The cat came back…

December 6, 2012February 17, 2013Leave a comment

Yes, that’s me. In this post, I’m the cat. And I’m back. Likely sporadically, but I’m still back.

I’ve truly missed sharing random blog updates with the e-world. We’ve completed projects big and small, and bless my husband for still continuing to say “we need to capture photos for your blog!”. The truth is, I like sharing with the world, inspiring others and cataloging our adventures. So here goes.

In all honesty, the “cat” is in reference to some cat prints that my dear friend Beth gave me waaaaay back when. It was a set of three black & white cat prints from IKEA, which I lovingly framed (in IKEA Ribba frames, of course) and hung above my bed for years.

Enter Christian: not so much a cat lover. The framed cat prints hung above our the bed in our guest room for a good few years until I recently decided that it was time for some more personal (and grown up) art. One thing I’ve really been trying to do around the house is to add more personal touches. Enter Angie, owner of Etsy shop Romantica Home. I just love her prints (and, might I add, the 8.5 x 11 prints fit perfectly in the $9.99 IKEA Ribba frames – victory!)

Here’s an example of a cuuuuuuute pic that would be adorable in a kids room:

I immediately fell in love with Angie’s “state art” series. Being from Canada, we of course improvised by making “Province art” prints. I requested Ontario and BC, to commemorate where Christian and I were born and raised, and added green hearts on Toronto and Vancouver. Angie was super helpful and speedy, and one week later my beloved prints were hanging proudly above our guest bed!

I’m really digging the white and grey against the bright cantaloupe-coloured walls. Can’t believe I didn’t think of swapping out those black frames sooner! (PS – Sorry for the reflection of my taking the photo – haven’t quite mastered the stealth photo-taking thing yet)

Oh….and the cat? Well, it did actually come back. We moved the mirror atop our guestroom dresser in our bedroom because the mirror in our bedroom is now on the fireplace mantle (more on that another day) so, I had to fill the hole with something…enter cat picture in black frame. This cat really does have 9 lives!

That’s all for now…be sure to visit Angie’s shop on Etsy to see what else she has in store 🙂

The Great Craigslist Challenge!

August 9, 2011January 22, 2013Leave a comment

I write this post while sitting on my living room couch, with my back to the massive hole in the wall behind me (on purpose; I can’t stand to look at it). Yep, we’re mid project, dust and dirt everywhere. Christian decided to tackle our “2nd” front door, which is one of the remaining key parts of our almost-complete front porch reno. So this is a bit of a we’re-in-between projects post, however, it is related to MY current project: the home office!

Our third bedroom, or “office” has been somewhat of a catch-all since we moved in. Over the past few months, I’ve been tackling it bit by bit, finding new homes for things and giving away/ throwing away things we no longer need. A few weeks back, I posted a few items on Craigslist: a love seat from my bachelorette days in my basement apartment (woo!), striped area rug, and a swivel office chair. All were in pretty good shape and we felt we could get a decent buck from the items – here are a few of the goods:

Christian and I agreed on the room make-over terms before we posted our pre-loved goodies on line: whatever we make off of these items will become our budget for the office makeover.

Well, I love a good challenge and Christian loves to be thrifty, so this little project was a match made in heaven!

And it just so happens that today marked the day that my make-over budget would be revealed! $215….whoop! Not too shabby.

We’re going for a sort of a 60’s inspired look with some modern pops. I’ll be suing the fab peacok blue and chartreuse green fabric that I recently picked up and shared with y’all in this post on DIY inspiration. Here’s another little bit of inspiration to help me stay focused, found here:

Gorgous. I love the modern look, the bright blue sofa and chairs, and that funky lamp! $215 will certainly not get me this room, but I’m excited to see what I can do!

In terms of great feature items for the room, we’re off to a good start. We scored a cool teak desk off of Craigslist (where else?) last year for $100, and inherited a lovely teak chair from Christian’s grandmother (here’s a sneak peak of our new desk chair…the recovering will be coming soon to a DIY post near you!):

Here’s what we plan on accomplishing within the room:

window coverings – fun fabric panels in a colourful print or solid textured material
covered bulletin board
black and white photo wall/ collage
recovered office chair
new handles for the Craigslist desk
recovered lamp shade
pillows for the amazing FREE arm chair that we scored on Craigslist a few months back
throw blanket for some extra colour
area rug to replace my striped friend that we recently sold
backing of existing bookcase with shelf paper/ wrapping paper for an added pop of colour behind our book collection

Good heavens this is a longer list than I thought! And I only have $215 to do it! Ah well, I’ll get crafty.

So I leave you with this challenge: what room are you looking to update? What “not perfect” or unused items do you have that you could sell to free up some cash for your project? How creative can you get?!

Bring it!

Inspiration all around us!

July 29, 2011February 8, 20131 Comment

Sometimes, it’s hard to get started on a project. You just aren’t sure what colour to work into a room, and walking into decor stores or even big-box stores can be extremely overwhelming, and cause you to spend 45 minutes considering the life and times of mailboxes (yes, I’ve done this…more on that another time).

So, where do we find inspiration for a room, design, or project? Well, everywhere. Start taking notes of things that make you go “Hey, I really like that!” If you see something you love, nab a picture on your phone and make a place to file your ideas and inspirations…it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match anything right now, or perfectly fit into the guest bedroom you’re dying to dress up…just keep it….you never know when that idea or inspiration will come in handy! Here are a few quick examples:

I nabbed this fabric during a recent trip to Fabricland (during their down-town location closing-out sale…*sniff*) and was immediately drawn to the colours. I’m pretty certain it is going to be the inspiration for our office make-over project. So pumped!

This next one is all things funky. I was out for dinner last night with some girl-friends at Southern BBQ style restaurant, Harlem, on Queen West in Toronto.

Near our table was an array of funky prints, and this one caught my eye immediately. Welcome to DIY-ville, population: YOU! (or me). It’s a really cool twist on a large picture frame, involving what seemed to be an old window, handle and all, with distress marks for good measure. The classic print that is framed just met its match with this one! This is the kind of thing you can create with awesome garage sale, antique or auction finds.

Finally, a little vay-cay inspiration. Christian and I recently went on a little road-trip to Essex County, Ontario. En route, we stopped at the WindJammer Inn, in Port Stanley, ON, an adorable B&B with out-of-this-world food. Our room was cozy, and had a great rustic-cottage-meets-contemporary vibe to it. Right away I was drawn to the curtain head-board. I apologize that I don’t have an amazing picture of it, but here’s this one from their own website (they have since changed the cover to crisp white and light blue strip rather than this busy guy, which looks really awesome):And here’s one of me shortly after launching myself onto the giant king-sized bed (we have a Queen at home, and it never ceases to amaze me just how big King beds are). So for the quality…our camera was really acting up. But you get the idea, plus, who doesn’t love dorky pictures like this one on a Friday?: