It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I finally pulled out the Christmas gear , finally because so many people have already done so , which tells you lots of us have fakes out here , I suppose you might think Canada wilderness land , {it is not like that everywhere trust me } we would surely go out to our back woods and chop down a tree no such luck , I think we are a practical bunch and buy our trees to use over and over , I must say this is looking like the "GREEN" approach , leave those trees alone ... I understand the draw to real but there are a whole lot of draw backs , price , mess ,watering , fires not to mention the allergic reactions , like in my house , I will let you guess for yourselves , is mine real ???? I'll never tell.
If you are a purist I respect that , but don't knock my knock off , how else can you have a whimsical white tree that goes up in 5 minutes flat. Oh and it glows at night like no green tree can .

I have dressed the mantel with faux garlands and cotton blue snow ball strings, as well as blue beaded floral picks , I love to buy my Christmas decor at Canadian tire , Zellers , and of course the Superstore , all Canadian shops , sorry.

This year in the family room it is all blue , silver and gold , not too much just the mantel .

In the living room which greats you when you walk in my front door I wet to town as they say .

Lots of whimsial touches , blue ribbon tied around the lamp shades , snowflakes a plenty and my white tree decked out in blues and pinks .

This is a very old vintage glass ornament that was my Oma's they are very special to me and I couldn't have a Christmas tree without them ,

Happy Thanksgiving to all

I can not contain my stripes

Here you have a sample of the process , the second guessing stage , the its only paint stage . It does always pay to test your paints , really , I was toying with the blue and the tanish colour. I think the blue on blue would have been pretty but seeing as how subtle the greige is the blue wouldn't be noticed at all!

Another project brought to you , the total cost was $1.50 for half a roll of tape , the paint was part of my stash .

I love the stripes , I really do , I miss the stripes in my bedroom , they were just so nice , I thought this space could be further enhanced by my favorite treatment , bold horizontal stripes.

I have been considering adding stripes to my dining room nook area , just to add some fun , personality and texture.

Yesterday I did all the prep work measuring out the stripes and using a level to get it all just right , brought up some pots of paint from the collection in my basement . I tried a paler shade of blue and carbonite which was the cast off paint from the family room makeover , when I put it up at first I though all wrong , nope going with the blue , so I let the samples dry ,and started to appreciate the greige colour more , and went ahead with it and there you have it , a subtle added effect of stripes. happy me!

Oh a little help from the choir please !!!!!

A wonderful commenter gave me the link to this brown kitchen , wow this is pretty special wouldn't you agree , thanks Sharon.

I need you all to come out of hiding ,stop your lurking and show me your comments people.
I have a neighbour that I am helping with her kitchen let's call her Lisa , she made the mistake of complaining about her kitchen cabinets {not her choice} she knew I had painted mine and had wondered if she should paint her's ? Of course and she should these are dare I say UGLY , pickled arched top oak , its gotta go , but a reno is not in the cards and the cupboards are in good shape .
Dark is the look Lisa loves , her dream kitchen would be dark stained wood, so I said black as the trend is going and is stunning , but she is leaning more deep brown , great that will do fine too , the fireplace is the dark brown and it looks amazing . So we are good to go , I am talking her through it and going to tackle this job with her , I know it is a lot of work.
Problem is people {mother , paint people etc} keep trying to convince her otherwise , "paint it white" safe and nice but not the look she loves,"paint with melamine/oil" no no no she needs your votes of confidence , ok let me hear it , should Lisa and I paint these yucky cabinets , I mean they are pickled . A dark brown and paint out the bulkhead to match and add crown moulding like the second photo below. You can see it , she just is a little afraid. So I would appreciate it if you would leave your positive comments and I can tell her in the morning 100 people from across the globe agree paint it paint it now !

{ frozen hot chocolate lazy style}

A few years ago I tried this recipe for frozen hot chocolate that I saw on Oprah , mine is more free style or lazy because I don't measure , I suggest you give it a try , it is a big hit here .

~ fill half a blender with icy cold milk 2%
~add ice to the half way point as well
~ 2 tbsp of sugar
~ 4-6 heaping big soup spoons {you know the big spoons you eat yummy soups with } of hot chocolate powder or more, I use Tim's Hot Choc.
BLEND UNTIL CREAMY
serve with a dollop of whipped cream , ENJOY!
It is so much creamier than ice cream and milk , decedent.

* makes 5 smallish servings which seems to be enough for kids.

Tastey Tuesday

I have been falling in love with a little bit of wallpaper , I love the bright fun of this fern pattern .

Stripes I have always loved my stripes , especially these bold stripes , so crisp .

Is this the most inspiring kitchen , loving the

black painted cabinets and marble counters , and of course beadboard ceiling painted this soft green , this is one lucky home owner , what a happy space. Gosh I love those plates , what a great way to add personality to a room .

This wing chair is so sweet and comfy , I could see four of them in a cluster with a black pedestal coffee table or a striped ottoman , what a great place to gab.

{blissfully domestic/ shabby nest}
This is such a clever space , I love it , my MIL has wanted to do this , look how great it could look , I say go for it .

Vanity makeover

{BEFORE}

So from these raggedy old legs came this pretty little feature , I especially love taking what once was an eye sore and for very little money ~$3~ in fact and turning it into a feature. {AFTER}

I am now moving onto the tub skirt , what will it cost ~$20 or $30~ your guess is as good as mine , I will try to do it for as little as possible , I love a good challenge.

I am also thinking of a soft greyish linen shower curtain , wouldn't that be pretty and maybe a band of blue linen on the bottom.

A little at a time.

I should admit , this is not completely finished I still need to fill gaps with caulk and finish paint it .
I will maybe put in a shelf for a couple of baskets or perhaps a nice round basket for laundry ?? we will see.

~ instock inspiration~

I was looking through some of my magazines and tore out some examples of details I would like to copy , but in my own special way , lets call my way thrifty. The skirting around the front of the tub with the marble edging.

Or this edging .

I love the flavour of this bath room and I am so in love with angled ceilings.

This is how I would love my basement laundry / workroom to look minus the rug , not my style at all , but I love the cabinetry throw in a Dash and Albert rug and a fun light fixture and there you go .

Mudroom space in the basement , why not .

These here legs are coming along nicely.

My bathroom

I almost forgot this little area this is my little floating shelf I use it for the perfume I never use because I am very allergic to most smells. The Q-tip container I love, I lot it at a flea market 16 years ago for maybe a dollar , the painting do I dare admit it my creation.

Have I ever shown you my bathroom , I don't recall I have done over 400 posts so who can remember these things.
I have done little things to improve this room , I have toyed with many details to add but have concentrated on the main floor of my house , but it is time to turn some attention on the spaces my husband and I share .
What I like is that it is a good sized room , I also like the floor tile , it is a small sized grey texture tile my husband picked and it works and is very neutral . The counter space is great I can't complain about that , I painted these cabinets from oak to the white , love that , changed the knobs to crystal and chrome , great .
I changed the make-up lighting you know the strip of bulbs to this bronze Restoration hardware inspired fixture from Home depot .



I removed the giant slab mirror and replaced it with these deep moulded round mirrors from the Superstore /grocery store , gorgeous . Those are the things I like/love.

This is one feature that drives me nuts, the hole , it is a dust collector , who would sit there , I have had a curtain on this area to hide stuff , but that didn't work well at all . Below I will show you my newest little project for this area . I should have in hind sight added more drawers .

Oh this I like too , my towel rack , I made this out of scrap MDF and hooks from Home Depot , I hate towel bars , hooks work much better for me .

This is my addition . I will add these two gorgeous legs to the bottom of the drawer area to make it look more intentional , I will also add a shelf area for baskets under the drawers . It will look so much better I am sure of that . And I had these laying around in my basement so this is a free improvement , Love that .

I have a list as long as my arm of improvements for this room

• new sink and faucet


• new shower faucets


• marble ledge around the tub


• skirting the tub with beadboard


• adding a substantial header around the shower/tub enclosure


• new trim around the window


• glass enclosure for the tub (fantasy wish list )


• marble counter (fantasy wish list )


• adding beadboard to the ceiling


• 
  
  adding trim work 3/4 of the way up the wall all around the room

That is just about it !

This is what has happened in my area of the world , that right it is the dreaded snow season , it doesn't seem to phase the kids one bit , in fact they get up early and get all bundled up in snow gear , crazy kids! don't they know how much I hate snow, to any of you that don't get to experience this wonder , I know how can I hate it ?

• I hate being cold


• shovelling hurts my back


• it make the house extra messy with all the wet stuff coming on and melting = puddles


• it is slippery to drive in


• scrapping my car takes extra time

I just am not a winter girl , trust me if I could choose I choose a warm state hey how about an island?

Inspiration

This is exactly what I can carve out of my workroom / laundry room , when the construction phase starts , I guess I am still well within the planning stage .

I love all of these chalkboard ideas .

I have to say these are a very affordable and good looking option for my table ,they have adjustable heights which is such a great feature, they don't offer the storage that I have in mind though.

I have come up with a design that will use plywood sheets cut to create the legs for my table including two generous spots for shelving that will hold baskets . I will cover the plywood with beadboard and trim .

How to build a work table

How do you decide how to make a work table , thankfully the work surface is already purchased , for $60.00 a large butcher block counter , so that is my starting point and size.
I know I want it higher than a regular dining table, more comfortable to work at . Low cost of course. I was liking the idea of using the base for storage , perhaps a pair of these book cases , I would need to make them higher some how .

I love the look of this island but not enough storage and my work space is twice the size of this one.

This too is charming , but lacks storage.

It would be great to find an old character piece like this .

This is more of the type of storage I am hoping for . I think I will go back to the days I made my huge kitchen island and reinvent it , another Chris Original , very inexpensive and full of storage .

I will go sketch now , the ideas are flowing.