Farrow & Ball Bumblebee

I wonder if it's normal to be as obsessed with wallpaper as I am.  Not just any wallpaper, although I do really like so many.  I'm obsessed with Farrow & Ball's Bumblebee wallpaper. This is not a new thing, either.  I've loved it for such a long time. 

 I've never wallpapered anything or used wallpaper in our home.  I have, however, spent a ridiculous amount of time removing wallpaper from Elliott's Room and our Hallway.  That may explain why I've never wallpapered anything.  But I really, really want to use the Bumblebee on the ceiling of my master bedroom.  Like, really.  

Here are some of the colour combos I'm considering:

 I'm leaning towards the first one.

What do you think about this wallpaper?  Do you think it's weird that I'd want bees overhead?  Is this obsession unhealthy?  Any advice for a novice wallpaper-er contemplating the use of super-expensive wallpaper DIY style?

xo Meg

Garden in Progress

It's been the most beautiful long weekend in my neck of the woods.  We've been busting our butts working on the house.  Cause what else would you do on a long holiday weekend?

Let me introduce you to our front gardens, before all the work.

There are definitely some nice plants in there, a decent base for us to begin with.  I'm personally all about perennial flowering shrubs.  Low maintenance and pretty with just one investment up front.  Also, you can divide them down the line to increase the gardening goodness!

I'm not usually into using much colour in my garden (I know, shocking!).  I prefer a mix of greens and white flowers - lots of them.  But these red Sandcherry plants were already in the garden so we decided to roll with it.  They are very pretty and have lovely pinkish white tiny flower blooms.

So in the spirit of working with what you've got, here's a view of our front gardens now:

right side

left side

front garden bed

First, we weeded the beds.  Then we put down landscape cloth and mulch to help reduce weeding and make the gardens low maintenance.  Then we added some new plants to the existing arrangement.  We're so happy with how it turned out.  It looks tidy and I'm not ashamed to pull up to our house anymore.  I'm looking forward to seeing all these plants fill in!  

xo Meg

The Master Lowdown

   I owe you a patio update and it's coming soon.  The weather here has been really iffy - rainy and chilly - so conditions weren't optimal for a photoshoot.  Should be good going tomorrow (my day off work) so I will snap some shots for you.

  In the meantime, I wanted to chat a little about our master bedroom.  This room has historically been the most pathetic in the house.  We've lived with ugly paint, cracked ceilings, no headboard and mismatched bedding for several years.  I don't think our room has been *finished* since our first starter home 10 years ago.   You can read about this saga here, and here.

    The truth is, we have never finished this room.  It is last on our list and always neglected. 

   People, we deserve a nice room.  One that's pulled together with pretty pillows, trimmed out curtains and lovely lamps.  I have so many inspiration images pinned to my Master Bedroom Redesign board, and have changed ideas so many times that I just can't figure out which way is up! 
One of the first fabrics that Jay and I agreed on for this space was the Thomas Paul Dahlia fabric in Slate. I like the drama of this colour way and it works with our existing bedding. 

 

Imagine my surprise when I stopped into Homesense (the Canadian Version of Homegoods) and spotted a bunch of Thomas Paul pillows!  It wasn't just Dahlia either.  There was also  Aviary Robin in a few colours! 

 This is what I came home with:

It's not the original colour that I was thinking of, but it works well with our bedding and I'm happy with it.  Also worth noting: the disgusting baby-poo brown shiny walls and hand-me-down curtains from Elliott's old room that don't fit the windows.  

I have grand plans to use the new pillow fabric as my jumping off point for the rest of the room.  I'm thinking some charcoal grey, creamy linen curtains... oh, and maybe even a headboard.

I've got my work cut out for me, huh?

xo Meg

 

Patio Rugs

This morning I'm heading out to search for a rug to cover up my cracked out patio.  In my inspiration board, this rug came from Dash & Albert, but I want to see what I can find at my local stores before I order something online.

As I'm sure you've heard, we now have Target in Canada.  I checked out the online selection and found a couple rugs that interested me, including this one:

I also like this one from Home Depot:

And this one from Canadian Tire:

The final place I'm planning to look is PC Home at my local Superstore.  I love so many of the products  they make - affordable and usually so on trend. I had a jute rug for my front entrance from PC Home for years and loved it.  

Anyone local have any other good suggestions?  Know of any great online deals on outdoor rugs?

Happy Monday!

xo Meg

North Carolina Mountain Retreat

I would love to get away to a cabin in the woods, just me and my honey. No distractions, no carpools, no smartphones.  I would stay here, if I could.

   

 

 

This mountain home was designed by Kathleen Rivers and is featured here in Garden & Gun Magazine. 

I can almost feel myself relaxing just by looking at the pictures!

Hope you have a great weekend.

xo Meg

Away

This little peanut has a gymnastics competition out of town this weekend.

The girl does gymnastics, not the dog.

Hopefully she does as well at this one as she did at the last one.  Check out her gold bling! She's such a champ!

Not much work will be getting done around this house while I'm away.  But I'm starting to feel good about things in this little house.  Getting settled and feeling like it's home. 

I hope you have a happy weekend.  

xo Meg

LB@30 Master Bedroom Design Board

I'm over at Life Begins @30, Right? with my design board for Janice's master bedroom.  If you're visiting from there, welcome! 

Here a few popular posts from my blog to get you started.  I hope you'll take some time and have a look around. 

Kitchen Renovation

Audrey's Room

Elliott's Room

My Office

xo Meg