A stencilling question??

Have you done it? Did you buy a kit or make your own? Has anyone ever used the "whole wall" stencils from Cutting Edge? I know they are all the rage, but I am hesitant to do something really trendy in here. I'm not planning on changing it again soon, ya dig?

Would you do the far wall only or both walls (behind the headboard and the far wall)????

I'm considering a very opaque stencil in a larger format so as not to be too busy and what to do about that cool-air exchange? Oy!

I'm thinking I could mirror the pattern in the drapery panels with this, just very subtle.

All efforts to talk me out of this will be considered :)
Have a great long weekend to most of my Canuckleheads.

Updo on the Master

Have you ever been on a date where the person you're with is reeeeeallllllyyyyyy nice? Yah, that's kind of how I felt about the renovated master bedroom. Lots there to work with.... just no spark, ya know?

So, this week we hunkered in and got busy pushing furniture around and making some changes. Casey (my niece) and I did a lot of shoving....but I am very happy with the result!

First things first, dresser placement. Turning the two small bedrooms into one gave us this mid-section in the completed room where I have wanted to put my Goodwill lamps, TV and lowboy forever but how? That bed is the size of Indo-China! Shove, shove, shove.

Ahhhhhh, much better.



Highboy behind the door, capped with my favourite picture of my boys.





























....and the king-sized (big-as-Texas) bed on the far wall. Yes, Virginia I did manage to hide a small nightstand back there, but don't look in the drawers. ;)

So what to do with those windows? There are two of them, they match, they have ugly blinds and they now flank the lowboy......hmmmmm maybe the best defence is an offence here. Accept the configuration and flank drapery panels on each of the windows. If you can't beat em...join em.

The last piece of the puzzle was provided by my massage therapist's Momma who was getting rid of her teen-hood vanity table. It was pretty rough and beat up but it has a lot of history (it even has her and her then 15 year old boyfriend and her names carved in one of the arms). I gave it a thin whitewash and paired it with my bargain chair from Home Sense ($25.00 - Holla!).

No I did not paint over the "Ellie + Darryl" - who would do that?



So, that's as far as I've gotten in here. Bedding to be sourced. I have huge stencilling dreams and little talent for that back green wall behind the large-as-a-planet bed......coming soon.

Hopefully.

Just you wait!

A little tease this fine Wednesday.....remember this stark, prison-like, austere newly renovated bedroom?

hello, Frick & Frack.....how ugly you look slammed together like chalk & cheese :(

I got super busy, rearranged, added a vanity table, hung curtains (finally, my poor neighbour Tony - his eyes! his eyes!) and am now in a position to start stencilling and purchasing bed linens.....cause it is all coming together.

Although, it's all coming together.....green. WTF?

A little dab'l do ya!

My main floor is where it all happens. Seriously, you have to be on this floor to get anywhere else in the house. Therefore it is the one sure place to be seen. I struggle with this space though. See, I have an aversion to green. There I said it. For all of you who love and embrace green as a colour in nature second to none.... I will send you my countertops.

When Greg and I bought our first house, everything was "1985 Hunter Green". So sexy. I was so stumped I went out and bought Hunter Green sofa and chairs to match.....oh woe is me that I don't have those pictures anymore. You would seriously cringe. Hence the beginning of my aversion to dark green. Now, you know I have a beautiful spring green bedroom (which I will be showing off this week - she got an updo) but you would know if we were next-door BFFs that I ABHOR dark green :(

Enter, what I consider to be, my dream home. The only problem, really? The ding-dong who built it used the same dark sage green countertops in not only the kitchen. Oh no. Why? When you can enjoy green with a scroll design in every room that has the need for counters? Yes, ladies and gents, all my counters are the SAME throughout the house. Green. *sob*

So, after fighting and raging against the machine for 6 years, I have become zen with the green counters in my kitchen. I had decided earlier to bring in a different shade on these fab mod finds and this past weekend I brought more green in. I figure as long as I like the pattern and shade.....meh, maybe the counters will grow on me.

So here are some updated photos of my main floor kitchen and dining room. Of course, I also had to flip the table and paint the skirt/legs to match my new cabinet and buffet :) Thanks to my neice Casey for being a trooper and helping me do a number of projects this weekend.....all of which I will be boring you with in great detail!

Does this happen to you too?

Wow, I went shopping for drapes and hardware. Came home 2 hours later, giddy from finding everything I needed for 5 windows for $70 (Yes, bow to me) and *puked* this allover my kitchen table. Seriously, why do my projects always end up allover my table? You with me?

Anyway. I digress. I had bought 3 panels for the kitchen/dining room. One to alter for over the kitchen window and 2 for the dining room. The rods I chose were cream to match the new-to-me furniture I've refinished for the space.....so onto the kitchen window. Wait......are those chips? Cracking? Since when.......ugh.......alright.

Get the paint.

Paint, dry, alter drape panel, hang rod and put up new lovely cafe curtain......





I love you cafe curtain. Meet your parents? Why I'd love to!

So, after rediscovering the kitchen table, Casey and I flipped that sucka and got down to business! Outside? Who goes outside to paint in 110 degrees? Pbbbbbbtttttttttt!

SO! Here is a shot of the kitchen. New green curtain, new green rug, same white range hood. Hey, like all of God's creatures my kitchen is a work in progress.





The barstools above will be painted out soon and boy do I have some goregous fabric to do those up right! (Yes, I am wringing my hands together and twisting my moustache:)

Like I said we are all a work in progress. I have decided a little dab of green in this space is good. I have yet to complete the barstools, switch the range hood, find a 6 foot hole to dump that water cooler in and buy new kitchen chairs that aren't plastic but for now......I am pleased. I am one with my green countertops.....ommmmmmmm ommmmmmmm ommmmmmmmm.

Feels like Hades you mean!

Seriously, when did Satan get into Town and where is he staying?
I hope that mutha has air-conditioning!!! Feels like 49? For all you
out there south of the 49th parallel that is 120.2 degrees F!!!!

Current Weather - Thurs. Jul 21, 2011, 14:00 EDT 

Pearson Airport

Toronto, ON

37°C

Partly cloudy

• Feels Like : 49
• Wind : W 35km/h
• Wind gusts : 44km/h
• Sunrise : 5:56
• Sunset : 20:53

• Relative Humidity : 48%
• Pressure : 100.40 kPa
• Visibility : 24.0 km
• Ceiling : 4500 ft
   

"Womb to Tomb" Friends? I think not.

I like to check in on the Pioneer Woman. She makes me laugh and she rocks out some amazing recipes. I even bought her cookbook.....and I rarely buy those. She regularly talks about her friends. Those friends she has been friends with since they were babies. I don't have any of those.

My parents moved us around so much when we were younger that by the time I ended up in highschool, I think I was on school number 10+....I have lost track of pretty much anyone I ever met prior to Grade 12 and those who did stay on the radar are mostly relegated to Facebook because I live 4000 kms from the west coast now.

I know I will only ever have one "womb to tomb" friend - my sister Julie, but for others I do have a specificly awesome class of girlfriend to whom I like to refer as my....

"GREAT ASS to GRASS Girls"

You know, the ones you meet in your late 20s or early 30s (when you were most smokin') that make you laugh so hard you do this:

or this:

some of this:

and pretty much this nonstop.....

I intend to know these ladies till they put me under the dirt. Who are your girls? Have you called one today?

New design!

I've been playing around with Blogger for a few days coming up with a new look for the ole' web blog. This mermaid gets bored pretty quick and I'm sure you too were pretty tired of looking at my cowboy hat :) So, I am trying a few things out, stick around. More than likely I'll be bored by the end of the day and it will change again. Here was another of my attempts at a header.

I'm still learning.