Category: inspiration

The Great Craigslist Challenge!

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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!

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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?:

Finally, here is a waaaaay better version to help with your headboard inspiration from (where else) Apartment Therapy:

Love the yellow-teal-chocolate brown combo!

So, there you have it – go out this weekend and get INSPIRED!

One year later….a garden full of blooms!

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For those of you who have checked out my first post, you’ll know that my husband and I have nearly two years of renovation, decorating and DIY stories to share (not to mention the whole planning-a-wedding in between thing…more on that another time).  The most difficult part for me right now is deciding which stories to share…and in what order!  So, if you’re reading this, and you have specific DIY questions or are starting (or in the process of) a renovation of your own and would love to hear more about the renovation perils of me and my dear husband Christian, please let me know.  I’ll do my best to share!  Until then, you are stuck hearing stories from whichever way the wind blows me!

And speaking of the wind blowing, and the lovely outdoors, I think I will share with you the story of our garden.  Oh, the garden.  It was a sight when we first took possession of our home.  You could barely even call it a garden, really.  It was a bunch of pinkish-terracotta coloured patio tiles with some wood beams thrown in for good measure, to create, I suppose, some sort of “stone garden” (?).  Add to that overgrown shrubs and the piece de resistance, the massive aquarium (yes, I said aquarium) painted BRIGHT teal blue with (wait for it) a smiley face painted on the front, being used as make-shift planter at the front of the house.  So awesome.

After our “garden” spent an entire fall and winter buried under a massive waste bin that became somewhat of a lawn ornament for us, it finally felt like time to give it the attention it deserved last spring.  I took a day off work and hauled out all of those big patio stones, dug up the plants (salvaging what I could, of course) and added some fresh soil, hoping that our little garden would be soon ready to accept new plants!  We promised to be loving parents!

Of course, being the budget-savvy gal that I am (ahem, correction, my awesomely frugal husband as taught me how to hone in on my thrifty skills that we knew were in there somewhere), I started brainstorming ways for us to find money to plant an entirely new garden.  It is not cheap.  Well, who would have thought that Sheridan Nurseries would have a garden gift registry!? They helped us plan out our garden (however, I would be in remiss to not mention Christian’s dear landscape architect friend who was lured over via glasses of wine to share her professional landscaping opinions with us), set up a “wish list” and communicated it out to all locations so that eager gift-givers could go to any location.  With our upcoming wedding only two months away, it was an excellent addition to the wedding gift-giving option pool.  By early June, we were ready to plant!

Awww!  Look at those little guys!  If you are wondering what we planted:

– 2 varieties of hostas (can’t remember the names right now, but I believe the two-toned ones are “Blaze of Glory”

– Speedwell (the tall white stuff on the right)

– Lavender

– 4x Hydrangeas (2 each of “Blushing Bride” and “All Summer Beauty”)

– Periwinkle smattered throughout (blue and white)

 

A very brief ode: to our lovely solar lights on the right.  We loved you, You shone so brightly in the night, and guided the way for our vistors.

And then you were stolen by some jerks.

Honestly, who steals solar lights?

 

The solution?  Buy new ones during an end of season sale, wrap the bases with heavy duty wire, and then extend the wire to your wooden garden edge and nail that sucker down.

How do you them them apples, light stealers!!??

 

Okay, enough talking…time for the grand reveal…my how our garden has GROWN in just one year!

 

Final thoughts – we were not yet acquanited with the wonders of the East End Garden Centre when we planted this masterpiece.  We now, of course,know of the greatness of our green friends down the road.  Also for those a little north, Bill’s Garden & Design is pretty awesome, too.  Helpful staff and beautiful plants.  Hooray for gardening!

 

What are you guys planting?  Any tips to share?