Striped rug

I have decided that one of these 4'x6' woven striped rugs has got to go , I thought instead of returning it and since it is such a nice rug that I would offer it here first, if there were any takers.... I am asking $35.00 , the rug is NOT used .

Bring it on

It is no wonder I am tired and not in the mood to do any projects around the house I think they are all finished , well mostly , here are a few of the projects I completed or tackled in preparation for the Holiday House Tour this past Saturday , nice to have everything completed well in time for Christmas .

Made a few coffee filter pom poms , easy and fun ....http://jonesdesigncompany.com/create/coffee-filter-foof-tutorial/ check here for how to , I skipped the first step , I didn't cover the Styrofoam ball with flat filters I just glued them right on .

Made shell ornaments for the Christmas tree , shells are from the dollar store

Re-designed the stockings with old velvet drapes .

Painted Mason's room and re-did all her trim

Built a half wall at the entry , this is my favorite thing

A major makeover on this media cabinet , cleaned up the lines added v-groove and painted it black then waxed it all to a lovely sheen

We went through an operation and recovery with Sophie , tonsils and adenoids removed , good news she is breathing beautifully at night ... we are glad to have this behind us.

Made drapes and a new light fixture using this new lamp shade and adding embellishments to it to create a one of a kind fixture

Painting all the doors black ...still need to do touch ups ...

Adding details to Mason's cupboard ...

Made so so many pillows ...

My little chandelier makeover , painting and beading and crystals did the trick

I wrapped twig place mats around different sized vases

Last but not least I created a little Christmas decor , I dug out this Ikea shadow box frame , I screwed into the interior a little hook and suspended a snow flake ornament from it , cheap and easy project , this would be lovely with a grouping of all different sized frames done in the same way , the blue background is a sheet of glacine paper .

Although I am happy to have a break I am looking forward to getting to work , making things for clients and making differences in their homes , bring it on .

A look outside

Someone asked to see what the house looked like outside at this time of year , well what a great idea , the sun is shining and the air is crisp and cold . So glad we finished the path before the weather turned too cold ...more to do next spring of course.

I will admit I added the snow , it just looked a little more fitting , thanks picnik....

Are you getting your Christmas shopping done ? , I just finished picking out and ordering some beautiful treasures for some girls in my life , isn't it fun shopping for gifts , especially from the comfort of your home ...

Happy House Tour

Well the Holiday House Tour is behind me and it was a real blast , I loved meeting everyone ,I stuck around for the first two hours, people were so kind and complimentary , I was happy to answer questions , like about this floor , people love this Tarkett floor , it is Cherry artisan finished engineered if you are wondering as well , I could have stayed all day talking but I didn't want to miss the other houses , this was my first tour , there was a group of ladies that rented a limo , now that is a great idea ....next year

I love how clean the master bath is , it looks so polished and pristine , wish it could look this way forever , no ugly shampoo bottles or soap anywhere , everything ugly is stashed away , did you see my new striped rug there , so nice huh

People enjoyed my subtle Christmas theme , there are so many details for people to take in after all , I printed up a sheet of interesting things that I did in each room

I stayed up very late making these coffee filter pomeanders , aren't they cute ?

When you are pressed to get things right don't you hate it when they go wrong, there is no time for things to go wrong two days before a big home tour through your house , well when I was removing the cushion cover the other day to wash it it ripped at the zipper and just kept ripping a catastrophic rip, I worried this would happen someday , see the zipper that was put in by the seamstress I used was not the right size , it did not wrap around the corners , so in a panic I called Lisa a wonderful cushion cover genius , she sensed my panic and she saved the day and replaced the zipper and back panel in nick of time , she really saved me , did you know zippers comes in a roll ? and should wrap around the corner of your cushion to allow for easy stress free foam or stuffing removal ...if it doesn't have this done properly Many many people loved the old door turned chalkboard

Also the magnetic crystals on the chandelier were a BIG hit , I heard many people say that they were going away with many ideas , how wonderful Home Depot , only in Canada maybe I should sell these , any orders ?

We can finally use all the new pillows I made that I have been stashing away to keep clean until today , there is nothing like new fresh pillows

The other day I brought out the paint to touch up the girls bathroom , I mistakenly used the "wrong" colour , which left me re-painting the bath in the "wrong" colour which happily turned into the right colour after all , happy accident and since two of the walls are tile it wasn't so much painting

I was able to get all of Mason's bedroom project completed , like painting her dresser drawers black and painting and completing all of her trim

I am glad that I participated and I really enjoyed looking through the other homes I only missed one, I wish I could have shown you photos there were some amazing spaces, no photos allowed , darn eh ! my neighbours are troopers dealing with a steady stream of cars all day , thanks to them for that
I am going to have a long deserved rest

Are you wondering how a house fairs after hundreds of people make their way through ? well I am happy to say everything looks just how I left it , there was one sharpie accident but nothing I can't handle its just a paint touch up , like my husband said I basically repainted the whole house leading up to this tour so a little touch up is no big deal , I hope the person doesn't feel to badly about it ...no worries
Good night all

Chris is going for a nice long rest

Oh Christmas Tree

I wanted to fit in a quick post before I check out for the next couple of days while I get this house in tip top shape , three days left until the Holiday House Tour you can still get tickets and spend Saturday touring 11 beautiful homes , sounds like a great day to me....

I did a little makeover on the stockings , I took off the big sequins and I attached a gathered piece of robins egg velvet , the velvet is from a pair of sun worn drapes I hated to waste , you will see me making things out of them for some time I am sure , so far the stockings and I have also made two pillow covers , I love them so soft and scrumptious .

Here are the before stockings nice cream velvet stocking but the gold wasn't working for me ...

The tree is finally up , I used the most restraint ever , just using silver , aqua and turquoise, I think it is my best tree ever, I have so many one of a kind ornaments , lots to see and take in ...
wait I do need to make some shell ornaments it wouldn't be a beachy Christmas without shells on the tree.

Back many years ago I made some ornaments out of white felt , I sewed on sequins , this is one of my fave's this little dress is so sweet , if I do say so myself , I even made a hanger out of floral wire...cute right? maybe I should make some more and sell them?

Good bye for now , I am going to be busy right up until Saturday morning I know it ....wish me much luck getting all the details ready , I am trying to focus on the big picture , no more sneak peeks , hope I will see you Saturday , I will be here till noon to chat and answer any questions and then I will be off on the tour myself while volunteers man the house ....

Sneak peek

Today I finally got out the inside decor , the photos you have seen are from last year , these are all photos taken today

I have been able to keep to only using what I already have , that was my goal....I just need to get my white Christmas tree up from storage , you need a white tree for a white Christmas at my house.

My friend just finished a little big bathroom makeover for her daughters bath , she hated all this bossy blue the previous homeowners chose it , blue counters, blue floor and a totally unrelated blue shower tile , she originally painted it a neutral tone but it didn't help , it probably made it a little worse, the blues that is , so after hanging around me for a long while she wondered if adding bead board would help ? and adding some white and a blue above ...so I convinced her to get v-groove pine panelling . She ripped out the old builder ceramic towel bar and toilet paper holder , which left quite a mess , which makes this nice high v-groove perfect to just cover over the mess left behind.

I suggested she create a frame around the mirror out of simple MDF, I think it turned out so nicely , I picked this wall colour out of a stack of paint chips , it is Heavy Goose by Martha Steward Home Depot , it is a dirty grey blue , perfect for this room , just enough colour. Didn't we do a great job , she had all the hard work of course, great job Lisa.
The white is popped corn by Behr.

Here is what has kept me busy over this weekend , I decided to re-do my floors in the upstairs hall to the bedrooms , not to sand it completely bare but to take down the major claw marks the dogs added years ago , it really needed a good oil based top coat , which I skipped last time , I knew it was wrong but this is a live and learn process sometimes.

Here it is as I am desperately trying to dry this top coat more quickly than the expected 8 hours dry time ...one more coat after everyone goes to bed ...
I also finished some more pillows , robin's egg velvet ones , I will have to show you just how many pillows I have made for this Holiday House Tour ...it is quite something .

I was able to get a sponsor for some flowers for the house tour ...the rest is sponsored by little old me ....I am hitting the spa soon after for a little well deserved pampering.

Custom kitchen banquette

I have been waiting to show you the banquette I built for a wonderful family that I have been working with a lot over the last year , do you remember the mudroom entry I did earlier this year and the velvet headboard I made for their youngest daughter.
I built the banquette for the kitchen eating area as their family recently grew there was a need for more seating this wall was the perfect spot for a bench .

You can relax and enjoy a banquette like this , they are really finding it a useful addition to the kitchen , they recently got their custom cushion back from the upholsterer , 3" foam makes for a nice soft seat , this cover was made of a fun green cotton called Loopy Lou from Tonic Living and can easily be removed and washed , I am going to make her a couple of 16" throw pillow covers from the left over fabric as soon as the house tour is behind me.

I am so thrilled with how it turned out and I am super pleased they they love it too .

Day trip , day dreaming

*edited to reveal the winner has been chosen Jean McKay from Sudbury Ontario ....congrats Jean you are one lucky winner , I would love to come over anytime for a cup of coffee ....hint hint A while back I received an email from a staff member of House & Home mentioning a home I would love to see , well boy were they right , but my tardy response lead me to miss out on an amazing home , a home someone is soon to WIN , that's right one lucky winner will soon call this place home , what a dream come true it is part of a lottery to support the Princess Margaret Hospital. Not only do they get to live in one of Canada's best cities but this custom designed house created by House & Home and a block or so away from Lake Ontario , that is one lucky soul.

I was told the house was still open for viewing , so I packed the girls up , today was a PA day , and we headed off to Oakville to not only see this house but to take a walk down memory lane.

We couldn't get in but I could take a good peak in the windows knowing it is still technically a show home and not someones house .... I still felt like a creep though. Don't worry I stayed off the grass as the signs asked . You can find more beautiful photos in the current issue of Canadian House & Home. http://www.houseandhome.com/showhome/videos and video tours here .

This porch was to die for , the pillars so graciously over sized , the door is so grand , I believe the door was at least 4 feet wide and the side lites at least 2 ft wide , amazing and it has some new age gadget lock that just needs your finger print to get in , cool , such gorgeous curb appeal.

Of course since this house was inspired by the Some Thing's Gotta Give house it needed grey shakes and crisp white trim , my house has these features too , so classic and beautiful , did you know adding shakes is an easy do it yourself project , I know I did it , even if just an accent here and there it is a great addition to consider.

I tried oh so hard to get one of my girls to come out of the car and pose in front of this door so you could see its scale no such luck. This premiere area of Oakville is a very special spot , a real one of a kind area so many multi million dollar homes on mature lots , houses designed with incredible details and nothing left undone , one more stunning than the next , we even passed an estate , a lake front estate priced at a cool $16 million .

I was able to peek in as I said , I wish I had more to show you , you would die , the floors are stunning , deep dark and flat finish which is stylish and casual , that is it I am re-finishing my pine floors before the weekend is over thanks to this.

I love this generous front hall , Todd and I have always wanted a place with a round table in the center hall, this one is just my style with the lantern and relaxed styling , not fussy or pretentious .... look at the mouldings and beans , this is also easy enough to add , I have more to be added to my house as well in the future.

With my head hanging low we drove off to see how this area had changed in the last 9 years , the streets Todd and I would walk down and often and dream about owning a house like this or that someday , well these weren't here , they were much more modest I assure you , but now mcmansion after mcmansion street after street ,I must admit me and my girls were loving them , it is truly impressive , it was not missed at all that there was a striking influence of the Hampton's here , they could easily say that Oakville is Canada's Hampton's , playground for the rich and famous I am sure ...so if you have a budget between 1.5 million to about 3 million this is your neighbourhood .

This charmer took my breath away , not too grand of fussy but just classic generous and perfectly detailed , I need the giant acorns that are hanging from the front porch . click the photo to enlarge it .

I was so impressed by the scale of these porch posts , truly incredible , see what I mean very Hampton's vibe , lots of single and fabulous trim details .

I do remember this house from way back when we would walk these streets , these doors are to die for , that cream painted one must be the mudroom entrance right , that is on the dream list a breeze way from the garage to the mudroom .

I hope you enjoyed the tour of a few of Oakville's finest streets, I promise I will go back and go on a walking tour and take more photos , from palatial to charming and even a few ultra modern homes thrown in , it is always fun to house stalk .... I mean it only in the best of ways of course , pure admiration. Its always fun to dream .

http://www.realtor.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?&PropertyId=10131645&PidKey=59964552

here is a fun listing to look at , I would take one of these too

and hey if Oprah is still looking

http://www.realtor.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?&PropertyId=10020798&PidKey=-480900982