I managed to kill my amaryllis after 3 years of managing it; I transferred it to a new pot and it did not like it, not one little bit. I bought a new one and it has five blooms!
For the last few days we have had freezing rain and while it is difficult to drive in, it sure makes for a pretty picture.
I have wanted to try the split letter names on coloured card stock for a while. The opportunity arose to make a gift for a baby boy’s nursery. I love how it turned out.
The frame is the Virserum from Ikea, the cardstock is a beautiful blue which may not show up well on the screen; not too dark and not typical baby blue. In the white frame it’s stunning.
This is the entire extent of my Christmas decorations. Bah Humbug. I have to let myself be ok with not being able to do everything. I don’t get to spend all of my time being crafty and decorating how I would like to, so I have to let it go, take a deep breath and let it go.
Earlier this year I went back and forth, emailing a woman that had some vintage gilt faux bamboo tables for sale. She ended up selling them to someone else and I was so disappointed.
Lucky for me, I've found another set, this one is even better! The set was in a city about 250 km away, but I thought it was worth asking if they would be willing to meet me halfway for some money to cover their gas. Well, they brought them all the way to a neighbourhood in Toronto that I used to live in. The moral of this story is, if you don't ask, you don't get. The couple were asking $75 for the set of three, with delivery they were $135. I am still pinching myself.
The coffee table is the perfect size for my long and narrow living room.
There are two side tables.
I did some online searching and found one of the end tables at Chair Table Lamp for $495 (eek!) and a set of 2 side side tables att Sheelin Wilson Gilding Studio for $2400 (what!). Some other stores like CircaWho have had them but they have sold already.
When the weather warms up, which will be several months from now, I am going to paint my Chippendale faux bamboo chairs for the dining room. Since I have a few pieces of faux bamboo, I thought that blue and white accents would be a wonderful addition.
In one week I was able to find several pieces of pottery. Although nothing to write home about, they will look fabulous in a collection. I'll be keeping an eye out on my thrifting adventures for more pieces.
Christmas is just around the corner and I am not prepared, at all! I decorated my mantle, but that's the extent of my decor. I am so put off by the commercialism of the whole thing. I would prefer to spend time eating and enjoying friends and families company than spend my hard earned money on presents. What a huge marketing ploy!
I’m so glad that Target has come to Canada! They always have great home decor items and the prices are reasonable. Finding decent and modern fabric here is difficult. The best source I’ve been able to find, other than shopping at the ultra expensive decorator fabric stores, is Tonic Living.
Target to the rescue when you don’t have time to wait for the mail. I bought a shower curtain to recover this ottoman, using a very simple method of sewing up the sides and then stapling it to the bottom. I should have ironed the fabric first to take the creases out, oh well.
Of course I didn’t notice the bag under the ottoman until after I took the photos. Now the sun is going down, so I can’t do a retake.
I started pulling out some Christmas items too; I’m uber excited to decorate my mantel, but now that I’ve seen so many great ideas, I’m frozen as to what to do with it.
My thrift store mirror that I found last week for $8 needed a little bling and looks fabulous above my faux fireplace. I used antique gold rub and buff, I love that stuff.
I hope all of my American friends had a fab Thanksgiving. Let the holidays begin!
It feels like forever since I have been able to find time to get any diy done, but I made some time this weekend and got the tough part out of the way.
I have never built anything like this before and while it’s not perfect, I'm pretty impressed with myself.
My requirements were to make it big since it is going on a 16’ wall, and it had to be inexpensive. The final measurements are 60” wide, by 55`` high. I did a lot of research about building with mdf, and was stumped at how I was going to butt joint the uprights to the top. Pocket holes may have worked, but I didn’t want to risk causing the mdf to bulge. Then it dawned on me to create a bracket of sorts, which is what I did. Its just some mdf, glued and nailed in place. Worked like a charm.
That was followed by some 4” deep strips to make the box. Once I had the box made, I added more mdf on top of the existing, this time at 1” smaller, to give it some dimension.
In order to be sure it doesn’t topple over, I added L brackets before putting the top on. The top is 10” wide, 2 boards stacked one on top of the other, and them some trim to cover up that it’s 2 boards attached together.
But it was still missing something, so I decided to add some trim to the legs at the bottom. It provides some visual balance.
Of course I had to put some decorative items on it, just to see how it will look :)
Part 2 is tomorrow; wood filler, sanding and painting. The opening will be black and the surround will be white. Maybe one day down the road I’ll pick up an electric fireplace to go inside.
It`s so good to get my diy groove back, it`s been way too long. I`ve missed you all.
Finding great vintage pieces always gives me a thrill. This La Barge coffee table is no exception.
I played around with the idea of cleaning the brass, but after two attempts at home made recipes, I gave up. I realized that it would take more effort than I am willing to put into it, so the patina stays :) I did give it a good cleaning with warm soapy water, and it made a difference.
Are the hoof feet charming and unique or just creepy? I can’t decide.
When I picked it up, the lady that was selling it realized that she had priced it way lower than she could have got, but was good enough to honour her listed price; otherwise I would have been one ticked off woman.
The glass table top is in pristine condition, which considering that it’s probably from the 60’s is pretty good. The family obviously took good care of it.
And did you notice my carpet? Its the same one, I just got the genius idea to flip it over. Ok, so maybe not genius, but it’s subtler this way and cheaper than buying a new carpet.
I looked around online and found the sale price from $500 to $2400. Mine is for sale and I wonder what this market will handle. I have a couple of designers (one of them works with THE Sarah Richardson) that I have been selling items to this past year, so it will definitely get passed by them first.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Don’t forget to set your clocks back tonight before you go to bed.
It’s been a while since I shared my junkin’ finds, so here we go.
This fabulous, grand and vintage chair was $10 at GW. I had my eye on it for a couple of weeks and was certain that someone would scoop it up before me. I’m not sure why I hesitated, but with some shifting of furniture in my living room, it fits in perfectly.
It’s quite unusual and I’ve never seen a chair like it. There is an attached long basket on the side, and I can’t imagine what is is for? My son thinks it’s for a rifle :)
It’s not in great condition, but it’s sturdy and looks great in my room. The cushions were the perfect size to serve as bottom and back cushions, so that saved me some money.
The vintage wire basket is from a Canadian egg farm that has been in the area since the late 1800’s. For $3.00 it was a good find
This tray was purchased a couple of years ago and this is one of it’s many incarnations.
I made a few velvet pumpkins from my fabric stash, but couldn’t be bothered to search out real stems, so I put some butterfly knobs in and I think they look sweet. Not very pumpkiny, but that’s ok.
I also found this little side table for $12.
It’s made by Baker Furniture and while not in perfect condition, it is in great structural shape and it’s just pretty.
I am gearing up to repaint my living room. Choosing the colours is always the hardest thing. From floor to ceiling measures 16’ and I’m looking for a way to visually bring the height of the ceiling down. It’s either going to be fabulous or awful, but I’ll never know until I get to it.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
A few months ago I had pinned a fabulous sign tutorial by Liz at Love Grows Wild, and hoped that one day I could make one. I finally had an opportunity to make one for my son’s friends, who recently got married. Please go and visit Liz at Love Grows Wild for the full tutorial! Like Liz, I used vinyl rather than painting it, which would have taken forever.
I sped this one along as I wanted it done quickly, so I used my hairdryer between coats of paint and I was done in no time flat, one hour tops. I used the paint that I painted my kitchen with, which is such a fantastic blue. The can is almost finished, so I may have to get more.
For those that would like to duplicate it, the fonts I used are:
Family name and date is DaunPenh which can be found here
Wording is Callie Hand which can be found here
I bought these frames from the dollar store for $3 each, not sure why it’s called a dollar store when it’s more than one dollar…anyway :)
I painted them with a brush first and I have to tell you, I am confident that I’m the worst painter ever! So I spray painted them and they still aren’t perfect but they are good enough for me. The corner pieces came in a pack of 4.
I am working on updating my spare bedroom, with things that I already have in the house so that it doesn’t cost me any money. It is satisfying to make something out of nothing. I definitely need a rug and that will be a diy coming up soon.
That’s the weekend done, back to the grind. Wishing you all a wonderful week.
