobe of course.  OK.. there might be a reason that this image is just in my head, and not being shared on the blog ha ha!  Baby steps right?

This closet almost seems like an afterthought when it comes to the floor plan.  We loooooove that it is off the bathroom, to us.. that just makes sense.  But the space is definitely lacking.. not so much storage, but is still definitely workable.. the 'walk in' aspect though, not really there.  More like walk in a step and scooch sideways to get to the rest.

Oh well.. it is just a closet.  We will make the most of it.. by making it super pretty of course! hee! ;)

curtians.. Jysk, curtian wire.. Home Depot, holdbacks... Home Depot

home tour: the 'kids' bathroom

Hello everyone.. Is it too soon for another little home tour?  I hope not!  

I had snapped a few pictures of the kids bathroom on the same day that I did the laundry room.. (they are side by side and were both surprisingly clean!) ha ha!

There used to be a towel rod above the vanity, but the kids had to climb the toilet to get to it (which was pretty silly).. so we took it down and hung this cute little hook instead (used to be in our old playroom as well).  Much more practical for the kids.  And besides, doesn't having to climb the toilet to get to the towel kinda defeat the purpose of washing hands in the first place?  No matter how clean I could manage to keep the toilet.. that is just ew. lol

I have a soft spot for these little woodland creatures..

I could put them in any room. hee!

Oh, and can I just say how much I loooove that there is a window in this bathroom!?  It looks out right at the neighbors bedrooms though, so I bought one of those film/overlay kits.. and it has a nice frosted glass look now, all the light and privacy too!  

Some of this artwork is covering nasty holes left by the old towel road ha ha...

Canvas was bought at Winners, wooden frames are from Ikea (bought forever ago).. squirrel print is made by me, yellow deer is from this 2Peas digital kit (by Jennifer Pebbles).. and word art is from a VOL 25 overlay set (so fun)!

Hambly butterfly overlay, which I just slid under the mirror clip..

Adds a bit of fun to an otherwise simple frameless mirror!

This is another room in the house that pretty much got entirely 'new' decor.. I went 'shopping' from our hall closet, where most of our pictures and 'wall things' are living at the moment.. yes, still.. most of this was from our old playroom (we don't have a playroom in this house).. shower curtain was used years ago and was found in the back of the linen closet when we were packing (not a lie.. forgot we even had it! ha)... the little animal figurines were used for Laine's birthday party last year.  Can you tell that I have been loving using stuff we already had in a fresh way?

Yes.. refreshing, perfect way to describe it.  I am looooving this part of the moving process, getting to decorate and set up home all over again! hee heee!  We all knew that I would though right? ;)  

home tour: the laundry room

Does it seem like these house shares are coming in the most random of orders? lol  Well, they probably are I suppose.  So far I have shared the front entry, my craft space/office, Laine's room.. and now the laundry room!?  Ummm.. what about the living room and the kitchen dining rooms? ha ha!  I dunno.  Those rooms are just too much pressure I suppose. Probably because they are never perfectly clean.. or I still want to change out a few lights.. or hang more pictures... or or or... ha ha!  

Laundry room = smallest room in the house, which = usually clean, which = easiest to take photos of at this moment in time. hee.

I love love love that our laundry room is upstairs with the bedrooms in this house, makes the process of laundry sooo much easier.  Since laundry is my least favourite thing to do in the whole entire world.. this is a good thing.  Our last house had main floor laundry, which was the same floor as the bedrooms then too.. but it was at the opposite end of the house, and for some reason just didn't work as well as this one in this house.  

Because this room is right at the top of the stairs, it is the first thing you see as you are going up to the second floor.. I wanted to make it pretty.  I didn't want to always be shutting the door to hide it, since it has a fairly large window and brings in so much light and air flow.  I wanted to keep the door open, but still have it feel like the rest of the house.

Simple things like open shelving and a light switcheroo really helped with that.. in my opinion anyway.  Oh.. and the nice oversized basket that holds (and hides) the laundry soap and other such things (paper towel, stain remover, iron..) ..I use the same products over and over anyway, so I really tried to simplify which things I actually needed to keep on hand.

See.. laundry left in the dryer.  I took these photos a few days ago, and I think that same load is still in there.  Don't judge. ha ha! ;)  

I scored this mini chandelier 50% off at Canadian Tire of all places!  Yes, all non Canadians are probably thinking "a tire shop!?" lol ..it is kind of like a mini Walmart ..sort of, they have all kinds of home goods.. but do focus more so on automotive and camping/outdoor stuff.  I have found a few gems there in the past though. ;)

Is a chandelier in a laundry room weird? ;)

Our kitty (or should I say Laine's kitty) eats in there on top of the dryer.  The reason.. the dogs have no manners and chow down on it as soon as nobody is looking.  No manners at all. Jeesh.

Oh.. and gotta love $3 Ikea rugs...

Shelves and curtains are from Ikea too.. you probably figured that though huh!?  Laundry really does feel like less of a chore now.. who would have thought?  

This is definitely a room on a budget (other wise this little makeover probably wouldn't happen.. cause really, it is just a laundry room right!?) ..so so worth it!  Here is a bit of a breakdown on spending (not including washer and dryer though.. which we brought from our last house)..

• shelves $17 each for a total of $34
• brackets $2.50 each for a total of $10
• rug $3
• curtains ..can't find them on the Ikea site, but I think they were $40
• light $50 (got it half price, regular $100) 

SO that makes a grand total of $137.. not too bad for shelving, curtains, a rug and a cute little chandelier right!?  Everything else we already owned, and was used in other areas of our last house.  When I packed up before the move, I deliberately packed all decor items together.. instead of what room they had come from.  I knew that I didn't necessarily want things to go back where they were.. like the clocks were in our last living room and in my old office, but look super cute as collection all on their own.. in a random spot like the laundry room!

Who says a laundry room can't be pretty!? hee heee!

pink inspiration

I have been meaning to do a post all about inspiration for Laine's bedroom.  You see, I blame Pinterest.. somebody really should have warned me! ha ha  Kidding.. no way could I do without a little daily Pinterest in my life now!  

I have made a pin board for each of the kids rooms.. all of our rooms and many other boards too in fact! ha!  Here is Laine's pin board.  Some of the images are things she already has.. and some are colour inspiration.. or DIY projects to try.  Just plain inspiring! 

Like here is some artwork that I would looove to work in to her room sometime..

sources.. clockwise from top left... growing horns (leahduncan), antler drawing and flower photograph (kariherer), my heart to your heart (leahduncan), and small bear art print on wood (dolangeiman)

Also in love with quirky elements like these trays on the walls (we even have one like these in her room already.. sitting on her desk!).. and white painted tree branches, I am thinking a DIY jewelry stand someday?

photo sources.. trays (here) and branch (here)

And then, of course there is the abundance of crafting and DIY ideas.. seriously inspiration overload.  Every time I turn around, there is another idea or project that I MUST try. 

sources.. adorable stuffie patterns from little dear (must get one.. or a few of these hee!), lampshade from anthropologie (sorry anthro.. I might have to do a DIY take on this one), hanging hearts (under the sycamore), lights (the cherry blossom girl)  

You were probably thinking her room was done right?  Yeah.. I was kind of thinking so too, until I went on to her Pinterest board where I have stashed all these inspiring images.. and all of a sudden I am thinking to myself "oh yeah! I wanted to do that.. and that and that and that!" ha!  Oh my.. is it ever really done?

Anyhoo.. as you can see, I finally put together a post about all things pink.. what do you think of these favourite images and art work?  Pinterest is a dangerous dangerous place.. but ohhhhh so gooooooood!

stitching elements (carina gardner at 2 Peas)

home tour: miss laine's room

Ready for an overdose of girly!? 

Things really came together in here these past few days.. I *thought it was all finished, took photos.. got them on my computer, and then decided to switch out rugs.. hang a different picture, add new scrapbook paper to a few frames.. blah blah blah!  

The rug used to be in our living room, but we had switched in a new grey shag.. so this was rolled up waiting to be put to use.. it is perfect for in here!  "So grown up!" ..that is what Laine yelled when she saw it. :)

The light.. looking kinda little. ;)  Still thinking I might add another garland to it.

This might be my favouritest pillow ever.

On of my desks that got repurposed into her room when we moved in.  She loves loves loves that she has a desk now.

Her current curtains are from the children's department at Ikea.. she has been hoping to phase out all of her 'little girl room' stuff, so when we spotted these ones from Anthropologie while perusing the internet one day.. we both thought they would be perfect. Price tag.. not so perfect. lol  We might need to keep looking. ;)

Yeah.. there are a lot of photos. hee!

We love Michaels for random things like pink feathered birds that we can stick in lamps. ha!

In Laine's world.. everything needs to be pink (including her Blythe doll).. so sneaking in things like yellow birdhouses, well.. it has to be just that.. snuck in! hee!

Pom poms are Martha Stewart.. except the brown one, which I made from scratch.

Lot's of pink and all things girly.. the walls will probably eventually be painted.. a soft pink with grey tones.. or would it be grey with pink tones?  Honestly, I kind of like the colour it is now.. balances out all the colours nicely, we'll see.  It will be a winter project if it does happen though, too nice outside to be stuck inside painting! ;)

The one thing that is a must.. a very near future MUST... blinds!  It stays light until almost midnight here in during the summer, we neeeeeeed blinds!  

Okee dokee.. gotta run!  Busy afternoon ahead!