Silver and gold

It took me three days but I am finally finished with the Christmas decorating indoors and out . I just need to concentrate on my gift list now. 

We are loving our champagne gold vegas tree. I am keeping things very simple, only using white, silver and gold on the tree, it is very calm and pretty. We have not a single bit of green inside and I'm loving it. Change is fun. I didn't even buy a single ornament, I had all the ones I used and my Mom gave me a box of white frosty balls, nice!

 This is my very first real mantel to decorate for the holidays. That can be a daunting task.I started with two gold and silver garlands that I found at Homesense , I attached them with white strings to the mantel with 3M removable hooks. I added the little white Christmas trees and bought a couple of mercury glass accessories like the two candle sticks and a large owl and a simple little bowl. A few silver mesh bows and lots of silver and white balls strung from more white strings I just wrapped around the garland.

 This adorable owl was only $12.99 at Winners, such a sweet touch.

The gorgeous candle sticks were $14.99 also from Winners. The nice thing about the mercury glass is that it's not " Christmas" so I can use them all year round if I like.

 I bought these sweater stockings way before we even had kids, back in the 90's... I know I'm ancient! I thought they would be cute on the stairs , why not , right. I have a fourth one somewhere but can't find it !

 I had two tinsel wreaths from long ago so I added them to the hall doors. I hung them from string, duh like you can't see it , and 3M hooks.

This was not a sponsored post , just in case you wondered. 

Christmas spirit

I am finally feeling the Christmas spirit, I have even started some shopping on Black Friday , this is new to us here north of the border but its great , it's not crazy and I saved a bundle.

I was looking forward to decorating our new front porch for the first Christmas. I created a garland out of three faux greenery garlands wrapped together , then I added the lights , two strands followed by lots of natural greens , cedar and pine pieces. I used zip ties and just inserted some others. I used the hooks below to hang the garland, I found these at Home Hardware. I couldn't get them into the siding like in the instructions but they worked perfectly for the vinyl trim around the door , I hope the weight keeps this garland from falling , yikes!!! It looks really pretty at night all lit up. I also found battery candles for my lanterns and they have a timer in them brilliant.

 I actually forgot just what decor I have so I was thrilled to find out I had enough of this simple garland for the whole railing , simple sparkly and a little earthy too , I made simple ribbon from some grey fabric I had lying around.

 We are making progress, we have our new tree up , lit and fluffed, ready for ornaments. I found this 7.5' tree at Urban Barn for a great price , but it was not pre-lit... boo , so I had to light it. It sure is purdy even naked.

 I found a bunch of wreaths in the boxes in the basement and thought why not a snow man , I just used zip ties to attach them and a piece of fabric for a scarf.

 It snowed....just a little , I'm OK with a little bit. I hear we are going to have a big snowy winter this year.

 I just wrapped up an applied moulding wainscoting job locally just in time for Christmas, what a nice look for this room. Crisp classic and fresh. I used astragal moulding for the panels , it is my new favourite moulding , I am going to defiantly use it in my home also.

Thanks for stopping by , I hope you are enjoying the hustle bustle. Who's baking ?, who's decorating? who is not quite there and a wee bit overwhelmed?
Check out my Pinterest Holiday Board for a little holiday inspiration.

Completed laundry room

 I am thrilled and relieved to share the happy news ....my laundry room is done, done and I love it .
It's so nice to have another finished room.

 Here is how the laundry room started minus the wall cabinet which we moved from the kitchen into the laundry room, bland and blah , but it is main floor and has yard access so I was more than thrilled to have it. But it needed to be pretty. Below is our inspiration photo from Urban Grace, we wanted our laundry room to be just as stylish and pretty.

 I built custom cabinetry and added crown moulding and painted it all bedford grey a Martha Stewart colour. I added tall wainscoting and also painted that the same grey to unify the space.

 I recently built a counter top from lumber and under mounted a sink. The wall colour is heavy goose also a Martha Stewart colour. The counter is stained Kona by varathane.

 I added white subway tile and marble accent. The faucet is from Home Depot and is a bar faucet which is a pull out.

 The rug I found at Ikea.

 I installed lots of hooks for hang drying and organization.

 On my handy display shelf I keep a cutlery basket for drying paint brushes as I always seem to be painting...

The closet came with standard sliders which I removed, I found them just in the way. I recently hung drapes on an I track to conceal the closet,(cleaning and pantry items) and to add a little softness.

Well there it is , I am going to keep up on all of my laundry and chores having such a lovely space to keep me organized.
How much do you love your laundry room ? is it your dream laundry room or is it in desperate need of attention.
Let's enjoy a peek at my last laundry room ....now you know why I so love my my new laundry room.....

Look who came for a visit today , Jen from Rambling Renovators.

I am so excited to part of Jen and Sean's new book Blogger Style, I can't wait to see it , it will be amazing , obviously....Oh by the way have you seen Jen's laundry room reveal , its amazing 

Catching my breath!

It has been a very busy week around the house , it always is who am I kidding.

 I only work part time and the rest of the time I really work. I would love to invite anyone who thinks I don't work to join me for a couple weeks to see just how hard I do in fact work. When I used to work out of the house part time it didn't allow me to do all of the things I love like all the projects and of course family stuff and chores were really hard to keep up on. 

For our family and to support my husband challenging work and travel schedule it was best I not work a "real" pt job , I am so much happier , it takes the pressure off me and allows less pressure on my husband to pick up the slack after he gets home late in the evenings and now the kids are supervised and we are all better off. 

Back to the busy week. Well Wednesday was bring your kid to work day , and I am sure my daughter would have loved to go to work with her dad and see what goes into making cartoons but he wasn't around , he headed out to California, lucky. So Mason was stuck with good old mom , she had the pleasure of learning some carpentry skills. I gave her a choice of two projects . #1 we could add a frame to her bathroom mirror 

and paint her bathroom vanity as well as add furniture feet to it or #2 we could add a chair rail to the family room .To my shock she chose #2...she didn't want me to mess up her bathroom especially since I had just "messed" it up the week earlier by organizing it and getting rid of the junk. I wish someone would , mess up my spaces like that for me!

I cut down MDF board to 4"x8' lengths. We add a cove at the bottom and a quarter round at the top and a 1.5" pice of MDF to finish it off. Mason learned how to use a laser level , stud finder, nail gun and pinner. She also with guidance used my compound miter , that was a little scary for her and I understand that. It was nice to share with her what I do, she got bored though.

 I was inspired by an image on Pinterest on building a chair rail. It's so much nicer than the pre-made chair rails I think. Now to chose a wall colour.
 Oh see the tin foil covered paint tray , that's so helpful. Don't know what I didn't try it before.

 I painted out the chair rail in the same semi gloss as the trim as well as the lower part of the wall got the same semi gloss. I will add trim to the bottom, I am just deciding which design to chose.
I have not decorated the family can I just point out , the carpet is going to go in the new year and we will be getting a new sofa eventually.

I am finally getting into the holiday season , I even tackled two planters for the porch. This house is very symmetrical unlike our last house so that means twice the decorating...$$

At the grocery store they had lots of variety of greens at a great price so I stocked up and hoped I 

could pull together a cute planter. They had lovely birch branches for $5 each , I had seen them at Lowe's for WAY more , I cut them down so they were a bargain. I had the pots from the summer so my winter look cost $30 each , not bad right.

These are my first from scratch holiday planters , I love them and will do this again . 

 I am finally done painting all the doors in the house black and changing all the hardware to bronze , what a huge difference this makes.

I decided to use this small hall way to feature some hanging art , you can consider hanging your art by using a new clever system by AS picture hanging systems, I think that this system using these special hangers for trim to hang your art is rather brilliant , I can see myself using this in the near future .

 I have been finishing lots of little touch ups and details. Got the sink hooked up and functional , so happy about that . Today I grouted, I hate grouting although today's job went pretty smoothly. I picked up a plastic table cloth from the dollar store to protect the counter and to make for easier clean up.

 I am so grateful that is done, all I need to do in the laundry room is hang a curtain and perhaps a valance .

I am getting ready for a photo shoot on Tuesday (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say more so I will keep it a secret) and that always puts the pressure on to get things done. I am looking forward to a clean house and a nice break for the Christmas season as working in the winter is not easy for wood working.
I am really pooped right now but it will all be worth it....soon.

Black doors add drama

The laundry room isn't quite ready for her close-up yet. (morning shot, I love that sun)

 That little bit of applied moulding was standing in the way of our counter fitting , so it had to quickly get taken down, hence the tape. The installation of the counter was a little tricky to say the least , as I said it fit like a glove. But it is in...thank goodness. (evening shot)

 It has already been nicer to do laundry in there over the weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed folding laundry in there and having a nice space to spread out and organize the folding. Beautiful.
Hopefully today the sink will get hooked up...I miss having a functional sink in the laundry room. Then I will grout and touch up paint and hang a curtain over the closet and a bamboo blind on the door, I'm almost there.

 I moved on to the door situation, well the brass situation, it had to go . I found bronze knobs last week at Lowe's for $13, so I stocked up. Glad I did because I saw them yesterday for $26.
 I love a power screw driver , don't you ? this one take regular batteries and its great. I even have drill inserts so it doubles as a drill in a snap.
 But I would like a lithium power driver for Christmas , if Santa is reading. OH Santa or Home Depot or Lowe's ???? LOL

 Switching out hinges on a door with three hinges is a breeze, just take one off and replace and move on, no difficult fiddling. Love.
I bought some bronze hinges and actually cleaned Lowe's out of the size I need . I then took some brass ones and sanded them down lightly and wiped them with acetone and gave them a couple of coats of black spray paint....well from now on I am buying them , its fine but too much work for a so so result.

 So the hardware is changed and the doors are black, I love them , just not all the painting. Three coats of black satin. Not sure what black it is , for some reason I have the paint desk a black chip and they colour matched it?? don't know why. Its a true black with a navy undertone.

 I used a velour roller and got a super smooth finish.

6 more doors to go and the back sides of all these main floor doors....soon it will be done and I will take a much deserved break to enjoy Christmas.

Back to painting I suppose.

Tomorrow is bring your kid to work day , my husbands job of making cartoons is much more exciting for our daughter but scheduling doesn't allow her to join him. She will have to come with me and learn carpentry , should be fun.