Let the Demo Begin!

It's an exciting day here, the demo has begun on our lower level.  If you remember, there will be a family room, laundry room, bathroom and bedroom for Elliott down there.  

hallway at the bottom of the stairs

view into the family room

current laundry will be moved and bathroom will go in there

Elliott's room

I'm so excited that work has already started.  Before we can do any of the fun stuff, some leaks and foundation issues need to be addressed.  So that's the first priority.  That and a new dryer.  

Happy Tuesday!

xoMeg

Gallery Wall

Audrey is already tired of the sad yellow walls and burgundy window shades (circa 1982) in her room. But she sure is happy to have a room of her own to decorate again!  I peeked in at bedtime to discover she had created a little gallery wall over her bed with washi tape.

The composition includes: assorted snapshots of her gymnastics team, her dreamcatcher, a photo booth strip of her and Jay and her calendar. I think she did a pretty good job!

She also said, "Don't worry, Mom.  I put them up symmetrically so you wouldn't go crazy."

Happy Monday!

xo Meg

Organizing the Entry

 One of the things I'm working on this weekend at the new house is organization.


Right now, we are still shuffling boxes, emptying boxes, breaking down boxes and sobbing because there are still so many boxes.  I'm finding that many of these boxes are full of things that simply don't fit into this ranch house.

The first organizational project that I'm working on is the entrance to the home.  The current layout of the house doesn't really have a designated foyer.  The front door opens right into the living room and the entry closet was actually removed by the previous owner.  This leaves us with a 24 inch hall closet to house enough outerwear to get a family of 4 through a Canadian winter. 

We need a 'for now' solution to this problem.  I have stolen the closet space from the small office you can see through the french doors in the entry.  It is also a small closet but it does fit all our extra jackets and outerwear.  And I'm planning to work with the teeny 24 inch closet this weekend.

via

I will be outfitting the inside with a rod (not sure why there's not one there already?) and some hooks, etc. to help corral our everyday coats and bags.  I also plan on using an extra expedit bookshelf we have to create an entry organization system or 'landing zone' to corral all our stuff.  

Here's a little inspiration:

via

Stay tuned!

xo Meg

Settling In

We are settling in at the new house.

We are currently knee deep in boxes and tired yellow paint. 

But it sure is nice to see our stuff again!

I will be back to regular posting soon, once our Internet connection is up and we are a little better organized.

Xo Meg

Fab Fabric Fail

So, when we last spoke about Audrey's room, I had the Kiki fabric by Robert Allen on order.  I really liked the way this fabric looked in the room Danielle Oakey designed for her daughter, Emory.

See the aqua colour in the headboard fabric?  See how the pink flowers are... well... pink?  The fabric appears to have all the colours I was planning to use for Audrey's room too.  I was really excited.

Then it arrived:

iphone picture, colours vary

The iphone picture doesn't really show the true life colour. It's really more cinnamon/brown/rust than I thought.  And the blue is more blue than aqua.  I still like the fabric.  But Audrey does not.  She tried to pretend that she did, so I wouldn't feel bad, but she doesn't.

Lesson learned:  order the swatch.  

I will say, mixing patterns and colours is really tough for me.  I think that's actually why I'm so very colour shy.  How can this fabric look so perfect in the space that Danielle designed and be so totally wrong for the design I had planned?

Just for reference, I'll show you the plan again:

Maybe I just don't know how to mix colours and patterns?  Maybe the colours don't have to match exactly?  It looks like it all goes together on the design board but it doesn't look that way in real life to me. I just don't know.   

So, I'm not quite sure where I'm going from here.  I know I want Audrey to love her room, and she doesn't really love the fabric.  Fortunately, I only ordered a yard so I'm not out tons of money on the mistake.  

If you want to see the inspiration for her room, you can check out my pinboard.  I'm looking at a few other fabrics now.

I couldn't possibly go wrong with the Schumacher, right?
I'm not sure it's in the budget though.

Considerably less expensive than the Schumacher at $21

Good colours to pull from in the Braemore one, I think.  

Please weigh in.  What do you think about the fabric choices?  Does anyone else have anxiety over fabric ordering???

xo Meg

Informal Dining: Nook-Style

I love a dining nook.

via

I really feel like this is the way to go for us.  We wouldn't use a formal dining room and a nook though.  It would be a waste of space in our tight-on-space home. So I'm trying to come up with a design for a banquette nook area that is a little more formal looking, like the picture above.

I bought a new light for our dining room yesterday.  I think I need to get over my paralyzing fear of online purchasing.  I know, you all think that's crazy, but I have so much trouble actually pulling the trigger on a purchase online.  I like to be able to touch the item and see the scale, etc.

my new light from wisteria

I'm hoping it's the right size for the banquette we're going to build in the dining room.  This is the dining room:

real estate photo, not my stuff

It's quite a small room and it's open to the kitchen so I think the scale of the light will be right.  I have posted about banquettes before so if you've been a reader for a while, you know it's my longtime dream to have one.  We are casual people and there is no one who would ever come to my house for a meal and expect a formal dining experience.  We like good food, shared family style.  

On a side note, there is currently a  'boob' light in the dining room.  I know, how fancy!  We'll be removingit and the closet door at the back.  We are trying to determine if the bench seat for the banquette will be in an 'L' shape or just across the wall under the window.  

the dining room in one of our previous homes

curtain fabric close-up

Unfortunately, these are the best photos I have of the curtains fabric we will be using, since they are currently in storage. We will be using these curtains on the large front window in the new house. The living room is open to the dining room so things have to flow.  Seems like a lot of color for me, doesn't it?  I know!  I'm totally out on a limb here!

I don't think the curtain fabric is available any longer but there is a co-ordinating stripe that I love.  I already have pillows in this fabric and am thinking about using it on the window over the banquette.

via

(It doesn't look much like it co-ordinates in these pictures, but I promise, it does).

So, I'm on the hunt for some fabrics that will work for the banquette cushions and pillows, as well as the living room area, which is open to the dining space and kitchen.  That's a lot of co-ordinating for me.  We will see how this goes.  

Just for reference, here's a picture of the new light from the Wisteria site:

patina!

I'm open to any suggestions you might have for fabrics.  In fact, I'd love your help!  Also, what do you think of the light?

xo Meg

Stanley Cup Decor

I think you all know I'm a hockey fan.  I'm not sure if you know just how much I love hockey though.  So in honour of an agreement being reached between the players and NHL, I'd like to post a special installment of Stanley Cup Decor.

Now, I don't know who's going to make it to Cup this year.  But I do have a favourite team.

If I was going to a game, which I'm not, I would probably sport something fun in royal blue.

Granted, both these boards have shoes that I probably wouldn't wear (and certainly wouldn't wear to the hockey game).  But I'm sure I could find a suitable pair of Converse or ballet flats : ) 

I think this saturated blue colour could be great in the home as well.  It adds a sophisticated feel, and the colour is really beautiful. take a look at these:

Just a little post for all you hockey fans out there.  Are there any??  Oh well, maybe show it to your husbands then...

xo Meg