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I have Cloud White walls! (And other notes on my Dining Room)

Dining-Before

I know that I am supposed to be sharing some cute Easter egg craft with you but that's not happening. There are no Easter crafts in this house. Sorry to disappoint. It just didn't happen. But what did happen is white walls. Three to be precise. Hubby and I decided to "test" the white wall concept by painting the dining room (since it irked me the most at the moment). Here is how our dining room looked before we (the royal "we") started … [Read more...]

White Walls: Inspired or Institutional?

The last time I had to pick paint colours for our home, I was bursting at the seams with Stella in my belly and living in my parents' basement while Hubby frantically finished major renovations on our house. I don't remember it being all that difficult. I went to the local Benjamin Moore store and picked up a few swatches and called it a day. But now? It's 10 years later and we moved into a new house last summer. And now I am paralyzed with … [Read more...]

DIY Design: Daily Life Vignette

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When you're a blogger, you don't really know who reads your blog and who doesn't. But when a man enters my house and comments on my front hall using the word "vignette," well I just *know* he's a reader! This happened a few weeks back when our friend Tim came over. Today, he popped in after work and glanced at our cabinet and asked if my most recent vignette was titled "Daily Life." From left to right: Lone owl, sample baseboard, ornery … [Read more...]

Another Attempt at a Front Hall Vignette

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When Hubby sees me poking around the front hall trying to put together a vignette (you can see my first attempt here), he just cracks up. I am not a patient person and have little tolerance for anything "fiddly" and yet, I just love doing these vignette things. Strange but true. I had gathered a few special things: In the background is a print that Hubby gave me after Stella was born, titled Mother and Child. The boxed book box … [Read more...]

4 Cats Arts Studio Masterpiece: Final Reveal

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Remember this big ol' mess that my girlfriends and I made at 4 Cats Hintonburg to celebrate my 40th birthday? It was my party, and I just wanted to wear sweatpants and have a few laughs with my girlfriends. But, believe it or not, in the photo above we were actually creating a special masterpiece just for me, the birthday girl! After it was all said and done, I had our creation stretched onto canvas by 4 Cats ($75 fee). I am so happy I … [Read more...]

Ottawa’s New Ikea: Bigger Isn’t Always Better

People go on and on about how much they hate Walmart and how evil it is. But you rarely hear the same people talk about Ikea with the same vehemence. I even checked: Google results for "I hate Ikea" are 13 million, where as "I hate Walmart" delivers more than 58 million results. And we all know that Google knows everything. After making my first visit to the largest Ikea in Canada, I find this rather perplexing since I would much rather shop … [Read more...]

The largest Ikea store in Canada

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If you don't live in Ottawa, you might have missed the breaking news: we have a new Ikea store. Not just any Ikea store, mind you, but the biggest in Canada (for now). 427,000 square feet. There was quite a bit of real excitement in Ottawa about this new store, as well as some manufactured excitement (like the press release warnings that traffic on the Queensway would be slow due to opening day, but in actual fact, numbers for the store … [Read more...]

Christmas Gift Wrapping

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I never would have thought of using paper doilies for anything except snowflakes (remember making those as a kid?). But I happened to have seen Guilia's wrapping and then happened to see red doilies in the dollar store. So here is how I've wrapped Stella's teachers' gifts this year. I love how they turned out! If you want to try it, you'll need: Brown paper bags (Michaels) Paper doilies (The Dollar Store) Glue for sticking the … [Read more...]

Super Sweet Christmas Vignette

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With my new found love for vignettes, I couldn't help but take notice of this gorgeous little vignette that my neighbour had created in her front hall. It's unfortunate for you that I only have the camera in my BlackBerry and zero photography skills. But trust me, this vignette is so super sweet. What you can't really see from the angle on this photograph is that the wooden frame is actually made specifically for hosting vignettes. I love … [Read more...]

It’s December. Christmas is now allowed.

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This is how I feel about Christmas when I see all the gaudy decorations and hear those brain-screeching carols before December has even hit: Seriously. This ornament is just so perfect (with big props to Coffee with Julie reader Giulia for sharing this with me today!). I am a total Grinch about Christmas in October. And November. Only come December do I feel that Christmas is actually allowed. Thank you very much. But I am not a total … [Read more...]

DIY Design: Suggestions for Painted Wood Furniture?

Full frontal view

I really like the look of painted wood furniture. Hubby, though, loves wood so much that it is almost sacriligious to suggest painting it. However, after forcing him to look at countless samples online, he has relented and said he'll paint some of our wood furniture for me! Yipee! (Here are some of the samples I've shown him: a cobalt blue dresser, this groovy credenza, and for kids' rooms, things can get really fun.) Pretty much everything we … [Read more...]

DIY Design: Front Hall “Vignette”

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For the record, I'm not calling these posts "DIY Design" because I actually believe I have any interior design flair. It's because we moved into a new home this past summer and I am now madly in love with house decor shows, magazines, and yes, that addictive fiend pinterest. It's "DIY Design" in my case because, like most DYIers, it's not on par with a professional's work! So far, we haven't managed to do much in the way of actual design or … [Read more...]

DIY Design: A Reading Nook In Progress

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In continuation from the DIY Design of Stella's Bedroom, I've been trying to create for her an awesome reading nook in her bedroom. It is taking a long time to find just the right things for it though. Here's what it looks like so far: For the lounging part of a reading nook, I was originally thinking of bean bags. But I've found them to either be crazy-expensive (seriously, $400 for a beanbag?!) or perfectly priced but not the right … [Read more...]

DIY Design: Stella’s Bedroom

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I really never understood people's fascination with home decor and design. I scoffed at the prices people would pay for hip furniture. I rolled my eyes at my mother's love for Home Sense. But I am now "in the club." And let me tell you ... it's fun! Since we bought our new home, I've spent every free minute dreaming of ways to decorate it. I just love it and I just love dressing it up (let's face it, it is way more fun than trying to dress … [Read more...]