DIY - Industrial Accents

this post topic may not be a newbie, but it's a goodie for sure.
after being in our house for over a year, we decided it was high time best to start hanging up some permanent fixtures, like ... curtains. 

we both love the fancy restoration hardware look, but definitely can't afford the prices at this stage in our life. so, we figured we would diy something we felt was just as good. welcome, our industrial pipe curtain rod! simple, fast and affordable. beat that fancy stores!

if you want to try this yourself, here is what you'll need and the how too:

1. buy a piece galvanized pipe (be SURE to clean it or you'll get back oil on your hands and curtains - i learned that the hard way) in your desired length and two toggle bolts to help support the weight of the piping curtain rod

2.  you'll also need to buy the flat piece which affixes to the wall, called an iron floor flange, and the macaroni looking piece, formally called the galvanized elbow, to connect your pipe to the flange 

3. once you have washed and cleaned (and if desired, spray painted), you are now ready to start the assembly

4. start by putting your curtains on your galvanized pipe facing the correct way 
5. next holding screw all the pieces of your pipe curtain rod together
6. now hold up the assembled curtain rod (you may need an assistant) and mark your drill holes on the wall 
6. put everything down and insert your toggle bolts 

7. pick-up your piping with curtains already on, line it all up and drill, baby drill (just make sure your curtain is already arranged facing the correct direction ... we also learned that one the hard way)

creating your own curtain rod out of galvanized piping allows you the flexibility to customize your rod for any sizing you need, and allows you the ability to turn corners for a corner windows. if the industrial look isn't your thing, you can easily spray paint the whole thing before assembling it in any desired colour.

helpful hints: 

• at your local hardware store, ask if they can cut and thread the end of the galvanized pipe in the exact length that you need. This will be safer and you'll ensure it's the extract length required. 

• also, unless your using shower curtain hooks, once this puppy goes up, those curtains ain't easily coming down - at all. so if you like to do more than steam clean your curtains  it's something to think about before screwing it all in and having an "oh-crap" moment.

Living Room Spaces

Add caption

right now our main living space is still somewhat of a slow work in progress. the room is freshly painted a nice light grey and we were fortunate enough that the previous owners created some beautiful custom built in cabinets. after living in this space for a while, we finally feel ready to stock the nooks and crannies with some decor. whenever you move in with someone it takes a bit of time to figure out what your combo style is, and i think we've finally got a handle on that! we've also decided that it's high time to "retire" some of our old dorm room furniture that has been harbouring in this space and make room for more "mature" choices! 

here is our room style board and where we finally hope to end up! #beforeandafterstocome

The Penny Paper Company - Don't Grow Up // The Bay - Stainless Cocktail Set // Polyvore - Black & Brass Bowl // Ikea - Stockholm White Lamp // Restoration Hardware - Vise Bookends // Persian Rugs Canada - Vintage Persian Rug // Pfeifer Studio - Leather Fringe Pillow //  West Elm - Linen Sofa  // Amazon - Rattan Basket Set // Urban Barn - Betina Grey Throw Blanket //  Vintage Trunk - Thrift Store Find // Priced Right Fine Art -  Blue Print

Reno Report - How To Build A Stone Walkway

this past Canada Day long weekend we paid a little much needed attention to the outside of our house. as you can clearly see, our home is situated on a pretty steep slope, which can make walking down the side of our house very risky. because of that area being our access to the backyard, our grass actually doesn't even want to grow there anymore, so in most cases you just slide yourself down a little mud patch. not so fun when with a lawn mower or when balancing a tray of drinks, etc. being the home DIYer's that we are trying to be, we decided we would tackle building our own stone walkway to give us a much better walking path. after some research, reading and a car load of supplies from the always helpful, Home Depot, we finally managed to cross this project off our list and it has made a world of difference.

so, for anyone who is looking to add a little curb appeal, or function to your yard, here is our simple "how-to" for building your own stone walkway.

first start out by deciding on the stones you want to use. we were fortunate that we had been given some leftover concrete paver stones pieces from a project on another house, so we decided to take this opportunity to use those. once you have the stone pieces you wish to use, the next thing to do is to layout your pattern in the way in which you want it to appear when finished. as i mentioned the side walkway for us had little to no grass growing because of all the slipping and sliding, so we decided to arrange our stones 6 inches a part in the hopes of laying some grass seed between the stones and encourage some growth. fingers crossed!

once you have decided on your patten, you then need to mark the stone area. we used a flat edged shovel and cut around the perimeter of the stone creating a guided area to dig within. once you have your outline cut, dig out 6 inches of grass and earth to create an even hole. it is important to ensure you go at least 6 inches deep so that you can create a strong solid base for your stone path. next add a layer of landscape fabric cut to the size of your hole. this fabric is designed to help stop weed growth, encourage proper water drainage and to create a good non-slip base for your gravel fill to sit on. once your landscape fabric is in place, start adding in your gravel stones until you reach 3 inches thick. next add in 2 inches worth of screening (a very fine sand/stone) on top. using a level, or something with a straight edge, move the screening around in the hole to ensure a nice flat and level surface. be sure to consider how you want water to run away from you house and adjust any slightly curves or angles with your stone with that in mind.

once your think your screening is level, using a tamper, compress your sand mixture. this helps to ensure that all the sand and stones have started to settle into all the small cracks and grooves, making a nice even surface for your stone to sit on. once you have finished tamping, add your stone into the hole. if it doesn't sit flat and level to the ground, readjust by adding or moving the screening around. once you are happy with how the stone is sitting fill ing any surrounding cracks or holes with the earth you pulled out. make sure you pack it tightly enough to create a nice seal.

work your way stone by stone down your path until voila, your beautiful walkway is complete! as you can see from our yard we still have a lot on our "to-do" side of the house list, but at least we have one thing crossed off for now! this path now makes it much easier for us to carry working supplies for more projects, or food and drinks down for summer patio parties!

Reno Report - Shopping for New Windows

image via here 

We are now on our next phase of "big ticket item" reno's on our little old house. this second phase ... dun, dun, dun ... includes windows. brace for impact.

we've learned quite a lot over the last while. when we first bought our place we knew there were a few things that needed pretty immediate attention, and one of those was the upper and lower windows. for anyone who has done it, or is thinking of doing it, it is a big undertaking, but one that makes some serious improvements to curb appeal and energy efficiency in your home. since our windows were original from the 70's, you can but your bottom dollar they are NOT efficient.

when you start out looking for windows it's easy to become overwhelmed by the mass amounts of information. styles, colours, grilles/mullions, coated, wood, vinyl etc., etc., etc. our best advice would be to first set some ground rules and examine your timelines and immediate needs. we have come to learn that the recommend bang for your buck is to do a least a minimum of 4 windows. many good companies recognize that to do a whole house in one shot is difficult for most in terms of budgets, and therefore help you breakdown a process for over a year (or two or three). we like these companies best!

image via here

in the past few weeks we have done a LOT of research and met with a LOT of companies. some good, some bad! here are some key things we have learned and tips to consider:

• casement windows are generally more expensive than single/double hungs or sliders.
• do you open all your windows? if not then make those a picture window to save some money!
• while wood windows are beautiful on a home they are by far the most expensive option and require a ton of maintenance
• the most popular and affordable windows today are vinyl (ask to see a sample to make sure it's a good thick vinyl to support the weight) and can come in a range of colour options to help you fit your needs
• window sizing - while some companies will tell you they can make a window for any size it's important to do your homework on general size restraints for a select type of window option, as bigger windows can be very heavy and must support the weight of the glass and the structure around it
• when it comes to choosing colours and upping curb appeal many experts recommend keeping the exterior colour scheme the same for all windows front to back and upper to lower
• a brick to brick replacement with spray foam installation while more expensive, is considered to be the best option for a well insulated window 
• a good installation is the key, make sure you use the manufactures in-house install team if they have, or a reputable company with a good track record – a bad install can in many cases void a manufactures warranty
• once a house settles on a new window you can sometimes encounter the odd issue (harder to open etc.), make sure the company you choose outlines any procedure and coverage should that happen
• grilles can add a lot of beautiful visual interest for a low cost, and we highly recommend placing grilles inside the glass so you never have to worry about dusting or cleaning them!
• many window companies now offer lifetime warranties, transferable to new homeowners if you ever sell
• most old windows have an aluminum spacer between the two panes of glass in a window, good quality windows now have a foam spacer to help reduce heating/cooling conduction, as well as are filled with argon gas.
• when calling suppliers don't hesitate to ask for reference, and call recent customers to ask for their likes and dislikes before choosing a company
• there is almost always room to negotiate on a quoted price
• never feel pressured by a sales man – windows are a huge investment and should be mulled over and properly researched – don't fall prey to a good deal in the moment

with all this good information, we now have some big decisions to make! wish us luck! we will share some before and after's when the first round of window's is in! 

Creating the Perfect Picture

images via here, here, here, here, here and here.

so, i'm a bit of a commitment phobe ... especially when it comes to hanging art. 

if there is one thing i've learned it's always hang the things you love to look at most. no matter what else, if you follow this one thing, you'll never feel disappointed by your choices. while there is no REAL set rules on how you have go about showcasing art/photography on walls, successful designers often follow a few guidelines. at the core of it all it is about placing what you love in the right combination. however, if you are a sobby stress mess pile at the thought committing to putting holes in beautiful freshly painted walls and hanging up pictures, like i can be, then here are some helpful tips to consider that will give you that little bit of confidence.

// Height - the most common recommendation the professionals make is to hang art at eye level. if you are a shorty like me try and keep in mind the viewpoint of an average height person. 

// Grouping -  I love me some good groupings. this is where oftentimes we get a little stressed. since there is no real rules here, my best recommendations tend to be start with larger pieces and fill in with smaller. good groupings take proper planning before you hang. think of it as a one large art piece rather than individual items. this will help you focus on the end results and not get caught up in the process. grouping is a great way to give an modern look to your home. if you have a bunch of frames take out the display art inside and play around with placements by taping them up on your wall before you hang.

// Proportions - as a general rule of thumb you want to hang art that is proportionate to said area. for example it is not recommend that you hang over your sofa a canvas print that is significantly wider than what the sofa seats. on the flip side this rule does not apply when it comes to heights. there is a misconception that shorter sizes fit better in smaller spaces, when in actual fact taller prints can make your smaller space feel much larger.

Proportion…if you are hanging art above a piece of furniture it is generally advised to not use art that is wider than the furniture. A general rule of thumb is to aim for the artwork to be between 50-90% of the width of the furniture below. 75% is ideal, but anything in the suggested range is usually safe. If your ratio is less than 50% then the artwork is too small, if your ratio is larger than 90% the art is too big. Exception: If you are hanging art above a grouping of furniture that is close together you would use the total width of the furniture as your guideline.
· Height…a well known rule of thumb is to hang artwork at "eye level" however, this is often misleading as we all vary in height. A better guideline is to hang the art so that the center of the art is at eye level for an average person, generally 60-65" from the floor. Most often art is hung too high, so if in doubt…hang lower rather than higher. If you are hanging art above a sofa or a table you will usually want to have about 6-12" between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art.

Read more at http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=14755543#wmGTjPlUXjhoogMK.99

Proportion…if you are hanging art above a piece of furniture it is generally advised to not use art that is wider than the furniture. A general rule of thumb is to aim for the artwork to be between 50-90% of the width of the furniture below. 75% is ideal, but anything in the suggested range is usually safe. If your ratio is less than 50% then the artwork is too small, if your ratio is larger than 90% the art is too big. Exception: If you are hanging art above a grouping of furniture that is close together you would use the total width of the furniture as your guideline.
· Height…a well known rule of thumb is to hang artwork at "eye level" however, this is often misleading as we all vary in height. A better guideline is to hang the art so that the center of the art is at eye level for an average person, generally 60-65" from the floor. Most often art is hung too high, so if in doubt…hang lower rather than higher. If you are hanging art above a sofa or a table you will usually want to have about 6-12" between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art.
· Line….consider whether the space in question needs the illusion of horizontal expansion or vertical height, then choose your artwork accordingly. Diagonal lines are sometimes needed for spaces such as stairways. Areas that are irregular in shape and line are a great place for round artwork, mirrors or wreaths. Round shapes soften angular areas and help to avoid the problem of rectangular art looking crooked.
· Grouping… this can be tricky but can also have amazing visual impact. A group of pictures should be thought of as one cohesive "unit. An easy trick for creating a grouping is to trace each individual piece of art onto paper and then cut out the shapes. Using these paper shapes you can arrange them on the floor, or even directly onto the wall using some tape. This enables you to determine which arrangement you prefer without having to put dozens of extra nail holes in your wall. When you have found the desired configuration you can then lightly mark it onto your wall with a pencil.
· Tools for the job…my favorite hooks for hanging pictures are called "monkey Hooks" and they require no hammer or nail! These hooks are usually available at your local hardware store. If I am hanging art for a client I always make sure I have on hand a laser level, pencil, measuring tape, hammer, nails and picture hanging hooks for all different weights. If you have a picture that doesn't like to stay straight use some Sticky putty on the bottom corners. Adhesive felt pads are great to ha

Read more at http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=14755543#wmGTjPlUXjhoogMK.99

Proportion…if you are hanging art above a piece of furniture it is generally advised to not use art that is wider than the furniture. A general rule of thumb is to aim for the artwork to be between 50-90% of the width of the furniture below. 75% is ideal, but anything in the suggested range is usually safe. If your ratio is less than 50% then the artwork is too small, if your ratio is larger than 90% the art is too big. Exception: If you are hanging art above a grouping of furniture that is close together you would use the total width of the furniture as your guideline.
· Height…a well known rule of thumb is to hang artwork at "eye level" however, this is often misleading as we all vary in height. A better guideline is to hang the art so that the center of the art is at eye level for an average person, generally 60-65" from the floor. Most often art is hung too high, so if in doubt…hang lower rather than higher. If you are hanging art above a sofa or a table you will usually want to have about 6-12" between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art.
· Line….consider whether the space in question needs the illusion of horizontal expansion or vertical height, then choose your artwork accordingly. Diagonal lines are sometimes needed for spaces such as stairways. Areas that are irregular in shape and line are a great place for round artwork, mirrors or wreaths. Round shapes soften angular areas and help to avoid the problem of rectangular art looking crooked.
· Grouping… this can be tricky but can also have amazing visual impact. A group of pictures should be thought of as one cohesive "unit. An easy trick for creating a grouping is to trace each individual piece of art onto paper and then cut out the shapes. Using these paper shapes you can arrange them on the floor, or even directly onto the wall using some tape. This enables you to determine which arrangement you prefer without having to put dozens of extra nail holes in your wall. When you have found the desired configuration you can then lightly mark it onto your wall with a pencil.
· Tools for the job…my favorite hooks for hanging pictures are called "monkey Hooks" and they require no hammer or nail! These hooks are usually available at your local hardware store. If I am hanging art for a client I always make sure I have on hand a laser level, pencil, measuring tape, hammer, nails and picture hanging hooks for all different weights. If you have a picture that doesn't like to stay straight use some Sticky putty on the bottom corners. Adhesive felt pads are great to ha

Read more at http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=14755543#wmGTjPlUXjhoogMK.99

Proportion…if you are hanging art above a piece of furniture it is generally advised to not use art that is wider than the furniture. A general rule of thumb is to aim for the artwork to be between 50-90% of the width of the furniture below. 75% is ideal, but anything in the suggested range is usually safe. If your ratio is less than 50% then the artwork is too small, if your ratio is larger than 90% the art is too big. Exception: If you are hanging art above a grouping of furniture that is close together you would use the total width of the furniture as your guideline.
· Height…a well known rule of thumb is to hang artwork at "eye level" however, this is often misleading as we all vary in height. A better guideline is to hang the art so that the center of the art is at eye level for an average person, generally 60-65" from the floor. Most often art is hung too high, so if in doubt…hang lower rather than higher. If you are hanging art above a sofa or a table you will usually want to have about 6-12" between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art.
· Line….consider whether the space in question needs the illusion of horizontal expansion or vertical height, then choose your artwork accordingly. Diagonal lines are sometimes needed for spaces such as stairways. Areas that are irregular in shape and line are a great place for round artwork, mirrors or wreaths. Round shapes soften angular areas and help to avoid the problem of rectangular art looking crooked.
· Grouping… this can be tricky but can also have amazing visual impact. A group of pictures should be thought of as one cohesive "unit. An easy trick for creating a grouping is to trace each individual piece of art onto paper and then cut out the shapes. Using these paper shapes you can arrange them on the floor, or even directly onto the wall using some tape. This enables you to determine which arrangement you prefer without having to put dozens of extra nail holes in your wall. When you have found the desired configuration you can then lightly mark it onto your wall with a pencil.
· Tools for the job…my favorite hooks for hanging pictures are called "monkey Hooks" and they require no hammer or nail! These hooks are usually available at your local hardware store. If I am hanging art for a client I always make sure I have on hand a laser level, pencil, measuring tape, hammer, nails and picture hanging hooks for all different weights. If you have a picture that doesn't like to stay straight use some Sticky putty on the bottom corners. Adhesive felt pads are great to ha

Read more at http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=14755543#wmGTjPlUXjhoogMK.99

Proportion…if you are hanging art above a piece of furniture it is generally advised to not use art that is wider than the furniture. A general rule of thumb is to aim for the artwork to be between 50-90% of the width of the furniture below. 75% is ideal, but anything in the suggested range is usually safe. If your ratio is less than 50% then the artwork is too small, if your ratio is larger than 90% the art is too big. Exception: If you are hanging art above a grouping of furniture that is close together you would use the total width of the furniture as your guideline.
· Height…a well known rule of thumb is to hang artwork at "eye level" however, this is often misleading as we all vary in height. A better guideline is to hang the art so that the center of the art is at eye level for an average person, generally 60-65" from the floor. Most often art is hung too high, so if in doubt…hang lower rather than higher. If you are hanging art above a sofa or a table you will usually want to have about 6-12" between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art.
· Line….consider whether the space in question needs the illusion of horizontal expansion or vertical height, then choose your artwork accordingly. Diagonal lines are sometimes needed for spaces such as stairways. Areas that are irregular in shape and line are a great place for round artwork, mirrors or wreaths. Round shapes soften angular areas and help to avoid the problem of rectangular art looking crooked.
· Grouping… this can be tricky but can also have amazing visual impact. A group of pictures should be thought of as one cohesive "unit. An easy trick for creating a grouping is to trace each individual piece of art onto paper and then cut out the shapes. Using these paper shapes you can arrange them on the floor, or even directly onto the wall using some tape. This enables you to determine which arrangement you prefer without having to put dozens of extra nail holes in your wall. When you have found the desired configuration you can then lightly mark it onto your wall with a pencil.
· Tools for the job…my favorite hooks for hanging pictures are called "monkey Hooks" and they require no hammer or nail! These hooks are usually available at your local hardware store. If I am hanging art for a client I always make sure I have on hand a laser level, pencil, measuring tape, hammer, nails and picture hanging hooks for all different weights. If you have a picture that doesn't like to stay straight use some Sticky putty on the bottom corners. Adhesive felt pads are great to ha

Read more at http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=59&sid=14755543#wmGTjPlUXjhoogMK.99

The Reno Report - The After Kitchen

I am very excited to finally share these before and after pictures of our home kitchen. to help give this some perspective here are a couple of reminder photos of what this space looked liked when we first saw it and then purchased the home. it's a galley style kitchen, so it's long and narrow. our main goal was to brighten the space and add a little bit of a modern facelift without sinking a ton of money into it. click here to view our inspiration board from this old post. some of the cabinet space didn't justify being there, so after we moved in we spent a couple months planning how we needed the space to function and where we needed things to be. this gave us a focus on what needed to be included, removed and how to make it all a little more friendly and multifunctional.  

again much like the rest of the house, as new home owners we really want to work with what we have for a few years. we started by pulling off the old cabinet doors and hiding those old wooden handles and exposed trim along the ceiling and floors with fresh white paint. following that we freshened  them up even more by adding sleek stainless steel pulls. with the help of our family we painted the walls a nice soft buttery yellow and cleaned up the window and baseboard trim with more of that clean white paint. we then removed the old dusty metal blind from the window over the kitchen sink and added white linen french bistro style curtains. we love natural night, so aside from the one window  we decided to leave the bay window bare. it's heaven. a few months ago we were also fortunate enough to source a really great dishwasher on a major sale and scooped it up fast so we could retire the off-white  old one (it sadly had rust inside it causing spots on all the dishes).
 

what you now see as our morning coffee bar used to be a very narrow worn out broom closet. since that cabinet literally could only fit a broom and held the light switch for the room, we agreed to  rip it out and replaced it with the all white and wood top butcher block on wheels that we sourced from the Cuisinart line at Canadian Tire. i'm still impressed at how well it blends in the space. we added two stainless steel shelves above for our coffee cup display. this is easily my favourite spot in the kitchen. it added a great focal point to the room and an unique way to add some storage space.

 

 

as you can see we also had a section of unused space in the corner beside the bay window seat. here we placed a smaller waist height cabinet (also butcher block style and on wheels) that came from Canadian Tire. we then custom fit shelving above for additional small item storage. this help us to maximize every corner we could for storage space in the kitchen, freeing up counters. helpful hint - if you find you don't have enough storage, the best thing to do is look up. add a shelf over doors ways for cook books or, platters. adding height can also make the room feel taller and more spacious. 

we kept the old seafoam glass table from my old apartment and fitted the bay window with some pillows for seating. i love waking up late on weekend mornings and sitting there with a warm coffee, good book, looking out over the ravine behind us. 

we feel inspired cooking and creating in this space. it's comfortable when we have parties, and we love entertaining. it feels refreshed and bright and clean and that's what we love the very most.

What we used!

• Paint - Benjamin Moore, Dijon
• Trim Paint - Benjamin Moore, Cloud White
• Cabinet Pulls - Home Depot, Satin Nickel
• Linen Curtains - Handmade
• Magnetic Knife Rack - Ikea, Gruntal
• Table - Craigslist
• Chairs - Ikea, Ingolf
• Cabinet Butcher Blocks on Wheels - Canadian Tire, Cuisinart
• Hanging Planter - Etsy, Monique Cote

Decorating with Little Green Friends

images are from here, here, here, here and here.

lately i've been excited to bring little green friends into our home. little green friends who help clean the air and bring a little life to some bare spaces. i haven't always had good luck with little green friends, but i'm hoping we can reconnect. after countless hours of reading online about easy to care for indoor plants, i finally think we are ready for a second go. surprisingly, my little black thumb, cannot kill an orchid. there is just something about orchids that do so, so, so well with me. always blooming, content, always looking so purdy. knock on wood now that i haven't jinxed it now.  

plants can add a lot of character to a room in a way that architecture can't. try placing oversized plants in impractical places, hang tiny plants vertically as an accent on a wall, or grow an upside down herb garden in your kitchen windows using varying hanging planters. start thinking outside the box when it comes to adding vegetation to your home. if my bathroom had a window, let me tell you i would surely be shoving a fern in the shower to sing along side me each morning. plants want to live creatively too.

yesterday my newly bought first ever hanging pot arrived on my door step from this lovely shop, made by a lovely lady named Monique Cote. i highly suggest you check her work out. it's an early birthday present to myself and a fresh start at welcoming plants into our home.

so, to you dear succulents, lemon tree seedlings and ferns recently purchased. please bare with me. i promise to be good as good to you as  i can. to share you with the sunlight and to keep you fresh and happy! now please don't die.

The Little Home Office That Could

sometimes people ask me where i blog from, well the answer is i blog from my newly completed little home office. when we bought our house, the space which is now our office, was used as a small spare bedroom for visiting  out of town guests by the previous owner. since right now it's just the two of us sharing this home, and we have more bedrooms than we could need at the moment, we decided  to turn this small space into a working library/home office. after a bit of brainstorming and strategic pinning we came up with the best design plan for what we envisioned for this area. before you renovate or redo any room, it's important to ask yourself what you need out of the space and assess what you want will make this area unique to you. what "things" will you need to house there? what's function does this room serve? how often will it be used? do you want a comfortable casual space, or a more formal one? it's important to plan properly in order to save yourself  the extra hard earned pocket money, and the heart ache to redo it.

 

for us the answers quickly came down to maximum storage and function. we both do a lot of work from home so we definitely needed enough surface desk space that we could both easily spread out paperwork. secondly we needed to effectively store office supplies and keep all my art supplies within reach. we then came to realize that we have a TON of books that we needed to still unpack (after a year of having them in boxes). clearly in the modern age of kobo's and online readers, we still cannot pry ourselves away from good old hardcopy books. lastly, photography is a huge passion of mine (which you can see more of here), so we wanted a place to store reference books, old photographs,  albums and camera equipment all together.

much like the "pinspiration" images above, we agreed on creating a cozy dark space, with deep rich tones and library inspired wall-to-wall shelving. as a finished space we wanted it to feel an inviting place to work

to give you some background, here is the room before ....

and here is what it looks like today!

i LOVE how this turned out. the room immediately looks so much bigger than before. after a bit of back and forth with the furniture placement, we finally figured out that the L-shaped layout of desks was the configuration that maximized the best working surface space. by also mixing Ikea Expedit and Ikea Billy shelving with the Rubbermaid track shelving for it not only create a healthy balance of visual depth and interest, but it also quickly increased our storage space and achieved the library look we were after. much the opposite of what you might think, ceiling to floor shelving in a small space can actually increase the visual height and width of a room. the trick is just to keep the shelving to two or three walls.  if you can't use shelving, stack diploma's or a series of framed abstract art above a desk up to draw the eye up towards the ceiling and around the room. in this office we wanted to go with a dark and cozy feeling which is why we painted the walls light and used a blended mix of warm wood tones and dark brown/black to off set the colourful books and objects that adorn the shelves. as a helpful tip create the look of a bigger space in a small room, paint shelving in a tone the same or similar to that of your wall colour. now that this room is finally organized, I love coming into this office and working in this space. in fact, i the day we brought home the small succulent plants for the office was the day this room officially finally felt finished to me!

 

now every time we go in our library home office, we feel organized, at ease and ready for business.

Our Office Supply List

• Ikea - Expedit Shelves
• Ikea - Billy Bookcase
• Rubbermaid Fast Track Upright
• Home Depot - Goodfellow MDF Black Shelving
• Honey Brown Maple Desk (created by a family member!)
• Ikea Micke Desk
• Benjamin Moore Paint - Barren Plain
• Hampton Bay  Egon Ceiling Mount Light
• West Elm - Wire Mesh Storage Baskets
• Amazon - Tech Tools Madness Series Stop Hand Bookends
• Storage Solutions - Birger Drawer Storage in Grey
• Overstock Dali Native Bamboo Roman Blind

**For more HOME RENOVATION before and afters click on the sidebar tab, or click here!**

Renovations: Let's Bench It

please don't judge me by this horribly fast slapped together photoshop job of our master bedroom, but i wanted to share with you what we are hoping to do. now that the major reno's in this room are completed, we are well into the fun decorating phase. always my favourite phase, of course. much of the furniture we currently have (outside of the bed frame and mattress) are borrowed from our lovely family until we find pieces that best fit our needs. in this awkward adaption you will see that we are on the hunt for a vintage looking rug, wooden side tables, wall mounted lamps, light coloured curtains and .... the debate of all debates - a bench/benches.

in short, we know we want to add either two small stools or one longer bench at the end of the bed, but we just can't seem to decide what is better. we love the idea of having a place to sit and put our socks or tights on, and a location to house all the decorator pillows before bed (off the floor). as always we want to find something that is multifunctional, since we are all about investing in timeless pieces that we can use and reuse in a variety of ways in years to come. something classic and simple that will create a nice visual accent to the room. that can't possibly be that hard to find right? well now the hunt is on... and i'm open to any and all suggestions that you readers have. what option do you think would fit our space best? does anyone have either and do you find you use it?

since i haven't yet shared any before and afters of our master bedroom, here are a few photo's from the walk through before we bought it, up until where we are current at (minus the dresser).

to help understand where we have come from to where we are, here is a bit of a breakdown. the upstairs in our home was fully carpeted so we jumped at the opportunity to replace it with this beautiful maple hardwood before moving in, which matches what we already have downstairs. in the midst of pulling up rolls of old carpet,  we had this genius idea to remove all the stucco (otherwise known as the evil popcorn finish) off the ceilings. scraping off stucco creates a HUGE mess. so much of a mess that you wouldn't dream of tackling this after you move all your stuff in without the help of a professional. so, hence why we jumped to try our hand at this DIY project before the floors went in. techniques on how to remove stucco is a whole other dedicated post that i will happily share in the future, but as a starting point invest in a good dusk mask.

once all that demo needed was done in the room, walk-in closet and ensuite (see our ensuite before and after here), we then got the ceiling painted and moved on to picking out a wall colour. we knew we wanted something dramatic. something that wasn't overly masculine or overly feminine, but a colour that would create a cozy and modern feeling. after days of hunting out paint swatches we finally landed on this very dark purple from Benjamin Moore. i think at the time our family literally thought we were crazy, and i will admit i had  my fair share of "crap what did we do" moments as we were applying the paint, but the truth is i really love this aubergine colour. it is rich in the winter,  cool in the summer and it has undoubtedly created a cave like sanctuary that we love going to at the end of a long day.

at the time that we moved, we also bought a bed together and decided to go for a king size. i was positive it wouldn't fit (and was WAY too big) but my better half was determined that it was now or never, and that we 100% could make it work. as nervous as i was on when it got delivered it fit perfectly, with a surprising amount of room to spare for night tables on either side. 

now that the fundamentals are in place we are trying save up (yup, i said save up because let's be realistic these things take time and you gotta hunt for the right deal), for a dresser and night tables. we saw some beautiful ones like this Post and Rail rustic style at Urban Barn that you can check out here. but while we have all that in mind, we are still on the endless search (and decision) for the best bench/stool or something at the end of the bed, and a few other timeless design elements that will help bring this whole room together. a renovator's work is never done, am i right?

** I will post more before and after photo's once the whole room is done**

The Winter Garden Party

this past weekend we closed what we like to think of as our homes first little garden. for anyone wondering what that means you can check it out here. sure it's small (ok, very small), and probably hilarious to some – but hey, it was our first attempt at creating a small space to grow some delicious bites. i think i can confidently say that neither my husband or i have a strong green thumb. let's be honest we have killed our fair share of house plants this past year (r.i.p. little ferns), but that is not going to stop us from trying to grow and even bigger garden... with big vegetables! we recently decided that we would take the winter months to grab books, google around, pinterest in an attempt to be "responsible" gardeners by making  a smart 3 year backyard plan. the house we bought fortunately has NO landscaping whatsoever. totally bare bones we're talking.  so of course that means my brain and notepad have been running  a mile a minute already.

^ our blank backyard slate, ready for the taking ^

pinterest images via

it feels so good to get ideas down on paper, but the real harsh truth is that even in brainstorming we both started to feel overwhelmed by what to do with this big empty space. we actually became stressed by the number of "we could do this" statements we were making (please tell me i am not alone in this feeling). we started to panic at the thought of where things would go, or what supplies we needed, how much sun certain plants required.  and to even add to that, how could we plan anything without some kind of visual of what we were working towards? being newly married is great, but newly married with your first house and home reno's is tricky. and now, newly married with first house, renos and trying to tackle a HUGE 3 year garden plan? I was already sweating the fights. so much so that i was starting to feeling concerned about how we would ever decide a final plan, since communicating what we each want can be difficult at the best of times. all of this then, of course, lead me to yet another online search, that thankfully brought me to the  SMALL BLUE PRINTER

this tool is seriously amazing. 

i totally suggest you download the free trial if you are thinking about any landscaping projects – big or small.

i quickly gave it a dry run the other day when i first found it and put together the snazzy backyard plan you see above. not only does it let you build an idea, BUT it also creates a shopping list of everything you will need including total quantities in order to make it happen. after finding this tool i immediately felt more at ease. i knew we could design visuals together that would no doubt make clear what the other was "seeing" in their mind. what i think i love even more is that we can create multiple plans from all our ideas which will better help us explore every option before making a decision – and this tool will save all your designs!  i should clarify that by saying we want to make a 3 year garden plan it's because we recognize that good gardens happen over longer periods of time, by learning what works and what doesn't, moving things around and with lots of trial and error. so now that i have found Small Blue Printer i am definitely looking forward to utilizing this online visual tool during the winter months, along with our books and notepads of ideas. watch out blank yard, just try and stop us now.

does anyone have any tried and true advice for landscaping? what about favourite low maintenance plants and flowers? vegetable gardens? the pinterest pictures above are a small sampling of inspirational ideas that i'm hoping to build into the plan. 
here is to being a daydreamer.