Writer's Block

Our house closes on Friday.  You know what that means?  I'm officially homeless...

   You see, Jay and I bought our first home together a when we were in second year university.  We've moved four times since then.  But this is the first time we'll be moving where we don't have a new house to move into. 

  Don't get me wrong, we're not out on the street!  We just can't find a home to purchase in the neighborhood we want to live in.  There are only three homes listed in the neighborhood right now and none of them are suitable for us. 

   I've been incredibly busy with the move and searching for a new home.  We have packed up our house and moved most of our things into a storage carton which has gone to a storage facility until we can find a property. 

   But I'm also kind of bummed out.  I was really looking forward to finding a house, working on the design with Jay and making the changes we'd like to it, etc.  Figuring out the decorating on a home is my favorite thing to do. 

   Right now we're stalled out.  And as a result, I don't have a whole lot to say.  And you know me, that's driving me crazy.  I love to hear myself talk!

All this has prompted me to think of a few cool projects I can work on while we're in our temporary home.  Projects that will transport  Here's my list:

1.  Paint the headboard and footboard I found on the side of the road.  It's going in Audrey's room.
2.  Paint the sideboard from the dining room. I currently hate it and hope a lick of paint will help.
3.  Design a fabric plan / mood board for the living room and purchase the few things I need.
4.  Finalize the fabric selection for Audrey's bedroom and get some sewing done.
5.  Subway Art Project.

Starting next week, I'm going to pick on a project to work on each week. That way I can attempt to keep my sanity.  I'll keep you posted. 

xo Meg

Elliott's New Room

I've been pulling together some inspiration for Elliott's bedroom in the new house (which we have yet to find, but that's a post for another day).

If you recall, this is Elliott's room now:

He's definitely outgrown the bed.  There's no way he can fit into a twin bed anymore.  We have a lovely, simple dark wood headboard to use in his new room.  But the bedding will be changing, obviously.  I'm on the lookout for great rustic bedding.  

The room will be heading in a slightly different direction.  For one, we don't have much barn board leftover, so there won't be a barnboard wall.  But we will probably keep his desk and just upgrade the chair.  

The turkish rug will also be staying. 

Elliott loves the red colour in the rug.  I really struggle with decorating using red.  It's just not a colour that speaks to me.  But apparently it is loud and clear for him.  He's gone so far as to ask for red on the walls.  I don't think I can go that far, but maybe a red desk chair and a few other accessories.

Here's some inspiration:

(only using reds and grey instead of blues - love this room by Abby)

I actually think I could just shop for the room entirely on the West Elm site.  I and thinking about these two blankets:

We will also go with a darker, moodier wall colour... I think.  I'm working on an inspiration board.  I'm also looking for a red desk chair so let me know if you see something great!

xo Meg

Jimmy Stanton's Georgia Home

Many of you have probably seen this kitchen image floating around pinterest.  I'm sure it's been pinned a zillion times.  Something about the simplicity and warmth of this kitchen speaks to me. 

 

 

I love the industrial vibe of the old table and the planked walls and ceilings.  I love the green jug on the top shelf and am on a serious hunt to find one for our new digs. 

 

I thought you might like to see some images from the rest of this amazing home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All images via Country Living here. 

Keep Moving Forward



 

 

 

If you're wondering where I've been, I'm neck deep in boxes attempting to pack up the house.  We're short on time and long on work.  The closing date is looming! 

 

 

 

 

happy weekend!

 

xo Meg

 



Thankful

 

Sometimes in life, it's hard to be thankful. 

It's really easy to look at all the things in your life you wish you could change.  Life is sometimes complicated, isn't it? Sometimes things don't work out the way you planned or dreamed or hoped.  Sometimes, life hands you lemons.

 

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving.  This year, I am thankful for a whole lot.  Of course, those who are dear to me are at the top of my list.  But I'm also going to be thankful for my mistakes.  My screw-ups, challenges, and dumb moves.  There are plenty of them to be thankful for, after all.

 

Those mistakes have brought our family to the place it is today.  They've placed us on the path to creating the life we really want to live and made us into the people we are today.  Maybe it hasn't been perfect but I certainly wouldn't trade the people I share my life with for anything. 

 

I am so thankful to have them.



 Count your blessings and have the happiest of Thanksgivings!

xo Meg

A Riot of Colour

If there's one thing Audrey is certain of, it's that she LOVES colour.  Lots of bright, happy colours.

When we created her room in our house, we went with her all time fave, turquoise.  I was trying to make her room fit the overall look of our 125 year old home.  But it wasn't polished and the scheme never came together the way I envisioned.  It wasn't really the fun, happy space she wanted.  You can see for yourself, above.

We've been looking at some ideas for her room in our new house.  And she's not kidding when she says she wants it to be colourful.  These rooms are her favourites.

Apartment Therapy

House & Home

Lucy & Company

You can find all these rooms on my Kids Rooms pinboard.

Here's the inspiration board for Audrey's new space:

I think you all know that I'm a little colour shy.  The walls of her room will be an off white to dial it down a bit.  As will the furniture, except for maybe the bed.  She's currently trying to convince me that a rainbow chevron wall is the way to go.  Yikes!  A riot of colour!

Nothing like pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

xo Meg

Big News

   Last February, we listed our house.  I think you all know how I feel about my house.  I love it.  We didn't think we'd ever move again.
   

     If you are interested in the reasons why we were listing back in February, you can read this post.  If you'd like to see that listing, click here.  I think it's interesting because it shows the house pre-reno, and a few of you have asked about that.  Here are a couple of ugly process shots:

     If you recall, our house didn't sell after a couple of months.  The deals kept falling through. We determined the reason to be that there was simply too much work to be done on the property.  We thought we'd have better success if we completed a reno to the main floor, among other things you can read about here. Since we own a renovation company, this type of work costs us considerably less than it costs other people.

   We finished most of the work we were looking at completing with the reno, although there were a few things that still needed to be done.  We felt that the house was ready to re-list.

We listed the house on Thursday, September 20th.  We received an offer the following Wednesday and accepted it.  It's all done now, and the SOLD sign is up.

My feelings about this are extremely mixed.

We are actively looking for a new home now.  The neighbourhood we are looking at has old brick rancher homes.  With wide, beautiful properties, huge old trees and quite, rambling streets.  A completely different architecture.

We are waiting for just the right house to come up.  We have been to a few, but nothing that is just right yet.

So, for the next while, I'll be posting a little more about inspiration and a little less about reality.  We don't have very many real projects that we can be doing, although there are a couple of furniture painting projects I'll be working on.  Lots of inspiration boards coming your way!

xo Meg