Stairway to......

OK, calling all you DECOR DIVAS!

My sister has moved into her *new* apartment and this is the staircase to her domain. Please be aware she is suddenly single, has a daughter of 14 and is making the very mostest of a modest budget!!

This stairwell makes me think that whoever lived here previously worked in a kennell and had no training on how to remove one's shoes. That being said, the wooden steps beneath this carpet-nightmare are worn and not in the best shape...

So, my lovelies, any ideas on cheep-cheep, happy lovely ways to make this look more like the *Stairway to Heaven* instead of a waterslide to Hades?

I love you. Thanks for diving in with me. :)

The view from here!

It is the winding down of summer. I can almost feel the backpacks trying
to bust their way out of the boy's closets. Greg will be getting back to work in 10 more days and the kids will start making their over-priced lists of Have-To-Have items for back to school.

For now, I'm gonna sit here and think about this past summer. The new pool, the Pudge and long cold drinks with friends under the gazebo. I've had a great time :)

For your viewing pleasure.....

I present to you the new IKEA catalogue. The lovely Madeleine - Public Relations Manager for IKEA Canada was kind enough to send me the widget for use on my blog. I know most of us have a love and/or "complicated" relationship with IKEA so enter at your own risk.

I am not responsible for your paycheque woes from here on in :)

I'm the Weiner!

Hey, if you haven't been over to visit my friend Carol-Anne at Use The Good Dishes, you should take a stroll on over there. Not only is the lady giving me a $100 gift card for Northern Reflections (fashion store here in Canada, eh) but she has some great advice on how to manage your OCD :), organizing and her complicated relationship with our mutual boyfirend IKEA....

Thanks Carol-Anne. I think you're right, I think we'd be friends outside of blogworld too. Just look at her freakin' living room. Can you say COLOUR? Aqua and green.....me thinks we would get along just fine.

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?