My dining room

I just realized I do not include my dining room ever I realized I don't really like my dining room as a whole , I love the table, which was honey pine when I got it , but knew it would be better painted cream and I love it, I like the chairs they are solid but I hate honey pine, I have painted two but 4 still need to be done, I promised myself I would do them while the weather is warm, I should stick to that , I love the candelabra , I also enjoy the sconces which due to lack of hard wiring I needed to adapt with new wiring and copper tubing to hide their plugs,as it would have cost me 4-5 hundred dollars to add the wiring at this time.
I think the biggest dislike is the view, the side of my house butts up to two backyards, ugly pressure treated fences and the shabbyest of gardens, no offence to the avid gardener but it is no garden of Eden, after 4 years of just drapes and no blinds, I sprung for the blinds although it doesn't completely obscure my unfavourable view it is a bit better.I am still not so happy with it , I guess I will keep working on it.

I just added the console type table I'm not so sure about that either, I also added the recessed panelling which I love, I think I need to find a room I love and find out what mine is lacking.

Progress reports

Now that there are two , Dolce the big one seems happy and playful, it will do him good to have a perky little friend, so far so good , puppy training is coming along quite well,opps he just peed on the floor, we made a trip to Niagara Falls and brought the Moe , he was so good, slept the whole way . Is that the cutest dog bed ever? I know they are boys but I get to pick the stuff for this home so girly it is.

I need a little bit of help, I have this cupboard for many many years, I would never leave something this color normally,but it is finished very well, however I am ready to make a change , now I am thinking white or off white, as this is in my powder room, or black, any other suggestions would be appreciated.


The upstairs hall is finally done all this tape signifies the end of the project, the trim is complete as well as the floor , it took a bit longer than I thought it would but it looks great and was well worth the wait.

The Dream Home

Since getting a puppy one week ago today , wow forgot just how much that would turn my life on its head but any way , the Little bugger fits right through the baby gates , I have always wanted a dutch door , well at least the bottom portion, for my kitchen door, while on my quest for good images of dutch doors I found this company, and found my and my husbands dream home.

www.dynamicwindows.com

I love a tudor he loves a victorian, but the Nantucket or Hamptons look is definitely the dream, for me and turns out Todd too, even the kids were in awe.

The shingled home with the lighthouse feature,is where I could live out my years, somewhere near the water, well , I am waiting, we will see, you never know.

Off to build a dutch door to slim down my list of aggravations.

Fun around the region for the holidays.

Since adding Moe to the family we are quite limited as to how long we can go out due to the frequent potty training efforts which is coming along quite well, therefore on my holidays we need to stay close to home , but I wanted to do some fun activities with the kids on my own.

Although we didn't go far we found some really great places really close to home. Yesterday we went to a very local water park , I had heard about it , that it was in the country , but 5 minutes drive through farm country brought us to a great resort, where , you can swim, golf, go on huge water slides, and play in the water park including a big tipping bucket that the children gathered under to get soaked, it was a perfect day for such fun, forgot my camera though.

Today we headed to the local bowling alley , bowling we did not, but rock climbing, go carting , super sliding, mini roller coaster,and drop zone type ride, it was so fun, a little stomach turning for mom at times but loads of fun, plenty of screams of delight today, who knew Mason was such a natural driver, she took those corners like a pro.Best thing was the place was practically empty, we and another family form the kids school who happened to be there were the lonely visitors today , what gives?? not a real problem huh! no line-ups at all.

Beautiful things.

These are a few of my favourite things......

White , the bones should be white, I love painted walls, but the trim and lots of it should be white, beams , panelling , it all will do.......

The floors must be wood, preferably dark and aged......

Rugs must be striped , and their must be more and more stripes.......

tall ceilings are a must....

Colours and comfort....casual life.......

Slipcovered sofas with legs.....pillows lots and lots of pillows no doubt......

Plenty of cozy seating for family life...............








Some of my favourite things can be found at lee industries, www.pineconehill.com and www.dashandalbert.com a girl can dream.

I am having a bit of trouble with these link, I am working on it.

Home design tips you can use.

This post is growing today , I just thought of a couple more great things i have used and or discovered as useful over the years, like scrunchie's not the hair ones, but cord covers, a little fabric goes a long way , I don't like chains on light fixture so I have adapted by creating these cord covers.

I made this kitchen island which is huge and wonderful, because I love islands and desperately needed extra storage, it holds loads of things, I picked up these premade doors in the Ikea as is department for a steal, added my own hardware , however I like the glass and its reflective quality but I did not want to see the mess, tried fabric curtains with tension rods, but there was not ample space for that , so I frosted the glass , which was ok ,but I wanted to block out the shadows too, so recently found tremclad in a beautiful blue, matched perfectly, and painted the back side and perfection, just another good tip I though.

I must admit I am at a loss as to what to post about, however , I do have a nice tip , for anyone who likes a bed with a shabby chic flavour, lots of layers , at Pottery Barn kids found a lovely bedskirt for my daughters bed on clearance, or so I thought ,because when I got it home it wouldn't work as she doesn't have a box spring , but it worked in my favour, because I simply layered it over the one I already had , because it was a double it gave the perfect layered effect, I love it , so that is my little tip.

As you will notice all of my fabrics are a variety, I do not do matchy matchy, the stripe then a smaller scale floral and larger scale floral, it doesn't need to be a set and to me it should never be a bed in a bag , that is so generic, and bland, not cataloque beds here, mix it up.Have some fun.

Right now I have crisp white sheets , but usually I have hot pink sheets that tie in the pink flowers from the bedskirt. Lots of fun.

Cottage flavour

after

before

Recently on cityline one of my favourite designers Brian Gluckstien who is one of Canada's premiere Interior Designers, was showing a lesson on Cityline, where he showed a front exterior shot that so resembled my front window, and the insets had beadboard . Last year I tried the grey paint in the insets but by spring it was chipping , I liked the contrast but have always wanted to update it, we looked into veneer stone but that is very costly and the areas would have been quite large, so that was on hold, this was my perfect solution, beadboard, I love it inside so heck yeah its perfect. I have more to do ,I am not done by a long shot , but it is well on its way, as our model is one of the most popular elevations , 12 on our street of our house and 6 in the siding elevation, an assortment of colors but so much the same , I want to have mine stand out from the rest as in I don't want it to look just like all the others , it doesn't.

The stones under the window I added to give the beachy charm, the kids and I last week went rock hunting , as our area is still very much a construction zone, lots of beautiful rocks and even some boulders, I can't believe I lifted them.The area under the window was jammed with shrubs by the builder which I transplanted into the compact front yard ,creating a garden where a hump of grass previously was, it gives the walkway much more space to walk through.

Choosing paint colours.

This is my daughters bathroom, it is perfect for two small girls, why not go for it , its just paint.

Colour or color how ever you spell it from your neck of the woods, it is the most difficult choice for most , what color should the walls be the sofa, the wood floors the tile, it is a huge decision , you can choose subdued , or vibrant it really is a matter of taste, when the correct colour is chosen for a room it effects the mood, most often times the colour should come along in the process and is not the first decision, using something like fabric to choose is helpful as jumping off point, but no matter how much you love a colour when it is to be used on the walls , sampling is always worth the cost of the small tins of paint, you never know how a rooms light will effect a paint colour , it can actually change it , that is why you can love your friends walls but in your house the same shade can look awful so consider your exposure, for instance my daughter had a lovely shade called lilac by Martha Stewart ,but since her room only gets early morning light the room was dingy, we recently changed it to a vibrant yellow based green by CIL called Farm Life and the room is cheery and happy. In my living dining room I wanted a soft blue robin's egg blue, so tried and tried again it took three colours, the first too light the second too dingy dark the middle of the two just right. CIL Souvenier , which is not at all robin's egg blue which turns out would have been obnoxious, I have not tired of it in over 4 years, when you spend the time to get it right you can live with it for a little longer, although not too long , rooms should evolve and not become stagnant. There is nothing like colour to let you know if its right , you will know when it isn't,but it is not a costly change to make, it is so personal, don't fret for what your friend or neighbour likes, live in colour, enjoy, the choices.practice makes perfect?
This lovely green kitchen is from www.soapstonecounters.com , where I would like to get my sopastone counters from at some point.

These interior shots are from Cottage Chic a great resource for inspiration for fellow colour lovers alike.


I recently discovered that CIL Dulux at Home Depot sells enormous paint chips, yes sells, you will have to put some money down but much less than the pints , so that is a fantastic turn of events .

The Newest Member Moe

Yes that is Moe like in the Simpson's , not ,my choosing , but that's ok. I hope the puppy training goes smoothly and quickly, summer is the best time for me, my work load is slightly lighter and I work at home so training goes by quicker in these cases, so far so good, lots of outdoor pees and poops, so can really complain, but I will add building a corral onto my list of weekend activities as he will need to be separated for his protection and the protection of others.

He is actually sleeping in Sophie's arms, can you believe that , and he slept well last night too. Poor Dolce he didn't know what hit him, it triggered strange excessive drooling in him that was drenching the poor pup, but he didn't seem to even notice, Dolce has calmed right down , we bought them both new toys and Dolce was thrilled with the new toys, I know they will share many years cuddling and playing together ,so that when I begin working out of the house Dolce who has always had a house full will have company.

So lets recap :

2 kids

2 dog

2 frogs

one happy family :

Priceless:)